Mandala-makers
RCL Pr28B (Track 2) Daniel 12:1-3, Psalm 16, Hebrews 10:11-14 (15-18) 19-25, Mark 13:1-8
A sand mandala is a Buddhist ritual which invites us to reflect on impermanence. After monks have spent several days painstakingly creating an intricate design with colored sand, they ritually destroy it. The many colored sands are gathered into a container and released into a nearby body of water. The mandala — a thing of beauty, produced with devotion, creativity and joy— is gone.
Jesus sounds a bit Buddhist with his talk about impermanence. Nothing is too big or too essential or too loved to fail. Not even the Temple. Not even a messiah.
On the other hand, the first reading (Daniel) speaks of “eternal life” reminding us of that version of Christianity which posits that correct belief and/or good works can earn us an escape from impermanence. We won’t really die. We can be granted eternal life.
The interest in eternal life, if understood as an afterlife, is understandable. The death of a loved one is hard to bear. It can help to have a way to think about death that allows for something afterwards. But I am not sure that the point of Christian faith is the promise of an afterlife.
I hope that something endures after death, but I have no idea what or where that might be. We are left only with the here and now: this life, its joy, trouble, beauty and yes — as Jesus and the Buddha remind us — its impermanence.
God’s word to us is the assurance of God’s presence and accessibility now, in this life. Hopefully that will encourage us to reach out and encourage one another in “love and good deeds,” in courage and creativity, in perseverance and hope. Like a mandala-maker, aware of impermanence but still joyful, beginning again and again to create and share a moment of beauty.
Peace.
Photo by Jamie Fenn on Unsplash