A Canadian journalist, Brian Murphy, and his teenage son were casually conversing over breakfast one morning when the young man challenged his father’s urgings that he take school seriously and get strong grades.  The son cynically responded by noting that grades were not important because, “after all, we’ll all be dead soon anyway.” Murphy shot back, “What makes you so important, that after all these eons of time, and billions of people, you get to be one of the special ones to be here at The End of the World?  You may be that special, I suppose, but I would develop a plan B if I were you.”  To his father’s philosophical observation, the young man replied, “You’re weird, Dad.”[1]

We’ve all had this “you’re weird” conversation with someone. There are just some things that seem strange, unknown or simply make us uncomfortable.  Sometimes we just want to have a moment that reaffirms our “normalness”.  Just this week, I smiled as I drove up Sunnyside Road coming to the church.  Passing a golf course, I saw a man who had jumped a fence into someone’s backyard, had one leg propped up on a little yard gnome or yard ornament of some kind and was ready to hack the ball back towards the green.  I laughed, “I’m not the only one”, I thought.  Some of my best golf shots have involved gnomes. 

 

Murphy’s conversation with his son raises some big questions about the apocalypse … about issues known traditionally as “end times” issues that the church has debated for years.  Issues some think have no relevance for our postmodern lives.  Questions of the “return” of Christ…when will it be and with what force might we expect God-made-flesh to re-enter our stratosphere.  We talk about multi-horned and multi-headed beasts, and plagues, and seas of fire, and other good Tolkien-type fodder. Many in our culture have grown weary of these end times predictions and forecasts, images and codes and simply roll their eyes and respond, “You’re weird, Church.”[2]

Are we weird?  Yes.  Weird is relative.  Normal is relative.  If it is weird to “hope” then call me weird.  For centuries, those who follow Christ have hoped that the best is yet to come… that the resurrection was only a piece of the puzzle and the beauty of the fully completed puzzle is still before us.  Where we have strayed from this hope lies in attempts by some to figure out what the puzzle looks like without all the pieces.  So movies get made, televangelists draw diagrams, and others are bold enough to put a day and time on the completed puzzle.  I remember coming out of church when I was in high school to find a flier placed under the windshield of my car.  It was put there by members of another church in town.  The flier suggested the end of the world was coming on Sept 17, 1995 and we better get right with Jesus before it comes.  I certainly appreciated the notice but was hoping for a follow up letter on the 18^th when I still had to get up and go to school. 

 

Humanity seems to crave this information.  The disciples of Jesus were craving this information as well.  There was none better to ask of course than Jesus himself.  They were listening to his stories, his wisdom, his predictions.  “Tell us when this will be, and what will be the sign that all these things are about to be accomplished?” (Mark 13:4)  At the time this question was asked, Jesus was already looking toward Jerusalem.  He knew the time of trial and persecution was just around the corner but these disciples couldn’t see that yet.  They wanted to know about the end of the world not knowing that they would have enough to deal with in the coming days to keep them occupied.  Their leader and friend would be crucified.  And how often do we want the same thing.  Perhaps we do not know what the future holds, the end of things, because God knows we have enough to deal with today to keep us occupied.  Our marriages don’t need attention five years from now…they need it today.  Our health can’t wait for the future to be whole, that process begins today.  We have enough to worry about today than to concern ourselves with the end of all things. Would you live differently if you knew what the future holds?

 

Even knowing we have our hands plenty full today, we still want this information.  Some call it the “CNN complex”, a syndrome first defined during the Gulf War.  People around the world were glued to their television screens, watching the same horrific images over and over again.  We saw it again on 9/11.  How many times did you watch the towers collapse?  How many hours did we watch in grief, checking the count of human loss, seeing people holding pictures of loved ones who were yet to be found?  We wanted the information.  Whether we understand the information or can do anything with it is immaterial.  We have this pathological addiction to information itself.  We ingest information without digesting it and we do it with regularity.

 

If you doubt this, I invite you try an experiment.  Next time you see someone glance at their watch, go to them immediately and ask them the time.  How many can tell you the time without looking at their watch again?  Almost everyone will have to consult their watch again to give you the information you have requested.  We crave this information and we take it in constantly without conceptualizing it.  Our challenge, then, is to come to a place in our life where information becomes knowledge becomes wisdom.[3]    

 

When responding to questions of “end things”, Jesus says, “About the day or hour no one knows…neither the angels in heaven nor the Son, but only the Father.” (Mark 13:32)  So in this instance, our information is no information yet we try to pull information regardless. We point to war, to natural disaster, to Notre Dame football and say, “the end must be near.”  Pop culture even mocks the idea of an apocalypse.  It was suggested that Ladies Home Journal already has their final issue planned for the end of time with a cover article entitled:  "Lose 10 Pounds by Judgment Day with Our New Armageddon Diet!"

 

The church has opened itself up unnecessarily to such ridicule.  But Jesus says no one knows, not even himself, and that we should stop with all of the predictions.  What is more important he says next; a place where knowledge becomes empowering wisdom:  “Beware…keep alert.”  He tells a story of a leader who went away for a time (a sabbatical perhaps), leaving each with a job to do and a doorkeeper to keep watch.

 

Our Senior Minister, the earthly leader of this church, will return next weekend after a summer off to replenish his mind, body, and spirit …to pray and study about the two-campus ministry that is before us.  We know the day and hour of his return.  He’ll share his first words at the concert next Saturday night and lead us in worship on Sunday morning.  We have prepared a celebration and we need you all to be with us to welcome him back when he returns.  For over twenty years he has led this people known as Geist Christian Church into faithful service of our heavenly Leader.  Our welcome next weekend will show our readiness to press on toward our goal of expanding the love of Christ into new territory.

 

As much as Randy will appreciate your presence, he would be the first to say that this ministry is not about him.  This event On Promise Road is not about him either.  It’s not about a concert or about a big tent.  It’s not about a groundbreaking for new brick and mortar and it’s not about carnival games.  It is not even about predicting what God will do at our north campus.  It is about Jesus Christ and about we the Body of Christ being a faithful witness to those who need it most.  It is our first opportunity to say to the community of Fishers, we are seeking Jesus and we welcome you to seek Him with us.  Keep awake Geist Christian Church… for we are expecting Christ to show up.  We each have a work to do… a ministry to share as we press on in this prayer-filled mission. 

 

Professor and Theologian, Tony Campolo shares about a time in graduate school.  “I took a course in Chinese philosophy. The Buddhist monk who taught the course said to me, "As a Christian, you teach your children to pray all wrong. You teach them to pray, 'If I should die before I wake.' It would be better if you taught them to pray 'If I should wake before I die.' "The monk went on to point out that most of the people he knew were half awake when they ought to be asleep. But even worse, when they were asleep, they were half awake. No one seemed to be totally alive. Nobody seemed to be turned on to what was going on around them.”[4]

Awaken, my friends, to life and what is going on around you… and be a part of it.  The word of our text for today is both encouraging and demanding.  It is not to rob believers of an expectation of a final day of relief or vindication for that hope is real.  Even so, that is a matter for God to tend to.  We are not to fix the calendar of heaven.  Any attempt we have to nail down such an event is futile, confusing, and ultimately a hindrance to our purpose as Christians.  We demonstrate our hope in Christ and our faithfulness to God by our work in witness on a daily basis.  This is our duty to keep alert and be watchful.  The great Fred Craddock said, “To watch is not to scan the heavens, read the horoscopes, comb through obscure texts, and begin every sentence with the words ‘When the Messiah comes’.  Such uninvolved waiting for the Messiah is not hope; it is postponement and evasion.”[5]

“When the Messiah comes” is not the focus of this text at all.  It is about dedicated, hopeful, hospitable, discipleship.  No one knows “the day or hour” of what life will bring them and so all we can do is offer our best today so that we might be prepared for whatever we face tomorrow. The sixth anniversary of the terrorist attacks in New York and DC this coming week is a reminder of this.  An article in the New York Times called “How to Get Out Alive”, describes what researchers have learned about the habits of those who were able to evacuate safely from the Twin Towers on that fateful day.

 

Those who made it out waited for an average of six minutes before evacuating. Some lingered as long as half an hour.  Can you imagine what you might have done in that time?  Some helped co-workers. Others milled around not knowing what had happened or what to do next. The article said, “Many called relatives. About 1,000 took the time to shut down their computers…. At least 70 percent of survivors spoke with other people before trying to leave.”

 

In spite of a previous attack on the towers in 1993, and numerous efforts to make evacuation effective, less than half the survivors knew there were three stairwells in the building, and less than half had ever entered a stairwell. One investigator said, “I found the lack of preparedness shocking.”

 

One woman, Elia Zedeno, who was on the 73^rd floor of Tower One, “heard a booming explosion and felt the building actually lurch to the south, as if it might topple.” The article stated:

 

We know not what this world will bring. The future is unknown and yet as people of faith we know well what the future holds; a beautiful completed puzzle that God is putting together.  But for today, we have a message to share, we have work to do.  And many are waiting for you to share it, to show it, to believe it.  Someone in this room right now could probably ask Zedeno’s question when it comes to your faith, “What would I have done if no one had said anything to me about Christ…about this church?”  Would you be here today?  We pass people everyday who are just waiting for someone to share with them words of hope and purpose …not bombarding them with predictions about multi-headed beasts and end time codes, but with love and the opportunity to live life fully now.  With the big weekend before us as a community of faith, a new chapter that has the potential to see God do some amazing things through us, do we see the need to speak up… to say to that one who is just waiting, “I’ve found something that I would like to share with you?”    

 

Christ will come and with signs that no one can miss.  In the meantime, we are to endure, without trying to guess when that might be.  We are to continue the mission we have begun in Indianapolis.  We expand our mission next weekend with the opportunity to say to Fishers, we’re here and we want you to journey with us.  We are to continue our mission to our world in need of healing without giving up.  Keep awake; press on … as though we were already in the presence of the One for whose coming we await.  Call me weird, but for me, it is not a matter of when He returns; for my prayer, my hope, is that he has never left.     

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