Every so often I’ll be down there at the center of the
church reading the Gospel lesson and I will get the end of the gospel and
I will raise it up and say the “Gospel of the Lord.” And as I’m saying that
rolling through my head is the thought “Good news… is this good
news?”
Remember that the word Gospel comes from a Greek word
euaggelion which literally means a good message or good news. The Good
new according to Luke… the good news according to Matthew or Mark or John… this
Gospel that we read that is the center of our liturgy is good news.
Today challenges that assertion.... doesn’t sound like good
news… wars and insurrections… famines and plagues and earthquakes…
dreadful portents.
What exactly is a dreadful portent? I don’t know but it
sounds pretty awful.
Families turning in on themselves, prisons and
death…
Now I’m sure there are loads of questions… and I,
unfortunately, can't answer them all in the space of this sermon.
So I want to simply drill down into one particular
section. Jesus warning …Jesus warning to beware….
Let me read it again.
“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.”
Jesus says.
Let me read Eugene Peterson’s paraphrase of this particular
verse.
Watch out for the Doomsday Deceivers![ Isn’t that a great
way to start] Watch out for the Doomsday deceivers. Many leaders are
going to show up with forged identities claiming, ‘I am the one’ or ‘The end is
near’ Don’t fall for any of that. When you hear of wars and uprisings,
keep your head and don’t panic. [1]
So often in these passages, I get sucked into the darkness
the wars, the pestilence, the dreadful portents...that I miss the subtle
warnings... to watch out for those who might lead us astray… to Watch out
for what Peterson calls the doomsday deceivers.
Doomsday deceivers are people who say that the sky is
falling when maybe it really isn’t… Or it’s so so terrible when maybe it really
isn’t.
But then they say the sky is falling but I am just the guy
to fix it… I am the guy you need…
Peterson says don’t fall for that---keep your head--- don’t
panic.
With the warning to watch come two things---- the first is
to commit to be people of discernment -- I think we are called to discern
whether the people around us---- are leading us rightly.
How do we discern that? For me, I think it comes back
to something I heard Bishop Curry say some time ago--that it has to begin and
end with love---if it doesn’t begin and end with love, he says it’s not of God.
And that the people we are to follow are to begin with love in mind and end
with love in mind.
But also that’s the leadership we are called to display…to
be leaders who begin and end with love…
During his royal wedding sermon, Bishop curry asked some of
the most powerful people on the planet to imagine what it would be like to
begin and end with love. He said,
Imagine our homes and families where love is the
way.
Imagine neighborhoods and communities where love is the
way.
Imagine governments and nations where love is the way.
Imagine business and commerce where this love is the way.
Imagine this tired old world where love is the way. When
love is the way - unselfish, sacrificial, redemptive.
When love is the way, then no child will go to bed hungry
in this world ever again.
When love is the way, we will let justice roll down like
a mighty stream and righteousness like an ever-flowing brook.
When love is the way, poverty will become history. When
love is the way, the earth will be a sanctuary.
When love is the way, we will lay down our swords and
shields, down by the riverside, to study war no more.
When love is the way, there's plenty good room - plenty
good room - for all of God's children.[2]
We need people who lead us that begin and end with love…
When we lead in our homes, our workplaces, our churches --coaching on the
soccer field or at the ice rink, we need to begin and end with love…
Second and lastly it’s about making sure we are looking up
looking to the right places for our help. That there will be wars and
insurrections..and school shooting and disease and famine and earthquakes and
dreadful portent… and death.
That’s life so where do we turn when the sky is really
falling ...I think the canticle we sang a few moments ago says it best…
Surely, it is God who saves me; *
I will trust in him and not be afraid.
For the Lord is my stronghold and my sure defense, *
and he will be my Savior.
So dear friends beware of those who say I have the
answers----- beware of those who do not begin and end with love. And may
we always be challenged to begin with love and end with love in mind… and when
all else fails, remember where to turn the only one who can save us.
AMEN
ReplyDeleteافضل شركات عزل الفوم
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افضل شركة عزل فوم بالرياض
افضل شركة كشف تسربات المياه بالرياض
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أفضل شركة عزل فوم بالدمام