Falling Like Lightning?
Michael and all Angels Sunday, September 29, 2013 (Daniel 10:10-14,; 12:1-3) with Rev. 12:7-12 and Luke 10:17-20 in b.g.
Do you ever become tired? I don't just mean physically exhausted, like wanting to lay down and take a nap or even wanting a long sleep of ten or twelve hours. I don't even mean, do you really want or need a longer vacation to have your batteries recharged. No, I mean, do you ever really get tired? Do you ever reach that place where you wonder what's the use?
This week alone: a 6 year old boy is struck and killed by a school bus in Alberta; not one but two earthquakes strike a somewhat remote area of Pakistan killing over 300 people while leaving thousands homeless. These are people who already had little or nothing in terms of material goods.
Meanwhile the crimes against the people of Syria continue to mount, seemingly perpetrated by their own leaders. Chemical warfare has been waged against them. The victims – innocents – men, women and children, older people have died in the streets.
At home there are frequently beautiful and amazing things. I watch as people from our own congregation give of their time and possessions to help those on the lower East Side. One young woman named Angel said to me yesterday at the LUMS meal, "God bless you and your people Tim for what you do." Certainly her words are wonderful. But they are not spoken in isolation. I looked not only at her but also at the two hundred people that we helped to feed. I couldn't help but also see many signs of mental illness, of drug addiction, of people trying so desperately to keep their heads above water, but often being caught by the torrents of the "raging waters of their own lives and the systems they are part of. I also watched the LUMs staff, Pastor Brian, and the First United staff and wondered, "How can they keep on? How are they not exhausted physically and mentally to the point of burn out, of simply giving up or in?" From that perspective I also being to wonder about our society, including myself. I have often asked, "What can we do differently, so that these people can be recognized and treated as valued children of God in our society?" I do not see any easy nor comprehensive answers, – now or in the future.
So, I ask, do you ever get tired?
When we do, when we are exhausted emotionally, when we eventually get to that point where we feel like just plain giving up, refusing to ask the difficult questions or even throwing in the towel in terms of caring for others or ourselves, well then, it's very important to realize that we are not alone!. . .
Can we hear today's Scriptures?
The 2nd century BCE Jewish community are beside themselves because they are being persecuted. Their land is occupied. Their very faith is under siege. Many of their people are losing sight of God, giving up the faith, convinced that there is no use – that maybe even God is no longer God. Some are claiming that God doesn't even exist!
The late 1st century Christian community is trying to make sense of the incredible resistance that is literally crashing up against them both in the Empire of their day but also in their own families, within their very congregations. For a long time they have been convinced that their risen Lord would soon return. They have hoped against hope that Jesus' way of love, of sharing, of costly forgiveness would sweep across and capture at the very least their own families. Some of that has happened. Some amazing wonderful things are going on. But at the same time, the resistance to their message, to this way of Jesus was growing and growing. The cost to them of such resistance and still seeking to follow Jesus is high: of friends, of business and sometimes now of life. Jesus has not returned as they had thought and hoped. At times the forces against them are so great – that they just felt like quitting, giving up, losing sight of the hope that has been in them. The very forces of the heavens at times felt like it is aligned against them.
Today as North American Christians, we face challenges. Our numbers are shrinking. The forces of resistance to Jesus' way of love, forgiveness and sacrificial giving are mounting. Temptations to think of our faith as only personal and private, as not impacting the way we do business, the way we as entire groups treat those who are seen as the least, the vulnerable, the dispensable, grow. The temptations to think that we can't afford to do what God is calling us to do: to feed the hungry, free the prisoners of addictions, self debasement, depression and mental illness, to love the enemy, to relentlessly seek and be open to truth – these temptations also grow. Dare I say, we may even be tempted to wonder if there is truth, or if everything is simply relative?
Sometimes as we risk to be care and be open to try to follow in Jesus' way, we too are beaten around and can become exhausted.
But let me ask you this. Do you think that Jesus ever became tired? I am convinced because he was fully human that he did. What does he do, when he is so tired? He regularly goes off by himself to pray. He regularly attends synagogue to worship, to hear the lessons, to be encircled in the story of his people with God, which is also our story.
Are we doing those things? Do we regularly: make time to pray, gather with other members of the body to be encircled, enveloped in God's story, which is our story? When we do so, we are strengthened, upheld by a power greater than ourselves! In such moments, even in future difficult moments we then can be enabled to hear the reality that even though we may feel up against it, somehow by ourselves, we are not. We have heard of how God sending angels, messengers, even advocates to help those before us. At times such angels have fought against evil powers on behalf of God's people. We can't see that ourselves most days. Nevertheless others tell us of their visions, of their experiences. At times we may be overwhelmed by all the things within us and around us. Yet even then or particularly then, by God's grace comes the voice of One who encourages us to keep on seeking to do God's work whether or not we feel that we are making any difference.
And occasionally that audible voice may come from one whose name is literally Angel. That voice calls us by name to keep on keeping on, because God's work is good; because all people and all earth do matter/ and ultimately because God's reign, God's love and forgiveness in Jesus Christ will overcome the very gates of hell and hatred. Then all will be fed. No one goes hungry. Then we realize that we are all brothers and sisters, because we are all children of God, this loving Creator of the universe.
Take heart dear people. Do not give up. Continue or begin to pray. Gather for worship. The Spirit will move, even us. And then perhaps again and again Satan, that accuser and deceiver, the very power of evil, will give way and fall, maybe even like lightning. For Christ's sake. Amen.