St. Paul’s Church in
Bergen, Jersey City NJ
November 13, 2016
Year C, Proper 28:
The Twenty-Sixth Sunday after Pentecost
Isaiah 65:17-25
Canticle 9
2 Thessalonians
3:6-13
Luke 21:5-19
God Reassembles the Pieces
Some
of you know that I’ve spent almost my entire life here in New Jersey – almost, but not quite all.
I
say “almost” because for a year I served as the Episcopal chaplain at the
University of Florida and rector of a small church in suburban Gainesville.
Sue
and I had made the move down there because we thought we were ready to take on
a new adventure and wanted to do it while we were still young enough to make
such a big move.
In
Florida we met and prayed alongside many wonderful and faithful people – and we
made some very close friends.
But,
pretty quickly we realized that it was just too hard for us to be on our own so
far away from all the people we loved, too far from our support system. It was
disappointing and embarrassing to accept and admit that this bold adventure of
ours wasn’t working out, but I began to look at possible job opportunities back
here in New Jersey.
Fortunately,
it turned out there was a church here in our diocese that was looking for a new
priest. The place seemed like a pretty good fit so I sent in my materials and
hoped for the best.
The
search committee interviewed me via Skype and everything went really well. Committee
members were saying things like I was the answer to their prayers.
So,
I was feeling really good about this.
The
church paid to fly Sue and me up for an interview which, honestly, felt more
like a coronation, felt almost like a formality, something to be done because
it was supposed to be done, but not really necessary.
It
felt like I had this job in the bag.
As
I was leaving the last interview, I remember one of the leaders of the church
saying to me that they were going to interview someone else because they were
supposed to, but, just between us, he believed that soon he’d have very good
news for me.
We
flew back to Florida feeling really good. I remember thinking that I had done
it – that I had managed to reassemble the pieces of our life back together
again.
Some
weeks later Sue and I were on vacation when early in the morning my cell phone
rang. It was one of the church wardens calling – calling with a very serious
voice to tell me that they had decided to call someone else to be their next
priest.
I
think I put up a brave front on the phone, but talk about the worst vacation
ever! Here I had thought that I had managed to reassemble the pieces of my life
back together again but instead I felt shattered.
It
was definitely a setback – and, at the time, it felt like a catastrophe.
All
of us who’ve been around for awhile have suffered similar setbacks: not getting
a job we wanted or maybe even thought was in the bag, or losing a job we had,
and very much needed.
All
of us who’ve been around for awhile have suffered our own catastrophes: piles
of bills that we just don’t have the money to pay, broken relationships, a devastating
diagnosis, the loss of one we love.
Sometimes
our lives shatter into pieces.
In
today’s gospel lesson, Jesus predicts that the beautiful Jerusalem Temple, one
of the wonders of the ancient world, the center of Jewish life, the place where,
in a sense, God was believed to live, would be shattered into pieces, “not one
stone left upon the other, all will be thrown down.”
The
first readers and hearers of the gospel would have known that this is exactly
what had happened. The beautiful Temple, the place where God lived, was indeed
destroyed by the Romans in the year 70, as they sacked Israel’s capital.
For
most of the Jewish people it must have seemed like the end of the world. How
could they go on without the Temple? For most of the Jewish people it must have
felt like their whole world was, just like the Temple, shattered in pieces.
But,
of course, that catastrophe was not the end of the story.
God
makes a way out of no way.
God
turns death into new life.
God
reassembles the pieces.
So,
sure enough, God reassembled the Jewish people, now no longer centered in
temple sacrifice but instead even more devoted to God’s Law and even more
devoted to dwelling in God’s Word, strong enough to survive the hatred and the
many catastrophes, the many “shatterings,” that lay ahead of them.
And,
at the same time God reassembled the Jewish people, God assembled the Body of
Christ, assembling all different kinds of people who are able to know, and be
transformed by, the God of Israel through Jesus Christ. God assembles the Body
of Christ out of all these millions and millions of pieces, out of all of us, and
now today out of Martin, Louisa, and Aria, and sends us into the world to love
and to serve.
God
reassembles the pieces.
And,
sure enough, after that devastating phone call that ruined our vacation, it
turned out that God made a way out of no way for me. I was able to return to my
old job at Grace Church in Madison. To be honest, it was a little embarrassing
to go back after the big goodbye party they had thrown me a year and a half
earlier, but, without me really realizing it, even in the midst of my sadness
and shame, God was reassembling the pieces of my life, and preparing for me the
very large and important piece of my life that is this place.
We
all suffer setbacks and even catastrophes, but God is always at work
reassembling the pieces.
Our
country and our world suffer setbacks and even catastrophes, but God is always
at work reassembling the pieces.
And God invites us to be part of
the great reassembling, to be part of the great reassembling by rejecting
disrespect, hatred, greed, and fear.
God invites us to be part of the
great reassembling, to be part of the great reassembling by keeping our
baptismal promises, by choosing respect, love, generosity, and hope.
Yes,
we all suffer setbacks and even catastrophes, but God is always at work
reassembling the pieces, reassembling the pieces of our lives and our world
into a new creation.
The
work is far from done, there are still plenty of cracks with light shining
through, we’re not whole yet, so today God is inviting all of us - and
especially today Martin, Louisa, and Aria - inviting us all to be part of the
great reassembling.
Amen.
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