Endings

The Rev. Joseph Winston

May 20, 2007

Sermon

Grace and peace are gifts for you from God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.1
The basic human experience of angst and often despair when one part of life
is exchanged for another has been a well known subject for artists. Consider the
made for TV movie, “The Little House on the Prairie.” In this two hour film shown
on NBC in 1974, we learned of the Ingalls family’s struggles. Shortly after the
Civil War, the Ingalls moved into the rolling hills of Kansas. There on the prairie
they fashioned their new lives. Unfortunately, life was never easy for them since it
seemed that their days were filled with one tragic event after another. The movie
ended with sad tale of the family leaving their beloved home.
Another example about the pain in our transitions can be seen in the stories
about people that no longer can find work. Who can forget Charles Dickens’ book,
1
Romans 1:7, 1 Corinthians 1:3, 2 Corinthians 1:2, Galatians 1:3, Ephesians 1:2, Philippians
1:2, 2 Thessalonians 1:2, Philemon 1:3

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“A Christmas Carol?” One of the powerful images that Dickens uses effectively
throughout the book is the specter of the unemployed. This is one of the often
underreported facts about the Industrial Revolution in Europe. Many people have
lost their life long careers because machines now could make items cheaper than
humans. Ebeneezer Scrooge is extremely bothered by all of these people, so it
comes as no surprise to anyone when we hear this dialog between Scrooge and
another business man.

“At this festive season of the year, Mr. Scrooge,” said the gentleman,
taking up a pen, “it is more than usually desirable that we should make
some slight provision for the Poor and destitute, who suffer greatly at
the present time. Many thousands are in want of common necessaries;
hundreds of thousands are in want of common comforts, sir.”

“Are there no prisons?” asked Scrooge.

“Plenty of prisons,” said the gentleman, laying down the pen again.

“And the Union workhouses?” demanded Scrooge. “Are they still in

“They are. Still,” returned the gentleman, “I wish I could say they
were not.”

“The Treadmill and the Poor Law are in full vigour, then?” said Scrooge.

“Both very busy, sir.”

“Oh! I was afraid, from what you said at first, that something had

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 occurred to stop them in their useful course,” said Scrooge. “I’m very
glad to hear it.”

The difficulties with endings is not limited to our day and age. The Book of
Ruth contains many painful goodbyes. This story starts out with a famine in a town
that is named “house of bread,” which may be better known as Bethlehem. The
lack of food has forced Naomi to leave her hometown with her husband and her
two sons. As they arrive in the land of Moab, Naomi’s husband dies. For the next
ten years, she is happy because her sons marriages to Orpah and Ruth. However,
tragedy strikes Naomi again when both of Naomi’s children die. Because being
a widow in a strange land is never easy, Naomi tells Orpah and Ruth that she is
planning to leave them and return once again to Bethlehem. This announcement of
Naomi’s immediate departure makes all of the women cry. Orpah and Ruth protest
the decision and after awhile Orpah finally leaves Naomi to go back to her family.
Ruth refuses to leave Naomi’s side and tells her, “Do not press me to leave you
or to turn back from following you! Where you go, I will go; where you lodge, I
will lodge; your people shall be my people, and your God my God” (NRSV Ruth
1:16.).
Leaving our home, being unemployed, or saying goodbye for the last time are
all painful because we know that we will never be back to this place.
The last time we shut the door to the house we love tells us that our time here
has ended. We will not be able to take the fireplace where we rocked our first
child to sleep or the floor where our daughter slipped and broke her leg. All of the
sorrow and the joy that was associated with this one house stays behind and we

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can only take our memories with us.
The loss of a job is not any easier. The unemployed worker no longer has a
schedule of going to work, performing the job, and then returning home. The daily
routine is gone and any other job will be different. This pain is only compounded
when we no longer can afford to go to the store and buy what we need for our
families.
Probably the most profound change occurs when we no longer can see some-
one who we love. It does not matter if we move away from a life long friend,
if our loved one becomes lost to us through disease, or if our spouse dies. The
change hurts us since they never will be with us anymore. We cannot share the
little things about our lives. Like, “Did you know that she looks just like you?”
Or, “Have you tried the new Blizzard flavor?” Nor can we be with them during
our major transitions such as weddings, births, and deaths.
Especially today, we are in a time of endings.
Last Thursday, the church remembered one of the most important endings in
God’s story. After being with His followers, Jesus left and once again is seated
at the right hand of the Father. This action has been played out in this nave. The
candle by the baptismal font has been taken away. This symbolizes Christ’s return
to heaven. Unless we have a baptism or a funeral, the Christ candle does not
reappear until next year’s Easter Vigil.
Continuing with this same theme is the end of this portion of the Church year.
Next Sunday on Pentecost, half of the church year is over. During the first six
months of the year, we have looked at God’s work in the world. After Pentecost

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and for the the rest of the year, we change our focus and we will look at the
church’s mission.
Many of us are celebrating the ending of the school year. The students are
looking forward to a summer of fun and the teachers are ready for a brief respite
from the work that they do at school. Later today during our lunch, we will recog-
nize another ending. Our seniors have graduated. Through their hard work, they
have closed a door on part of their education and have opened up new opportuni-
ties.
Not only is the lesson that we read from the Revelation of John at the end of
this book but it is also about the end of the world. The revelation that has been
given to us is that God is in control of the universe and a key part of this plan is
the end of the world. We hear of this faith in today’s lesson. Because the believers
know God is running the universe to a predetermined ending, the entire company
of saints both in heaven and on earth have joined with the Holy Spirit in saying,
“Come!” “Come, Lord Jesus!” Come to us once again so that we may once again
live with you.
Specifically contained in the lesson from Revelation from John is anticipation
of a tremendous change. We want Jesus to be with us and because of this deep
desire we are constantly praying for Jesus to come. The question before us today
is, “Why can we face this tremendous transition with joy while other endings are
so painful?” This question is also present in the endings of the school year, the
church year, and Christ’s time with us. Why do we look forward to some changes
but yet fear other ones?

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 The author of John knows the answer to this question. Because Christians
know that God is in control, they can ask for changes in the world, their surround-
ings, or even themselves. We can pray for the end of the earth, not because the
current world deserves to be destroyed or that certain people need to die but in-
stead we pray that God finish God’s plans. We pray for the end since we trust in
God’s goodness. God has promised us that the rest of the story will be better than
what we have today.
Unfortunately, we do not believe the basic fact that God is in control of the
cosmos. We do not trust God to take us where we need to go. Rather, we each
think that we are in charge of the world. We can see our self-centered plan work
itself out in many ways. Some of us might force our will on those people around
us while others of us might think that the world owes us everything and due to this
thought we take more than we need. On the surface, this idea is silly because we
all know that if we are all ruling the world in our own way then no one is actually
running the show. But even more importantly, this mistaken concept causes us to
deny that change must occur in our lives.
God’s response to our actions is both simple and straight forward. God is with
us. That is why the Christian church for two thousand years continues to celebrate
Christ’s Ascension. Jesus has left the earth but He is still here with us. This is the
paradox that we confess.
Even though He is at the right hand of the Father, we believe Jesus comes to
us in the waters and the Word of baptism. Our faith teaches us that the Son of
God who lives in heaven has not abandoned you since Jesus comes when God

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pronounces the Word of confession over you. All over the world today, at Christ’s
Table, we physically encounter the Word that lives with us. We also trust that
wherever God’s Word is spoken, we will encounter the risen Lord.
When we spend time with Jesus, in other words when we study His Word and
worship Him, we learn two important facts. First, it becomes very clear that God
loves you. This love is not puppy love nor is it just a flash in the pan. God loves
you for the long haul. Second, as we spend time with God it becomes apparent
that God can be trusted. This facts is proven over and over by Christ’s actions. We
see Jesus here with us. We feel God’s love for us.
Because of God’s undying relationship with us, we can look forward to end-
ings. This is how we can pray for the world to end. We know that God will never
abandon us. This dramatic change in our attitude can only happen since the One
who is both responsible and present at every ending is trustworthy. Our prayer for
Jesus to quickly come echoes this sentiment. The same Jesus who ate with sinners
and forgave foreigners will be the One who shows up at the end of the world.
We know that we move through every one of these transitions with God at our
side. While this never eliminates the pain of our endings, it does point out one
important fact. God shares in our pain.
When we pray “Come, Lord Jesus!” we do not worry what will ultimately
happen to us because we believe that God has a place for each of us. Our salvation
is assured. What we need to be concerned about is our family and neighbors. What
will happen to them if this church closes? What will their end be like if we are no
longer here and able to serve their needs?

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 “The peace of God, which passeth all understanding, keep your hearts and
minds through Christ Jesus.”2

2
Philippians 4:7.