The Gathering of the Elect

This Sunday's reading is Mark 13:24-37, in which Jesus foretells his coming again and the gathering of the elect.

‘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.’

Jesus' words about the sun, moon, and stars pay tribute to several Old Testament books (from Knowing Jesus), 

Isaiah 13:10

For the stars of heaven and their constellations

Will not flash forth their light;

The sun will be dark when it rises

And the moon will not shed its light.

Job 9:7

Who commands the sun not to shine,

And sets a seal upon the stars;

Job 3:9

“Let the stars of its twilight be darkened;

Let it wait for light but have none,

And let it not see the breaking dawn;

Joel 2:10

Before them the earth quakes,

The heavens tremble,

The sun and the moon grow dark

And the stars lose their brightness.

Amos 8:9

“It will come about in that day,” declares the Lord God,

“That I will make the sun go down at noon

And make the earth dark in broad daylight.

Ecclesiastes 12:2

before the sun and the light, the moon and the stars are darkened, and clouds return after the rain;

Ezekiel 32:7

“And when I extinguish you,

I will cover the heavens and darken their stars;

I will cover the sun with a cloud

And the moon will not give its light.

Joel 3:15

The sun and moon grow dark

And the stars lose their brightness.

I doubt that any of my readers think that Jesus will return in our lifetimes. Most of us believe that we will die at some point, and that then and only then will we meet Jesus. 

Jesus tells us to be prepared for he may return at any time, just like we may meet our end unexpectedly. 

He also warns us not to listen to people who claim to know the day that He will return.

Thanksgiving 2020: Different Thanks to Give

 For as long as I can remember, Thanksgiving Day means turkey dinner with family. I have missed a few over the years due to professional obligations, but was always able to enjoy leftovers the next day. For the past several years Pewsterspouse and I have made the 5 hour drive to the in-laws' house where we gathered with family members numbering up to fourteen. This year we are dutifully following the directions of the Centers for Disease Control and staying home. We have invited our neighbor to dine with us on the screen porch. There is one problem with this arrangement...

Scaling down the food is not something we are doing.

This year I am thankful that the Lord helped me to lost ten pounds over the summer.

 

Jesus Preached Hell Fire and Damnation Long Before the Stereotypical Modern Day Street Preacher

I once watched as a pewsitter stood up in the middle of a revisionist priest's sermon and said, "You are wrong!" before walking out of the church, never to return. What did that priest say that so upset my friend? Well it was this, 

"We Episcopalians don't believe in a literal devil." 

 I think this Sunday's Gospel reading was the subject of our revisionist priest's sermon,

Matthew 25:31-46

"When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on the throne of his glory. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, and he will put the sheep at his right hand and the goats at the left. Then the king will say to those at his right hand, 'Come, you that are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.' Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food, or thirsty and gave you something to drink? And when was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you, or naked and gave you clothing? And when was it that we saw you sick or in prison and visited you?' And the king will answer them, 'Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.' 

Then he will say to those at his left hand, 'You that are accursed, depart from me into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels; 

for I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not give me clothing, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.' Then they also will answer, 'Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not take care of you?' Then he will answer them, 'Truly I tell you, just as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.' 

And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life."

Jesus believed in the devil, hell fire, and damnation.

Some people don't.

How can they call themselves Christians if they don't believe Jesus?

That's One Way to Escape a Lockdown

Over in England, they have effectively shutdown the country for the month of November. Elective medical procedures must be postponed, unless you want to go to a suicide clinic.

From Ann Farmer at The Conservative Woman comes this report, 

"Health Secretary Matt Hancock has confirmed that people may break lockdown to travel abroad for assisted dying, saying that flying to the Dignitas clinic in Switzerland would be considered a ‘reasonable excuse’...

...Even if Covid health policy was initially made on the hoof, it is now reprehensible to take such decisions in full knowledge of what they could be covering up. Most bizarrely, Matt Hancock’s decision was made for ‘health’ reasons, and indeed travelling abroad to die could be justified on health grounds, given that those who do so will no longer be ill, because they will no longer be alive. It is argued that such people are ‘going to die anyway’ – now that will be guaranteed. And the Government will be off the hook, having given those suffering under lockdown the false freedom of death."

 I could see this happening in the U.S.A. if we suffer from another government imposed lockdown.

One commenter did see a loophole that might give us a chance to escape a lockdown, 

"Someone could say they’re going off to kill themselves, have a bit of a holiday, then come back claiming that the discussion had made them change their mind."

We would probably get caught because our round trip ticket would be a dead giveaway as to our plan. 

Fear of Being the Lazy Slave

In this Sunday's Gospel reading from Matthew 25:14-30, Jesus tells us The Parable of the Talents,

 

‘For it is as if a man, going on a journey, summoned his slaves and entrusted his property to them; to one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability. Then he went away. The one who had received the five talents went off at once and traded with them, and made five more talents. In the same way, the one who had the two talents made two more talents. But the one who had received the one talent went off and dug a hole in the ground and hid his master’s money. After a long time the master of those slaves came and settled accounts with them. Then the one who had received the five talents came forward, bringing five more talents, saying, “Master, you handed over to me five talents; see, I have made five more talents.” His master said to him, “Well done, good and trustworthy slave; you have been trustworthy in a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.” And the one with the two talents also came forward, saying, “Master, you handed over to me two talents; see, I have made two more talents.” His master said to him, “Well done, good and trustworthy slave; you have been trustworthy in a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.” Then the one who had received the one talent also came forward, saying, “Master, I knew that you were a harsh man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you did not scatter seed; so I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here you have what is yours.” But his master replied, “You wicked and lazy slave! You knew, did you, that I reap where I did not sow, and gather where I did not scatter? Then you ought to have invested my money with the bankers, and on my return I would have received what was my own with interest. So take the talent from him, and give it to the one with the ten talents. For to all those who have, more will be given, and they will have an abundance; but from those who have nothing, even what they have will be taken away. As for this worthless slave, throw him into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

 I have always been afraid that I will be judged as the lazy slave, and I have often tried to justify my life as one in which I used the spiritual gifts or "talents" that God gave me and did not bury them away. For some reason I don't think that argument will get me very far because I could always have done more. 

Just what does God expect from you?

Over at Billy Graham Ministries, Pastor Ray Hollenbach looks at it this way,

"Is there a lesson for us from the third servant? Perhaps we should see that our view of God will determine the choices we make. Do we see Christ as 'a hard man' with unfair and unrealistic expectations of us? (Matthew 25: 24) If we do, it will cause us to live our current days in fear, with unprofitable results."

"Only those who eagerly look forward to the return of Christ can find the freedom to live with confidence now. The Apostle Paul understood the freedom we can experience through the grace of God when he recounted the words, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.” (II Corinthians 12: 9)

Christians should not fear the coming of the Lord, but that is no excuse for weakness and laziness in using the gifts that God has given you in a fruitful way.

 

Veterans

I grew up in the sixties when veterans and Veterans Day were not honored. My father was in Medical School during WWII, and the war was over by the time he had to serve, which he did as a ship's physician on a cutter on weather patrol in the Atlantic and as a Public Health physician. His father served in WWI and WWII as a Coast Guard officer, but Veterans Day was not honored in our house.

As a student of military history, I came to learn of the reasons why November 11 was chosen as a day to remember our vets, and after learning the horrors faced by our soldiers in WWI, WWII, Korea, and Vietnam, I developed far more respect and thankfulness for their service. 

The closest I got to military service was to register for the draft and to watch the draft be eliminated the same year. 

I did work in the VA hospital system for a short time taking care of our sick vets. 

Now I have a Father-in-law who retired after service during the Korean and Vietnam wars and a nephew who, after having served two tours in Iraq, is moving up the ranks in the Army. 

This weekend, Pewsterspouse and I went to several rural cemeteries and placed American Flags on the graves of veterans at the behest of a local garden club. The garden club ladies are all elderly, and none had ever ventured to these cemeteries in the past. Some of the cemeteries were well kept, but others were not. We cleared away some weeds and trash, but we really needed a weed eater in some places. 

Little flags over forgotten graves are all well and good, but we need to honor our service people while they are still alive. 

Thank them for their service if you have the chance.   

Be Prepared!

 In this Sunday's reading from Matthew 25:1-13, Jesus tells us the parable of the ten bridesmaids,

"Then the kingdom of heaven will be like this. Ten bridesmaids took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were foolish, and five were wise. When the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them; but the wise took flasks of oil with their lamps. As the bridegroom was delayed, all of them became drowsy and slept. But at midnight there was a shout, 'Look! Here is the bridegroom! Come out to meet him.' Then all those bridesmaids got up and trimmed their lamps. The foolish said to the wise, 'Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.' But the wise replied, 'No! there will not be enough for you and for us; you had better go to the dealers and buy some for yourselves.' And while they went to buy it, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went with him into the wedding banquet; and the door was shut. Later the other bridesmaids came also, saying, 'Lord, lord, open to us.' But he replied, 'Truly I tell you, I do not know you.' Keep awake therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour.'"

We do not know when Christ will come again, and we do not know the day or time when we will see Jesus face to face. We had better be prepared! 

And now for a little levity, 

Six Things I Know About The Election by Sarah Hey

My friend Sarah Hey wrote this wonderful piece, "Six Things I Know About The Election" and put it up on Election Day. It is the best thing I have read in the run up to this election. Sarah gave me permission to pass it along to you, my faithful readers.

1) We don’t *deserve* grace or any particular election win (no matter which side we want to win). God doesn't owe us any blessing or benefit, and particularly a comfortable political outcome. 

There’s nothing we can do to *earn* grace or mercy. It either arrives or it does not, and that ought to foster a great humility. 

Our country has a wonderful heritage — squandered in large part but still there — and that is a wonderful thing. 

But we still don’t deserve whatever we are given.

2) Politics is downstream of culture, as Andrew Breitbart pointed out so well. That is, our political context and division is a direct result of the larger over-arching culture. 

But the culture is downstream of the Church. And that is a very disturbing thing, as it shows just how destitute the Church has been in this country for some decades. 

To put this another way, the Church — from top to bottom, stem to stern, left to right, denomination to non-denomination — has failed comprehensively at influencing a broader culture for the better or even creating smaller, worthy mini-cultures that one might wish to join. I laugh a bit at the thought of church discipline as described in Scripture. The purpose of church discipline was to issue a warning to the notorious sinner that he or she could be expelled as a person who was bringing scandal for the Church and confusion to the outside watching world if he or she did not repent. In theory, a community warning might encourage repentance. 

These days, the Church doesn’t create a community that is interesting or valuable or worthy enough for people to be frightened by the threat of eviction.

And if the Church cannot create winsome communities of its own believers, filled with the fruit of the Spirit, it certainly will not influence for the larger culture made up of unbelievers.

The Church is, of course, *me*. And revival of the Church begins with my repentance.

From the standpoint of the election, one side will enjoy some slightly improved “comforts.” But from the larger perspective, nothing much will change at all. The culture will still be the culture. The politics will still be the politics. The two parties will continue to churn out candidates that by and large do not share even remotely the same values or worldview, and thus cannot share the same policy prescriptions. 

Change will occur first and primarily in the life of Christians, in the Church. And then, a long time from now, the culture. And then, another very long time later, politics.

We’ve got work to do, and it has absolutely nothing to do with who gets elected today, churned out in the great machine of today's political sphere.

3) Once a presidential candidate is elected, the other half of the electorate will begin a long tough nightmare. This was the case with Obama’s election and with Trump’s election and will be the case for whomever is elected in this election.

Why?

Well — because we are divided in our values. When a policy is implemented, one side of the voting chasm will find it wonderful and a fit with their values, and the other side will find it disastrous and antithetical to their values. Each week will be a grindingly depressing week (political policy wise) for the one side, and a really great week (political policy wise) for the other.

This is reality for all of us. 

4) One mistake I think the left made during Obama’s terms was the belief that a large portion of the culture had changed its mind regarding various policy choices, values, and political philosophy over an eight year period.  

This was inaccurate and some of us knew it was inaccurate. And I think it led in part to the great shock on the left in 2016. It’s always a surprise to discover that not nearly as many people agree with you as you had thought.

Hopefully none of us on either the left or right will make that mistake again, regardless of the results. There is an immense chasm of difference in values, political worldview, and policy goals in our country. Just because one side or the other is “quiet” or passive or moving on about their lives doesn’t mean they agree with the actions of the current leaders in charge. 

They are waiting and biding their time, not being persuaded.

5) Regardless of who wins, and despite the histrionic predictions of both sides should the other side win, we will not be carried away to Babylonian captivity by Nebuchadnezzar. 

You may recall the desperate sieges of Jerusalem by Babylonian forces — sieges that led to parents consuming their children during starvation, and, once victorious, Nebuchadnezzar’s ultimately slaughtering the king’s sons in front of his and the people’s eyes, *then* punching out the king's eyes, loading him and the remaining captives with chains, and dragging them across the desert to Babylon.

Imagine, for a moment, that scene, in Jerusalem, in front of its starving inhabitants. Imagine the slaughter of the sons, dying in the dirt of the city. Imagine watching your leader’s eyes gouged out — the blood, the screams, the unmitigated horror of that scene, while Nebuchadnezzar watches.

Imagine the long march across the desert, with your king blind. Who died on the way? Who was left behind? How much did the survivors, the children and the elderly, suffer?

There’s no possible calculation of such events from the comfortable rich (we’re all rich) Americans of the 21st century. We cannot fathom the suffering. It is incomprehensible to our minds. 

None of that will happen, given the victory of Trump or Biden, though admittedly there *will* be Bad Things that happen in the minds of those on the other side.

And yet — this is what God says to the desperate, impoverished, defeated and broken remaining Israelites:

“Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: Build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat their produce. Take wives and have sons and daughters; take wives for your sons, and give your daughters in marriage, that they may bear sons and daughters; multiply there, and do not decrease. But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare.”

Those are stupendously hopeful, practical words.

And you know what?

If the Jewish people in Babylon with a wicked and cruel conquering king could cling to that fruitful and life-giving philosophy in the midst of captivity in a foreign land and culture, I can do the same. No matter who wins, I intend to follow exactly that philosophy. 

I intend to be creative and productive, to work, to enjoy the outdoors, to be as fruitful in my relationships as I can be. And I intend to “seek the welfare” of the communities I live in (though not everybody will agree on the definitions of "seeking the welfare.") Dogs, creation, trail running, orienteering, exploring, friends and family, marketing and branding and publicity, gym work, writing, reading, photography, and a relationship with the blessed Trinity are all great marvels and mysteries that can require all of my attention and absorption.

6) Someday, the true King will be known by all. Every knee will bow to Him, Jesus, the prince of Peace. We won’t be Republicans or Democrats or Independents. We’ll be His (or we’ll be gone).

Trump, Biden, Hillary and Bill, Reagan, Bush, Carter and Clinton, Caesar, Nero, Xi, Kim, Boris . . . none of them are in charge.

And I’m not in charge either.

Someday every single human on earth — past, present, and future — will recognize that right well.

Jesus is Lord.

For All The Saints and Sinners

 This Sunday is All Saints Sunday, and I have always admired the Saints, in fact my High School teams were called "Saints", but I have always regarded the "institution" of Sainthood with  some degree of skepticism. As children, we were taught that a Saint was a devout Christian who lived an exemplary life. We thought that a Saint must have been as close to sinless as a human could get. Needless to say, that would severely cut down on eligible candidates for sainthood. It was fun to sing the Hymn and pray, "God help me to be one too...", but none of us were so destined. As we grew older, we learned that all the Saints were at one time or another sinners like the rest of us. We also learned that fallible humans decided who could become a Saint, and that different denominations used different criteria to decide who made the grade. 

I am not one who prays to the Saints for divine intervention. 

Still, I believe we should publicly honor the Saints and educate our children on their stories. 

Do people do that anymore?