Mark 13: 1-8

Do you remember what you were doing on 11^th September 2001? I was well away from the hustle and bustle of daily life at a day’s retreat for local ministers at Launde Abbey in the heart of the Leicestershire countryside. It had been a day of remarkable peace, quiet sharing, prayer, worship and reflection in one of the most beautiful rural settings imaginable. We had truly got away from it all. Then we got into the car to return home at about 4.30pm and were rudely awakened. We listened, transfixed, open-mouthed, to the radio reports about the attacks on the twin towers in New York. The moment I arrived home I put the television on just in time to see the towers themselves collapse into rubble. It forcibly reminded me that seeking peace and personal renewal with God is not about escape from the world, but actually an act of personal resourcing that enables us to live out our calling as Christians in the startling, sometimes shocking and fearful realities and uncertainties of life.

The happenings of that day and the collapse of the twin towers have been headline news once again this week as the President of the United States has announced that Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four other detainees from Guantanamo Bay will face civilian trial in New York, rather than a military trial, for their part in planning and executing the 9/11 attacks. So once again we have seen television pictures that take us right back to the happenings of that day just over eight years ago.

Over the years I have spoken to a few people who had actually visited the twin towers in New York, one just a few days before the 9/11 attacks. As well as being thankful that the attacks had not taken place while they were there, there was typically a sense of disbelief that those amazing buildings could have been so easily razed to the ground.

** Mark 13: 1-2 **

King Herod’s Temple in Jerusalem was still incomplete in Jesus’ day. Nevertheless, it had the reputation of being one of the most beautiful buildings in the whole world, and was certainly the largest and most imposing structure for hundreds of miles around. No wonder the disciples, many of whom were from poor, impoverished village backgrounds, were astounded by the sheer scale of the temple.

I remember as an 18 year old leaving home for the first time and arriving in the city of Durham to begin my studies as a first year student. As the train went across the viaduct I got my first view of the cathedral – a remarkable, dominant building. I had never seen anything like it before. And, when I first went inside, the great high vaulted ceilings and vast columns and great windows caused me to gaze in wonder. Perhaps we all understand something of the awe-struck feelings that overwhelmed the disciples that day.

So the comment of Jesus that the temple would be destroyed and every stone thrown to the ground must have caused them utter astonishment. Here was a building that had taken decades to build and, more than that, was the central focus of Jewish worship with its vast system of animal sacrifice. And Jesus says that this temple and the institution it represented will be destroyed.

Inevitably, when they get Jesus alone, a group of four disciples, Peter, James, John and Andrew, the first men he called when he walked beside the Sea of Galilee, want to know a lot more.

** Mark 13: 4 **

Jesus does not answer the first question at all. He is most certainly not going to give them dates and times. When it comes to the second question about the sign that that the destruction of the temple is about to happen, well he does not particularly answer that one either. He is much more concerned to tell them how they should live their lives. He tells them that many will come claiming to be the Messiah, come to establish God’s kingdom on earth. They must not be deceived, he says. When they hear about wars and natural disasters such as earthquakes or famines they must not be alarmed. In everything that happens the followers of Jesus are to live lives that are alert and unafraid. They are to trust in God and not in human words. They are to believe that God will keep them safe in his love.

Now Jesus, with a prophet’s understanding, is primarily referring to the destruction of the temple in AD 70 by the forces of the Roman General Titus following an unwise rebellion by the Jews against Roman rule. He could see it happening just a few years away. So he is advising his fledgling community of followers how they are to deal with the catastrophe to come: stay alert, keep watch, do not be alarmed. Do not trust so-called messiahs and systems or even the physical structures that represent them.

So how does this speak to us today? Well, lurking in the background to this reading from Mark’s Gospel is the Jewish belief about the end times. There will be a time of intense turmoil before God finally establishes his kingdom of justice and truth. The reading from the Old Testament, from the Book of Daniel, looks forward to that time. Those who will be delivered from that time of great distress will be God’s people whose names are written in the book of life; those who have lived good and worthy lives before God. Daniel is encouraging God’s people to stand firm and to trust God through all the persecution and disaster they face. For, if they do so, their names will be on the list.

I remember being invited to a friend’s 21^st birthday party. It was taking place in a function room at Leicester Rugby Club, Welford Road. Viv happened to be away so I went on my own. I drove down, parked my car and went up to the entrance. On the door was a large security man in a bright yellow jacket. Confidently I said, “I’ve been invited to the birthday party tonight in the function suite.”

“Oh yes, sir? Can I have your name, sir?”

“Christopher Gray.”

He peered down at his list and shone a torch on it through the gloom. “Did you say Gray, sir?”

“Yes,” I said, “with an A.”

“Well, you’re not on my list, sir.”

“What do you mean not on your list?”

“You are not written down here on this list what I have been given.”

“But I’ve been invited!”

“Do you have your invitation, sir?”

“Well no, it came through Facebook. I didn’t print it off.”

“Well I can’t let you in, sir.”

“But I’ve been invited. I’ve driven all the way down from Long Eaton. I’m a good friend of the family.”

“You’re not on my list, sir.”

In desperation, I played my trump card. “But I’m a Methodist minister!”

He looked at me with pity. “Sir,” he said, “hundreds of people have tried to get past me over the years and they have given every excuse under the sun. But I have to say it’s the first time I’ve ever heard that one. You’re not on my list!”

Thankfully, two people that I knew then arrived, went inside promising to sort it out, and a reluctant security guard finally let me through when the message came back that I had been missed off the list by accident.”

Daniel’s message is that those who hold fast to their faith in the true and living God and do not turn aside to idolatry in the face of persecution and conflict are on the list – no mistake. They will rise, he says, to everlasting life and shine like the brightness of the heavens.

The writer of Psalm 16 is also confident that, having trusted in God, he will never be abandoned by him and will enjoy eternal life in his presence:

** Psalm 16: 11 **

The substance of the teaching of Jesus for us is that, even though we may see the building up or total collapse or apparent success or complete failure of everything in the world in which people so easily trust - financial institutions, political systems, messiahs who are going to put everything right, military strategies, economic policies and, yes, churches – we have to trust that the kingdom of God is coming and that God’s over-arching purposes will be accomplished. Our task is to continue to live alert, watchful and committed lives. Our task is to work for and to look for the kingdom that Jesus began and will one day bring to fulfilment, and to do so with complete confidence that we are indeed in God’s eternal safe- keeping.

So what are the signs of God’s in-breaking kingdom that we should look for and be part of?

Elsewhere in the gospels John the Baptist in prison sends messengers to Jesus to ask if he really is the Messiah, God’s Holy One. He tells them, “Go back and report to John what you hear and see: the blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is proclaimed to the poor.”

Here are some signs of God’s kingdom.

During the week I was with one of our church members, not now able to get to church in the way they would like to share in the worship they love. They said that the recording of the service that they receive each week is so precious. Whenever we care like that for one another or for our neighbours, it is a sign of the kingdom of God.

Also during the week a good number of us met as church teams to discuss and take action concerning our church life of worship, fellowship, mission, service and the resources of property and finance at our disposal. In the listening and the speaking, the encouraging and the planning, God’s kingdom could be seen.

Yesterday I had a text from someone who was on an Alpha Course to tell me that they had experienced an overwhelming sense of the presence of God’s Spirit in their lives. They know that they are not going to be the same person again. It is a sign of God’s kingdom.

Later Emily and Lukas from Nottingham Youth for Christ will be sharing again about the work they do with unchurched young people in our neighbourhood, leading them to understand that God has a loving purpose for their lives. It is a sign of God’s kingdom.

The shoe boxes here in church this morning are a sign of God’s kingdom.

Each year a group meets to arrange events that not only raise money but crucially raise awareness of the church charity we support so that a real difference can be made in people’s lives. It is a sign of God’s kingdom. For we must never restrict the signs of God’s kingdom to the church: God is bigger than that.

I could go on. There are endless signs of the kingdom of God. Jesus will not give us time scales for the completion of the kingdom he came to establish. The disasters, difficulties, deceptions and uncertainties that we face and see in the world around us are merely, in Jesus’ words, birth-pains. May we be given the strength, the vision and the courage we need to be alert and committed followers of Jesus.