The Church of St.
Paul & Incarnation, Jersey City NJ
August 18, 2019
Year C, Proper 15:
The Tenth Sunday after Pentecost
Isaiah 5:1-7
Psalm 80:1-2, 8-18
Hebrews 11:29-12:2
Luke 12:49-56
God Doesn’t Accept the Status Quo
Over
the years, one thing I’ve learned – and continue to learn over and over – is
how strong people are – how people are able to endure so much suffering and so
many setbacks – how people are able to stand back up, dust themselves off, and somehow
continue on with their lives.
And
the extraordinary resilience of some people is so amazing that I remember them,
and continue to be inspired by them, many years later.
For
example, as part of my ordination preparation, I spent a summer working as a
chaplain-trainee at Christ Hospital.
In
a lot of ways it was a kind of baptism by fire, an opportunity to encounter
real and terrifying and heartbreaking suffering.
I
vividly remember many of the patients and family members I met that summer, especially
a woman named Paula who was about my age, a single mother of three kids, and
whose body was just being ravaged cancer.
By
the time I had met her she had been sick for a while, in and out of hospitals,
used to being hooked up to IVs, used to having a port in her chest, used to being
constantly poked and prodded and injected with toxins meant to heal her, and
used to being asked the same questions over and over, by medical professionals
and even by rookie chaplains who really didn’t know what they were doing.
After
I had gotten to know Paula, I asked her where she found the strength to endure
so much pain and I’ll never forget what she said to me:
“When
I first got sick, I asked, ‘Why me?’ But, then I saw all of the other sick
people and I asked, ‘Why not me?’”
Amazing,
right?
And,
over the years I’ve seen that same strength and forbearance among so many
parishioners, neighbors, and friends.
Just
the other day, a friend whose son requires a lot of medical attention told me
that their insurance company had suddenly and without warning dropped their
coverage.
She
went to the insurance office and didn’t get any satisfaction.
While
on the outside I was trying to maintain my “non-anxious presence” on the inside
I was (and still am) alarmed! I asked her what she was going to do, and she
calmly replied that she would go back to the office on Monday and that
eventually everything would work out.
People
are strong and are able to endure so many setbacks, somehow able to get used to
so much suffering.
But,
you know, our greatest strengths can sometimes also be our greatest weaknesses.
Because
we are able to handle so much, able to absorb so much pain, we often just choose
to cope with things as they are, we often just accept the status quo, not even
daring to dream of a more humane and beautiful world.
Just
think of all the things we’ve gotten used to:
Like
what happened to my friend: adults and children needing medical care suddenly
dropped by their insurance and forced to beg to get the help they need.
A
country awash in guns where mass shootings occur every couple of days and where
the sound of gunfire can be heard nearly every night in many of our
neighborhoods.
(As
one New York Times columnist recently
wrote, “…we have decided to live with periodic human sacrifices.”)
We’ve
gotten used to a to a government that each day comes up with new ways to hurt
the most vulnerable among us – and they also make time to also hurt the
environment, leading me to wonder if they need air and water like the rest of
us.
We’ve
gotten used to jobs that pay so little – rising rents driving people out of the
city - schools that are crumbling – lines of people panhandling on Bergen
Avenue and then spending the night sleeping on the porch of Old Bergen Church.
I
could go on.
But,
the truth is that most of us have simply gotten used to all of this and more.
It’s human nature.
It’s a coping
mechanism so that we can still get through the day, taking care of our
responsibilities, holding on to what’s left of our sanity.
But, it’s
different for God.
God doesn’t need a
coping mechanism.
And, God does not
get used to – God does not accept – that this is how things have to be.
God has a clear
vision of the way things were always meant to be - and it looks a lot like a
beautiful garden – or, maybe, a vineyard, as the Prophet Isaiah puts it in
today’s first lesson.
It’s a garden or a
vineyard that we have seriously messed up.
So,
God uses every tool at God’s disposal to remind us of God’s beautiful vision –
speaking through prophets like Isaiah who called God’s people back to
faithfulness.
Most
of all, God came among us in and through Jesus of Nazareth.
We often think of
Jesus as a meek and mild teacher and healer but, as we heard in today’s Gospel
lesson, Jesus brought fire, too – the fire to really shake things up – the fire
necessary to combat the status quo of hatred, violence, and greed.
And,
today God sends us the fire Holy Spirit – the fire we need to combat the status
quo of today – not the fire of violence but the fire of courage, compassion,
and love.
You
know, like everybody else, I’m tempted to look away from all the troubles of
our day. But, while there’s certainly a lot of terrible stuff going on, I’ve
also discovered amazing stories of Spirit-filled people changing the status
quo, in ways big and small.
It
hasn’t gotten the media attention it deserves, but the ongoing protests in Hong
Kong have been extraordinary: millions of people risking their lives and
standing up to one of the most repressive and powerful regimes in the world,
determined to hold on to their freedoms.
(It’s
worth noting that from the start, many of the Hong Kong protesters were
inspired by Christian teaching on love and justice.)
And
then there’s the beautiful story of Mevan Babakar, now 29 years old, who back
in the ‘90s was a refugee from Iraq.
Along
with her mother, Mevan spent part of that time at refugee camp in the
Netherlands where a kind and generous man bought this five year-old girl… a
bicycle. She said, “I remember feeling so special. I remember thinking that this
is such a big thing to receive, am I even worthy of this big thing? This
feeling kind of became the basis of my self-worth growing up.”
Mevan
never forgot the kind man and the bicycle and thanks the miracle of the
Internet she was recently able to reunite with him.
No
surprise, he was overwhelmed by the attention, only willing to give the media
his first name only: Egbert.
His
attitude was that what he did was no big deal, all he did was give this little
girl a bike.
But,
that small/not so small act changed a woman’s life forever.
For
the past couple of weeks since the mass shooting at Walmart, the people of El
Paso have been enduring funeral after funeral.
But,
you’ve probably heard that the funeral of one of the victims has stood out.
Margie
Reckard was 63 when she was shot and killed that day, leaving behind her
grief-stricken husband Antonio Basco, but no other nearby family.
Not
wanting to grieve alone, Antonio sent out an open invitation to Margie’s
funeral, hoping that maybe a few people would join him to mourn.
But,
there was such an overwhelming response that they had to move the funeral to a
larger location where hundreds and hundreds of people from El Paso and far
beyond gathered – at one point there were more than 700 people waiting in line
outside, where temperatures were over 100 degrees.
One
of our great gifts is that we can endure so much. But, we can also get used to
suffering that we must not get used to.
God doesn’t get used to – God doesn’t accept –
that this is how things have to be.
And, God uses
every tool at God’s disposal to remind us of God’s beautiful vision.
A vision we hear
in the prophets and see most clearly in Jesus.
A vision we see in
courageous people standing up to evil.
A vision we see in
a seemingly small kind gesture.
A vision we see
when we somehow love people we’ve never even met.
God
doesn’t accept the status quo.
And,
neither should we.
Amen.
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