“I lift you high in praise, my God, O my King! And I’ll bless your name into eternity. ^10-11 Creation and creatures applaud you, God; your holy people bless you. They talk about the glories of your rule, they exclaim over your splendor, ¹² Letting the world know of your power for good, the lavish splendor of your kingdom. ¹³ Your kingdom is a kingdom eternal; you never get voted out of office. God always does what he says, and is gracious in everything he does.” Psalm 145:1, 10-13

“We notice certain themes in these songs. First, Israel’s God is celebrated as king especially in Jerusalem, in his home in the Temple. Second, when Israel’s God is enthroned as “King”, the nations are brought under his rule. Israel rejoices, but all the other nations will be included as well. Third, when God is king, the result is proper justice, real equity, the removal of all corruption and oppression.” (“God as King”, Simply Jesus,  N. T. Wright, p. 45)

We just survived the recent elections of Governors, Representatives, and Senators in our country. Each person running for office made certain promises – had particular issues they wanted to address – and “We the People” have placed our hopes that they will be people of integrity and honesty. Now, whether our elected leaders will comply with their promises, will actually work toward the things they promised, well that is yet to be determined. What scares me is the fact that so many people in our society vote for a party rather than for a person. Too many people vote straight party-line Republican or Democrat rather than take the time to look into the nature, the character, and the background of the person they are voting for.

The idea of Messiah was not a party-line option – there was going to be someone whom G-d had chosen to be Messiah – a person who was both for the individual Jew and the people of Israel. There already were parties – Pharisees and Sadducees – Romans and Greeks – Jesus the Messiah came for all people – as Paul writes: “In Christ’s family there can be no division into Jew and Non-Jew, slave and free, male and female. Among us you are all equal…Christ’s family.” (Galatians 3:28)

On the eve of this past election, I attended a prayer service in a Lutheran church. The purpose of the service, as I understood it, was three-fold: pray out loud about our trust in G-d; pray out loud about our anxiety about the elections; and to pray out loud for each other—Republicans praying for Democrats, Independents praying for Libertarians. If we all learned to pray for, and to love our enemies, maybe everyone’s anxiety might be lowered just a little—and there might be more love and less hate in the world.

Pastor Dave

13As he came out of the temple, one of his disciples said to him, “Look, Teacher, what large stones and what large buildings!” ²Then Jesus asked him, “Do you see these great buildings? Not one stone will be left here upon another; all will be thrown down.” ³When he was sitting on the Mount of Olives opposite the temple, Peter, James, John, and Andrew asked him privately, ⁴“Tell us, when will this be, and what will be the sign that all these things are about to be accomplished?” ⁵Then Jesus began to say to them, “Beware that no one leads you astray. ⁶Many will come in my name and say, ‘I am he!’ and they will lead many astray. ⁷When you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be alarmed; this must take place, but the end is still to come. ⁸For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; there will be earthquakes in various places; there will be famines. This is but the beginning of the birth pangs.” Mark 13:1-8

What an interesting metaphor Jesus uses about enduring the “end of days”.  Birth pangs – birth.  Now I would associate birth and birth pangs with a beginning, not an end.  But I guess it can be both.  From the beginning of the pregnancy, through the nine months of carrying this extra burden, the birth pangs mark the end of things.  But from birth comes new life.  And once the new life comes, well, everyone better “hang on”.  I just think it is interesting.  Now Jesus defines what he means by birth pangs: “wars, rumors of wars, nation rising against nation, kingdom against kingdom, earthquakes, famines.”  And my friends, Jesus is not saying “Hang on, peace is coming soon.”  No, it seems Jesus is saying “Hang on – because it is going to get worse.”  It almost seems that Jesus is suggesting that God is going to destroy things before something new is birthed.  But that’s not how I understand birth.  The “birth pangs” do not destroy the body – but rather they bring forth new life.  So the emphasis we should understand is not on “destruction”, though it may be happening all around us.  Instead we are to focus on “enduring”.  Just like a woman endures the pangs to receive new life, so too we shall endure our own pangs and trials and tribulations to receive new life, from Jesus.

Our hope, of course, comes in Jesus, who sits at the right hand of God.  Jesus through the Holy Spirit fights the battles against sin, death and the devil.  In this unpredictable world in which we live, there is one constant – there have been, are, and will continue to be “birth pangs” in the form of devastation.  And when there continues to be wars, saber rattling like we have seen lately in Israel and the Gaza strip, hurricanes, famines, and earthquakes – then we will also hear predictions that the “end is near”.  In fact the disciples lived in a time that they expected the end to come in their lifetimes.  That is why they devoted so much of their time to prayer, meditation and kingdom building.  So, what can we say about the devastation we see all around us?  Well, if God destroys before something new is birthed, then “new birth” must be happening all the time – every day.  And that, my friends, is true.  We see it in actual births – like the triplets born lately who shattered the world record for total weight at birth – twenty pounds.  And we see it in the cycles of the earth, when new life springs forth every spring – and throughout the year in new species being discovered.  And we see it in new disciples birthed in our churches, through baptisms, and new members.  And we see it in new leaders who are birthed every year, to help guide us through the difficult times we each face – at least that is what we expect from them.

Expectation.  That is how we are to live each and every day – expectantly.  Expectantly – what does that mean?  It means:

1. live every day expecting Christ will come any minute.
2. expect that any minute we will be presented with the opportunities, opportunities to: share the love of Christ,  do a good deed, and see more devastation and loss in our lives.

If you live every day “expectantly”, how would that change how you live?

Pastor Dave