St. Paul’s Church in
Bergen, Jersey City NJ
August 25, 2013
Year C, Proper 16:
The Fourteenth Sunday after Pentecost
Jeremiah 1:4-10
Psalm 71:1-6
Hebrews 12:18-29
Luke 13: 10-17
Plucking Up and Planting
Today’s
gospel lesson gives us another story of God’s power working in and through
Jesus.
Jesus
heals a woman who, we’re told, had been crippled by a spirit – bent over and
unable to stand up – for eighteen years.
We’re
told that the leader of the synagogue was “indignant” that Jesus had healed
this poor woman on the Sabbath.
As
usual, Jesus accuses the religious leaders of hypocrisy. There are lots of
stories like this in the gospels.
But,
then Jesus makes a point that we might easily miss. Jesus asks the religious
leader and asks the crowd, “And ought not this woman, a daughter of Abraham
whom Satan bound for eighteen long years, be set free from bondage on the
Sabbath day?”
As
I thought about Jesus’ question, I thought getting set free from bondage is one
of the reasons we come to church week after week, isn’t it?
We
are each in our own way bent over by whatever it is that holds us in bondage –
in some cases for much longer than eighteen years.
For
some of us the bondage might be a deep sense of regret for things that we’ve done
or haven’t done – regret for the times we’ve let down the people we care about
the most, the people who count on us – regret for the times we’ve let down
ourselves.
Some
of us might be bent over by a crushing sense of responsibility – the burden of
responsibility for our children or grandchildren – the burden of responsibility
for aged parents – the burden of responsibility to pay the bills, to feed and
clothe, to make money, to hold on to a job, to find a job, to get a better job.
For
some of us the bondage might be disappointment in the way our lives have turned
out. Somehow we expected that we’d be more successful, achieve more, that we’d
have more to show for our efforts, that we’d be happier, richer and more
confident. We find ourselves wondering where we went wrong – why things didn’t
work out as we had hoped.
Some
of us might be bent over by our fear for the future – fear about our health or
the health of those we love – fear that our kids or grandkids won’t make the
best choices – fear that at work we’ll be greeted by a pink slip, told to clear
out our desk or our locker – fear that people will realize that we don’t have
our act totally together, that we're mostly just making it up as we go along.
Yes,
we are each in our own way bent over by whatever it is that holds us in
bondage.
And,
yes, we come to church for lots of reasons – habit, obligation, fellowship, the
coffee – but if we’re honest with ourselves we can admit that a big reason we
come here is to be set free – at least for a time - from whatever holds us in
bondage.
We
come to church to be set free – to be liberated - by the old stories, by
praying together, by begging forgiveness, by extending our hands and arms in
friendship and peace, by taking into our bodies and into our hearts the Body
and Blood of Christ.
And
once we are set free we go back out into our lives, back out onto the streets
of Jersey City – where each day we encounter an endless number of people bent
over in bondage.
And
as Christians we are expected to ease the burdens that bend people’s backs, the
burdens that keep people in bondage.
Which
is an awesome and nearly overwhelming task - a task that we can only do with
God’s help.
Like
us, the Prophet Jeremiah was given the awesome task of doing God’s work in his time
and place.
And
like us, Jeremiah came up with a lot of reasons why he really wasn’t the one
for the job.
Jeremiah
argues with God – claiming, rightly, that he’s unworthy – claiming, rightly,
that he’s unprepared – claiming, rightly, that he’s afraid.
But,
God says to Jeremiah, “Do not be afraid…for I am with you to deliver you.”
And
God gives the unworthy, unprepared and frightened Jeremiah awesome power and
responsibility.
God
says to Jeremiah,
“See,
today I appoint you over nations and over kingdoms, to pluck up and to pull
down, to destroy and to overthrow, to build and to plant.”
In
our own way, in our own time and place, God has given us the same kind of power
and responsibility.
In
the Baptismal Covenant, we accept God’s offer to work with us and through us.
We
promise to continue praying together, breaking bread together, to resist evil,
to proclaim the Good News by word and example, to love our neighbors as
ourselves, and to strive for justice and peace among all people.
In
our own way, in our own time and place, God expects us to ease the burdens that
bend people’s backs, the burdens that keep people in bondage.
And,
if we’re going to accept the work God has given us to do, then each of us
individually and together will have to do some plucking up and some planting.
So,
on this day when in a little while the three Episcopal churches of Jersey City
will gather together in unity to worship, eat and play together, let’s reflect
on what God might be calling us individually and as St. Paul’s to pluck up.
What’s
preventing us from doing the work God has given us to do?
What
are the burdens bending our backs?
What’s
keeping us in bondage?
And,
today, let’s reflect on what God might be calling us individually and as St.
Paul’s to plant.
What
are the new ways we are being called to ease each other’s burdens?
What
are the new ways that God is offering us to liberate from bondage the people of
Jersey City?
May
God give us – the Episcopalians of Jersey City - the courage and strength to take
on this work of liberation. May we work together to ease the burdens that bend
our backs. And may we work together to ease the burdens that keep us - and keep
our neighbors - in bondage.
Amen.
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