First Presbyterian Church
Looking for an Edge
Sermon for November 18, 2007
by Pastor Susan Barnes

Children's Time: Triquetra Chrismon

Today at 2:00 we are going to have an advent crafting fair where we make things for Advent , Christmas and Thanksgiving. I'm going to show the kids there how to make this beautiful Chrismon. It looks impossible, but it isn't. This is an old symbol of the trinity. Do you know what the trinity is? The trinity is one way of describing our faith; we believe in God, who loves us like a father, and we believe in Jesus, God's son, and we believe in the Holy Spirit, the way God acts in the world. Father, Son and Holy Spirit are all ways of talking about our Holy God.

Each year, we make a different symbol of Jesus, called a Chrismon, for the Christmas tree in theFellowship Hall. This one is a symbol of the trinity, which includes Jesus. The circle around it is a symbol of eternity; this means God lasts for all time.

Let's pray.

Our unison reading comes at the end of the first section of Isaiah. The words sing for joy not only because the Holy One of Israel is great, but because God is present with those of us who speak those words. Listen for the word of God as we read it together in the 12 th chapter of Isaiah.

1 You will say in that day: I will give thanks to you, O LORD, for though you were angry with me, your anger turned away, and you comforted me.

2 Surely God is my salvation; I will trust, and will not be afraid, for the LORD GOD is my strength and my might; he has become my salvation.

3 With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation.

4 And you will say in that day: Give thanks to the LORD, call on his name; make known his deeds among the nations; proclaim that his name is exalted.

5 Sing praises to the LORD, for he has done gloriously; let this be known in all the earth.

6 Shout aloud and sing for joy, O royal Zion, for great in your midst is the Holy One of Israel.

This ends our reading from the psalm. Let's listen to the choir celebrate.

Anthem

The news of God's glorious deeds is for all the nations even though the psalmist said the Lord God is my strength and salvation. The psalmist also said to everyone who was listening “Give thanks to the Lord, call on his name.” Everyone is supposed to know about God, everyone is able to call on God. The temple is the place for Zion to shout and sing for joy.

Going to a holy place can be reassuring; if the building is holy, we get some of that holiness. If we're looking for some kind of spiritual edge, visiting a gorgeous huge temple might do it for us.

Josephus, a Jewish historian, describes the first century temple like this: The …holy temple was approached by a flight of twelve steps. The façade was of equal height and breadth each being a hundred cubits, but the building behind was narrower by forty cubits, for in front it had as it were shoulders extending twenty cubits on either side. The …entire face was covered with gold….The exterior of the building wanted nothing that could astound either mind or eye. From being covered on all sides with massive plates of gold, the sun was no sooner up than it radiated so fiery a flash that persons straining to look at it were compelled to avert their eyes.” 1 Even the outer walls, made of huge stones, had a decoration; on the edges of those stones were carved borders.

I expect foreign tourists came to see the temple; I'm sure it had tour guides and curators. Jesus is talking to the disciples in the temple, and he overhears some admirers. Listen for the word of God as it is found in Luke 21:5-19.

5 When some were speaking about the temple, how it was adorned with beautiful stones and gifts dedicated to God, he said, 6 "As for these things that you see, the days will come when not one stone will be left upon another; all will be thrown down."

7 They asked him, "Teacher, when will this be, and what will be the sign that this is about to take place?"

8 And he said, "Beware that you are not led astray; for many will come in my name and say, 'I am he!' and, 'The time is near!' Do not go after them. 9 "When you hear of wars and insurrections, do not be terrified; for these things must take place first, but the end will not follow immediately."

10 Then he said to them, "Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; 11 there will be great earthquakes, and in various places famines and plagues; and there will be dreadful portents and great signs from heaven. 12 "But before all this occurs, they will arrest you and persecute you; they will hand you over to synagogues and prisons, and you will be brought before kings and governors because of my name.

13 This will give you an opportunity to testify. 14 So make up your minds not to prepare your defense in advance; 15 for I will give you words and a wisdom that none of your opponents will be able to withstand or contradict.

16 You will be betrayed even by parents and brothers, by relatives and friends; and they will put some of you to death. 17 You will be hated by all because of my name. 18 But not a hair of your head will perish. 19 By your endurance you will gain your souls.

This ends our reading of God's word.

I want to talk a little bit about prophecy.

Some of you probably know about Nostradamus, the sixteenth century French apothecary and astrologer.” Nobles and royals looking for an edge liked his almanacs. Nostradamus also wrote 942 quatrains called “The Prophecies". For centuries, his fans have been delighting in searching his words for predictions of major world events.

But his verses don't convince everyone. My favorite criticism said, “Write up 942 vague four-line predictions, be sure to include plenty about war and pestilence, great leaders and armies rising and falling, natural disasters and the like, cover all known nations on Earth, use confusing symbolism, be as ambiguous as possible, wait 500 years, and many of your predictions will seem to have come true. Add bad translations from the French to English, and the huge liberties the interpreters allow themselves, and we're off to the races.” 2

That might seem a valid criticism of what Jesus said in Luke 21, but it isn't. I appreciate this Lutheran pastor's explanation: We tend to confuse the word ‘prophet' with ‘seer' or ‘predictor'. A seer or predictor “describes what is going to happen, and either it does or it doesn't; the prediction is either right or wrong. Either way, it is over and done with, a historical curiosity, useful to [us] as entertainment.” But a prophet tells the will of God, always including an opening for repentance and ultimately changing outcome. 3 Predictors are certainly more fun than prophets; astrologers can give us an edge over our fates, and help us control our destiny. So much of what goes on in the world is out of our control.

Luke wrote his gospel and the book of Acts in the late first century. By then, the temple in Jerusalem had been destroyed by the Romans, when they laid siege to the city. The faithful people of God, the Jews and the new sect, the Christians, had no place to call their spiritual home. How could they worship with no temple? Christians were being persecuted—didn't this mean they were doomed? Jesus' words to the disciples about what was to come at the temple would have encouraged those endangered Christians generations later.

The gospel doesn't predict the end of the world, but offers spiritual resources to cope with adversity and hardship. 4We do not need to be terrified in times of distress. Indeed, terror can immobilize us and prevent us from following Jesus. The edge that Jesus talks about is withstanding persecution, witnessing to his name, and enduring. Not as glamorous and uplifting as going to a huge temple.

I always wondered why Jesus told the disciples not to prepare a defense in advance. I thought maybe because they had the truth on their side; there was nothing to prepare. They didn't need an edge. But I found a better answer by looking back in Genesis 4:12. Moses is complaining to Yahweh that he isn't eloquent enough and doesn't have the right words, so he can't speak to the people the way God wants him to. The Lord is annoyed and says to Moses “I will give you words.” I think Jesus was reminding the disciples that God took care of Moses, and so the disciples will have the words that they need. The authorities may harm the body, but not the soul; they will be saved, despite the kings and princes against them.

Monumental architecture doesn't last, no matter how beautiful it is. God lasts. God is eternal. Looking for an edge, a way to be better than the rest, is unnecessary for Christians. We can strive for excellence without feeling the need to edge out other ‘little' people. We can improve ourselves without needing to feel superior to others. If our strength comes from God, we don't need to prove anything; we can rest in the knowledge that God is our salvation, and we do not need to fear. Amen.

1 Josephus, The Jewish War, 5:207-8, 5.174-5,

2 skeptico.blogs.com/skeptico/2005/03/nostra_dumbass.html

3 Larson, Ross Henry, “Aging in the twenty-first century,” Clergy Journal, March 99, p. 20.

4The New Interpreter's Bible IX, p. 402