June 27, 2010 Sermon

How Long the Road Is     (Isaiah 43:16-21; Philippians 3:4b-14; John 12:1-8)

Rev. Sally Harris
    
Holy One how long the road is but for all the time the Journey has already taken, may we believe how we have needed every second of it in order to learn what the Road passes by.    (adapted from Dag Hammarskjöld)

How long the road is, this wilderness wandering of our sacred story and of our lives. Wilderness preaching tends to be reserved for the season of Lent. I am sure all of us wish that wilderness wandering was reserved for a predictable 5 weeks per year with a guaranteed resurrection at the end of it all. I don’t know if you are presently wandering in the wilderness. I do suspect that the church could name this time of immense change and restructuring as a time of wilderness wandering. And I know that we all as individuals and as families, at one time or another do experience the wilderness and somehow find a way through it. Perhaps the way we choose to go through hard times is similar to how the people of Israel wandered for forty years in their wilderness. They complained and grumbled about the accommodations and about the food; forgetting about the pillar of cloud that attended them through the wilderness. How it was clear and bright during the night, giving them light when it grew dark; and in the day it was thick and gloomy, defending them from the excessive heat of the desert. They forgot about the manna and the water from the rock. They forgot about their deliverance.

Others, however, find a way in the wilderness by recounting past stories of the good times. Times of deliverance. Times when God was real. Times when all was right with the world. Remembering helps us to have hope for the times that are not so good. We've heard such stories. Remember when God delivered us in the past? Remember the exodus? Remember our God who made a highway through the Red Sea so we could pass through it? Remember when we were being chased by the Egyptians - all their chariots and horses; their armies and their warriors? Remember how those sea walls came tumbling down, extinguishing them - drenching them like a wick? Stories of past victories can encourage us and... they can keep us in the past and in the ancient way of promising God’s vengeance. A story is told that during the Civil War one of President Lincoln's Cabinet Ministers closed a meeting praying that God would be on 'our side'. Lincoln spoke after the ‘Amen', saying "Rather, let us pray that we are on God's side.'

Perhaps in our day, in our understanding we need to emphasize these words that the prophet wrote: Thus says God, who makes a way in the sea... Do not remember the former things, or consider the things of old. I am about to do a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? Remembering is good to a point but not if that remembering keeps God and us in the past. William Temple, the 98th Archbishop of Canterbury, relates a moment in 1943, when in Oxford University. As a quick test he asked a Bible study group to tell him the first response that came to their mind when he asked: "Does God know about atomic fission?" After a moment they laughed, because they realized that their instinctive response was to answer "No" and they realized they were thinking, "Because it was after God's time!"

Another way of getting through the wilderness is accomplishing much, working hard - keeping your nose to the grindstone and gaining approval from some worthy, outside standard. In other words keeping so busy you don’t learn what the road passes by. Paul understood this approach of finding a way through the wilderness or perhaps it is trying to rush one’s way through the wilderness?

Our Philippians’ reading begins with a litany of what Paul had accomplished. He gives his own spiritual pedigree, his standing in the religion of his birth. By such standards Paul has done much and has reason to be confident in his accomplishments. He has done it all right: done the right rituals, was born to the right family, was zealous in his convictions and righteous under the law. Yet he finds that all his achievements are worthless compared to the new life he has discovered in his intimate relationship with Christ. A hint that there is more to wilderness traveling than keeping busy and doing it right!

The story in John implies yet another way to live in the wilderness. It is a story of a gathering of friends. A time of eating and celebrating. Wilderness journeying is easier when we have such support. The load seems lighter when friends are around and we celebrate a meal together. Yet at this party Mary does something new, perhaps even outrageous. She has been touched profoundly by this man we call Jesus and without counting the cost she takes an expensive perfume, normally measured out in drops and recklessly pours it all over the feet of Jesus. It was a crazy thing to do. A peaceful gathering gives way to an embarrassing display of affection and an argument. Judas deplores the waste of it all and sensibly talks of giving to the poor, his relationship to Jesus seems to be a calculated one. Reasonable gatherings and calculated risks appear to be a respectable way in the wilderness.

Yet each of these ways, reasonable as they may be, are put into a different light in our readings. The way, God offers in the wilderness is not so easily figured out. Our imaginations are required, intimacy and knowing of Christ is called for and reckless acts of worship and devotion are celebrated. Yes ways in the wilderness can be found and are all the time. Some complain, forgetting the light that shines in the dark. Others remember, forgetting that God is constantly bringing forth new models, new ways of being, new possibilities. May our imagination take us to new visions for God is not only providing a cup of cool water in the wilderness but is now promising water that will flow so lavishly that even wild creatures will cease to prey... and begin to pray. The wild animals will honor me, the jackals and the ostriches; for I give water in the wilderness, rivers in the desert. We are told, don't leave God in the past because you have no idea what wonderful, amazing things will be created in the future. God is original in creating pathways through the wildernesses of our lives.

Paul discovered another way in the wilderness, not by observing laws, keeping busy and having a great resumé, but by experiencing Christ who turns the world upside down, bringing water to the desert of dry souls. It is this goal that Paul presses toward as he writes: Not that I have already obtained the goal or am already perfect but I press on to make it my own, because I have been taken hold of by Christ Jesus. Because of Christ's claim on us we are freed, in our wilderness, to undertake the adventure of knowing and becoming like Christ so that together we may be made the body of Christ for the life of the world. It was this that Mary showed us.

You see, the wilderness can also be a time of reckless acts of gratitude to the One who shows us the way. Such are the dynamics of our relationship with Christ. He blesses our wilderness and our gatherings around the table. Through the sacrament of bread and wine we encounter the divine. Here God becomes as small as a piece of bread and we taste the wonder of eternity. How can we not but respond by offering and presenting ourselves to God? A God found, not in the prevention of wilderness journeying but in its transformation.
         Yes, joy shall come even to the wilderness. Do we not perceive it?

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