Devotions
Rev Gav
Birth
Luke 21.29–33
Then he told them a parable: ‘Look at the fig tree and all the trees; as soon as they sprout leaves you can see for yourselves and know that summer is already near. So also, when you see these things taking place, you know that the kingdom of God is near. Truly I tell you, this generation will not pass away until all things have taken place. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.
Reflect
To Jesus, there was a connection between the destruction of the temple and the coming of the Kingdom of God — a kingdom that is not bound by walls, no matter how impressive they are. In the same way that Jesus spoke of his own death in terms of, “If a seed doesn’t fall to the ground and die, it will remain just a single seed, but if it does die it will sprout and bear much fruit” (paraphrased from John 12.24) the temple had to die because God was no longer there as a single presence, but was now being birthed in every believer.
There is a truth that in nature, for there to be growth there has to be death. Without the death of plants and vegetation there would be no soil and no fertiliser, and without natural death, populations would grow rapidly to consume all available resources. I am not suggesting death is a ‘good’ thing — it is wasteful, painful, and heartbreaking — but that it is part of the natural order and cycle of creation.
The Temple, with its complex system of pilgrimage and atonement had to die to enable a new way of life to flourish, and similarly, sometimes our complex systems of church need to die to enable new ways of worshipping and for people to find their life in God. When faced with responses to culture, remember the fourfold options of collusion, blame, rebellion, or separation? Well, the fifth way — and the way of God — is one of innovation.
The church is continually called to re-invent itself to engage faithfully with the current generation, and yes, sometimes our old ways of doing things need to die. For something to die well, it needs our permission and for us to let go. Letting go of things to which we hold dear, or in which we have invested our time, money, and talents, is not easy.
For those first Jewish Christians, letting go of the temple would have been heart-wrenching. They would have felt vulnerable and lost without their physical building and all the systems, programs, events, services, and ceremonies that went with it. Yet, God had innovated and initiated a new plan, one that was bigger and better than they could have possibly imagined.
Today, perhaps think about the things of which you find difficult to let go. Trust that God has a plan for innovation, and one to which you are invited to participate.
Pray
Creator God
Show me where
I am clinging to
old ways of doing things,
or trying to bring life
to systems and programs
that need to end well.
Help me trust
that you are the
divine innovator
and that you have
a plan and a purpose
for your church
and for my life.
This day and forever.
and then