"Let us hold fast to the confession of our hope without wavering, for God who has promised is faithful. And let us consider how to provoke one another to love and good deeds, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day approaching." (Hebrews 10:11-25)

"When you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be alarmed; this must take place, but the end is still to come. For nations will rise against nations, and kingdom against kingdom; there will be earthquakes in various places; there will be famines. This is but the beginning of the birthpangs." (Mark 13:7-8)

The words we read from Mark's gospel this morning are difficult words. Written some thirty years after the first Easter, this gospel is written while people are under attack. The world that was Jerusalem is falling apart…the Romans are coming. Once again the temple seems destined for destruction. It was difficult enough for anyone living in the area during these days…but much more so for the early band of Christians. They came under greater scrutiny and attack from all sides. And yet, they managed to find great hope and comfort…these words from Mark's gospel as dark and threatening as they sound, gave hope to those who had decided to follow the way of Jesus. From their lament came a statement of hope. Even as life seemed to be falling down around them, literally falling down around them, this first band of Christians found reason to be hopeful. In reading this I am reminded of a statement from the book Rachel's Cry, by Kadi Billman and Dan Migliore: "Paradoxical as it may seem, genuine hope cannot be separated from the experience of suffering, and authentic joy and praise can not be divorced from the permission to lament and protest. Just as we come to know the true meaning of hope only through the experience of suffering, so we can praise God with a full and joyful heart only if we are free to grieve and lament the real pain and injustices of our world." (Rachel's Cry, page 124)

The gospel text is also a reminder to us about what is truly timeless. As you know, I had the opportunity of going back a few weeks ago…going back to preach at my former church in Freehold. I was struck by the funny way time passes and catches up with us. In our own daily circle we are well aware of the marking of time, the passing of days and weeks. But when we don't see another for a while, we "forget" their time passing and tend to think of them as we last saw them. And so it was as I saw some of the kids I knew at Freehold…to me they were frozen in the time I last knew them. Intellectually I knew the kids would be two and a half ahead in school, but my mind still pictured them as they were in 2004. Time is something the disciples are trying to get a grip on in our text. As Mark's gospel is written, much of what the disciples thought secure was crumbling. It was difficult to know what to hold on to, and what to let go of. The symbol of what they had thought secure and timeless was threatened. I imagine the scene as Jesus and the disciples talk?sitting on the hills surrounding Jerusalem, looking over the temple. The ancient world considered the temple to be one of the world's wonders. It dazzled with white stone, intricate carvings, and gold ornaments. Even today the view of Jerusalem is awesome, it spite of the years of devastation it has endured. And the temple symbolized something eternal and central. It is the seat of Jewish worship, that place above all others where God is present. It is the place where the dreams of the their ancestors , Abraham and Sarah, Miriam and Moses, were made true, the place where all came to offer their gifts in service to God. And now what…what will be left if the temple crumbles?

The disciples question is our own. As life seems to be literally crumbling before them, they wonder what will become of them, and they wonder when it will happen. Jesus reminds them it is not so much the end that is important, but more important is to know God's eternal-ness…what is it that will endure when all is said and done. In the Interpreter's Bible, Hal Luccock states: "If all the attention and concern which in Christian history have been given to last things had only been given to first things, the power of Christianity in the world and its service to the world would have been enormously increased." He concludes by quoting from the Book of Common Prayer: "Eternal God, who committest to us the swift and solemn trust of life; since we do not know what a day may bring forth, but only that the hour for serving thee is always present, may we awake to the instant claims of thy holy will, not waiting for tomorrow, but yielding today." The disciples find in Jesus' words that it is not about signs, and it is not about predictions towards which we live our lives. Think what funny lives we would be leading if we lived our lives on all the predictions we have heard. Just one, for example: it was Thomas Watson, chairman of IBM who said in 1943 that he thought there would be a world market for maybe five computers.

So, if not a life based on signs and buildings…what then? I don't really need to tell you that answer that the bedrock of our faith is a life lived in the loving embrace of God…a life lived knowing that Jesus the Christ is our rock and foundation. I read to you a bit of our Hebrews epistle. Much of Hebrews is about reminding us that it is about Jesus. That our lives are to be lived from that foundation?it is not so much about the end; or about the structures we build around our faith?the bottom line is how we live our lives in response to what God has worked in Jesus the Christ. And so, if you bring nothing else away from this morning I give you this. The Hebrews text has this wonderful phrase: provoke one another to good deeds. Provoke, not a word we usually see in a positive light. I am reminded of the classic battle of childhood that tends to really be at the heart of most of our battles even to adult hood: "She touched me, no, she touched me first…and so on." That is provoking! But what if we took seriously the command in this morning's text: "provoke one another to good deeds." Our Companions in Christ groups are an example of this provoking. As we become more accountable to the process, participants are beginning to ask the questions of each other?how are you doing with this week's readings and exercises, and if we're not getting our work done?how can we support, help you get it finished? I suspect if we left this place and committed ourselves in the coming days to do all that we could to provoke anyone we met to love good deeds, we'd be in a far different place than we are right now.

Today dare to go forth as a provoker in the best sense of the word…and know that in the midst of it all, the one permanent everlasting thing in life is that which gives life itself: the love of God in Jesus the Christ. Go forth in faith remembering the words of this anonymous poem: "When you have come to the edge of all that you know, and are about to step off into the darkness…know that one of two things will happen…There will be something solid to stand on, or you will be taught to fly."