Past the glass, and shotgun shacks
And violent, faceless, racist facts
Underneath these wars, underneath these walls
it’s shining underneath
Oh, I’ve been waiting for love to give birth
New life to show pain it’s worth
All of God’s children shining underneath
Welcome to the gathering of St. Mark’s Church (Sunday worship under one roof)
Sunday, November 15th 2020.
Thessalonians 5:1-11
1 Now concerning the times and the seasons, brothers and sisters, you do not need to have anything written to you. 2 For you yourselves know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. 3 When they say, “There is peace and security,” then sudden destruction will come upon them, as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman, and there will be no escape! 4 But you, beloved, are not in darkness, for that day to surprise you like a thief; 5 for you are all children of light and children of the day; we are not of the night or of darkness. So then let us not fall asleep as others do, but let us keep awake and be sober. Since we belong to the day, let us be sober, and put on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet the hope of salvation. Therefore encourage one another and build up each other, as indeed you are doing.
Together, gathered by the God of Jesus Christ, let us be awake to see the day dawning. The light that heralds the day of God is the light of Christ, the light characterised by faith, hope and love. Though the darkness of the night seems to go on without end, as the world aches in pain of a world hurting and broken, let us put on the light of Christ, let faith, hope and love shine through us. So let us worship to awake to the light of Christ, to prepare to see Christ anew birthing a new world!
I invite you now to a time of prayerful reflection.
Prayerful Reflection: Music: All of God’s children by Jon Foreman
Praying at Gethsemane by He Qi
I believe in a world that’s beyond me
Past the glass, and shotgun shacks
And violent, faceless, racist facts
Underneath these wars, underneath these walls
it’s shining underneath
Oh, I’ve been waiting for love to give birth
New life to show pain it’s worth
All of God’s children shining underneath
Song:
Welcome and Notices:
Praying the Psalm: We will pray a psalm together. Before we do, let me give an explanation. This psalm is laboured to say the least. It is laboured in the sense that this prayer has no conclusion, no solution to the affliction or hardship faced. The cruelty and malice of those who seek his downfall are sickening. The words and movement of the prayer imbues a real sense of desperation, mauled and tattered. God is implored for intervention. The urgency of the appeal is heart wrenching and disheartening. It’s really felt in those last lines “Lord do not delay!” There is real hope that God will deliver him from the affliction yet there is realism that the day is not known.
Family of God, can you identify with such urgency and desperation in your lives? Perhaps you may be in such situation now where the end can’t come soon enough. Do you know of someone, some people, who are in such situation of real desperation, in circumstances of real evil? But perhaps we are in a situation where these words seem so distant and alien to our lives so much so we glare over unmoved. Family of God, the children of the light, let us pray this psalm together for ourselves, for others, in desperation. Let us implore God with urgency. Let us also pray this psalm that we are delivered from our indifference and our complacency that we are awaken to our neighbours.
Psalm 70 (NIV):
Hasten, O God, to save me;
Lord, come quickly to help me.
May those who want to take my life
be put to shame and confusion;
May those who relish my downfall
be turned back in disgrace.
May those who say to me, “Aha! Aha!”
turn back because of their shame.
But may all who seek you
rejoice and be glad in you;
may those who long for your saving help always say,
“The Lord is great!”
5 But as for me, I am poor and needy;
come quickly to me, O God.
You are my help and my deliverer;
Lord, do not delay.
Prayer for Others:
We respond by singing the Lord’s Prayer together [offering to be brought up during the chorus “Amen”]:
Offering and Dedication Prayer:
Song:
Scripture: Matthew 25:1-13 “Then the kingdom of heaven will be like this. Ten bridesmaids took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were foolish, and five were wise. When the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them; but the wise took flasks of oil with their lamps. As the bridegroom was delayed, all of them became drowsy and slept. But at midnight there was a shout, “Look! Here is the bridegroom! Come out to meet him.’ Then all those bridesmaids got up and trimmed their lamps. The foolish said to the wise, “Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.’ But the wise replied, “No! there will not be enough for you and for us; you had better go to the dealers and buy some for yourselves.’ And while they went to buy it, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went with him into the wedding banquet; and the door was shut. Later the other bridesmaids came also, saying, “Lord, lord, open to us.’ But he replied, “Truly I tell you, I do not know you.’ Keep awake therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour.
Sermon Reflection: As we begin, it is important that we remind ourselves of the pressure amounting on Jesus. He has been in the midst of a heated argument with the authorities who claim to be leaders of the people, representative of God on earth. Jesus has been at them challenging their insincerity, corruption and exploitation of the people and therefore, unfaithfulness to the God they claim to serve. Jesus has been unmasking them of their hypocrisy. Not long before, they have resolved that the only way to rid of Jesus, is to kill him by shaking hands with the powers that oppress their nation.
So pressure is building up. There is a great tension in the air – almost tangible. Now under such circumstances brewing, Jesus turns his attention to his followers. He begins to teach them in the midst of this impending doom, what the kingdom of God is like in contrast to the kingdom that plots against all that is true, all that is beautiful, all that is worth dying for. Jesus sketches the new world God promises in him for us all underneath a world that is violent, indifferent, partisan. Jesus sketches with urgency that his followers, his disciples would have the eyes to see it shining underneath the rubble, so that they can welcome the glimpses of this world of hope when it appears.
Jesus tells a parable employing the image of a wedding to reveal something of the world God is bringing about. The image of a wedding is an appropriate one for the kingdom of God. There are other instances where it is used to speak of it. Do you remember where Jesus turns water into wine? This was at a wedding and it was deemed to be the first sign of the kingdom of God breaking in. In the Old Testament, especially in the writings of the prophets, often the metaphor of bride and groom is used, husband and wife, to bring to expression what God intends in his love for us.
This metaphor reaches its fullness in the final book of the Scriptures, Revelation. The vision of a wedding feast is expressed poetically to envision the restoration of the relationship between God and humanity, the coming together of heaven and earth, the new world. It reads: “Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. 2 And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. 4 He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away. And he who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” (Revelation 21:1-5)
So as we attend to this parable it is important for us to capture that sense of hopefulness, the rejoicing, the longing, great expectation. The hope, joy and the longing arises from that sense of new beginning, the new chapter, the new journey, that a wedding embarks on. Also it lifts our eyes from the present to look into the horizon of new birth, family, a home. Then when we read Jesus’ parable in this light, we can sense the anticipation building as the bridesmaids wait for the groom for the wedding to begin. For the rejoicing, the possibility of a new beginning, a new journey, a making of a home, the very thing that they have been longing and hoping and expecting for – the bride and groom – for this day to arrive, they are waiting.
While there is this hope of a new beginning, the wait is in the night. Any waiting can feel long and difficult but waiting in the night? Of course, the night here represents the dark times. Sometimes with all the violence, hatred, falsehood, intolerance, indifference, neglect and exhaustion overshadowing and overwhelming us, it is difficult to even imagine that there will be an end to it. It is hard to even hope that this night of horror and terror will give way to the dawning light of new day, for peace and wholeness for our world, our lives, our community.
Yet Jesus urges us to wait, for the new day is coming. Just as the bridemaids who kept the light of the lamp going, Jesus urges us to keep shining the light in the places of darkness. In the night, when darkness is thick, as a lamp is lit, the light shines and almost it seems it peels back the cover of darkness to reveal what is hidden by it. Just like that, Jesus urges us to keep the light shining to reveal to the world that there is a new world of hope and promise ever so dawning underneath the cover of darkness as promised by God of Jesus Christ. So if we believe Christ to be our light, then the light we shine is always faith, hope and love. The work of justice and truth, the work of compassion and emapthy, the work of making home for one another to belong together.
But it is not just work. Just as Jesus differentiates between those who sleep and those who are awake, between what is foolish and what is wise, what Jesus refers to the light of the lamp must also incorporate a kind of being rather than just doing. And this way of being that is wise, I believe, has something to do with keeping the embers of our heart burning. Keeping watch over the embers of our heart from burning out. Keeping our heart warm. Keeping our heart from growing cold. Keeping our heart from becoming indifferent. Keeping our heart from becoming complacent. Keeping our heart to anticipate. Keeping our heart to pound with urgency and desperation to see the new day dawn, for the groom to arrive, for heaven and earth to unite.
Yes, God of Jesus Christ, who comes to meet us in the darkness of our world, the dust of our rubbles of our existence, of our world in trouble, of your church tired and exhausted, be our light. Set alight our hearts as your heart pounds with restlessness to see the Christlike newness to renew and recreate and bring to light the world of your peace and wholeness for us. Here we are Lord, by your light, we shall keep shining the light of faith, hope and love, to peel away the cover of darkness to reveal your world coming. We shall keep awake keeping our heart burning with the Spirit with which you expressed love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Lord, all God’s children are waiting shining underneath to welcome heaven on earth, so hasten the day to dawn, do not delay, God of love.
Song: ‘The Day Thou Gavest’
Sharing the Peace of Christ: Peace of Christ be with you
Song of Sending:
Benediction:
The Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Love of God, the Communion of the Holy Spirit be with us all now and forever. Amen.
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