Luke 21: 5-19

If you have been following our Scripture texts these past several weeks, you have probably noticed that they are all concerned with matters surrounding the second coming of Christ. This is a common theme in all of the New Testament books, and there are two reasons for it. First, the early Christians truly believed that the return of the Lord was imminent and could take place any moment now. And second, they lived in a world that was filled with danger, and difficulty and darkness – a world so full of confusion and heartache that these Christian people deeply longed for God’s new beautiful world to finally come.

But the purpose of these passages is not to provide us with data for measuring when the second coming will take place, but rather to remind the Christian community about how to live as we  face the trying times of life. And how appropriate for us to listen to these reminders, especially given the times in which we live today!

Last week, St. Paul taught us to confront the difficult challenges of life by holding onto the traditions of faith. God has given us all sorts of beautiful resources – psalms, prayers, songs, scriptures – that can give us strength when the chips are down. Don’t you remember the stories of some of our soldiers who were prisoners of war in North Vietnam, and how simple acts like reciting the Christmas stories of the Bible sparked strength to face the moment, and hope for the future? When times are tough, hold on to the traditions! And that is true not only when you are facing something like a prison camp, but also when you are facing surgery, or chemotherapy, or separation anxiety, or a great loss, or the challenge of addressing issues like poverty and homelessness and violence. Hold on to the traditions because they anchor you into something larger than yourself!

Now in today’s passage from Luke 21, Jesus is sharing another piece of very practical advice about how to deal with life’s tough moments. In the context of a time of great persecution and difficulty coming upon the church, Jesus identifies something amazing!

Jesus sees an opportunity!

In verse 13, Jesus says of these tough times, “This will give you an opportunity… to testify.”

You know, one of the problems with a time like this holiday week of Thanksgiving is that we somehow manage to get it all backwards. For most of us, Thanksgiving is a time for counting our blessings, realizing how fortunate we really are, appreciating all the goodness and beauty of life, and giving God thanks for it all!

And it is a good thing to do that – to praise God for all the blessings of life.

But that’s not really the whole meaning of Thanksgiving.

In the New Testament, the word for thanksgiving is eucharist. It is the same word we use in the church to describe the Sacrament of Communion. On the last night of Jesus’ life, when he was at table with the disciples, facing his own imminent death, Jesus broke the bread, and lifted the cup…and the bible tells us, “He gave thanks…”

Thanks-giving. Not just for the good things, but thanks in the midst of the bad things.

In a similar way, our own Thanksgiving holiday has been badly misrepresented. When the Pilgrims gathered to give thanks on that first occasion back in 1621, they did so not because everything was going well in Plimouth Plantation. In fact, just the opposite was true. During the first winter of 1620 into 1621, more than half their company died. And now a second winter was coming. They still did not have enough houses built to provide adequate shelter. The harvest was in, but it was not particularly good. There would come times that year when they would have to ration food. Things would get so bad that the ration was finally reduced to five kernels of corn per person per day.

And knowing that another winter of hardship would soon be upon them, these Pilgrim people gathered for a time of thanksgiving to God.

Not thanks for the good things of life, but thanks for a GOOD GOD in the midst of life!

And this is the opportunity Jesus is talking about. For when things are bad, and the world seems like it’s falling apart, there is an opportunity for people of faith to remind ourselves and to testify to others about this amazing God of ours who walks with us in love no matter what!

Were you as impressed as I was to hear Dayna Curry and Heather Mercer – the two American aid workers recently rescued from the Taliban – talk about how their faith sustained them, and that God provided them strength to face their long ordeal? I loved listening to their story about how God took care of them and carried them through their time of imprisonment, especially after the war broke out. And you see, their time of personal difficulty and darkness has provided them an opportunity to introduce others to this beautiful God who can be trusted with our lives.

They remind me of my colleague Ted who decided to enter the ministry at sixty-five years of age. He’d been a telephone company executive, but now was retired and was responding to a calling that had been present in his life for a long, long time. So he went to seminary, and applied for ordination to the ministry. And I’ll always remember two things about Ted. The first is that he pursued his calling to ministry despite the fact that he was diagnosed with terminal cancer just as he entered his first year of seminary. And he took that to mean that his ministry would not be long, but could be significant among people who were themselves dealing with cancer and other illnesses. And Ted did have a wonderful and powerful ministry with those folks in his church because he himself knew what its like to face such times, and could share with them about how God walked with him, and provided what he needed, every day. Ted’s illness gave him an opportunity to testify to his own real-life experiences of God’s love and strength.

Now the second thing that I’ll always remember about Ted is how, at his ordination council, someone asked him to share about some of his disappointments in life. And Ted knew right away what to say. The greatest disappointment of he and his wife, Ted said, was that they had never really found a way to tell their children about their faith, and about their God. And Ted said it troubled them that their kids were out there in the world without a living faith to sustain them.

Now the reason this part of Ted’s life strikes me so powerfully is because, over the years, I’ve discovered that there are many, many, many of us in the church who wish our children had the same faith we do. We see them out in the world working hard to make a living, and to raise families, and to find their way through difficult times, but often without a spiritual center – a living relationship with God that will guide them to the right choices, and sustain them through those times when their own strength is not enough. We wish they knew God in such a real and personal way that it makes a difference in their lives – just like it makes a difference in ours. But so often, we’ve never been able to really tell our story.

You know, on the day of Ted’s ordination, he stood in the pulpit and took a moment to speak past the rest of us, and directly to his kids. Ted told them about the day he gave his life to Christ, and why he did it. He told them about how Christ had influenced big decisions he’d had to make in life, and how in times of great hardship, God had always provided. He told them about some of the mistakes he’d made, and how God had helped him get up, shake off the dust, and go on. He shared in some detail about how he drew strength from God for living through his cancer every day. He told them about his use of prayer, and meditating on scripture, and how practical acts of loving other people seemed to produce strength within himself.

And when Ted was done testifying about the power of God in his own life, his children were in tears. For the first time, they were seeing the beauty and wonder of Jesus Christ not in a book, not in a sermon, not in the abstract, but in the very real life of their father.

In a sense, Ted was serving them…the eucharist. Thanksgiving for the power and the love of God in the midst of the trials we face as human beings.

Have you ever told anyone about how good God has been to you in the tough times of life? About how you turned to prayer, and found a source of strength? About how you turned to other Christians, and found encouragement and support and acceptance? About how you turned to Christian values, and made a decision based on what’s right rather than what’s convenient? About how you responded to a call to some kind of ministry in Lenoir City, and ever since then you’ve experienced what can only be described as miracles? About how you find the strength to live with cancer every day, or the grace to live one day at a time in sobriety, or the love to care so faithfully as you do for a spouse slipping into the frightening world of Alzheimer’s?

Your experience of the living God in the face of life’s difficulties is an opportunity – an opportunity to influence others to turn to Christ when THEY experience difficult times.

So as we face these current times – with all the many challenges before us – look for opportunities – to tell your spouse, to tell your kids, to tell your neighbors, to tell your relatives and your world about what God has done for you!

Just the other day, I received a phone call from one of our church families. They have a grandchild who is very sick, and the future is uncertain. They called to tell me about something that happened to the child’s parents at a particularly low moment. They had become very depressed and discouraged. They prayed that God would somehow give them a sign that he still  cared, that he was still with them, that he held them all in his arms.

A day or two later, the mother’s sister-in-law went to the doctor. The waiting room was very crowded, and things were sort of confusing as she signed in and filled out the paper work she needed to complete. Then, all at once, in the middle of the chaos, a woman she’d never seen before, stood at her side and handed her a slip of paper.

“Give this to your sister-in-law,” the woman said.

Surprised by the intrusion, she took the slip of paper and unfolded it and read what was written on it. It was a passage from scripture, a word about Christ taking our suffering upon himself. The words – such right words for this family at this moment – stunned her. And when she turned back to ask the woman about the note, the woman was nowhere to be found.

On the phone with me, the grandmother asked, “Do you think she could have been angel?”

I think it might have been. What do you think? All I know is that there have been many, many times in my own life when difficulties came, and burdens mounted, and the day became dark when this amazing God of ours somehow reached into my life with just the right word, just the right friend, just the right thought, just the right resource, just the right…angel to give me hope and strength to face the moment I was facing.

Yeah, I think it probably was an angel – sent to a family in need from the God who loves them and needed to let them know that he is with them as they face this challenging time.

Friends, go this week, and look for the opportunity to tell others who are facing hard moments about the love and goodness and salvation of Jesus.

Don’t preach to them! Just tell them your story!

That will be true Thanksgiving!