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June 27, 2010 Scripture Psalm 77:1-2, 11-20. JOURNEYING ON: The Road from Lament to Love “I cry aloud to God.” The young woman was completely unaware of anyone else around her, in the busy foyer of the Hospital of St. Raphael. She knelt at a statue of the healing Jesus by a healing pool, and she looked to be begging in prayer. She joined the cloud of witnesses who scream out in their hearts for God’s help, from the ancient times of the psalmist to now- in every hospital, in many churches, mosques, and synagogues, in prisons and in tenements, on battlefields, and in quiet places. “I Cry aloud to God”-could be the theme of many who struggle; including those on the outside of the mainstream, many who have and more of those who have not, many who are discarded, not counted, turned away from! Some of these who suffer trust their lives over and over to a God who promises to listen. To all of these, God listens. Even we who are gathered midst the beauty of this meeting house know the woman’s plea in our souls. We, too, have been burdened, perhaps with troubles unseen, or unknown here, or unsolvable. Many of us have been troubled with what we cannot control or imagine. How can we stay at this place called lament!? Psalm 77, today’s psalm of lament is an echo from a time of exile. Our ancient ancestors in faith were lost and defeated .The people of Ancient ISRAEL could not raise their voices in praise for they were immigrants, outcasts, slaves in another society. The people did not belong to the place they were forced into: the people no longer were welcomed they could not rest their heads, they could not even raise their voices to sing the Lord’s song, for they were in a foreign place. What do they do? They come together and mourn and moan .They gather at a place called the state of lostness: a region of great pain. No hope is easily to be found there.. We find that place each day when we meditate on the daily news or watch the horrific photos of oil gone wild, and our vibrant wildlife of the seas devastated. We weep! We know well about lamenting for this is Day 70 of an anathema named The Oil Spill! These Psalms of lament are the most popular psalms in the Bible. Their echoes invite us to shake with sobs. Finally they remind us to look beyond our place of discontent, loss and heartbreak and through the presence of others, look beyond even our pain. We learn and discover life is still waiting for us, calling us to take a step forward into the fog or the darkness or the unknown or even into rainbow hope. Look beyond and remember, set our faces forward! With some help and amazing grace, we go on! As summer sweetly dawns here in New England, some have grand plans for fun and others are happy to look forward to simply reading on the back porch. Glossy magazines, and probably even a ‘Kindle’ have lists of light summer readings. Most surely, neither the laments of the Psalms nor the “Hard saying of Luke” will be in great demand for the casual readers. And yet, the secrets of our own journeys could be hidden in this summer’s reflections. Perhaps we could allow ourselves moments to rest with precious directions from Scripture. Essential healing thoughts like “follow me; come to me all who labor and are heavy burdened and I will give you rest; Love the Lord our God with all your heart, all your strength, all your mind, love your neighbor as yourself; I came so you may have lie and have it abundantly.” These healing thoughts can become A summer tattoo of our spirit hidden in our souls. Not restful at all is the gospel writer, Luke, who in today’s Scripture, draws for us a picture of Jesus on a tear (tare), determined to face what is ahead in JERUSALEM. Jesus with the disciples following on the journey, pass through Samaritan territory. Of course, Jesus rebuffs his disciples James and John, who want to fight their way into the territories of foreign people, destroying with fire the Samaritan village which lacked HOSPITALITY. At this point in the Gospel, the wish for fighting and destruction reminds one of our human condition and its eternal questions. Do you remember Pete Seeger’s “Where Have All the Flowers Gone ,long time passing…Gone to graveyards everyone, when will they- ever learn, when will- we- ever learn? “We shake our head and our hearts in sorrow as we remember our tears and our wars: WWII, Korea, Vietnam, Iraq & Afghanistan. .Around the world there are many more battles to name and call to heart. We haven’t changed much since James and John, the brothers who learned to be disciples. It is clear in this collection of” Hard sayings’ in Luke’s which we heard proclaimed today, that following demands all of our love, all our hearts, souls, mind, spirit and strength. As a follower, you know what it means to love God, the God of our heart and soul, the God who hides way inside and far ahead of us. We come to discover: the source of all love is God. Jesus becomes our guide .Jesus issues a radical call to follow. This jarring call wakes us up to the enormous demands of trust.. The call for trust and the need of a stance of going forward and –not looking back is a huge commitment for each one. Probably the most famous woman
in Bible history, known for looking back was Lot’s wife. With Lot and their two
daughters, she was rushed out of town in haste. Their town was Sodom. Sodom was
known as the wicked city,” par excellence” of the Old Testament. (Genesis
18:20-33). However for bible scholars here, I have a question… “What is the name of the road in Palestine that Jesus traveled ?(pause) The road in Palestine is the Way, the road to discipleship which points each one of us in new and different directions and offers to us the love and the grace to keep going. The demands we hear this day from Jesus are very real. They take our breath away, for following Jesus in the journey of our lives is difficult. At the root the call “Follow Me” is a radical call, in which we are shown this will not be easy. This is a costly call to discipleship and whether we are in the “Good old summertime’ or the “wilderness of Sinai”, the call is an edgy one, a demanding one. Jesus’ words become a challenge, a call to move from our comfort zone into an area of care for others. We are brought face to face with steadfast love and the demands of love. And yet, here we are amidst this community of sharers and doers, of pilgrims who reach out all around the globe. WE learn volumes about doing the deeds of love by looking round our own village! Already, we are on a mission to reflect the” just “hospitality of God wherever we go.AS Carleen reported this morning, twenty six of our church members are right now on a friendship mission to celebrate our 25 years of care with the Cheyenne River Sioux Indian Reservation in South Dakota. They held a pow-wow, a feast of celebration and prayers of dedication with many dances and much laughter .AND FOOD! Perhaps,, it was the finest hour for OUR FRIENDS FROM HERE AND FROM THERE. ,They, the Native Americans of the Lakota tribe, are in need of friendship’s presence, love and care. We are called as followers of the Way, to move on. And in the moving, in the journey, and in the living out of reality,… we become part of God. Isn’t that incredible? The promise offered to each of us, the promise of grace and mercy never runs dry. We are changed, moving from the waters of Baptism , to the tears of reality ‘shores, into our own cracked cisterns which God manages to heal as we find our way, together to wholeness. Just last week, Manute Bol a National BasketballAssociation star, a champion for those who have not , made it into the New York times. .Nicholas Kristoff wrote such a touching description of Manute’s life. His recent death at age 46yrs, brought out rave reviews in the newspapers. Here was an NBA star who gave up the pampered role in life. He followed a call to give, to share, and to resurrect his town and his beloved Southern Sudan. His was indeed a radical call to help heal the violence, the tears, the laments. His amazing call was to build up the children, his sisters and brothers in Olathe his home town and other areas in Sudan. He began an educational drive, building schools to teach the children well. Manute’s blazing interests were teaching reconciliation, peace and friendship between Muslims, Jews and Christians. Despite incredible health setbacks, he gave away all of his millions to build up those who struggled mightily in his homeland. His frame was 7ft. 7inches,tall, his love was immeasurable .His legacy of love is named “Sudan’s Sunrise”. In our bulletin today,, he is honored as a parable of discipleship. In our own community of faith, as well as our neighboring communities, we are surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses. We come in many sizes and travel along many roads, near and far. What does it mean to follow Jesus? Just look around and see. From the current trackings of the White Elephant’s dedicated superstars, to all those who have journeyed far and wide, planting olive trees and trees of life, to those who are called to feed the hungry in our midst and in our needy cities of New London., Hartford, and New Haven. To those who mentor in schools, prisons, and to people along the wayside, to those who sing, play the music of life and to those who nurture and pray, we say thank you. To those who remember and write stories to cherish, to those who weed our gardens, and nurture our plants and animals, we thank you for being a follower of the Way. And some of us “fall on our knees with our face to the rising sun” and give thanks for the journey, the path to wholeness and to love. Abraham Heschel, a Jewish Rabbi of great note reminds us, “to be human is to be involved, to act and to react, to wonder and to respond.”
Elaine McNally Fitzpatrick
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