Shakeup!

I got to thinking this week about our uncertain times this week. Thinking of things to be thankful for also reminded me of those things I’m not so sure about. I guess, because of the way my mind works, trying to think of thank-worthy things required a conscious effort to not think about things for which I am not thankful, thus bringing them to mind (if that makes sense).

I thought of times of shakeup like I have experienced the past couple of years. Times of moving, changes in family, and personal crises. Times that challenge me to rethink who I am (or am supposed to be) and what I am supposed to do.

Internet dictionaries, if they can be trusted, define shakeup as a change that reorganize or reorder everything, and change life forever. It is applied to situations where a new leader comes into a group and changes things, letting some people go and moving others to new places. It can also be applied to events that change history.

I thought of a particular Scripture in Hebrews (that I don’t particularly like, by the way) that warns doubtful Jews-turned-believers of “removal of what is shaken—the things that are part of this creation—so that what isn’t shaken will remain.” It goes on to speak of inheriting a kingdom that cannot be shaken.

We have lived in times of shakeup the past several years. Economic down-turns shook up countless businesses and the lives depending on them for jobs and financial security. The terror attacks of 2001 have brought about shakeups in travel and our personal lives.

In the past year alone we have seen Russia restart the cold war. For better or worse “Obamacare” has fundamentally changed healthcare and how we pay for it, to the point that now the team that pushed it through have regrets. A new faction known as the Islamic state came out of nowhere to change the climate in the middle east and set everyone on edge by publicly executing westerners in a brutal way. Ebola has people running scared.

Individually we experience shakeup when a spouse unexpectedly becomes seriously ill or dies, when divorce ravages our relationships, or when a traffic accident yields life-altering injuries that change our quality of life. We are shaken when our children make poor choices, our companies are downsized, or public policy shifts and we have to adjust our lives accordingly.

God shakes everything that can be shaken, so that only that which cannot be shaken will remain.

Jesus spoke of such a shaking in Mark 13. He prophesied the destruction of the temple and the Jewish way of life and the coming together of a new kingdom expression in the church. He used deep metaphor which the disciples would understand as deep change. A darkened sun, a moon that refuses to shine, and stars falling from the sky, refers to a change so dramatic it altars the course of history and changes life forever. A true shakeup. The destruction of Jerusalem and the temple was such an event.

Jesus referred to Daniel 7, where the Son of Man is seen passing through the crowds to the Ancient One to receive a kingdom that is indestructible and everlasting, that would rule in glory over all nations. Jesus also spoke of angels gathering the elect from all over the earth. Jesus spoke of that as his “coming” and referred to it as a day of the Lord. Talk about shakeup.

In the forty years between the day Jesus prophesied this until it actually occurred the church was formed by the Holy Spirit and sent all over the world. During that time the church organized its leadership, formulated its liturgy, and determined its doctrine. The Scriptures began to be recognized and come together. So when the Romans shook things up by destroying Jerusalem the church was ready to accept the change.

God indeed removes all that can be shaken, so that what is not shaken will remain.

Shakeups are times to redirect our lives, bring us back to priorities, and force us to focus on the important things. Things that distract or take too much time away from things important to the kingdom are shaken away. Shakeups happen in our individual or family lives, in our nation, and in our church. Anywhere God has a stake in what happens. In those times Jesus “comes.” It is a “day of the Lord.”

The shakeups I experienced these past two years have certainly brought me to my knees, seeking the unshakable security of the kingdom. I have seen things I held dear shake loose and go away, so that what is not shaken remains.

What does this say for us? God has been doing some shaking and will no doubt do more, so that what cannot be shaken will remain. When this happens what are we supposed to do? Jesus told us. Watch and pray. Be aware when Jesus is doing the shaking, and be ready to respond in obedience.

Advent begins today with the reminder that Jesus comes. He comes to order his kingdom and to shake loose anything that does not resemble it. Watch and pray. Call out to the Lord. Jesus comes!

Almighty God, give us grace to cast away the works of darkness, and put on the armor of light, now in the time of this mortal life in which your Son Jesus Christ came to visit us in great humility; that in the last day, when he shall come again in his glorious majesty to judge both the living and the dead, we may rise to the life immortal; through him who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen. (BCP)

Mark 13:24-37 (1 Advent B)