I'm a reporter, a regional correspondent for the "Hastings Tribune" and for three of the weeklies around where I live. As a reporter deadlines are a daily part of my life. They have been since 1987 when I began reporting the news. However, even after 13 years as a reporter I still can't get used to the idea of a deadline. I can't seem to get going on a story until right before it is due. That shouldn't surprise me. Growing up I never seemed to be able to function, get my work done, until a deadline got close enough to give me fits. Like as not, I didn't start the chores until I absolutely had too.

I didn't go to the library to do the research for my term papers until a couple of days before the assignment was due, then I had to do all the footnotes, the bibiliography and all the re-writes in the very short 24 hours before that 8:30 Monday morning biology class. I didn't begin to clean my room until one hour before Mom's deadline of "do it by 3 p.m. or you are grounded" and it was Saturday at 2 p.m., there were mountains of clothes to put away, papers all over the floor, things best left undisturbed growing under my bed and my friends and I had planned a great night in town. What are deadlines for anyway: to scare us into behaving; to make us take responsibility for tasks needing to be done; to ensure we plan ahead and are prepared; to keep us alert and on our toes or to cause us to be so single-mindedly focused on the deadline we miss seeing what's around us, we miss opportunities to do God's work in the here and now, we pass by the little enjoyments of life and end up with ulcers, stress headaches, depression and even things as desparate as thoughts of suicide?

Well folks, we have another deadline — that little note the usher brought me before we began indicated God just called and said we have about twenty-five minutes before the world ends. We have about twenty-five more minutes to prepare for the kingdom.

Oh yes, He asked that we take a few of those minutes to think about what has been most meaningful for us in this life — for what are we most thankful — what has made us most happy — what has been most satisfying in our lives — what has made us feel safe, secure and worthwhile — loved.

Jesus and the disciples were leaving the temple in Jerusalem. It was an imposing structure of many large towers and courtyards, in fact, many buildings. It had been hundreds of years in the building. The Jews were proud of the house they had built for God. They suffered much to make sure it was standing. It was a landmark for the rest of their world, a place of stability and tradition. One of the disciples remarked about how big those buildings were, how imposing. Have you ever been on 17th Avenue in Denver or Wall Street in New York? Maybe you've had the chance to visit one of the great cathedrals in Europe or even some that have been built here in the United States. I think of one in Lincoln I was privileged to visit a number of years ago during the Nebraska constituting convention for the ELCA. I think it's called St. Paul's Methodist Church and it is an imposing, beautiful building with a dome, a huge balcony and a pipe organ to end all pipe organs. The organist has his/her own little fenced-in area enclosing all the keyboards and foot pedals that make the thing play. The pipes fill one whole wall of the sanctuary.

Jesus asked that disciple a question in return. A startling question, and he made a frightening prediction. All the stones of those great buildings were going to be thrown down. Not one would be left on another. The permanence of those strongholds was going to be destroyed.

Whoaw Momma! What is he saying? A bit later, when Jesus and the disciples had traveled out of Jerusalem a little way and were setting on the Mount of Olives, Peter, James, John and Andrew asked him when all this was going to happen. They wanted a deadline so they could be prepared, I suppose. They wanted to know what events would precede this great catastrophe so they could keep a sharp eye on the time they had left before it was too late.

Jesus shocks them too. In effect he says he doesn't know, only God does. However, he said, there will be many who will come along to tell them what to watch for but these people will be false prophets, trying to lead them astray from what they have learned from him. They will point to catastrophes like pestilence, wars, famine, earthquakes and say those things are signs that the world is ending. But don't be alarmed, Jesus said. These things happen and they will continue to happen. They are but the beginnings of the birth pangs of the kingdom to come.

When I was 10 years old and in Fifth Grade, my Sunday School teacher decided we should learn from the book of Revelation. Not a good choice if you ask me but I was a child and who asked me? She described in lurid detail how the tribulation would come; how we would all be tested and found wanting, how we would have the number 666 burned onto our foreheads and the palms of our hands because, being weak sinners, we would not be able to withstand the power of Satan during our testing. She succeeded far beyond her dreams in scaring hell out of me.

Later, in high school, there was a popular evangelism story about the man who woke up one day to find his wife and family and some of his friends were gone, with no explanation. He, and others like him, those who had no faith and didn't go to church, who weren't saved, wandered about looking for the "good ones," the certain few who had accepted Jesus into their lives and were righteous, but their search was in vain. Then the trumpets sounded and all those left behind were lined up for judgment and thrown into a pit of fire to suffer endless torment when they were found wanting. While they were waiting in line, they got to watch as the dead righteous ones floated away to heaven, accompanied by the loved ones of those left behind who, apparently, had been waiting in the wings somewhere for the glorious sounds of Christ's return.

While we were living in Las Vegas, where my husband was stationed at Nellis AFB, we heard rumors that there were people from southern California buying land in the desert surrounding the town. They were selling all their possessions and fleeing the "world" to be safe when the end came and California fell off into the ocean and Christ returned. Do you remember a few years ago when the world was supposed to end on a specific day in September at a certain time in the afternoon? There were people selling little booklets that told one what to watch for and how to prepare so one could survive the holocaust that was to come. What's more amazing to me is that there were people who bought the booklets.

What about Jim Jones and Jonestown? What about David Koresh and Waco? What about the Heaven's Gate people in Los Angeles? What about God's grace and Jesus Christ? Where is the message of grace in all those predictions? Jesus said he will return and with him will come the institution of God's kingdom but no one, not even He, the Son, knows when it will be. In the meantime, there will be wars, and earthquakes and famine. There will be death, oppression, and poverty and the dashing of dreams, hopes and security. There will be evil around us but we are not to be afraid. God loves us and He is in control.

What we must be doing is spreading that love, the gospel, through our loving actions and words, to those around us. Not because the work will, of itself, get us anywhere but because it is our response to God's loving grace. What we must remember is that we are not alone in this work. God is with us at all times. His light surrounds us and gives us strength and courage in dark places in our lives. If we give up trying to control God, trying to set limits for Him, trying to predict what he is going to do and when he is going to do it, then we are free to love Him and our neighbors as ourselves. We are free to enjoy this wonderful world he has given us to live in. We will have way more time to pray, to praise him and to tell him Thank You through our actions, words and the return of the gifts He has given us.

In one resource I found for today there was part of a poem entitled "Faith" that seems to fit today's lesson. It seems to answer Jesus' statement about no stone being left upon another but not being alarmed about it. It has been paraphrased and the author is anonymous. When you have come to the edge of all that you know and are about to step off into the darkness, Know one of two things will happen— There will be something solid to stand on, or You will be taught to fly.

Another bit of wisdom gleaned from the same source put it this way: I said to the man who stood at the gate of the year "Give me a light that I may tread safely into the unknown."

And he replied, "Go out into the darkness and put thine hand into the hand of God. That shall be to thee better than light and safer than a known way."

Jesus said this same thing so many ways and so many times. Keep awake. Be aware. Come to the light. Give up your burden and take my yoke upon you. Enfold yourself in my embrace. Trust in me. Obey my commands. Do not be anxious. Meditate on the Word. Seek first the kingdom of God. Understand what is happening. Number your days that you might get a heart of wisdom. If anything is good, anything excellent, anything worthy of praise — think on these things. Lo, I am with you to the end of the age. My peace be with you.

Let's see now… We still have about five minutes left but remember, when Christ returns and the kingdom is ushered in, you will have eternity to enjoy all those things you told me you were thankful for, or that were most significant, in your lives so far, plus more than you can even imagine in the here and now. AMEN

Singing for Our Sons, Dancing for Our Daughters