Isaiah 65:17-25 Canticle 9 (Isaiah 12:2-6) 2 Thessalonians 3:6-13 Luke 21:5-19

Surely, it is God who saves me; I will trust in him and not be afraid. Isaiah 12:2

In this morning’s Gospel lesson, the people gathered around Jesus in the Temple are admiring the Temple’s magnificent adornments. Jesus is speaking to them prophetically about the chaos and tragedy of the coming destruction of the Temple. This glorious earthly Temple, the crux of Jewish religion and society, would be destroyed for the final time by the Romans just a few decades after Jesus’ time there, never, until this day, to be restored. Even today, the ruins remain.
Jesus’ words are rich in meaning and symbolism. It is more accurate to say that he is speaking metaphorically about the chaos and tragedy of the days surrounding the Crucifixion that is to come.

Even more significantly, he is speaking of the “birth pangs” of the end of time, which tends to strike fear in all of us. From our Gospel lesson, we learn that characteristic of these fear-filled times are false leaders exalted by others and claiming to be the “one” who will save the world. These times bring violence and turbulence – wars and insurrections; there will be arrests and persecutions. Being prepared to confront these times is to know Jesus Christ, so that keeping our eyes focused on our faith, we are led through the chaos, whether it be the simple chaos of our daily lives or the ultimate chaos of the end of time.

Those who are prepared will be able to endure the violence and persecutions. To be prepared requires the understanding that the true temple of our faith is not a magnificently adorned earthly building; God does not reside solely in a building; the true temple of our faith is Jesus Christ. Jesus says, “By your endurance you will gain your souls.” “Not a hair on your head will perish.”

The writer of the second letter to the Thessalonians implores us to be prepared by fulfilling our fair share of responsibility to one another. In these years not so long after Jesus’ Resurrection and Ascension, the Thessalonians took to heart the expectation that Jesus would return again soon. In fact, they were so self-assured of Jesus’ soon-to-be return that they had become complacent in their ministry to one another; they began to see no need to do the work of the Church; they simply had chosen to live upon the generosity of others with the expectation that that would carry them through until Jesus’ return.

These words in the letter to the Thessalonians remind us that we are called to continue being faithful and recognizing our responsibility as members of the body of Christ, regardless of our life situation. It is our responsibility to explore the expectations of our faith – to be prepared to endure the “birth pangs” – to be prepared, not as consumers of church, but as members of the Body of Christ – the Church. From today’s words of the prophet Isaiah, we find that great sense of hope and assurance in the New Jerusalem with the Lord as our stronghold.

It is in our preparation – our understanding of ourselves as the Church that we are able to endure the birth pangs of the end of time.
Stewardship is a huge piece of the theological practices expected of us as members of the Body of Christ – the Church. Yearly, as we begin to prepare for the support of the coming year’s mission and ministry, I alert you to the many misconceptions about stewardship, specifically money and the Church. It is a well-known fact that mainline church preachers don’t like to preach about money and the Church, and you in the congregation don’t want to hear it. Even so, sit tight; here it comes again.

One misconception is that preachers shouldn’t preach about money. Jesus did. Jesus talked about money more than he talked about heaven and hell. Most of his parables relate to the use or misuse of wealth in one way or another.

In Matthew 6:19, Jesus says, “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal; but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” Jesus is reminding us that our checkbooks and our calendars reveal the truth of our hearts. Jesus is reminding us that we are not to invest our resources in earthly temples that crumble.

Another misconception about money and the church is that we should designate our contributions specifically for mission and outreach preferring that none of our contribution be applied to administration costs. In other words, somehow the light bill and the sexton’s salary and plumbing repairs and the toilet tissue purchases are separate from the mission and ministry of the church.

I can assure you that the five AA groups who meet here are grateful for a warm and safe meeting area and a clean restroom. And, in turn, countless lives are changed by this ministry. Our food pantry must meet necessary requirements for safety and accessibility; it is dependent upon the many freezers that we maintain throughout the building. You might not be aware that we are considered as any other business by the electric company; our rate is much higher than for your private residence; our annual budget for electricity is $15, 500. In warm summer months the monthly bill approaches $2000.

Our worship together would be a good bit less welcoming if we didn’t have the paper and ink to print the bulletin that helps guide you through the service, particularly if you are visiting. Yet, how do you apply these expenses to the lives that are changed/souls rescued through these ministries. Everything that goes on here, every dollar that is spent is, or should be, part of the mission and ministry of this church, and we are called to be good stewards of every dollar.

Thirdly, we might feel that the Church is not doing the same great things that other charitable organizations are doing, or that somehow the Church should be able to go on meeting our high expectations for great ministry with limited funds. In tomorrow’s mail, as in every day’s mail, millions of glossy eye-catching mass solicitations will go out across the country from organizations and institutions that have no shame or hesitation about begging for your money. My phone and yours rings throughout the day. To be a robocaller is seen as a more lowly occupation than the proverbial tax collectors of Jesus’ time. These groups invest enormous amounts of your contributions in professional staff and the necessary resources to implement these well-crafted initiatives to solicit your continued financial support. They do that because it works.

Certainly, many of these are wonderful organizations that oversee great charitable and educational causes throughout the world. They build homes and feed the hungry and educate our children. But, remember, they don’t baptize our children; few are committed to assuring desperate souls in our community of their rightful place in the Body of Christ. They don’t visit us and pray with us and bring us Communion when we are in the hospital; they won’t be there to commit our bodies to the ground – earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust. These organizations, as wonderful as they are, won’t be there to continue to pray that our souls may rest in peace; they won’t be there to console our grieving loved ones. Who will be there for these most sacred life changing events? By God’s grace and your ongoing commitment, the Church will be there.

The final misconception I will mention is the misconception that we don’t have enough to make a stewardship pledge to the church. However large or small, our pledge is a covenant with the Body of Christ – a symbol of our steadfast faith in the Body of Christ. If you wear a wedding band, whether a tiny band of gold or encrusted with enormous diamonds, it represents the same covenant. We make commitments every day; why not make the most important commitment? So, please don’t toss me in with the robocallers.

Being prepared for the end times about which Jesus is speaking is to know Jesus Christ, to experience Jesus Christ in one another. Listen carefully, being prepared for the end times is accepting our responsibility to see that others around us know Jesus Christ.
Knowing Jesus Christ and making him known is the essence of our faith – the essence of our stewardship of God’s creation. As was Jesus, the Apostle Paul was firm in his exhortations regarding our responsibilities as the body of Christ: “Brothers and Sisters, do not be weary in doing what is right.” [2 Thessalonians 3:13]