December 3, 2023
Rev. Mary Erickson
Hope Lutheran Church
Mark 13:24-37
Are We There Yet?
Friends, may grace and peace be yours in abundance in the knowledge of God and Christ Jesus our Lord.
“Are we there yet?” On long, family road trips, this is the constant children’s chorus. Are we there yet? Shouldn't we be there already? It feels like we’ve been traveling forever! Surely we must be close?
Any time we grow impatient for some future event, we start wondering how much longer we have to wait. I remember when I was a child, it felt like it took forever for my birthday or for Christmas to arrive.
Are we there yet? When you go to an airport, they have big screens telling you the estimated arrival and departure times so you know how much longer you have to wait. Surgical waiting rooms in hospitals have similar screens so you can track when your loved one is in surgery, in recovery, and back in their room.
We’ve entered the season of Advent and the month of December. As of today, there are 22 days until Christmas. We have our own count-down system in Advent. We light one more candle every week on the Advent wreath. And when all four candles are lit, you know Christmas is very near.
Our response to how much time remains seems to depend on our age. When we’re young, we say, “Oh! 22 more days to go until Christmas! That’s forever!”
But when we become an adult, something seems to flip. Suddenly we say, “Yikes! Only 22 more days? I’ve got so much to do before Christmas! I need more time!”
This first Sunday in Advent begins at the end – the very end. Jesus’ disciples have asked him about the end time, when this world will end. They want to know when it will all go down.
Jesus doesn’t give them an exact date and time. Instead, he tells them signs they can look for to know when the time is drawing near. He tells them to keep alert and be on watch.
It’s like when you watch an Alfred Hitchcock movie. Hitchcock was famous for making cameo appearances in his moves. He did 37 cameos in all. You have to watch for him or you might miss it!
Some of them are very inconspicuous, like in this 1944 movie Lifeboat when he appeared in a weight loss advertisement in a newspaper. You have to keep alert!
At our church council meetings, we always begin by sharing “glimpses of God.” Where have you seen God at work since our last meeting?
• The responses frequently mention the beauty of nature: “abundant waterfowl on lake,” “vibrant fall colors,” “the fox at Bob’s house.”
• They include moving moments during worship: “Singing the Alleluia Chorus,” or “joyful activity during Noisy Offering.”
• They mention signs of vibrant ministry and outreach, like "generous contribution to Weekend Kid’s Meals,” “Sleep in Heavenly Peace build with veterans.”
• But sometimes they include less intuitive things, times that seem rather removed from God’s presence – something like “Young man with cancer passed peacefully,” or “children learning about death through losing their dog.”
This last category of our glimpses of God’s presence aren’t nearly as frequent as the instances filled with beauty and devotion and mission. But is not God present in these moments, too?
Jesus seems to think so. He tells his disciples to sit up and pay attention when we see such things. This is not meant to be some kind of Pollyanna sentiment. Jesus doesn’t mean to dismiss or make light of the suffering. What he wants us to do is to pay attention in those moments of trial, because that is when we will see the work of God.
Last Sunday C_______ V______ shared the beautiful song “Blessings.” The words describe times that seem anything but a blessing. The song asks “what if,” what if this time of trial is the moment of our greatest healing?
'Cause what if Your blessings come through raindrops?
What if Your healing comes through tears?
What if a thousand sleepless nights are what it takes to know You're near?
And what if trials of this life are Your mercies in disguise?
The composer of the song is Laura Story. She wrote this poignant song during a period of tremendous upheaval in her family. Her husband had just been diagnosed with a brain tumor. After they learned the horrible truth, Laura and her husband experienced all the emotions you would expect: great dread, a sense of God’s absence in their time of need, sheer helplessness.
But throughout the ordeal, she still felt the sense that God was with them. Even though their future wasn’t going as they’d planned, God’s plan was still in place.
In that hope, she kept alert, she stayed awake. And she was able to recognize unexpected blessings that she otherwise would not have known. She ends the song with these words:
And what if trials of this life
The rain, the storms, the hardest nights
Are Your mercies in disguise?
Jesus is telling his disciples about the end times. He describes moments when everything absolutely collapses. But he encourages us to keep alert, not so that we can be fully present during the final moment before all life is extinguished, like a condemned man who stands before his firing squad without a blindfold.
He tells them to pay attention because that is precisely when the divine Son of Man will come to them! In every end, there is a new beginning, there is new life.
Is this not what we believe about baptism? We dive under the waters and we’re utterly drowned. But then we rise up to a life made completely new. Does not our baptism show us the hope that will carry us through our darkest nights? Doesn’t our baptism call us to stand through the night watch, staying awake, keeping alert for the morning that shall certainly come?
This message today of hope in the midst of utter destruction is spoken to us from the very one whose life will be utterly extinguished on his cross. He will be tried and found guilty. He’ll be beaten within an inch of his life, and then he’ll be nailed to a cross until his last ounce of life is wrung from him. Then his cold, limp body will be laid in a grave.
These words today have weight, they bear significance because they come to us from the one who is the Spirit of resurrection. So we hold fast to the belief that in every end – whether it be the end of the world, or the last day of our personal life, or the ending of our dreams – we hold fast to hope. We may not be there yet, but we keep watch. In every end, there is a new beginning.
