[Propertalk] Proper 23 b - 2

Fri Oct 9 20:01:54 EDT 2015

Part 2

	  Think again about Job. It’s not in this morning’s verses, but
surely most of us remember hearing, in one form of another, “I know
that my redeemer lies.” THAT was Job, even further along in his life
of pain. And the psalm-writer, who after her or his outburst of
desolation used that marvelous word, “Yet”, just as Job had. Yet
from my flesh, flesh which is being torn apart, “Yet from my flesh I
shall see God.”  2 “Yet you are the Holy One, enthroned upon the
praises of Israel.” 

	  Both writers find faith right at the heart of total desolation. No
wonder Jesus took that Psalm on His lips at the heart of His torment
on the cross. He found the reserves within Himself to be completely
honest about the terrific pain and loneliness He felt. 

	  Maybe THAT’S what the Bible stories are saying to us this
morning. It’s O.K. to speak plainly about the pain and anguish we
feel when a close relative or friend becomes entwined by
insurmountable problems, to speak plainly to God and to anyone else
who’ll listen. We’re NOT supposed to duck when we hear about the
other southern Oregon colleges being threatened with attacks and
carnage. We’re not supposed to be shaken by ANYthing, at least, not
shaken so much that we don’t acknowledge it. But we need to admit to
ourselves that God didn’t remove Job from his sufferings. God
didn’t remove the psalmist from the depths of her or his
experiences. God didn’t remove Jesus from the cross. God never
promises us that illness, or financial instability, or impossible
relationships can be set aside, now that we’ve made our baptismal
vows. God says nothing about what happens to city, or national, or
international communities that imply that everything will be plain
sailing. 

	  However, for our relief, for our comfort, we’re reminded again
and again, by Job, by the psalm writers and many others that we can
lean on the experiences of our predecessors, we can lean on the hopes
and faith of our contemporaries, we can analyse all of these
relationships to see where God was and continues to be, no matter how
black, how twisted, how dangerous people and situations appear to be.
But here’s the REALLY frightening part of this – at least, it is
to me. 

	Do you remember those Gospel words read by Deacon Peggy? Maybe all
this talk of Job and the psalmist have pushed them to the back of our
minds. Mark gave us the story of the man with whom Jesus fell in love.
It was the story of the man who lit up Jesus heart and mind. He’d
lived out the commandments. He’d made it a point every day to do the
just and honourable thing. All he needed was a little reassurance that
he was on the right track, that he hadn’t missed even the slightest
thing which might have furrowed God’s brow. He wasn’t keeping
score. He simply believed in doing what was right. 

	Something may have seemed slightly off to that man. He may have
sensed that there was something missing, but he couldn’t put his
finger on it. And out of His enormous love and joy for that man, Jesus
said with the utmost tenderness, “I want you with Me ALL THE TIME!
You’ve no idea how much you’ve transformed My life! How much My
heart swells when I hear you talk and see you stand there so close to
Me! I can’t wait till you’re with Me all the time. Quick, take
care of your riches. Give them away, and run, I say, RUN back here.
This is going to be SO much fun!” 

	We can’t imagine what it must have been like to have been there.
We’ve heard this story way too often. Besides, we must all breath a
huge sigh of relief that when we last checked our bank balances and
our stock portfolios the bottom line didn’t run to more than nine
digits. 

	But THAT’S NOT the point. We’re all IMMEASURABLY rich. We can all
do SO much. 

	The compilers of the lectionary have REALLY done it to us this week! 

	Job, the psalmist, the writer to Hebrews scattered around the
Mediterranean and North Africa – heavens, that letter writer REALLY
hit it on the head. Talk about your “two-edged sword”! 

	God is confronting us today, just as we’re confronted so many days,
with the question about what we’ll do about life. You and I, as
individuals, are not the only ones with troubles and heartaches.
Sometimes we’re so bothered by something we can’t see past that,
but it’s true. We have to learn that, in addition to everything
that’s going on in our own lives, there’s so much going on in the
lives of the person with whom your stand up to sing a hymn and recite
the creed, or keel to confess your sins and to receive God’s
blessing. And in addition to the person whom we may bump casually as
we engage in liturgical drama, there are those across this city, and
this country, and this world. 

	You and I are SO blessed by God, our pains notwithstanding, that we
must share those incredible riches to that absolutely everyone may be
blessed. Of course, we may decide not to do anything about this. We
can say that we don’t live in southern Oregon, or Calais in France,
or the Macedonia-Hungarian border, or in rubbled streets in Syria, or
bombed hospitals in Afghanistan. But we still have to choose what, if
anything, we’re going to do about it. 

	The journey with Jesus is, actually a tremendous amount of fun. So,
in the words of St. Molly Ivins, “keep fightin' for freedom and
justice, beloveds, but don't you forget to have fun doin' it. Lord,
let your laughter ring forth. Be outrageous, ridicule the fraidy-cats,
rejoice in all the oddities that freedom can produce. And when you get
through kickin' ass and celebratin' the sheer joy of a good fight, be
sure to tell those who come after how much fun it was.” 3 

	And come – come, take the Bread, drink the Wine! And bring your
neighbour. Here we go again! 

	NOTES: 

	[1]  Henri Nouwen in “Bread for the Journey: A Daybook of Wisdom
and Faith [1]” https://books.google.com/books?isbn=0060663596 [2]
October 8 

	2  Job 19:26 

	3  As quoted by Suzanne Guthrie, _“__At the Edge of the Enclosure:
Soulwork Toward Sunday_” Proper 23 (Year B) October 11, 2015  “The
Rich Young Ruler” Suzanne Guthrie
http://www.edgeofenclosure.org/proper23b.html [3],  quoting John
Nichols [4], _The Nation [5]_, _Remembering Molly Ivins_ [6], January
31, 2007. Retrieved February 1, 2007. Original source: Ivins, Molly.
"The Fun's in the Fight." [7] _Mother Jones_, May/June 1993.  Molly
Ivins - Wikiquote [8] https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Molly_Ivins [9] 

	 

Links:
------
[1]
https://books.google.com/books?id=VbT7HZKpl1kC&pg=RA3-PA8&lpg=RA3-PA8&dq=The+Eucharist+is+the+sacrament+of+unity.+It+makes+us+into+one+body.+henri+Nouwen&source=bl&ots=rlGbWuETvJ&sig=QoDopeVv5M-ubZA5dgvSEHHMw5E&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0CCMQ6AEwAWoVChMI36GQ06-2yAIVRTeICh00aAN5
[2] https://books.google.com/books?isbn=0060663596
[3] http://www.edgeofenclosure.org/proper23b.html
[4] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Nichols
[5] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Nation
[6] http://www.thenation.com/doc/20070219/molly_ivins
[7] http://www.motherjones.com/commentary/columns/1993/05/ivins.html
[8] https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Molly_Ivins
[9] https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Molly_Ivins

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