Readings for New Year's Eve, December 31, 2017

• Ecclesiastes 3:1-13 
• Luke 2:22-40

"Systems Update," Pastor Kinsey
“For everything there is a season,” says Ecclesiastes, writer of a cynical kind of wisdom in the bible.  “A time to be born, and a time to die; …a time to mourn, and a time to dance; …a time to keep silence, and a time to speak; …a time for war, and a time for peace.”  God has put a sense of the past and the future in our minds, he continues, but we can’t even understand what God has been doing – or what God’s up to!
 
This is great stuff – if, you’re a young college student, smarter than you’ve ever been before, and filled with book learning and lofting ideals, as you look out at the world around you, full of contradictions and in disarray.
 
I remember when I returned home from my liberal arts college education, not yet committed to what I wanted to do with it.  I had done my senior year in Heidelberg Germany, had traveled all over Europe and to the Holy Land, was in love with Herman Hess, German beer and rolling my own cigarettes, and, had a kind-of cynical Ecclesiastes attitude that, what gain is there from our toil and work?!  Like, what’s the point of it all? 
 
But my parents were not all that impressed with this brand of wisdom, and had no intention of letting me free-load off them for very long, no matter what level of philosophical sophistication I may have achieved.  So sitting me down, they asked me very calmly, what my plan was?  How was I planning to support myself?  What was the path I was taking for my life, right now? 
 
Well, I am thinking about going to seminary, I told them, but not quite yet.  First I’d like to get a job downtown Milwaukee, to save-up some money (I thought that would sound good, at least!).  But, you know, to get back and forth to work I need some transportation.  Can you buy me a motorcycle for that?  Well, it’s cheaper than a car, and doesn’t use as much gas, either – that’s a good thing, right?!  I mean, I was penniless, after all! 
 
Well, that pushed all the wrong buttons for my parents, and they let me know in no uncertain terms that, there would be no motorcycle coming from them! And if I wanted a job like that, there were enough of those kind nearby, that I could walk to. 
 
They had a different understanding of, what season it was, than I did(!) and a different understanding of God’s plan for my life – if I wanted to be their son!  And it didn’t include free-loading off of them, or exploiting a life of privilege.  And it certainly didn’t include a cynical know-it-all attitude either. 
 
Perhaps this is a familiar story for you as you think back to your youth, though for others, you may never have taken that kind of rebellious and reckless road.  In the end though, we all have our own family traditions and expectations that we must learn to follow, or not.  What are the traditions you were brought up with?  Did they work for you?  Have you accepted them, or maybe changed a few?  On what do you base the traditions and mores you hold-to, in your family now?
 
Jesus was brought up in traditions of the sacrificial system of his heritage.  In this post-Christmas gospel story from Luke, we learn that one of those traditions is taking your new born son to the Temple to make a Thank Offering, usually on the 40th day of birth, because, as it says in Exodus 13, “Every firstborn male shall be designated as holy to the Lord.” 
 
And the verse just before this reading recalls that, just like his cousin John the Baptist, Jesus was circumcised 8 days after being born.  It seems that Mary and Joseph were nothing if not loyal and faithful Jews, who participated in all the ceremonies. 
 
For Jesus’ Presentation, they offered a sacrifice according to what is stated in the law of the Lord: which was, preferably, a lamb, along with a pigeon or a turtledove.  But, if you couldn’t afford a lamb, you could offer two pigeons, or, two turtledoves, which is what Mary and Joseph, part of the working poor, did.   
 
And it was there in the temple that Mary and Joseph were amazed, says Luke, with what the local prophets, Simeon and Anna told them.  Simeon was ecstatic that his life-long-dream was fulfilled by laying eyes on Jesus, whom he said was “God’s Messiah… a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people Israel.” 
 
But Simeon also had a kind-of warning to Mary: “This child is destined for the falling and the rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be opposed, so that the inner thoughts of many will be revealed…” 
 
I think my parents understood this revelation of Jesus, when they confronted and pressed me for my post-college plans, because, by doing so, they helped reveal my own inner thoughts, and how self-serving they were, and also how glib and entitled it sounded to my own ears, after I had actually said it out loud! 
 
Jesus helps to reveal our inner thoughts, so that we can measure our true worth, and so we can act on our conscience, and learn to make better decisions, for our own lives, and for our neighbors.  Unfortunately, this is something the highest elected leader of our land seems incapable of doing!  Experts have repeated confirmed his self-serving narcissism.  And there doesn’t seem to be much of a difference for him between inner and outer thoughts – which is a problem for developing a healthy self-conscience.  But that doesn’t mean we should give up the practice ourselves. 
 
Our inner thoughts and our conscience, the more they are revealed, will help to bring redemption to us, both individually and collectively as a people, just as the prophet Anna hoped and prayed for, in the Temple. 
 
Jesus was born into the sacrificial system of Israel – a system that all religions and all nations practice in their own different and varying ways.  The idea is that we make a sacrifice – give from the first-fruits of all that God has given us – to show our thanks and give praise.  But, it is often corrupted – by the giver, for personal gain – and by leaders and shepherds of their flocks, into a system of keeping the rulers in power, beyond accountability, whether it’s elected leader’s seats in Congress, bishops and pastors, the CEO of a company, or whomever.  And if we fail to question this, no inner thoughts are revealed, and it becomes institutionalized.  And in the seasons of its demise, we all participate, by agreeing that something or someone who may be blocking or protesting it, should be sacrificed -demonized- knowing instinctively that the system will be allowed to right itself, and a kind-of temporary peace will arise, for a time.  But at what cost?
 
Jesus was able to bring a freeing redemption of these personal and institutional corruptions, because he originates from, outside our human systems, yet dared to become human.  That is, God gave us God’s Son, to enter our world, and reveal our inner thoughts, desires, and jealousy’s, in order to reveal the root of our sin.  He did it of course, by letting himself be crucified as the sinless one, the innocent victim.  He was a teacher of God’s ways, a Savior and healer, who was publically humiliated and sacrificed, to restore the Roman peace, but a false peace.  If this doesn’t reveal our sin, that we all participate in, what will?! 
 
So, if we call ourselves Christian, this is the message we must convey.  For this is the release and freedom, from our world of sin, we all long for, as we ring in a New Year, later today.  Jesus brings us a new way, a new tradition of being God’s chosen and holy people, one that is not built on the sacrificial systems we have depended on, and benefitted by, in the past.  But Jesus has revealed what true sacrifice looks like, that is not, corrupting or self-destructive – and we have been entrusted with its heritage. 
 
What is the new direction in which you would like to walk in the New Year, in response to this good news?  What are the possibilities for new life, for the world, toward which we yearn? 
 
I pray that we would leave behind the traditions of unholy sacrifice and destructive demonizing, and may learn the ways of peace and justice, love and forgiveness, from our Savior, our crucified and risen Lord, as we crossover into this New Year together!  

Readings for Christmas Eve (I), 2017

• Isaiah 9:2-7  
• Luke 2:1-20

"Fake News," Pastor Fred Kinsey
“Fake News!”  One of the top fake news stories shared on social media last year was, “Pope Francis shocks world, endorses Donald Trump for president.” 
 
Fake News was the Collins dictionary word of the year – though, of course, there are many lists. 
 
Some fake news was truly fun and entertaining. Other fake news alarming. And many are some combination of the two, like:
NASA says, earth will be plunged into darkness for 15 days in November!  Pop star Lady Gaga was arrested for criticizing first lady Melania Trump.  HIV has been detected in bananas sold at Wal-Mart.  
Passers-by came to the aid of comedian Bill Murray when his car broke down in Rochester, N.H. …also in Marion, Ohio; and Shakopee, Minn.; and a number of other cities. 
All totally Pants on Fire, false!
 
I don’t want to belabor the point, on this holy night.  We all have festivities to get to.  But the problem of fake news – it struck me as I re-read the story of Jesus’ birth in preparation for tonight – is that “Angels” might seem like a source of fake news, today.  Now a-days, after-all, we have a healthy skepticism of old-world celestial beings!  Some people believe in Guardian Angels, while others think angels are a figment of our imaginations.  No polarization intended – but, you see the dilemma! 
 
I’m not sure it will help, but maybe knowing that, according to the Bible – which has stories of angels from the very beginning, in Genesis – angels were often mistaken for the guy next door.  Well, maybe not a neighbor exactly, so much as a stranger from out of town, but definitely a living breathing human being! 
 
Jacob wrestled with “a man,” who only later in the story is called an angel.  Three visitors came to the home of Abraham and Sarah, and, only after preparing a feast for them, do they disappear, and as the writer of Hebrews in the New Testament says of this event, ‘Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by doing that some have entertained angels without knowing it.’
 
Pants on fire, Fake News?!? 
 
My contention is this:  Angels provide, neither fake news, nor facts.  Angels give us revelations, whether it comes from flesh and blood humans, or a mirage of a heavenly host of angels. 
 
Most New Testament scholars all agree that this beautiful birth story of a first-born son to Mary, is created by Luke, who writes some 50 plus years, after the death of Jesus.  But, I hasten to add, not in a fake news kind of way!  What is certainly true is that Jesus of Nazareth was a real flesh and blood human being himself, and Mary was his mother.  No one, though, has verified the shepherd’s story of a heavenly host of angels visiting them, to this day, as we require of journalists.  But, the good news and great joy for all the people, I would argue, has been born in many hearts, and more importantly, in the world, ever since. 
 
And being born in the city of David is true, as the foreshadowing, of the final chapter in Jesus story, when Jesus fulfills the hope of God’s chosen people, that all the other nations, will receive the Good News of salvation, and will be adopted on to ‘the tree of life,’ as Paul, a Jew himself, envisioned it.  And so, the kingdom and realm of God comes to all the Gentiles, in Jesus.  He is a Savior, and the very real expectations of a Messiah in the First Century, are met in him. 
 
And we are the judge, the living example, of that hope, today and every day, in what we believe in, and how we live that out.  What is your fear around fake news?  What is the way you can model living out the good news for the sake of the world? 
 
Do you believe that angel’s  a source of real, or fake news?!  We might have heated arguments about that.  But what is true is the ‘good news of a great joy’ – that Jesus was born to peasant parents in a manger, knew the hard realities of life that we do, and in the cross and resurrection, he changed the world. 
 
We know that, ‘the winners write history.’  And yet, this story of a lovable loser is one of the grandest of exceptions!  A king, and Son of the most high God is born in a lowly manger to an unwed mother.  God becomes human – not as the living dead, a zombie – but as ‘the most human of humans,’ to light the way for us, and forgive our hurting of one another, and by his walk, demonstrate the ethic of love,  showing us the way forward, inviting us on a journey of trusting one another… that our neighbor, and even a stranger from another town, are just as human as we are, and desire and deserve the same basic things out of this life as we do! 
 
The message of Jesus is, Love, peace and joy!  …Anything else is Fake News, no matter who says it – and maybe especially when it comes from the highest, and richest, and most powerful places in our land. 
 
And so – Angels, with news of a king born in a lowly manger!  Somehow that seems more trustworthy and true to me today, than all the reckless tweets bombarding us daily, urging us to simply ‘trust him.’   
 
I’m with Mary, pondering the good news we hear.  It seems more important than ever, to treasure in our hearts what is really true for us today, and not be thrown off track for how we live in the world together. 
 
Tonight we ponder this: “to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord.  This will be a sign for you: you will find a child wrapped in bands of cloth and lying in a manger.” 
 
And the heavenly host sings:
                "Glory to God in the highest heaven,
                and on earth peace among those whom [God] favors!"

Readings for Advent 4B, December 24, 2017

• 2 Samuel 7:1-11, 16  
• Luke 1:46b-55
• Romans 16:25-27   
• Luke 1:26-38

​
"Perplexed and Pondering," Rev. Fred Kinsey
In our first parish, in the first month of our first year, just green out of seminary, having arrived in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula at Christmas time, a totally foreign and rural community– we received a message.  The messenger was the Church Council President.  And the message was, ‘I don’t want you to worry,’ but the twins, who just happen to live next door to the church, well, one of them is pregnant, and the twins are only 16 years old!  They were just as perplexed as we were, and, as you look now too, Pastor! 
 
The Church Council President just happened to be their uncle.  And that’s the kind of news that can’t be kept secret, for very long, anyway, in a small town of 400 people.  I think, as the new pastors, he was kind of feeling us out, for how we might take the news.  And if we passed the test – including if we would agree to do the baptism – we would then be invited to meet with the expecting mother. 
 
There were no plans for marriage, at least not right away.  They were only Junior’s in High School!  Though a few years later, we would indeed perform their service in the very church we heard the news, that Christmas.  The mother-and-father-to-be, had already crossed the hurdle of whether or not keep the baby.  And the plan was for the parents of the mother-to-be, or grandparents, would take a big role in raising the child.  It would work out.  Fear not young teenager, you are favored!  And of course, yes, we would do the baptism.  The child should not be punished, for whatever anyone thinks of an unplanned pregnancy, and birth, to unwed teenagers! 
 
And since we just happened to be a clergy couple…, when the mother and grandmother requested to talk with the female pastor, I valiantly stepped out of the way, to let Kim go and meet them, alone, and hear their story! 
 
So, I wasn’t there, but I think Kim’s message was basically, Hello favored one!  The Lord is with you.  Do not be afraid!  Which, of course, is the message that the angel Gabriel brings to Mary.  Unfortunately, back then, there were apparently no female angels available to Mary! 
 
Understandably, we often take little notice of this greeting by Gabriel – “Good morning, favored one! The Lord is with you; Do not be afraid!” – which is overshadowed by the main message that, she has been chosen to birth the Savior!  But what if we saw it as closer to the meat of the good news, in Mary’s extensive and quite detailed story in Luke?  What if we see it as the marker it is, for the in-breaking of the power and love of God, to come into our lives and our world?!  Angels – or messengers of God – are startling, and unexpected, even though they appear in Bible stories as the regular guy next door, or perhaps an out-of-town-stranger, anyway!  That’s how it happened to Abraham and Sarah, to Jacob and Daniel, long before Mary.  A message from God has arrived!
 
Her initial reaction, says Luke of Gabriel’s message, was, much perplexed!  We don’t really know how long Mary chewed on these words, a message which I imagine made her uncomfortable, took her aback, and seemed an unreal intrusion into her simple rural life.  She was likely a young teenager, but that was actually, ‘of the normal age,’ when one was given in marriage, with a dowry, to become a mother.  But certainly, this news from the Angel Gabriel was not the way she would have imagined it! 
 
Was it comforting that Elizabeth was also just 6 months pregnant, ahead of her?  Maybe when she went to visit her older relative, “her kinswoman,” that was the time Mary really warmed up to the idea of being the God-bearer, as the Orthodox say.  Elizabeth tells Mary that her child, John the Baptist, leaped in her womb, at her greeting.
 
And Gabriel says, “This son of yours will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his ancestor David.”  No one at that time could have understood, all that might mean exactly, including Mary, even if it were to come true!  Though rumors of ‘a Messiah that would save the people’ from their lowly, over-taxed, and oppressed predicament, were certainly swirling around, more or less, all the time. 
 
So, Mary’s question to Gabriel is pretty level-headed, I’d say: You know I’m a virgin, right?  So how can I be pregnant?! 
 
Don’t worry, says Gabe!  The Holy Spirit will take care of everything.  If Elizabeth can bear a child in her advanced age, then you know that nothing will be impossible with God!  Some, very tangible proof, that Mary could ponder, as her own belly grew full with Jesus.
 
Does Mary understand and accept the angel’s message right then and there?  It seems a lot to absorb!  I’ve found that people want to at least sleep on news, that will so significantly changes their lives! 
 
But then again, when I was 13 years old, I had some very strong beliefs, and faith, already.  Maybe Mary had already caught the vision, that God had in mind for her and her people?!  “Here am I,” Luke has Mary say, “let it be with me according to your word.” 
 
Maybe then, the reassurance and words of comfort that Gabriel offers, are the most important part of his message?!  Maybe nothing can be accomplished without first building on the confidence of trusting that everything will be alright.  That we have nothing to fear, if we have a God for whom nothing is impossible!  Do not fear!
 
Jesus himself – being conceived on this message, grows up into it, as the Messiah, and he also uses the same, “fear not” with the disciples and others, at crucial and transformational moments when lives are about to change – like when he calls James and John to be his disciples; when the crowds gave up hope that Jesus could save Jairus’ bed-ridden daughter, because he was delayed healing another woman; and to all the listeners of his Sermon on the Plain.  “Do not be afraid… I, the Lord, am with you.” 
 
God comes at unexpected times, breaking into our lives to change what is broken, what is intolerable, what is unjust, and births and creates new life for us, as parents – sometimes of our own dear children, and sometimes of things we may not have even envisioned were possible before! 
 
The expectations of change and new life we have, are often filled with uncertainty, even hard work, and maybe sometimes with a little bit of luck!  The gestation period of expectant-waiting, may give us time to get used to the idea.  But there’s nothing like a friend or older relative, to step up and act as our ‘guardian angel,’ and reassure us that, ‘the Lord is with you, O favored one; do not be afraid!’ 
 
So take heart, you servants of God, if Mary can do it, so can we!  “Here am I!  Let it be with me according to your word, Lord God.”  Come, Lord Jesus! 

Readings for the Third Sunday of Advent, December 17, 2017

• Isaiah 61:1-4, 8-11  
• Psalm 126
• 1 Thessalonians 5:16-24   
• John 1:6-8, 19-28

Barely Listening, Rev. Kinsey
“Upon first read,” notes New Testament Professor Carla Works, (Wesley Theological Seminary in Washington, D.C.) “the short imperative phrases in [Paul’s 1st Letter to the] Thessalonians sound like the instructions that I might rehearse for my kids before dropping them off at a friend’s house, ‘Always be respectful.  Listen closely.  Pick up after yourself.  Say ‘please’ and ‘thank you.’ Call me if you need anything.  In fact, just call me period.’  The list goes on.  Most of the time those words are not even heard,” the professor says, “because my children know them by heart.  They have heard them repeatedly.”  But, she says, “Doing them is another matter!”  And Professor Works concludes: “I suspect that many of us read Paul’s list of final exhortations in a similar way -- barely listening.”
(http://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?commentary_id=3500)
 
Ok, that’s a challenge I can’t refuse!  Let’s take another listen: “Rejoice always,” says Paul; “pray without ceasing,  give thanks in all circumstances; … Do not quench the Spirit.  Do not despise the words of prophets, but test everything; hold fast to what is good; abstain from every form of evil.”
 
This is the ending, the conclusion, of what is, probably Paul’s first and earliest letter of them all, that we have in the New Testament.  And because Paul’s letters are earlier by a generation, than the four gospels and other New Testament writings, it makes this the earliest writing, period, and the closest to the historical Jesus. 
 
In the middle of these seven ‘imperative phrases,’ as Professor Works calls them, these exhortations, or good news declarations, Paul says, “for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.”  Our attitude and our actions are to be patterned after Christ Jesus, who is the embodiment of God’s will in the world, for us.  The joy, the unceasing prayer, giving thanks, honoring the prophets, testing everything, and abstaining from evil, all stem from the one who lived and died as God’s son.  And in his rising, our hope for new life is also grounded and assured.  And this gives us reason to rejoice, and do all the rest, because we live in the new age of Christ’s coming, and hopeful anticipation of God’s realm, fully revealed. 
 
The church in Thessalonica, in northern Greece, was made up of converts from polytheism.  They worshiped many gods in the pantheon of Greco-Roman culture before hearing the Word of God, from this self-proclaimed zealous Jew and follower of Jesus, Paul of Tarsus, a fellow Roman citizen.  All of them, Paul included, grew up in this empire of Julius Caesar, who had considered himself divine, and his heir, Emperor Octavian, who was hailed as, son of god.  And so, for the fledgling church in Thessalonica, the capital city of Macedonia, Greece, and these new followers of Jesus, who professed him, as ‘king’ and ‘Son of God’ – they were technically committing treason, which Paul noted, drew ‘persecution,’ in some cases, at the hands of the authorities.  And Paul made special note, already in chapter 1, that their witness, “turning to God from idols,” as he says, “to serve a living and true God,” (Thess. 1:9), is an example that believers for the whole rest of the district, and beyond, were admiring, and taking courage from.
 
In our gospel reading, “witnessing,” was John the Baptist’s primary role as well, which is why his story is recalled today in Advent.  John’s witness is first of all, telling the truth, that he, himself, is not the light, nor the Messiah.  But 2) his witness is “the voice of one crying out in the wilderness,” as Isaiah proclaimed, “make straight the way of the Lord.”  And thirdly, his witness is that “one who is coming after me,” is the Messiah, the one who will baptize with fire and the Holy Spirit, and not just water, and that he, John, “is not worthy to stoop down and untie the thong of Jesus’ sandal!” 
 
None of the religious authorities wanted to hear this, or wanted to believe him!  Yet John testified none-the-less!  John insisted, because, these were not normal times either!  And the truth had to be told, when God was calling you to stand up to the false appearances, like who is the true Messiah and Son of God! 
 
And so, the observation that Professor Works made about her kids in relation to Paul’s letter, was, I’m not sure if my kids are even listening to my admonitions when I drop them off for a play-date.  But witness to them is none-the-less what’s called for!  Teaching them how to act is a full time job as parent.  She gives them the same pitch every time, and they know them by heart, even as they roll their eyes to hear them repeated, one more time.  But, as mom knows, the hard thing is actually doing them!  The same thing goes for Paul’s church in Thessalonica.  They’ve heard all the admonitions before.  And we know this because they pop up in all of Paul’s letters, and in the gospels.  We know them by heart, but doing them is hard. 
 
But that’s Paul’s witness exactly!  He doesn’t tell us to rejoice in all things because it’s easy.  But because it’s important as followers of Jesus.  He doesn’t tell us to abstain from every form of evil, and not to repay anyone evil for evil –– because that’s easy, but because it’s important, as followers of Jesus. 
 
Another way to say this is:  Following Jesus is not just about professing faith, but about living it too. 
 
This week I can’t help but think the most blatant example of repaying others with evil, is the so-called Tax Reform bill.  Folks, this is an attack on the very best values of our society, based, as St. Paul says, on testing everything, holding fast to what is (the common) good; and abstaining from every form of evil. 
 
I think it needs to be called out, that the basis of this reckless bill – cutting taxes for the already very wealthy, at the expense of social programs that enliven working families – is that those pushing the bill are sold on the idea that working families and the poor deserve! what they have.  This notion that the 99% of us are “just spending every darn penny we have, whether it’s on booze, or women, or movies,” as Senator Grassley from Iowa has said, has permeated a majority of our representatives in Washington.
 
I’m sorry, but this is not any witness that I can recognize, as a witness to the teachings of Jesus the Messiah!  Or as the prophet Isaiah said in our first reading, “I the LORD love justice, I hate robbery and wrongdoing.”  The scriptures stand up for something quite different!
 
Or as the Rev. Dr. William Barber said in an open letter to Congress, “the country’s poor and disenfranchised, along with moral leaders and people of conscience nationwide, call on you to stop the gross act of violence these bills would commit against our nation’s most vulnerable to serve its richest and most powerful… Our nation’s soul is at stake.” 
 
19Do not quench the Spirit,” said Paul;  20“Do not despise the words of prophets,  21but test everything; hold fast to what is good;  22abstain from every form of evil.”
 
We all know the admonitions and good news declarations by heart.  Yet doing them is not easy.  But following Jesus is all about doing, and living out our faith, with joy and without returning evil for evil. 
 
On this Third Sunday of Advent, let us prepare for the coming of the Messiah, the humble Savior born in a manger, by witnessing to who Jesus truly is – and truly witnessing to the light of the world.
 
Let us be that light – for our children, and in the face of all those who would try to put our light out – “holding fast to what is good; and abstaining from every form of evil!”  This is our unceasing prayer! 

Readings for the First Sunday in Advent, December 3, 2017

• Isaiah 64:1-9 
• Psalm 80:1-7, 17-19 
• 1 Corinthians 1:3-9  
• Mark 13:24-37

"Where is God?" by Pastor Kinsey
Where is God?  This is the plea from the prophet Isaiah in our first reading. “O that you would tear open the heavens and come down, so that the mountains would quake at your presence…” 
 
God’s chosen people had returned from the Exile in Babylon, to find their beloved city of Jerusalem still in taters – the stones of the First Temple thrown down, and the city burned up.  The generation of Israelites that had been carted away by the marauders had passed on, and it was their children who were returning – coming home, with the hope that all their sorrows of being disenfranchised, treated as no-people, with no status, in a foreign country, who made them renounce their former lives, would vanish, and they would regain their status and land, their reputations and religion.  But life was just as hard, or harder, when they returned, for they faced massive rebuilding – starting with their Temple and their homes – in order to somehow rebuild their lives and their families, their economy and their country. 
 
Please Lord, tear open the sky’s to come down and help us!  Bring earthquake and fire to our enemies, to show them, who is God, that “the nations might tremble at your presence!”
 
When times are tough, even those who are not church going, or who have never practiced a their faith, may cry out to God for help!  When we lose a job and a family income – Lord, help us!  For all those in Houston and Florida and the Caribbean this summer, those who faced the brunt of major hurricanes, I’m sure prayers were thrown up for God to come down from the heavens to save them!  From fires in California, Lord help us!  From the harmful Tax Reform bill, Lord, please help us!
 
Where is God?!
 
This was also the plea of Jesus’ followers, and all of Judea – Lord, help us.  The gospel of Mark recalls Jesus’ words, warning of the destruction of the Second Temple, this time by the Romans, if the Judeans didn’t repent and turn around.  “But in those days [to come], the sun will be darkened and the moon will not give its light,” Jesus says, “and the stars will be falling from heaven, and the powers in the heavens will be shaken.”  These apocalyptic signs sound a lot like hurricane Irma that devastated Puerto Rico, but they actually were relying on Israel’s prophets of old. 
 
How else to describe the threats to their culture and community, in the 1st century in Palestine-Israel, but with the words of Daniel and Ezekiel?  Mark’s gospel was composed, right around the time of the destruction of the Temple in 70 A.D., and he structured his gospel around this chapter 13, we read from today, called the Little Apocalypse.  Less than forty years after the death of Jesus, the Christians and Jews were thrown into chaos, and scattered around the Mediterranean, when the Temple was once again destroyed, a 2nd time. 
 
Where is God?  Had God abandoned them? Jesus told his disciples, “Keep awake,” for “about that day or hour [when the Son of Man is coming] no one knows, neither the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.”  But don’t worry, God is with you.  “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away,” says Jesus. 
 
So, even in destruction, God raises up.
 
Many people will know the story of Elie Wiesel who survived the German WWII Death Camps and wrote a book about it, called Night.  The book centered around this question of, Where is God?  He openly questioned where God was while 6 million of his fellow Jews were being slaughtered, as did so many others.  But he also found the seeds of an answer, the only one he could offer up, in one of the most awful experiences he had there.  Wiesel, and all the imprisoned were forced to watch three fellow Jews being hanged to death one day.  And they were made to, keep awake, and watch, and, one-by-one, pass in front of them as they “struggled between life and death.”  And when Wiesel passed by, the man behind him said, “Where is God now?” 
 
And that’s when “I hear a voice within me answer him,” Wiesel writes, “Were is he? Here He is – He is hanging here on this gallows. . . ” (Night, Bantam Books, 1982, pp. 61-62.)
 
At the time, Wiesel felt God had abandoned him and his people.  God had died.  And it changed him forever.  Though, arguably, he found something new, in a God who does not respond to, works righteousness, the way in which he had been brought up, a God who cannot “tear open the heavens” at the drop of a hat, whenever we call out, but asks us to keep awake – and never forget!
 
For us, we know this experience in Jesus’ cry from the cross, ‘why have you abandoned me?’  And, as we know, the answer won’t come by an apocalyptic arm tearing through the heavens and lifting Jesus off the cross.  But first, in the words of a Roman soldier who was at the crucifixion, forced to watch, and he can’t help but see and exclaim, “truly this is the Son of God.”  And it began to dawn on the world, three days later, from the cold dark tomb, with the birth of a hope given to the world, that we all have the promise of new life with God, in and with the Son of God who loves us, and who came to live with, the powerless and the humble.
 
We heard it loud and clear last Sunday in our gospel, too: “whenever you did it one of the least of these – feeding the hungry, visiting the imprisoned, welcoming the immigrant – these, who are members of my family,” says Jesus, “you did it to me.”    
 
God in Jesus, is found in the humble and meek, the poor and abandoned.  God is not in the so-called, ‘Christmas gift’ to the rich and powerful, announced from the White House this weekend – but in the least of these, with the suffering. 
 
How do we build this world, that God has revealed to us in Christ Jesus? 
 
Where is God… today? 
 
Today, we begin a new church year, and our gospel readings will follow the Gospel of Mark.  And for Mark, it’s all about keeping your ears and your eyes open.  “Listen,” the one who has ears will hear, and the one who has eyes will see!  The healing of the deaf and the recovery of sight to the blind, are signs that the realm and kingdom of God are near.  If we keep awake, even in the darkest times, we know God will be there with us.  If we do this together as the people of God, if we keep awake even when the sun is darkened, the Just One will arrive! 
 
And so we wait for the birth of a Savior to come!  The Nativity scene was set-up outside yesterday, and the garlands are beginning to be hung.  The azure blue of our paraments and banners is for Advent, meaning, the Arrival of the Lord, the color of anticipation and hope, these four weeks of waiting. 
 
Where is God?  God goes to a humble manger, to be born into our hearts, and into the world.  God has conquered, even our most feared enemy death, and so, no matter the opposition, we keep awake, knowing the Day is near, the Son of Man, the New Human Being, is coming!