Charlotte
Collins Reed
Christ
Church Episcopal
November
13, 2016
28 Proper C
As many of you know, last Wednesday
night at Christ Church, we hosted a Post-Election service for the community as
we begin to move forward from this divisive election season. The service included readings, songs, and
prayers, all with a focus on unity and peace.
We welcomed those for whom the results of the election are a breath of
fresh air, and those for whom the election results cause deep pain. We welcomed those who feel empowered by the
election and those who feel disenfranchised. We welcomed those who are sure,
those who are scared, and those who are just plain tired. The point was to come together as one human
family to begin moving into the future with some measure of hope and peace.
A reporter and a photographer from the
Akron Beacon-Journal were there, and after the service, they spoke with several
of us. They had a lot of questions about when we planned the service, why we
held this service and whether we changed the service after the election. The reality is that we planned the service
and announced it weeks ahead of the election so we could be clear that the
service was not celebrating a victory or mourning a defeat. We held the service because well in advance
of election day we knew that there would be work to be done to move forward in
a productive way once the result was announced.
And no, we did not change the service after the election. Any change would have defeated our purpose.
On the other hand, I did write this
sermon after the election. One of the
occupational hazards of a priest is that everything that happens during the
week gets filtered through the readings for Sunday. So, the election was certainly on my mind as
I worked through Isaiah, the canticle, which is also from Isaiah, the letter to
the Thessalonians, and Jesus’ words in Luke’s gospel. Those readings offer a challenge to all of
us, in all times and in all places, regardless of who our president might be. As Christians, we are never promised that we
will always get our way, or that life will always be easy, or that no harm will
ever come to us. As Christians, we are
expected to be faithful in our response to whatever life hands us.
In
the reading from Isaiah, we hear God’s promise that God is about to create a
new heaven and a new earth. God is
promising to do something new in our midst.
But God does not leave us wondering what the new creation will look
like. Isaiah describes that creation with these words “The wolf and the lamb
shall feed together, the lion shall eat straw like the ox; but the
serpent-- its food shall be dust! They shall not hurt or destroy on all my holy
mountain, says the Lord.” While
Isaiah is describing what the coming Kingdom will look like, God calls all of
us to look for the places where God’s new creation is coming into being now, to
believe that God is doing something new in our midst, and to work to make this
future creation where the wolf and the lamb feed together more visible and more
present now.
In the gospel reading, we hear some
difficult and seemingly irrelevant words from Jesus about the destruction of
the temple in Jerusalem, which had already happened by the time the gospel was
written. Jesus speaks of wars and
earthquakes, and famines and plagues which will happen before the end
times. We’ve seen plenty of wars,
earthquakes, famines, and plagues, and the end times have not yet come. We can easily write Jesus’ words off as
irrelevant. And yet, Jesus makes two
points that are quite relevant. First,
Jesus reminds us that the powers and principalities of this world are temporary. We are to put our trust in God, not any
human or human institution. The canticle
this morning, which comes from the book of Isaiah and is my favorite of the
canticles, tells us the same thing.
“Surely it is God who saves me. I
will trust in him and not be afraid. For
the Lord is my stronghold and my sure defense and he will be my savior.” Secondly, Jesus tells us that adversity,
whatever the cause, is an opportunity to witness to our faith. We are always called to witness to our belief
that all people are created in the image of God and worthy of dignity and respect. We are always called to model seeking and
serving Christ in all people, and to work for justice and peace. We are called to those actions all the time, period.
Lastly, the reading from 2
Thessalonians reminds us that the Christian life requires work. The specific
work that is being to commended to the Thessalonians is the work of earning
their keep. As Christians, the
Thessalonians cannot expect others to do their work. Likewise, as Christians we are called to
model the work that is before us as a nation.
That work is the work of listening deeply to each other, of loving each
other despite our differences, of being willing to learn from each other and
understand those with whom we disagree. That
work is not easy, but that work is holy.
At the end of our service on
Wednesday, we prayed the prayer attributed to St. Francis. The work to which Jesus calls us now and
always, is the work described in this prayer, and the way people who disagree
on important issues can move forward together and model a better way in a
divided world is summed up here. “Lord,
make us instruments of your peace. Where there is hatred, let us sow love;
where there is injury, pardon; where there is discord, union; where there is
doubt, faith; where there is despair, hope; where there is darkness, light;
where there is sadness, joy. Grant that we may not so much seek to be consoled
as to console; to be understood as to understand; to be loved as to love. For
it is in giving that we receive; it is in pardoning that we are pardoned; and
it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.”
Amen.
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