[Propertalk] Proper 23 c 2016 - part 1

[Robert P Morrison]

Here's the first draft. It may change before Sunday, of course.
Bob

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

	JEREMIAH 29:1, 4-7 PROPER 23

	2 TIMOTHY 2:8-15 9th OCTOBER, 2016

	LUKE 17:11-19 PSALM 66:1-11

	 “This is a sideways ladder” wrote Brian Andreas, “because she
likes to feel she’s making progress but is afraid of heights.” 1

	 It’s nice to know that most of the time in life, there’s a
back-up plan!

	 What a difference a week makes – at least, a week in our lives. We
don’t know about how much time had passed for the people of Judah.
But time HAD passed. And what a change had come about!

	 Last week, you’ll remember, the people of Judah were being
consumed with bitterness about absolutely everything, from being in
exile, which can’t have been too pleasant, to their housing in
Babylon, to the fact that the people of Babylon were living normal
lives, and had jobs, marriages, children – normal things. They were
SO consumed with bitterness that they let loose their venom in their
conversations with God, wishing that everything would go wrong on the
average Babylonian family, absolutely everything.

	 Then came a letter from home. I was taken a bit aback by the fact
that the leaders of Judah were able to get messages back and forth. It
only goes to show that the people of Judah were not as isolated as
they might first have surmised. neither isolated from any who remained
in Jerusalem, OR from God.

	 The prophet, the self-same one who’d been condemning all the
leaders prior to the exile, the prophet Jeremiah wrote them both a
strong and a practical letter, interpreting to them who God is and
what God wishes for everyone.

	 It’s hard for me to imagine what life must have been like in the
months after the arrival in Babylon. I remember the feelings I had in
the first twenty-four hours after I arrived in New Jersey on a one-way
plane ticket. Maybe you’ve had something similar – I know none of
you did it, but just think of those on the wagons on The Oregon Trail!

	 It’s easy to over-simplify the fear, the anxiety, the loneliness
that the people of Judah must had gone through. “Get a life,” we
might say today. “Suck it up. OK, so it’s not Jerusalem, but it
could be worse. It might be – “ well, you supply your own place
– like Detroit, maybe. But, really, Detroit’s not that bad. It’s
all a matter of perspective, of how we view things.

	 Jeremiah said something we all need to hear at least once in our
lives. He wasn’t so tacky as to say, “Get a life.” But he DID
say, “Settle down. Look around you. Find a nice lot. Build a house.
Raise a few vegetables. It IS possible to be happy again.” Then
Jeremiah said the unthinkable. “Don’t be afraid to get married to
someone from Babylon. Don’t worry if your daughter or son starts
dating a local teenager.”

	 What really fits in with our worries, though, is that wherever we
are, however we may view our Babylons, we’re told as a word straight
from God that we MUST work for the well-being of the city and the
citizens of those around us, because our health depends on the health
of everyone else.

	 For some time now, we’ve been moving further and further into the
mode of thinking of ourselves, certainly before others, sometimes to
the complete exclusion of others. Certainly, it may sound easier to do
this. We have our own budget. We have our own home and neighbourhood.
We have our own this and that. So, naturally, we spend our money, we
spend our time, we spend our energy on those things that benefit us,
then our family members, and, perhaps, if we have a little left over,
we think about those next door or down the street.

	 Of course, this is a gross oversimplification; at least, I hope it
is. But we can become so focused on our home, or street, or city, that
whatever lies beyond them seems to become so insignificant. Let them
take care of their own business, we might think. It’s not our
problem if the only industry in town shuts down; it’s not our
problem if that community is located on a geological fault line;
it’s not our problem if military forces surround a city and nothing
can get in or out.

	 But isn’t that where the people of Judah were last week? Isn’t
that what Jeremiah addressed in his letter. Of course there will be
problems. It doesn’t matter whether you happen to be in Jerusalem,
or Babylon, or Albany, God is present, all the time, and wants you and
me to make the best of it that we possibly can, while remembering how
we ARE related. If we leave anyone out, then we diminish the
possibilities and increase the potential of fear to take over our
lives. Love – the very nature of God – goes out the window.

	 “The more we love,” suggested Brother Mark Brown, “the less we
fear; the less we fear, the more we love. Sometimes we can address our
fears head on and simply dismiss them—or at least manage them.
Sometimes love can overwhelm our fear. Sometimes doing some completely
gratuitous act of loving-kindness will break through the sclerotic
accretions of fear and the fountain begins to flow again.” 2

	 Behind most of the emotions we may feel – anger, frustration, and
so on – most often lies fear, fear of the unknown, fear of how
others may treat us, even our own family and friends. This is what
Jeremiah tried to get across to the people of Judah. God, the prophet
said, doesn’t abandon people, even when they mess up. No matter what
happens, we can always count on God’s Love, God’s Presence. This
means that there’s one less thing to worry about.

	 Of course, I felt a bit unsure of myself when I arrived in New
Jersey. Of course you and I feel on edge when things change, whether
it be retirement or relocation, family or friend’s relationships.
This is natural. If we didn’t, we’d probably get ourselves in
worse scrapes that we have. But we have to search for where we see and
discover the Love of God in our lives, centre ourselves on that, and
then move on to make things better for everyone around us – so that
we can find comfort and meaning for ourselves. If we don’t; if we
live and act out of fear, out of envy, out of disdain, out of anything
but love, and respect, and dignity, then we set ourselves up for
stress and pain. Wherever we are in our lives right now, then, we have
to take stock in what’s going on, what’s motivating us. If we find
that the Love personified by Jesus is not at the centre of our lives,
then we may be in for a rough ride, possibly some sort of an exile of
our own.

	
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