EASTER 5 A

It’s the End of the World as we know it…

Introduction

I don’t suppose you heard about the rapture yesterday?

Harold Camping, an 89-year-old retired engineer who founded a ministry called Family Radio Worldwide started broadcasting sermons a while ago that said that at precisely 6pm on May 21st the rapture would occur.

Here is what they said: "On May 21, 2011 two events will occur," the group predicts. "A great earthquake (that) will be so powerful it will throw open all graves. The remains of all the believers who have ever lived will be instantly transformed into glorified spiritual bodies to be forever with God.

"On the other hand the bodies of all unsaved people will be thrown out upon the ground to be shamed. The inhabitants who survive this terrible earthquake will exist in a world of horror and chaos beyond description." In an interview with The Associated Press last month, Camping said that there was "no possibility that it will not happen."

So – I toyed with not writing a sermon at all; but… then I figured I might not be one of the chosen; and maybe some of you would still here; and well… perhaps I should prepare something.

This is not the first time the end of the world has been predicted – any of you remember how the Millennium was supposed to work out when the calendar clicked over to 2000?

One of the biggest changes that ever did occur was in the 1500’s when an alignment of the planets was thought to be the end. Among other things that came about as a result of this was the Protestant Reformation.

But I digress; suffice it to say that the end came and went and either the rapture did not happen or no one I know was among the chosen.

Money Where Your Mouth Is

The one thing about Harold is that he was willing to stake his reputation on the idea that the world was winning.

He had a vision of what he thought would happen. And he preached it; he preached it just like Stephen, the first head of the church, a brother of Jesus, preached it. And, well, people with conviction are sometimes not taking the safest path through life – they are taking risks.

Materials Needed: Bring enough small rocks in an open box to give one to each child. Take a fullsize piece of black or brown poster board and cut around its edges with scissors to make a large rock.

I have a true story to tell you today. It’s about a huge rock (hold up the poster board rock) and some stones (rattle the rocks in the box). Once there were 2 young girls: Margaret, and her little sister, Mary. Their home was high on a hill. To get to school, they had to walk down a steep, winding road. To get home again, they had to walk up the winding road. One day, they were on their way home when they heard something hit the ground close to them. (Drop one of the rocks into the box.) It was a stone, and it almost hit one of them!

At first, they thought it was an accident. Maybe a stone had fallen from the cliff above them. Then they heard some laughter. They looked up, and there, high above them, they saw some kids about to throw more stones at them! For a second the girls just stood there, frozen in fear. Then, a whole bunch of stones landed close by—thud, thud, thud—(rattle the rocks in the box).

Margaret grabbed Mary’s hand and they ran as fast as they could. Beside the road, they saw a huge rock that they could hide behind (stand up the poster board rock). They ran for it as more stones came crashing down around them (rattle the stones together). Luckily, not a single one hit them. The girls hid behind the rock, holding on to each other and the rock tightly (pull the poster board rock over close to you).

The 2 girls held on to the rock for a long time. They were so afraid. What if the kids above were still there? But as the girls waited and everything around them was quiet, they started to relax. They felt comforted by the warmth and shelter of the big rock. It was as if the rock was telling them, “It’s all right. I’m with you. Stay close together. You’re doing the right thing.” They felt reassured by this huge rock.

As Margaret and Mary hid there and felt the safety there, I wonder what they thought about. I wonder if they thought how wonderful it was that this huge beautiful rock had been right there beside the road ready to help and encourage them and any other living thing that needed to huddle close to it, for protection.

Finally, Margaret and Mary had enough courage to step out from the rock (move the poster board rock to the side) to see if it was safe to continue heading home. There was no one. The other kids had gone. The girls moved the stones to the side of the road (move the box of rocks to the side, letting them rattle a bit), and in a gesture of “good-bye” they each touched the big rock that had helped them (reach out and touch the poster board rock). Then they went up the winding road, reaching home safely.

In Psalm 31 we read, “In you, O Lord, I seek refuge... you are indeed my rock.” And you know, God can be like that big rock in today’s story. God is ready for us to find and hold on to. And when we are troubled or scared, God is ready to encourage and strengthen each of us.

Now We Are A People

“But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God's own people, in order that you may proclaim the mighty acts of him who called you out of darkness into his marvellous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.”

Hugh Farquhar says that if his family had a motto above the door it would have been, “to whom is given much, much is expected.”

There are times when I think this is really where we dropped the ball with this whole Christianity thing. We had it in our grasp, this truth thing, 2000 years ago and we let it slip through our fingers because we, as a people, are far more likely to look for easy answers than to take risks.

But here the early Christian preachers were, saying to their congregation, God has chosen you, God has set you apart, to proclaim the mighty deeds, the marvellous light…. You were once individuals, but now you are God’s people… so Testify!

You know what - I could have gone on to do something different with my life; heck, I could have gone on to do anything… the thing is, if I had of gone the way I was going, I would have been dead long before now. I entered my first alcohol treatment program in grade nine. By grade ten I was hooked on drugs, by grade 12 I was a punk with a Mohawk, a runaway, and selling drugs.

You know what happened to me? Church happened; specifically one Danny Compton. He told me God cares about you and so do I. Now, Danny is no saint either – just ordinary people, with jaded pasts, who struggle to get by. But when it hit me that Danny was telling the truth – when I came to see in church a place that accepted me and offered me grace and love – I became part of that royal priesthood of believers.

More than that, I gave my life over to the church in the hopes that one day I could be that person for someone else; that my belief in the goodness and love of God would make a difference for just one person, sometime, somewhere.

The beauty is I don’t know if it has or not… so I keep trying.

Would I not have told you so?

Ah Jesus farewell speech to his friends. Also one of the passages I preach the most about at funerals.

I am usually talking about it as a text of “preparing the way” ; and thus using it as a passage which brings comfort in the face of death. But I don’t really end up getting to talk much about Jesus other claim, that he is “the Way the Truth and the Life.”

For me, too many crusades and too much fighting has gone on because we think that Jesus used the word “only” as in, I am the only way, the only truth, the only life…. Again, remember, he was talking to the people who were following him around for three years; he was their teacher, their Rabbi…

And Jesus was saying, “everything I told you, everything I showed you, the life I live…. That is the path. Stay on it and you will find yourself heading in the right direction. You will find the place I promised you.”

You see, it is not enough to say, I get it, when you are talking about Jesus; one actually has to walk the walk. One has to take the risks, one has to believe themselves to be called as a disciple with all the risk that it entails.

For Jesus there was this serious moment when he said, go out into the world and baptize in my name – heal the sick, help the poor, care for the widow and orphan – and each time you do something for the last and least; you are doing it for me.

What would it take for you to move from coming to church, to proclaiming your faith? That is the real question… what would you stake your life on?

Conclusion

So – live life with conviction – that is the quick answer. There is a long tradition of people who risked it all for what they believed, and they made a difference. Christianity spread throughout the known world in a very brief period of time because people were so willing, so convicted, so sure….

We need to capture that understanding and trust in God. We need to live that level of faith. If we do, perhaps it would be just like the second coming – and the rapture would be complete.