Proper 19C, 2016, Scripture Appointed for today linked here
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Lamentation runs
throughout our tradition.
And the beauty
of this, is that lamentation laments what is yet hold hope for what might
be.
Our passage from
Jeremiah today holds to this. Lamenting
the reality of God’s beloved people’s failings and the subsequent upheaval of
their lives while holding forth the possibility for transformation.
Lamentation
holds hope when hope seems lost. Lamentation is the grieving over what is while
clinging to the possibility that this is not all that is.
This is the
lament of a God who has been betrayed and God’s abiding love—a love that cannot
be turned away. And, yes, the earth will
mourn but there will be grace beyond the disaster.
I was asked
recently, about the nature of suffering. How to hold the teachings of God’s
omnipotence next to our experience of pain in this world…
And, in
exploring this question, in walking the journey of my own life…
I have reached
an understanding that has brought me enormous comfort.
Many of you are
likely familiar with the Michaelengelo’s sculpture, La Pieta.
In this sculpture
the blessed Mary holds the body of her dead son.
She cannot fix
what has been broken. She cannot heal or
mend. But, she does what she can--she stays and she holds and she grieves and
she embraces.
And he is not
alone.
When I need to
lend shape to God’s love for us, I meditate upon this image.
Given the truth
of suffering, this is the image I need in order to walk the path set before me.
That in the midst our hurting, we are not alone. That we are held by a God who
knows all too deeply our pain. And, out of that place of knowing, accompanies
us so that we are never alone in our suffering.
The prophet uses
words that have been translated to read to us as “the poor people”, words that
could also read as “the beloved people”…and in that place pity becomes compassion and God yearns for the beloved who have turned away.
And, yet, they
are still beloved. And the prophet’s
phrasing juxtaposed with the psalmists offer of comfort in the midst of
castigation.
“you would
confound the plans of the poor, but the Lord is their refuge.”
The poor, the
beloved, the hurting, the fearful…enfolded within the embrace of the God who
knows most intimately what it is to live and what it is to die.
The God who
holds us all the while.
La pieta, the
pity.
The pain.
The compassion.
The hope.
The hope that
even when we are lost we will not be alone.
When I was in
college I had the privilege of meeting William Sloane Coffin Jr. Bill Coffin, who died in 2006, was the pastor
of Riverside Church in New York City and a peace activist. He was also a grieving father. His son died in his early twenties and in a
sermon that Bill Coffin delivered ten days following his son’s death, he spoke
these words
“My
own consolation lies in knowing that it was not the will of God that Alex die;
that when the waves closed over the sinking car, God's heart was the first of
all our hearts to break.”
God’s heart
broke. God was there, God saw, and God’s heart broke.
And, therein is
our consolation.
These are heavy
words and sorrowful thoughts for a day dedicated to our ministries. But, these
are needful words.
And, these are
not intended for our desolation and they are not to be heard in isolation.
The Gospel
today, juxtaposed with the prophet, juxtaposed with the images come across our
newsfeed of fallen towers and a lost little boy, juxtaposed with this our own
gathering…
And, in this
juxtaposition is the grace of the Good News, the good news of a shepherd who
has found the one who is lost while the rest of the herd waits, hopes and
prays.
The 99 are as
Christ to each other while Christ abides with the one who’s been lost.
99 left in the
wilderness, and 1 in the company of the shepherd.
No one is alone
and all will be found.
I have said in
the past that scripture makes it clear that we will walk in the valley of the
shadow of death—but, it also makes it clear that we shall not be alone
there. In our gathering, we keep the
promise that none of us will be alone in the valley and in this Gospel we hear
of God’s commitment that those who have been lost from the gathering will be
found by God.
Desolation
become consolation. Sorrow become joy. Tears to laughter. And the Christian
hope is proclaimed. Today we celebrate
that we are not alone in our ministry and that God has gone in search of those
who’ve been lost to us but never, never, never lost to God.
There are two
places in the Gospel of Luke when the heavens are described as joyful—when Jesus
is born and when the lost are returned. And, so even whilst we mourn, we are
called to celebration that someday this incomplete gathering will be made
complete through the love of God.
And, so in
celebration, let us sing.
"King Of
Love"
The King of Love
my Shepherd is
Whose goodness
faileth never
I nothing lack
if I am His
And He is mine
forever
And He is mine
forever
Where streams of
living water flow
My ransomed soul
He leadeth
And where the
verdant pastures grow
With food
celestial feedeth
Never failing,
Ruler of my heart
Everlasting,
Lover of my soul
On the mountain
high or in the valley low
The King of Love
my Shepherd is
The King of Love
my Shepherd is
Lost and foolish
off I strayed
But yet in love
He sought me
And on His
shoulder gently laid
And home
rejoicing brought me
In death’s dark
veil I fear no ill
With Thee, dear
Lord, beside me
Thy rod and
staff my comfort still
Thy cross before
to guide me
Never failing,
Ruler of my heart
Everlasting,
Lover of my soul
On the mountain
high or in the valley low
The King of Love
my Shepherd is
The King of Love
my Shepherd is
Oh, Hallelujah,
Hallelujah
Oh, Hallelujah,
Hallelujah
Never failing,
Ruler of my heart
Everlasting,
Lover of my soul
On the mountain
high or in the valley low
The King of Love
my Shepherd is
Never failing,
Ruler of my heart
Everlasting,
Lover of my soul
On the mountain
high or in the valley low
The King of Love
my Shepherd is
The King of Love
my Shepherd is
And so through
all the length of days
Thy goodness
faileth never
Good Shepherd,
may I sing Your praise
Within Your house
forever
Within Your
house forever
Amen.
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