Readings for November 15, 2015,
25th Sunday after Pentecost

• Daniel 12:1-3 and Psalm 16  
• Hebrews 10:11-14, (15-18), 19-25  
• Mark 13:1-8

World Shattering," a sermon by Rev. Fred Kinsey
The Temple in Jerusalem – the 2nd Temple that stood during Jesus’ lifetime – was incomparable! It was one of the Seven Wonders of the ancient World! Built under Herod the Great, it was a huge upgrade from its rebuilding after the people returned from the Exile five centuries earlier. Herod had much greater resources, and after conquering Palestine, he built it to impress the Jews and help to gain their loyalty, which seemed to work, especially with the Scribes and the ruling Sanhedrin.


“As Jesus came out of the temple, one of his disciples said to him, “Look, Teacher, what large stones and what large buildings!” Indeed, they were impressive! The huge retaining walls that supported the temple were composed of great white quarried stones, as long as 40 feet, some of which still stand as part of the Western Wall today. The platform upon which it stood was over 900 x 1,500 ft. — twice as large as the Roman Forum with its temples, and four times as large as the Athenian Acropolis which features the Parthenon.


The front of the temple in Jerusalem, facing east, was itself a perfect square, 150 x 150 feet each way, and much of it was decorated with silver and gold. Josephus, the prolific Jewish historian of the time, reports that Herod used so much gold to cover the outside walls of the temple that, in the bright sunlight, it nearly – blinded anyone who looked at it. The combination of the temple mount, with its huge retaining stones, and the large stones of the temple itself raised the temple complex to a height that could be seen from miles away by the pilgrims who journeyed to Jerusalem to worship there at festival times.


To this un-named disciple in our gospel, Jesus responded, “Do you see these great buildings? Not one stone will be left here upon another; all will be thrown down.” Quite a prediction! But one that basically came true in the year 70 A.D., probably at the very time Mark was writing his gospel.


The Temple was impressive because it was so beautiful, a skyline jutting up above the city, and seemingly impregnable. But also because the Jews believed that within the Temple, behind the curtain in the Holy of Holies, is where God’s presence, the Shekinah, nested, and took up residence on earth. That’s where the Ark of the Covenant was kept, ever since King Solomon put it there, the same ark that led Moses and the chosen people out of Egypt and into the Promised Land.


The Temple then, was the greatest symbol of who they were, and what they stood for, and so must have come as a great shock to them, to hear Jesus predict its downfall. Though, not totally! Apocalyptic predictions of the Temple’s demise were not unheard of, and false Messiah’s were even more common, like those Jesus warned his four closest disciples to beware of – “they – the false Christ’s – will lead many astray,” he said. Yet, the disciples in this reading, look, but don’t see. They are blinded by the magnificence of the Temple, and for the time being, led astray. But who wouldn’t trust in this treasure, this sturdy looking shrine, and draw some comfort, looking at it, that of all things, it would endure?


So when the Romans finally overpowered the last of the brave Jewish rebels, and the Temple was burned down in the year 70AD, it was a huge crisis for both Jews and Christians. Both good and bad came from it. It was the beginning of a growing antipathy between Jews and Christians, despite the attempts of some of the best minds, Rabbi Gamaliel, Paul and others, to work out a peaceful relationship. And the anti-Semitism it grew into, is a problem we are still trying to own up to and repair today.


But there were those, like the Pharisees, who were well positioned in the 1st century, to find a new way and a new locus for Judaism – the founders of Torah worship in the synagogues of the diaspora. Christians thrived, both underground when they had to, and attracting new comers by their example of loving good works, and their grace-filled theology. A theology that came from Jesus’ life, captured in the gospels.


The disciples had difficulty “understanding,” before the event of his ‘death and resurrection.’ But in this gift, the followers of Jesus recovered a kind of third way that Jesus had left for them. Even here in chapter 13 of Mark – called the Little Apocalypse, after Revelation, the much bigger apocalyptic vision of John of Patmos – even here, Jesus steers the Disciples away from taking up arms. There will be wars and rumors of wars, but do not overreact; this must take place, the end is still to come; The Temple will fall, and there might be other natural signs, said Jesus: earthquakes in various places and famines. But this, he says, is but the beginning of the birth pangs, of what God will bring to life.


Jesus does not want his disciples to be patriots that stay and defend this Temple, whose treasury devours widows’ houses, and whose leaders are hypocrites. Jesus steers them away from Jerusalem and the Temple. When war comes, “let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains,” he proclaims. And of course, most telling is Jesus instruction to go to Galilee, after his death and resurrection, there you will see me – and my Shekinah will be with you.


It was a time of great tribulation and change. An apocalyptic time – a term that means unveiling, or pulling back the curtain – and signs were seen everywhere. Beautiful buildings were being toppled, and especially the fall of the Temple was a severe crisis for Israel and the followers of Jesus.


What are the things that bring crisis into our lives? What great people and monuments do we trust in, that when they fall, either by corruption or natural causes, bring our world crumbling down?


Losing a parent can be hard, it can change how we feel about our lives and the world. Losing a child is many times more difficult, and can be an earth-shattering event. Senseless gun violence in our city, especially the cold blooded murder of a young innocent boy, can make us cynical like the world has fallen apart. Loss of a job, or repeatedly being turned down for jobs you’re qualified for, is terribly stressful, and can cause you to lose hope. Or, terrorist acts like in Paris on Friday, can make us feel shocked – leaving us wondering what the world is coming to.


But the life of Jesus, and especially the death and resurrection of Jesus, can offer us hope and new life, even in the midst of tribulation and apocalyptic change all around us in our world. Jesus points us away from endless and constant retaliation and vengefulness, both personally and between peoples and nations. The ways of domestic violence and war was not the answer for Jesus, and he gave us the alternative model of offering his life, that as followers, we might become servants and slaves of all, to win a new and non-violent third way. Whether with our family and friends, with our neighborhoods or the nations, Jesus teaches love and active non-violence, he teaches his disciples a pro-active hospitality and lifting up of the poor and marginalized, he promises recovery of sight to the blind. Many will come in his name and say, ‘I am he!’ and try to lead us astray. But blessed are those who follow the teacher and master, our Messiah.


When Jesus breathed his last, offering his life for the world, it is said in Mark’s gospel, that the Temple curtain was torn in two from top to bottom. This veil, that covered the ark of the covenant in the Holy of Holies, was pulled back to reveal that Jesus is our Shekinah, the presence of God, in and with us. His life, and the gift of grace that he offers in his death, is the new Temple for us, the Holy of Holies. And the cross – that Roman construction of humiliation and death – is transformed into the most beautiful symbol, for the followers of Jesus, like the Temple’s gold, shining eastward to all the world.


Jesus, redeemer of the world, has pulled back the curtain on the sin of our world, and revealed God’s way of peace and servanthood. The Son of Man and Son of God, is the Shekinah shining in the people who carry this new gift in their hearts and their lives, wherever they go. Look, the presence of God is never far, and never failing – it is by our side and walks with you. Blessings on your journey! 

Readings for November 8, 2015
24th Sunday after Pentecost, Proper27B

• 1 Kings 17:8-16 and Psalm 146 
• Hebrews 9:24-28  
• Mark 12:38-44

"Stewardship and Discipleship," by Rev. Fred Kinsey
Robin Craig, a native of Houston, who calls herself “The Widow Lady,” spends much of her time, these days, helping other widows.  Just 11 days after her 21st wedding anniversary, her husband Danny died suddenly of undiagnosed cardiovascular and hypertensive disease. He was only 43.
 
“Once my husband died I was just thrown into this chaotic abyss,” Craig recalled in an interview, “with no instruction manual, no life jacket, no crash helmet – and just struggling to swim out of it.”  When a spouse dies, you find you often lose your best friend, confidant, lover, life partner, financial manager, or cook.  “I felt like half of my body was gone,” says Craig, “because I used to tell my husband, together we made one, really great capable person.”
 
“I think the hardest part for me has been making decisions on my own.  A spouse is a great bouncing board.  A spouse is the only person who has a vested interest in every single decision you make,” Craig pointed out.  “And when you are faced with making them on your own, … it's extremely difficult.”
 
Then something happened to Craig that had never occurred before, or since. “During my second week of widowhood when I was just such in shock I had this crazy premonition where my body jolted forward and I heard my own voice, saying with urgency, ‘I have to help the widows,’” she recalls.
 
And she did. A year later, Craig put together a radio program in Houston that featured a grief counselor and young widower from her church, and she became the TV producer for the next three years.  Later Craig expanded the program by getting some business sponsors together, creating “Help a Widow Day,” where widows could come together, talk about their problems, and support each other.  .... and from that she created, “Camp Widow” in San Diego, hosting a weekly web-TV program that offers comfort, support and encouragement to widows, and dealing with topics such as finances and dating.
 
Widows saturate our readings today, with stories of hope and self-sacrifice, amidst great trials and tribulations.  The Hebrew root for widow, “alam,” means, “one unable to speak,” because quite literally, a widow then was a woman without a voice, having no husband, in a culture that gave widows no legal status.  In Greek, widow means “forsaken” or “left without.”
 
The prophet Elijah, in our First Reading, is directed by the word of the LORD to visit the widow at Zarephath.  A severe drought has filled the land of Israel, and at the gate of the town, Elijah finds her gathering sticks with her starving son.  Her plan is to make her final meal before the two of them lay down to die!  Which is shockingly sad, but depicts well the way natural disasters disproportionately affect the poorest of our communities.
 
Elijah is gentle with her, asking at first only for a little water in a vessel, a common gift for strangers to receive.  But immediately as she turns to do this, Elijah adds, and if it wouldn’t be too much trouble, could you bring along a morsel of bread to eat?  He’s pushing the envelope, just enough, so that we now learn the widow has only enough provisions for her, and her child’s, last meal, and is probably so exhausted, and at the end of her rope, she is ready to die.  Elijah then gives her, what is also called in the New Testament, the greeting of the angels: “do not be afraid,” he says.  And he promises the widow of Zarephath, by the power of God, that her provisions will never run out, at least until the drought ends – and, says the text, “The jar of meal was not emptied, neither did the jug of oil fail, according to the word of the LORD that God spoke by Elijah.”
 
My own mom was lucky enough to have beaten the odds.  She was not cast into poverty when my dad died, but none-the-less, she experienced deep grief and loss, that changed over time, but never completely abated.  She said she sometimes felt like a fifth-wheel at gatherings they had previously attended together.  One thing she did, though, to help herself and those around her, was to develop a movie night with her other widow friends.  She ordered a new DVD from Netflix every week, and invited a room full of ladies to her apartment, who all had lots to share about being widows, and, knowing my mom, lots of laughs too.
 
We don’t know very much at all about the widow in our Gospel Reading.  Jesus watches her from afar, across the Kidron Valley from the Temple Mount.  Without a firsthand knowledge of her, the tradition of church history has moved-in to ‘name and claim’ her, usually making an example of her, for the purpose of stewardship; that is, for financial Stewardship; or more to the point, about our pledges to our congregations, or our weekly envelope giving, or our tithe, or simply, for our gift-giving in the offering plate. 
 
But the meager two pennies she puts in the temple treasury, it seems to me, is much more about her Discipleship than her Stewardship.  To understand, it helps to keep the widow’s story in the context of the entire scene of Jesus’ visit to the Temple, including the stories immediately before, and after his observation of the widow.  In the first verses of our reading just before, Jesus points out the showy-giving, and status-seeking of the community leaders, and how they are actually using the temple treasury to devour widow’s houses. 
 
So what does Jesus mean when he points out that, the poor widow has, put in everything she had …contributed out of her poverty, all she had to live on, …which is more than all the others who are contributing to the treasury… out of their abundance?! 
 
We cannot discount the sympathetic picture that Jesus portrays of the widow, that she gives, her whole life.  He’s definitely impressed with her, and her generous giving.  But probably not because Jesus thinks everybody should be emptying their pockets and their bank accounts, to zero, whenever the offering plates are passed around!  Without a greater plan for sharing, at the very least, that would be chaos. 
 
I think Jesus is both impressed, and grieved, watching the widow in the Temple from across the way – not unlike the variety of conflicted feelings many widows have after losing a spouse.  Jesus is impressed that she understands discipleship, that is, giving her whole life, for the widow is a clear foreshadowing of his own self-sacrifice on the cross, and the way of the cross all disciples are called to.  But Jesus is also grieved, because he knows that for this particular widow, her impressive gift will not find its mark or reap the reward she desires, because this particular Temple, corrupt as it had become, is about to be destroyed.  And that’s the very next story in Mark’s gospel: “Do you not see these great buildings,” Jesus asked his disciples as they gawked at the temple’s beauty?  “Not one stone will be left here upon another; all will be thrown down.”
 
This was Jesus’ way of predicting the historical destruction of the Temple a few years later, and also condemning the corrupt system that was no longer serving its people. 
 
And so, the Good News, I believe, is obvious for us: The widow in the Temple is impressive to Jesus because she emulates his own giving, of his whole life.  And the lesson for us, the readers of the Gospel story, is to know that we must not waste our discipleship on the corruption of false-sacrificial systems in our own neighborhoods and cities, wherever we live out our Discipleship, but rather to invest our whole lives in following the one who is the New Temple for us, Jesus the Christ.
 
Jesus is grieved for anyone, who like this widow, is doing the wrong thing for the right reason.  Her trust, unfortunately, is in a failing temple that is dying, will not rise again, and whose stones are still lying where they were thrown down.  But in the same breath, Jesus is inviting us to use our faith and our knowledge, not to be afraid, but to believe in the new temple that has been raised up by God, that is not a building, but is, the living Christ, a sanctuary not made by human hands, as our 2nd Reading says.  It’s not, first of all, about Stewardship, but about Discipleship.  And Christ, having offered himself as a sacrifice once for all, has already saved us and has set us free – free as disciples and followers, to give our whole lives to God.  

Readings for All Saints Day
November 1, 2015

• Isaiah 25:6-9 and Psalm 24 
• Revelation 21:1-6a 
• John 11:32-44

I Am God's Child, by Reverend Kinsey
Yesterday at my Moral Monday planning meeting, they had this ice-breaker where we were invited to talk with our neighbor for a couple minutes and find out why they had come.  What was their interest in this event?  So I turned to the person on my left to introduce myself, I’ll call him Greg, who looked perhaps a generation older than me, and was a member of the Jane Addams Senior Caucus.
 
Greg told me his story, I’m a WWII veteran, he said.  I was shot in the war, and almost killed.  I was willing to give my life to my country then, and I still am today.  I fought in the war because I believed in a country that affords us great opportunities, equality for all, and freedom.  But now I feel that all that is under threat today.  And I want to do something about it. 
 
Greg didn’t have a lot spring left in his step.  And like many veterans of that war, his hearing wasn’t all that great anymore either.  But, you couldn’t question his sincerity and commitment and his willingness to change the world.  I was proud to have met him, and to be sitting beside him.  His quest for life, even amidst the threat of death, was deeply moving to me.
 
Lazarus, the brother of Mary and Martha in our gospel, really had died, and was in the grave, a cave with a stone lying against it.  He was already smelly with the stench of decomposition, we are told by John, because it was now the 4th day of his entombment.  But never-the-less, Jesus prays to his motherly-Father, and then, called to Lazarus in a loud voice, to come out.  In the name of the powerful God and giver of life, come out, and live again! 
 
Today, on this All Saints Day, we not only recall, the words of life, and message of salvation of the gospel Good News, and how we’re joined to, all the baptized who have gone before us, those with us here, and those saints yet to come, but today, we will be witnesses to God’s powerful gracious gift of new life, as Raul is baptized, into the death and resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus the Christ. 
 
Now, Raul is not that old!  Not, for example, as old as I am!  But he’s no new-born babe either!  When was the last time we baptized an adult here at Unity?  Usually it’s a child, as in most Lutheran churches.  And so it’s always special when an adult comes forward, never having been baptized before, to desire this gift of new life.  And for Raul, battling cancer so bravely, this is indeed a special gift of life for him, and for all of us, to be part of. 
 
We’re not always so cognizant, so aware of our baptisms, of course.  Can you remember the day you were baptized, or even your baptismal date?  Do you remember your child’s baptism, or your parents, or your sibling’s baptisms?  But if I asked you about their birthdays, I’ll bet you’d know! 
 
So today, I want you to know this about your baptisms, “You are God’s child, deserving of love and respect, and God will use you to change the world, and raise you up to new life.” 
 
Do you believe that?  Are you confident of that?  If you are, I want you to say it with me: “I am God’s child, deserving of love and respect, and God will use me to change the world, and raise me up to new life.” 
 
And that’s what’s so compelling about the raising of Lazarus.  Even though he wasn’t resurrected to life everlasting in this story, he was given a 2nd chance for today, for the present moment, to live again with his sisters and his good friend Jesus.  And so Mary, kneeling at Jesus’ feet – like she did while Martha was washing dishes, and she was listening to his teaching – now pleads with Jesus, through her weeping, to do something!  Mary’s friends were also crying, and, Jesus was deeply moved too, says John. 
 
In fact Jesus’ words, that he was, “greatly disturbed in spirit and deeply moved,” may not be a strong enough translation of the Greek.  “Greatly disturbed in spirit,” is more of a strong mixture of passion and pain that comes from anger at Lazarus’ death.  And the second verb, “deeply moved,” is tied to a stirring up of oneself on the insides.  It can be used in a physical sense for stirring up deep dark waters, and signifies an internal disturbance that is akin to almost being physically sickened and disturbed. 
 
So Jesus is deeply sympathetic to the death of Lazarus.  He weeps too!  He is torn up, inside and out.  But he has come to demonstrate God’s power and gracious promise of new life.  He has come to, stir up the waters, and change some lives. 
 
And indeed, Lazarus does come out, his hands, feet, and face, bound and wrapped with the strips of grave clothes.  Then Jesus said to all of them gathered there, “Unbind him, and let him go.” 
 
Jesus raises us up to new life.  But we, the community, must take the next step, helping our sisters and brothers let go of their old lives that had bound them up.  Lazarus is raised by Jesus; Unbound by his family and friends; and is set free to once again serve God and the world.  This is the new life that we are given already here, in this world. 
 
In the resurrection with all the saints, we will see the vision of God’s new heaven.  That’s the revelation St John of Patmos had.  That a new Jerusalem, a new holy city, comes down out of heaven from God, after the first heaven and the first earth pass away.  John lived in a terribly difficult time for Christians.  In the beginning of the 2nd century, Christians were pacifists, and probably would be accused of being “do-gooders” today.  They were growing steadily as a movement, but they were also still a small minority in the Roman empire, an illegal religion.  Depending on the Emperor, they could be rounded up and arrested, and even killed for their faith. 

So, as you know, Revelation is full of deadly and gory images for the most part, until, that is, you get to this beautiful passage in chapter 21.  Despite the suffering John’s seven churches underwent, the promise of the resurrection and new life, and the new holy city coming down from God to live among mortals and be our new home, was an awesome gift to celebrate!  “God himself will be with them,” said John, and “[God] will wipe every tear from their eyes.  Death will be no more; mourning and crying and pain will be no more, for the first things [will have] passed away.” 
 
Whatever has bound us in the past and kept us from the baptismal promises of new life, we truly desire, are washed away.  In the death and resurrection of Christ we are made new persons.  We don’t have to fear death anymore, and that frees us up to live better, more giving, and more for-giving lives. 
 
“Write this, for these words are trustworthy and true,” says the voice from the throne.  “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give water as a gift from the spring of the water of life.” 
 
Raul is baptized in this water today, the water of life.  And we all are joined together with him, and with all the saints, to the life that never ends.  Unbind us, and let us go – so that we are free to live a new life in Christ Jesus, our LORD.