Endings

Clare L. Hickman

St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, Ferndale

November 13, 2022—Proper 28C

Luke 21:5-19

         

At this hinge of the church year,

     as we wind up the long stretch of the Season after Pentecost,

          and head into Advent,

               we talk a lot about endings

     so you are all to be congratulated for showing up here today,

          since, as a general rule, people don’t like endings very much

               they unsettle us

                    asking us, as they do, to face into the unknown

                         to accept such unpleasant things as loss, and change

 

So we recognize the disciples’ dread

in the face of this week’s prediction of the destruction of the Temple

               because that same dread stirs through us

                    in the face of every loss, every change,

                         every ending, big or small

 

The unknown always feels huge

     I think we are particularly aware of that right now, as a community

          as we face the transition in our music leadership

               getting ready to say goodbye to David,

                    who’s been our organist for ten years

               and search for a new choir director

                    after 34? 37? years of faithful service from Sandy.

 

It’s a time to celebrate and be thankful for all the gifts they’ve shared with us

     but also a time of grief and goodbyes

          of transition and uncertainty

 

We don’t know what the future holds

     We don’t know what will happen; who will be sent to lead and accompany us

          Will we love them?

               Will they love us?

 

These are the questions posed by the unknown

      (by every unknown that we face)

          and those questions can be very scary,

     unless we can somehow resist the impulse to catastrophize

          (that’s what trips us up: the impulse to imagine only the bad possibilities!)

          and take hold of what scripture actually has to teach us about endings

 

We resist it a little.

     After all, when we hear the word Apocalypse:

          our first thought is of destruction

               Walking Dead; nuclear war; all those grisly end-times movies

                    caught up in the things that are destroyed

                         thinking that they are the point

 

But … Apocalypse is the revealing, the opening up

     what is Jesus opening up here?

          that all of the things we build to house God are impermanent

               that no matter how grand or beautiful the building

                    the liturgy

                         the scripture or the theological construct

                              they will come to an end

 

They will come to an end

     But then, just as the disciples, and we, begin to weep and to wail

          Jesus dares us to do something … impossible

 

He dares us to begin to believe

     that loss and impermanence are not synonymous with desolation

          This … is not an easy message to take hold of

               we are SO. AFRAID.

                    afraid of failure, afraid of disappointment, afraid of change…

                         we are, quite honestly, terrified that it will kill us

                              or at the very least, undo us

 

Because we can’t see past the loss

 

But Jesus here is pointing us to look further

     to be brave

          to stop clenching around the fear of the loss,

               of the change, massive as it might be

                    and to trust that we will survive

 

This is clearly no small promise

     if we put ourselves back into the enormity of 1st century Palestine

               and what it was to have Rome destroy the Temple

 

They had already lived under occupation

     lost so much, endured so much

          and now, the center of their religious and cultural life has been destroyed:

               the sign of connection between God and the people

                    the sign of thanksgiving, the sign of repentance,

                         the sign that relationship between God and the people     

                              could be mended after it has been broken ….

                                             is now in ruins.

 

Think something like the destruction in the Ukraine,

     or Syria, or the Sudan, or anyplace demolished by war

          India after the recent floods, the west coast after wildfires,

Florida after hurricanes

     buildings flattened, cultural centers wiped out, common lives shattered

 

This biblical passage speaks into all those situations

     speaks into every time we sit in the midst of the wreckage

          of lives shattered by every kind of tragedy

               every unnerving change

                    every terrifying unknown

 

And speaks words of reassurance

 

Seriously

 

Apocalyptic literature is always, at base, speaking words of reassurance

               It begins by acknowledging our fear,

                    bearing witness to the devastation around us

                         and our deep, deep wish that things were otherwise

              

But then, it raises our line of sight

     to see not just the destruction to come

          or the destruction all around us

               but also the resurrection

     to recognize the loss of whatever we had held dear

          but also raise the possibility that there is something else

               something new

                    something we could not even have imagined

 

So, the disciples admire the Temple and Jesus tells them it will be destroyed

     that the people will need to find a new way to be in relationship with God

          and it will be terrible. But they will do it.

         

Judaism will find it in the synagogue,

and a deep and daily commitment to the commandments of Torah

 

          Christians will find it in Jesus himself

                    Instead of a mighty edifice of stones,

                              that seemed it would last forever and yet was pulled down,

                                   there will be him.

 

Flesh and blood, love and sadness, pain and compassion.

Living, breathing; giving, sharing; dying and rising again.

He will be our Temple.

He is the bridge between God and humanity,

between heaven and earth.

 

and he cannot be destroyed, as the temple was destroyed,

because they killed him and then he rose again

 

And he joins us in the rubble of our own lives

     in all of the change and loss and failure that we wish weren’t part of it all

          but they are

 

He joins us there

     to remind us that the promise of a new future that we hear in scripture

          in those beautiful words of Isaiah and the psalmist

               are brought about by our own willingness to be in the present

                    as flesh and blood

                         love and sadness

                              pain and compassion

 

Living, breathing; giving, sharing

     dying (oh Lord, yes, I’m afraid we will have to let all kinds of things die)

          and rising again

 

For it is only by being HERE in such a way,

     that we will find Jesus here in such a way

          that will enable us to reach toward the future that lies beyond the fear

               that sees only the destruction to come,

                    and take hold of the resurrection promise,

                         of the Apocalyptic promise

 

Of the promise and possibility that lie within every change

     every loss,

          everything that seems like an ending.

Clare Hickman