Sermon: Mark 13: 1-8 Out of difficulty come new life.
In 1843, a large group of ministers in the Presbyterian Church in Scotland, walked out of
their manses, and churches, and formed a new church altogether.
Why did they do that? One reason could be that they were stiff-necked Scots people, and
instead of finding a solution to their differences through dialogue etc., they just up and
walked out.
The other reason is that they believed a principle was at stake and they were not going to
move.
The event was called the disruption.
The ministers believed that a congregation had the right to call a minister of their choice –
not have one imposed on them by the local wealthy family – called in those days the heritor.
Their argument was for congregational choice. That through the people Gods voice could be
heard.
They brought their concerns to the Annual meeting of the church – the General Assembly,
and they lost. So some 475 ministers, out of a total number of 1203, got up and walked out
of the meeting hall, and seemingly they walked down Edinburgh’s Royal Mile, to a suitable
place, and they formed a new church.
This violent event, tumultuous happening lead to a vigorous sense of mission. The ministers
went home moved out of their manses and churches, build new manses and churches,
founded training colleges, started missions overseas, and started work amongst the poor in
the inner cities. They thought they were bullet proof, and in a few short years a new and
vigorous denomination was established.
A lay association was formed that was interested in colonisation: Dunedin was founded by
these Presbyterians from this new demonization. It was called the Free Church. Dunedin
was a free church settlement.
The old established church was moribund and not interested in growth, its practices lead to
class and privilege being more important than faith and enthusiasm. Thomas Chalmers, Port
Chambers in Otago is named after him, was a minister in the old church, before he saw the
light. His ministry comprised of preaching a sermon each week, and spending the rest of the
week as a teacher in Mathematics at a University in Edinburgh. Yet he went on to become a
leading minister in the Free Church.
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Sermon: Mark 13: 1-8 Out of difficulty come new life.
The disruption was the best thing that happened to the church – the Free Church gave a
place for the new spirit abroad in the church, while the old church itself was renewed
eventually and itself became better.
Much the same thing happened at the very start of the Christian church.
For many years after the death of Jesus, the church members continued worshiping in the
temple as though nothing had changed. The early churches arguments were over the
inclusion of outsiders into what was essentially a Jewish sect, and the strange teachings of
Paul were barely tolerated by the church leadership based in Jerusalem.
Quite possibly the early church could have died as a week offshoot of Temple Judaism, had
nothing happened.
The temple was a powerful and loved building and symbol within Judaism and the church in
the 1st century. The early Christians congregated in it, and worshiped in the temple
alongside their fellow Jews. This passage from Mark, can be read like this, “Teacher what
wondrous buildings, what wondrous stones” They were in awe of the building.
My understanding is that it was one of the great wonders of the ancient world, a build
stunning in its architecture and its engineering, and in the wealth of its furniture and fittings.
It was also a place of great majesty as the dwelling place of God on earth.
Story after story in the Gospels and acts show us that the writers held the temple in high
regard.
But it was almost as though the temple was holding the church back, stopping it from
becoming the mission organisation that could take the gospel into the world.
It was keeping the church tethered, both in place and in spirit.
And then along came: Titus, a Roman General. The Jewish people had begun a long and
terrible revolt against Roman rule, Titus was dispatched from Rome to put a stop to this. He
went to the heart of the Jewish state and in a terrible act in 70 AD completely destroyed the
temple. All that is now left is now called the Wailing Wall, and is revered by Jews as a link to
the glories of the past.
So much gold and other precious materials were looted from the temple, that when these
goods and gold were placed on the market in Rome, the bottom fell out of the gold market
and prices were supressed for months.
It was a terrible thing. For Jews it was a crushing blow. For Christians it had a different
effect, yes it was a crushing blow for the leadership of the church in Jerusalem, and this lead
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Sermon: Mark 13: 1-8 Out of difficulty come new life.
to the rise of other centres of early church leadership – in Rome, in Byzantine and in
Alexandra.
It was the birth of the church. The gospels were written. The church leadership realised that
if such powerful events could happen, then it would be best to write down the great stories
and traditions of Christianity in case they were lost.
Mark’s gospel came first, soon after the destruction of the temple, then Luke and Matthew,
John followed some 20 or 30 years later.
Paul’s letters were gathered, and the early church realised that this maverick actually had a
point, that the gospel was for everyone, not just for Jews.
Our Gospel reading is in effect a description of what happened – wars and rumours of wars,
the destruction of the temple, the tensions within the leadership of the church, with many
claiming to have the truth.
What came out of this period of turmoil was a vigorous church that grew and expanded
across Asia and Europe.
The writer of Marks Gospel is right in saying that these events are the birth pangs of
something new.
You can read this story either way, Jesus warning his disciples to be careful of relying too
much on what seems permanent and long standing, and hinting to them that the future is
not rosy, but that something good will eventuate, or you can read as the Gospel writer
recapping on what has just happened in the life of the community, but by making Jesus the
spokesperson for this history, reminding the readers, that what is more important than all
this, is Jesus. His witness, his life and death and resurrection to life.
Faith in him, was more important that all the great stones.
In both the stories I have told some new came out of the death of something old.
In many respects a similar argument could be made for today – older forms of church, ways
of living faith are dying. New and different ways of being church are being born. Our
challenge, as was the challenge to the scots ministers of the disruption, as was the challenge
of the church leadership in the first century, is to keep hold of what is central to our faith,
keep hold of that which gives the name Christian.
This is why it is so important to celebrate Christmas, for in the Christmas story is the heart of
the gospel.
Amen.
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