[Propertalk] 2 advent b
robertpmorrison at charter.net
robertpmorrison at charter.net
Sat Dec 6 17:02:07 EST 2014
well, off to have lunch ... probably not dead flies....
Bob
THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH OF ST. ALBAN, ALBANY 2nd ADVENT B
ISAIAH 40:1-11 7th DECEMBER, 2014
2 PETER 3:8- 15a PSALM 85:1-2, 8-13
MARK 1:1-8
“Play it so that flies drop dead in mid-air, and the audience start
leaving the hall from sheer boredom.” 1
You might imagine that statement came from the acidic pen of critic
intent on demeaning the work of one composer or another, but it was,
actually, written by the composer himself about one of his own works.
Dmitri Shostakovich 2 lived through the first three quarters of the
twentieth century, in a time when there was incredible social and
political upheaval, not only in his own country, Russia, but throughout
the entire world. Dictatorships abounded, with different people
imagining that they knew exactly what was best for everyone else. No one
was content with such territory as that in which they lived or over
which they had control. Leaders scrambled for power for themselves,
their families and their close friends. Anything that threatened their
grasp on that power, therefore, was to be obliterated, whether it came
through another politician, a scientist, a cleric, a painter, a
dramatist, a composer of music – anyone who stood in the way, who
uttered a comment, who wrote, painted or sang; anything of that nature
was to be quashed immediately.
Shostakovich knew this first hand. He lived day to day, writing music
from his heart and then, from time to time, censoring it with his brain.
“At the height of the Cold War, it was fashionable among Western critics
to denigrate Shostakovich. He was, they claimed, a banal and morally
weak composer who had been forced to sacrifice his creative
individuality in order to survive the oppressive demands of the Soviet
system. Yet what is perhaps most remarkable about Shostakovich’s music
is its striking individuality. As a spokesman for the oppressed Soviet
people, Shostakovich forged a unique musical language drawing heavily
upon images of brutal irony, hysterical anger, bitter introspection and
mock optimism.” 3
Reading these words of and about Shostakovich I hear echoes of John the
Baptist, of Isaiah. The biblical figures were caught in similarly
dangerous, mind-numbing situations. They faced institutions that cared
for nothing except their own self-preservation. Those in power didn’t
want to consider the possibility that power was given to be shared; that
power wasn’t given for the perpetuation of one individual or group. And
there were times when those institutions and people had so played their
cards that they found themselves in trouble, along with everyone else.
Hebrew people throughout Babylon were crying out in despair. They’d
been betrayed by their own leaders; the Babylonians had preyed on the
weak-mindedness of those on charge, and moved in. But it was the common
people – those who had market gardens, who raised a few sheep and
chickens, who cleaned house and cooked for those who desired and could
afford to live on a higher level than the majority – it was they who
paid the greater price. They couldn’t even try to buy their way out of
any trouble. And all were taken off into exile where anything which
could give a sense of comfort, of hope, of self-dignity was stomped down
– just like in the Gulags which populated the outer regions of Russia.
There was a drabness, a lack of anything which might bring warmth and
colour to the peoples’ imaginations and hearts.
Babylon, Israel, Russia and places more recent and closer to home,
possibly even in our own lives - it was the same story over and over
again. People longed for freedom, for acknowledgement as human beings of
worth. They wished they could use the gifts with which they’d been
blessed. They hoped that someone or something would come along which
would free them from whatever they felt was trapping them. And God heard
then as God hears now. Witnesses slowly appeared, people willing to
stand with them; people willing to listen to others and to intuit what
God wished to say to that precise situation and moment.
Then, as now, some of those witnesses can be troubling. The problem is,
they speak the truth, they demand action and they call for commitment
and response from the people. Just as the witnesses take a risk by
standing to speak in the midst of the downtrodden and the oppressed, so
they call forth from these people a trust that hope WILL be fulfilled.
It must have taken a great deal of courage on Isaiah’s and John’s part,
but they themselves became convinced that God had not left and turned
out the lights. From someplace – either from deep within themselves, or
from something, someone outside of themselves – some sign came to them
which gave THEM hope for themselves, and then hope to share with those
who felt that they’d been abandoned.
Tom Brackett, a Missioner who works through The Episcopal Church Center
in New York, and who lives in North Carolina, wrote, last Tuesday, “It
wasn’t the stewardess who offered to hang up my coat in the first class
closet even though I was in coach; it wasn’t the police officer who
offered to help change my tire after diverting traffic for me on the
crazy traffic exit ramp into Baltimore; it wasn’t even the National
Rental agent who drove all the way out to exchange my car for an upgrade
– not even that made my day. It was the young teenage girl who kept
smiling at me through tears and then asked if she could give me a hug.
When I turned to her mother and whispered, ‘Is it OK?’ it was her
response that made my day. She said, ‘She has Autism.’ I nodded but
then she rocked me when she said, ‘You look just like her dad. He died
in Afghanistan two years ago. She misses him.’ She nodded. This
beautiful young adult hugged me. I had to cry with her. And yet ... and
yet ... of all the things that could have happened to me on this 2nd of
December, THAT made my day. I hope that the father of this beautiful
young being smiled, wherever he is.” 4
THAT was the release from imprisoning sadness that that young teenager
needed. THAT, no doubt, was the release that the girl’s mother could
appreciate. And THAT gave release, gave hope, gave meaning to Tom
Brackett also.
Isaiah, John the Baptist, Tom Brackett – the list can and must go on
and on, the list of those who speak and act out a word of hope, a
gesture of understanding and compassion, and who themselves are filled
with the presence of God in the midst of the mundane, if not disturbing
and terrifying aspects of each day. It’s so easy to give in to
tiredness and depression when people say rude or mean things to us,
never mind threaten us with harm.
To counter this, though, Dmitri Shostakovich responded, “When (someone)
is in despair, it means that he (or she) still believes in something.”
5
Think about that. When the Hebrews called out from Babylon; when John
the Baptist and those listening to him called out; when Shostakovich
called out – each them called because they felt, they believed, that
there was someone listening, there was someone who cared, there was
someone to whom the very act of expressing anguish would make a
difference and elicit a response. And God DID respond – not always in
the instant that the people expected, but always there was a sign, a
word, even if it was “Not yet. Have faith.” That’s probably how we’ve
experienced God’s grace. I know that that’s how it’s happened in my
life. Someone has shown up, done something, said something, more than
likely complete natural, possibly unthought-through, something which has
been filled to the brim with comfort.
One of the problems, though, as I’m sure we’ve all experienced, is that
comfort may mean different things to different people, and we need to
dig deeply to find that fragment of belief in a caring God who WILL
respond. Then, when the response comes, it may seem so strange, so
foreign.
The strange words of Shostakovich which I quoted at the opening of the
sermon speak to me about the sort of thing which prophets might wish.
“Flies dropping in mid-air and the audience start to leave” – the voice
of God to any and every situation in life, spoken both comfortingly and
brazenly, with no hint of hesitation; the voice of God with such power
in and out of season; the voice of God to startle the complacent as well
as those who feel that no one would ever talk to them; the voice of God
stirring up hope in the midst of everything that troubles us. And
sometimes that voice can be incredibly startling, can make us and others
SO uncomfortable, because it’s not what we expect or think we want to
hear – SO uncomfortable, SO unexpected, that it makes flies drop from
the air, it makes people back away and leave the room, because of some
inability to imagine what comfort we need.
That’s one of the difficulties in which we find ourselves from time to
time, and if not we ourselves, personally, then our neighbours, wherever
they are in the world. There are wildernesses, devoid of compassion and
comfort, all over the place.
When was the last time you wondered whether you’d wither for the lack of
assurance of respect, or affirmation, or love? If you’ve been blessed,
perhaps it’s not been you in that wilderness. But perhaps it was your
neighbour, a neighbour who needed such a strong word that no one should
live in fear, strong enough, possibly, to disturb us, But then, that’s
what prophets do. They talk about making changes, about how WE have to
make the changes in everything that we do, to discover just who needs to
be comforted, and how.
It could be as simple as learning the story of someone who feels
trapped, like the young woman whom Tom Brackett met; it could be as
simple as not allowing ourselves to be paralysed by some of the things
we see on TV or read in the paper. It just might be, as Rabbi Abraham
Heschel said, that we have to find in ourselves that spark of belief
which allows us “to live life in radical amazement. ....get up in the
morning and look at the world in a way that takes nothing for granted.
Everything is phenomenal; everything is incredible; never treat life
casually. To be spiritual,” said Heschel, “is to be amazed.” 6
God give us grace to be willing and able to hear the prophetic voices in
our midst. God give us the grace to BE that prophetic voice for others,
wherever they are in their wildernesses. God give us the grace to
remember, as the prophet Nelson Mandela said, “It always seems
impossible until it is done”, something we can repeat about bringing
comfort, and hope to all in creation. God give us grace so to live and
speak that even flies will drop from the sky in amazement, no matter
that some will always leave the room. Even ONE fly …
NOTES:
1 Dmitri Shostakovich in 1975 on his Violin Sonata
http://www.classical-music.com/article/11-important-shostakovich-quotes
2 25 September 1906 – 9 August 1975.
3 “Dmitri Shostakovich” Erik Levi BBC Music Magazine on line
http://www.classical-music.com/topic/dmitri-shostakovich
4 Quoted on Facebook, December 2 at 3:35pm. See
https://www.facebook.com/ecctombrackett
5 “Testimony” (1979) a posthumously published memoir supposedly dictated
by Shostakovich in private conversations with the journalist Solomon
Volkov. Its authenticity has been hotly disputed. English quotations and
page-numbers here are taken from the translation by Antonina W. Bouis
(New York: Limelight, 2004). Page 175.
http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Dmitri_Shostakovich
6
http://www.goodreads.com/quotes/51262-our-goal-should-be-to-live-life-in-radical-amazement
Robert P Morrison
Interim Vicar
The Episcopal Church of St Alban
PO Box 1556
Albany OR 97321 541-921-1076 (cell)
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