the 23rd sunday after pentecost
the PRAYER. . .
O God, the protector of all who trust in you, without you nothing is strong, nothing is holy. Embrace us with your mercy, that with you as our ruler and guide, we may live through what is temporary without losing what is eternal, through Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord.
the READING. . .
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.”
the DEVOTION. . .
After the sermon, Sunday, we sung a song written by Charles Wesley. Younger brother of John. A mover and shaker in the early Methodist movement. “Lo! He Comes with Clouds Descending” We’ve sung it before. But this time, it didn’t feel quite right.
Christ the Lord returns to reign …
See the day of God appear …
Thou shalt reign, and thou alone …
It was all about tomorrow! All about the future! All about the not-yet! What we sang was so fixated, so obsessed on the future that we could see nothing else.
But as we sang, another picture began to appear … of a battered, broken man hanging on a cross. And I began to realize that that “day of god” doesn’t lie ahead of us, but behind us. On a Friday afternoon. On a deserted hilltop. That’s when the Temple fell! That’s when creation drew its first breath! That cross, for us, is the sum and substance of believing! That cross, the kingdom and the power and the glory!
Bob Barndt, pastor