Straighten Up and Fly Right. Proper16c Aug 25, 2019

Proper 16c Straighten Up and Fly Right

+I don’t know too much about horses. But Pete did. She showed horses throughout her childhood and all tv horse shows (along with the Kentucky Derby, The Preakness and The Belmont) were “must see” tv in the Dempesy-Sims’ household. While watching the Olympic horse jumping competition a few years ago I learned that horses can’t see directly in front of them. So when they approach the jump, they have to trust their rider to keep them from slamming into the wall. Of course, considering a horse’s anatomy it makes sense that they can’t see straight ahead—after all their eyes are on the side of their head. Now, the horse doesn’t know any differently and if you watch horses you’ll see how they adapt to primarily having peripheral vision.

The woman in today’s gospel can’t see directly in front of herself either. The osteoporosis from which she suffers has caused her to be so bent that her view of the world is confined to the ground directly below her. To see the world more broadly requires adaptation: a painful twist of the neck or an arduous lifting of her eyes to see more than the feet of whomever stands directly in front of her.

How many of us only see what is right in front of us? How many of us are so burdened by whatever ails us that all we see is the ground directly below? How many of us are so weighed down by darkness that we fail to see the light surrounding us on every side? How many of us have adapted to all the stress in our lives by just dealing with whatever is right in front of us, missing out on the beauty and opportunity around us?

We don’t need to have eyes on the side of our head, or a spinal deformity to keep our gaze downward, our worldview, narrow. The stress and worries in our hearts can keep our heads down.

The “bent woman” isn’t looking for Jesus, no doubt she was used to being overlooked by the folks at the synagogue, used to being considered less than the able bodied people around her. But Jesus? He has a laser focus when it comes to the outcast. When he entered the synagogue he saw her right away, and called her over. Jesus notices the un-noticed, He reaches out to the Other, He touches the untouchables. We don’t know what synagogue this is—what we do know is that he has turned his face toward Jerusalem, so he is traveling along the road that runs from Galilee down through Samaria and into Judea. Along the way Jesus does a lot of teaching, a lot of preaching and quite a bit of healing. So it would be easy, if you were reading the Gospel of Luke straight through, to read this excerpt as just another healing, just another miracle performed by Jesus. But as I spent time with the Gospel this week something more became apparent.

I don’t read this just as another miraculous healing story …I see it as a story that speaks to each and every one of us as a way forward, a way out from under the burdens that weigh us down…the burdens that, as Jesus tells the woman, Satan has laid upon us.

OK, a little bit about Satan...Satan is short hand for the forces of darkness, the forces of evil that exist in this world. It’s clear that the forces of light and goodness, which is God, are in a seemingly endless battle with evil and darkness---Satan. God is all that is good and bright and hopeful and true. Satan is all that is evil and dark and hopeless and false. The forces of darkness are at work in this world, the forces of darkness are at work in our world, in our lives, right now.

Lest you think I’m overstating this, look at how Jesus characterizes the woman in today’s gospel: “whom Satan bound for eighteen long years…” Bound by Satan. This world can get so bound by Satan, our own lives can get so bound by Satan….

Paralyzed by fear? That’ s not God. That’s Satan.

Unable to forgive?That’ s not God.That’s Satan.

Full of doubt? Satan. Full of hopelessness? Satan. Full of despair? Satan. The stuff that weighs us down is Not of God. The hatred that leads to terrorist attacks, the despair that fuels our politics, the inability to forgive that keeps our families in turmoil comes from darkness, from evil, from Not God.

  But here’s the Good News… no matter how fiercely the darkness tries to envelope us, no matter how hard Satan tries, we have the perfect antidote:  God, the source of all good and of all light. God, who takes our bentness, who takes our downward gaze, who takes all that weighs us down and straightens our backs, raises our eyes, lightens our burden and sets us free.

So this morning, no matter what binds us individually, no matter what binds us collectively----no matter what version of darkness and despair that happens to infect us, it’s temporary, not permanent; it’s curable, not terminal, it’s of this world, not of God’s. So shed what weighs you down, straighten up and look around, and allow yourself to be enveloped in the light, love and wonder that is God. Release yourself, straighten up and fly right. +

Proper 15c Talkin Bout a Revolution

Such an uplifting message from Jesus in today’s Gospel right? 

I promise to break that reading open in a bit, but to get there we need to begin with the poetry of the prophet Isaiah.

This story of the vineyard has been interpreted and reinterpreted many times over the generations.  It began as a poem to lovemaking gone array and along the way has been used and reused to make a variety of points, probably most famously as the basis of Jesus’ Parable of the wicked tenants and most recently as the lyrics to a Sinead O’Connor song. It has meant a lot of things to a lot of people…..but today what really jumps out at me is the final verse: 

God looked for justice, but found bloodshed; for righteousness but found only a cry of suffering . 

God looks for justice but instead finds bloodshed, God looks for righteousness yet only finds suffering. 

Phew.

This could have been written last week, right?

Perhaps you all are tired of hearing it, of living it. I know I am. More people shot, more children separated from their parents, more hate-filled speech screaming at us from the airwaves, the internet, the newspaper….and sadly sometimes our own minds. How often…how often does God look upon this part of Creation, expecting to see the Divine dream, only to find a human-made nightmare? To find righteousness, only to hear cries of suffering?

How often do we? 

It's so unrelenting, the horrors we inflict upon one another, that my heart rises to my throat each time a news alert flashes on my phone with the words shooter or gunman, or wounded and dead. I’m enraged that black teens are targeted for being alive, that migrants, fleeing for their very lives, are rounded up

like the Jews of Germany and Poland in 1940 , where people shopping, dancing, listening, praying or learning are assassinated by young white American men who’ve been given free rein to hate.  My breath catches, my heart races, my head throbs, my soul hurts and I lament, “how long Lord, how long?” 

Oh how I wish I could just turn it over to God. How I wish I could get by with thoughts and prayers. How I wish a well-written rant on social media would relieve that pain. How I wish all my thoughts, all my prayers and all my turning this over to God would be all it takes. 

But those are in and of themselves, incomplete actions.

God made humanity an ongoing, always unfolding, ever-changing creation. A creation that is not finished. 

A creation that requires participation. Action. Intention. 

A creation imagined and invoked by a God who created us to be partners in the ongoing work of this thing called life. 

And this task given to us, this holy and sacred and above all else necessary, vital and urgent task —-is not easy. 

It’s not easy at all. 

It requires bravery, endurance, commitment, willingness, courage, faithfulness and strength. 

It even requires us to stand tall against those we love. To turn away from those we love but whose views and rhetoric we can no longer tolerate. It requires us to say—out loud—-that which may hurt and anger others. It requires us to step up and speak out when our own lives, our own livelihoods, and maybe even our own safety is at risk. It requires much of what was just read to us from Luke’s Gospel. It requires a revolution.

My friends, to follow the way of light and love, to follow the teaching of the prophets, from Isaiah to Jesus, to Martin Luther King, to Maya, to Toni, to those whose voices are crying out now, but to whom we are not listening, to follow that way, the way of God,the way deep into the dream of our Creator, we must take risks. There’s no time to spare, for our world in general and our country most specifically is spinning out of control—the base needs and wants of the forces of darkness at play are winning and it is up to us…each and every single one of us sitting here today to light a fire upon the earth, to say that which is uncomfortable to stand for that which is frightening, to turn away from the darkness, the evil and the hate and turn toward the light and the good and the love. And when we turn away from the dark and walk into the light we must—-and I mean this with every fiber of my being—we must spread this light to every corner of our lives, no longer worrying if it will tick off our boss, or our parent, or our neighbor, or our spouse or our children or our priest, or our Bishop or our very selves—-to spread this light, this goodness this love—-means risking everything—-our comfort, our 401K’s, our relationships , it means picking up the cup Jesus chose, and taking a long deep drink of revolution. The peace of this world will only be achieved when the horror of this world, the horror of this country, the horror of our lives is overcome by, defeated by, disintegrated by, obliterated by us. 

Our thoughts, sure, our prayers, yes, but above all else, by our deeds. 

It’s time to do the work we’ve been given to do. It’s time to turn away from those who live in darkness, who spew hatred, who live only for themselves. It’s time to see more clearly, love more dearly, follow more nearly, 

I’m talking about a revolution, the revolution of Jesus, the revolution of Ghandi, the revolution of Martin, the revolution of Toni., the revolution of light. Of love, of God. I’m talkin bout a revolution. God expects it, our world needs it and You and I can — we must— lead it.

I’m talkin bout a revolution.

Amen. 

Belief is what we hold onto so that when we lose our way, our belief will hold onto us. Proper 14c St Paul's Springville, NY

“Yes Lord, I believe.”A friend of mine always says this when he receives communion. It’s a compelling response to receiving the sacrament.

“Yes Lord, I believe.” It’s a powerful statement and one that stays with me for days after I hear him say it. 

Belief is a big part of our readings this morning—-

First from Genesis:

Look toward heaven and count the stars, if you are able to count them." Then he said to him, "So shall your descendants be." And he believed the Lord; and the Lord reckoned it to him as righteousness.

Then from Hebrews:

By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to set out for a place that he was to receive as an inheritance; and he set out, not knowing where he was going. 

These quotes reference Abraham And Sarah’s obedience to God, their commitment to following God even when it all seemed like folly, their belief in something they couldn’t explain, something they couldn’t see, something they didn’t understand.

You remember the story, Abram and Sarai (their original names)  were told to move from the home they knew to a new home, a place they did not know. And in that new place God promises them children. Even though they were childless and very very old, far beyond child bearing years, God says, don’t worry, have faith, I will provide!

 These quotations are full of hope and blessed assurance. In many ways they offer a formula for our faith—- we believe, God provides. 

We believe even when it seems impossible. 

We believe even when we don’t want to, when we don’t know how it’s going to look, we believe against all odds, for God doesn’t operate according to our ways, God operates according to God’s ways.

And God’s way? God’s way is the way of truth and light and love. It is the way of righteousness, it is the only way, it is The Way. 

I think the example of Abraham and Sarah is one we all can benefit from. Abraham questioned, argued, debated, wondered, and Sarah? Well as we hear elsewhere in Genesis, Sarah laughed. 

Questioning, arguing, wondering and laughing are all, I think, pleasing before the Lord, especially when such things lead us to believe. 

Now belief isn’t some pie in the sky method of living, belief isn’t signing off on every single nuance of the Christian Faith, nor is it saying that you always, always accept every decision of the Episcopal Church, this diocese or even this congregation.

Belief is knowing, somewhere in your heart, in your soul, in your gut, that God is. That Love exists, that peace is possible and that through this God...who we can’t prove, we can’t describe and yet we can’t live without...all things are possible.

Belief takes what we profess in the creed and gives it skin and bones... it’s what we live everyday and it is (at least I hope it is) what we fall back on when things are rough, when we feel lost, lonely and afraid. Belief is what we hold onto. And when we work that belief, when we exercise our faith, it becomes a part of us so that when times do get so tough, when life does feels so difficult, when Hope seems so fleeting, the belief we have worked on, the belief we have exercised, is what will hold onto us. 

Belief is what we hold onto so that when we lose our way, our belief will hold onto us. 

My friends, it is, as Jesus says in the gospel, God’s  good  pleasure to give us the kingdom. To give us everything, always and forever. Of course, God doesn’t always give us what we want, but God always gives us what we need, for it is God’s good pleasure to do so. All we have to do, is believe. 

So don’t worry whether your prayers are eloquent enough, if your faith is strong enough, just look at the stars expanding across the night sky and remember what God can do when we simply say, “yes, Lord, I believe.”

Amen.

Only when we take this personally will we act purposefully.

From Colossians:

“But now you must get rid of all such things—anger, wrath, malice, slander, and abusive language from your mouth. Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have stripped off the old self with its practices and have clothed yourselves with the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge according to the image of its creator. In that renewal there is no longer Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave and free; but Christ is all and in all!”

Dear God may we learn this.

Know this.

Live this.

Today we need to figure out, deep in our hearts and our souls, what to do. 

There is an epidemic of hate in our world.

The rhetoric is coming from the highest levels of our government, it is being acted out by lost and rageful white men who are citizens of the very country they are destroying. 

If this was happening elsewhere—-when this has happened elsewhere— we as a country unite and act to wage peace in their lands.

Who will wage peace in ours?

Blessed are the peacemakers.

Who are the peacemakers?

We are. 

Instead of the readings and the creed and the confession we usually recite on Sundays, to day we need to dig deep.

Really deep, to determine how we can stop this madness. 

How we can turn the tide of America

How we can activate the Jesus Movement here and now. 

We will never fully live unless we are willing to remember and honor those who have died....

Because of our Day of Discovery, the Eucharist was going to be shortened anyway. This morning we are changing it up quite a bit.

To get us started we are going to listen to some music, pray a litany and then have some silence.

We will then offer the peace. When the peace if offered look in each other’s eyes and realize that it is up to you to save the other person. Only when we take this personally will we act purposefully. 

We will then break bread together as our Lord taught us. For without this nourishment, we are nothing.