"Go big": Sermon for Sunday 6 October 2019
“Go big”
Sermon for
Sunday 6 October 2019
17th Sunday after Pentecost
Lutheran
Church of the Redeemer, Jerusalem
The Rev.
Carrie Ballenger
Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the
Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
Then the LORD answered me and said:
Write the vision; make it plain on tablets, so that a runner may read
it.
For there is still a vision for the appointed time; it speaks of the end, and
does not lie.
If it seems to tarry, wait for it; it will surely come, it
will not delay.
These are the words of the prophet Habbakuk, who was
writing 600 years before the birth of Jesus. Habbakuk was writing during the
reign of Jehoiakim, who ruled over Judah as a tyrant, instituting forced labor
and sanctioning all kinds of injustice within his kingdom. “O LORD, how long
shall I cry for help, and you will not listen? Or cry to you “Violence!” and
you will not save?” writes Habbakuk in response, but truly these could be the
words of the prophets of any and every age, from biblical times until now. Indeed,
these words echo our own voices today:
How long must we pray for an end to the occupation of
Palestine, only to see more settlements being built, more racist leaders
elected, and more international governments turning their heads away?
How long must our children (OUR CHILDREN!) march for
an end to climate change, and lawmakers do not listen?
How long must women tell their stories of sexism and
abuse, not to be believed?
How long must millions in our world suffer from
poverty and hunger, while the rich get richer, the gap between them growing
larger each day?
And sometimes, the cry of the prophets is more personal:
How long must I pray to be released from this pain,
from this depression, from this relationship, from this situation I don’t know
how to fix?
How long, O Lord?
Some days, it can seem that God’s kingdom of
justice, peace, abundance and wholeness is a dream dreamed long ago, a
fairytale whose magic has long faded in the face of today’s harsh realities. Some
days, it can seem God isn’t listening, and therefore will not (or cannot)
answer.
The prophet Habbakuk was having one of those days, it
seems, at the beginning of his dialogue with God.
But then, as it is written, the Lord answered. In
God’s goodness, God answered, and what God said to Habakkuk was:
“there is still a vision for the appointed time; it
speaks of the end, and does not lie. If it seems to tarry, wait for it; it will
surely come, it will not delay.”
There is still a vision! These
are words of assurance for the days when it seems all we can do is put one foot in
front of the other, and when we wonder if our efforts are taking us anywhere at
all. For these days, God speaks to us through this holy text, reminding us: “Yes—there
is a vision. If it seems to be slow in coming (and surely it does)…wait for it.
You’re almost there. We’re almost there. Don’t give up!” Amen!
There is still a vision. The kingdom of God is near.
And now what shall we do?
“Write the vision; make it plain on tablets, so
that a runner may read it.”
 |
| Somewhere between Paris and Chartres... |
This time last week I had just finished a more than
100 km walk through France, from Paris to the grand cathedral in Chartres. This
path is just a small portion of the Camino de Santiago, the Way of St James,
which is more than 1200 km total and ends in Santiago, Spain. I admit, I undertook
this adventure without as much training as I needed, and without doing as much
research as I had hoped.
In the end, I simply bought some hiking boots, got on
the plane, and trusted the leader of my small group of pilgrims to lead us where
we should go.
Of course, I also knew the path would be marked. The
tradition is that pilgrims look for blue and yellow symbols painted on trees,
rocks, and fenceposts to follow the route. The symbol of the Camino is a shell—the symbol of
St. James himself and also of baptism—and is often accompanied by a blue and
yellow arrow pointing the direction one should walk.
Seems simple enough, right?
But I am here to tell you it’s very good I was
walking with a group. For some reason, those plain symbols were often
confusing to me. For awhile, I thought there was a significance to the position
in which the shell was painted (the shell pointing right or left) – but it
turns out I was thinking too hard, and that didn’t matter at all. Sometimes I
would see a blue and yellow mark in the distance and immediately headed off in that
direction, only later realizing those blue and yellow lines were forming an “x”
– an obvious sign to everyone but me not to go that way.
And sometimes, I just got busy walking, or talking, or
daydreaming, or thinking about my sore feet, and I completely forgot to watch
for any signs at all.
“Write the vision; make it plain on tablets, so that a
runner may read it.”
And this got me thinking: if I, a walker, could
sometimes miss the signs on my short pilgrimage, just how plain must the vision
of God’s kingdom be written so that a world running amok will see and turn back
towards God?
To put it another way: as followers of Jesus, just how
clear, how obvious, how unmistakable must our faith be in our lives and in our
communities, that others can see and understand how loved they are by God?
After all, there are so many other things to distract
us.
There are so many other things to worry about.
There are so many signs pointing people away from God’s
love and instead toward money, toward revenge, toward violence, toward division,
toward self-concern and self-preservation.
Life often feels like a race, and we are running like
mad just to stay in it.
How then shall we write the vision of God's kingdom?
The answer, as it is
written all through the Scriptures, and especially in the life of Jesus, is
this: “Go big.”
Go big! Write the vision, and make it so plain, so that even
a runner may read it. So that a clueless walker like me may read it. So that
even those who are not watching for signs may see and know and follow.
To put it another way, hear again the words of Paul to
Timothy, from our second reading today:
“God did not give us a spirit of cowardice, but rather
a spirit of power and of love and of self-discipline. Do not be ashamed,
then, of the testimony about our Lord or of me his prisoner.”
Do not be ashamed. Do not be
quiet or subtle about what God has done in your life. Go big. Make the love of
Christ so plain in your lives, and in your faith communities, that all can recognize
it. As faithful followers we are to go so big with love, with grace,
with inclusion, with acts of justice and mercy,
that a commuter with his head in his laptop, wondering
about the meaning of life, cannot miss the vision in our actions,
So big that a teenager with her face in her phone, desperately
searching for affirmation and love, might look up and see it in our smiles and
genuine concern,
So big that the many who have been hurt by the institutional
church will know love and acceptance through our welcome, whether inside or
outside church doors.
Go big, says the Lord. Love big. Welcome everyone.
Forgive 70 times 70. Give away all that you have. Turn over the tables of
exclusion, of privilege, of greed, of patriarchy, of occupation. Speak truth to
power. Make the vision plain, so all can read it—runners, walkers, doubters, neighbors,
strangers, politicians…and perhaps so that you yourself will see it and be
reminded.
Dear siblings in Christ, if going big sounds
like too large a task; if you are struggling these days to have mustard seed
faith (or even mustard seed energy for daily life),
remember how Jesus went big with his love for the
world, loving you all the way to the cross.
Remember how the Father went big for you when the
stone was rolled away from the tomb and Jesus was raised from the dead.
Remember how the Spirit shows up time and again, in a big way, to
nourish the faithful,
calling you, equipping
you, and sending you out to do big things—even with the tiniest bit
of faith. After all, as Mother Teresa once said, “We can do no great
things, only small things with great love.”
Though the weight of this world and its ways may seem
bigger than we can handle at times, hear again the words of the Lord who says: “There
is still a vision. If it seems to tarry, wait for it. It will come.”
Yes, the kingdom of love is near—nearer now than when
we first believed. As near as Jesus, crucified and risen. As near as the bread
and wine we are about to share.
“There is still a vision. If it seems to tarry, wait
for it. It will come.”
In the meantime, GO BIG with love, for the sake of all
who have been made to feel small,
Go big for all who feel lost,
Go big for all who wonder if they can take the next
step,
Go big for all who are running, walking, or wandering,
searching for the next sign in the wilderness.
For their sake, and for the sake of this broken world,
may we make God’s big love plain in our hearts, in our relationships, and in
our churches.
And may the peace of God which passes all
understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.
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