Wind and Water

Charlotte Collins Reed

Christ Church Episcopal

January 12, 2020

1 Epiphany A

Lake Maumelle is a decent sized lake-about 9000 acres-in central Arkansas.  The lake was built in the 1950’s to serve as a water supply.  Lake Maumelle is also where I learned to sail a number of decades ago.  Dad bought a little sunfish sailboat when I was about 14 years old and we started from scratch learning how to get from one end of the lake to another, how to work with the wind, how to paddle when there was no wind, and just how far we could let the wind tip the boat over before we landed in the water.  Once we mastered the Sunfish he bought a slightly larger boat, still with just one sail, then eventually we moved on to a larger boat with two sails.  That boat would not capsize, but we delighted in seeing just how far we could let the boat tip on its side before Mom objected.

          On Lake Maumelle, I learned the power of both water and wind.  Working with the wind, we could move through the water to get where we wanted to go.  The water could be so choppy that getting anywhere was a lot of work, and sometimes we ended up in a place we had not intended to go.  And sometimes the water and wind could work together to move us swiftly through the lake.  The wind could also bring us to a complete and utter standstill, or, if we were not careful, the wind could toss us into the water before we had any idea what had hit us. 

          This morning, the story of Jesus’ baptism brings us both water and wind.  The water, of course, is the water of the Jordan River where Jesus goes to be baptized by John.  After first objecting, John baptizes Jesus and the wind appears as the Spirit of God, the breath of God, descends like a dove and lights on Jesus.  Then we hear the voice of God say “This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased.”

          Baptism does not get any better than having the Spirit of God light upon you and the voice of God claim you as God’s own.  In my imagination, the waters of the Jordan are crystal clear, the sun is shining, there is a light breeze, and all is right with the world at that moment.  If we didn’t know before, now we know who Jesus is-the beloved Son of God.  When we are baptized, we are also claimed as God’s beloved children.  The Spirit may not descend like a dove, but by the waters of baptism we are made Christ’s own, forever. 

          However, in the very next line of Matthew’s gospel, which we will hear on the First Sunday of Lent, we hear these words: “Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.”  Immediately after Jesus is baptized, after the Spirit of God rests on him and the Voice of God claims him, Jesus is led by that very Spirit into the wilderness.

          I have spent some time this week thinking about the relationship between baptism and the wilderness as we have seen the world stand on the brink of the wilderness of war.  There were times this week when I could barely stand to look at the news, and times when I could hardly tear myself away, and I have pondered just what Jesus’ baptism might have to do with the current geopolitical climate. 

          If Jesus had been baptized in the Jordan River, felt the Spirit descend on him and heard the voice of God claim him, and then gone on to lead a nice comfortable life, that would be one thing.  But that is not the way life worked out for Jesus.  Immediately after his baptism he was led in the wilderness where he was tempted by Satan, with nothing but God and the Spirit that led him there to rely on.  After that, he began a ministry that confronted demons, spoke hard truths, healed the sick, provoked the authorities, and led to an untimely death.  In the reading from Isaiah, one of the suffering servant passages understood by many to refer to Jesus, we heard God say “I have put my spirit upon him; he will bring forth justice to the nations. He will not cry or lift up his voice, or make it heard in the street; a bruised reed he will not break, and a dimly burning wick he will not quench; he will faithfully bring forth justice.”  The Spirit landed on Jesus, not to protect him from the world, but to send him into the world to engage the world and bring forth justice, with the Good but sometimes uncomfortable or even threatening News.

          The wind and water of baptism send us into the world as well, a world that can sometimes feel as lonely and desolate as the wilderness Jesus found himself in following his baptism.  Sometimes that wind and water are motionless and we feel like we have to find our own way.  Other times, the wind and water of baptism push so hard that we think we might tip over.  And other times, the wind and water of baptism seem to work with us to get us where we need and want to go.  But the wind and water of baptism remind us that we never go alone.  Later in the passage from Isaiah, God says “Thus says God, the Lord, who created the heavens and stretched them out, who spread out the earth and what comes from it, who gives breath to the people upon it and spirit to those who walk in it: I am the Lord, I have called you in righteousness, I have taken you by the hand and kept you.”  The God of the wind and water of baptism has taken us by the hand and will keep us, wherever that wind and water carry us.

Baptism called Jesus and baptism calls us to engage the world-the beauty, the pain, the sin, the relationships, the turmoil and conflict-all of it.  Baptism is beautiful, sacred, and powerful, claiming us as Christ’s own forever.   But, as Isaiah and Jesus remind us, we are claimed as Christ’s own not just for our own purposes and well being, but to make a difference for the good of the world God created. 

                                                                                      Amen.

Home

Charlotte Collins Reed

Christ Church Episcopal

December 24, 2019

Christmas Eve

          If I were to travel to my ancestral home, I would be going to either Headland, Alabama, or Fordyce, Arkansas.  Neither are easy to get to.  Both require either a long trip by car, or an airline flight with multiple layovers and a rental car.  Neither are places where I know even one soul anymore, and I am pretty sure neither boasts so much as a Motel 6.  But as I visited the Piggly Wiggly grocery store in Headland, or drove past my grandmother’s old house, or paid my respects at the graves of loved ones in either Headland or Fordyce, I am confident that my soul would recognize those places as home in one way or another.  Whatever my reason for traveling, whether by choice or obligation, I trust that I would find a sense of belonging there.

          Joseph and Mary are on a journey of obligation to Joseph’s ancestral home tonight.  They travel in order to be counted for the census.  The journey from Nazareth to Bethlehem was not an easy one on a good day, much less when hugely pregnant and either walking, or riding on the back of an animal.  Did Joseph see anyone he knew in Bethlehem?  Were the sights, sounds, and smells at all familiar?  Did he experience any sense of home there?  Those details are left to our imagination, but we are told that, while they were there, “the time came for Mary to deliver her child. And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in bands of cloth, and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.”   On the one hand, Joseph’s visit to his ancestral home was hardly a happy homecoming.  But on the other hand, Joseph and Mary made a home where they found themselves, and I imagine they fell asleep that night joyful, but completely and utterly exhausted.

          If we were hearing the story for the first time, we might think that, while inconvenient to say the least, this story is still the simple story of poor timing and a young couple making the best of a challenging situation.  But the angels and shepherds tell us that this is no normal story about a trip to the ancestral homeland.  An angel of the Lord appears to some terrified shepherds and says "Do not be afraid; for see-- I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people: to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign for you: you will find a child wrapped in bands of cloth and lying in a manger."  Good news of great joy for all the people-including shepherds-is being proclaimed.  The shepherds may or may not have a home, and if they have an ancestral home, that home is likely the fields in which they find themselves.  The shepherds spend their lives doing the work no one else wants to do, out in the middle of the night, keeping sheep from wandering off or being eaten by wolves.  But, for them the night sky lights up with a multitude of angels, singing God’s praise.  Clearly this birth announcement is for no ordinary birth, and no ordinary child.  So the shepherds leave their flocks to their own devices, a bit of a risky move, and go to Bethlehem to see this child.  How could they not, having heard the song of the angels?  No doubt Mary and Joseph were a bit surprised to find the shepherds at the barn door, but they listened to the words of the shepherds and we are told that Mary pondered those words in her heart.

          Some of us may have traveled to our ancestral home, or at least the home of our upbringing, for Christmas, looking for the familiar sights and experiences of Christmas that Hudson and Christ Church offer.  Some of us may be wishing we could bridge distance and time to be with beloved family somewhere else tonight and are missing the sense of home that we associate with Christmas.  Some of us may long for a home in ways that are no longer possible.  And some of us did not have to travel at all to feel that we are right where we belong this night.  The power of Christmas, however, is that we do not have to travel to our ancestral home for the baby Jesus to be born in our midst.  The gospel of Matthew reminds us that Jesus is Emmanuel, God with Us.  So, the power of Christmas actually flips our understanding of home upside down.  Precisely because Mary and Joseph had to travel to a far off place, in a circumstance not of their choosing, give birth to Jesus in a barn, and use a manger for a crib, and because the angels sang and the shepherds traveled, we know that the Christ Child can be born anywhere, under any circumstances.  Whenever and where ever the Christ Child is born in our midst, we are in our ancestral home-the home that connects us with all people, the home made holy by the song of the angels and the visit of the shepherds, the home where all are welcome and there is room for everyone.  The message of Christmas is that wherever the Christ Child is born in our midst, we are home because God has made a home with us.

                                                                             Amen.

Mystery and Surprise

Charlotte Collins Reed

Christ Church Episcopal

December 15, 2019

3 Advent A

          John the Baptist is in a bad way this morning.  Last Sunday, he was out in the wilderness calling the people to repent.  The people had poured into the wilderness to confess their sins and be baptized in the Jordan.  And, no wonder.  John told the people that if they repented, or turned from their ways, they would be prepared for the One who is to come, the One whose sandals John was not even worthy to carry.  But if the people did not repent, they would be thrown into the unquenchable fire.  Not much choice there!

          This morning, John the Baptist finds himself in a different sort of wilderness. That wilderness is prison.  John is in prison for telling King Herod that Herod should not be taking his brothers’ wife as his own. Given all the talk last week about the brood of vipers and the unquenchable fire, perhaps the conversation John the Baptist had with Herod was a little short on tact. Now John is held in prison without bail or much hope of being declared innocent.  So, John sends his disciples to ask Jesus to “Are you the One to come or shall we wait for another?”

          Waiting. When I was a child, I had no clue what Advent was, but I did know that the season between Thanksgiving and Christmas was one of some serious waiting.  My brother, sister, and I waited and tried to behave as Mom cooked, shopped, and prepared our house for relatives and guests to arrive.  We waited for the Christmas break from school to begin.  We waited for grandparents to arrive. We waited to get to eat the things our mom was preparing for the big day.  We knew what we were waiting for-the magic of Christmas morning with all the glory that day held.  But when night fell on Christmas day, the magic was over and, while we had new toys and clothes, and a few leftovers to eat, we pretty much got back to our normal lives.  Since we had no clue what Advent was, you can imagine that we had no clue about the 12 days of Christmas or Epiphany, so the tree came down the day after Christmas.  Christmas, done and dusted.  And my parents breathed a huge sigh of relief, I am sure.

          As children, Sarah, Bo, and I knew what we were waiting for.  We had watched the preparations and made a list.  John the Baptist knew what he was waiting for, too.  Last week, he gave us a pretty clear job description for the One who is to come. That job description read something like this: “His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor and will gather his wheat into the granary; but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.”  Here’s the problem: So far in Matthew’s gospel, Jesus has called disciples, preached the Sermon on the Mount, made it clear that he has not come to abolish the law but to fulfill it, given the Lord’s prayer, and healed many people.  John has not heard one word about wheat and chaff, judgement, broods of vipers or unquenchable fire.  John expected some hell fire and damnation out of Jesus, and there has been nary a lightning bolt.  John will soon have given his life to prepare the way for the One who is coming.  So his question is urgent: Is Jesus really the one, or are we to wait for another?  John does not have time for the patience described in the reading from James this morning.  John might be an example of suffering, but he has no time for patience.

          John thought he knew what he was waiting for.  John sends his disciples to question Jesus because Jesus does not appear to be the one whose sandals John is not worthy to carry.  John would like a “yes” or “no” answer to his question.  But what does Jesus say to John’s disciples?  He says “Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have good news brought to them. And blessed is anyone who takes no offense at me.”  On the one hand, this is a terribly unsatisfactory answer for John.  But on the other hand, the answer is clear.  Our reading from Isaiah begins with vengeance and terrible recompense.  John was correct to be looking for someone coming to burn the chaff with unquenchable fire.  But Isaiah goes on to say “Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened and the ears of the deaf unstopped; then the lame shall leap like a deer, and the tongue of the speechless sing for joy.”  Jesus happened to be a bit heavier on opening eyes and unstopping ears than John anticipated. 

Advent is a season of preparation.  John the Baptist was absolutely correct about that.  But here’s the catch.  I don’t know about you, but I prefer to prepare for what or who I know is coming.  If I am preparing a meal, I want to prepare specific food for a definite number of people and know how I will serve them.  I want to be ready.  But Advent is not about be ready for what we know.  Advent is about preparing for mystery and surprise.  How do we prepare for mystery and surprise? The reading from James offers some suggestions.  Patience is one of them.  But James also tells us to strengthen our hearts, and to not grumble against one another, but to practice love.  Advent is about practicing patience, preparing our hearts, and being people of love.

We do not know when or how Jesus will appear among us.  We do not know where we might find Jesus or what claim Jesus may put on our lives.  If we think we know, and prepare only for that, we may miss what God is up to in the world.  John the Baptist was sure about the One who is to come, and when Jesus didn’t quite meet John’s expectations, John wondered “Are you the One to come or shall we wait for another?”  Jesus doesn’t always meet our expectations, either, I would imagine, and our loved ones do not experience the healing we want for them, or relationships remain broken, or the hungry and thirsty remain hungry and thirsty.  And we ask “Are you the One who is to come or shall we wait for another?”  To which Jesus says “Stop assuming you know what I will do.  Open your eyes and see what I am actually doing in your midst.”  See where the Kingdom of God is breaking through, where goodness triumphs over evil, love conquers hate, and life is bigger than death.  Practice patience, prepare our hearts, and be people of love. Then, when we find Jesus in the manger on Christmas Eve, as expected and promised, we will know that the manger is just the beginning of the mystery and surprise of the gospel.

                                                                   Amen.

Wilderness

Charlotte Collins Reed

Christ Church Episcopal

December 8, 2019

2 Advent A

          At Christ Church, we work hard at connecting with the community around us.  Much of this work happens out in the community, where people gather, whether at the Memorial Day Parade, or the Hudson Ice Cream Social, Merchant Trick or Treat, the Farmers’ Market, the Open Door Coffee Shop or Restrooms for Runners, coming right up on Christmas Eve.  We also connect with the community through the many groups that meet at Christ Church such as SAGE, Boy Scouts and Cub Scouts, Brownie and Daisy scouts, AA and Al Anon, Music from the Western Reserve, and the list goes on.  When we go out into the community, we take chocolate bars and pencils with our name on them, or a large banner, or prizes for games at the ice cream social.  When groups meet here, we try to make sure they feel welcome and comfortable.  Our goal is to connect with the community in ways that allow the community to experience something of our hospitality and the hospitality of God, whether in our building or out on the Green.

          John the Baptist seems to have missed the memo on how to effectively connect with the community.  John the Baptist neither goes out into the community nor does he invite the people into a nice comfortable space.  Instead, he goes to the wilderness.  Instead of a sign that says “God loves you, no exceptions,” John the Baptist calls the people to repent, calls some of them a brood of vipers, and in the not-so-fine print, mentions the unquenchable fire.  And instead of taking chocolate bars and pencils to give to the people, the menu is locusts and wild honey.  This enterprise is doomed to fail.

          But John the Baptist does not fail!  We are told that the people of Jerusalem and all Judea were going out to see him, and all the region along the Jordan.  People were lining up to go to the wilderness and be told to repent or else by a strange looking guy eating locusts and wild honey.  How does that work?

          Scripture is full of references to the wilderness.  The two most notable wilderness stories are about the 40 years the Hebrew people spent in the wilderness as Moses led them to the Promised Land, and the 40 days Jesus spent in the wilderness following his baptism.  In the wilderness, the Hebrew people learned what it means to belong to God and what it means to depend on God and God alone.  The people relied on God for food, water, safety, shelter from the sun and light during the nighttime.  In the wilderness, there was precious little else to rely on and the people came to understand the reliability of God.  Jesus was led into the wilderness after his baptism, after he heard the voice of God proclaim “This is my son, my chosen one, with whom I am well pleased.” In the wilderness, in the company of God and the devil, with nothing to eat and no human to rely on, Jesus came to understand his identity as God’s chosen son. 

          I believe people followed John the Baptist into the wilderness because John proclaimed the truth about the people and their relationship with God.  John demanded that the people repent in order to prepare for the one who was coming.  Repent means to turn, to turn from all that separates them from the love of God.  Perhaps in the wilderness, separated from all that lures them into a false sense of security, and where there was nothing but the people, John, and the water of the Jordan, the people could more deeply experience their relationship with God and understand where real security lies.  John told them that repentance is not just a mental or even spiritual act.  The mark of repentance is the fruit that is born by that action, and without that fruit, the repentance is nothing.  The purpose of this repentance, or turning, was preparation for the One who was to come.  In the wilderness, the people encountered the God who claimed them as God’s own and were challenged to live like people who put their trust in God. 

          Most of us will not venture into the wilderness and encounter a John the Baptist type who will call us to turn from all that provides false security and put our trust in God.  However, most of us will, at some point in our lives, find ourselves in the wilderness of grief, or change, or illness, or challenge of some sort or another.  We will find ourselves in a place where all false securities are brought to light and we will recognize our utter dependence on God, the source of deep and lasting security and peace.  In Advent, John the Baptist calls us to practice that turning, turning from all that we think gives us security-education, possessions, food, wealth, friendships-so that we will be ready for the One who is coming.  John reminds us that repentance, or turning, demands something of us, so that our actions are in sync with our hearts and minds.  If our actions do not match what we say with our lips, John tells us that we have not really turned at all.  In Advent, John calls us to turn, as John called the people of Jerusalem and all Judea to turn, so that we are prepared to welcome the One who is to come.

          The good news of Advent is the promise that whatever wilderness we find ourselves in, whether we have gone into the wilderness intentionally, or we wind up in a wilderness not of our choosing, we will find God there.  When we let go of all that we hold onto for security, when we turn to the One who claims us as God’s own, the promise of the wilderness is that the One we await this season, is actually waiting for us. 

                                                                                      Amen.

Watch

Charlotte Collins Reed

Christ Church Episcopal

December 1, 2019

Advent 1

          Don and the kids and I lived in Evanston, Illinois in the mid-1990’s while I was in seminary.   Our apartment building on the seminary campus had, what was for us, an unprecedented level of security.  We needed a key to get into the building, another key to get into the stairwell, and, of course, a key to get into our apartment.  To do the laundry, we needed all of those keys minus the one to get into the building, plus a key to the hallway to the laundry facilities and another key to the cage where the washers and dryers were kept.  We had always locked the doors to our house when we were away and tried to be aware of security risks, but we found this level of security to be beyond our comprehension.  We had just moved our two young children to a place where four keys were required just to do laundry.  What were we thinking???

          I always think back to that apartment building in Evanston when I hear Jesus say “But understand this: if the owner of the house had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have stayed away and would not have let his house be broken into.  Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an unexpected hour.”  On this first Sunday of Advent, when what I really want to hear about is the arrival of a baby, there is something very disconcerting about comparing the coming of Jesus with a break-in.  Having had both a home and an office broken into, although not in Evanston, I know that a break-in leaves one feeling angry and afraid.  Is that really how we are supposed to feel about Jesus-angry and afraid?  Can we not just focus on joyful preparation for the birth of the Christ Child during Advent?

          As much as I prefer to think about babies on pretty much any day and think they have very little to do with high level security, I would argue this morning that Jesus’ teaching about his return is also a teaching about how we are to prepare for the birth of the Christ Child.  In this reading from Matthew, Jesus first reminds us that no one, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, knows when Jesus will return.  We like to think that our calendars tell us when important dates will occur.  We can set reminders on our calendars so we do not forget important events, or things we need to do.  But there is no calendar that will tell us when Jesus will return.  Not even a Google search can tell us exactly when Jesus will arrive in our midst.

          Secondly, Jesus teaches us that Jesus will return while we are going about our every day life-our chores, even.  Some will be eating, drinking, and marrying; others will be in the field or grinding wheat.  Some will be watching college football, others will be checking email or playing video games, and still others will be at the office or out grocery shopping.  Life will not come to a standstill for Jesus’ return. 

          Thirdly, Jesus will come like a thief in the night.  Jesus is not telling us that he is a thief, but that we should be as prepared for Jesus as we would be for a thief.  We should be as ready to open our hearts to Jesus as a homeowner is to prevent a thief from breaking in.  If we are as prepared for Jesus as we are for a thief, we will not be left feeling angry and afraid.  Instead, if we are prepared, we will be able to rejoice.  Both Jesus and Paul in the reading from Romans tell us to keep awake and be ready.

          While Jesus is talking about his return in the reading from Matthew rather than his birth, I think the same three pieces of advice help us prepare for Jesus’ birth during the holy season of Advent.  The truth is that, while our calendars say that Jesus will be born on December 24 at 2pm, 5pm or 8pm, or when Christmas dinner has been eaten and the presents have been opened, no one knows when the Christ Child will be born in our midst.  The truth is that the Christ Child is born among us far more frequently that just on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day.  The Christ Child comes among us when we are going about our every day lives, doing every day sorts of things and we offer a random act of kindness, or a experience moment of peace, or gather with folks different from ourselves and discover our common humanity.  And Jesus calls us to keep awake and to watch for those places where the Christ Child is born in our midst, both so that we do not miss those occasions of incarnation, and so that we can make others aware of his presence as well. 

          The late first century Christians to whom the gospel of Matthew was written were weary.  They were weary of persecutions that left them feeling afraid and angry.  They were weary of waiting for Jesus to return, as promised, and to make the world more like the vision described in the reading from Isaiah.  In that world, sword shall be beat into plowshares, spears into pruning hooks, nations and people shall live peaceably together, and no one will learn war anymore.  We are weary of bickering and division, violence and uncertainty, and we can often wonder where Jesus is.  We, too, long for the world described by Isaiah, free of anger and fear.  On this first Sunday of Advent, Jesus reminds us that while no one knows the day or the hour, the divine promise is that Jesus is both coming and in our midst.  Jesus reminds us that while our everyday tasks seem to be the least likely places for Jesus to appear, instead they are the most likely place for us to experience Him.  And Jesus reminds us that if we keep awake and watch, if we put the same amount of effort into being prepared for Jesus that we would put into being prepared for a thief, we will experience the joy of Jesus in our midst.  My belief is that when we follow Jesus’ directions, we will recognize the Christ Child in our midst now, be prepared for the birth of the child on Christmas Eve, and be ready when Jesus returns in glory.

                                                                             Amen.

         

Nostalgia and Anxiety

Charlotte Collins Reed

Christ Episcopal Church

November 10, 2013

27 Proper C

Driving around Hudson and the greater Cleveland area, I typically bounce back and forth between listening to the news and listening to my favorite country music station.  The news and country music offer two very different perspectives on life.  The country station plays songs with great names like “God is great, beer is good, people are crazy” or “If You’re Going through Hell, Keep on Going.”  However, the theme of many if not most country songs seems to be nostalgia for the past.  The songs are full of longing for what was, whether a relationship, or the time when the children were young, or a time of more financial stability, or when mama was alive or whatever.  On the other hand, the news seems to focus on the future, specifically on anxieties about the future.  What will the stock market do? Where will the storm hit?  Who will or will not be elected?  What will happen if the tax levy fails?  And on and on.  When I get tired of the news, I switch to the country station, and when I get tired of nostalgia for the past, I switch to the news.  And when I am tired of both, I turned the radio off.

Today, the reading from Haggai is our dose of nostalgia for the past.  Haggai’s people have returned from exile in Babylon to the devastated land of Judah.  During the 50 years of the Babylonian exile, pretty much everyone who lived in Judah before the exile had died.  The only memories of the great temple in Jerusalem came from the stories handed down through the five decades of captivity.  Now, those who returned to Jerusalem had the daunting task of rebuilding their lives and their temple. The land had was a barren wasteland.  The infrastructure was in ruins.  Morale was low as the people pondered the somewhat pitiful replacement temple they were able to build.  The people longed for the time when God’s people dwelled in the promised land in prosperity and worshiped in a temple fit for God. 

          On the other hand, the letter to the Thessalonians is full of anxiety for the future.  The earliest Christians believed that Jesus would return right away, and they shaped their lives around that belief.  Everything they did and every decision they made was their response to the question “How do we live in a world where Jesus has been raised from the dead and will soon return to take us with him?”  Now, 20 plus years have passed, and Jesus has still not returned.  Faithful Christians began to worry that Jesus had returned, but they had missed him.  If that was true, everything they believed was for naught.  There is great anxiety among the Thessalonians about what the future might, or might not, hold.

The response to the people who have returned to Jerusalem and long for the past is the same the response to the Thessalonians who are anxious about the future.  Haggai says to the people of Jerusalem “Take courage, all you people of the land says the Lord; work, for I am with you, says the Lord of hosts, according to the promise that I made you when you came out of Egypt.  My spirit abides among you, do not fear.”  Haggai reminds the people of the way God brought them out of Egypt, not so they will have an even greater longing for the past, but to remind them of the way God dwells among them now.  Haggai calls them to remember the way God acted in the past so that they can see God at work in the present, in the midst of the destruction and chaos of their lives.  Watch, for God is about to shake the heavens and the earth, the sea and the dry land.  Look and see where God is at work now.

          Likewise, in the letter to the Thessalonians, in the midst of their anxiety about the future, the Christians are called to stand firm and hold fast to the traditions they were given.  The passage ends with a prayer for the Thessalonians. “Now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and through grace gave us eternal comfort and good hope, comfort your hearts and strengthen them in every good work and word.”  God, the Thessalonians are told, is at work in their lives now, comforting them and strengthening them in every good work.  In the midst of their anxiety about the future, they are to pay attention to what God is doing in the present and what the good work might be that God is calling them to in the present.   When the Thessalonians find God at work in the present, they can know that God will also be at work in their future.

          Nostalgia for the good old days and anxiety about the future are easy traps to fall into.  We do this as a church when we long for the days when the culture was more church friendly, or families were larger, or the building was new and the pews were full.  We do this when we get anxious about the future, whether something might change, or who will come, or what will break next.  We do this as individuals when we long for the time when the children were young, or our finances were more stable, or our loved ones were still alive.  Or we get anxious about job security, or passing the test, or adequate retirement funds.  All of these are good memories and reasonable causes for concern.  But God calls us to look to the past and see the way God worked in our lives then so we can better see God at work now.  And when we open our eyes to what God is doing in our midst now, we can trust that God will work in our futures whatever they may hold and we need not be anxious.  Anxiety is about fear, and as the wise philosopher Yoda said “Fear is the path to the dark side. Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering."  Instead, God calls us to trust God’s words “My spirit abides among you, do not fear.”

Amen.

Persistence

Charlotte Collins Reed

Christ Church Episcopal

October 20, 2019

24 Proper C 

          Since becoming a grandmother back in May, May 22 at 1:17am to be exact, I have found a new dimension of persistence in my life.  First, of course, is baby Evelyn’s persistence even though she is, for the most part, a very good-natured baby.  But when she is hungry, or wet, or wants to be held, she does not stop asking until she gets what she wants.  She is oblivious to the time of day, or what else her parents might be trying to get done, including sleep.  Babies have an intuitive understanding of the unrelenting persistence sometimes required to get what they need.  Babies are all about spontaneous persistence.

          And then there is my own persistence.  While Cincinnati is hardly the other side of the world, the city is not next door, either.  So, we have to think about and plan our visits.  Hardly a day goes by that I don’t think about the next time I will get to see baby Evelyn, how much she will have grown, what she will be doing.  This kind of persistence requires being deliberate, making plans, always being vigilant and watching for a hole in the calendar that would allow a quick trip to Cincinnati.  This is intentional persistence.  Then there is my persistent hounding of our son for photos.  A photo a day does not seem unreasonable to me, but I try to keep my hounding down to every few days.  That type of persistence probably falls into the category better known as maternal nagging, which is a form of persistence all its own. 

          My hunch is that most of us have some experience with persistence. Like baby Evelyn, we learn from a young age that to get whatever we want in life, we have to keep trying, and we move from spontaneous persistence-saying “I want it right now” over and over again, to intentional persistence.  If we want the job, or a spot on the team, or the A on the test, or to learn to play an instrument, we have to be intentionally persistent in our efforts.  Many times, but not always, our persistence pays off.   When we do not succeed, we often wonder whether we should have tried just a little bit harder and persisted just a little longer. But in my experience, and perhaps yours, prayer is the one area where persistence, whether spontaneous or intentional, just does not always seem to reap the results I ask for. Did my loved one not get well because I was not persistent enough in prayer?  Do I believe that if I had just prayed a little harder, or gotten just a few more people to pray, she would have been healed? I don’t think so, but today’s gospel lesson certainly seems to tell us that if we are persistent enough in prayer, we will get whatever we want from God.

In Jesus’ parable this morning, the widow wants the judge to grant her justice against her opponent. In Jesus’ time, judges were entrusted with protecting the poor, the widows and the orphans. This judge ignores the widow’s request, and, because the widow is not willing to take "no" for an answer, she repeats it. This cycle repeats, until finally worn down, the judge grants the widow justice so that she will go away. At the end of the parable, Jesus says "Listen to what the unjust judge says. And will not God grant justice to his chosen ones who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long in helping them? I tell you, he will quickly grant justice to them." Jesus seems to be telling us that if we pray long enough and hard enough, if we are persistent enough and if we refuse to take "no" for an answer, eventually we will wear God down and God will give us what we want, just to get us to go away. 

            How are we to understand this parable?

            The reading from 2 Timothy invites us to use the fullness of Scripture to understand what God is calling us to be and do, so that we don’t have to rely on just our own experience and the words of a single passage of Scripture to figure out God’s call on our lives. So, perhaps thinking about widows and judges throughout scripture would be helpful here.                        

In this morning’s parable, we have a widow and an unjust judge. When we think about all of Scripture, we remember that over and over again in the gospels, especially Luke’s gospel, we see Jesus identify himself with the poor and the outcast, the widows and the orphans. In Matthew’s gospel, we hear Jesus say that whenever we minister to the hungry and the thirsty, to those on the margins of society, we minister to him. We watch Jesus care for those who have been cast aside, which would certainly include the widows of Jesus’ time. We hear Jesus say in the Book of Revelation "Behold, I stand at the door and knock." In the Hebrew Scriptures, the one who cares passionately about justice is God. And, through out Scripture, typically the ones who act unjustly and exploit other people, are people, not God. In the parables, typically, the bad king, the rude guest, the corrupt manager, or the stingy farmer represent people, not God.

So, in the context of Scripture, perhaps there is different way to understand the parable of the unjust judge. Perhaps God is the one knocking so persistently, demanding justice. Perhaps the persistence in this parable is God’s persistence, the knocking that will not stop until justice has been served. And in this parable, perhaps. we are the judge, the ones empowered by God to bring about justice, to care for the poor and the oppressed, the outcasts and the victims of injustice. The persistent knocking is an intentional knocking on the door of our hearts so that we may see and hear and feel the injustice of the world and be inspired by God to do something about it. Perhaps prayer is not just about being persistent in asking God to heal our loved ones, ourselves, and all that is broken in the world.  Perhaps prayer is, at least in part, our listening for God to tell us all that is broken in this world and to teach us how to be intentionally persistent in working on God’s behalf to bring about justice, healing, and peace.  When we respond to God’s persistence with intentional prayerful persistence of our own, the answer to the question “When the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?” will be a resounding “yes.”

                                                                                      Amen