KEEP CALM AND CARRY ON
Rev. Karen Pidcock-Lester
First Presbyterian Church, Pottstown, Pa.
Advent 1
December 3, 2017
Isaiah 64:1-9
Mark 13:3-9, 19, 21-37
Introduction to the reading of Isaiah 64:1-9
The prophet Isaiah speaks to God on behalf of an embattled, beleaguered, disillusioned people. The people of Israel had been in exile for generations, they had been refugees in foreign lands. While they had lived in exile waiting to return to their homeland, the vision of what life would be like when they migrated back to Israel had sustained them in their struggle. Now they have returned, and they have found the homeland wasted, its cities destroyed, and sin is rampant. The God of their ancestors seems to have moved far off; their dream is a nightmare. Isaiah cries out to God:
64:1-9
Introduction to the gospel reading
“Oh! That you would tear open the heavens and come down, so that the mountains would quake, and nations tremble at your presence!” Isaiah had cried.
In chapter 13, Mark picks up this theme of God’s intervening in this earthly realm. In this passage, Jesus uses language from the Old Testament prophets, and speaks with images that would be familiar to disciples who are waiting for God to invade earth and seize power and control, praying as he had taught them, “Thy kingdom come.”
In this episode near the end of Jesus’ life, Jesus is sitting with 4 of his disciples on the Mount of Olives, a hill outside Jerusalem. From this vantage point, the view of the city of Jerusalem is spectacular. At the city’s center lies the Temple, one of the architectural wonders of the ancient world, and its dome, covered in gold, shines brilliantly in the sun.
The reading for today is excerpts from a longer conversation Jesus is having with Peter, James, John, and Andrew about the things that are to take place. It is an intimate conversation, a quiet moment before the storm that even now is brewing. The plot to kill Jesus is taking shape, and in only a week, Jesus will return to this Mount of Olives after his last supper with these disciples, and they will fall asleep just before his arrest.
Jesus knows he is nearing the point of no return, and within days he will be hanging on a cross outside the city they marvel at now. Jesus sits with his friends, giving them counsel, direction, advice.
Mark records this conversation about 35 years later, while he himself is sitting somewhere in a time of war, the Jewish wars. We do not know for sure at what point in the wars he writes – during the siege of Jerusalem, or after the catastrophic end, when the Temple lies in ruins. Either way, Mark records Jesus’ words for an early audience of believers who are shell-shocked by current events, and perhaps even paralyzed by the prospect of impending calamity, wondering when God will intervene.
Let us make our way to the Mount of Olives and sit for a few moments with Jesus, listening to what Jesus says to his frightened and alarmed disciples – because, as Jesus notes, what he says to them, he says to us all.
Mark 13: 3-9, 19, 21-37 ( on a bench at the center)
Pray.
Within the first days of the beginning of the Second World War, Great Britain – like most nations in a time of war – established a new Ministry of Information. The primary purpose of the hastily-formed government agency was to produce materials that would inspire, direct, warn, and instruct the populace about their role in the flaming conflict.
The most famous and enduring way the agency did this was through its distribution of posters with slogans and images intended to mobilize the people on the homefront. While Prime Minister Churchill and the government and the military were doing their part in the battle against tyranny, posters called the people to do theirs:
“Use Spades not Ships; Grow your Own Food and Supply your own Cookhouse”
“`Come and Help with the Victory Harvest; You are Needed in the Fields!”
“Better Pot-Luck with Churchill Today than Humble Pie under Hitler Tomorrow: Don’t
Waste Food!”
“Mrs. Sew and Sew says, Mend and Make-Do to Save Buying New.”
And this one, in an effort to offer humor in the face of espionage threat:
“Do what Dad does – Keep Mum.”
Perhaps the most recognizable poster to come out of that campaign was, interestingly enough, never distributed. Since earlier posters had failed to bring about the intended effect, this poster was put on the shelf in a change in MOI personnel. What was that poster? You have seen it: it has a red background, a white crown, and underneath the crown, in a no-nonsense font style, the words KEEP CALM AND CARRY ON.
Distributed or not, this poster has become an iconic expression of the heroic and successful stance of the people of Great Britain as they held back – for a long time singlehandedly – the dark forces of evil that stalked the earth.
Keep calm and carry on.
This, in essence, is Jesus’ counsel to his disciples here on the Mount of Olives as they sit on the cusp of events turning towards a calamity of cosmic proportions.
Yes, Jesus says, there will be wars and rumors of wars.
There will be earthquakes and famines and tribulations the likes of which have not been seen in human history…
yes, sin will ooze like spilled oil and cover everyone in its disgusting filth…
yes, Jesus tells them, it will seem as though God has retreated and hidden God’s Self far off from you…
yes, creation itself will reflect the turmoil and tribulation…
yes, you will suffer, my friends, he quietly warns, the government will come after you, there will be leaders who claim to follow me, speak for me, represent me, even be me –they will be an abomination and will lie to lead you astray…
But…
But…Jesus says to Peter, John, James and Andrews – despite all this, do not be alarmed.
As he says to them, he says to us— Keep calm.
God knows these things will happen.
And though God will not cause them –
sinful men and women will cause them--
sinful men and women will cause wars, build missiles, damage creation,
sinful men and women will lie and cheat and engage in moral behavior that will cover them like a filthy rag…
sinful men and women will allow the rich to get richer and the poor to get poorer,
sinful women and men will bear false witness against their neighbor and spitefully use those who disagree with them…
sinful men and women will do all the things that the Law and the prophets and Messiah tell us not to do…
and it will be terrible.
Even so, God knows these things will occur,
and God’s plans have taken all this into account. These things will not thwart God’s loving purposes for God’s children,
so do not be alarmed.
Keep calm…
because even if the sun is darkened and the moon does not shine,
even if the stars themselves fall from the heaven-- whatever that means in the prophet’s language–scripture declares that when God invades to establish God’s governance over all creation,we will have no need of lamp or light of sun! The Lord Himself will be our light.
Keep calm…
Jesus says, because when the Holy One interrupts this realm,
the one who interrupts will not be Caesar or Nero or tyrant or terrorist…
Instead, in the words of a poet,
“the interruption is the Beloved,
who comes into our dissolution,
intervenes in our collective suicide,
re-directs our plunge toward oblivion…” (“The Coming,” Steve Garnaas-Holmes)
“It is spring, not winter,” Jesus says,
“It is the homeowner, not the thief…” (Garnaas-Holmes) who is at the gate…
It is God the Father, God the potter who appears at the gate…
The poet observes,“It’s not the end;
it’s the clay being reshaped
by hands with a vison
for who we can be
before we are fired in the kiln
into durable vessels” (Garnaas-Holmes)
fit for eternity.
Do not be alarmed, Jesus says…
God’s got this.
Keep calm.
But…
do not be complacent.
We do not know the day or the hour when the Interruption comes…Jesus warns. The homeowner could appear at the gate at any time,in the coming week, tonight, or while we gather today around the table…
we do not know.
You do not need to calculate the time, Jesus tells us, but you do need to…Carry On.
Carry on with the work I have given you.
God has taken us into account,too, in God’s plans,
and like those civilians on the homefront in Britain,
we have a critical role to play in holding back the darkness in the conflicts of our day.
We are like pregnant women who have had new life planted inside us,
and we do not know the day or the hour, but we can be sure that in time we will be delivered…
so in the waiting we must shed the old way of life, focus and do everything in our power to nourish and cultivate the new as we prepare for its arrival, so that we are ready in the time of deliverance.
“I have already told you everything you need to know,” Jesus tells these four disciples among the olive trees, “So be alert. Keep watch. Do your part.”
What Jesus says to his disciples, he says to us all.
You and I know what Jesus taught us.
We know what is good and right and just.
Perhaps we sometimes know only what is un-just, because yes, things are complicated,
nothing is black and white, and it would be naive, irresponsible and wrong to act as though they are.
But as we live in a time of turmoil and conflict
which at times can seem like we are on the cusp of calamity,
we are called to do our utmost to let God govern and direct usin our relationships, in our treatment of neighbors and strangers, in our stewardship of resources, in our role as citizens…
we are to giveourselves fully to understanding and following Christ’s instructions,
doing the work he has assigned tousto hold back dark forces…
trusting that in due time the homeowner willappear at the gate to
deliver us from evil
and restore God’s wise and gracious governance to the whole creation.
Until then, whatyou and I need to do is
keep calm,
and carry on.
Let’s do this.
Amen.