We are living through some dark days…
· Gun violence at First Baptist Church, Sutherland Springs, Texas – followed by another mass shooting in Rancho Tehama, California. Both began with domestic violence. (Las Vegas!)
· Each day new revelations of women and girls who have been sexually harassed or abused or trafficked at the hands of those in Hollywood, journalists, politicians, in gymnastics, comedians, and even the church.
· Far right groups marching around the world spreading their hate of Jews, immigrants, anyone who does not fit their preferred racial category.
It is hard to feel safe and secure. We have become suspicious. Fearful. We want to huddle close with our families, lock our doors, get ready to fight (or take flight!)…
But as Christians, Episcopalians, we are called to live a different life. As the Episcopal Bishops of Maryland put it: “we talk about living by a different set of rules: our message of love, compassion, hope and forgiveness in the face of evil.”
Our second reading this morning from 1st Thessalonians says we are to “put on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet the hope of salvation.” Fear is not to be our motivating factor, but faith & love & the hope of salvation. 1st Thessalonians gives us some instructions on what our mission is: “For God has destined us not for wrath but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, so that whether we are awake or asleep we may live with him. Therefore, encourage one another and build up each other...”
The words from the MD bishops and our 2nd reading remind us that our church is a sanctuary, identified as a refuge and safety zone from physical or spiritual dangers. The red doors we enter by speak to the world of holy ground that exists inside those doors, space that has been purged and made clean by the Holy Spirit.
But even as we find such relief, we are called to go out from here in Jesus name to serve others, to witness to his love. And in the darkness, sin is ever before us…
(I recently saw it defined this way) “Sin is for one [man] to walk brutally over the life of another and to be quite oblivious of the wounds he has left behind” (Shūsaku Endō, Silence)
Such sin is the failure of us to really love thy neighbor, to encourage one another and build up each other, as 1st Thessalonians puts it. We see it in the shootings, the harassment/abuse, those spewing hate… But…
“If only it were all so simple! If only there were evil people somewhere insidiously committing evil deeds, and it were necessary only to separate them from the rest of us and destroy them. But the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being. And who is willing to destroy a piece of his own heart?” (The Gulag Archipelago (1973) by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn)
He reminds us that darkness is inside each of us, cuts through every heart. And yet, there are opportunities abound for us in the midst of darkness to bring light to these days…
A story from Reader’s Digest:
Years ago, there was a poor farmer who was an alcoholic. When he drank too much (which happened fairly often), he'd become abusive, forcing his family to escape into their cornfield, with him frequently shooting after them with his .22 rifle.
One day, their neighbor, an elderly Amish farmer, came by. He explained that rats had been in his corncrib and asked if the farmer knew anyone who could sell him a .22. A bargain was struck and the old Amish farmer took the rifle and ammunition and set off for home.
One of the poor farmer's children followed the Amish farmer from a distance and watched him cross the river bridge. The old man stopped midstream and the boy watched him drop the rifle and ammunition into the swift water and then continue home. [James Didlow, writing in Reader's Digest.]
It is the Spirit of God that moved the Amish farmer, for his generosity of heart and humility of spirit to buy and get rid of the rifle that caused suffering to his neighbors. It may not have solved everything but it was a step in bringing light and life to darkness and suffering.
But we don’t even have to go that far. It could be offering a listening ear at a Dunkin Donuts.
A true story, recounted in the weekly "Metropolitan Diary" column of The New York Times [March 2, 2009]:
In Dunkin' Donuts this morning an old lady wearing a tattered watch cap started speaking to no one in particular.
"I can't sleep at night. I have pains in my chest all the time. My leg hurts and my children do not love me."
People waiting in line hid in their cell phones, looked away or stared straight ahead.
"I don't know what to do. I don't know where to turn. My husband died two years ago on the 27th."
Everyone pretended she wasn't there. The girls behind the counter took the next customers. The line inched forward. At a side table, a beautiful young woman with matching purple scarf and hat looked at the old woman and said, simply,
"Honey, please sit down with me and tell me your story."
It's possible, you see, for one person to save the world.
Life can be so much easier and peaceful when we have nothing to do with others - Don't get involved, walk away, mind your own business, these are much safer approaches to life.
But Jesus is not afraid to wade into the messiness of our lives in order to transform, heal and restore, and he calls us to do the same as his disciples.
To respond compassionately to the plight of these families, those in need, becomes more important, more sacred, than the safety & security we sometimes long to have. May we imitate that same compassion of the healing Christ, use the talents we each have, risk our own sense of safety and satisfaction, in order to bring that love into the lives of others. Amen.
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