Sandhills Cluster
August 8, 2010
Proper 14, Year C
When we pray today's collect
and listen to today's lessons, we are visited by the presence of faith
and its ability to deliver us to impossible places. In our
collect today, we pray for "the spirit to think and do – always – those
things that are right." Talk about impossible! I almost
feel sheepish offering this prayer, since my life is evidence that this
prayer has not been answered and proof that it never will be.
Thinking
and doing those things that are right – always – is not a way of life
for us humans. Sometimes we stray from the path because we are
truly clueless about what is right. Other times we choose to take
a detour because we don't want to go where "right" will take us.
In
today's reading from Isaiah, the prophet is gifting the people of
Israel with some corrective words. The people of Israel believe
that they are doing all the right things, when really they are
not. They are showing up for worship; they are making their
appointed sacrifices; they are defending their sacred country. In
modern day, Christian language, they thought of themselves as good
church people and patriotic citizens.
But they have
strayed from God's ways, according to the prophet. They might be
following the rules, but the fruit of the Spirit is not growing in
them. Their worship, though regular, is not a true offering of
praise and thanksgiving. Their sacrifices are easy sacrifices
which do not change their lives in any way. And despite their
religious and patriotic instincts, the blood of violence is on their
hands and there are people in their country whose basic needs are not
being met.
If Isaiah visited us today, which he does
through scripture, how would we hear these same words? Are there
ways in which we are following what we think is right, when really we
are way off the track? What we learn from Isaiah is that there are some
questions we can ask ourselves. Does our worship come from deep in our
hearts and minds? Do the sacrifices we make change us? Do we
address the basic, human needs of our neighbors with the same
attentiveness as we address our own? If we confess "no" to any of these
questions, we are due for a correction.
While sometimes we
are unaware we have wandered off the path, other times we arrive in the
land of not-right because we have consciously chosen to go there. We
have done those things that are wrong because what is right would not
get us where we want to go.
"Sell your possessions and
give alms," Jesus tells the disciples in today's gospel. "Live
your life as if God is at your door, one breath shy of knocking."
Even
when we try to narrow down the gospel message to what Jesus truly
thought and did, even when we explain away some of the scriptural
mandates which likely got added by the storytellers and scribes, we who
have any knowledge of Jesus know that there are certain "right" things
which cannot be disputed. Like honoring God's blessings to us by
sharing them with others. Or living our lives as if the love and mercy
of God is the greatest treasure we could ever give or receive.
But
so often we tend to be more aware of the blessings we have not
received. So often our lives are lived as if we value earthly
treasures far more than love and mercy. And it's true: We
do lack many promised blessings, and this is hard for us. And
love and mercy do not pay the bills. So even as we know what is
right in God's eyes, we tend to favor what is right in our human eyes,
which are always looking out for me and mine.
So saying
today's collect is either an act of courage or just about the most
foolish string of words we could pray. The possibility of our
thinking and doing – always – what is right is so "out there," so
impossible. Isn't it? Just as impossible as Abraham and
Sarah ever having children and just as impossible as those children's
offspring's offspring arriving in the promised land.
In
today's epistle, we hear a brief summary of the saga of Abraham and
Sarah. Abraham and Sarah were living a decent life, when God
invited them on an impossible journey. God gave them the
opportunity to travel without knowing where they were going on a day to
day basis, but with the full promise that their offspring's offspring
would one day arrive in a place of abundance for all people.
Whether
their choice to hit the road was an act of courage or foolishness is an
open question. In accepting God's invitation, they began moving
toward a place that they themselves would never get. But in order
for the promise to be met in the future, they had to move toward it in
the present. And while they themselves did not receive the full
promise, amazing things did happen for them. They were greeted by
angels and new life along the way, which was more than plenty enough.
So
maybe we sitting in this room will never – always – think and do those
things that are right. But we know that has God has promised that
one day we will all arrive at a place of perfect rightness for
everyone. And whenever we approach this altar with hands held
out, we say, one more time, we are headed for that place. We want
our lives to be a place where rightness dwells. And we can say these
words, whether out of courage or foolishness, because we have faith
that God is one breath shy of delivering, and even in the space between
now and then, we are visited by many right moments, for us and for
others, and these right moments are plenty enough food for another day.
S. Sherard