Sermon preached at Bethel Evangelical Lutheran Church (Sioux Falls, SD) by Pr. Benjamin Tomczak.

Our last great end of the world scare was the run up to Y2K. You remember that? We were convinced that our computers couldn’t handle the switch from 1999 to 2000 and everything would melt down. Then bread would disappear from stores and it would be all Lord of the Flies. It didn’t happen that way. The computers could deal.

That’s not the first – or last – time we’ll think the end is near. It’s not the first – or last – time we’ll be wrong. I’m sure somewhere, perhaps in South Dakota, there’s a doomsday cult that believes aliens will emerge from behind the moon or an invasion by Putin will kick off some sort of apocalypse. But what happens every time Doomsday doesn’t come? What happens when we survive the Cold War, or, even, dare I say it, global warming? Each time we survive, perhaps we get a little more cynical, a little more leery, a little less watchful. “The world hasn’t ended yet, so….”