Ecclesiastes 3:1-13, Revelation 21:1-6a,
Matthew 25:31-46
Since I haven’t seen some of you
since 2007 I’d just like to start by saying Happy New Year! The start of a new year is always
exciting. I guess the one I remember the
most vividly was January 1st 2000.
The hype prior to that event reached a fevered pitch. Y2K, as it became known, was supposed to
bring a reign of terror…planes crashing, banks closing, power failing,
food and water running out, neighbors shooting each other over a can of spam.
What was that about? Why all the hysteria and hoopla? Was it a highly effective
marketing device for gas powered generators and bottled water? Was it a recognition of our deepening dependence on fragile
technologies? Or was it an expression of our globalized
anxiety about the unknown future?
But every year brings with it a variety
of prognostication when the media finally turns from past to future with
top ten lists of forecasts and predictions. Wondering about the future myself,
I turned to the most reliable source for predictions I know, given their vast
experience in the field, the Weekly World News. You may have seen this
hallowed tabloid at the supermarket, but I looked it up on the web. They have
the news the other media misses, and they actually name themselves “the
world’s most reliable newspaper.”
I was alarmed to learn that one out of four UFO pilots is intoxicated,
but that explains their diving and dipping ways of zipping around the skies. I
was amused to hear about a man from
According to them we're in for a hard
year! Terrorism, assassination, blinding solar flares, disastrous tidal
waves, killer viruses, devastating earthquakes, drought, record heat, record
cold, and then, on August 8th a black hole will swallow the earth.
It's just as well, because our sun is going to burn out in 2008 anyway. The headlines blaring from this paper are
just priceless…Killer babies on the loose…honeymoon couple attacked
by goldfish…and my personal favorite…the right diet will assure you
a place in heaven.
It seems that any one can play this game so let me offer you my own top ten
list of predictions for the new year:
Number 10: Scientists will discover
a way to surgically implant cell phones in our heads so teenagers can talk to
their friends even in their sleep.
Number 9: Bill Gates will move
Microsoft to
Number 8: Genetic engineering will
eliminate bad hair days
Number 7: Americans weary with diet
fads will force the American Medical Association to revise its ideal weight
standards by an increase of 25 pounds.
Number 6: The
Number 5: Membership in computer
chat room churches will surpass membership in real churches and create a new
software craze of virtual reality spirituality games.
Number 4: Last names will fall by
the wayside as parents start adding ".com" to their baby's names and
registering their internet domain names as quickly as they are born.
Number 3: Christmas decorations will
appear at the malls just after Labor Day, bringing cries of protest from manufacturers
of Halloween costumes. Peace will come when the Disney studios figure out a way
to combine the two holidays with the
it movie "Santa the 13th."
Number 2: NASA scientists will
announce they have discovered life on earth in a remote village in the
And my Number 1 prediction for the year
2008:
Donna Grunewald and John Biggs will come to blows over which fundraising
venture the church should pursue…a multistory gymnasium and parking
garage or the replacement of the old water tower with a gigantic Walleye thrill
ride.
Well, I would argue my list of predictions is at least as reasonable as any
I've seen. We are no better at forecasting things to come than the ancient
priests who searched the entrails of goats looking for signs. Even when it said
"Invest early in MacDonald's" they didn't know what it meant. The
truth is, no one can predict the future nor guarantee its security. That's why
we fear it. The future is out of our control; So much for the bad news. The good news I have for you today is that
the future is in the hands of a good and loving God. The Bible does tell us
what we can expect from the future, not in the form of precise predictions so
much as general truths we can trust. Our scriptures today taken together offer
us the Christian view of time.
First of all, the Bible says our
lives are timed. As Ecclesiastes puts it: "For everything
there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven."
"Under heaven" is where we live. "Forever" is not a
word that belongs to the human vocabulary. Eternity is the exclusive property
of God. Our days and weeks and years are numbered, and we do well to keep
ourselves in humble perspective before the inevitable march of time however we
may choose to mark it. What's more, in the seasons of human life, good things
and bad things will happen. There is:
a time to be born, and a time to die;
a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted;
a time to kill, and a time to heal;
a time to break down, and a time to build up;
a time to weep, and a time to laugh;
a time to mourn, and a time to dance; (Ecc 3:2-4)
and so on. You can expect your share of joy and of
sorrow, of triumph and of suffering. Much of these are beyond your control and
a part of human existence. It is what it is. The stuff of
life. Says Matthew Henry: "To expect unchanging happiness in a
changing world, must end in disappointment. To bring
ourselves to our state in life, is our duty and our
wisdom in this world."
This classic passage from Ecclesiastes is sobering and realistic. It cuts
through denial and urges us to take responsibility, to seize the moments of our
lives for what they are without whining, to live in the present moment fully
without retreating to the past or postponing happiness for some uncertain
future. Most of all it reminds us of our limits. You and I are merely mortal. This
is the moment of life; savor it. This is the time of salvation; seize
it. By itself, Ecclesiastes would be a
little depressing, because it essentially says there is no meaning to our lives
beyond the simple fact that we are alive. But Ecclesiastes is not by itself.
The Bible also envisions a future held by God, a "new heaven and a new
earth" in which
the home of God is among mortals.
(who) will dwell with them;
they will be (God's) peoples,
and God will be with them;
God will wipe every tear from their eyes.
Death will be no more;
mourning and crying and pain will be no more,
for the first things (will) have passed away. (Rev.
21:2-5).
"Forever" is not a word that
belongs to the human vocabulary. Eternity is the exclusive property of God.
But God promises us participation in eternity through Jesus Christ our Lord. In
this world there is no justice; but God guarantees justice in the world to
come. In this world there is no peace; but God guarantees peace in the world to
come. In this world there is pain and sorrow; but God guarantees there will be
no pain or sorrow in the world to come for those who choose grace. Therefore
our lives do have meaning and are of ultimate value, not just to us, but to
God.
Mind you, this word of hope does not
negate the word about time and humility in Ecclesiastes. We are still mortal
and entirely dependent upon God. But in God we do have hope. Trust in God.
What does this word of a new heaven and
a new earth held by God in our future do for us now? Do we ignore the future
and leave it all to God? Is the heart of the biblical message pie in the sky
when we die, a salve to our conscience and opium for the masses? No. As Paul
Tillich suggests, when we realize we are timed by eternity our time becomes
meaningful. "When eternity calls in time, then pessimism vanishes."
The hardships, sufferings, and toils of this life become part of our journey on
the way to some place God has prepared. They are our hard teachers. Says
Tillich: "When eternity times us, then time becomes a vessel of
eternity. Then we become vessels of that which is eternal." Without
God's eternity, all our days and all our efforts are, as the author of
Ecclesiastes says, "vanity of vanities." It all adds up to nothing.
But connected to God's eternity and God's values, what we do with our time
prepares the way for "a new heaven and a new earth." In Christ we
understand, to use Tillich's phrase, "the ultimate significance of every
moment."
I dare say few of us will be here
for the beginning of the next century except perhaps for a few of our newest
church family members in the nursery today. And no one alive now will be here
for Y3K. But what we do now will impact the twenty first and even the thirtieth
centuries. We can take care of the earth so it will still be the good earth for
generations to come. We can work for peace so the world will be safe for the
future. We can focus on making human spiritual progress until we catch up with
the technological and medical progress God has granted us. We can be prophetic
enough to demand that no one be left out of the prosperity and progress that
has been enjoyed too often by the elite few in the past. By the grace and
guidance of God we can use our now to make tomorrow better for everybody. Then
our lives will not just be "a vanity of vanities."
Hence we hear the third scripture
for this new year. Ecclesiastes reminds us of our
mortal limits. We have only so much time, and we must trust ourselves to God.
The Apocalypse promises that trusting in God will bring us to a new heaven and
a new earth in God's eternity. And Jesus tells us in Matthew how we should live
in the meantime: caring for the hungry, the thirsty, the naked, the imprisoned,
all of "the least of these" while we have time. The future God
promises calls us forward into newness, transforms our past into useful lessons
and fills the present with possibilities which can hasten the coming reign of
God in peace and light.
Each new year
is a significant milestone in our lives and in the history of humanity. But what now? Shall we simply continue as before, repeating
the mistakes of our past? Or, by God's grace, shall we use our days to create a
better future for distant generations to come? To be sure, humanity has a long
way to go. You and I have a long way to go before we reach the goal God has
placed in our hearts.
I can't predict the future. The Weekly
World News notwithstanding, nobody can. But we need not fear, even though
difficulties and disasters will surely come. The future is in God's hands. And
God loves us. God calls us to use our time to shape ourselves, our community,
and our world for a new heaven and a new earth which God guarantees. Then let's
get on with it, shall we? In the name of Christ. Amen.
May we pray?
Eternal God,
You alone can determine what the rising sun will bring. You alone have been
here from the beginning and will be here for each new millennium to come. But
we are mortal, weak, and frail. Therefore we move into the future with a
mixture of fear and hope. Let us be guided by our hope. Let us trust in you.
Let us be about your work as long as you give us breath and prepare our souls
for what you hold in store for us after. Use our time,
use our lives, to bring your grace into every life we touch in Jesus' name.
Amen.
Mary Anne Biggs, Pastor
Nekoosa United
Nekoosa