[Propertalk] Proper 20 a

[robertpmorrison at charter.net]

For the editor now!

Bob

THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH OF ST. ALBAN, ALBANY                         THE 
FIFTEEENTH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST
EXODUS 16:2-15						                                    PROPER 20 (A)
PHILIPPIANS1:21-30						                     21st SEPTEMBER, 2014	
MATTHEW 20:1-16			                                                              	 
PSALM 105:1-6, 37-45

	“What does God do with questions?”

	One of the more amusing signs I remember seeing was on the wall at the 
door in and out of St. Henry’s Roman Catholic Church in Gresham. The way 
it was placed, you read it only as you left after the liturgy, as you 
went down the steps on to the street and on to engage in the world as 
Jesus’ sisters and brothers.

	The sign was quite simple actually. It read, “Complaints department – 
two blocks down, next to the slaughterhouse.”

	The meaning was pretty obvious ...  watch your manners; think before 
you open your mouth. Some may take it as an attempt to stifle criticism, 
or discussion or enforce the views of one individual, be it the bishop, 
or the priest, or the organist. And there is always the possibility of 
it being interpreted that way.

	But I like to consider it a challenge to think through my feelings, to 
be as aware as possible about what I say. More than that, though. 
Challenging, complaining, criticizing, as long as they’re done with an 
open mind, as long as they’re done in a spirit of genuine seeking, as 
long as there isn’t a barb or a dose of venom present –each of these 
allows for the opportunity of growth. And that’s the whole point – both 
of the Scripture passages AND of life with God. One of the things I’m 
always excited about discovering and rediscovering is that God never 
tires of questions, no matter how they’re expressed. Of course, all 
questions, and the manner of asking them, bring consequences. But God 
never seems to get wearied, as the hundred and twenty-first psalm puts 
it, “The Lord shall watch over your going out and your coming in from 
this time forth for evermore”. In other words, even if we keep running 
in and out, asking about this and that, changing our minds, God never 
throws hands into the air or stalks off, no matter how many times we do, 
no matter how many questions we ask.

	If there was one thing the Hebrew people knew how to do it was gripe. 
It’s too hot. It’s too dry. It’s too cold. It’s too wet. There’s no 
straw. There’s always someone with a whip.

	Then there was last week. It’s bad enough to be harassed and abused in 
Egypt, now you take us up against the sea when the army is biting our 
heels. And even when they were led in safety through the water, still 
they found something about which to complain. This time it was about 
menus and dining arrangements.

	Moses must have been ready to pull out his hair and throw away his 
staff. But God didn’t even sigh. God took it in stride, calling Moses 
aside and filling hi in as to how the Hebrews would be satisfied – at 
least for a while!

	What does God do with questions, no matter how rough, how unfair, how 
silly they may seem? Not only does God provide for all the people, God 
actually thinks ahead. God could have said, “O.K., Sunday through Friday 
I’ll take care of things. But on the Sabbath, you’re on your own. That’s 
My day off.” That’s not who God is, though. God lays things out; God is 
aware of the question even before it’s formed in the human mind. God 
took care of the Day of Rest. God’s love is so powerful, God’s grace 
exceeds anything of which we could ever dream.

	Every eventuality is covered, whether it be misunderstanding, or 
misinformation, or a lack of vision; whether it be frustration, or 
pig-headedness, or anger; or whether it be a lack of imagination that 
someone beyond ourselves REALLY cares.

	Do you remember the subtle look of a waitress or waiter when you 
complain about whatever the chef has been working on so carefully, when 
you send something back because it’s not prepared as you like it, or it 
looks completely different from what you expected?

	One dinner in New Zealand comes to mind. We ordered from the menu. We 
thought we knew what we were getting. We’d a rough idea of what at least 
some of the food would be like. Then it arrived.

	One of my daughters wasn’t looking as the plate was set down in front 
of her. When she turned, there was a bowl filled with fish – but the 
fish eyes were there, staring up at her, unblinking. She took her 
napkin, covered the plate, and wouldn’t look at the table for the rest 
of the meal. It wasn’t what she was expecting, obviously, and it 
unnerved her. I can’t remember for sure, but I think we bought some 
fruit which she ate in the car as we drove on, after her stomach had 
settled a little. She prefers not to talk about it, even fifteen years 
later!

	We’re not quite at that point yet, but even on the first visit to the 
fields the Hebrews were suspicious. What’s a quail? What’s that white 
stuff? What will it taste like? With an explanation about God’s 
generosity and the way they were getting a reasonably balanced diet – 
God thinks of everything! – after a few words from Moses they stopped 
their whining. They ate and were satisfied. Their complaining was 
answered. But, give them a few months, and they’ll start in on the 
complaining all over again. What’s for dinner tonight – and don’t say 
quail and manna!

	I wonder whether or not one day medical researchers will be able to 
micro-analyse DNA to the point that they’ll find a tiny component whose 
sole function is to make humans dissatisfied, no matter what. Some of 
the time we CAN turn it off. Some of the time we CAN deal with the 
unexpected. Perhaps more often that we’re aware, we manage to get 
through day after day without too much stress or too many things making 
us less that happy.

	We all know, though, of the things that DO crop up that knock us off 
kilter.

	Last week I read reports of an interview that the Archbishop of 
Canterbury gave to the BBC, and of an open forum in which he addressed 
questions put to him. Whether it was pick on him or to emohasise the 
he’s just as human as the rest of us, much in the articles dealt ith 
questions, with doubts, with uncertainty and I think it would be fair to 
say that he must have yelled at God a time or two. He even, to a bit of 
confusion on the part of some listeners, “admitted to having doubts 
about the existence of God and disclosed that, on a recent morning jog 
with his dog, he questioned why the Almighty had failed to intervene to 
prevent an injustice.” 1

	What DOES God do with questions; my questions, your questions, the 
archbishop’s questions, the Pope’s questions – everyone’s questions – we 
all DO have them.

	At one point in our lives practically everyone one of us gets up in the 
morning, lifts the tent flap and cries out at the seeming barrenness and 
inhospitability or the deserts in which we find ourselves. We can’t make 
sense of why we’re there, how we got there and where we’re going. 
Sometimes it may seem worse if we have some faith. We may have become 
accustomed to find God and knowing that there was an answer from someone 
whom we were accustomed to find on most streets. But then there are 
those times when the pain of the moment overwhelms us. We simply cannot 
understand where God is, never mind what God is up to.

	Archbishop Welby’s comments “came during a wide-ranging public chat 
inside the Bristol Cathedral. … Welby said he still doesn’t think 
Christians have an easy answer to the question of why a good God would 
allow humans to suffer, for instance.

	“The archbishop and his wife Caroline are familiar with suffering. They 
experienced a great personal tragedy in 1983, after their 
seven-month-old daughter died in a car crash.”  2

	If ever there were a time to complain, to criticize surely that would 
be one. The interesting thing to me is not, however, that the archbishop 
and any number of us complain and question, but that God not only 
listens, but responds, usually in an extremely unique way.

	Take the parable in the Gospel story this morning. Want to get someone 
riled up? Advertise a job at a certain amount for a day’s work. Pick out 
the folk who show up looking for the job. Then wander around town, 
continually sending others into the plant to work alongside the others. 
Finally, along about seven-thirty, half an hour before dark, send in a 
few more. Then pay them all the same.

	Got a question? You bet. My back is aching, my pants muddied, my arms 
all scratched up or burned – and those who worked barely half an hour 
get the same as I was promised? Thank goodness there wasn’t a Union rep 
in the market square when Jesus was talking!

	But THAT’S what we’re told to take as the template for what God is 
like. It’s almost as bad as arriving in the desert and not finding 
anything to eat or drink, and then having to make do with quail, thin 
bread and water out of a rock.

	It’s the times when we run into the crises of life – the medical 
emergencies, the relationship stresses with family or friends; it’s the 
times when we seem to be alone and without resources, when we wonder 
what we’re going to eat, or how we’re going to get to the job interview, 
and so on; these are the times when questions, criticisms, complaints 
come most readily to the forefront of our minds and often escape through 
our lips. And it’s only exacerbated when we feel that we’re so 
undeserving of the problem, when we feel that we’re owed so much more.

	But what ARE we owed? Did Noses, while rounding up the Hebrews in 
Egypt, tell them they’d be riding first class and would get all sorts of 
free booze and food? Were the early morning workers in the vineyard 
promised that they’d be paid more than any others who happened to come 
along later? Were you and I given a voucher at Baptism which said that 
we’d be freed from any and all responsibilities, and never have to 
wrestle with anything more complicated that the place setting in a 
five-star hotel dining room?

	No, of course not. We heard the words, “I am the Lord your God.” That’s 
to be sufficient. And should we feel like raising our voices from time 
to time; when we feel doubts creeping in; when the folk on the other 
side of the fence put another five thousand square foot addition on to 
their home and we can’t find the room to shelve our books and CDs; when 
we’re debilitated by another series of ninety-degree days, followed by a 
winter with snow that won’t melt for a month; when we REALLY feel like 
yelling at God, then we need to know that we can go right ahead.

	What DOES God do with questions? God answers them; God finds ways to 
try to open our eyes to the means of comfort and hope.

	God doesn’t lead us to any slaughterhouse but to a place of incredible 
refreshment and growth in the knowledge and love of the Lord, all of 
which means that as we continue on this pilgrimage we’re to absorb and 
show a tremendous amount of compassion and understanding. And as sign of 
that commitment, God has just opened up a table for us – with Bread and 
Wine for all, for evermore!

	Any questions? Just shout out!

NOTES:

1 	“Archbishop of Canterbury admits doubts about existence of God: 
Justin Welby tells BBC radio interviewer there are moments when he 
doubts – but he is certain about the existence of Jesus” by Matthew 
Weaver.  The Guardian, Thursday 18 September 2014 04.40 EDT
 
http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2014/sep/18/archbishop-canterbury-doubt-god-existence-welby

2	“Archbishop Of Canterbury Justin Welby Admits He Sometimes Doubts The 
Existence Of God” by Carol Kuruvilla in Huffigton Ptos: 09/18/2014 12:19 
pm EDT http://www.huffingtonpost.com/news/christianity/

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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