[Propertalk] Proper 28 c 2016 - part 1

[Robert P Morrison]

I forgot to post this when I finished the draft. Here's part 1
Bob

	THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH OF ST. ALBAN, ALBANY THE TWENTY-SIXTH SUNDAY
AFTER PENTECOST 

	ISAIAH 65:17-25 PROPER 28 c 

	2 THESSALONIANS 3:6-13 13th NOVEMBER, 2016 

	LUKE 21:5-19 CANTICLE 9 

	 We – you and I, the country, the human race – whoever –
we’re going to Hell in a handbasket! I’m sure you’ve heard of
that.  

	I began to think about this before last Tuesday, so I was still
fighting to keep my head above water in the pre-election rhetoric.
First one, then the other, then the first one again and, of course,
the other had to respond – it seems that some people think that the
best way to win an election – or get a point across – is to scare
people to death about how Satan will be roaming the streets of Albany
if one or the other candidate wins. 

	I think this may be as good a place as any to think about what God
may be wanting us to hear this weekend. 

	Amy-Jill Levine wrote, “Jesus understood that God does not play by
our rules. His God is a generous God, who not only allows the sun to
shine on both the just and the unjust, but also gives us the ability
to live into what SHOULD be rather than what is. (All Jesus’
conversations) help us with their lessons about generosity: sharing
joy, providing for others, recognizing the potential of small
investments” 1 So we’ve to learn to tone down the rhetoric, to
stop trying to scare folk to death. We all know – Jesus knew –
that you catch more flies with honey! 

	“(Jesus’) God wants us to be better than we are because we have
the potential to be. We are made but a little lower than the divine
(Ps. 8.6; see Heb. 2.7); we should start acting in a more heavenly
matter. Those who pray, ‘Your kingdom come,’ might want to take
some responsibility in the process, and so work in partnership with
God. We too are to seek the lost and make every effort to find them.
Indeed, we are not only to seek; we are to take notice of who might be
lost, even when immediately present.” 2 

	So we can take courage. We can try to let scare tactics flow off our
backs. We can learn to hope again, no matter how desolate, and
confused, and ruined the world may appear. 

	But the world, the media, all sorts of influences, work best when
they can litter our minds with terrorising pictures of what might
happen. When we think again of the quote that “God doesn’t play by
our rules” we can see that time too is under God’s jurisdiction.
Just because things seem to be crashing in our lives, we don’t need
to panic. 

	Easier said than done! 

	There’s a wonderful scene in the original “Star Trek” series in
which the bridge crew is being rendered incompetent by an overwhelming
attack of fear. Dr McCoy prepares some sort of a sedative shot that
allows everyone to operate normally, but completely without fear.
Lieutenant Sulu laughs at McCoy and Captain Kirk and responds, “I
wouldn’t even be afraid of a Supernova!” 

	Jesus has prepared just such an antidote for us so that we can move
towards fixing whatever situation troubles us. Of course, believe it
or not, we live in reality, not fantasy or science fiction, so people,
places, situations CAN still  

	impinge on us. Fear, or at least anxiety, IS something we need as
humans to keep us on our guards against whatever may harm us, but
Jesus has prepared for us the FHL vaccine – Faith-Hope-Love. On
these three, people can lean. From these three, people can draw
strength. With these three, we can reach out to others. And it’s the
mixture of these that we’re asked to incorporate into our lives
right now. It’s not a matter of waiting. It’s so important that we
get a shot so that we may learn to breathe again, before we turn to
help others. It’s like the pre-flight instructions on a plane: put
on your own oxygen mask – immerse yourself in FHL – before you
help others get theirs. 

	One of the problems with “Hell-in-a-handbasket” is that it’s
designed to make us see devils when they’re not there. Yet there ARE
devils around. 

	Of course, we all think we have our own security blankets in order,
those things that are at the very core of our being. We all think we
know what gives stability. We’ve been brought up by parents,
relatives and communities to hold on to certain values, to believe
that we can always run to a certain person or place, there will always
be stability of one sort or another, and that there will be a shelter
for those times when we’re assailed. 

	The Temple at Jerusalem was one such place, perhaps the primary place
for Jews in Jesus time, just as the Temple Wall and the Temple Mount
are for both Jews and Muslims today. Then, as now, anyone threatening
to destroy that religious, cultural and ethnic anchor-point can wreak
havoc on people both there and around the world. 

	Perhaps that’s why ISIS followers tear away religious and cultural
landmarks; perhaps that’s why people throughout the ages have taken
deliberate action; perhaps that’s why Native Americans’ Sacred
Places are being desecrated with such impunity. U.S. and Allied forces
are included among those who destroy what lies at the heart of
people’s identities. 

	But Jesus said that no matter WHAT happens, no matter what buildings,
what ideologies, what sacred spaces are invaded and threatened,
nothing can take away the Love of God and the Desire of God to bring
us all home safely. 

	This is not to say that Jesus was egging on those who would destroy
human lives and property, just as no one should be egging on or
excusing it today, not even doing it surreptitiously and out of the
public eye – not in the least. Jesus was making sure that everyone
understands that even when security of people and place has gone, even
when no institution can be trusted, sad to say, many times not even
the church; Jesus was saying that there is something deeper, something
stronger, something more precious even than what we think may be our
places of security. 


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