Isaiah 2:1-5; Psalm 122; Romans 13:11-14; Matthew 24:36-44

“I was overjoyed, alleluia, when they said, ‘come with us to the House of the LORD’.”  Do you remember that song? I was reminded of it when I read Psalm 122 in preparation for this evening’s service of combined worship. There is boundless joy in the company of believers approaching the great city of God; that place of gathering where God has chosen to be worshipped.

I know you were in church this morning, and for those of you whose churches follow the Revised Common Lectionary you’ll already of heard a sermon on these readings. I don’t want to repeat anyone else, and I want to keep these thoughts brief; nonetheless, the Uniting Church is a preaching church, and, in our house, this is what happens.

Miroslav Volf wrote that The Church is a ‘foreshadowing fellowship’ of the now and arriving Reign of God, especially within the New Creation. I really like the idea that a ‘foreshadowing fellowship’ means that what we see now in the gathered saints in our sometimes small and sometimes large congregations is only a preview of what we will see and experience at the end of our days. That really gives us something to look forward to. Volf went on to say that ‘The City of God’ is the people, not the place nor the infrastructure of the place where God is; the city is the people amongst whom God dwells. We read in Revelation that the city which descends from Heaven is a New Jerusalem: as we celebrate with the Jewish pilgrims their entry to Jerusalem in Psalm 122, what we are actually celebrating is the bringing together of living people into fellowship, not the bricks and paths which enclose them. At the end of our journey there is a party, and that is why we say ‘alleluia’ in response to that invitation.

My most significant experience of pilgrimage was the Festival of St Alban the Martyr, in which I participated in 2003 and again in 2004. People had walked for hours from their homes to gather at the shrine of St Alban on his saint’s day (21^st June) to celebrate together and to remember the cause of faith in England and in other parts of the world. I walked from my home to the great Cathedral and Abbey Church, all of half a mile. The suffragan bishop of Bedford walked from Bedfordshire, (but not from Bedford), and he and his little team took about three hours to do that. As was the case in Jerusalem, in St Albans there was a party in the sense of there being collective worship, as well as a barbeque and a fun fair. Since Alban died a martyr, his festival usually takes the theme of remembering suffering, and in 2004 we commemorated ‘Faith Against Torture’.

Pilgrimage toward a significant place of gathering is a foretaste of victory, and a sign of great faith located within the authentic experience of death. To walk a long distance can cause pain, it can be dangerous and a struggle, and even if not beset by bandits and muggers the road surely consists of mud, sweat and the stink of animals. To have been a pilgrim as I was to St Alban’s is to participate in a dress rehearsal of the gathering of all nations.

In today’s Psalm we read four priestly, petitions.

1. In Psalm 122:6 we read a blessing upon all who love Jerusalem and who love what Jerusalem signifies.
2. In Psalm 122:7 we read a petition for the peace and security of the city itself.
3. In Psalm 122:8 we read a petition that the peace and security of the city, prayed for by the gathered congregation, would also be evident amongst their loved ones back home.
4. And in Psalm 122:9 we read a petition and a hope that the people who are praying would also get involved in the work of peacebuilding and bringing about this good in the world.

Oh LORD, bless this city where we have gathered, and bless us as we seek to increase the good in Stawell.

When our focus is upon our brother-sisters in our gathered congregations, and we pray shalom upon our neighbours, we are praying for ourselves, since we are here with them. To pray for the peace of Jerusalem is a great idea when you are in Jerusalem, and to pray for peace among neighbours is a wonderfully pragmatic idea when it is amongst your neighbours that you are praying.

In Matthew’s (24:36-44) account of Jesus’ life, we find troubling words of Jesus. The passage speaks specifically about a coming time when God’s judgement upon unrighteousness will roll out and people will be removed from the earth in a purge of the wicked. Make no mistake; this is not a foretelling of the rapture, far from it. The context of the story, which is the link to Noah, makes it clear that the righteous people remain while the unrighteous are removed. Where two are working together and one is taken you want to be the one left behind. God is not taking the faithful into a pre-Tribulation glory, God is weeding the garden in preparation for the decent of the New Jerusalem. Those who are taken away, by whatever means, are removed because they have not participated in the community of faith. By that I am not saying that God will simply disappear away everyone who doesn’t go to church, because the ‘community of faith’ is not the same thing as the congregation of the local fellowship. Remember that it is the Son of Man who is coming, and when he comes it is those who are not obeying the call to righteousness who will be swept away (Matthew 24:39) even as those outside the ark were swept away by the flood.

So, if not the church, then who will be saved? Well of course the church will be saved, but the “us and them” is not that simple. Remember, the City of God is the people of God gathered in any one place, rather than the physical structures of Jerusalem or Rome. It is those who are part of the movement of prevailing grace and hard-fought peace that God chooses to maintain, not simply those occupying buildings with pointy rooves and arched windows. Paul’s letter to the Romans (13:11-14) makes it clear, the ones who are ready for the return of the Son of Man are those who:

1. Recognise that the time is at hand. (Romans 13:11-12a). The Magi knew that the birth of Jesus was at hand, even though they knew nothing of Jesus himself or even of God. But they read the signs, knew the times, and were ready for the cosmic event because they were awake.
2. Live regarding God and seek light in life. The Biblical narrative of Noah reads as though his family were the only righteous people on earth and everyone else was drunk and disorderly 24/7. Paul says the same sort of thing here in Romans 12b-14. I don’t think this is a metaphor, but I do think it to be an over-exaggeration. Live within the peace of Jerusalem, wherever you are. Pray for the prosperity of your neighbours, that things would go well with them. Pray that you and your neighbours would live in harmony and fellowship, not merely tolerance, but genuine brother-sisterly love and concern for one another. Pray that having asked God to do all of this for you, and for them, that you would make yourself available to God to bring this about through your own welcome to friend and stranger.

“I was overjoyed, alleluia, when they said come with us.” Even if the Son of Man were not soon to return there would still be joy in the challenging work of pilgrimage and fellowship. The city of God, the people gathered in community, compels us toward the goal of rich and inclusive unity in worship of God our loving Father, and deep celebration of each other.

Amen.