Wednesday, February 27, 2013

Sermon for Lent II - 24 February 2013



“A Purposeful Journey“
The Second Sunday in Lent
24 February 2013

Saint Luke’s Episcopal Church
San Francisco, California


Genesis 15:1-12, 17-18
Psalm 27
Philippians 3:17-4:1
St. Luke 13:31-35

INI

Purpose:

I had lunch with my mother, Ruth, a couple of weeks ago.  I would regularly bring lunch to her on Tuesdays at noon, when we could visit together and share food.  Eating was a big thing to her – she loved it.  She was the complete carnivore, and she rejoiced in that.  The visits were always marred in my mind in that there was nothing to visit about.  At 96 years of age, my mother’s life had imploded into a nothingness that confused her and confounded those who sought to be with her.  In many ways, since my father’s death some 21 years ago, she had lost her purpose, and the options began to dwindle.  Sometime during the night as the 27th of January turned into the 28th she attempted to get up and collapsed and died.  Her journey was done, and her purpose was fulfilled.

We meet Abraham at a similar juncture in his life.  Called by God from the Ur of the Chaldeans into a new land, Abraham in a vision converses with God and realizes that life seems to be at an end, that he is childless, and that his purpose and his legacy is finished.  Someone else will have to complete whatever was set into motion by his life.  At God’s suggestion of a “reward”, Abraham complains to God:

“O Lord God, what will you give me, for I continue childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?  You have given me no offspring, and so a slave born in my house is to be my heir.”

This seems to be just like Downton Abbey!  When, however, we see the scope of God’s past relationship with Abraham – who brought him up out of the land of his mother and father into a new place, who took him down to Egypt, who brought him back to these lands – we understand that God has more in mind for Abraham and Sarah.  There is more to the purpose that has yet to be revealed.

The Vision and the Promise

Do you dream?  Do you remember your dreams – write them down – think about them later?  My husband writes them down.  Fresh from bed he goes to his office and captures what he cans of the dreams of the just ended night of rest.  Dreams are the great platform upon which the promises of God are revealed in the Bible.  And there are so many dreamers – Daniel, Joseph in Egypt, Balaam, Samuel, Joseph the Husband of Mary, the women at the Tomb, Peter, Paul and many others.  These men and women had their minds opened up to a new possibility.  They were given the gift of promise.

Abraham sleeps – and here the verb is the same verb used when Adam sleeps and Eve is created.  This is the sleep of creation and a new thing.  He has a vision of an every day event.  In the ancient near east if two people were going to make a contract, one with the other, certain rituals were used to note the event – the promises that were being made one to the other.  A sacrificial animal would be taken, killed, and then divided into two parts and set on the ground.  Then those who were making the agreement would walk between the pieces, would walk on the blood of the animal, and make their covenant, their agreement.  So Abraham dreams, the animals, the mysterious passing of the torch and the burning pot between the pieces, and finally the promise – descendants and land.

Now Abraham has both promise and continuing purpose.  There will be an heir, there will be a family – like the stars of heaven, there will be a land, a home, and a place.

Jesus’ Purpose
In Nikos Kazantzakis’ book, The Last Temptation of Christ, we meet a confused and troubled Jesus who is being pursued by a dark Spirit – a black angel that chases him into the desert.  He flees to a monastery there to understand his purpose and his journey into life.  It is a Jesus that each of us can understand.  It is a Jesus who looks at the question of life and can’t come up with an answer right away.  Eventually, Jesus learns that this black angel is nothing but the Holy Spirit who is attempting to anoint him with purpose and destiny.

You are not so far from that spirit and that situation.  It is but a few years ago that you were in search of a new rector, but more than that.  You were searching out promise and future as well.  Like Abraham and Sarah, you were wondering who your family of faith might continue to be, and like Jesus you were a bit pensive and fearful of the prospects.

In the Gospel for today, it is not only Jesus who wonders, but others as well.  The Pharisees share some information that they think Jesus’ might find useful – “Get away from here, for Herod wants to kill you.”  They don’t get it, and Jesus quickly reminds them that they are far from the mark.  Jesus purpose is continuous and evident.  He points out the signs of his purpose: casting out demons, curing people, and then he drops the big clue: and on the third day I finish my work.

The Journey

My mother was on a journey – one that she really didn’t ever understand.  She was however aware of the movement and events that made up her journey.  Abraham and Sarah were on a continuous journey that extended over a great deal of time and space.  From time to time they needed to check in on their journey to both understand and effect the purpose of their journey.  The psalmist for this morning is on a journey as well.  It is a journey that extends from distress to a sublime longing for God, from the battlefield to the beauty of the temple, from loneliness to a relationship with God.  Jesus is on a journey as well, with a bitter end.  Jesus goes to Jerusalem, the place that kills the prophets, and Jesus is the prophet.  He goes in spite of the bad news that the Pharisees bring, because that is his purpose.  His coming, his journey is a blessing to Jerusalem, and a blessing to those of us who follow him.

What will your journey be this Lent.  I ask this of you not only as individuals, but as a community as well.  Where will you go?  What is the purpose of your journey?  What is the promise of your journey?  As individuals you weigh the situation of your neighbors, your faith, and your family to determine how you might pray, how you might distribute alms, how you might share the promise and purpose with others.  The larger purpose of the community, this community, is just a summation of all that individual purpose and promise. 

In the second lesson, Paul speaks about being imitators of Christ, and in the 15th Century Thomas à Kempis wrote a book of spiritual disciplines that he entitled Imitatio Christi.  It consists of four “books”, each of which suggests an arena where we might discern our Lenten purpose.  He suggests an awareness of Spiritual Life first – an awareness that extends beyond the Eucharistic Fellowship here, in this place, that moves out into the world of our lives.  In the second book he suggest that the Christian “take up the cross” and take on whatever life gives to live it out in the manner of Jesus.  In the third book that is cast as a dialogue between Jesus and a disciple, Jesus suggests that the disciple not only imitate him, but incorporate himself into Christ.  Finally the fourth book discusses the role of the Eucharist, and the nourishment that the Eucharist offers in our journey.

So, where shall you go, what shall you do this Lent?  Be an Abraham, be a Sarah, and have a dream.

SDG