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November 18, 2007
You Only Hit What You Aim At
“It doesn't matter what happens because in another year everything is coming to an end anyway...” I have an acquaintance who makes this jest quite frequently these days...whenever there is a news report about the Iraq situation or a car bomb in Palestine. It is jest, most of the time, but there is this underlying sense of anticipation...maybe even fear which crops up in lots of places. There is a commercial running on CNN which cautions people to investigate the gold market in the face of the financial uncertainty. Political commercials blat at us constantly – each with their own scenario about what is terribly wrong and needs fixing – and some which make no pretense about capitalizing on our fears.
The thing which bothers me the most about the doom sayers, whether jesting or capitalizing on uncertainty and fear, is the way in which they paint a picture of the future which little by little ekes its way into our consciousness until we begin to believe it. You know, there is an old Chinese proverb which goes, “Unless we change our direction, we are likely to end up where we are headed.”
This morning's reading from the Gospel of Luke is the type of Biblical literature which is called “apocalyptic” - that is, it anticipates an apocalypse. In no uncertain terms it outlines some terrible things which are going to be happening in what Jesus seems to intimate is the not-too-distant future. The word apocalypse means revelation...vision. Jesus is presenting a vision of the future which is going to be wrenching and rending with horrible events – An odd passage from which to draw inferences about thanksgiving...and yet...There is another aspect of thanksgiving, which I believe underlies the meaning of this morning's reading from Luke. From our Biblical tradition we have another way of looking at the act of giving thanks. “O sing to the Lord a new song, for God has done marvelous things...make a joyful noise to the Lord all the earth, break forth into joyous song and sing praises.” These are words you will recognize from Psalm 98 which we just read responsively together a few moments ago. The emphasis is not on things, not even on the deeds or the acts of God, but on God. The words of the psalm are a grateful proclamation -- but not about things which we have -- rather about that which we have been spared. God has delivered the people, God has remembered, God has been faithful. The focus is not on possessions it is on God who by conviction is always faithful and will not forsake us.
There is an apocalyptic section in each of the Gospels. As he does here, Jesus talks about earthquakes and disasters, wars and rumors of war as portents of awful things to come. These are troubling verses to read, but let's take a few moments to try to understand what their place is here in the “Gospel of the Good News of Jesus Christ.”
What scholars note about Luke's version of these apocalyptic sayings of Jesus is that he “looks back through events that have already taken place at the time of his writing - times of persecution, for example and the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem and the city itself.” These are actual tragedies of which his audience is well aware. So, at the time of Luke's writing, the people to whom he was addressing himself were standing in the midst of ruin. They understood the consequences of upheaval. To them, not unlike the thousands of people whom the television has captured in their flood ravaged streets in the lower ninth ward of New Orleans -- Luke is presenting a portrait of a Messiah who firmly connects with our humanness at times of loss. Just think about what he is describing. Earthquakes - we have seen their devastation - floods, famine, and storm - the same. Nations lifting arms against nations - we know what that means. This week's observance of Veteran's Day has probably stimulated most of us to recall the friends and family we have lost through that kind of conflict...and once again we are in the very midst still one more protracted war. . Jesus says just such things are going to happen - but he also says, and this is the point, “But not a hair of your head will perish. By your endurance you will gain your souls.” (Luke 21:18,19)
I think it was Henry David Thoreau who said, “In the long run, we only hit what we aim at. Therefore, though we might fail immediately, we had better aim at something high.” Jesus does not paint this picture of tragedy in order that we might accept it - but rather that we might understand the theme of his Gospel which has been from the start when he tells of Mary singing a song – the Magnificat in the wake of hearing that she is to bear a child of the Holy Spirit. His thesis is that in this child, this Jesus, the world is turned upside down.
Luke calls upon us his contemporary readers – even as they stand in the midst of ruins, to envision life in another way – to aim at a new reality – a new community. Belief in the Kingdom of God will not inoculate anyone from hardship. Every generation, it seems, will have burdens to bear; catastrophes with which they will have to contend. That is the way of the world. What Jesus is offering is a renewing vision of the new-life possibilities which will rise out of the ashes and the rubble
This vision is the fuel which, when accepted in faith, causes us to be about the task of building - to aim for healing and restoration - instead of dwelling in our fears.
Scholastic Press is most noted these days for the publication in the U.S. of a little series of books all about one Harry Potter. In my day, Scholastic Press was the publisher of something called, My Weekly Reader . These days, heroes like Harry Potter help us deal with our fears as we enter into their struggle to defeat evil. In the late fifties – there was another approach but equally as memorable as true-life stories were shared for the same purpose – to help young people envision adversity overturned and in the process learn about the strengths and gifts that each of us are given.
I remember reading the life story of Glenn Cunningham in My Weekly Reader when I was in grade school. When he was seven years old, his legs were so badly damaged that the doctors considered amputation. And at the last minute they decided against it. And one of the doctors patted Glenn's shoulder and said, “When the weather gets warm, we'll get you in a chair and you can sit on the porch.” And Glenn said, “No, I don't want to sit on the porch. I want to walk and I want to run, and I will.” And the doctor just shook his head and walked away. Well, two years later Glenn was running; he wasn't running fast, but he was running. And eventually Glenn went to college, and his extracurricular activity was track. And soon the intercollegiate records began to fall beneath his driving legs. Then came the Berlin Olympics where Glenn broke the Olympic record for the fifteen-hundred meter race. The following year Glenn broke the indoor mile record. The boy who wasn't supposed to walk again became, for a little while, the fastest man on earth. Look what is possible.
“The problems of the world cannot possibly be solved by skeptics or cynics, whose horizons are limited by the obvious realities,” said John F. Kennedy in an address to the Irish Parliament in June of 1963. “We need men who can dream of things that never were, and ask, 'why not?'“
There will always be ample evidence to tell us that we should give up. Whether it is a personal hurdle we face or a challenge which faces us on a global level or at the level of our own community or even congregation, Christ holds out an apocalyptic hope - not of the end of things - but of new beginnings. What the gospel is reminding us as we listen to these terrible, things happening is that the nature of human life has always been in some way threatening. The shadow of the cross, with all its connotations of pain and suffering, will always fall across our path. It is a vision of resurrection - the promise of new life and renewed creation that draws us onward with hope. Christ's is a word - an assertion - that we can rebuild through a life of faith. That is what has been entrusted to us by the Gospel and that is what we claim for each child we baptize them into the family of the church. God's grace is being worked out again and again in and through each of us. In the body of the church we experience that grace again and again.
And, as one writer put it, “The only thing that I can tell you is what you already know: there's no rebuilding by yourself. It's a moral, physical, mental, and psychological impossibility. We need one another. We need a faith community to reaffirm our values and encourage our hearts. We need our common sacramental life to celebrate the special moments in our common journey. We need our parish to gather us around the altar and the works of justice and mercy that flow from it. We need our long list of saints who have been through it all, those witnesses who help us remember what we have, what is possible, and what can be done.” 1
The fire storms in California last month had not even begun to diminish before Churches there and the world over began working together to respond to the disaster. The internet hums with news of volunteers continuing to gather in New Orleans to rebuild and repair – church kitchens are warmed with the smell of turkeys and the fixings as countless thanksgiving dinners are prepared for the homeless and the hungry – the diners at SEMP will feast on theirs this evening. We respond to our neighbor, in times of critical need but also to on-going issues of poverty, drug addiction and abuse, literacy and healthcare needs. Lives are broken in many ways and in many places...streets are laid waste in Iraq, and schools are rebuilt and businesses restored. The former are not portents to the end of times...but are challenges to those who want to live and work for the wholeness of the Kingdom of God.
So we have a choice. You only hit what you aim at. We can observe our world with cynicism and despair or we can choose to make a habit of hope. As the Chinese proverb says, “...we are likely to end up where we are headed.” As you look to God with thanksgiving this week, ask yourselves which path are you choosing? You only hit what you aim at…. Amen.
1 William J. Bausch, Telling Stories, Compelling Stories , Twenty-third Publications, Mystic, CT., 1991, pp. 115-120
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Phone: 319-364-6148
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