Tomorrow is Not Today

The Rev. Whitworth Ferguson III
The First Presbyterian Church
Washingtonville, New York
November 14, 2004

Tomorrow is Not Today
Isaiah 65:17-25
Luke 21:5-19

Then he said, “Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom;
there will be great earthquakes, and in various places, famines and plagues;
and there will be dreadful portents and
great signs from heaven.”

It hardly seems fair, does it,
that the Lectionary assigns an apocalyptical text
ten days before Thanksgiving,
two weeks before we begin Advent.
Our stress levels are already on the rise,
and now we have to deal with the idea of the Apocalypse?

Apocalypse.
You know the word:
Images of thunder and lightning,
earthquakes, famine, pestilence, war….death.
The world literally going to hell;
only a select few saved,
the rest left to die horrific deaths.

For two thousand years, authors and artists have found
in the mere mention of the word fertile soil
for pictures, paintings, and books.
The Left Behind series has only been the latest
in dozens and dozens of books
that purport to pull back the curtain on what is to come.
Three years ago after the horrible tragedy of 9/11,
some people wondered whether we might be witnessing
the beginning of the end times:
Whether we were about to enter an era of nation against nation.
Incredibly there is a growing group of conservative Christians
who are all for war in the Middle East.
They are hoping, even praying, for nuclear warfare in that region
because they believe that a cataclysmic conflict
will spark the beginning of the end.
These evangelicals display a grotesque misunderstanding
of what apocalyptic writing was and is all about,
and what Jesus was trying to teach us in this lesson
and its counterparts in the other gospels.

The purpose of apocalyptic writing wasn’t to shake people up,
although it did and does do that.
It wasn’t to scare people; although it did and does do that.
And it certainly was not to pass along some secret code
to a handful of self-anointed prophets.
No, the purpose of apocalyptic writing was to give hope to the faithful:
hope in troublesome times.
The foundational message in all apocalyptic writing
including the Revelation to John, is the same:
that no matter how bad things may get,
not matter how bad things may seem,
God’s will always prevails
and God’s love always triumphs.
God’s will always prevails
and God’s love always triumphs.
That’s it.
That’s the message in all apocryphal writing.

Turn the clock back 2000 years back to the days when Jesus
walked the dusty roads of Israel and Judah with his disciples.
Apocalyptic writing was very popular.
There are many pseudepigraphal and apocryphal pieces
that can be found in books outside the Bible.
Those who wrote apocalyptic pieces were the
the Danielle Steels and the Mary Higgins Clarks of their day.
The writings gave hope to the faithful in Jerusalem,
hope that some day a deliverer would come,
hope that some day the descendant of David
would overthrow the oppressors
and restore the people of Israel to full possession of the land.

The 500 years prior to Jesus’ birth had not been happy times
for the children of Israel.
First the Babylonians invaded their nation,
destroyed the Temple and then exiled the people.
Then the Babylonians were routed by the Persians;
The Persians were overthrown by the Greeks,
and the Greeks were vanquished by the Romans.

The children of Israel lived in a nation that was constantly invaded,
constantly occupied……never their own.
Things of course went from bad to worse following Christ’s crucifixion on the cross.
The faithful could not worship freely or openly.
Even a suggestion that you were a follower of Christ would lead to arrest.
Crucifixion was only one way you might die;
the sport of throwing Christians to the lions grew popular
and if there was no Coliseum nearby,
the Romans were not hesitant to burn the faithful alive.
In this kind of environment is it any wonder that authors would
write of warfare, destruction, annihilation,
the elimination of oppression, and final victory?

When Jesus shared this apocalyptical message with his followers
he knew his own death was only days away.
And he knew his death on the cross
was going to make matters even worse for the faithful.
The echoes of “Hosanna, Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord”
had only just faded away, carried off by the winds,
but Jesus wanted to reassure his followers,
encourage them to have faith,
encourage them not give in or give up.
He did not want to sugar-coat his message.
Jesus never told his followers that faithful discipleship would be easy.
He told them things were going to get tough,
indeed, he told them that if they thought things
seemed bad then and there, just wait.
Things were going to get worse, much worse.

But…..
But, no matter how bad things might seem.
no matter how bad things might get,
Don’t lose heart, don’t lose faith.
Trust in God.
Believe always in the everlasting arms of God.

Jesus builds on the message God spoke to the people of Israel
through the prophet Isaiah: with their country overrun,
the people enslaved, and the Temple destroyed:
“be glad and rejoice forever in what I am about to create,
for I am about to create Jerusalem as a joy.”
This hope-filled statement is the message we should hear
in all these apocalyptic passages:
Have faith in God’s constant presence,
be confident in God’s love,
God will be with us, even unto the end of the age.
Don’t waste time looking for signs;
don’t waste time listening to false prophets.
Stay focused. Share the good news of the Kingdom
Share the good news of the gospel
Share God’s love.
Stay focused on discipleship.

But we wobble, waffle and waver,
especially when things get hard for us.
When we are anxious about things in our own lives,
when we are worried.
Doesn’t Jesus tell us, don’t fret, don’t worry,
Doesn’t Jesus tell us that we are saved,
saved by the grace of God?
What in this world does any of us have to worry about?

The only thing we can do is the only thing we should do: respond.
Respond to the love, the grace, the goodness
respond to the constant presence, the assurance.
We have countless ways to respond.
In acts of simple kindness and goodness in our families,
reaching out to a stranger.
And of course, in things we do here in this church.

Now you hopefully received your pledge card for Stewardship 2005
in yesterday’s mail.
If you didn’t get it, you will probably receive it on Monday.
When we pledge, we respond, respond to God’s goodness and grace,
respond with a commitment, respond with enthusiastic faith.
Our pledge cards provide each of us with a way
to respond to our Saviour’s message of hope.
It’s certainly not the only way.
But it is a vital way, both for each of us and for this community of faith.

I’ve been thinking about my own response.
Like you, I have lots of demands on my budget.
I’ve got other worthy causes knocking at my door.
I’ve got tuition bills to pay to Princeton for my doctoral program.
Pat and I both worry about whether we will have enough saved
when retirement rolls around.
Each of you has your list of things:
repairs to the house or the car,
children’s college fund,
your own retirement account.

When I sit down with my pledge card,
I am going to try my best not to be thinking about any of those other things.
I am going to try to remember God’s call to each of us to bring our first
fruits, our tithes, to God.
I will pray and I will respond faithfully.
I will respond joyfully,
I will respond by acknowledging that everything I have,
comes from God.
I will respond by acknowledging that when I reach the end
of my journey here in earth, I won’t be able to take
my books, my doctorate, or my Ipod with me.

I will respond by acknowledging that this church is only what
we collectively make it to be.
I don’t shape the vision for this church: we do working together
This church is and will be only what we make it to be.

I love coming in on Thursday nights to work in my office while the choir rehearses.
Not only do I get to hear the beautiful music the choir is working on,
but I also get to hear the banter and the laughter
that goes on among the choir.
I love watching us work well together.
Conversely, one of my least favorite things is listening to someone complain
about a group or an individual: why isn’t this person or this group doing more,
doing what they said they would do.
Two months ago men and women, young and old
worked in torrential rain to make the Auction and White Elephant successful.
It is never how much money we raise that marks a successful venture
in my mind. It’s great that we raise the money, but that is secondary.
What is always the most important thing is that we work well together,
we work faithfully together.
If we raised twice as much money,
but our efforts were marked by fighting and rancor,
I’d consider the venture a complete failure.

Your pledge card awaits your response.
More important, God is awaiting your response.
Make time this week to pray and then respond:
fill out your card, seal it in the envelope
and then bring the card to church next Sunday.
We will invite everyone to bring their completed cards up
and put them in basket here on the Lords’ Table
We will give everyone the opportunity to respond
to God’s goodness.

Someday there will be an end of time as we know it.
And that time may come tomorrow.
Our Lord calls us to be ready for that day.
And the best way we can prepare for that day
is by remembering that tomorrow is not today,
and today we are called to be faithful disciples
of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Today we are called to remember that each of us has been
born again in Christ,
given life, given hope
called to service in the name of our Lord.

We can spend our days worrying, complaining,
grumbling, unhappy with this or that.
We can spend our days looking for signs and portents;
We can spend our days listening to false prophets;
We can spend our days judging others;
We can spend our days criticizing others;
We can spend our days filled with anxiety.
Or we can spend our days looking forward with hope and confidence.
We can plan boldly, confidently, joyfully
We can commit ourselves completely,
not holding back any of our gifts.
neither in our own personal lives,
nor our lives as faithful members of this congregation.
We can create, to build, to strive.

We can immerse ourselves more completely in doing God’s work.
understanding the words of Barbara Brown Taylor
who writes, “the reward of doing God’s work
is....doing God’s work.”
Serving the One who was,
the One who is,
and the One who always will be.

AMEN