Hebrews 11:1-3 & 11-16
Saint Luke 12:32-40
Saint Luke 12:32-40
About this time last summer Lowell and I were driving out to Iowa to see his mom. She lives about 7 or so hours directly west of here in Cherokee, Iowa. It is a straight shot on I-80 to US-20 whose scenery - except for the area around the Galena Territories - is mostly corn and soybean fields.
Because I had something for work we didn’t get started until mid-afternoon. As the miles wore on Lowell’s foot must of become heavier and heavier until we were stopped less than a half-hour from our destination by red lights whirling on the car behind us.
The bad news was we were getting a speeding ticket. The good news was that the officer was one of the nicest people you could ask for to do such a deed. He was soft-spoken, unfailingly courteous, and almost apologetic about having to issue us a citation.
What struck me was that he was alone. It was just the three of us in the dark on an Iowa interstate with the nearest house a mere speck of light on the horizon. During the course of the paper work - licence, registration, insurance, you know the drill - I became afraid for him. What if we were crazed lunatics armed to the hilt instead of two old goats driving fast so that they could reach Cherokee before their bedtime. I’ve thought of that lone officer a great deal this past week.
We know that stopping cars for speeding on a dark road at night has an element of danger to it but so apparently does going out for a drink in Dayton, Ohio; or to a Garlic Festival in Gilroy, California, or to a Walmart in San Antonio, Texas; or to a bible study at church; or prayers at your synagogue; or even to school. Who would think that we would have reached a time when doing such mundane things might get you killed.
It can cause a perpetual state of fear and it does.
Not so long ago we were sitting in a movie theater and we had been assigned two seats in the front row of the balcony. I honestly thought to myself, “If anything happens we’re sitting ducks here.”
Before mass-shootings there was a quick glace to see where the nearest exit was just in case the building caught fire. Now I am plotting how I can get there in a hail of gunfire.
Before anyone get their hackles up thinking this is going to be a sermon about gun control, it is not. What we are talking about is the fear that seems to permeate all of our lives that can leave us paralyzed.
When Jesus suggests that we “have no fear” after the last months and especially last weekend it is hard not to respond with a “Are You kidding?”
Because I had something for work we didn’t get started until mid-afternoon. As the miles wore on Lowell’s foot must of become heavier and heavier until we were stopped less than a half-hour from our destination by red lights whirling on the car behind us.
The bad news was we were getting a speeding ticket. The good news was that the officer was one of the nicest people you could ask for to do such a deed. He was soft-spoken, unfailingly courteous, and almost apologetic about having to issue us a citation.
What struck me was that he was alone. It was just the three of us in the dark on an Iowa interstate with the nearest house a mere speck of light on the horizon. During the course of the paper work - licence, registration, insurance, you know the drill - I became afraid for him. What if we were crazed lunatics armed to the hilt instead of two old goats driving fast so that they could reach Cherokee before their bedtime. I’ve thought of that lone officer a great deal this past week.
We know that stopping cars for speeding on a dark road at night has an element of danger to it but so apparently does going out for a drink in Dayton, Ohio; or to a Garlic Festival in Gilroy, California, or to a Walmart in San Antonio, Texas; or to a bible study at church; or prayers at your synagogue; or even to school. Who would think that we would have reached a time when doing such mundane things might get you killed.
It can cause a perpetual state of fear and it does.
Not so long ago we were sitting in a movie theater and we had been assigned two seats in the front row of the balcony. I honestly thought to myself, “If anything happens we’re sitting ducks here.”
Before mass-shootings there was a quick glace to see where the nearest exit was just in case the building caught fire. Now I am plotting how I can get there in a hail of gunfire.
Before anyone get their hackles up thinking this is going to be a sermon about gun control, it is not. What we are talking about is the fear that seems to permeate all of our lives that can leave us paralyzed.
When Jesus suggests that we “have no fear” after the last months and especially last weekend it is hard not to respond with a “Are You kidding?”
One way we can face our fears was the way the British did during the bombing of London. Historians tell us that the citizens saw every daily activity as an act of defiance.
They would look up from their tea and see an amazing display of fireworks as the Luftwaffe began their bombing raids. A trip to work was an event and a trip to the theatre came with the warning that patrons who became nervous during the performance should leave quietly.
There would be good reason to be on-edge. A solo would be sung over the din of explosions. A dancer’s pirouette would be punctuated with loud bangs coming from outside.
It was estimated that 177,000 Londoners camped out in the Underground each night. (40,000 less than the current population of Aurora.) They cued up early toting mattresses and rugs, then spread themselves out on the cold dark concrete platforms [where] people found comfort in the companionship.
They would look up from their tea and see an amazing display of fireworks as the Luftwaffe began their bombing raids. A trip to work was an event and a trip to the theatre came with the warning that patrons who became nervous during the performance should leave quietly.
There would be good reason to be on-edge. A solo would be sung over the din of explosions. A dancer’s pirouette would be punctuated with loud bangs coming from outside.
It was estimated that 177,000 Londoners camped out in the Underground each night. (40,000 less than the current population of Aurora.) They cued up early toting mattresses and rugs, then spread themselves out on the cold dark concrete platforms [where] people found comfort in the companionship.
Londoners played cards and joked and made dates to meet at the same curve in the tunnel wall, as if it were a corner pub. There, they found camaraderie and freedom from the harsh light of reality at street level.1
Maybe you are feeling that way too? You who have had the chaos of a mass shooting less than a mile from this place may feel this cuts close. Maybe you are not in immanent personal danger but every time you open a newspaper, turn on a television, or check the newsfeed on your i-Phone your stomach churns a little. Maybe, like me, you find yourself actually listening to the pre-flight instructions on airplanes that all of us can say by heart.
The antidote to this fear, Jesus says, is trust. Trust that God is powerful enough to sustain you. Don’t worry about any of the things anyone in their right mind, then or now, worries about from day to day. Trust that once you have done everything you possibly can believing that God will take care of the rest.
Somehow the list of people who put their faith in God against all odds got left out of this mornings letter from Saint Paul. It is a catalog of people of faith about whom a little sermon could be preached.
It was by faith that Noah constructed an ark. It was by faith that Moses and the Children of Israel marched through the sea from bondage to freedom. It was by faith that Joshua gave the order, the trumpet blew, and the walls of Jericho collapsed.
Somehow the list of people who put their faith in God against all odds got left out of this mornings letter from Saint Paul. It is a catalog of people of faith about whom a little sermon could be preached.
It was by faith that Noah constructed an ark. It was by faith that Moses and the Children of Israel marched through the sea from bondage to freedom. It was by faith that Joshua gave the order, the trumpet blew, and the walls of Jericho collapsed.
“I could go on and on,” (Saint Paul wrote,)] “but I’ve run out of time.” (And so have I!) There are so many more—Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel, the prophets. . . . Through acts of faith, they toppled kingdoms, made justice work, took the promises for themselves.”2
Paul makes special mention of Abraham who we studied last Wednesday over hot dogs on the porch.
Scholars tell us that there is one more interesting thing about his and Sarah’s story that I had not known before. Sarah and Abraham’s story may have been written down during the Children of Israel’s long period of captivity in Babylon.
Away from their home the “community was in danger of losing confidence in the promises and power of God. The purpose [of the story] was to offer hope to this community by reminding them that God made promises ... to the ancestral couple ... at a time when the fulfilment of those promises seemed unlikely.3
Scholars tell us that there is one more interesting thing about his and Sarah’s story that I had not known before. Sarah and Abraham’s story may have been written down during the Children of Israel’s long period of captivity in Babylon.
Away from their home the “community was in danger of losing confidence in the promises and power of God. The purpose [of the story] was to offer hope to this community by reminding them that God made promises ... to the ancestral couple ... at a time when the fulfilment of those promises seemed unlikely.3
It is then, we are told, when God breaks in. It is just when our world seems broken beyond repair and we would like to hide in a dark tunnel somewhere that God will break in. It is just when we have screwed up so badly in our personal lives that God will break in. It is in those middle of the night moments when we toss and turn over something that we have done or left undone that God breaks in.
Not having fear in troubled times is not easy.
We may be at such a moment now when we wonder if things will ever be right again. Will we ever get a handle on the violence in our streets? Will we ever be able to stop weapons designed for war from falling into hands of people with evil intent? Will we ever stop the personification hate and bigotry from walking into a Walmart and shooting the place up? Will the murder and mayhem ever end?
For such a time as this we may do well to heed the words of Dr. David Lose, Senior Pastor of Mount Olivet Lutheran Church in Minneapolis:
Sometimes, faith in God’s promises is easy. When that’s true for you, come here, to your church, in order to give thanks and to let your faith shine as bright as a star in heaven and encourage those around you. Sometimes, though, faith in God’s promises is hard. And when that’s true, feel free to go outside and look up at the stars and remember God’s promise to Abraham. Or, even better, when faith is hard, come here, to your church, and see some of those stars of the heavens now scattered throughout this congregation. God has given us to each other, you see, precisely so that we can remind each other that, while it sometimes may take a long time, God always keeps God’s promises.4
It just may be that the “Kingdom” Jesus is promising us is not some place afar off but the very presence of God right here, right now. All is asked is that we keep awake and ready to receive it when it comes to us even in life’s darkest moments.
May it be so for all of us always.
May it be so for all of us always.
____________
1. Peter Jennings and Todd Brewster, The Century. (New York, NY: Doubleday, 1988). p. 225-226.
2. Hebrews 11:32-38. (MSG) [MSG=The Message]
3. Ronald J. Allen, "Genesis 15:1-6. Connecting the Reading with Scripture," in Connections: A Lectionary Commentary for Preaching and Teaching, vol. 3, Year C (Louisville, KY: Westminister John Knox Press, 2019). p. 218.
4. David Lose, "The Call of Abraham," A Sermon for Every Sunday, August 5, 2019, , accessed August 10, 2019, https://asermonforeverysunday.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/David-Lose-Call-of-Abraham.pdf.
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