A Reflection on telling stories

A Homily for II Lent All Saints’ Church, Southern Shores, NC February 24, 2013 Thomas E. Wilson, Rector

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

The Psalmist for today urges us not to walk our own path but to find our meaning in life by being servants of God’s promise. It is a Psalm in which the singer is asking God’s protection against the enemies who surround the singer when even family disappoints. The singer begins and ends with verses of absolute dependence and faithfulness to God:

The LORD is my light and my salvation;
whom then shall I fear? *
the LORD is the strength of my life;
of whom then shall I be afraid?

And then the end:

O tarry and await the LORD'S pleasure;
be strong, and he shall comfort your heart; *
wait patiently for the LORD.

Let me do some translation of the poetry for you. The word “comfort” does not mean a soft pillow, but it comes from the Latin “with strength” or “cum fortis” meaning strengthen. “Heart” is not the place of emotion but the seat of will. “To wait patiently” means to Hope. The word LORD, all in capitals, is the singer’s attempt not to say the name of God out loud, and possibly in vain, so the singer uses, instead, “the LORD”.

I like Rabbi Robert Alter’s translation of the last verse: “Hope for the LORD!/ Let your heart be firm and bold and hope for the LORD” 

 

 Last Monday morning I did not get up early and go to exercise because Sunday night I stayed up late and watched the final chapter of this season’s Downton Abbey on PBS. I enjoy watching the series, which is basically a soap opera; the acting is average for British television, but there are a couple of actors who really impress. The costumes are splendid and the characters know how to wear them. The costumes are really important, for each show has at least one scene in which the character changes into clothing which will define their activity - either a servant putting on a uniform or a Master putting on a gown or suit. The clothes are not just ornaments, but they are ways the characters remind themselves about who they are and how they fit into the larger promise. 

 

The scripts have some flavor of a time long ago but with some tension between modern issues of change and how we adapt to a changing world. Servant or Master, these are really all servants - people who struggle with either being faithful to the position in which they find themselves or breaking away. The owners of the manor especially are struggling with the question of whether the land, or even their bodies, belongs to them to do with as they will, or if the land and their bodies belong to the descendants who will come after them. The servants see their lives defined by doing what is best for the Manor. Servant or Master, their lives are not their own, most seeing themselves as stewards for those who come after them. At times, watching the show is a guilty pleasure, an enjoyable waste of time, each episode having a beginning, middle, and end which teases us to the next episode and season. 

 

This year two characters died off, but the world will not be changed if characters die in a make-believe world. What is important is the story and what it says for their time and for ours. There was a good scene a couple weeks ago where both the Masters and Servants had to work together to win a cricket match - each player’s own agenda had to be placed aside for the greater good. Last week there was a theme of contrast between the characters who live and work in Downton Abbey and the characters who live and work in a castle in Scotland. The people in Downton have hope because they understand themselves as part of something larger, whereas the people in the Scottish castle have no hope because they are caught in the hopeless crossfire between competing agendas covered over with nostalgia. Maybe we need to hear these stories more often.

Real life, in the real world, continues nevertheless. The show ended a little after 11:00, and I could not get to sleep for another hour while I thought about the story. However, I’m glad I stayed up because it got me to think about how I might have responded in that time and place if I saw my life as stewardship for those who come after me.

I think that is the whole process of what we go through every week when we look at stories about people in faraway times and places. It can be a waste of time if all we do is hear the story without thinking about each of the people and what each has to do with our lives right here and now. Today’s scripture stories have to do with people who choose to go on a journey because they feel called by God, despite their uncertainty about the outcome of their trip. There will be times when they are not sure if they should continue. There will be times when they will be tempted to go down other paths. There will be times when they will not be sure they have the energy to continue; but they will wake up each day, put one foot in front of another and continue, not just for themselves but also for the people who come after them.

In the first scripture story for today, Abram has a promise and he holds on to his promise because it defines who he is. Day in and day out he cannot get away from that promise. He has left everything he knows, as his father had left Ur of the Chaldees and moved to Haran, and Abram hears the call of God to continue the life of a wanderer to go to a land that will not be his but will be for his descendants. He is a steward of the promise of the generations yet to come. Each day he will rise up again and live his life as if he was not the center of his universe, but a servant of the promise.

Paul in the letter to the Philippians warns his friends about people “whose God is their belly”. These are the people who just think it is all about them and what they can consume. He reminds his friends that joy is available if they live a life of stewardship to their Lord Jesus. He reminds them that they are “citizens of heaven” whose task is not to live as it was all about them but about the one whom they are called to follow. Each day they are to rise up putting one foot in front of another on a different kind of path and live their lives as if they were not the center of the universe but servants of the promise.

Jesus, in the story from Luke, is warned that he might lose his life and liberty, and they urge him to be safe. Jesus responds that it is not all about him. Each day he will rise up, put one foot in front of the other and live his life not as if he is the center of his universe but a servant of the promise.

When we said that we would be followers of Christ, we said that our lives are not ours to do with whatever we want. The promise is that we will live as if our lives are defined by God and neighbor being as important as ourselves. We promised that our God would not be our bellies, we would not be defined by what we consume. We accepted our part in the cosmic drama of real life, where we would not play the role of the “Lord of the Manor” but rather commit ourselves to the role of servants of the promise of the Lord of the Universe.

“Hope for the LORD! / Let your heart be firm and bold and hope for the LORD.”