"Navigating Through The Chaos"

Sermon Delivered By Reverend Richard E. Stetler – November 18, 2012

Centenary United Methodist Church

Psalm 113; Mark 13:1-8

 

    There are a number of passages in the Gospels that paint some rather grim pictures of the future of our world.  If we looked at Genesis 1:31 however, the writer wrote, “God looked at everything he had created and was very pleased.”  So, what happened?   When we examine our lesson today, Jesus is predicting that the world and its different cultures will remain in chaos for a long time.  He said, “Countries will fight each other, there will be earthquakes, famines and countless other catastrophic events.”

    What is interesting is that everything predicted in our lesson today has already happened during the last twelve months.  The only events missing are the stars falling from their places and the Son of Man arriving in the clouds.   We have read or heard the news of fires, earthquakes, hurricanes, tornados, floods, famines and the violent overthrow of governments.

    In Christian theology, do any of these events mean anything?  Some among the faithful have drawn ominous conclusions.  The simple answer is that being alive in the physical world does not come without risks. Jesus said several curious things about such events.  He said, “Do not be troubled about such things.  They must happen, but they do not mean the end of the world.  In fact, these things are like the first pains of childbirth.”  (Mark 13:7f)  What interesting comments!  This morning we are going to consider what he meant.

    Our history of engaging in wars is fresh in our minds.  Last Sunday we celebrated Remembrance Day.  November 11th was the day that World War I ended.  That date has remained in Bermuda’s history and has become a time when our grateful nation pauses annually to remember not only people that sacrificed their lives during all wars but also those who stand prepared to protect the freedoms we enjoy.   Why did Jesus say wars must happen? 

    During our lifetime, we have noticed the results when opposing ideologies collide violently.  Jesus knew that it would take thousands of years for the consciousness of all human beings to learn to love one another in all its different forms. Wars occur when societies that build communities with shared responsibilities and freedoms are confronted by despots that govern by forcing everyone to live by rules that reward the state.  Fortunately for us, those that protect human freedom were victorious. The results have been nothing short of miraculous.

    For example, no one living in 1945 could have imagined that people in our generation would be driving Mitsubishi and Toyota cars from Japan, Volkswagen and Mercedes-Benz from Germany and Audis from Italy. Our daughter, Sue, first purchased a Daewoo and her current car is a Hyundai.  Both cars were manufactured in Korea.   In the late 1960s, who would have believed that companies like McDonald’s and Kentucky Fried Chicken would have stores in Vietnam? Who could have imagined that people from Centenary would be tourists in Hanoi?

    What was it about these wars that converted mortal enemies into trading partners?  We were literally bombing and killing each other not that long ago.  How has this transformation happened so quickly?  The answer can be found in the prologue of the Gospel of John, “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has never put it out.”  Our enemies discovered that loving one another and their prosperity went hand in hand in creating a more wholesome world view.   

    Western cultures have learned that when men and women serve one another in their vocational pursuits, prosperity happens.  When western cultures teach people how to up-grade their standard-of-living by learning how to be productive, quality results are not far behind.  Just look at what happened to China when the U.K. gave up control of Hong Kong.  The Chinese reversed its 4,000 year culture and came roaring into the 21st century almost overnight with double digit growth.

    Loving energy patterns come in many forms.  What is interesting is that they may not resemble anything that Jesus taught.  The truth, however, is made visible in the result.  Truth and love are only religious concepts because the Church has made them so. What is curious about loving energy patterns is that they transform ideologies that are primitive into networks that support individuals, communities and nations.  This is how wealth and prosperity are grown. 

    We are living in a world where chaos and rapid change are happening everywhere.  Many of us are wondering where history is going.  We are grateful that we are among the people whose ideology and beliefs create hope and not despair.  Jesus said all of these things must happen until the light of a more wholesome understanding reaches every culture.

If God could whisper something in our ears it could be,

 

Be patient, my children, this is my world and I have not lost control over any of it.  Centuries ago, my servant Jeremiah quoted me as saying, ‘I will write my laws within everyone’s heart.  A day will come when everyone will know me from the least to the greatest.’  (Jeremiah 31:33f)

    Today, we are still dealing with extreme contrasts in ideology.  Our orientation toward life is built on the foundation of love your neighbor.   However, we must learn to live among a host of individuals and cultures whose values are based in greed, fear, terror and destruction.  There are a lot of people in the world that simply do not get it.   People are only experiencing what their respective appetites or cultures are teaching them.

    Two years ago in November an Afghani Muslim, Mohammad Shafia, living in Ontario, Canada killed his three teenage daughters and their mother.  Following his arrest, he confessed in court that he and his second wife would gladly do it again. We can hardly imagine such a ruthless, primitive, brutal act by this couple. 

    What possible reason could the couple give for committing murder? He justified what they did by claiming that he was protecting his family’s honor.  The couple told the judge that his first wife and his daughters were ignoring Islamic teachings by their western style of dress, by wanting and receiving an academic education and by pursuing life-styles based on western values.  The couple will be spending the rest of their lives in prison for murder believing that they did the right thing.  This belief is unfathomable to us because we were taught and trained with a very different set of values.  

    In stark contrast, in 2006 in Nickel Mines, Pennsylvania five Amish school girls were killed by a gunman that came to their school house.  After a standoff with the responding police, the gunman was eventually shot and killed.  No one knows why this man expressed his unhappiness with his world by ending the lives of five innocent girls.    

    The immediate response of the Amish community was to come together and extend forgiveness and sympathies to the widow and the family of the man who murdered their girls. This response mystified people all over the world.  What belief system exists that would create such a response in people?  The Amish are people of faith.  Faith gives us lenses through which to see the world differently.  

    A spokesperson for the Amish community responded with wisdom that is timeless.  He said,

Acid corrodes the container that holds it.  That is what happens when we hold onto bitterness.  Letting go of painful events instantly is the only response we know.  An angry, hostile response will not bring back our daughters.  We grieve and move on with our lives.  We are all under God’s care.  Our daughters are fine.

    The spirit by which we live is determined and defined by our understanding of life and our purpose for being here.  When the teachings of Jesus are central in our lives, they create values that are often completely foreign to the way others live.  This is why Jesus said, “Do not be troubled about such things.  They must happen, but they do not mean the end of the world.  In fact, these things are like the first pains of childbirth.”

    What are we to think when people destroy the lives of others and do not give a second thought about doing it? What are we to think about scam artists that swindle vulnerable people out of what assets they have accumulated over the course of their lives?  What are we to think about societies that demand that women remain uneducated, that all news from the western societies is from Satan, that industries in the West are only promoting the decline of their religious cultures and that a person’s conversion to Christianity, in the minds of some extremists, marks them for death?  

    The answer to all of these questions is that we must continue to live our faith, allowing our light to shine into such darkness.  We have to be patient with people and societies that remain committed to belief systems that are different from ours.  Many societies of the world have moved on to embrace an exciting future at an accelerated pace that is faster than anyone could have predicted.  Societies that refuse to evolve will find themselves being left behind until their populations have a change of mind.   

    God gave humanity the tools for coping with anything.  God gave humanity inquiring minds for learning and understanding how the universe works.   God also gave each of us an invisible world within that governs our attitudes, our desire to reach for the stars and our ability to evolve spiritually. 

    Some time ago I encountered an interesting couple who asked me to perform their marriage ceremony.  Both had highly energized personalities and jokingly referred to themselves as army brats.  What made them a fascinating study of human adaptability was the opportunity provided to them by moving from one military base to another.  When given the choice to wilt or bloom in the midst of rapid, unexpected change, they had decided to thrive long before they met each other.   

    The young man said, "When Dad's orders came I remember thinking that dying would be easier to negotiate than being pulled out of high school in the beginning of my senior year." The woman said,

I attended three elementary schools and two middle schools before I found stability during my senior high school days. In the beginning I did not understand. I cried and cried.  It was not fair. I told my dad that I hated what the Army was doing to our family. I was always forced to leave my friends.  We have grown up now and have a different perspective. Both of us have become free of most of the things to which many people attach themselves. Our security is not found just in our friends or our unique circumstances. It resides inside of us.  Today, both of us have friends all over the world.

    What Jesus was teaching his disciples was a lesson that we need to practice every day.  Life is not about a number of secure environments or relationships; rather it is about climbing, growing and developing skills that allow us to be at peace anywhere at any time.  “These challenging experiences,” Jesus said, “do not represent the end of the world.  They are like the first pains of childbirth.”  They are like the green shoots that are signs of new growth.

    Our confidence rests in our faith that this is God’s world.  We are only temporary guests in this beautiful world.  When we keep Christ and his teachings at the center of our lives, God will fill in the blanks.  Think of what the message of Jesus has been through historically in order to get to us this morning.  Just keep making your love visible and let the details up to God who was and is the shepherd of this process.  One day peace will cover the earth, but it needs to continue its ripple affect by coming from within each of us every day.