As most of you know, the Common Lectionary is a cycle of scriptures that we follow in our worship. Today is the start of the church year, and so we are in year C. There is a three year cycle. Preaching from the lectionary is a discipline really. Without the lectionary, most people would just preach on the 6 or 8 verses they like. I may be exaggerating a little with the 6 to 8, but I have a friend whose father was a Presbyterian minister who did not use the lectionary. He said his dad was a guy with 20 texts total that ever preached from. This is a somewhat limited subset of the Bible.
You folks get three sets of readings over the span of three years. There are two threads for the Old Testament readings in Ordinary time. There is little repetition except at times like Christmas. The Psalms repeat a little since there are not so many of them to pick from.
I am not the guy who by nature is always preaching the end times. This is important to the theology of some, and there are some preachers who are all about people “faint[ing] with fear and foreboding.” Having said all this, we have heard two Sundays in a row about the end times.
If I wanted to hear about distress among nations, I would turn on our television. We don’t come to church to hear about distress among nations.
The piece of this Scripture I want to focus on is the part we can control. The signs are there, and we understand them or not. Fig trees sprout leaves and they do it whether we are paying attention or not. Jesus tells us to “be on our guard.” That is a verse with a lesson for us. It is advice you have heard before. When I was a Boy Scout, we talked about “Being Prepared.” The military calls it readiness. When I served on the Safety Committee at the Culver Academies, we had plans for just about everything that could happen on campus. Most of it seemed pretty unlikely, but we had a plan, and we wanted to be ready.
Readiness saves lives.
You folks remember when the submarine Kursk went down. The Russian Navy had suffered since the breakup of the Soviet Union. Budgets were cut. Training suffered. Morale was horrible. One result was that, in August of 2000, the nuclear submarine Kursk sank in the Barents Sea, taking 118 crew members to the bottom. There were no survivors. It is believed that one of the torpedo casings had developed a leak because of rust and this was the source of the explosion.
A Russian official said that it was “a catastrophe that developed at lightening speed.” That was true – whatever happened was quick and catastrophic. But there is another sense in which it was not true. The problems did not develop at lightening speed. They developed over a period of years in which there was no money to maintain the ship or to train the crew.
A U.S. Naval officer made this comment. He said, “Men rust faster than ships.” People who have to operate complicated machines in dangerous places had better be on guard. They have to know what they are doing. They have to be prepared. Otherwise, they will die.
Jesus said, “Be on guard so that your hearts are not weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and the worries of this life, and that day catch you unexpectedly like a trap” (vv. 34-35).
The three things we are supposed to watch out for are dissipation, drunkenness and worry. That’s an interesting list. I mentioned George Thurogood in a sermon a few weeks ago and talked about the greatest influences in his life. He famously told a Rolling Stone interviewer that they were “Drugs, sex and rock -n- roll.”
It may be that George Thurogood has the may have the dissipation and drunkenness issues. I don’t want to judge, but this is the guy who sang about “One Bourbon, One Scotch, and One Beer” and “I Drink Alone.” I don’t know how much he worries. Most of us I suspect are either working on the dissipation and drunkenness, or we have it under control. That worry thing is probably more of a problem for those of us in the pews this morning.
Not that I want to seem defensive or anything, but what’s wrong with worry? Worry seems such a mild fault by comparison with dissipation or drunkenness, but Jesus included it in this list on purpose. These are the things that keep us from being ready.
We talk about people worrying themselves to death, and that happens. Worry causes hypertension and heart disease and all kinds of problems.
I am a priest. I am not a doctor at a clinic. I am interested in the health of the spirit. Worry does not just impact our health. It is a spiritual killer too. Worry is the opposite of faith.
- Faith says, “God will take care of me.” Worry says, “God won’t take care of me.”
- Faith says, “God is trustworthy.” Worry says, “God is not trustworthy.”
- Faith says, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” Worry says, “I can’t handle it.”
Jesus tells us today, “Be on guard so that your hearts are not weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and the worries of this life.” Jesus was talking about being ready for the Second Coming, but his advice to maintain a strong spiritual life prepares us for other things as well.
- A strong spiritual life prepares us for the Second Coming.
- But it also prepares us for the challenges of today.
- And it prepares us for death. It prepares us to die with dignity––to die unafraid.
To prepare ourselves, Jesus tells us to pray. Prayer strengthens us. It opens a channel for us to receive God’s blessings. It opens a channel for us to receive God’s guidance. It opens a channel for us to receive God’s power. It opens our hearts to receive God’s Spirit.
Jesus modeled that behavior for us. When times were BAD, he found himself a quiet place and prayed. When times were GOOD, he found himself a quiet place and prayed. Whatever was going on around him, Jesus prayed. It didn’t make circumstances easier. The roads were still dusty. The sun was still hot. The crowds were still overwhelming. But prayer filled Jesus with the strength to handle the challenges of the day.
Here as we start a new church year, I am going to suggest a new year’s resolution for you. It is to pray. That is my takeaway this morning.
Be on guard! Don’t let worry get you down. Find yourself a quiet place to pray. Work on your relationship with the Lord.
I have said these words in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Sermon preached by Fr. Tom at St. Thomas, Plymouth
November 29, 2015; Advent 1
Jeremiah 33:14-16
Psalm 25:1-9
1 Thessalonians 3:9-13
Luke 21:25-36