November 19, 2006, Proper 28B

Daniel 12:1-3; Psalm 16; Hebrews 10:11-14 (15-18) 19-25; Mark 13:1-8

No stone left on stone

When Sam and I arrived in DC a week ago Tuesday, the taxi was taking us to our hotel. We passed a building that was only about 5 stories high, but as we went by, I thought, “That’s the largest building I’ve ever seen!” and I had stood at the base of the Empire State building. The next day I found out that it was the Pentagon – the largest office building in the US.

I probably felt not un-like the disciples in today’s gospel lesson. I’ve been there – Sam and I have stood beside those large stones that were used to make the temple – and they are huge – the largest cut stone in the world is there – no wonder the disciples were amazed.

We have a tendency to become amazed, tantalized by the grandiose, the flashy. But at the same time we also can become so attached to something that we take ownership of, that we can’t seem to let go, even when it’s time to let go, when it’s dead or dying from being smothered to death.

We went to a little Episcopal church last Sunday on Edisto Island – and it was small – the whole place would have fit inside here with lots of space to spare. Sam thought that they could crowd a hundred people in and I thought it would be closer to 60. But this is a church where they have so many people coming that they had to add a third service.

Sam and I were visiting with a woman last Saturday and she commented that they loved that church so much they’d just keep adding services if needed because they couldn’t bear to tear it down to build a new church. I thought that was a shame to be that attached to a building – and one that was in a place where it could easily be destroyed by a hurricane – just as the past two buildings they had were destroyed.

The disciples felt the same way about the temple – what a wonderful place this is – it’s so large and wonderful, nothing could ever happen to destroy it. The disciples voiced their opinion – and Jesus confronted it. This place is going to be destroyed – “all will be thrown down,” he says.

Jesus is trying to tell them something – and they’re not listening. They start asking questions about when and where and why and how do we know. Jesus is trying to tell them not to place their trust in buildings – they are made by men. No matter how well they are made, they will not last. And it didn’t! It was destroyed in 70 AD by the Romans.

God never wanted a temple – he was happy to be in the ‘Tent of Meeting.” A tent that could be taken down and moved – it symbolized that God was Lord over all creation and no ground was more holy than any other. If we try to hold on to something too strongly we will eventually lose it. Take for instance what happened to St Paul’s Episcopal Church in Pittsburgh.

They had had a world famous architect design the church, and the people loved that building. So when things became rough in downtown Pittsburgh and people were moving out to the suburbs the congregation decided to move the church. Pick it up and move it piece by piece. They loved their building and they were not going to leave it. So they took it apart, labeled each piece and put it on a truck and moved it out to the new location out in the new fashionable area around the University of Pittsburgh, and put it back together. So it looked exactly the same. They did have a small crisis when some of the pieces fell off the truck on the way and got lost. But they ran ads in the news paper and offered high rewards and the lost pieces were found and returned. What a wonderful building.

They loved St. Paul's Episcopal Church and moved it in the 1920's out to the University. They loved it so much that they didn't want anything to happen to it, so they did not allow students to come and use it. They loved it so much that they did not want it to get dirty or broken or messed up and so they did not bring in the neighborhood people and they did not have activities in the church. Yet those who loved it grew older and died, and in 1990 there was nobody there to love it, the community of Christ had died long ago, so they sold the building to the Hospitals that were growing up in that area and the wrecking crane came and smashed it to the ground and they did not leave one stone upon another.

Jesus is trying to say that the Kingdom is wherever two or three are gathered in his name – people who seek to be a community of faith, hope and love and who reach out to serve. To let you know, there is now a St. Paul’s in Mt. Lebanon that is a thriving parish of about 450 people, but in order to get there, they had to bury the past - to let go of what was holding them back.

Redeemer needs to take a lesson from St. Paul’s in Pittsburgh. Redeemer needs to find out what part of it’s past is holding it back. Why is it that people come in to visit and then don’t come back? Sure we get a lot of visitors and curiosity seekers – with out history that’s to be expected. But we also get people who come looking for a home church – looking for a place to belong – and they don’t seem to find it here. Why is that?

Let’s look at the letter to the Hebrews for today. It begins, “Every priest stands day after day at his service, offering again and again the same sacrifices that can never take away sins.” They kept doing the same thing, over and over again – what good was it?

The world is changing and their needs and desires have changed. And the church does have to make certain changes in order to reach out to and meet the needs of those who are living in today’s world. How do we reach out to and incorporate new people? I’ve heard visitors say, “Everyone’s so nice here…” but they don’t come back. Why is that? We seem to have a lot going on, there are small groups and Bible Studies and Prayer groups – but new people are not invited in.

Under the old covenant, the only way an ordinary person could approach God was through the Priests who offered sacrifices. But the advent of Christ changed that. No longer did people have to have an intercessor. Because of Christ’s ultimate sacrifice, people could now approach God themselves. As the Lord says, “This is the covenant that I will make with them… I will put my laws in their hearts, and write them on their minds… I will remember their sins no more…” God did a new thing – all through history God has done a new thing.

When there was a famine in the land, God gave his people a new place to live in Egypt – a place that he had prepared for them through Joseph. But they had to take the initiative to seek out that place.

When life became unbearable in that place, God gave them a leader to take them out of Egypt – and during that journey, they had to learn a new way to live with and understand their God. They had to learn trust, and they had to learn to live within God’s laws. They had to learn faithfulness and they had to learn obedience. They had to learn to live in hope of the fulfillment of promise.

When the people became restless because all around them other nations were ruled by kings, God listened to their pleas and gave them a king and they learned how to live as a nation ruled by a king. They later split into two kingdoms weakening both and eventually both kingdoms were overthrown and the people were sent into exile.

They had to learn to live in exile, without the temple, without the sacrifices, without the pageantry – and the Psalmist lamented in Psalm 137 verse 4 “How can we sing the songs of the LORD while in a foreign land?” They had to learn new ways to worship God.

Eventually the people were allowed to go back to the land and they built a new temple and fell right back into the old patterns of worship and modes of being. They were a battle ground for various kings and factions and eventually Roman rule settled in.

But the people had wandered far away following the letter of the man-made laws and not the intent of the God given rights and rules, that God had to take matters into his own hands and he sent Jesus Christ to be a witness and to bring us back on track. And “he opened for us a new and living way through the curtain” (the barrier that separated us from God) and we can now approach God with clean hearts in full assurance of faith.

One of the lessons we have to learn, is that our faith remains the same – constant. But our response to God’s call has to change to meet the current circumstances and needs of the people who are being called.

Our lesson from Daniel speaks of the resurrection – “Many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake… Those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the sky, and those who lead many to righteousness, like the stars forever and ever.”

Are we leading many to righteousness if they don’t come back? I want each of you to think about what you personally can do to encourage newcomers and to invite them in – not just to Sunday services, but into the life of Christ in this place.

Is there a life of Christ in this place outside of Sunday morning? What do we have to offer people outside of our Sunday worship? Do we have activities and ministries where they can learn and become a vital part of what’s going on? There ought to be something happening here every single night of the week and some days also.

We are part of the Episcopal Church and our Sunday worship needs to reflect that. Episcopalians from anywhere need be able to come in and feel at home and comfortable in this place on Sunday morning. But we have to be more than that.

There needs to be fellowship opportunities for members and newcomers and visitors. There needs to be new accessible learning opportunities outside of our two Sunday morning adult classes. There needs to be neighborhood ministry outside of LaRoca.

Do you have a passion and vision for Redeemer in one of these areas? Right now there are three missionary visions in the planning stages: The Bike Center, the UH Campus Ministry and a Restorative Justice Ministry. But the other areas are sadly lacking in vision and leadership. Visions have to be affirmed and they can’t be “long ranger” projects.

We don’t have to invent new things. We could use existing groups and activities to invite new people in. Some of our house churches could be turned into inviting activities that could welcome and incorporate newcomers. A visitor to Redeemer doesn’t even know they exist. How can we use those to bring new people into the family?

If you want to see Redeemer restored to it’s former glory –

If you want to be a vital part of today’s body of Christ –

If you want to be responsible for new and renewed vigor in the church –

Then you need to be willing to learn new tricks and think outside the box –

Then you need to be willing to let go of the past and to reach out to the future

And you need to stop waiting for someone else to do those things.

Redeemer is on the brink of dying – look around at these pews that once were filled to overflowing. To be honest the next six months can make us or break us. But we can work together to bring Redeemer back to a place of prominence in the Christian world.

We can once again allow the Holy Spirit to work in this place – in a new way – not what he did before. And Redeemer will rise again – as Jesus said at the end of today’s gospel reading – “this is but the beginning of the birth pangs.” The birth pangs of a renewed and life-giving Redeemer.