[Propertalk] Proper 19 a

[robertpmorrison at charter.net]

Much later than I wished, but drafted before dinner, at any rate!

Happy celebrations to you!

Bob

THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH OF ST. ALBAN, ALBANY                     THE 
FOURTEENTH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST
EXODUS 14:19-31						                                    PROPER 19 (A)
ROMANS 14:1-12						                     14th SEPTEMBER, 2014	
MATTHEW 18:21-35			                                                              	 
PSALM 114

	Why on earth would God go to all that trouble? Surely it was enough to 
get the Hebrew people out of Egypt? Surely they could do something for 
themselves, use their ingenuity, find a way to outsmart the Egyptians? 
For that matter, couldn’t they find their own home?

	God, however, chose to hang around – just in case.

	How many of the Hebrews were extremely reluctant to enter into that 
space between the water walls? How many of them, having seen what it 
looked like minutes before – so stormy, so cold, so treacherous – how 
many of them couldn’t get that image out of their minds and wouldn’t 
budge from the shore? How many of the families had young and old, 
relatives, loved ones, who were so reluctant, that they could barely 
convince them to move forwards?

	It’s not an uncommon reaction. There were no guarantees how far they’d 
make it. The water might close in at any second, and where would they be 
then? But where would they be if they didn’t move? That was a “Catch 22” 
situation if ever there was one. They were filled with fear about going 
out between the waters, but equally they were filled with fear if they 
stayed on the bank, with the Egyptian army on their heels. It’s a 
terrible feeling, to be stuck in such a dilemma that seems to take 
control over our lives. We’re unable to make decisions, even when we 
know that we HAVE to, even when we know that making a decision is vital 
for our lives and the lives of those around us.

	Even although the Hebrew people had heard of and had actually 
discovered the guidance of God in their own lives, still, they were 
unsure about stepping out into the gap between the water.

	Maybe it was the fear of being alone, no matter that each was 
surrounded by others; maybe it was the fear of the possibility of being 
separated from those others; maybe it was that gnawing fear that, 
perhaps, one had misjudged totally the intent of others to be there for 
them; maybe it was these, and more, which faced those Hebrews, unsure 
about putting their feet out on to the sea bed.

	About twenty-four hundred years after the decision was made to go 
through the parted waters, the Persian poet, jurist, theologian and Sufi 
mystic wrote:

		"Listen, put your trust in God,
		don't let your hands and feet tremble with fear:
		your daily bread is more in love with you,
		than you with it."

	I’m sure the people were given encouraging words and gestures by Moses 
and others, and possibly some not so polite ones, but love and trust 
usually have to come from experience – and it’s possible that the 
Hebrews simply hadn’t absorbed that they’d been recipients of blessings 
all through their lives, blessings through simple smiles, and 
outstretched hands, and something to eat and drink – sacramental acts 
through which God becomes present through the lives of others.

	We, like the Hebrews, like people of all ages, we may have accepted 
such touches and not realised how life-affirming, how blessing they are. 
That’s how distracting anxiety and fear can be. In another poem, Rumi 
advises,“Put your full trust only in Love because Love is your only 
salvation. Friends, don't just look for Love, look for the one who is 
also looking for Love.”

	So the Hebrews looked beyond themselves. They were transformed as they 
passed through the water. They had been passed over in Egypt, they’d 
escaped destruction and they’d been given freedom. But even in the act 
of being freed they discovered that there were more challenges to be 
faced.

	I don’t know if the Hebrews and we expect things to move smoothly once 
we get out of our respective Egypts. I suspect it’s because we think we 
have a good idea who God is, and what our relationship with God is 
supposed to be like. We’re not ready to acknowledge that there will 
always be changes, or, at least, changes that may involve stress, and 
that change will bring about the unfamiliar. Maybe that’s why we find 
ourselves uneasy from time to time.

	For a while now, people have been commenting that “Fear plays a key 
role in twenty-first century consciousness. Increasingly, we seem to 
engage with various issues through a narrative of fear.”

As a journalist put it, “You could see this trend emerging and taking 
hold in the last century, which was frequently described as an ‘Age of 
Anxiety’. But in recent decades, it has become more and better defined, 
as specific fears have been cultivated.” You only have to listen to and 
watch some of the ads on TV to be reminded of this. I laugh out loud at 
some of the medication commercials. The list of contraindications is so 
long and potentially hazardous that I wonder why some people would 
bother to take the concoction in the first place. And that’s before we 
think about the political ads that have started up.

	“The rise of catchphrases such as the ‘politics of fear’, ‘fear of 
crime’ and ‘fear of the future’, (or, perhaps, so common, ‘fear of 
failure’) is testimony to the cultural significance of fear today. Many 
of us seem to make sense of our experiences through the narrative of 
fear. Fear is not simply associated with high-profile catastrophic 
threats such as terrorist attacks, global warming, AIDS or a potential 
flu pandemic; rather, as many academics have pointed out, there are also 
the ‘quiet fears’ of everyday life.”  1

	What God wanted the Hebrews to discover is how involved God is in every 
aspect of creation: not involved to the point of pulling things about, 
or manipulating, but, instead, to try to awaken us to discover God’s 
Presence at every step of our journey. Whether it’s trying to deal with 
the consequences of something we’ve done, or being caught up with 
something outside of our control, God’s Presence is a given, no matter 
where we are – even when dangerous walls may appear to threaten to crash 
down about us God helps us to set aside those things which can prevent 
us from enjoying life, for discovering freedom.

	For the Hebrew people thirty-two hundred years ago as for us this 
morning, learning who God is; learning who they and we are; learning to 
trust; learning to have faith, no matter what anyone else may say; 
learning all of this allows some of the fear to drop away so that people 
can approach God, and approach one another, to ask for forgiveness, to 
forgive one another – all because fear has been replaced by love. But 
this happened for the Hebrews on their journey. They had to step into 
the unknown, into the unexperienced, before the enormity of God’s love 
became apparent.

	It’s the same for us and, as the saying goes, “the journey of a 
thousand miles starts with the first step.” 2 There has to be incredible 
faith, then, when we take that first step, whether it’s to cross Albany, 
or the US, or the world; whether we’re by ourselves or in a group; 
whether we know what may be there, and how people will react, or not. We 
HAVE to take that first step. Otherwise we’ll be stuck in our fears – 
whatever they may be – possibly for ever.

	That’s pretty much the soil from which today’s Gospel passage grew, 
made all the more desperate because the writer tells us that the problem 
has arisen in the congregation. Imagine that! Who’d have thought that 
could ever be trouble in church? For a long time I’ve come to understand 
that if you want to witness – or participate in – the biggest and most 
heart-wrenching fights you should attend church. Feelings run so high 
here. We may have spent time wrestling with our fears, we may still have 
them quietly stuffed into our pockets, out of sight, but not totally out 
of mind, so we really bristle when someone suggests or does things to 
shake our beliefs, or our feelings of calm. We we’ve taken those steps 
on our journeys, no matter how long we’ve been doing it, we don’t want 
anyone to rattle us, to bump us off the path on which we’re set.

	If some threat – a cool glance,  an overheard comment, a suggestion 
that we’re not good enough for this or that committee, or that our 
theology is somewhere beyond left-field – if we experience some threat, 
our first reaction is to distance ourselves from that person or group. 
But if the challenge continues, if we feel ourselves under perpetual 
scrutiny; worse, if the gossip builds up, then we feel close to boiling 
over. THAT’S when we’re horrified to hear Jesus’ reply, not just to 
Peter, but to us. “Lord, have mercy! Seventy times seven! You’ve got to 
be kidding. And I’ve to sit in the same pew while this is going on?”

	And if some nut like Rumi comes up to us in the Parish Hall after the 
liturgy and says, “Listen, put your trust in God, don’t let your hands 
and feet tremble with fear” I might be the first to say, “Stuff it, 
Rumi!”

	And if I did that, if we as a congregation, or a diocese; if we as part 
of any organization responded this way, them our journey with Jesus 
might start to falter, to stumble over the fear which seems to hang 
around, no matter how strong our faith.

	I doubt if I’m that unique, but there are times when the unknown, the 
unexpected tries to insert itself between the desire to follow God’s 
lead. Even when all sorts of Moses hold out their hands in assurance, 
even when someone actually holds out a hand to take my own – our own – 
even then there are times when the prospect of taking that next step 
makes me wonder. Fortunately, God sticks around. Fortunately, God has 
patience, endless patience, and doesn’t need any sort of an abacus to 
keep track of where we are in life. Each breath, each step we take, is a 
fresh gift from God, filled to the brim with forgiveness.
	The essayist whose words about fear I quoted earlier, concluded, 
“Today, politicians are far more likely to advise the public to fear 
everything, including fear itself.” That’s a terrible statement, a 
terrible judgement on us, if we allow it to be the last word.

	But the Hebrew people made it across despite their fear. They reached 
the other side just a little bit more transformed, a little bit more 
ready, as Rumi’s other verse expressed, to “put (their) trust only in 
Love because Love (was their) only salvation.” And Miriam, Moses’ 
sister, as the bulletin illustration depicts – Miriam danced with joy at 
the collective repudiation of fear.

	Now we all know that the story – either from the first or the Gospel 
reading – doesn’t end there. For the Hebrews, for us, fear sneaks back 
in to induce anger, and greed, and all sorts of other dehumanising 
behaviours if we allow it its head. That’s why we’ve to train ourselves 
to trust, to take chances, to hope – above all, to know that God is 
always there.

	Where would we be if we didn’t forgive – again, and again, and again; 
if we didn’t reach out to others, with compassion, and understanding 
birthed from having stood on that same spot, and been transfixed, 
because we didn’t know where to go and where to turn?

	Thank God, there are always some people who’re willing to reach out to 
us, to offer us hope, to do the Christ-like thing, to BE Christ in the 
midst of our shame, and our, anxiety, and our hopelessness.

		“Listen, out your trust in God,
		don’t let your hands and feet tremble with fear:”

	It’s not easy. But it DOES work!

NOTES:

1 	“The only thing we have to fear is the ‘culture of fear’ itself: How 
human thought and action are being stifled by a regime of uncertainty” 
by Frank Furedi 4 April 2007 
http://www.spiked-online.com/newsite/article/3053

2	The quotation is from Chapter 64 of the Tao Te Ching ascribed to 
Laozi. See 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_journey_of_a_thousand_li_starts_beneath_one%E2%80%99s_feet

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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