“And
Let it Begin With Me”
Rev.
Penelope Erin Taylor – November 30th, 2014
Mark 13:24-37
“But in those days, after that suffering,
the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars
will be falling from heaven, and the powers in the heavens will be shaken. Then
they will see ‘the Son of Man coming in clouds’ with great power and glory. Then he will
send out the angels, and gather his elect from the four winds, from the ends of
the earth to the ends of heaven. “From the fig tree learn its lesson: as soon
as its branch becomes tender and puts forth its leaves, you know that summer is
near. So also, when you see these things taking place, you know that he is
near, at the very gates. Truly I tell you, this generation will not pass away
until all these things have taken place. Heaven and earth will pass away, but
my words will not pass away. “But about that day or hour no one knows, neither
the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. Beware, keep alert; for
you do not know when the time will come. It is like a man going on a journey,
when he leaves home and puts his slaves in charge, each with his work, and
commands the doorkeeper to be on the watch. Therefore, keep awake—for
you do not know when the master of the house will come, in the evening, or at
midnight, or at cockcrow, or at dawn, or else he may find you asleep when he
comes suddenly. And what I say to you, I say to all: Keep awake.”
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I have 6 alarms each morning. Yes,
6 alarms. The first alarm is a very polite, melodic sound very similar to wind
chimes. My second alarm is a little more fun – it’s ‘Here Comes the Sun’ by The Beatles and is the reason why many
of the youth now cringe upon hearing “doo doo doo
doo.” My third alarm…. Oh I don’t like
my third alarm. The third one is not from my phone, but from an evil hot pink
alarm clock which makes an obnoxious gut wrenching honking sound similar to a
baritone goose swallowing a megaphone and it is guaranteed to invoke feelings
of horror as one realizes, “Okay, I REALLY need to get up now before the goose
gets me.” The fourth alarm is very different than the others and as obnoxious
as the honking goose may be, the most effective alarm is number 4. Number 4 is
a 38 pound cocker spaniel who jumps on me trying to make me guess if he wants
breakfast or to go outside and if I don’t wake
up soon, I will find out the hard way which of the two it is. The fifth alarm
goes off about 10 minutes before I need to leave my apartment and the sixth
alarm, or the ‘Hail Mary’ alarm as
I like to call it, goes off a minute PAST when I need to leave. Sometimes I
feel like I would be better off if I had just kept awake.
Keep awake. The last words in Mark
given by Jesus prior to the beginning of the Passion is to ‘keep
awake.’ Jesus tells the disciples that
they do not know the day or hour – whether it will be evening, midnight, or
dawn – but to keep awake. Today marks the first Sunday of Advent – the
homestretch of a long game of waiting and keeping awake. Waiting is a theme in
our lives. This week alone, we waited to arrive at our Thanksgiving
destinations or waited for our company to make it safely to our homes. We waited
for the turkey to be fully smoked or fried, for the pies to finish baking, and
for the rolls to rise. Once we finished eating, we waited for the game to start
(GO FROGS) or waited in line outside of Target, Wal-Mart, and Best Buy for
hours. AND THEN we wait another 4 weeks before we can open the loot from said
shopping trips or fit back into a pair of jeans that we wore prior to eating an
entire turkey, three pies, and two dozen rolls. We wait and we wait and we
wait.
So… was it worth it? Was it worth the
wait?
Waiting is not just a theme we see
around the holidays or in our daily lives, but waiting is also a Biblical
theme. In fact, if we summed up the Old Testament with one word it would be
waiting. Think about it – Jacob
was the youngest of 12 brothers – I can guarantee he waited a LONG time for his
chance to shine., which albeit, paid off. The Israelites are professional
waiters. They wait on Moses… They waited on an effective plague… They waited to
enter the Promised Land… They waited and waited and waited. Then we meet Job.
Job waited to catch a break. Through every prophet and every proclamation, God
waited for us to listen. And as the wait continues – these questions arise: Are
we listening yet? Are we awake?
Our text this morning is
undoubtedly a heavy one. Mark 13 begins with Jesus foretelling the destruction
of the temple. As he sits with his disciples on the Mount of Olives and the
disciples comment on the grandeur of the temple, Jesus tells them that not one
stone of the temple will remain when he comes again. I imagine that the
disciples are taken back by this comment and as they become increasingly more
anxious, Jesus continues by telling them to not be lead astray but instead to
continue doing what Jesus has called them to do – to be in mission, to serve one
another, and to tell of the joy that comes from the Lord. Jesus tells the
disciples to keep awake, to pay attention to what is happening around them – nation
against nation, earthquakes, famine, the Son of Man coming in the clouds with
great glory, and just as the fig tree gives signs of the coming summer, so
shall the disciples know when Jesus is coming again. The disciples sit back,
overwhelmed by this surge of new information, and I imagine that they look at
one another as if to say, “Gee, I really just wanted to talk about architecture…”
How would this message come across
to us – a congregation in North Texas trying to grapple with a
flood of new information? So far, I have been told to prepare for the
Apocalypse twice – once when I was in 5th grade and we were told to
prepare for Y2K – yes, let that sink in that I was in 5th grade for Y2K – and then again in 2010 when the
Saints made it to the Super Bowl – neither of which panned out. Maybe Jesus isn’t telling us to prepare for the end of
the world but instead to live as though the Son of Man is walking among us...
right now. No more waiting. Keep awake.
How vastly different would our
world be if instead of having the “Jesus is coming, look busy!” mentality,
we actually WERE busy? Imagine… Jesus emerges from the Cooke county courthouse
and is greeted by his disciples from Gainesville, as one person pipes up, “Look
teacher! What large court house steps and what large potted plants!” Jesus
responds with, “The buildings don’t
matter. Think about what happens OUTSIDE of the buildings instead!” And as they
meander over to the Fried Pie and gather for an intimate breakfast of close
friends, Jesus continues by saying, “Make sure you keep your head up. People from
all walks of life – different races, different professions, different political
parties – they’re going to distract you from what
I’ve been trying to say. They will
cast stones at one another and neglect that the fact that I love all of them
equally. People will riot instead of embracing, they will resort to violence
over dialogue, and they will dig wounds so deep that compassion and peace seem
like a pipe dream. Instead, I beg you to retweet this: Feed the hungry. Keep
feeding the children on Wednesday nights. This may be the only time they eat at
a table instead of alone or in front of the tv. Give drink to the thirsty. Not
everyone has clean water, supporting well digging ministries. Welcome the
stranger. I know you may not speak the same language so getting to know one
another may be hard, but he's trying the best he can - listen intently. Clothe
the naked. Yes, it may mean getting splashed by the synchronized swim team, but
put a few dollars in each team's chili jar - it's going to be a cold winter.
Visit the imprisoned. Sing carols at the nursing home. Take communion to those
in the hospital - it could make someone's day. Speak up for the voiceless.
Don't be afraid to speak up when you see an injustice. Keep awake. There is
still SO much to do. I don’t know
when I’m coming back, I-35 is a NIGHTMARE
these days, but I need you to do these things while I’m stuck in traffic. This is a heavy list,
but I know you’re capable of managing this load.
When everything else seems to fail you – you’re behind on the bills, you can’t get along with your coworkers, the
house is in constant need of repair, and challenge after challenge continues to
way you down – hold onto my words, I am constant. I will never, ever leave you.
Don’t wait much longer. Keep awake.”
Today marks the first Sunday of
Advent – the homestretch of our waiting game. Today is also “Peace
Sunday.” Take a second and open your hymnals to number 677. I’ll wait. Ready? Jill Jackson and Sy
Miller wrote “Let There Be Peace on Earth” in 1955 as a reflection of the “life-saving
joy of God’s peace and unconditional love.” It’s journey into the hearts and vocal
chords of many around the globe began shortly after it was written. One summer
evening a group of 180 teenagers from different religions and races gathered in
the California mountaintops, locked arms, and offered this song in hopes of
creating a world that was built on peace and understanding. After this
experience, they took the simple message of “Let there be peace on Earth and
let it begin with me” into their communities and it quickly spread around the
globe – which is probably why you are singing this song in your head this very
minute. They chose not to wait.
On my Dad’s side of the family, this hymn is
considered to be “The Taylor Family Song.” I grew up with my dad’s mom, his older sister, and his younger
sister – known as the ‘Taylor Trio’,
singing this in church. On January 1st, 1999, my dad’s
younger sister died from cirrhosis of the liver and this song wasn’t sung in our church until June of 2005,
when I took my Aunt’s part
and it was sung for the first time since she had passed away. Not only was
singing the soprano harmony of this song a huge responsibility, but as I
learned my part, I realized what these words were calling me – were calling
each of us – to do. And you know what? I wish we hadn’t waited so long to sing it again. What
these words call us to do – what Christ calls us to do – is too important to
wait. Set your alarms, don’t press
the snooze button, leave before the Hail Mary alarm rings, lock arms with your
neighbor, and live into this call: Let there be peace on Earth, and let it
begin with me. Let there be peace on Earth, the peace that was meant to be.
With God as our Father, brothers all are we. Let me walk with my brother, in
perfect harmony. Let peace begin with me, let this be the moment now. With
every step I take, let this be by solemn vow: To take each moment and live each
moment in peace eternally. Let there be peace on Earth, and let it begin with
me.
With every step we take, let this
be our solemn vow: To take each moment, and live each moment in peace
eternally. Let there be peace on Earth, and let it begin with us. No more waiting.
We may not know what is coming, but we DO know that Christ is already here. We
have but one thing to do in the mean time – keep awake.
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