St. Paul’s Church in
Bergen, Jersey City
October 8, 2017
Year A, Proper
22: The Eighteenth Sunday after
Pentecost
Isaiah 5:1-7
Psalm 80:7-14
Philippians 3:4b-14
Matthew 21:33-46
“Don’t Give Up!”
Unless
I’m stopped by weather or work, I’ve been trying to keep up with my early
morning walks around the neighborhood, dressed down in a baseball hat, t-shirt,
and shorts, usually unrecognizable to people used to seeing me in my priest
outfit.
As
I’ve mentioned to you before, I have a route that I more or less follow, that
takes me up and around Journal Square and then along West Side Avenue and
through Lincoln Park and then down Monticello Avenue.
My
daily goal is to walk five miles. Sometimes I make it, and sometimes I fall
short.
Although
it’s not always easy to get myself going so early (and now it’s so dark at 6AM that
it’s like the middle of the night) I’ve found these long walks to be helpful,
physically, spiritually, and mentally.
I
use the time to think and pray, and to look around and see what I can learn
from the sights and sounds of our part of Jersey City as it wakes up and gets
going.
I
always pay close attention to the churches and other houses of worship I pass,
reading their signs, looking at their worship schedules and banners announcing
some event or celebration, wondering at the elaborate and beautiful Hindu
shrine on Newark Avenue, …
And,
I also always pass by the far the biggest house of worship in town: the Stanley
Theater at Journal Square, where for years Jehovah’s Witnesses have worshiped
and met.
Often
even early in the morning, they arrive, incredibly large numbers of diverse
people, always impeccably dressed, carrying their Bibles and briefcases with
other materials, ready for a full day of whatever it is they do in that vast
theater – when it was built, the second largest auditorium east of the
Mississippi, smaller only than Radio City.
I
don’t know much about Jehovah’s Witnesses. I know about their strong devotion
to worship and meetings. I know about their persistence in standing on street
corners or ringing doorbells, offering their various pamphlets.
To
an outsider, anyway, they seem to have their act together – and I’ll confess
that I’ve sometimes been a little jealous of their large numbers and deep commitment.
That’s
why I was a little surprised some weeks ago when the name, or the theme, of
their annual convention went up on the theater’s marquee:
“Don’t
Give Up!”
I
was surprised by that because they seem to be doing just fine, but then, in a
way, I was encouraged because I thought even these people, so well-dressed and
so committed to their faith, even these people face challenges and obstacles,
so much so that their leadership chose such a direct, such a pointed convention
theme:
Don’t
give up!
I
thought about the Jehovah’s Witnesses and their surprising theme as I reflected
on today’s second lesson, from St. Paul’s Letter to the Philippians.
If
you know anything about Paul’s letters, you know that usually he’s writing to
Christian communities that he had started, that he had taught, but then after
he had moved on, these new Jesus followers often began to believe and do things
contrary to what Paul had taught them.
And,
eventually, this unwelcome news got back to Paul.
That’s
why we find a good bit of anger, frustration, and rebuking in Paul’s letters.
He’s usually trying to straighten out people who have gone astray.
But,
that’s not true in the case of the Philippians, the little Christian community
in the important Greek city of Philippi.
Paul
has a warm and loving relationship with the Philippians, who seem to have their
act together and are doing a good job of building a stronger, healthier, more
loving Christian community.
And,
Paul wrote his Letter to the Philippians Paul while he was in prison, which
makes me wonder about his state of mind when he wrote to this community that he
loved so much.
All
I can tell you is that, more often than not, I preach sermons that I need to hear – and I suspect that, at
least sometimes, Paul wrote letters that he himself needed to read or hear.
So,
maybe, as Paul sat in prison facing an uncertain and frightening future, maybe
he wondered if his sacrifice, if all his hard work, was worth it. Faced with a
world that was so violent and led by cruel leaders, maybe even the great and
tireless apostle himself was tempted to throw in the towel, to give up and just
say or do what the authorities wanted from him – to go along with the powers
that be so he could regain his freedom and go off and live a more or less
normal life.
Maybe
Paul was hearing that tempting voice whisper in his ear, “Just give up.”
But,
of course, the imprisoned Paul resists that temptation – and when he writes his
beautiful letter to his much-loved Philippians, he uses athletic language to
describe his own persistent faith:
“…forgetting what
lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the
goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus.”
In other words,
things may not look so good right now. I may be sitting here in prison, feeling
old and worn-out and not a little discouraged by the world and the church, and
this might be the end of the line for me, but I’m not giving up and don’t you dare
give up, either!
Don’t give up!
Well, the truth is
our world and our country has been through the wringer lately. Each week there
is at least one more disaster, more victims, more frightened or injured people,
more dead people, more people for whom to pray – so much destruction, so much
bloodshed, so much cruelty.
We may feel
ourselves to be imprisoned – imprisoned in a world where the ground can suddenly
open up or previously unimaginable wind and tides and can destroy so much.
We may feel
ourselves imprisoned in or unhappy and exhausted country where people are so
frightened and armed to the teeth and there’s nothing holding them back from
opening fire on a crowd of people at a concert, just wanting to have a good
time – nothing holding them back from settling a gang dispute on the avenues of
Greenville or Bergen-Lafayette by casually taking a life – nothing holding tem
back from shooting and killing a guy who was trying to break up a fight on
Central Avenue.
We may feel
ourselves imprisoned by our own personal fears, worries about our own health or
the well-being of those we love, anxiety about the pile of bills, concerns
about finding a job or holding on to the job we’ve got, regret about roads not
taken and loves lost, the feeling that other people have their act together
much more than we do, maybe even nervousness about the future of our church in
a time when more people seem to be looking elsewhere to find the sacred, to
discover life’s meaning.
Maybe we hear that
little voice in our head, encouraging us to just throw in the towel.
And, yet, the
words and work of the imprisoned Paul echo down to us here today:
“I press on toward
the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus.”
Don’t give up!
And, like an
athlete who can see the finish line on the horizon, we’re given glimpses of the
prize – a prize that is not just life after death, but heaven right here on
earth, too.
Just recently, the
wonderful opening of the “Loving Arms” exhibit, inviting us to face head-on
America’s love affair with guns, gave us a glimpse of the prize.
And, last Monday
night, when over 1,000 of us Jersey City residents gathered to demand
affordable housing, safe streets, and decent schools, we got a glimpse of the
prize.
And, if we look,
each time we come here, all of us with our beautiful diversity, all of us with
our histories and our scars and our fears and our hopes, when all of us gather
here and extend our hands and hearts in peace and open our mouths and our souls
to receive Christ, we get a glimpse of the prize.
Yes, like the
imprisoned Paul, and like so many others, apparently even including the well
put-together Jehovah’s Witnesses, we’re going through a tough time.
So, let’s stick close
together and stick close to God.
And, most of all…
Don’t give up!
Amen.
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