Quick Summary:

It seems like so much is up for grabs these days. The long awaited FEDERAL HEALTHCARE ROLLOUT has been one incredible bungle; then, in spite of Washington State leaders' efforts to extract a long-term commitment from BOEING that would guarantee jobs for decades to come, Wednesday’s NO VOTE by machinists once again raises the question of whether BOEING will stay here or take its plane factory to another state.

Meanwhile across the Pacific one of the most powerful storms ever recorded, typhoon Haiyan, has left the Philippines devastated, with untold thousands of lives & livelihoods washed away. From healthcare to jobs to natural disasters, the world is feeling more vulnerable these days.
And if you came to worship hoping for some modicum of relief from all that bad news, today’s readings don’t help out much!

? Reading #1 Watch out! Lest you be burned to a stubble!
? Reading #2 Slackers beware! No work, no eat!
? Reading #3 Earthquakes, famines, wars, betrayals... everything’s falling apart.

Not exactly the kind of good news we were hoping for!

Yet, when we drill down beneath it all, there are two questions worth asking this morning. Questions as germane to our time as it was in Jesus’ time:
? How do we live in a world where so much we depend on doesn’t last?
? What do we hold on to when the world (at least what we know of it) is crumbling around us?