We. Here. Now: Sow with Tears and Reap with Joy Proper 25 Yr B Oct 25 2015

+We have several references to tears in today’s readings. I suppose that’s fitting, since, by now I hope you’ve all received the letter announcing my intention to resign my position as rector, effective December 31, 2015. The discernment Pete and I entered in to reach this decision, and the discernment you now find yourselves in, can lead to the shedding of many a tear. I certainly didn’t plan it this way, but the readings for today--- readings about being lost and being found, being blind and then being able to see, readings about tears of sorrow being transformed into shouts of joy—all of these are helpful as we try to find our way in this new territory of transition and change.
When I was a seminary intern serving at St. Matthias in East Aurora their parish “slogan” was taken directly from Psalm 126:
“Those who sowed with tears will reap with songs of joy.”


I love that sentiment and have always tried to remember it as an absolute promise from God that the tears we shed today create the songs of joy we’ll sing tomorrow.
We have done some amazing things together. We’ve built new programs, we’ve filled old ones with more energy, we’ve welcomed new members and we’ve bid others farewell. As I said in my letter, the decision to leave wasn’t a decision to turn away from you it was a decision to embark on a journey toward something new and scary, something God seems to be pushing Pete and me to do. Our hearts are heavy and the tears we’ve shed have been frequent and plentiful. But those tears are tears that wouldn’t be shed if we hadn’t, over these past almost six years, [nearly 4 ½ years] shared so very much joy. Over the next 10 weeks we’ll have lots of time to celebrate what we’ve done together, to grieve our separation and to prepare ourselves for what comes next. But one thing never ever changes regardless of who is your priest: there’s work to do, a journey to continue, hope to hold onto, love to spread and God’s kingdom to live into. We are fed for this journey, strengthened for this task, encouraged for the road ahead by and through all those who have come before us…the great cloud of Good Shepherd and Ascension witnesses and those whose journeys are outlined in our sacred scripture.
Today’s readings have a lot to tell us about journeys--those into and out from exile, those that take us from blindness into sight, from who we are today to who we’ll be tomorrow.
In our reading from Jeremiah, God is offering a hymn of praise for what God is about to do---gather all the Israelites who had been dispersed north and south, east and west, all those who were cast out in the Exile--  back into the fold. We can look at this reading discretely, written to and for a specific people at a specific time, or we can read it more broadly as God singing to us, now, here:
God says, “with tears of joy they will come, while they pray, I will bring them back. I will lead them by quiet streams and on smooth paths so they don’t stumble.” God doesn’t ask us to find our own way, God doesn’t ask us to tackle the mountains of uncertainty or the shadows of doubt alone.
 God asks us to pray, for it is in prayer where we’ll find our solace, it is through prayer we find our way.
My friends, pray. Pray for this community, pray for [ascension] [gs], pray for me, pray for Pete. Pray for the drum beat of God’s love to lead us home.
In today’s Gospel reading from Mark, Jesus and his followers are on their way out of Jericho when they are way-laid by blind Bartimaeus who, upon realizing that Jesus was near called out—Jesus, Son of David, show me mercy! Jesus hears him, calls for him and suddenly old Bartimaeus can see. Seems really straight forward, right?
Well again, we can look at this reading as a basic, “man has a problem, man reaches out in faith and hope to Jesus, man is healed” story---that would be the discrete read--- or we can look at it more broadly and consider it to be a bit more than one person with one disability who has one encounter and is then healed.
You see, I don’t know if there was a person named Bartimeaus who was blind and then could see. I don’t know if there was this one person who heard that Jesus was near, identified him as the messiah and then asked him to show him mercy…there probably was…but this story isn’t just a report on an event 2K yrs ago in Jericho, this is a story for us, here, now. It’s a story for everyone, everywhere at anytime. For more than being a story of one healing, it is, instead, a story of what can happen when we are heard, really heard. When we, like Bartimaeus, speak up, reach out and go forward, we will be heard, we will be seen and we will be stronger for it. Bartimaeus called out, Jesus heard him and called him forward. Off Bartimeaus ran, tossing his coat aside, rushing through the crowd and presenting himself to Jesus, ready to receive whatever it is God, through Jesus Christ, could provide. And in that posture of receptivity, in that posture of tossing aside all that weighed him down, he was, at once, able to see.
My dear friends, do not let this change in our life together weigh you down with fear or doubt, cast off your worry, talk to me, talk to each other and most importantly talk to God. For when you speak, you will be heard, and when you look, you will most assuredly, see.
Because what I Iearned years ago and still hold onto today is this: those who sow with tears, always and forever, reap with songs of joy.
Amen.