"Wars and revolutions, nation against nation, kingdom against kingdom, earthquakes, famines, and pestilence ... betrayal, hatred..." (Luke 21:10-11). Whoa! What season is approaching? What about "Peace on earth and mercy mild"?

Actually, both images are at play here. Yes, Christmas is coming — a beautiful time. But juxtaposed against that is a life of great uncertainty for all of us, a time when our institutions, those entities in society upon which we have depended, our temples, are crashing down around us — not one stone left on another. We are left with rubble and trouble.

In Luke 21, the last scene of Jesus' public ministry, he stands at the temple entrance and paints this stark picture of misery. What gets him started is somebody's innocent remark about the beauty of the place — and…