Sunday - August 11, 2013

The 12^th Sunday after Pentecost
Proper 14 C
August 11, 2013
The Rev. Kimberly Reinholz
Luke 12:32-40

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A little girl stands waiting for the bus.  It is her first day of school.  Her back pack is full to the brim with everything that was on the back to school list that the teacher sent home: paper, folders, crayons, magic markers, number 2 pencils, etc.  Her mother packed her lunch- Peanut Butter and Jelly, carrot sticks, a Capri Sun drink and for a special treat, some Tasty Cakes.  A few weeks ago she and her parents rode on the bus on a hot August night to meet the teacher see her classroom and learn where to pick up and get off of the bus.  She is ready.  She is prepared.  She knows what to expect. They are playing tag and catch around her as she shuffles her feet in the road side gravel.    But when the bus slows to a stop at the end of the street she is scared.  Her heart races as she lines up with the rest of the kids on the block.  She looks back Her mother smiles and nods encouraging her from the appropriate distance about 10 feet away where she is huddled with the other parents.    The girl hikes her leg up onto the high step and climbs onto the bus.

18 years later on her first day of college the same girl with her dorm room packed with everything that was on the list at Bed Bath and Beyond: computer, desk, paper, laundry detergent, shower caddy, hot pockets, ramen noodles, etc.   Her parents had packed up the car and drove her across state lines, unpacked the car lugging boxes and bags up 4 flights of stairs, why had she chosen a dorm with no elevator. Afterwards they had taken her out for a nice good bye dinner.  A few months ago this had all be a dream when they had visited and taken a tour of campus, when she interviewed with the dean of admissions.  She finished her senior year.  She had the support of friends, family, and faculty from her high school.  She is ready.  She is prepared.  She knows what to expect.  But when her parents drop her off at the dorm after dinner for that long drive back home, she is scared.  Her heart races as she reaches in her pocket for her lanyard and ID.  She is leaving everything she knows behind, her friends her family and her support system, all for this dream of something better, but still something unknown. For just a moment, she looks back considering what would happen if she went home.  Her mother waves to her from the car she waves back and cautiously opens the door to the dorm and her new young adult life.

On some level we can all relate to this girl, whether as ourselves, as a parent, or both.  We all have been in these kinds of situations ones that feel like no matter how much you are prepared for what is coming around the corner there is still a sense of anxiety, a sense of fear of the unknown, which can be overwhelming when we start a new part of our lives. 

I stand in front of you living this kind of fear.  Despite being as prepared as I possibly could be to stand in this pulpit today.  Despite knowing that I have the support of Dean Pompa and the personnel committee who hired me, Bishop Paul who ordained me, the Standing Committee who recommended me for Ordination and the Commission on Ministry who guided me through discernment, and countless other people who have supported me with prayer and sacrifice through the years.  Even though you have welcomed me graciously into this community, the hugs and kisses and warm handshakes I received last week went a long way to making this congregation my new spiritual home.  Alas, I still stand before you today prepared and scared.

But, I don’t think that the kind of fear that I am experiencing right now is the kind of fear which Jesus warns us against. I think this fear is healthy normal fear, even for a Christian.

The fear that Jesus warns against in Luke’s gospel is fear that leads to incapacitation in our physical or spiritual lives. It’s okay to be afraid so long as you keep living. The little girl at the bus stop got on the bus, the young woman at the college walked through the door, and I got into this pulpit today, not because we were unafraid, but because we had faith in something beyond ourselves which made it possible to overcome that fear.  The little girl got on the bus with the support of her mom, the young co-ed with the support of her family, friends and teachers, and me with all those who believed in my call along the way.    

For those of us who believe that Jesus Christ is our Lord and Savior, it would seem like this balance of scared preparedness would be easy to accomplish.  We believe God loves us and sent his Son to die for us and gave us the gift of the Holy Spirit to sustain us we can therefore live in faith and fearlessness.

If only it were that simple.  In reality our Christianity is not the antithesis of our humanity we actually have two very distinct natures a human mortal nature and a Christian immortal nature which are constantly fighting for dominance.  Day to day, we live in a culture which fear-bashings us into believing that everything we eat, drink, do or don’t eat, drink, or do is going to cause us some kind of irreparable harm.  In our faith life, we struggle because even though we believe that the world is no more threatening than the boogey monster, there are times that the devil bends our ear and our heart and makes it impossible to maintain our assuredness in the security which the Lord God provides. 

Society teaches us to be fearful and that fearfulness seeps into our spiritual lives as well.   So much so that even though we try to put aside our fears when we stand before God this is when we find ourselves the most afraid because we are at this point the most vulnerable the most trusting in that great “something beyond ourselves”- God.

We strive to be in the world and not of it, to not let anxiety and fear over power our sense of faith, reason, and love from the Almighty God, but sometimes it is hard to remember that when we are facing the unanticipated times which come along in life.  This is what Jesus is trying to teach us in the gospel message today, teaching us to prepare as much as we can for the changes and chances of life but rely on God to give us the push to get on the bus, to get through the door or to get into the pulpit. 

What Jesus warns us about in Luke today is that we do not know when crisis will strike nor when opportunity will present itself; we have no way to tell the future.  But we can be prepared to the best of our ability.  We cannot prepare by stock piling items,  Jesus doesn’t want us to become doomsday preppers totally focused on the future calamity which may or may not come.  Rather, we as Christians prepare through support systems which are not financial or structural but instead prayerful and intentionally based in relationships.  We prepare for crisis or opportunity through being part of a community of faith by celebrating the Eucharist together, by holding one another in prayer, by offering to love one another unconditionally as God has loved us.

Jesus’ parable of the alert slaves reminds us that we must always be on the lookout for both the master whose arrival is expected and desired as well as the presence of the thief who is unexpected and unwanted.  We must wait patiently and prepare ourselves for whichever guest comes our way.

Together we are waiting patiently and preparing ourselves for those moments when we will face unexpected circumstances.  For us today we know about the cracks in the roof, our search for an organist choir master, discerning the call of the diocese for a new bishop.  But in our future we will have many other adventures the birth of children, new employment opportunities, pilgrimages, mission trips, and the illness and deaths of beloved members of our community.  All of this is par for the course for our journey of faith.  Luckily on this journey we do not travel alone and we do not wait alone.  We wait with one another and we wait with the Holy Spirit, our ultimate guide.  With guidance and companionship when we are afraid, we are not overcome by fear and doubt and the tendency to rely on objects which rust and moth will destroy.  Instead in community we are assured in the love of God by our brothers and sisters in Christ will be lifted up and helped through our times of trepidation. 

We need not be fearful, but when fear surfaces we have companions who have been with us waiting for this day anticipating the desired outcome and preparing for the crisis we face.  Our family in Christ Jesus stands with us holds us up when we fall and occasionally when we are unable to stand will offer to take our place.  This is what it means to be a servant to Christ – to be prepared for whatever comes our way, good, bad, night or day, and helping one another get through it.  Amen.