A Sermon for the Sunday closest to November 16
The Rev. Patricia A. Gillespie
Daniel 12:1-4a(5-13)
Hebrews 10 31-39
Mark 13:14-23
Psalm 16 or 16:5-11
You want this church to grow? -- to bring in more people, more money?
Then things have gotta change.
We can fill this church all day on Sunday and every day of the week. And we can fill our bank accounts at the same time. But we gotta change to do it.
We talked about change -- someone mentioned pew cushions. That's not enough. People want more. We need to get rid of the pews and put in chairs. It's more flexible, so we can do more and people will be more comfortable.
And we've talked about music -- maybe on occasions trying something different. That's not enough. People want more excitement. We need something multimedia that we can run from a computer for limitless variety. Not only a state of the art sound system but video capability as well with a large screen monitor. (Don't worry. It's guaranteed to pay for itself in the first seven weeks.) We'll get rid of the choir stalls and pulpit for better visibility and hang the screen from the reredos over the altar.
We can provide each individual reclining seat with interactive controls for a virtual reality experience.
We can broadcast reality video on the internet. Filming mothers of the bride before weddings or theological discussions about sexuality could rival "Survivor."
Every day from six in the morning till two we'll offer power investment interactive seminars. We'll put the stock market up on the screen and have internet banking access connections in each individual seat. Figure your best loan consolidation or best insurance rate in comfort. If you're feeling lucky, visit our virtual casino. We'll offer fine wine and gourmet snacks.
In the afternoon, from two to eight we'll have intergenerational interactive sports events. We'll have the biggest youth group in town!
New virtual reality sports teams that you control from your own seat -- play the sport of your choice against the pros or against your buddies and win. With one move of your mouse you can move the Twins to Calcutta and then back again. Pop and candy for the kids, beer and cigars for the adults, and pizza for everyone.
Then till midnight it's fantasy battle time on multiple screens over the altar. Demolish your enemies. Search out and destroy space aliens. Then resurrect them and do it again. Annihilate whole cities from the interactive privacy of your individual seat while being served with mixed drinks form the bar in the sacristy.
Then what else do we need to attract people? Of course ... Once the kids are out of the way, at midnight we bring in the triple-x shows - virtual reality sex on the big screen . . . .
I tell you, we can fill this church.
And Jesus said "When you see the desolating sacrilege set up where it ought not to be . . . "
Our readings today are really weird. And scary. And our opening prayer tells us to "read, mark, learn, & inwardly digest" scripture. We want to say as Daniel did: "I heard but could not understand."
How can we, in a nation that still calls itself "Christian," understand the suffering of religious persecution? How can we understand how the faithful Jewish people felt when the foreign government put their own statues in the temple and required that they be worshiped?
Imagine the scene I just pictured for you with all that going on in our church and your own rebellion against it. (At least I hope there would be some rebellion -- One of my daughters asked what I'd say to the person who after the service asked me how soon we could do it. And my son's initial reaction when he'd read halfway through and got to the part about "individual interactive controls for a virtual reality experience" was "On the Range? -- No way!" He didn't come to the "absolutely not" reaction until he got to the sex part.)
Imagine that you say that "absolutely not" and then the police walk in and insist; they say that not only will the virtual reality temple of the cultural gods be set up here, but we will all be required to attend or make our choice between execution and exile. That's the situation our readings come from.
Flee to the mountains! In such a situation we too might write weird, symbolic, apocalyptic end-time stories. For those who take the Christian faith seriously, it would become a time of anguish and suffering as never before.
Or maybe not. For us, as for the Jews of Daniel's time, or for the persecuted Christians the cultural gods can be very appealing. They seem to offer a lot.
Most Americans worship them in one form or another. Here's our cultural Pantheon: Sex. Money. Violence. Sports. Not that in and of themselves those things are bad. (At least not if we rename "violence" as a manifestation of "power") They all can be part of what makes life good.
The problem is when we set them up as God. When they rule our lives we are facing idolatry, which is biblical sin number one: Remember? "You shall have no other gods before me"
Today's psalm reminds us that "those who run after other gods shall have their troubles multiplied."
So how're you doing? Do you feel like your trouble's multiplied? Power, Sex, Competition, Money Which other god's temple did you visit this week maybe even more often than you visited the God we come here to worship? I confess that I spent a fair amount of time worrying about my finances, maybe even more time than I spent in prayer. Where do you go to make life worth living? What makes you most alive, most yourself?
When the advertisers and promoters say to you, "Here, this will make you happy." Or, "Look! This will solve all your problems." "Do not believe it. False messiahs and false prophets will appear and produce signs and omens, to lead astray, if possible the elect."
Perhaps we think won't be fooled by any false messiahs or cultural gods. We won't put any other gods before our God.
"Be alert," Jesus says. Look around you and consider:
Where do you turn first for security -- to the bank or to God? Where do you turn first for joy -- sex, football, or prayer? Where do you turn first for affirmation -- winning or worship?
Money, sex, competition, power. They're good folks, but false gods. Use them to God's glory, but don't let them rule your life. That's God's place.
"Be alert," Jesus tells us. False prophets and false gods surround us. Jesus then adds "I have already told you everything." Here it is: (Hold up Bible) Do we listen?