First Presbyterian Church
We Know How It Ends
Sermon for December 2, 2007
by Pastor Susan Barnes

Children's time:

(I used Take-Home Sheet 12, “God's People in Exile” Psalm 137:1-7, Unit 3 Session 12, WE believe curriculum, ©2007 Congregational Ministries Publishing, PCUSA)

I saw this from your Sunday school lesson two Sundays ago. Do you know what's in the picture? Is there anything amazing about it to you? It's amazing to me. This is in curriculum that can go to every Presbyterian church in the United States. I know this man. József Angi. His wife Kathy is a pastor just like me. I didn't meet her, though, just József. He talked to me and a bunch of other pastors and elders in our presbytery. He talked about his work in Hungary, helping with refugees. They leave their own country because they are in danger there. They find refuge in Hungary, where they don't speak the language or know the culture. József's church is the only one in Hungary that has a lunch for everybody after church. Why do you suppose they work so hard for the refugees? (Discussion ensued.)

Our unison reading is found on page 631 of your pew Bibles.

Isaiah was a prophet during the seventh century bce when the northern kingdom of Israel was part of the Assyrian empire, and the southern region of Judah had a little more independence as just a tributary of Assyria. Isaiah warns Israel that its social injustices indicate Israel's relationship with God is poor and needs work. In this passage, Isaiah reminds us of the strength of God as well as God's plan for peace, our reason for hope. Listen for the word of God as we read it together from Isaiah 2:1- 5.

1 The word that Isaiah son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem.

2 In days to come the mountain of the Lord's house shall be established as the highest of the mountains, and shall be raised above the hills; all the nations shall stream to it.

3 Many peoples shall come and say, "Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths." For out of Zion shall go forth instruction, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.

4 He shall judge between the nations, and shall arbitrate for many peoples; they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.

5 O house of Jacob, come, let us walk in the light of the LORD!

This ends our reading from Isaiah. The Lord, Yahweh, our God is not going to come and lead us into a great battle of victory. But instead, God will judge and arbitrate, and the result will be that weapons are no longer needed. The metal weapons will be hammered out into farm tools.

Let's listen to the choir sing to us about when Jesus comes.

Our gospel reading comes from the book of Matthew. You can follow along on page 27. We'll be reading from my translation.

Jesus also speaks about days to come. He is leaving the temple in Jerusalem and his disciples have asked him what will be the sign of the end of the age. Jesus has told them about calamities, suffering, and false prophets. The first readers of the gospel of Matthew have experience these things already. Listen for the word of God as it is found in the gospel of Matthew 24:36-44.

36 "But about that day and hour no one knows, neither the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.

37 For as in the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Humanity. 38 For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day Noah entered the ark, 39 and they knew nothing until the flood came and carried everyone away, so too will be the coming of the Son of humanity.

40 Then two men will be in the field; one is taken and one is left behind. 41 Two women will be grinding meal together; one will be taken and one will be left.

42 Keep awake therefore, for you do not know what day your Lord comes

43 But know this: if the owner of the house knew what hour the thief was coming, he would keep watch and not have let his house be broken into. 44 Therefore be ready, because you do not know the hour the Son of Humanity comes.

This passage from Matthew conjures up some pretty scary images. We are worried that someone will be left behind, and someone else will get to go. But Jesus tells the story to emphasize suddenness, not exclusion. The people Jesus speaks of are at work, doing what they normally would have done, men in the field and women in the mill grinding. The presence of Christ is not a call to quit working and wait around.

Jesus' message is be ready. Don't withdraw from the world and wait. Be active in the world, prepared to welcome Christ. Don't think of the coming day of the Lord as annihilation, but consummation or completion, when God's purposes will all be realized.

Our epistle reading is on page 162. In the thirteenth chapter of Romans, Paul reminds the church that being ready means acting differently now that salvation draws nearer. He reminds them, “you know what time it is; so put on the Lord Jesus Christ.” Listen for the word of God as it is found in Romans 13:11-14.

11 Besides this, you know what time it is, how it is now the moment for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we became believers; 12 the night is far gone, the day is near.

Let us then lay aside the works of darkness and put on the armor of light; 13 let us live honorably as in the day, not in reveling and drunkenness, not in debauchery and licentiousness, not in quarreling and jealousy.

14 Instead, put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.

This ends our reading of God's word.

The Bible doesn't give us advice for every circumstance for every life; but it does tell us which skill we should learn and what procedures we should practice. “Keep awake, because you do not know what day your lord comes.”

And what does keeping awake look like? The epistle tells us: living honorably, not partying or scoring or fighting. Keeping awake is about being aware of God, being ready for God coming into our lives, attuning us to God's time. It doesn't mean we can't celebrate; it means we have to learn how to celebrate honorably.

Yesterday we had quite a crew here decorating the church for Advent in preparation for the Christmas celebration; putting up greenery, ornaments, poinsettias, banners, table decorations. It involved a lot of ladders and food. There's a space for the Christmas banner over there – the space reminds us that we are not yet there; we are still waiting and hoping for the arrival of Jesus.

A seminary professor in Austin wrote, “To believe that the mountain of the Lord's house shall be established as the highest of the mountains and to believe that the child of Humanity is coming some day to gather up and redeem all of the brokenness and loose ends of the world and of our lives is to mean -- in the meantime -- that our lives have purpose and direction.”

He wrote:

“Years ago I knew of a prominent African-American pastor [who]….served a large and powerful church in Harlem, about 125 th street in New York City.” It was surrounded by “blocks of burned out buildings, shabby little pawn shops and boarded-up storefronts and roach-infested grocery stores in the shadows of which prostitutes and crack dealer plied their trades. Many churches had given up and moved elsewhere, but that church just continued to hang in there—keeping watch, staying alert, as if every moment mattered. They organized a locally-owned bank, (so the neighborhood could have a bank), they set up latch–key programs for children, they put together neighborhood redevelopment agencies, they set up Bible studies in high rises, they conducted successful boycotts against price-gouging corporations. But still, it was Harlem.

A newspaper reporter once interviewed this pastor. ‘Sure,… you're doing great stuff. But it's hard to see what difference any of that is making. What enables you and your folks to keep going?' The pastor said, ‘We've read the Bible, and we know how it ends. We aren't at the end yet, …but we know how it ends, and that's what makes the difference.'” 1

Keeping watch until the end means paying attention to how the world is now.

Presbyterians in Colombia send me e-mails about their work recording stories of human rights abuses in Colombia. A Presbyterian named Jerry recently heard the story of a Wayuu village that attended a wedding celebration in another village of the same clan. Their work group recorded the village's story and Jerry's story.

“All of a sudden, while the people were celebrating the marriage, a group of armed soldiers showed up at that second village with a list of names. The Wayuu, frightened, ran, but the soldiers assassinated three men in front of the others, wounded two, and then chased the wounded. They herded all of the people into a goat pen and read them the list of names. The name of one man they had assassinated was on the list. They then handed a traditional man a gun and pointed a camera at him. He put his hands in the air as if he were being arrested, so they didn't take his picture.

The soldiers then took guns and hid them in a tool storage shed as if they belonged to the Wayuu, to give the soldiers reason to have attacked them. The put three Wayuu men in their jeep. The women surrounded the jeep and tried to pull their men out, but the jeep drove off anyway. The three men were taken to a battalion headquarters. They were afraid they would be tortured but were only interrogated.

When a Wayuu village receives guests, they are responsible for them. The host community where the abuse took place presented their guests with gifts because of the bad thing that happened at the host village. They gave goats, heifers, and traditional necklaces. Jerry showed us photos of a woman who agreed to have her photo taken (most Wayuu don't want to be photographed), the tool shed where the guns were placed, the goat pen, and the giving of gifts.

The Wayuu asked [us for help] and the case …was investigated by the authorities.” 2

It's always good to know that other people know your struggles. Sometimes they can help work for justice, but sometimes all they can do is listen.

When Karla Ramos was here from El Salvador, we spoke of the history of El Salvador and the way our government's Central America foreign policies have impacted El Salvador for over a century. I shared my anguish with Karla over the state of the world, and over the role the country I love has played. Many of our foreign policies have been disastrous. I wish we could do better, but sometimes I despair that we can't.

After she met with a group of us on Monday night, Karla said that our words give her hope. I was surprised. She was glad to know that we cared so much, and knew about El Salvador and wished we could do more.

Putting on the Lord Jesus Christ, the armor of light, means knowing what matters. For Paul, it means churches don't quarrel over opinions, food, Sabbath keeping, purity laws, nor cause weak brother and sisters to stumble.

We keep watch and pay attention not just to the world, but to those around us. Those Roman scriptures made me think of holiday family gatherings. Some people dread these family gatherings because there is a lot of drinking, and their relatives do not behave themselves- and their actions go way past quarreling and jealousy. After too much alcohol, their relatives get mean or judgmental or violent. It is so unpleasant, some people do not enjoy Christmastime but endure it. Some people have been able to go to Al-Anon, or other twelve step groups to learn how to live without their family member's alcoholism controlling their lives. Others have been able to have an intervention for those family members to persuade them to stop drinking. None of the choices are easy or pleasant.

I think of the people who come to Alcoholics Anonymous here on Sunday afternoons. This church provides a safe and welcoming place for them to meet downstairs. You'll see them by the north door, waiting for the others or smoking a cigarette. I left the church building late one night when an elderly man came up to me and said, “I'm just showing my friend here where AA meets.” He was orienting his friend so he'd feel comfortable coming to his first meeting.

For those who have decided to stop drinking, the holidays present extra temptations. I'm glad our church can show hospitality to this important group of people.

Some of you might remember coming into the church building last week through the north door and smelling stale beer. It came from the six bags of recycling that someone dropped off all at once for the youth group. Normally, they would be taken downstairs to go with the rest of the recycling, until the PYGs had an overnighter. They usually put all the cans and bottles in a pickup and bring them to the grocery stores and use the redemption money for their youth group.

But these beer bottles hadn't been rinsed much, and there was still some leftover beer in the bottles. The odor was pretty strong. I thought of that young man being shown our building, and how it would feel for him to walk into the church and smell old beer.

I thought about hope and preparation and welcome and Advent.

I thought about my son's friend spending the weekend with us, and so I cordially invited my son and his friend to load all the bottles and cans into our little Honda. They spent nearly two hours with me on Saturday morning filling the can and bottle machines at Safeway.

So I've paraphrased Romans and referenced the gospel to offer some advice: “The PYGs do not have the armor of light, just jeans and heavy gloves; So let us live honorably and rinse out our containers, for the smell of old beer is strong.

Don't cause little ones to stumble by putting many glass bottles into large plastic garbage bags, but return them to their cardboard cartons. Do not crush the cans nor remove the zebra codes from the bottles, for the machines will reject them and they will not have redemption.”

When we know how it ends, we find strength for our living, and encouragement for our hoping. We hope for the world, and we hope for ourselves. We hope in Jesus Christ, lord of heaven and earth, who ends the use of swords and makes all weapons superfluous and who judges and sets right all that is twisted and distorted.

1 Wardlaw, Theodore J. “Preaching the Advent Texts,” Journal for Preachers, Advent 2007, p. 3.

2 Center For Studies And Development Of Human Rights (Cederhnos):
A Human Rights Investigation in an Indigenous Village