The end of the world

Year C - Pentecost, Proper 28
Readings: Malachi 3:13-4:2a,5-62 Thessalonians 3:6-13 Luke 21:5-19 Psalm 98 or 98:5-10


Lord, thank you that your steadfast love never ends, and your mercy is new every morning. Amen.A main theme of today's lectionary readings is 'the end.'Often, people interpret these and similar passages as giving predictions for ‘The End of the World…’ But is it necessary to destroy the entire world for it to 'count' as the end of something significant?
From a historical perspective, this particular passage is talking about the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem, and later, the fall of Jerusalem itself, which took place in 70 AD. This did not constitute global annihilation, but it was enough to be 'the end' for them, and it's that aspect we can apply to today.
This passage isn't a prophecy of hidden clues to predict OUR future; it's a specific story of past devastation and destruction, through which we can learn to recognize the same kinds of endings in the present.
Around the world, there is plenty of upheaval bringing destruction to other communities and peoples. In some parts of Africa, the AIDS epidemic has brought about an end to the family structure of an entire generation by killing off the parents and infecting their children. I think for these kids, it's enough to count as the end of the world.
Genocide and civil war in Chechnya, Darfur, Rwanda and other places has brought an end to social order, destroyed entire communities and devastated people groups. I think it's enough to count as the end of the world to them.
The story after this gospel reading, after the destruction of the temple and the sacking of Jerusalem - the rest of the story after 'the end' - isn't recorded here, but we know that it has included restoration. After exile and dispersion, some of the story has included coming back and rebuilding; even after 'the end', the story continued and continues still. The end was also a beginning because of the people's hope and endurance.
To interpret this story for today, we need to look at lots of endings - not get caught up in the idea of one big final ending and spend energy worrying about it and trying to avoid it. This attitude leads to the situation Paul was addressing in 2 Thessalonians, where, instead of working and contributing to the community's life, some people were just waiting around for 'the day of the Lord.' They got so caught up in worrying about 'the end' that they were completely missing 'now'.
Instead, if we stay engaged in the story, we can recognize endings and work them toward new beginnings. One of the deacons in our diocese, for example, Linda Shelton, is involved in refugee resettlement. Some of these refugees, whose former lives have ended, are in the same situation as the 1st century Jews who were sent into exile.
People trying to begin again are all around us. A recent article in the Texas Episcopalian featured a parishioner from the church in Pflugerville, who fled Sudan to seek asylum here when his life was threatened because of reporting on the tragedies there. My mentor in the Iona school, Fr. Johannes George, fled Sierra Leone and devastation in that country and now serves the church in Alief.
What if this Gospel is not about predicting the end of the world so we can try and save ourselves, but instead is about recognizing and responding to the devastations of people around us - devastations which are smaller than global annihilation but are large enough to be the end of the world to those experiencing them?
This could mean a lot of work - but it makes our Epistle reading fit in very well - "do not be weary in doing what is right."
Who do you know whose world is ending - through divorce or a devastating illness, or the loss of a child? What has ended your world?
Let me tell you my experience of the end of the world. When I was 13, my mom suffered a ruptured brain aneurysm. I remember standing in a hallway during one of her surgeries, looking out an upper floor window of Parkland Memorial Hospital in Dallas. Traffic was going by on all the streets below, just as if this was any other day - as though the entire world was not falling apart. I was so angry at all of those people! Didn't they have any idea what was happening?!
Of course not, and I see it very differently now. But for several years, I stayed stuck in that ending. I couldn't imagine the world beginning again.
Interestingly, one of the things that enabled me to begin again was facing the same condition myself. In the process of getting it treated, I had to face some fears - including fears of 'the end' - and I discovered that God was with me there, and that true peace exists, and it is extremely solid.
I also realized that, because of a lot of people doing their work faithfully for years and years, my world was not going to end the way I feared. Some of these people may even have been the same ones driving to and from work the day I looked out that hospital window, mad at everyone whose world wasn't ending.
The collective efforts of biomechanical engineers, metallurgists, business people, ethicists, administrators, interventional radiologists, surgeons, nurses, and countless others I will never meet - all their work created a treatment option that hadn't existed before. So, while 50 years ago, my 2 aunts died of this condition, today, I'm fine.
Because of all those people, what could have been my end became a new beginning, and it has influenced my understanding of all kinds of work as service and vocation. It has also influenced my understanding of work as prayer - my prayers for healing, and those of my family and friends - were answered by God through the faithful use of talents given to numerous people, all doing different jobs well and working together.
I hope this encourages you in your work to view all of it as ministry and service to God - who through your faithfulness and obedience will answer the prayers of people you may never meet.
The point of discussing 'the end' is not to try and predict or avoid it, but rather to not become distracted or paralyzed by worrying about it. Our response when 'the end is near' - in any context - is to keep doing what's right - to be faithful and obedient - and to trust God to take care of the world and us.
After all, ‘He's got the whole world in his hands...’Julian of Norwich, writing in the middle ages, said this about a vision she saw concerning God's care for creation:

"And in this he showed me a little thing, the quantity of a hazel nut , lying in the palm of my hand, as it seemed. And it was as round as any ball. I looked upon it with the eye of my understanding, and thought, 'What may this be?' And it was answered generally thus, 'It is all that is made.' I marveled how it might last, for I thought it might suddenly have fallen to nought for littleness. And I was answered in my understanding: It lasts and ever shall, for God loves it. And so have all things their beginning by the love of God.
In this little thing I saw three properties. The first is that God made it. The second, that he loves it. And the third, that God keeps it. "

As the poet Gerard Manley Hopkins wrote:

And though the last lights off the black West went Oh, morning, at the brown brink eastward, springs -- Because the Holy Ghost over the bent World broods with warm breast and with ah! bright wings.

and e.e. cummings continues...

i thank You God for most this amazing

day:for the leaping greenly spirits of trees
and a blue true dream of sky; and for everything
which is natural which is infinite which is yes
(i who have died am alive again today,
and this is the sun's birthday; this is the birth
day of life and of love and wings: and of the gay
great happening illimitably earth)
how should tasting touching hearing seeing
breathing any--lifted from the no
of all nothing--human merely being
doubt unimaginable You?
(now the ears of my ears awake and
now the eyes of my eyes are opened)

To this I would add - I thank you, God

for the end of the world,

because you make it into a new beginning.

Amen.

Lord God, almighty and everlasting Father, you have brought us in safety to this new day: Preserve us with your mighty power, that we may not fall into temptation, nor be overcome by adversity; and in all we do, direct us to the fulfilling of your purpose; through Jesus Christ our Lord. (BCP)

About fighting

Year C - Pentecost, Proper 24
Readings: Genesis 32:3-8,22-302 Timothy 3:14-4:5 Luke 18:1-8a Psalm 121


A common theme in today's texts is that of persistence in struggle and difficulty - hanging in there. Fighting and prevailing.
In struggling with the man he believes to be God, Jacob literally hangs on until he receives a blessing. In the epistle, Timothy is urged to "continue in what you have learned and firmly believed" and to "be persistent whether the time is favorable or unfavorable..." And in the gospel, Jesus tells a parable "about the need to pray always and not lose heart." The widow in his story "kept coming" and asking for justice, and eventually the unjust judge decided to grant it "so that she will not wear me out by continually coming."
Another aspect of this theme of struggle and persistence seems to be the presence of opposition. In the Gospel, the widow seeks justice against an unnamed opponent - we don't know the problem there - but then she has a further struggle with the judge, who doesn't really care about justice and so in that sense forms some more opposition.
In the OT reading, the opponent seems to be God. The text just says 'a man,' but Jacob clearly believes afterward that he has seen God and even fought with him, and he's amazed God didn't kill him. Jacob wrestles with the man, and the man dislocates his hip, but Jacob still won't let him go without a blessing, so the man gives Jacob a new name. "You shall no longer be called Jacob but Israel, for you have striven with God and with humans, and have prevailed." The word translated as 'prevail' doesn't necessarily mean that he conquered his opponent - that he beat God; it can also mean that he showed endurance, strength and courage in the fight. I think that's very important to notice - you don't have to beat your opponent to prevail.
I think struggle and fighting are things most of us can relate to. We fight with people, with circumstances, with God, with ourselves. What does it mean to prevail in these?
When we fight with people, it's just as often, if not more often, that we fight with people we love. In this situation, beating your opponent is not really a good way to 'win.' In a fight with family or friends, this kind of winning isn't very satisfactory.
When we fight circumstances, whether it's a health issue, a job situation, a policy or a law, people usually get drawn into it, too - even if you know what's to blame, it's hard to fight something you can't see or touch.
Sometimes, we fight God, and a similar thing can happen there - think Cain and Abel. But really, if anybody can handle our fight, it's God. Writers of the Psalms often got really angry with God; so did Job, and so did Jonah, and so did countless other people in the Scriptures. God's big enough to take it, and if God's the one you're mad at, God's the one to take it up with. I think it's also true that when you fight with God, you know God better.
Then there's fighting within ourselves: fighting our fears, our demons, and all the gunk we internalize from the problems and dysfunction in our lives. In the book The Imitation of Christ, I ran across this: "Who has a greater struggle than those who labor to overcome themselves?" Anyone who's faced addiction or even observed someone in that struggle can agree this is true.
In all of these struggles, what does it look like to prevail? I think part of the answer relates to peace. Sometimes, just to endure is to prevail - if you've made it this far, regardless of how much damage you've sustained - the fact that you're here is prevailing. Your scars show what you've been through - like Jacob limping as he walked away from wrestling with God. But you've lived to tell about it - you struggled with God and the world and yourself, and you've prevailed.
What if you lose? It depends on what you think losing is. I think to make peace with an opponent is to prevail, even if they win. For example, to face death and make peace with that opponent, whether you then live or die - is to prevail in that struggle - to show courage and endurance. I heard a saying once: 'Courage is fear that has said its prayers.' I like that, and I think it's true.
When I was facing a medical procedure to repair a brain aneurysm a couple of years ago, I also had to face the fear of dying. There came a point, after six months of delays, when all my distractions were gone, and there was no avoiding it anymore.
I wouldn't say I won that battle; I didn't beat the fear. I tried every argument I could think of to reason myself into peace, and I couldn't. Fear is more primal than reason. So finally, I prayed and asked God to give me peace about death, and it came.
It was so simple, I didn't believe it could be true at first and tried to make myself afraid again, but I couldn't. So I prevailed, but it wasn't because I defeated the fear; it was because God fought for me when I couldn't fight anymore.
Another thing about fighting is that it reveals a lot about the character of the contenders. When you fight someone, you know them. This idea was expressed in the sequel to the Matrix, when Neo is summoned to a meeting, and as soon as he walks in the door, the doorkeeper immediately engages him in a ferocious battle. Afterwards, the guy says he had to fight Neo in order to know for sure who he was.
I've started arguments with people before for no apparent reason, I suppose to see how they would respond, to flush them out into the open, I guess, to figure them out. And I've had people do that to me, too - to see how far they could push me before I pushed back.
There's something about competition that brings out things you don't see in casual interaction. People are more raw when they're fighting or competing. If you play any sport, or ever have, you know this. I played soccer from the time I was four until just a few years ago, and now I fence. In either place, I've found I learn a lot about people by facing them in competition. I learn their strength, their speed, their stamina, their habits and their style, how rough or skillful they are, whether they play clean or dirty.
The other side to this is, I learn a lot about myself, too. Some of it's good - some not.
When I played soccer, I learned that I'm persistent and I'm tough, but I'm not always realistic about the laws of physics. I frequently got knocked down trying to challenge people much bigger than me, but I'd get up and keep going. When I played goalkeeper, I wasn't afraid to dive or charge a forward one-on-one.
I also learned, though, that when I played forward, I had a tendency under pressure to sabotage my own plays and then make excuses about why I lost the ball, even though I had enough skill, technically, to keep it. If I had a fullback bearing down on me, for example, sometimes I'd cross the ball early from the wing just to get rid of it. But the center forwards weren't in place yet, so all that work to get the ball up was wasted.
The thing is, probably nobody would blame me. Except that I knew I was doing it. And actually, you can't have that many 'unlucky' breaks without someone seeing a pattern. When I played on my cousin's team, he commented 'Good Lord, I've never seen a more skittish forward!'
He had me sorted. I didn't have myself sorted, though. I didn't know WHY I was doing it. But at that point, I decided I better figure it out and try to fix it.
I think the same concept is true in many types of competition: the quest for grades, the desire to climb a ladder or achieve some status, even political debates.
The reason this is useful - what we see in the microcosm of a game or a debate or an argument, we can work on in that context and in other areas. And more broadly, what we see when fighting under any circumstances, can be an indicator of strengths or weaknesses.
In spite of our desire for peace, we do a fair amount of fighting. I think it's somewhat a part of the way we are as people. Maybe this is why God fights with Jacob and doesn't kill him - because God knows Jacob and knows that's the way he is.
Some people just come out swinging, and Jacob's whole life was like that - Jacob wasn't the ideal man like Abraham - calmly accepting all kinds of difficulties and waiting patiently for their seemingly impossible fulfillment. No, Jacob was going to grab what he could - he was grabbing his brother's heel when he was born - and since that moment was always fighting or scheming with somebody.
One of the most notable examples was when he tricked his brother Esau out of a blessing, and it was after this that he fled his home, afraid of the revenge his brother would taken when he discovered this.
Sometimes, people just kind of have to fight, I think. We wish for peace and harmony and unity with no divisions, but the reality is far from these ideals. In our culture, we don't have a lot of acceptable circumstances for fighting, but I think in some sense, people need to contend with something. Sports are one example, but also things like Survivor and a lot of those reality TV shows, where all kinds of normal activities, like dating, doing a job interview, and designing clothes are turned into competition events. Yesterday, I was watching Iron Chef America - they were having 'Battle Eggplant'...Now you tell me we don't have a need for competition!
The movie Fight Club is a very clear example - these young guys started a club just to fight each other - hand to hand, no gloves, no weapons, and very few rules. The story is somewhat more complicated than this, but essentially, the appeal seemed to be that by fighting, and sustaining injury, they were doing something that felt real - more real than pushing papers in an office. This movie was really popular, which means people respond to it for some reason. I think there's something to notice there.
If you're fighting, especially one-on-one, your goal is clearly defined by beating your opponent. But if you're a small part of a big goal, and especially if you don't know what that goal is, your part can feel pointless. This is somewhat our situation as members of the Church - we're each small parts of a larger body, involved in doing a work that we don't see the end of because it's so much bigger than any of us.
I think part of the implication of the letter to Timothy is - Hang in there. Don't lose sight of the goal you're part of. Know what that goal is. Learn what your part is and do it. And don't let other people's impatience or lack of interest make you forget what you're about.
AND - Fight the good fight.

-------------------------------------
Given to St. John's, Silsbee
Oct. 21, 2007

Be patient

MP - Daily Office Year 1
Readings: Ps 30,32; OT- 1Kings 12:1-20; Epistle- Jas 5:7-12,19-20



Almighty and everlasting God, by whose Spirit the wholebody of your faithful people is governed and sanctified:Receive our supplications and prayers which we offer beforeyour for all members of you holy Church, that in their vocation and ministry they may truly and devoutly serve you;through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
This prayer, that in our vocation and ministry, we may truly and devoutly serve God, seems particularly relevant as we start this year.
Probably most of us have at least a few questions about how this will work out.
Looking around, we might be thinking…
Can I relate to these people? Should I really even be here?
What if the teachers have some crazy theologies or weird ideas about liturgy?
What if these students have some crazy theologies or weird ideas about liturgy…
We all likely have uncertainties: some small, some enormous, some hanging right overhead, and some foggy, off in the distance.
What about field work and church assignments – What if people don’t receive me? What if I’m supposed to be leading and nobody wants to follow?In the epistle, James urges, "Be patient, beloved…"
But what about the future? What happens at the end of this process? What will this be like long-term? What will when Bishop Wimberly retires? Will we get shuffled off in a corner somewhere and ‘set aside?’
How can I make promises to serve here without knowing what I’m getting into exactly?
What’s going to happen to the National Church – what’s going to happen to the Anglican Communion? Am I really in the right place?
"Be patient …"
That could sound dismissive, like I’m trivializing what it’s like to make a commitment, not knowing what it may cost. But in today’s epistle, patience and endurance are not trivial.
I want to examine ‘patience’ and ‘endurance’ here, trying to get a handle on what they may have implied to their early hearers.
It’s always a challenge to convey the meaning of one person’s words using someone else’s words, especially if they’re several hundred years apart in different languages. Images can be more direct, so along with explaining, I want to show you some things.
Ed and Cynthia have very gamely agreed to help.
I’d like you to see, so please move up if you need to.

The first word for patience we’ll show you, hupomone, is translated in this passage as ‘endurance.’
[Cynthia lies down on the floor, and Ed puts his foot on her neck]
According to Strong, this word has a literal meaning of something like ‘stay under’ and it has the sense of living under some oppressive situation, or undergoing suffering….
Look for a moment and notice what reactions you have to this image.
How do you feel about it?
Does it make you think of anything? Is there any situation you relate it to?
…
How does this image track with the passage?
"You have heard of the endurance of Job…"
Job seemed to feel God had a heavy hand on him, causing him all manner of suffering. At one point, he says to God,
"Does it seem good to you to oppress? … Remember that you fashioned me like clay; and will you turn me to dust again?" (Job 10:3, 8-9)
And he complains, "If it is a contest of strength, he is the strong one!" (Job 9:19)
By ‘staying under’ a difficult situation, the word also means not giving up – and not giving in to despair. Job is neither resigned nor stoicly silent. He bears the suffering, and refuses to curse God, though he doesn’t refuse to question or challenge."Be patient, beloved…"
"Have you considered my servant Job?"
Who else is noted in this passage for patience?"As an example of suffering and patience, beloved, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord."Looking at this image, it’s not an unlikely parallel to recall Jeremiah– wearing a yoke on his neck, telling the people and the king to submit to Babylonian rule.
Becoming a prophet was not something he ever wanted to do in the first place. And even though he was doing it as service to his people, at God’s command, no one listened to him, and more often than not, they wanted to kill him.
We talked some last night with Mary about the risks inherent in acting on a call – and the way people may respond. It’s not always supportive.
The word translated ‘patience’ here is makrothumia. It means being ‘long-tempered.’ It’s sometimes translated ‘long-suffering’ or ‘forbearance.’ We describe some patient people as having ‘a long fuse,’ and this is part of the meaning here also. Earlier in James, we read, "Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to become angry…"(Jas 1:19)
Patience can mean sticking with something or someone regardless of what happens to provoke or discourage you. It can have a lot to do with forgiveness, with keeping anger in check to allow fellowship to continue.
This is patience as a willingness to trust, even to suffer at each other’s hands and forgive.
There are some weighty examples of this kind of patience in the scripture.
Looking at this image, can you see Isaac submitting to his father? Can you see Christ?
One further aspect of ‘patience’ in the Greek turns this image of long-suffering and endurance around, adding another dimension.
If Cynthia and Ed were to change places - [they change places]
if the guard were to suddenly be at the mercy of the prisoner, -
how would that change the dynamic?
What would it mean now for Cynthia to show patience?
"… you have seen the purpose of the Lord, how the Lord is compassionate and merciful."
This kind of patience is rooted in God’s patience.
God is so faithful to us, so patient with us, choosing to suffer because of us rather than break fellowship. We’re called to be patient with each other and with all whom we serve, to forgive as we’re forgiven, to love as God loves us
[Ed and Cynthia sit down]
What would it take to develop patience like this – to put yourself here?
Do you have the feeling that it’s what we’re doing here now in this formation process - laying our lives on the altar, for God to change us however he plans, re-forming us to give his life and his promises - in us - to the church and to the world?
"Be patient, beloved…"


Another part of James’ message about patience has to do with what we’re waiting for. In the OT reading, we heard about King Solomon’s son refusing to lighten his father’s oppressive forced labor policy, threatening to be even more oppressive. So all Israel deserted him. All but Judah. Judah stayed; it doesn’t say how they felt about it but just that they stayed – Judah was committed to the promise of a Messiah who would come from the house of David. So they stayed even under this arrogant, oppressive king and served him, waiting for the promise.
The prophets – those patient prophets - repeatedly asked, "How long…?"
Perhaps we should think about the same questions; we’re right at the beginning of some new works here. It may take a while to see where it’s going exactly. How long can we live with difficulty, with uncertainty, with each other? How long can we wait for promises we may never see?"Be patient…"
"Be patient, beloved, until the coming of the Lord. …Don’t grumble against one another… Strengthen your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is near."

----------------------------------------

Given to the Iona School for Ministry

Sept. 8, 2007

fighting, struggle

Morning Prayer - Daily Office Year 1
Epistle: I Tim. 6:6-21


The writer of 1 Timothy is speaking as Paul to his young protégé, urging him to fight the good fight, to keep his focus and not to get distracted by temptations or contentiousness.
The format of the letter, written as from a teacher to a student and giving advice for leading faithfully in a time of conflict, has similarities to what we’re doing here in the Iona School. Here, some of you are passing on a deposit of faith and learning, and some of us are preparing to carry it forward into an uncertain future.
I feel a little odd preaching to you about it, since it feels like a role-reversal – you all are to me certainly more like Paul than Timothy.
It’s also a bit odd, because a few of the themes here – namely money and conflict - are not ones comfortably addressed in our culture – but a pulpit is still one place where people partly expect and even accept occasionally being bothered about them.
This may be part of my training as a deacon – my rector, Fr. Hugh Magers, seems to feel I have a ways to go in the diaconal gift of irritating people - but there are few things more irritating, I would imagine, than someone – especially a young person - preaching to you about how to view your money, so here we go – forging right ahead.
Warnings about the love of money are particularly adamant in this passage, as in the much-misquoted verse ‘for the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil.’ The dangers of falling into this desire are so great, Timothy is told to shun it or flee from it. One commentary noted that this warning is as severe as those against idolotry and sexual immorality and makes this observation: "evidently some threats to piety are so subtle and so powerful that they can be dealt with only by running from them." (New Interpreter’s Bible)
I think this is a very wise defensive tactic – it may look wimpy, but it works really well. I do fencing, and one of the first and most important concepts we learn is keeping distance from your opponent. If you are farther away than your opponent can reach, you don’t get hit. It’s a very simple concept – and the most effective method of defense – just back up – get out of the way.
I think it’s good to know the areas where we’re weak or most likely to have trouble – and this is an area that universally troubles most people – this verse is probably so much quoted and misquoted because the love of money and the pains people pierce themselves with because of it are obvious in society today.
For example, there are unfortunately so many examples of this dynamic at work in our society and in our churches even, that each of us could probably name five or six without having to think hard.
Think of one example and have it in mind -- If the culprit had run away from that temptation, what might be different? Since the culprit didn’t run, what’s remembered: the noble and lonely last stand or the terrible fall?
As well as running from temptation, Timothy is urged to run or chase after a collection of virtues that all complement each other: righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance, gentleness – and to ‘fight the good fight of the faith.’
Several commentaries noted that the word translated as ‘fight’ comes from the Greek word that gives us ‘agonize.’ It can be translated several ways, including ‘to struggle,’ ‘to contend,’ or ‘to compete’ as in competing for a trophy in a sports event. ‘Compete’ brings out the connotation that living faithfully requires the energy and discipline of a good athlete. (New Interpreter’s Bible) Just as athletes must practice to compete well, anyone struggling to live faithfully needs a disciplined practice as well, and it will take energy and time. ‘Contend’ and ‘fight’ include the idea of an adversary, and people trying to live faithfully certainly face adversaries, but ‘struggle’ is closer here because the meaning is more like perseverance against many kinds of odds than just combat - except that ‘struggle the good struggle’ doesn’t sound right.
This urge to ‘fight the good fight’ seems very relevant to us here, at this time. Last month, Bishop Wimberly met with the deacon candidates, and he talked some about what the church is facing in the next few months and how this intra-Episcopal struggle has been for him. ‘Agonizing’ would probably be a good word. What does it mean for the church if its members are struggling with each other? What might it mean for us in this room, as we begin to carry this struggle forward? It would seem that fights may be a given.
I think in the fact of facing struggles internally and externally, we’re not so different from the communities addressed in many of the letters, including 1 Timothy. Right from the beginning, there was conflict among members of the church, all the way through its history to the present day. These stories offer both perspective and encouragement.
Today, for example, is the lesser feast of St. Dunstan, Archbishop of Canterbury in the 900s. He was a confessor, among other things. I don’t know much about what being a confessor implies, except that initially, saints were given that title after enduring persecution and torture for confessing their faith rather than recanting it. St. Dunstan’s story also involves falling in and out of favor with a succession of kings and political rulers, but he stayed constant. So there was certainly struggle in his faith practice.
In light of the church’s fairly consistent behavior regarding conflict, it should probably not seem strange that we are going through it now. The issues change, but struggle itself seems fairly constant. The set of issues the Episcopal Church is wrestling with now are not what many would have chosen - I wouldn’t have picked them - but this is the situation we’ve been called to live faithfully in.
Eight years ago when I was confirmed in the Episcopal church, I didn’t know any of this was on the horizon; probably many of us didn’t. I hadn’t planned to consider ordination; the diaconate didn’t even exist in this diocese at the time. Now, a completely uncertain future with many possibilities stretches ahead, and it seems uttlerly overwhelming at times. We are learning enough here to know that there’s a whole lot we don’t know, but also getting inspired enough to want to try and do something anyway.
"Ah, but a man’s reach should exceed his grasp, or what’s a heaven for?" (R. Browning "Andrea del Sarto: Called ‘The Faultless Painter’")
We should struggle to reach goals that are beyond our ability to achieve – like righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness – and we should also trust God to strengthen us, as we ask in the Collect for Renewal of Life: Drive far from us all wrong desires, incline our hearts to keep your law, and guide our feet into the way of peace.
And we should keep our distance from distractions – they’re not ‘the right hill to die on’. When it comes to making stands, we need to be fighting the good fight of the faith and staying away from contentiousness. Let God make up for our weakness in this area with His strength.
I think this is the other part of the message written to Timothy – struggle with all your strength and skill – and wait on the Lord, who will do things according to His plan in His good time.
This is the same dynamic as faith and works, the same as the debate about grace and the law.
We have to learn both to labor and to wait.
---------------------------------------------------
Given to the Iona School for Ministry
May 19, 2007