Nancy Parker was scheduled to preach today, but she was taken ill, and Carol Cavin-Dillon is preaching. We are in the midst of a sermon series using selections from chapters 9 through 14 in the Gospel of Mark, and today’s reading has Jesus and the disciples coming out of the temple, and the disciples are admiring the temple’s structure. Jesus, however, gives them warning that at some point the temple will be completely demolished. We, too, know the awe of experiencing certain things, and, especially since the COVID pandemic, we know that a lot of those things can be taken away suddenly. Jesus warns his disciples (and us) to keep watch and to rely on God rather than on those things that might impress us, as Herod’s temple did to the disciples.