Sermon by Fr Chris Yaw; based on Luke 13:1-9
We begin with a story from an iconographer.
Please refer to your bulletin covers - and Steve, can you please put it up on the TV screens as well…
It is Moses, dear Moses, that Hebrew baby raised in Pharaoh’s court. In the foreground we see sheep that were under his charge, as Moses had taken refuge in the desert, on the run from murdering an Egyptian, and thus he was now hanging out in the bleak and barren desert - in the boondocks - hiding out - distancing himself from trouble.
And while Moses was raised up in Pharaoh’s household - thus well-educated, well connected, and not unwise to the ways of the world - Moses was intentionally sidelining himself with a comfortable life, having married the local priest’s daughter, Zipporah, and now living the pastoral life, caring for his family by caring for his father-in-law’s sheep.
And it was while Moses was tending those sheep that a bush spontaneously combusted, a burning bush! And when Moses went closer, an angel came out of that bush! Then the voice of the Lord, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, met Moses with instructions to, as we can see in the icon, take his sandals off - for he was on holy ground - and had a holy mission ahead of him!
[—Steve, stop picture display---]
That mission?
The enslaved and abused Israelites were under Pharoah’s heel in Egypt!
And God had heard their cries - he had come to know their sufferings -
And God wanted them delivered:
Would Moses partner with God to do so?
‘Who am I to do that’ was Moses’ reaction -
'How could this happen, for I am not equipped to do so?'
But God was relentless -‘Go down Moses!’ was the hymn we heard not once but twice this morning - to underline the three things we take away from this story this morning - three things - and here they are - compassion, partnership, and liberation.
Compassion, Partnership, and Liberation.
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Earlier this week, a 10-month old baby crossed over the border from Ukraine to Poland - and was just beginning to form his first words.
His parents were fleeing their home - only able to bring what they could carry in their arms and on their backs.
Their 10 month old was one of the 1.5 million child refugees - they make up half of the number of refugees coming out of Ukraine at the rate of 55 children every minute, that's one child fleeing every second.
‘Come here, I think he’s ready!’ shouted mother to father - as they witnessed their child’s very first articulations.
And what were those first words?
“Boom, boom, boom.”...
“I have observed the misery of my people who are in Egypt;” says the Lord, "I have heard their cry… I know their sufferings…”
And this, my friends, served as the predicate to the calling of Moses.
God does not turn eyes from suffering children -
God does not block ears from the cries of the oppressed -
God knows what we’re going through - and God has COMPASSION for it all.
It is compassion for the suffering of another that is at the heart of Jesus.
And it is compassion, forgiveness, and mercy that his followers are asked to emulate.
We need it in our personal lives - we need it in our civil lives -
We need the compassion of God to well up in our hearts to change the ways we listen to and respond to the suffering -
And we need the compassion of God to well up in our hearts to change vengeful and punitive ways we act as a society.
Take the case of John Henry Ramirez -
He’s a Death Row inmate in Texas - where he’s made the news recently because he asked that his pastor lay hands on him and pray for him as he dies from lethal injection.
Apparently this is against the rules - so the State of Texas has said ’no’ leading to a stay in his execution while the Supreme Court decides it.
Now John Henry Ramirez is no choir boy - he is guilty of a heinous murder for which he netted $1.25.
But as Christians, we believe the even Mr Ramirez can be truly remorseful, love others, and change his life.
As Christians, we don't just have mercy on the victims, but on the perpetrators, as God has mercy on us.
We remember that Jesus is the one who told us to love not just our friends, but our enemies as well.
And to have faith - that God can change us people for the good.
However, the courts, thus far, have determined the opposite - that Mr. Ramirez' heinous crime reveals the core of his true nature - which is incapable of personal transformation and therefore is irredeemable. They demonize him, which is why, perhaps, they feel justified in denying his inalienable human right to live - and in depriving him of a beloved pastor to lay hands on him when he dies.
Friends, in a state like Texas, where not only are there a lot of churches, but probably the largest churches in this country, we would hope that the leaven of compassion, and mercy would have an effect on a vengeful, judgmental, and merciless judicial system.
And I hope that churches here in our state that stand for the compassion of Jesus, the mercy, the forgiveness, the love and acceptance of our savior, can have an effect on an otherwise harsh and unforgiving landscape.
As we consider the compassion of God and God's mercy for the suffering we ask ourselves about our own feelings of compassion.
We ask ourselves how driven we are by our own convictions of compassion?
We ask ourselves what actions the Holy Spirit is inviting us to take this week that are based not on revenge, anger, and condemnation, but on these feelings of compassion.
Friends, who do we need to be more forgiving toward? Who needs our mercy? Who needs our compassion?
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Many years ago I knew a man who's love for Jesus was matched only by his love of dipping squares of bread into melted cheese.
That's right, he was a Christian fondue-mentalist.
Yes, I got that joke from the Rienstra brothers...
And at the heart of it is the inquiry into what kind of God you and I come to meet here at church.
I met a man recently who called me a ’theist’ and when I asked him to explain what he meant, he said, to him, it meant someone who believed in a God who had everything all worked out - and who believed that no matter what happens on earth, it is all God’s will.
I told him that I definitely knew people who believed that way - but that I was not one of them.
After all, there are as many theologies out there as there are people - and I expect all of us have some sort of conviction or nuance of belief that is not shared by others.
And I told him that the God I believe in - that I read about in the Bible, as I read it, and have come to know through the Church and the Sacraments - is a God who has asked me to be a partner.
In other words, I believe in a God who knows all the possibilities that could arise in the future - but, because of God’s unfathomable love for us, has made you and me God’s partners - God’s friends - as John 15 talks about - and so has given us agency over determining the future as well.
What that means is that if Deacon Donna trips and falls on the carpet - I have the free will to go and help her - or not - of course, God is hoping that I do - and so is Donna - but God is not making me do so.
So, is it God’s will that Donna sits there on the ground without aid?
Absolutely not. But do I have a hand in it? Of course. And Donna, be assured, I will rush right over and help you!
My point is that God relied upon Moses to say ‘Yes!’
God did not free Israel from the Egyptians without Moses.
Was Moses a perfect vessel of God’s grace?
No.
Did Moses get the job done?
Of course.
Which makes us wonder:
What is God’s job for us?
In what ways are we being asked to be God’s partner?
What's the good work around us that won't be done unless we do it?
If the God we serve is one who asks us to step up - how are we doing so?
As a parish, certainly it’s with aid to Ukraine.
Certainly it’s to help the hungry in our neighborhood get fed.
Certainly it’s to pray with hundreds of people who come through our driveway for Drive Thru Ashes on Ash Wednesday and Drive Thru Crosses and Prayers on Good Friday.
And God cannot do any of this without our partnership.
Maybe this image of God as our partner is new to you?
Maybe you've never thought about the things that are happening around you as opportunities for us to do the work of God in partnership with God?
If that's the case, what do you suppose God is asking you to partner on this week?
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Point number one, compassion.
Point number two, partnership.
Point number three, liberation.
On April 8, 1906 The Rev. Charles Wing preached a sermon that was so popular it was published in the New York Tribune.
In that sermon, Rev. Wing told the story of a train full of children’s toys and treats that was stranded after its locomotive died - only to be rescued by a self-deprecating, insecure little blue engine who’s litany you all know, ‘I think I can, I think I can, I think I can…'
The story was told and re-told until it was packaged, years later, by a publishing company, owned in part by a man named Arnold Munk, who went by the pen name Watty Piper.
He had his secretary do the pictures, then sold it as ’The Little Engine That Could.’
It’s no surprise you remember it - as it was recently voted by the National Education Association, as one of the “Teachers’ Top 100 Books for Children.”
As you may remember, the story stars that Little Blue Train who started off with as much confidence as Moses - doubting but not ruling out the possibility that that mountain could be climbed. Just like Moses, who believed, but also didn’t -as he questioned his talents and credentials:
“Who am I to go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?”
When we talk about God’s work of liberation - in this case, the freeing of the Israelites from the Egyptians - we discover that the first person to be liberated was Moses himself. And that without his liberation, Israel doesn’t see liberation. And without your liberation from yourself - and my liberation from myself - there’s no liberation for those depending on us.
And with that we ask ourselves: what’s holding us back?
What’s keeping us from believing the call of God in our lives to be and to do that which the Almighty has placed in our hearts?
As the saying goes:
God doesn’t call the equipped - God equips the called.
So that, like Moses, we’re to have faith in the call - and liberate ourselves from our perceived shortcomings, faults, and foibles, and trust that God will work through us.
What are you good at?
What are the people around you say you're good at?
Don't we suppose that our strong points are gifts from God? And that we become our best selves not by trying to build on our weaknesses, but to improve our strengths?
Moses had the education and the social stamina to go before pharaoh and to lead a fledgling people, which God capitalized on, and partnered with, to do God's work of liberation.
Friends, our work is not one of fear and doubt but of faith and confidence - sure in God, but also in ourselves - if God can't steer a parked car, then what's keeping us from putting it in drive?
Compassion, partnership, and liberation.
We serve a god of compassion, whom we strive to emulate.
We serve God as a partner, praying for strength to do as we are told.
And we serve a God of liberation, whose work begins with us, and whose effects know no bounds.
Let us look to Moses, who looked to partner with a God of compassion, who's boundless love for the suffering and shackled led to the freedom and liberation we all seek. And may the same power that flowed through Moses be channeled and embodied in you and me.
Amen.