Grace to you and peace from God our Father and our Lord and
Savior Jesus the Christ. Amen
Well, it’s been a heck of a week.
One of the nice things about having Minnesota roots is that
you have a whole vocabulary to deal with life.
Minnesota talk, they call it.
And thankfully, it gave me the words to describe this week.
You see, that phrase, it’s been a “heck of a week” in
Minnesota talk covers a multitude of things.
To say it’s been a heck of a week may mean
That
the Vikings finally won the Super Bowl.
Or,
That
your dog died.
It’s been a heck of a week.
Donald Trump won the Presidency.
Heck of a week.
Hillary Clinton lost after leading in the polls right up to
the election.
Heck of a week.
And so now we anticipate and try to guess what kind of
President Donald Trump will actually be.
Will he, together with the Republican congress be able to
usher in a new era of conservative legislation, and accomplish some long term
goals?
Or will moderation temper the day?
Donald Trump met with President Obama and two things came
out of the meeting.
Trump has said repeatedly since that meeting, that President
Obama, “is a good man.”
And secondly, he indicated that there may be some
compromises on Obamacare, having expressed a willingness to keep some of the
more important provisions in place, even as they try to fix the problems.
Gee, could he end up being more moderate than his opponents
fear, or his supporters hope?
What kind of a President might he be?
Well, I know exactly what type of President he’ll be.
“He’ll be a “heck of a President”!”
Covers it all.
Meanwhile, the nation is anxious.
Tensions are mounting.
Some on the right, such as extremist groups like the Klu
Klux Klan, see the Trump election as a great development and a sign that White Supremacy
is back in vogue.
Their followers have committed any number of threatening,
intimidating acts.
A conservative friend of mine referred to this as the
activity of a bunch of criminal thugs.
And notice, he said, “I said criminal.”
It’s always wrong, no matter who does it.
And then on the left, protests are mounting.
And some of those protests have developed into what would
best be described as riots. And I would
say, “Always wrong, no matter who is rioting.”
It’s been a heck of a week.
And then we read this morning Jesus’ dire prediction of the
trials that are to come.
“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; there 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.
“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.”
Now, before we get all bent out of shape, fearing that
the end is near, a little historical perspective is in order.
Jesus’ prediction came in response to the disciple’s
awe at the beauty of the temple in Jerusalem.
His prediction was that it would be destroyed.
It was.
In response to the continuous insurrections of the
Jewish people against the Roman Empire, the emperor Nero dispatched an army
under the command of Vespasian to put down the insurrection in 70 AD. It was then that the Romans destroyed the
Temple, leaving no stone upon another, as punishment for the Jewish
people.
In response to other rebellions, Rome finally had
enough and destroyed the Jewish nation in 135 AD, dispersing those Jews who
were left throughout the Roman Empire, and banning Jews from Jerusalem
entirely.
It wasn’t until recent times, 1948 to be exact, that
the Jewish state came into existence again.
Also, during this time of trial, Christians were cast
out of Judaism.
The result of that was that the Roman Empire no longer
considered Christianity to be an acceptable religion, but a cult.
Christianity was then illegal; Christians were
persecuted, martyred for their faith, crucified or thrown into the coliseum to
die at the hands of the lions and gladiators.
These were the times that Jesus predicted.
And yet, it seems that generation after generation must face
similar times of tribulation.
Wars come and go.
Civil unrest raises its ugly face from time to time.
Natural disasters strike.
And betrayals abound.
Another night on CNN.
It’s just the way the world is.
What is important
Is not
Jesus’ predictions about what is to come,
But Jesus’ admonition about what we
should do at those times.
“This will give you an opportunity to testify.”
This will be an opportunity to bear witness to our faith.
This will be a time when Christians can, with the help of
God, show the world a different way.
Two things stand out for me.
And my prayer is that whatever the future may hold, that we as
Christians may exhibit to the world these qualities:
First, from Micah 6:8 –
He
has told you, O mortal, what is good;
and
what does the Lord require of you
but
to do justice, and to love kindness,
and
to walk humbly with your God?
And the second, is the Great Commandment that Jesus lifted
up for us—
“’You
shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and
with all your mind. ‘ This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second
is like it:'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’”
(Matthew 26: 37-39)
I am certain that there will be difficult times ahead, in
part, because life is never easy.
I am certain that there will be political unrest and
upheaval, because that is the nature of our times.
What I hope for is not that these things won’t happen, but
rather that we might be faithful members of the Body of Christ through it all.
Justice, Kindness and Mercy.
Love for God,
And love
for our neighbor.
These are the things to which we are called.
This is the agenda for us, as a Biblical people.
Today, there are both great hopes and grave concerns about
what a Trump presidency might mean.
But the real question before us is not what kind of president
Donald Trump will be, but what kind of people we will be.
What about the poor?
Or women?
What about our gay and lesbian friends and family members?
What about the foreigner living in our Land?
Or the person of color?
What about the most vulnerable in our midst?
Can we do justice, love kindnes,
and walk humbly?
Can we, amid all the political strife
and unrest find it within ourselves to love our neighbor as our self?
If we cannot be the type of people God is calling us to be, then
it doesn’t matter who our president is, we will have failed.
But if we can respond faithfully, in this time, and every
time, then love will have triumphed and grace will have prevailed.
And that, my friends,
Will be one “heck of a day!”
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