[Propertalk] Proper 22 c 2016 - part 1

[Robert P Morrison]

I was writing this yesterday and went to an all day workshop today.
Here's the draft for tomorrow.
Happy weekend!
Bob

	THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH OF ST. ALBAN, ALBANY, OREGON 

	THE TWENTIETH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST

	LAMENTATIONS 1:1-6 PROPER 22 c

	2 TIMOTHY 1:1-14 2nd OCTOBER, 2016

	LUKE 17:5-10 PSALM 137

	 For some reason, I’ve had a feeling of walking in darkness this
past week, so this has been flitting through my mind, especially while
I’ve been working on this sermon.

	 Is there anything that wakes you up in the middle of the night in a
cold sweat? What terrifies you most? What makes you cringe with
embarrassment when you remember something you did, or said, or even
thought?

	 No, it’s not necessary for you to blurt out a confession. Nor is
it my intention to make you and me squirm any more that necessary.
And, who knows, you and I may even find something in the midst of all
of this to make us smile, to help us breathe deeper, to relax a
little.

	 That’s what we hope happens in the middle of the night when we
wake. After we think about what is uppermost in our minds, we hope to
find some sort of resolution, even if it’s only postponing till
morning thinking about what disturbed us.

	 Sooner or later, though, we have to react, and how we do this can
make the situation better, or worse; something with which we can live,
or else create something else with which we have to deal.

	 What is it that wakes us, though? Night time, dream time, is that
portion of our lives in which we back up all the files of our minds.
Sleep time is when we create new or more elaborate memories and,
somehow – I’m guessing here! – somehow, we leave file names,
sub-headings, little clues to help us to retrieve these thoughts and
memories, once we’ve cleaned our hard drives and need reminders.

	 So, are we wakened when some memory just won’t store? Or does the
curator of our memories ever reject anything because it’s too hard,
too bad to endure? At that point, do we feel nothing but the blackness
that surrounds us?

	 We become aware, as we jolt awake, of some dark, troublesome
thought, so we have a choice: deal with it; think about it; see what
possible remedy or resolution we may find. Or else shelve it, shove it
away from our consciousness as far and as fast as we can, and hope
that it will never resurface again.

	 Of course, we know that that will never happen. Whether we become
conscious of whatever is bothering us, we know that it will always be
there, colouring our every thought, our every decision, our every
relationship.

	 What are we to do, then, when we face the inevitable
disappointments, frustrations, anxieties and dangers?

	 The people of Judah thought they’d been doing fairly well, all
things considered – at least those who didn’t really have many
opportunities or much power to have much in the way of control. Those
who DID have the power, though, that was a different story. Jeremiah
spent practically all of his life warning those with any degree of
power that the way they were living, the way that they were abusing
others to the enrichment of their own lives; Jeremiah warned the
people that society in Judah was being rotted from the inside out, and
that soon there would be little left to make any course corrections if
they didn’t look to justice issues, to equality issues, to quality
of life issues.

	 God, said the prophet, longed for the time when the whole people
would live in harmony and compassion, for the time when no one would
be abused, when all would be respected. This simply made sense.
Without compassion, without the love of God expressed for all, the
fabric of society would be torn, perhaps irreparably.

	 And so it was. The army of Babylon rolled over the other territories
of the Middle East and carried the people to lands which seemed
strange, and inhospitable, and frightening.

	 For the people of Judah, this was their worst nightmare. This was
Egypt all over again. This was what wakened them in the middle of the
darkness and made them sweat.

	 “How shall we sing the Lord’s song upon an alien soil?” They
thought that there was nothing to relieve their misery and their fear.
Too late, they realised that they’d been sold down the river, or
across the desert, by their leaders. Too late – was it too late,
they wondered? Had they missed their chance to find fulfillment, to
explore what the prophet had said about God and God’s desires for
them?

	 Think how miserable the people of Judah were, isolated from
everything which was familiar, everything which gave them comfort,
everything which filled them with hope. They felt so defeated they
couldn’t even pick up their lyres and pluck the strings in a way
that would remind them of home. It seemed that nothing could or would
help them.

	 I can’t speak about you, but there have been a few times when
I’ve been there, in one sort of a Babylon or another. When you or I
wake up in the middle of the night, wondering what on earth we can do
to try to set ourselves on an even keel, a path to some sort of hope;
when we waken how are we to find help? How are we to find a guide to
resort our thoughts? How are we to deal with the fears and
uncertainties that come at us from every side?

	 Writing about last Thursday’s Feast Day – St. Michael and All
Angels – Laurie Gudim said, “It seems like everybody is afraid,
these days. I know I am – afraid of the polarization in this
country, of the escalating racism that is leading us to commit untold
atrocities and of the ignorance worn like a badge of courage on the
breasts of decent people.

	 “To reach for assistance with the roiling anxiety that freezes me
and makes me want to bar my doors and windows, I’ve stepped up my
prayer life. Both intercessory prayer and contemplative prayer help me
sink into that place where God dwells and where we all belong
together, no matter our differences. It helps me remember that, no
matter what, we are linked through that ‘room’ in our souls where
we are one with The Holy One.” 1

	 Think about that last comment – “no matter what, we are linked
through that ‘room’ in our souls where we are one with The Holy
One.” – this is great! This, that Laurie’s been there and
survived, is so encouraging!

	
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