But what is most important to note is that the book of Daniel and Mark 13 were written at times of real crisis for the faithful people of God. Daniel was addressing faithful Jews who were experiencing the fury of the Maccabean revolt and its vicious suppression and Mark 13 was being written at a time when the Temple in Jerusalem was destroyed by Vespasian’s army. What is fundamental to apocalyptic writing is the message that despite the reality of the sufferings of the present time God will not forsake his people. The call of Daniel and Mark 13 is addressed to the people of God to endure the present sufferings; not to give up; because God will vindicate his people; that the future is ultimately Gods; and that God will judge all according to their deeds especially the wicked. Furthermore in Mark as well as the call to endurance and to remain faithful there is the challenge to continue the mission of the church. In verse 10 just before today’s passage we read “and the good news must first be proclaimed to all nations.”

These passages which sometimes seem remote in their language and imagery were addressed to people like ourselves who were enduring difficult times. Without being too dramatic it only takes a 9/11 to realize that even the most settled and prosperous communities can be challenged to their limits. But that experience also reminds of us of many faithful communities in other parts of the world for whom warfare and civil strife and threat are part of daily life. For the people of the Darfur region of the Sudan or of Iraq or Gaza or many other places the message of the apocalyptic literature of the Bible would seem far more relevant than it may to us.

But what has all this to do Stewardship Sunday? Over the past few Sundays we have heard several Gospel passages that have illustrated for us what it means to follow Jesus. Blind Bartimaeus and the Widow with her mite gave us wonderful models of whole hearted response to the call of God. They were willing to let go all that they had in order to follow Jesus. Remember Bartimaeus casting aside his cloak, his one possession, and the widow putting the two small coins, “all that she had”, into the alms box. The dramatic contrast which Mark makes in his Gospel is with the rich man who when Jesus invited him to let go all that he had and come follow him turned away sadly because of his many possessions and of the disciples who argued about their position and power in God’s kingdom and had to be lectured by Jesus on the call to serve.

What today’s readings add to those insights is that there is a real sense in which we as Christians have our feet in two worlds. We literally have one foot in the present world and by baptism one in eternity. The trouble is it is easy to forget the latter. Both the Daniel and Mark reading today are reminders to the original hearers and readers and to us that there is more to life than the here and now. It is easy to become so engrossed and enslaved by present realities that we lose a sense of the eternal perspective; of God’s call and God’s future. That is not to say we do not take the present seriously but rather that we do so while not forgetting the eternal backdrop to all of life. And even more so that we live in the assurance that the future is God’s; that Good will ultimately prevail over evil; that the righteous will shine; that faithful endurance will be rewarded by God.

It is true to say that when we come to church we should expect to experience a little bit of heaven. This church is so built and adorned to remind us of that. It is a rich and beautiful space pointing us to the heavenly realm. Our worship is aimed at giving us a taste of heaven. The liturgical and musical tradition that we inherit is aimed at that. Sometimes a service will move us deeply or lift us into another realm. But even more so when we come to church we come to celebrate our faith in community. Several of the stewardship speakers in recent weeks have spoken of the importance of the faithful community which sustains and encourages them in their pilgrimage. Sunday by Sunday we are reminded that we are not alone in our faith journey but that we journey with others. Here in the Sunday liturgy we experience that. Here around the Altar, the Table of the Lord, we receive the eucharistic bread and wine together, giving us a foretaste of the banquet table of heaven around which all God’s faithful people of every age will be gathered for celebration.

The overall theme of this stewardship month has been that of thanksgiving: thanksgiving for all that God has given us and our response to that. Ultimately God’s greatest gift to us is eternal life; life with a future in God. Is our response to that gift which is the ground of our hope to be partial or half-hearted or is it to be generous and joyful? Paul was right in saying that God loves a cheerful giver. There is that lovely bit in Pilgrim’s Progress when Christian catches sight of the heavenly city from the heights of the Delectable Mountains and laughs with joy. It reminds me of the childrens’ hymn we used to sing “O happy band of pilgrims.” Is our response to God’s generous and loving call to us to be half-hearted or compromised like that of the rich man in the gospel or the disciples on the road or is to be whole-hearted, generous and cheerful like Bartimaeus and the widow. As we make our pledge this year let us see it as a sign of our faith in God’s future, a response to the gift of eternal life.   Amen

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