This Too Shall Pass.pdf
THIS, TOO, SHALL PASS Mark 13: 1-8 11.15.15 Dean Feldmeyer According to legend, a powerful Persian ruler called his sages to him and asked them for one axiom that would be accurate at all times and in all situations. The wise men consulted with one another, and threw themselves into deep contemplation, but it was the Sufi poet Attar of Nishapur who wrote the line that they submitted to the king: “This too, shall pass.” It was one of Abraham Lincoln’s favorite quotes. He said of it, "How chastening in the hour of pride; how consoling 1 in the depths of affliction." It is also an accurate paraphrase of what Jesus says about the Jerusalem temple in this week’s lection from the Gospel of Mark. “Not one stone will be left here upon another; all will be thrown down.” Eventually, even this magnificent structure will wear out and fall apart. 2 Sic transit gloria mundi. Thus passes the glory of the world. And, now, 2000 years later, we are hearing it again, this time from the Pew Research Center and their report on “Religion and Public Life.” The old mainline denominations are declining. That we knew. But, now, apparently, so are the others. Americans, in general, and especially those young people known as “millennials” are just not interested in 3 religion. Did you feel it? Was it a seismic shift or just a small tremor? Are the stones which built the temple of American Christianity just rearranging themselves? Or are they starting to tumble and fall? THERE’S BAD NEWS AND THERE’S NO-SO-BAD NEWS The Pew Research Center did a study of “Religion in American Life” in 2007 and then replicated the study in 2014. Last week they released their second report on the data collected in those studies. Both studies surveyed 35,000 American adults and had a margin of error of less than 1 percentage point. The results are more than a little disturbing for those of us who thought that the temple of American Christianity would stand unchanged forever. In 2007, 92 percent of Americans said they believed in God. Just seven years later the number had fallen to 89 percent. In 2007, 71 percent said they were absolutely certain that God exists. By 2014 the number had fallen to 63 percent. With young adults born between 1990-1996 the number drops even further, to 50 percent. 67 percent of the “Silent Generation,” adults born from 1925 to 1945, say that they pray daily. Only 39 percent of 4 the Millennial Generation (born 1982-2002) make the same claim. Michael Lipka, the religion editor for the Pew Research Center says that, while the religious landscape in America is changing, the rate of change is glacially slow and relatively small. He offers five “takeaways” from the most recent report. 1. Overall, Americans have become slightly less religious, based on some key traditional gauges of religiosity. This is attested to by the figures cited above, as well as by the number of adults who report that they attend religious services every week, down 3 percentage points since 2007. 2. This overall drop in religiosity has been driven by the rapid growth of the religiously unaffiliated population (from 16 percent of all U.S. adults in 2007 to 23 percent in 2014). 70 percent of people who selfidentified as not affiliated with any religious organization expressed a belief in God in 2007, that figure has fallen to 61% today. 3. As older, more religiously observant generations die out, they are being replaced by far less religious young adults. 4. While traditional measures of religiosity are down, some measures of spirituality are up. The category, “spiritual but not religious,” is becoming more popular. Roughly six-in-ten Americans (59%) say they feel a deep sense of spiritual peace and well-being at least once a week, up from 52% in 2007. And nearly half (46%) report often feeling a deep sense of wonder about the universe, also a 7-point jump over seven years. 5. Overwhelming majorities of Americans see churches and other religious organizations as having a positive impact on society, but many also express criticisms of these same religious institutions. Nearly nine-in-ten U.S. adults say religious institutions bring people together and strengthen community bonds (89%). In addition, 87% say these organizations play an important role in helping the poor and needy. Threequarters say they protect and strengthen morality in society (75%). However, roughly half of Americans say religious institutions are too concerned with money and power (52%), focus too much on rules (51%), and are
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https://www.quora.com/What-is-the-origin-of-the-phrase-this-too-shall-pass Usually attributed to Thomas à Kempis, The Imitation of Christ, 1418. 3 http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2015/11/03/5-key-findings-about-religiosity-in-the-u-s-and-how-its-changing/ 4 http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/americans-becoming-less-religious-especially-millenials-poll-n456906 2
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too involved with politics (48%). Millennials, the youngest adults, believe that religious institutions are overly defined by the things they are against. Churches, they say tend to be anti-science, anti-fun, anti-gay, and antisex. Blogger Kyle Roberts, writing for Patheos.com, makes what may be the most insightful observations to come out of the Pew studies when he talks about the “Nones,” the 23 percent of Americans and 72 percent of Millennials who check “none” when asked their religious affiliation. This is the fastest growing group in the survey and after we remove the very small subsets of atheists and agnostics from this group, what we have left are two large sub-groups. 1. “Spiritual but Not Religious” people report that they get spiritual nourishment from, basically, whatever they enjoy doing – golf, hiking, reading, going to rock concerts, etc. This group makes up 50 percent of “Nones.” 2. “Spiritual by Independently Religious” people report that they get their spiritual nourishment from traditional religious practices but their preferences are eclectic and all over the map. The same person may claim to find inspiration from Roman Catholicism, Hinduism, American Indian spirituality, pyramids, crystals and transcendental meditation. Both of these groups continue to shrink, however, as “Nones” become more secular. The good news? People who are religiously affiliated are as faithful and committed as they ever 6 were. It’s just that there are fewer and fewer of them every year. SIC TRANSIT GLORIA By the time Jesus walked the streets of Jerusalem, builders were completing Herod the Great’s temple restoration 7 and preservation project that had taken eight decades. The beautiful, new temple covered 35 acres of ground (about 10 football fields). The foundation, alone, stood over 40 feet high and it was made of stones that weighed nearly about 80 tons. These limestone monoliths weighing over 160,000 pounds also sat, and still sit, atop walls that were over 100 feet tall. Recent archeology has discovered 50 foot pillars that stood at one of the gates to the courtyard, and the marble of 8 the temple itself was so polished that it’s reflection of the sun could be seen from miles away. The people who lived in the shadow of the temple – and everyone who lived in Jerusalem at that time would fit into this group – could be excused if they believed that the temple was going to stand forever. The old temple that was destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar did not stand forever but that was over 600 years ago. This temple, this new, beautiful temple, in all its magnificence will certainly stand forever. Won’t it? As it turned out, it didn’t even last a century. In 70 C.E., roughly 40 years after the story that is told in this lectionary passage, the Roman army would destroy it stone by stone while the city burned around it. Professional Jewish educator, Ariela Pelaia, gives a concise history of this First Jewish War (66-70 C.E.) on the web site About.com: “The Great Revolt began in the year 66. It started when the Jews discovered that the Roman governor, Florus, had stolen huge amounts of silver from the Temple. The Jews rioted and defeated the Roman soldiers stationed in Jerusalem. They also defeated a back-up contingent of soldiers, sent in by the Roman ruler of neighboring Syria. “These initial victories convinced the Zealots that they actually had a chance at defeating the Roman Empire. Unfortunately, that was not the case. When Rome sent a large force of heavily armed and highly trained professional soldiers against the insurgents in Galilee over 100,000 Jews were either killed or sold into slavery. Anyone who escaped fled back to Jerusalem, but once they got there the Zealot rebels promptly killed any Jewish leader who didn’t fully support their revolt. Later, insurgents burned the city’s food supply, hoping that by doing so they could force everyone in the city to rise up against the Romans. Sadly, this internal strife only made it easier for the Romans to ultimately put down the revolt. “The siege of Jerusalem turned into a stalemate when the Romans were unable to scale the city’s defenses. In this situation they did what any ancient army would do: they camped outside the city. They also dug a massive trench bordered by high walls along the perimeter of Jerusalem, thereby capturing anyone who tried to escape. Captives were executed via crucifixion, with their crosses lining the tops of the trench wall. “Then in the summer of the year 70 C.E. the Romans succeeded in breaching the walls of Jerusalem and began ransacking the city. On the ninth of Av, a day that is commemorated every year as the fast day of Tisha B’av, soldiers threw torches at the Temple and started an enormous fire. When the flames finally died out all that was left of the Second Temple was one outer wall, from the western side of the Temple’s courtyard. This wall still stands in Jerusalem today and is known as the Western Wall (Kotel HaMa’aravi).
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http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2015/11/03/5-key-findings-about-religiosity-in-the-u-s-and-how-its-changing/ http://www.patheos.com/blogs/unsystematictheology/2015/11/the-future-of-christianity-and-the-nones-still-rising-and-evenmore-secular/ 7 http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/religion/portrait/temple.html 8 http://www.biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/biblical-sites-places/temple-at-jerusalem/the-stones-of-herod%E2%80%99s-templereveal-temple-mount-history/ 6
“More than anything else, the destruction of the Second Temple made everyone realize that the revolt had failed. 9 It is estimated that one million Jews died in the Great Revolt.” Most biblical scholars, today, believe that Mark’s gospel was written shortly after the destruction of the temple in 70 C.E. and today’s story may be as more reminiscent as it is prescient. But whether it is a story about Jesus looking forward or about Jewish Christians looking backward, it is a cautionary tale for all of the People of God. Nothing made with human hands is eternal. Even the great temple was subject to the old axiom: this, too, shall pass. And if we are present to witness the passing of those things, those institutions, those traditions that we love, it is possible that we will become frightened, even panicked and turn for salvation to those who make over-blown claims and empty promises, even as did those ancient Jews who followed the Zealots to their deaths. Jesus reminds us that only those things are eternal that come from the God who is eternal. DEATH THROES OR BIRTH PANGS? There are prophets of doom in the land who want nothing more than for people to believe that these are the worst of times. You have probably already heard the first faint cries of those who bemoan the “war on Christmas” even before the first bells of Noel have rung. The Roosevelt Field Mall on Long Island, New York, changed its traditional holiday village and put Santa Clause inside a North Pole, winter-themed, stylized “glacier” instead of the traditional sleigh. The New York 10 Post was outraged. When Starbucks unveiled their 2015 holiday coffee cup they were accused of “hating Jesus” because the cups were solid red and not sufficiently Christmasy. Snopes.com says that this is, of course, nonsense, but it doesn’t keep the 11 prophets of doom from making their claims. The fact is, things change. 12 Traditions become tiresome and old hat. “Time,” as the hymn says, “makes ancient good uncouth.” Wrinkles appear on our faces, our joins get stiff, and our athletic prowess diminishes with age. Buildings, even those best crafted monuments to God’s glory, eventually fall down if someone doesn’t care enough to prop them back up. If the Church of Jesus Christ is in danger it is not hostility that threatens it, as it did the Jewish temple in 70 C.E., but indifference – the indifference of those who are spiritual but not religious and the indifference of our own members. If we are not able to change and adapt to the changes that inevitably come to us we will find those changes shaking not just our foundations but the entire edifice of our faith. If we can adapt to an evolving world and become an evolving church, however, the promise of scripture is that these pains we feel are not death throes but birth pangs. We will become some new thing, some new expression of God’s grace, some new reflection of Jesus Christ. For the promise of scripture still stands that those parts of the church that are truly of God will be “preserved to the end of time for the conduct of worship and the due administration of God’s Word and Sacraments, the maintenance of Christian fellowship and discipline, the edification of believers, and the 13 conversion of the world.” So, if we are going to invest our faith into something, then let it not be in a building or a tradition that is bound and certain to eventually deteriorate and fail with age and use, let it rather be something that is eternal, something that is forever, something that does not age and decay with time. Let us put our faith in the eternal God as He is revealed to us in Jesus Christ and Christ’s resurrected body, the church. AMEN
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http://judaism.about.com/od/jewishhistory/a/greatrevolt.htm http://nypost.com/2015/11/07/long-island-mall-replaces-christmas-decorations-with-glacier-display/ 11 http://www.snopes.com/starbucks-red-christmas-cups/ 12 “Once to Every Man and Nation” http://www.cyberhymnal.org/htm/o/n/oncetoev.htm 13 The United Methodist Book of Worship, p. 106. “The Baptismal Covenant III 10
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https://www.quora.com/What-is-the-origin-of-the-phrase-this-too-shall-pass Usually attributed to Thomas à Kempis, The Imitation of Christ, 1418. 3 http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2015/11/03/5-key-findings-about-religiosity-in-the-u-s-and-how-its-changing/ 4 http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/americans-becoming-less-religious-especially-millenials-poll-n456906 2
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too involved with politics (48%). Millennials, the youngest adults, believe that religious institutions are overly defined by the things they are against. Churches, they say tend to be anti-science, anti-fun, anti-gay, and antisex. Blogger Kyle Roberts, writing for Patheos.com, makes what may be the most insightful observations to come out of the Pew studies when he talks about the “Nones,” the 23 percent of Americans and 72 percent of Millennials who check “none” when asked their religious affiliation. This is the fastest growing group in the survey and after we remove the very small subsets of atheists and agnostics from this group, what we have left are two large sub-groups. 1. “Spiritual but Not Religious” people report that they get spiritual nourishment from, basically, whatever they enjoy doing – golf, hiking, reading, going to rock concerts, etc. This group makes up 50 percent of “Nones.” 2. “Spiritual by Independently Religious” people report that they get their spiritual nourishment from traditional religious practices but their preferences are eclectic and all over the map. The same person may claim to find inspiration from Roman Catholicism, Hinduism, American Indian spirituality, pyramids, crystals and transcendental meditation. Both of these groups continue to shrink, however, as “Nones” become more secular. The good news? People who are religiously affiliated are as faithful and committed as they ever 6 were. It’s just that there are fewer and fewer of them every year. SIC TRANSIT GLORIA By the time Jesus walked the streets of Jerusalem, builders were completing Herod the Great’s temple restoration 7 and preservation project that had taken eight decades. The beautiful, new temple covered 35 acres of ground (about 10 football fields). The foundation, alone, stood over 40 feet high and it was made of stones that weighed nearly about 80 tons. These limestone monoliths weighing over 160,000 pounds also sat, and still sit, atop walls that were over 100 feet tall. Recent archeology has discovered 50 foot pillars that stood at one of the gates to the courtyard, and the marble of 8 the temple itself was so polished that it’s reflection of the sun could be seen from miles away. The people who lived in the shadow of the temple – and everyone who lived in Jerusalem at that time would fit into this group – could be excused if they believed that the temple was going to stand forever. The old temple that was destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar did not stand forever but that was over 600 years ago. This temple, this new, beautiful temple, in all its magnificence will certainly stand forever. Won’t it? As it turned out, it didn’t even last a century. In 70 C.E., roughly 40 years after the story that is told in this lectionary passage, the Roman army would destroy it stone by stone while the city burned around it. Professional Jewish educator, Ariela Pelaia, gives a concise history of this First Jewish War (66-70 C.E.) on the web site About.com: “The Great Revolt began in the year 66. It started when the Jews discovered that the Roman governor, Florus, had stolen huge amounts of silver from the Temple. The Jews rioted and defeated the Roman soldiers stationed in Jerusalem. They also defeated a back-up contingent of soldiers, sent in by the Roman ruler of neighboring Syria. “These initial victories convinced the Zealots that they actually had a chance at defeating the Roman Empire. Unfortunately, that was not the case. When Rome sent a large force of heavily armed and highly trained professional soldiers against the insurgents in Galilee over 100,000 Jews were either killed or sold into slavery. Anyone who escaped fled back to Jerusalem, but once they got there the Zealot rebels promptly killed any Jewish leader who didn’t fully support their revolt. Later, insurgents burned the city’s food supply, hoping that by doing so they could force everyone in the city to rise up against the Romans. Sadly, this internal strife only made it easier for the Romans to ultimately put down the revolt. “The siege of Jerusalem turned into a stalemate when the Romans were unable to scale the city’s defenses. In this situation they did what any ancient army would do: they camped outside the city. They also dug a massive trench bordered by high walls along the perimeter of Jerusalem, thereby capturing anyone who tried to escape. Captives were executed via crucifixion, with their crosses lining the tops of the trench wall. “Then in the summer of the year 70 C.E. the Romans succeeded in breaching the walls of Jerusalem and began ransacking the city. On the ninth of Av, a day that is commemorated every year as the fast day of Tisha B’av, soldiers threw torches at the Temple and started an enormous fire. When the flames finally died out all that was left of the Second Temple was one outer wall, from the western side of the Temple’s courtyard. This wall still stands in Jerusalem today and is known as the Western Wall (Kotel HaMa’aravi).
5
http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2015/11/03/5-key-findings-about-religiosity-in-the-u-s-and-how-its-changing/ http://www.patheos.com/blogs/unsystematictheology/2015/11/the-future-of-christianity-and-the-nones-still-rising-and-evenmore-secular/ 7 http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/religion/portrait/temple.html 8 http://www.biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/biblical-sites-places/temple-at-jerusalem/the-stones-of-herod%E2%80%99s-templereveal-temple-mount-history/ 6
“More than anything else, the destruction of the Second Temple made everyone realize that the revolt had failed. 9 It is estimated that one million Jews died in the Great Revolt.” Most biblical scholars, today, believe that Mark’s gospel was written shortly after the destruction of the temple in 70 C.E. and today’s story may be as more reminiscent as it is prescient. But whether it is a story about Jesus looking forward or about Jewish Christians looking backward, it is a cautionary tale for all of the People of God. Nothing made with human hands is eternal. Even the great temple was subject to the old axiom: this, too, shall pass. And if we are present to witness the passing of those things, those institutions, those traditions that we love, it is possible that we will become frightened, even panicked and turn for salvation to those who make over-blown claims and empty promises, even as did those ancient Jews who followed the Zealots to their deaths. Jesus reminds us that only those things are eternal that come from the God who is eternal. DEATH THROES OR BIRTH PANGS? There are prophets of doom in the land who want nothing more than for people to believe that these are the worst of times. You have probably already heard the first faint cries of those who bemoan the “war on Christmas” even before the first bells of Noel have rung. The Roosevelt Field Mall on Long Island, New York, changed its traditional holiday village and put Santa Clause inside a North Pole, winter-themed, stylized “glacier” instead of the traditional sleigh. The New York 10 Post was outraged. When Starbucks unveiled their 2015 holiday coffee cup they were accused of “hating Jesus” because the cups were solid red and not sufficiently Christmasy. Snopes.com says that this is, of course, nonsense, but it doesn’t keep the 11 prophets of doom from making their claims. The fact is, things change. 12 Traditions become tiresome and old hat. “Time,” as the hymn says, “makes ancient good uncouth.” Wrinkles appear on our faces, our joins get stiff, and our athletic prowess diminishes with age. Buildings, even those best crafted monuments to God’s glory, eventually fall down if someone doesn’t care enough to prop them back up. If the Church of Jesus Christ is in danger it is not hostility that threatens it, as it did the Jewish temple in 70 C.E., but indifference – the indifference of those who are spiritual but not religious and the indifference of our own members. If we are not able to change and adapt to the changes that inevitably come to us we will find those changes shaking not just our foundations but the entire edifice of our faith. If we can adapt to an evolving world and become an evolving church, however, the promise of scripture is that these pains we feel are not death throes but birth pangs. We will become some new thing, some new expression of God’s grace, some new reflection of Jesus Christ. For the promise of scripture still stands that those parts of the church that are truly of God will be “preserved to the end of time for the conduct of worship and the due administration of God’s Word and Sacraments, the maintenance of Christian fellowship and discipline, the edification of believers, and the 13 conversion of the world.” So, if we are going to invest our faith into something, then let it not be in a building or a tradition that is bound and certain to eventually deteriorate and fail with age and use, let it rather be something that is eternal, something that is forever, something that does not age and decay with time. Let us put our faith in the eternal God as He is revealed to us in Jesus Christ and Christ’s resurrected body, the church. AMEN
9
http://judaism.about.com/od/jewishhistory/a/greatrevolt.htm http://nypost.com/2015/11/07/long-island-mall-replaces-christmas-decorations-with-glacier-display/ 11 http://www.snopes.com/starbucks-red-christmas-cups/ 12 “Once to Every Man and Nation” http://www.cyberhymnal.org/htm/o/n/oncetoev.htm 13 The United Methodist Book of Worship, p. 106. “The Baptismal Covenant III 10
