Puddleglum's Pensees

Click here  for audio. When will these things be? And what will be the sign of your coming? These are the questions that provoke what scholars call “The Olivet Discourse,” found in Mark 13, Luke 21, and the passage that we jumped into last week, Matthew 24-25. The questions are occasioned by the disciples’ awe at the grandeur of Herod’s Temple, and of Jesus’s warning that a time was coming when they would be utterly and irreparably destroyed. Imagine sitting in front of the Parliament buildings with Jesus, having a sandwich on the grounds in late June. You’ve just watched the changing of the guard and now you’ve moved over to the eternal flame and from there, you are admiring the Center Block and the Peace Tower. And you say to Jesus, “Look at these magnificent buildings! And consider all the good they represent!” And he catches your gaze and replies gravely, “I tell you the truth, the time is soon coming when not one stone will be left upon another.” Of course, you’d want t...

What do you do when it comes to year end? Here’s what I do. I start thinking about tax time in a few months and I start gathering documents. I start reflecting on the previous year of work, asking myself (and  few others) what went well, what did not, what should be done again, and what’s better left behind. And I start planning for the new year. I ask not only what should be done again, but what new opportunities and challenges might be embraced. I begin to think about the church year, about sermons and bible studies, about writing. And I say to myself, I really should lose some weight. That’s what I think about when it comes to year’s end. What do you think about? As I look at my thoughts—and they might look strategic this morning, but in practice they are a lot more scattered—a theme begins to emerge. Preparedness. Being ready. I remember once watching a really bad action movie—so bad I can no longer remember the stars or the plot. But the motto of the bad guy stuck in my...

Do you feel these days like you’re living in a modern day version of the book of Judges? I do. The book of Judges is a book in the Old Testament, and it tells the story of the children of Israel after they have entered into the land. The story is told as a succession of cycles: the Israelites forget the God who had delivered them from the Egyptians; they begin to worship idols. God then permits the Israelites to be punished by their enemies: the Philistines, the Midianites, whomever. The Israelites return to God. God raises up a judge through whom God will defeat the enemy. And then the cycle begins again. But, each cycle is worse than the last, and each judge is just a little more morally suspect than the last. Such that Gideon—remember him?—is not the hero we’re taught about in Sunday School, but actually leads the Israelites in the worship of false gods after he has defeated the Midianites in battle. Jephthah is victorious, and sacrifices his daughter to thank God for the victo...