The Temporary and the Eternal - 23rd Sunday after Pentecost
Author: Pastor Scott Schul
November 16, 2025
What are the best ways
to prepare yourself to get the most out of Sunday worship in general, and the
Sunday sermon in particular? At the top
of that list would of course be to spend time reading and contemplating the
assigned Bible lessons for that Sunday. If you ever wonder what readings are coming up on the schedule, they are
literally at your fingertips, starting on page 18 of the Evangelical Lutheran
Worship hymnal. It’s one of many reasons
I think every family should have a hymnal in their home.
But if for some reason
your schedule doesn’t provide an opportunity to read those four scripture
passages in advance, the second-best thing you can do to prepare for
Sunday worship is to read the assigned Prayer of the Day. It too comes from our hymnal and pops up in
our Sunday liturgy shortly after our gathering hymn. It’s both helpful and practical that we pray
that prayer early in worship because it’s crafted to provide a thematic
overview of the faith themes of our assigned Bible lessons.
Most of the prayers we
pray as the Prayer of the Day throughout the Church Year come from deep within
the Christian tradition. That’s
especially true for the Prayer of the Day that we prayed just a few minutes ago
today. This prayer has quite a
history. Its first recorded use was in
the 7th century, in Latin (the language of the Church). But it was likely part of a long oral
tradition before then.
The prayer made its
first official appearance in English in 1549, when Thomas Cranmer included it
in the Anglican Book of Common Prayer, where it remains to this day. When our Evangelical Lutheran Church in
America was putting together our new hymnal, which was published in 2006, they
updated many of the weekly prayers and, for the first time, added a version of
the prayer that we prayed today.
I’m going to now pray
that prayer again. As you hear it once
again, just quietly listen to the words, this time with the recognition that
your fellow Christians have been praying this prayer at least since the 600s. “O
God, the protector of all who trust in you, without you nothing is strong,
nothing is holy. Embrace us with your mercy, that with you as our ruler and
guide, we may live through what is temporary without losing what is eternal,
through Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord. Amen.”
What is it about this
prayer that makes it as relevant to all of us in 2025 as it would have been to
a Christian in Europe in the 600s? The
answer is that this prayer taps into something universal about the human experience. You know as well as I do that life is full of
ups and downs. It doesn’t matter who you
are, where you came from, or how holy you are. There will be good days and there will be bad days. There will be days of celebration and
there will be days of suffering. And when those bad days happen, and when that suffering occurs, how will
we react?
Our prayer recognizes
that one possibility on those hard days is that we lose our perspective and
allow a temporary, earthly setback to turn us away from our eternal
relationship with Christ. We might
compare it to viewing a large painting at an art gallery. If we get our noses too close to it and
obsess over one little detail or brushstroke, we quite literally won’t see or
comprehend the bigger picture. This
prayer reminds us to take a step back and regain our eternal perspective as
followers of Jesus.
All of us can look back
on an experience in our life that we believed was a monumental crisis, but
which we now realize really wasn’t a big deal. Other times, we come to see that what we thought was a disastrous wrong
turn was, in the bigger picture, a huge blessing. Think of the first relationship crush you
had. Chances are it didn’t work out, and
in retrospect you’re probably very glad. Or maybe your first choice of college didn’t pan out, or there was a job
you really wanted that you didn’t land. Maybe
it rained on the beach vacation you’d always dreamed of taking. This prayer asks God to grant us a greater
wisdom by gaining a greater perspective on what’s really important and what
isn’t.
Otherwise, we risk
getting caught up in what Pastor Lynn used to call “sideways energy.” When I first heard him use that phrase, I
pictured a rocket ship taking off. If
all its energy and propulsion weren’t pushing the rocket skyward, it wouldn’t
get off the ground. That’s what sideways
energy does in our lives. It gets us off
course by wasting our time and energy on things that, in the bigger picture,
are not of primary importance.
This is an easy idea to
accept when it comes to things like a rainy vacation or teenage crush that
didn’t last. Age and experience
naturally help us acquire that broader vision. But look at what’s happening in our Gospel lesson. At this stage of the story, Jesus was only
two chapters away from crucifixion, and so he was warning his followers that
his death on the cross would merely be the beginning of an era of
suffering that would be unleashed. Within a few decades, the greatest symbol of their faith and of God’s
presence, the Jerusalem Temple, would be reduced to rubble. Wars and insurrections would arise. And the shocking execution of Jesus would be
a foretaste of the future his followers faced.
When that suffering
came, Jesus knew it would provide an opening for others to lead his followers
astray. Jesus’s followers would be
tempted to give up hope, compromise their convictions, and surrender eternal
salvation in exchange for a few cheap conveniences in mortality. Jesus urged them to endure in their
faith, even in the midst of persecution. As our Prayer of the Day states, “O God… Embrace us with your mercy,
that… we may live through what is temporary without losing what is eternal.”
As you heard today’s
Gospel, did it sound like words lifted from the news headlines of our days? We likewise live in an age of
constant conflict: Wars, political discord, conflicts in our nations,
communities, churches, and families; economic instability; homelessness; unrelenting
hunger; people living paycheck-to-paycheck; people who can’t afford a doctor; chronically
dysfunctional governments and institutions … And then there are the very personal losses we suffer from death,
friends and family moving away, illness, aging; it can be overwhelming. Sometimes the fear and the insecurity we feel in this cauldron of chaos, loss, and suffering whispers in our ear or maybe
even shouts in our face that the only way to tame our fears and regain
security is to follow someone or something other than Jesus. When you hear that tempting voice (and we all
do), turn away from it and instead turn toward Jesus by praying today’s Prayer
of the Day.
Even the Christian
Church sometimes gives in to these temptations. Whenever the Church thinks it’s fading in power or relevance, elements
of it will exchange the cross for a seat in the boardroom, and
trade in the crown of thorns for a turn at wearing the emperor’s
crown. History is full of examples,
and we’re seeing it firsthand in our day. It never ends well. As Jesus cautioned
in our Gospel, “Beware that you are not led astray.”
So when you hear that
voice of fear and temptation in your head, or hear it whispered in the hallways
of a church, take a breath. Reset and
re-collect yourself and pray a few ancient words that help us turn back to our
Lord and Savior. “O God, the protector
of all who trust in you, without you nothing is strong, nothing is holy.
Embrace us with your mercy, that with you as our ruler and guide, we may live
through what is temporary without losing what is eternal, through Jesus Christ,
our Savior and Lord. Amen.”
© 2025 Rev. Scott E. Schul, all rights reserved
Gospel: Luke 21:5-19
5 When some were speaking
about the temple, how it was adorned with beautiful stones and gifts dedicated
to God, [Jesus] said, 6 “As for these things that you
see, the days will come when not one stone will be left upon another; all will
be thrown down.”
7 They asked him, “Teacher, when will this be, and
what will be the sign that this is about to take place?” 8 And
he said, “Beware that you are not led astray, for many will come in my name and
say, ‘I am he!’ and, ‘The time is near!’ Do not go after them.
9 “When you hear of wars and
insurrections, do not be terrified, for these things must take place first, but
the end will not follow immediately.” 10 Then he said to them,
“Nation will rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom; 11 there
will be great earthquakes and in various places famines and plagues, and there
will be dreadful portents and great signs from heaven.
12 “But before all this occurs, they will arrest you
and persecute you; they will hand you over to synagogues and prisons, and you
will be brought before kings and governors because of my name. 13 This
will give you an opportunity to testify. 14 So make up your
minds not to prepare your defense in advance, 15 for I will
give you words and a wisdom that none of your opponents will be able to
withstand or contradict. 16 You will be betrayed even by
parents and siblings, by relatives and friends, and they will put some of you
to death. 17 You will be hated by all because of my name. 18 But
not a hair of your head will perish. 19 By your endurance you
will gain your souls.”
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