17 November 2024 Pentecost 26

1 Samuel 1.4-20    The Song of Hannah    Hebrews 10.11-14, 19-25    Mark 13.1-11

How often have you ‘bargained’ with God.  Hannah’s prayer to God is one of those ‘if/then’ scenarios.  If God will give her a son, then she will dedicate him to God.  And this begs the question, are our relationships with God a matter of quid pro quo.  And does God answer some prayers, but not others.  We would all know of times, or people, when our prayers or their prayers have not been answered.  Does this mean those who did not have their prayers answered are ‘out of favour’ with God, or does it mean that God has something else in mind for that situation.  We have probably had people tell us, God always answers prayers but sometimes the answer is not what we wanted or expected, and while I would affirm that thought, I still struggle to accept the outcome and what that means for the person doing the praying.

Our Gospel describes what most of us would call ‘apocalypse’.  The destruction of the temple where not one stone was left on another.  And when you see the size of those stones it is a truly awe-inspiring thought.  Just trying to work out how they managed to transport stone blocks that were more than 30-40 foot long, 7 foot wide and nearly 2 foot high, (and I apologise to those of you who do not easily understand ‘foot’, it is 30cm). and when you consider they were then placed block on block to build the temple, it is a feat that defies imagination.  And then thinking about the cataclysm that caused it all to be destroyed is even more unsettling.  But Jesus tells us ‘do not be afraid’, all this is necessary, and through this God will bring new life.

In spiritual journeys, we often find ‘shaking of the foundations’, we can often feel ‘unsettled’, and maybe even feel that our world has been turned upside down by some new ‘insight’, we may even feel ‘at risk’.  But we may also find that what appears to be an emergency may just be the emergence of new energy and creativity.  God will bring something beautiful out of the crises we experience.

I said that our Gospel was ‘apocalyptic’, but this word does not really mean what we generally ascribe to it.  It is not interplanetary warfare, or wholesale nuclear destruction of the planet.  An apocalypse is actually an unveiling or uncovering.  A disclosure of something hidden or secret.  And when we experience an apocalypse, we experience fresh sight, accurate revelation, honest disclosure, we understand a reality that we have never previously understood.

And in this sense Jesus offers the disciples an apocalyptic vision, he invites them to look beyond the grandeur of the temple and recognise that God is not restricted to or bound by mortar and stone, the temple is not the epicenter of God’s work of salvation.

And when we look at this reading through the eyes of ‘Ministry Sunday’, we may well ask ourselves, what new reality am I being invited to see.  What ‘stones’ in my life need to be thrown down so that God can offer ‘new birth’ to my life and ministry.  God invites us all into ministry, but sometimes ‘our’ idea of what ministries I can do become very ‘planned’ or ‘routine’; sometimes we just fall into ‘default’ mode when answering the questions on the sheet we have all been given, and we forget to ask God if we need to ‘change’ our default stance, do I need to ‘risk’ something new, am I prepared for God to throw my plans into total disarray and step out in faith and offer to assist in a ministry I have never thought about before.

If we just keep doing what we have always done, life can become very stale and we may lose our focus of why we are doing what we are doing.  The 13th century mystic Meister Eckhart once wrote “Let us pray to God that we may be free of God’, implying that our concepts of God and faith must always fall short and fail.  We decide what God wants us to do, we decide how best to serve God.  We shape our gods in our own image and they serve us as much as we serve them.  So, let us endure apocalypse so that truth can set us free.

In the second part of the Gospel, Jesus teaches the disciples, and us, what to do and how to live when the walls come tumbling down.  Jesus insists on calm strength and generous love in the face of the apocalyptic.  He reassures us ‘don’t be alarmed’.   Avoid hasty, knee-jerk reactions, make peace, choose hope, cultivate patience, and incarnate love as the world around us changes.  And as you complete your ministry sheet, or even rewrite your ministry sheet, be not afraid to venture into areas you have never previously considered that may have sometimes ‘niggled’ at you.  Don’t dismiss areas that ‘others’ have always done just because ‘others’ have always done them and done them well.  God may well be calling you to bring ‘new birth’ to areas that may have become stagnant. 

Jesus promises us, at the end of our passage, that what is happening is not death, but birth.  Something is struggling to be born.  And birth pangs are painful. But God is our midwife, and what God births will never lead to desolation and will never be unwanted.  We are called to bear witness in the ruins, you are called to uncover what new thing God is showing you.  Trust that what is being birthed in you will reveal to you who you are in relation to whose you are.