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

For I am about to create new heavens
and a new earth;
the former things shall not be remembered
or come to mind.
~Isaiah 65:17
 
When some were speaking about the temple, how it was adorned with beautiful stones and gifts dedicated to God, he said, “As for these things that you see, the days will come when not one stone will be left upon another; all will be thrown down.”
~Luke 21:5-6
 
So which is it, new creation or destruction? Is this anything but an endless cycle of building and tearing down—two steps forward, two steps back? Three steps? How do we measure progress anyway in light of this story of faith? What kind of a future is God building, and what is our participation in it?
 
David Lang’s 2005 again (after ecclesiastes) comes to mind…again:
 
people come and people go – the earth goes on and on
the sun rises, the sun sets – it rushes to where it rises again
the wind blow round, round and round – it stops, it blows again
all the rivers run to the sea, but the sea is never full – from where the rivers run they run again
 
these things make me so tired – I can’t speak, I can’t see, I can’t hear
what happened before will happen again
I forgot it all before.
I will forget it all again.
 
But we don’t forget it…for long. We don’t give up. We keep going, keep pushing, keep hoping, keep trusting, keep learning, keep keeping. What is this in our prophets and poets that persists? What is this in us that keeps longing, keeps living for a better world for all of us?  What is it if it isn’t the Spirit of Life that believes, deeply, that Jesus’ words (Luke 21:19) are true: “By your endurance you will gain your souls”?
 
Enter into worship.
 
Readings: Isaiah 65:17-25 † Isaiah 12 † 2 Thessalonians 3:6-13 † Luke 21:5-19
 
About the Art, Naïve drawing in the style of an ancient map of Jerusalem, from Art in the Christian Tradition, a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Nashville, TN. https://diglib.library.vanderbilt.edu/act-imagelink.pl?RC=55326 [retrieved November 4, 2025]. Original source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/46811478@N03/6300357781/.  

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