33rd Sunday in Ordinary Time (Proper 28), Year B

​For 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 13:8
 
In the beginning is my end. In succession
Houses rise and fall, crumble, are extended,
Are removed, destroyed, restored, or in their place
Is an open field, or a factory, or a by-pass.
Old stone to new building, old timber to new fires,
Old fires to ashes, and ashes to the earth
Whis is already flesh, fur and faeces,
Bone of man and beast, cornstalk and leaf.
~T.S. Eliot, Four Quartets, East Coker I
 
We hear a lot in the political sphere about “burning it all down.” And no wonder! When the system doesn’t work for you, it certainly doesn’t incline you to support it. We could imagine this has truth within the religious sphere as well—especially where religion is expressed in deeply imperfect institutional norms.
 
We should be clear. Chaos is unfortunate at best. The unsettling of principalities and powers and their institutions creates harm that is distributed in unequal shares, harming those Jesus called “the least of these” most. But there is hope buried in this rubble. Jesus sees the signs of unrest, of relationships and governance so broken that they are already crumbling. It is not an end, though, as much as a beginning when God is in the mix.
 
Or, as the preacher to the Hebrew congregation said it (Hebrews 10:23-25): “Let us hold fast to the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who has promised is faithful.” Indeed there is more good, practical advice for us today as well in this ancient wisdom: “And let us consider how to provoke one another to love and good deeds, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day approaching.”
 
Enter into worship. 


Readings:  1 Samuel 1:4-20 † 1 Samuel 2:1-10 † Hebrews 10:11-14, 19-25 † Mark 13:1-8
 
 About the Art: Old growth tree in rainforest on Meares Island near Tofino, British Columbia. From Visual Communications, vcmedia.org, [retrieved October 21, 2021]. 

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