The Twenty-third Sunday after Pentecost

The Twenty-third Sunday after Pentecost – November 16, 2003

Mark 13:1-8

It was Humpty Dumpty, was it not, that had the great fall? Isn’t that how the children’s nursery rhyme speaks? He sat on the wall, next came the fall, and all the King’s horses and all the King’s men couldn’t put Humpty together again.

If my memory serves me well, that is the story of Humpty Dumpty.

And it is a bit of a warning to us. This little rhyme tells us a great truth about life: everything and everyone “falls down” eventually. Not only does everything fall down, but whatever it is, it cannot be put back together again.

Think of the Twin Towers of 9-11. They tragically and sadly fell down. Even if they were rebuilt exactly to the specifications first used to build them, they would be different. We would know they are different. We would remember the thousands of lives lost, even lives of people we knew.

First the fall, then we cannot put it back together again.

How true that is for us. This is a very pessimistic view and leaves us a bit hopeless. It is, though, the truth. It leads us to look in all kinds of places for an answer that will solve the problem of falling down.

For example, many of us watch Dr. Phil or Oprah, don’t we? Well, perhaps not all of us. But, people often tune into self-help television hoping to keep their lives from disintegrating. Isn’t the “bread and butter” episode of this kind of TV the “make-over” show? You know, Mary is not just “with it” anymore. So, Oprah makes her over and she will have a new life. Or Dr. Phil prescribes just the right course of action so that you organize your office and never misplace a phone number ever again.

Well, I may be making a bit light of talk-show TV, but many of books we buy, programs we watch, and paths we take, are all designed to keep us from falling apart. We can’t seem to get enough of them.

And we fall apart, anyway.

So, the problem of falling apart never gets resolved. It is when we realize that it is impossible for us to resolve the problem of falling apart that we begin ask, “Where is God in all of this?”

As usual, we have forgotten about God and gone after all the easy answers of our culture. It is at this point that we realize it is not God that has gone missing, but it is us who have gone missing. We realize we are no longer dwelling with God and the truth is that we are ones who left the building.

Where, then, does God dwell? Where does God dwell that we can get back into good company with God? It is good to dwell with God because we know that God is able to resolve the problem of falling apart. God is the only one who can put us together again.

Where, then, does God dwell?

God dwells on the cross. It is on the cross that God dwelt in grace and died for us that we can live with God forever. On the cross God took care of our falling apart. On the cross God took care of our wandering away seeking the easy answers of our culture. On the cross God dwells with forgiveness and love that is sufficient for us in all times and places.

God dwells on the cross and we are judged. That is not something to fear. We are always afraid of the future because it may bring the discerning judgment of God upon us. Of course it does and will.

But, God has resolved the problem of our guilt in the cross. Dwelling there God has died and risen so that we are no longer guilty. We may be judged, but we are also pardoned by the gift of grace we know as the cross.

Pardoned by God in Christ we are new people. We are Humpty Dumpty put back together again. God has done for us what cannot be done any other way. God has loved us on the cross until we are altogether again.

So, in faith we receive this gift of love, the forgiveness of all our sins. What is surprising is that along with the forgiveness, God gives us the capacity to love ourselves and others. That is the gift of the future. Knowing we have life in God we need not fear the future and we can thus focus on the present. How blessed we are.

Let me illustrate what I mean about the future and being held secure in Christ. Yesterday, Debbie Morris, Shari Shull, Warren Spitler and I traveled up to Fairfax for an all-day presentation about the new worship book. Yes, we heard yesterday that in 2006 there will be a replacement for the green book, the LBW.

What we learned that is even more important is that the baby and the bath water are not going to be thrown out together. Much of what we presently have will be continued. What is in the future are worship resources that will enrich our lives of faith as we desire to use them.

Having a secure future in Christ and the cross means we can with open hearts and open minds look at these new worship possibilities and see if they are appropriate to us. Will they help us to worship? Will they nurture our faith? Will they help new generations believe and worship God? If the resources do this, they will be used. If they do not, we need not use them.

So, over the next few years there will be provisional resources for us to try. Feedback is important. We will need to try some of these new forms and we will need to evaluate them for their faithfulness to our tradition and their helpfulness in our worship.

It is an exciting time. We need not be afraid, because we know in the cross that in all circumstances, God is good. Even in times when worship forms are being renewed, God is good.

We don’t worry about the future and what it holds because we know who it is that holds the future in his hands. It is Jesus, with whom we dwell by virtue of the cross. Amen.

Pastor Robert F. Holley