Today's scripture is not an easy one to read.  It's difficult in many ways. 

Lord, in the midst of suffering hold us.  In the midst of the pains of our world break in and be peace. Amen

Mark 13

The Destruction of the Temple Foretold

13As he came out of the temple, one of his disciples said to him, ‘Look, Teacher, what large stones and what large buildings!’²Then Jesus asked him, ‘Do you see these great buildings? Not one stone will be left here upon another; all will be thrown down.’
3 When he was sitting on the Mount of Olives opposite the temple, Peter, James, John, and Andrew asked him privately,⁴‘Tell us, when will this be, and what will be the sign that all these things are about to be accomplished?’⁵Then Jesus began to say to them, ‘Beware that no one leads you astray.⁶Many will come in my name and say, “I am he!”^* and they will lead many astray.⁷When you hear of wars and rumours of wars, do not be alarmed; this must take place, but the end is still to come.⁸For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; there will be earthquakes in various places; there will be famines. This is but the beginning of the birth pangs.

Persecution Foretold

9 ‘As for yourselves, beware; for they will hand you over to councils; and you will be beaten in synagogues; and you will stand before governors and kings because of me, as a testimony to them.¹⁰And the good news^* must first be proclaimed to all nations.¹¹When they bring you to trial and hand you over, do not worry beforehand about what you are to say; but say whatever is given you at that time, for it is not you who speak, but the Holy Spirit.¹²Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child, and children will rise against parents and have them put to death;¹³and you will be hated by all because of my name. But the one who endures to the end will be saved.

The Desolating Sacrilege

14 ‘But when you see the desolating sacrilege set up where it ought not to be (let the reader understand), then those in Judea must flee to the mountains;¹⁵someone on the housetop must not go down or enter the house to take anything away;¹⁶someone in the field must not turn back to get a coat.¹⁷Woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing infants in those days!¹⁸Pray that it may not be in winter.¹⁹For in those days there will be suffering, such as has not been from the beginning of the creation that God created until now, no, and never will be.²⁰And if the Lord had not cut short those days, no one would be saved; but for the sake of the elect, whom he chose, he has cut short those days.²¹And if anyone says to you at that time, “Look! Here is the Messiah!”^* or “Look! There he is!”—do not believe it.²²False messiahs^* and false prophets will appear and produce signs and omens, to lead astray, if possible, the elect.²³But be alert; I have already told you everything.

The Coming of the Son of Man

24 ‘But in those days, after that suffering,
the sun will be darkened,
and the moon will not give its light,
²⁵ and the stars will be falling from heaven,
and the powers in the heavens will be shaken.
²⁶Then they will see “the Son of Man coming in clouds” with great power and glory.²⁷Then he will send out the angels, and gather his elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of heaven.

The Lesson of the Fig Tree

28 ‘From the fig tree learn its lesson: as soon as its branch becomes tender and puts forth its leaves, you know that summer is near.²⁹So also, when you see these things taking place, you know that he^* is near, at the very gates.³⁰Truly I tell you, this generation will not pass away until all these things have taken place.³¹Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.

The Necessity for Watchfulness

32 ‘But about that day or hour no one knows, neither the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.³³Beware, keep alert;^* for you do not know when the time will come.³⁴It is like a man going on a journey, when he leaves home and puts his slaves in charge, each with his work, and commands the doorkeeper to be on the watch.³⁵Therefore, keep awake—for you do not know when the master of the house will come, in the evening, or at midnight, or at cockcrow, or at dawn,³⁶or else he may find you asleep when he comes suddenly.³⁷And what I say to you I say to all: Keep awake.’

12Then he began to speak to them in parables. “A man planted a vineyard, put a fence around it, dug a pit for the wine press, and built a watchtower; then he leased it to tenants and went to another country.²When the season came, he sent a slave to the tenants to collect from them his share of the produce of the vineyard.³But they seized him, and beat him, and sent him away empty-handed.⁴And again he sent another slave to them; this one they beat over the head and insulted.⁵Then he sent another, and that one they killed. And so it was with many others; some they beat, and others they killed.⁶He had still one other, a beloved son. Finally he sent him to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’⁷But those tenants said to one another, ‘This is the heir; come, let us kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.’⁸So they seized him, killed him, and threw him out of the vineyard.⁹What then will the owner of the vineyard do? He will come and destroy the tenants and give the vineyard to others.¹⁰Have you not read this scripture:

‘The stone that the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone;
¹¹this was the Lord’s doing,
and it is amazing in our eyes’?”

¹²When they realized that he had told this parable against them, they wanted to arrest him, but they feared the crowd. So they left him and went away.
¹³Then they sent to him some Pharisees and some Herodians to trap him in what he said.¹⁴And they came and said to him, “Teacher, we know that you are sincere, and show deference to no one; for you do not regard people with partiality, but teach the way of God in accordance with truth. Is it lawful to pay taxes to the emperor, or not?¹⁵Should we pay them, or should we not?” But knowing their hypocrisy, he said to them, “Why are you putting me to the test? Bring me a denarius and let me see it.”¹⁶And they brought one. Then he said to them, “Whose head is this, and whose title?” They answered, “The emperor’s.”¹⁷Jesus said to them, “Give to the emperor the things that are the emperor’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” And they were utterly amazed at him.
¹⁸Some Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to him and asked him a question, saying,¹⁹“Teacher, Moses wrote for us that ‘if a man’s brother dies, leaving a wife but no child, the man shall marry the widow and raise up children for his brother.’²⁰There were seven brothers; the first married and, when he died, left no children;²¹and the second married her and died, leaving no children; and the third likewise;²²none of the seven left children. Last of all the woman herself died.²³In the resurrection whose wife will she be? For the seven had married her.”
²⁴Jesus said to them, “Is not this the reason you are wrong, that you know neither the scriptures nor the power of God?²⁵For when they rise from the dead, they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven.²⁶And as for the dead being raised, have you not read in the book of Moses, in the story about the bush, how God said to him, ‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’?²⁷He is God not of the dead, but of the living; you are quite wrong.”
²⁸One of the scribes came near and heard them disputing with one another, and seeing that he answered them well, he asked him, “Which commandment is the first of all?”²⁹Jesus answered, “The first is, ‘Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one;³⁰you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.’³¹The second is this, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”³²Then the scribe said to him, “You are right, Teacher; you have truly said that ‘he is one, and besides him there is no other’;³³and ‘to love him with all the heart, and with all the understanding, and with all the strength,’ and ‘to love one’s neighbor as oneself,’ —this is much more important than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.”³⁴When Jesus saw that he answered wisely, he said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” After that no one dared to ask him any question.
³⁵While Jesus was teaching in the temple, he said, “How can the scribes say that the Messiah is the son of David?³⁶David himself, by the Holy Spirit, declared,

‘The Lord said to my Lord,
“Sit at my right hand,
until I put your enemies under your feet.”’

³⁷David himself calls him Lord; so how can he be his son?” And the large crowd was listening to him with delight.
³⁸As he taught, he said, “Beware of the scribes, who like to walk around in long robes, and to be greeted with respect in the marketplaces,³⁹and to have the best seats in the synagogues and places of honor at banquets!⁴⁰They devour widows’ houses and for the sake of appearance say long prayers. They will receive the greater condemnation.”
⁴¹He sat down opposite the treasury, and watched the crowd putting money into the treasury. Many rich people put in large sums.⁴²A poor widow came and put in two small copper coins, which are worth a penny.⁴³Then he called his disciples and said to them, “Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all those who are contributing to the treasury.⁴⁴For all of them have contributed out of their abundance; but she out of her poverty has put in everything she had, all she had to live on.”

Lord, today show me the ways to love you and your children.  Open my closed places to love my neighbors.  Take away my hesitations and fears in loving the people I don't know.  Push, oh Lord, to express that love beyond thought and heart.  It's a world full of hate based on appearance and assumption, Lord, set me aside from this world so I can love beyond the rules of our society.  Let me see my brothers and sisters through the eyes of love and faith.  Amen

¹²On the following day, when they came from Bethany, he was hungry.¹³Seeing in the distance a fig tree in leaf, he went to see whether perhaps he would find anything on it. When he came to it, he found nothing but leaves, for it was not the season for figs.¹⁴He said to it, “May no one ever eat fruit from you again.” And his disciples heard it.
¹⁵Then they came to Jerusalem. And he entered the temple and began to drive out those who were selling and those who were buying in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold doves;¹⁶and he would not allow anyone to carry anything through the temple.¹⁷He was teaching and saying, “Is it not written,

‘My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations’?
But you have made it a den of robbers.”

¹⁸And when the chief priests and the scribes heard it, they kept looking for a way to kill him; for they were afraid of him, because the whole crowd was spellbound by his teaching.¹⁹And when evening came, Jesus and his disciples went out of the city.
²⁰In the morning as they passed by, they saw the fig tree withered away to its roots.²¹Then Peter remembered and said to him, “Rabbi, look! The fig tree that you cursed has withered.”²²Jesus answered them, “Have faith in God.²³Truly I tell you, if you say to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and thrown into the sea,’ and if you do not doubt in your heart, but believe that what you say will come to pass, it will be done for you.²⁴So I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.
²⁵“Whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone; so that your Father in heaven may also forgive you your trespasses.”²⁷Again they came to Jerusalem. As he was walking in the temple, the chief priests, the scribes, and the elders came to him²⁸and said, “By what authority are you doing these things? Who gave you this authority to do them?”²⁹Jesus said to them, “I will ask you one question; answer me, and I will tell you by what authority I do these things.³⁰Did the baptism of John come from heaven, or was it of human origin? Answer me.”³¹They argued with one another, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will say, ‘Why then did you not believe him?’³²But shall we say, ‘Of human origin’?” —they were afraid of the crowd, for all regarded John as truly a prophet.³³So they answered Jesus, “We do not know.” And Jesus said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I am doing these things.”

God with a temper,
  As we begin this journey to remember and reclaim our faith this week deepen our roots.  Amen

Mark 11:1-11

11When they were approaching Jerusalem, at Bethphage and Bethany, near the Mount of Olives, he sent two of his disciples²and said to them, “Go into the village ahead of you, and immediately as you enter it, you will find tied there a colt that has never been ridden; untie it and bring it.³If anyone says to you, ‘Why are you doing this?’ just say this, ‘The Lord needs it and will send it back here immediately.’”⁴They went away and found a colt tied near a door, outside in the street. As they were untying it,⁵some of the bystanders said to them, “What are you doing, untying the colt?”⁶They told them what Jesus had said; and they allowed them to take it.⁷Then they brought the colt to Jesus and threw their cloaks on it; and he sat on it.⁸Many people spread their cloaks on the road, and others spread leafy branches that they had cut in the fields.⁹Then those who went ahead and those who followed were shouting,

“Hosanna!
Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord!
¹⁰Blessed is the coming kingdom of our ancestor David!
Hosanna in the highest heaven!”

¹¹Then he entered Jerusalem and went into the temple; and when he had looked around at everything, as it was already late, he went out to Bethany with the twelve.

Tomorrow we begin Holy Week.  It's time to clean out the crap that is left that blocks us from having a truly loving place for Jesus on Easter!  Walk the journey through the book of Mark and find where you are.  Are you singing Hallelujah on Palm Sunday?  Are you confused when Jesus overturns the tables in the temple?  Are you at dinner and angry when the woman annoints Jesus?  Are you running away when the guards come?  Are you standing in fear at the foot of the cross?  Where are you?

Today...find the joy of being broken.  Know God loves you where you are and pushes us to be better.  Breathe deeply of the breath of God and back in the hand that holds you.

This blog is a special place for me...it's one of those moments where I share my faith in a discipline.  I'm not usually disciplined about my spiritual journey except during Lent.  As we prepare for Holy Week I wanted the chance to say thanks to those of you who have hung in here with me.  I really appreciate you!

ARK DAY!

             Acts of Random Kindness.   Today is a day to do something kind for another person you DON’T live with.  Part of living out our faith is sharing it and one of the best ways to share faith is to be kind to another person.  How many ways can God use you today to be kind to other people?

This has been one of my favorite devotional expressions during Lent this year.  It's a simple thing, but it is so important.  It doesn't take much and it doesn't mean going out of our way.  A simple trip to the grocery and seeing where God leads, a drive down the street and listening for God's voice, a walk around the neighborhood hearing God's voice are simple ways to be in God's presence and find ways to be kind to others.

The joy of receiving a handwritten note in the mail is a special treat in today’s world.  Take a moment and drop someone a note.  Maybe a home bound person, maybe a child, maybe a neighbor, maybe a sick friend or just the first name you think of for no reason what-so-ever.