Blessed Assurance & Faithful Endurance
The writer of Isaiah and the writer of Luke paint starkly different images of a future for faithful people.
One is hopeful. Isaiah describes feelings of joy and delight. The end of weeping and the beginning of prosperity and security. It’s almost too good to be true, right? With predators lying down with their prey. I think C.S. Lewis must have read this scripture once or twice before he dreamed up Narnia.
Jesus, on the other hand, gives a no-holds barred description of trials and tribulations. In the far-off future our sacred buildings will tumble, the nations will continue to wage war, and we can expect to be hauled into court to defend our beliefs and justify our actions. Not even family members will defend you but, “by your endurance you will gain your souls.”
Now, my friends, you and I know a thing or two about this gospel. We know the gospel as Luke-Acts, one author, two books. And I’m certain that the early faith communities would welcome Jesus’ affirmation of their trials. Don’t you find some comfort when someone acknowledges how much you are enduring?
We know a thing or two about Isaiah. These words of comfort are surely balm to a people who have endured exile. And don’t we still take comfort in images of a new heaven and new earth? There’s a reason we read and hear a similar vision at most funeral services (Revelation 21).
And we also know a thing or two about enduring and the anxiety that goes along with it. As do the people who have come to hear you on a Sunday morning, eager to connect with the hopeful vision you share.
The authors of both know that the times they are a-changing, as Dylan intones. And there has never been a time in my life, in that phase, when I haven’t been afraid. It doesn’t matter what the change is. Something good – like accepting a new job. Or something scary – like accepting a new job. Something good - like having a child. Something scary - like having a child. You get my point.
Before seminary I worked in online advertising in Tribeca, NYC. Every morning I had a 45-minute commute on the subway. In the months leading up to my last day on the job, I endured that commute. I was leaving my well-paid, full benefits employment to start school and go into debt. I was leaving what was known and secure to start something unknown and uncertain, which a part of me thought was foolish! I painted a myriad of future scenarios in my mind every day. Some brought me comfort. Some, not so much.
Everyone, including you of course, has stories of being in that place, filled with vulnerability. Where there is hope and fear. Maybe it will work out? Maybe this is the right decision? Maybe this endeavor will be an utter failure? Maybe I don’t know what I’m doing? What if this is a huge mistake? Surely the people those texts were originally written for felt that too.
We are in a season of transition. Fall makes that point in a way summer does not. The leaves are radiant, then they die and fall. The temperatures were cool, now they are freezing. And despite our manipulations of time, darkness lasts longer than light. Winter is coming. Though, I’m not sure a Game of Thrones vision is the way to go.
Seriously, what transitions in your life connect to the feelings that undergird these stories? What challenging transitions has your community endured? Maybe they are in one right now. We do meaningful theology when we reflect with our community on what we have or are enduring together. We write our own sacred stories of God at work around us. We include our community in painting the vision of the new thing God is up to.
Despite the joyful proclamations of all those Pew Research studies (yes, I’m being facetious here!) I know there are vital reminders of God’s presence in our churches! We offer people connection and community and opportunities to participate. Counter-cultural at a time when so many people feel isolated, disconnected and alone.
Everyone on a Sunday morning is enduring something. But hopefully not our sermons! We share a very human reality with the ancient people of those passages. All of us need and long for affirmation that God sees our struggles. People want to know that their preachers see that too.
I’m not entirely sure what it means to “gain our soul” but I know what it means to speak from it. May we be prompted to do that! Share our enduring stories of strength and hope to encourage all of us who walk by faith. There is joy and delight in our midst always, and sometimes my friends, that joy and delight comes directly from you!
