A leap

Image by Engin Akyurt from Pixabay

Proper 14C (Track 1) Isaiah 1:1, 10-20, Hebrews 11:1-3, 8-16, Luke 12:32-40

The parable in Sunday’s gospel is about someone who will arrive at an unexpected hour. Maybe the master of the house or the Son of Man,¹ or a thief. I am thinking about the thief. The worst thief we know whose arrival is always unexpected. That thief is death.

We don’t want to think about that, and it’s usually best that we don’t so that we can be fully present to the love, joy and beauty of our lives. Unfortunately, some deny it completely or rage at its inevitability. If they cannot have life without limits, they’ll try to amass something else without limits: money, fame, or like Trump, the power to destroy things.²

Although thinking about death is not fun — it’s a bit of a cold plunge — it is part of our reality. When we can think about it, we get to make important choices, like what will happen to our stuff. And more importantly, how we will live, now, given what matters to us. What do we believe is at the heart of the universe? What do we believe about our place in it? That’s meaning-making. And sometimes it’s a leap of faith.

Faith is what we choose to hope for. Isaiah says we can decide for a God who wants not flattery, but justice, rescuing the oppressed, defending the widow and orphan, welcoming the stranger. The Hebrew Bible heavily favors that kind of God.

It was Jesus’ choice too. He seemed to know that such a choice had perils. It did then. It does now. So Jesus says, “Do not be afraid” . . . an assurance that only makes sense if it comes from someone who is going to take the journey — in faith — with us.

Peace.

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In the next few weeks I may get to make a retreat (still on the waiting list), I may get to see my SIL (for whom I am very grateful), I have the opportunity to preach one Sunday, (for which I am very grateful), and I have a writing project to start (not lectionary-related.) All good! But I will miss a few weeks of Sermon Starts. I plan to post again on Friday, September 12 for Proper 19C.

Between now and then, please know that I consider it a great privilege to be able to write this newsletter and to have you as readers. You are always in my prayers of gratitude.

1. Sometimes this term is an apocalyptic one. Sometimes it’s just another way of saying “human being” as in Psalm 8:5.

2. Ernest Becker, The Denial of Death, (Free Press, Simon & Schuster, New York 1997) kindle edition at 126. First published in 1974, The Denial of Death, was eloquent with respect to how psychically uncomfortable we find the awareness of our own death, and how we respond to that discomfort. The book won the Pulitzer Prize. Becker died shortly after it was published. Had he lived to update it, one can hope he might have changed his views on topics like schizophrenia and human sexuality.