26 Pentecost: In the cracks

photo credit: Smithsonian's Freer and Sackler Galleries, on Flickr

This sermon is a re-working of my latest blog post, "What the Cracks Reveal," in case some of it sounds similar!

Malachi 4:1-2a
See, the day is coming, burning like an oven, when all the arrogant and all evildoers will be stubble; the day that comes shall burn them up, says the Lord of hosts, so that it will leave them neither root nor branch. But for you who revere my name the sun of righteousness shall rise, with healing in its wings.

2 Thessalonians 3:6-13
Now we command you, beloved, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, to keep away from believers who are living in idleness and not according to the tradition that they received from us. For you yourselves know how you ought to imitate us; we were not idle when we were with you, and we did not eat anyone’s bread without paying for it; but with toil and labor we worked night and day, so that we might not burden any of you. This was not because we do not have that right, but in order to give you an example to imitate. For even when we were with you, we gave you this command: Anyone unwilling to work should not eat. For we hear that some of you are living in idleness, mere busybodies, not doing any work. Now such persons we command and exhort in the Lord Jesus Christ to do their work quietly and to earn their own living. Brothers and sisters, do not be weary in doing what is right.

Luke 21:5-19
When some were speaking about the temple, how it was adorned with beautiful stones and gifts dedicated to God, [Jesus] said, “As for these things that you see, the days will come when not one stone will be left upon another; all will be thrown down.” They asked him, “Teacher, when will this be, and what will be the sign that this is about to take place?” And he said, “Beware that you are not led astray; for many will come in my name and say, ‘I am he!’ and, ‘The time is near!’ Do not go after them. When you hear of wars and insurrections, do not be terrified; for these things must take place first, but the end will not follow immediately.” Then he said to them, “Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; 11there will be great earthquakes, and in various places famines and plagues; and there will be dreadful portents and great signs from heaven. But before all this occurs, they will arrest you and persecute you; they will hand you over to synagogues and prisons, and you will be brought before kings and governors because of my name. This will give you an opportunity to testify. So make up your minds not to prepare your defense in advance; for I will give you words and a wisdom that none of your opponents will be able to withstand or contradict. You will be betrayed even by parents and brothers, by relatives and friends; and they will put some of you to death. You will be hated by all because of my name. But not a hair of your head will perish. By your endurance you will gain your souls.”

--
Election season is finally over.

It is time to exhale. It is time to recover from the intense and brutal campaigning of this last year. It is time to tuck ourselves into bed a little bit early as we recover from staying up too late on Tuesday watching election returns (ok...maybe that's just me).

It is time to repair relationships. It is time to heal a severely divided nation. It is time to show grace in our victories and our losses. It is time to look out for those who feel scared or who are made vulnerable in this time of transition. It is time for us to watch and pray as we navigate a new path toward the common good.

It is time to be honest about what this election has taught us as a nation. Because, among other things, I think that this election has shown us some of the cracks in our nation, our world, and in ourselves.

It has shown us how government benefits some and burdens others; it has shown us the fears and frustrations of those who fall through the cracks. It has shown us the latent racism, sexism, classism, and intolerance that persist in our country, even though we wish we were better than that. It has shown us that when we crack under frustration, we find it easy to fling callous words across the aisle. This election has shown us that faith and politics continue to make very strange bedfellows. It has shown us the limits of our two-party loyalties and it has challenged us to see both the flaws and the humanity in one another, without jumping to simplistic labels of "good" and "evil." It has shown us the ways that we crack and crumble when we are afraid of losing what is important to us.

It is by some stroke of bizarre humor (thanks, Holy Spirit), that this reading from Luke 21 is our gospel text for the weekend. We all had a bit of a chuckle about this on Monday morning during Bible Study. All is terrible and the world is ending! What a text to read the day before an election! And now what a text to read the Sunday after one.

Jesus declares to his disciples that everything is about to come crashing down. False leaders will arise. There will be wars. There will be riots. Nations will clash and self-destruct. Creation will unleash its fury. Everything will feel like a sign of the end of days. Those who follow Jesus as disciples (of grace, forgiveness, compassion) will come upon hard times. The government won't know what to do with the voices that resist the trappings of empire. Faithful people will be called to testify. It might go poorly. We will find ourselves divided from friends and family. We will know spite and hatred.

The assurance is that, in the midst of all of this, God has us in his care. Though we weep or die or struggle, we will not perish in an eternal sense. God has not forgotten about us. We will endure. We will find ourselves and our souls.

It takes great care to talk honestly about this gospel in such a contentious election season. But I think that these words are exactly what we need to hear from Jesus this week. Because if this election season has shown us the cracks in our nation and in ourselves, then Jesus is here to tell us that these cracks can lead us to a deeper place of faith and discipleship.

When Jesus describes the destruction of the temple to his disciples, he is in fact describing the destruction of everything that the temple symbolized: security, home, food, commerce, peace, the very dwelling of God. The crumbling of the temple is the crumbling of life as usual.

Now, we have to remember that reading the Bible sometime asks us to do a bit of time travel. Because while Jesus was talking about a future destruction of the temple, we have to remember that the author of Luke was writing his gospel after the destruction of the temple had already taken place. Luke was writing for a group of people who were barely a generation removed from the temple’s destruction, who were living as an exiled and persecuted minority under the hand of Rome. For Luke's original listeners, the question was not "When will everything come crashing down?" but "What do we do now that it already has happened?"

Like Luke's audience, we are not strangers to a world in turmoil. The truth is that all the things that Jesus talks about - volatile governments, wars, natural disasters, broken relationships - none of these things are new, in his generation or in ours. None of these things are new, in this or in any other election cycle.

Jesus tells us that these cracks are going to be a persistent reality until the day of God's kingdom. Jesus tells us that the cracks might get worse before things get better for our longing world. Jesus says that these cracks might break our spirits or our bodies, and these cracks will most certainly break our hearts.

Author Joanna Macy writes, “The heart that breaks open can contain the whole universe.”

I think that this is, ultimately, the word of hope that Jesus is pointing us toward in today’s gospel.

HIs perplexing and painful words about the end of the world are an exhortation to discipleship. He calls his disciples to let their hearts crack and break open, because holy heartbreak is the only path toward learning true love for all of God’s people and all of God’s creation. It is by these cracks, Jesus says, that we gain true sight of our souls.

There is a centuries-old Japanese art called kintsugi, which is the practice of piecing together broken vessels using precious metals like gold, silver, or platinum. The philosophy behind the art is to take an object, to honor its history - including its cracks and brokenness - and to create beauty out of the brokenness instead of trying to hide or disguise it. Broken bowls re-emerge as bowls with rich golden veins that fill the old cracks with reflected light. Broken vases shimmer with newfound tendrils of silver unfolding from bottom to top. The cracks become the beauty. The brokenness becomes the light. In the words of Leonard Cohen, God rest his soul, "There is a crack in everything. That's how the light gets in."

The cracks in our hearts reveal God’s beauty shining through our brokenness. God’s grace is a rather uncompelling notion when we don’t see our need for it. But when everything cracks and crumbles and we see our souls clearly; when we see our fears and failings; when we fall apart enough for us to admit that we are useless to save ourselves and that even governments - of any variety! - have always proved to be shoddy saviors; when we face the gap between longing and fulfilllment, between despair and hope - it is only then that we can truly know the absurd, overwhelming, outstanding measure of God’s love for us, that God would pour into our souls all light and forgiveness and grace. We can take heart, even when all is crashing down because God promises to put us and our world back together, binding us up with gold and with light.

In the meantime, we are called to trust that God can and will continue to shine through the cracks, even if dimly right now. We are called to remember that God yet calls us children and empowers us to bear his light and image in the world.

Paul's words in 2 Thessalonians today urge a fledgling community of faith to stay persistent in doing the work that God has set before them, no matter what. Christian freedom doesn't excuse us from doing our God-given work in the world. Our hope of Christ's return doesn't mean we should wait passively for the second coming. Neither our confidence in Christ nor our despair for the state of our world should leave us sitting on our hands. Faith gives us a calling: to do what is right and good, without wearying of the task.

In the last handful of days since the election, stories have emerged of Muslim women having their hijabs torn from their heads while shopping, and students harassing classmates of different races. We have watched peaceful protests turn heated and violent. On both sides, the land under our feet is trembling in the aftermath.

This should set our hearts on fire. Because our faith calls us to step forward to speak healing and redemption into the cracks and tremblings around us. Our redemption in Christ pushes us to redouble our efforts to bind up the brokenhearted, to seek justice for the oppressed, to bring liberation to the captives, to create good news for the poor, to love our neighbors and our enemies, to give up our stuff and ourselves for the sake of others, to stand with the broken, to remember that we are members of the body of Christ and are therefore responsible for the good of others, especially the most vulnerable.

Our world cracks. Our hearts crack. We rely on grace. We bear grace. That's the way that it works.

Even though the edges might still be rough and sharp right now, and even though the divisions in our world still run deep, God opens our eyes to look through the gaps and see the light. What is broken will one day be restored, not just to former beauty but to new glory. God is putting us back together. God is making of us a new creation. And God is calling us to pour out love and justice like molten gold upon our world.

If you are sure today that the world is ending, my friends, hear the good news: it is. But not because of who is or isn’t in office. The world is trembling and shaking because it is always moving toward its end and its goal: the coming of Christ as king, who will bring us a kingdom of peace, reconciliation, light, and life.

See the light. Reflect the light. Pour out the light. Be the light. For Christ is your light, your strength, and your hope. By his love you will endure. By your endurance you will gain your souls, bright with light and filled with gold.

Thanks be to God.
Amen.