October 17, 2010, "DO NOT LOSE HEART"

Jeremiah 31: 27-34
Luke 18:1-8
We are surrounded by so much negativism, pessimism and fear. Each candidate no longer campaigning on what they can and will do, but casting aspersions on their opponents. Commercials selling us products, which are not designed to last, but only to be faster, smaller, more colorful, with more memorable commercials than their competitor. Projections of the economy are not for a robust recovery, but a slow and jerky series of starts, heaping greater and greater debt on our children's children's future. The Yankees, who raised hopes and expectations with the American Series Opener, suffered a miserable loss in game two. Syracuse was crushed by Pittsburgh 45-14. HOWEVER: The Word of The Lord which comes to us is FEAR NOT, DO NOT LOSE HEART, BELIEVE ANEW!

Western Culture has been heavily influenced by the Greeks and Romans, we have named our cities Syracuse, Marcellus, Utica, Albany and Rome, BUT we are a Biblical People, a People of Faith. The Greeks had an understanding of Comedy and Tragedy, in which FATE is an inescapable Personal Destiny assigned before birth by the whim of those with power. In Grimm's Fairytale Sleeping Beauty, the Witch is not invited to the Marriage of the King and Queen, and she vows that when they have a child and the child comes of age, she will prick her finger and the whole kingdom shall sleep for a thousand years. The Greek Hero stood out, because while everyone else complacently accepted “What is the use of trying, our ancestors have done wrong and we pay the price for their arrogance” the Hero challenged their Gods, challenged Systems and Norms and expectations, believing they could.

The Old Testament does not have the same precept, but rather that there is an inalienable human right to Freedom of Will, assured through the open relationship of humanity to God, making repentance a genuine possibility, redemption a reality, and the future a dynamic part of God's creative purpose.
The power of this oracle from Jeremiah, is that the Creator of the Universe, the author of life, pledges to create a new covenant. The last several books of the Old Testament (Kings, Chronicles, Psalms, Ecclesiastes, Proverbs, Isaiah) have assumed everyone knew what the covenant was, the relationship between God and Israel:
cut into the heavens as a Rainbow that God would not destroy all life;
cut into the foreskin of Abram, Isaac and Jacob that this would be a chosen people who in their most intimate ways, in their food, in their marriages and conception, in the patterns of life, would live dependent upon God;
cut into stone in the time of Moses, that we would follow God's 10 commandments as Law,
cut into the genealogy of David, that there would always be a King in Israel.
But what if, in the time of exile, when the people had been beaten down and lost hope, if the Creator began to create anew? Can God still do something new today?

So much of Biblical Study, of the Church's resources let alone human resources, are devoted to figuring why certain things happened, who is at fault, who is responsible, which came first, how an idea evolved. What if instead of trying to go backwards through history and thought, if we changed our perspective to imagine everything in life, in human history, were motivation for what is to come?

The prophecy of Jeremiah seems to suggest that people had come to believe the Law was static, you do Right and God blesses you, do Wrong and we will be punished, exiled, even for three and four generations. Humanity had nullified the Covenant, making the relationship as lifeless/hopeless as stone. But Covenant is not about following the Law, not about memorizing and adhering to fundamental principles... The Covenant is about our attitude toward everything about God. Toward God and God's Laws and Creation and other Human Beings, our attitude toward life itself. I had a Professor of the Old Testament who regarding this passage would remind us, and if you thought circumcision was intimate and brutal, God putting God's Covenant into our hearts is like the M&M Candy worrying about how they will put a Pretzel inside him.

In Jesus' Parable, the Judge believes in nothing and no one. He is a man without hope, who no longer believes in justice or righteousness, human kindness. In the parable, the Judge is cast as the Antithesis of God. God believes in people, God embodies justice and righteousness and kindness and grace. So if this Judge could be worn down by the Widow's Persistence, what do you imagine will be the reaction of God, the antithesis of the Judge, to our prayers. The Unfeeling, Immovable Judge is finally moved, by her legal argument, her contract and brief, but most of all by her unwillingness to ever give up! Surely a loving compassionate God will move heaven and earth for our prayers.

The irony of the Parable, comes as a question. All Jesus' listeners, then and now, seem to believe in and recognize that there are Judges like this. There are people who do not believe in anything, who are filled with doubt and negativity about God and humanity and life itself. BUT, when the Son of Man comes, will he find any with the commitment and perseverance of the Widow, any who have faith?

Do Not LOSE HEART, believe!

I find it intriguing, that both in this parable and the Jeremiah passage, the focus is upon the heart for faith. Faith is not located in our minds, not in our foreskin, not in stone buildings or stone tablets, but in our hearts. Years ago there was a couple who were successful, popular, had everything their hearts desired, but something happened and for her to survive he needed to wait on her and care for her, living his life in response to her needs. Friends and family shook their heads of what a loveless marriage, that everything was about her needs and she could not even perceive all he was doing for her. But one night he paused to explain that in marrying he had vowed “For better and worse and sickness and health”. Caring for her, embodied that commitment, this was not a burden, but a demonstration of his devotion. We see a soldier back from war, missing a limb. We shake our heads at the costs of war, at the devastation and senseless tragedy; yet the soldier sees only their devotion. Who among us, if our child were suddenly ill, would not do everything possible, take out mortgages, sit by their bedside, seek every opportunity possible to give them life, to make them well. What will it take for us to change our hearts, to believe that life is dynamic, that God cares, what will it take for us to have faith and believe?

IRONICALLY, during this worship service a gentleman in the second row of the congregation passed out. Three doctors in the congregation cared for him and could not find a pulse. At which point, the Preacher acknowledged what was going on in the Sanctuary and called the congregation to act in faith by praying for he and his wife, for their comfort and God's will. An hour later, at the hospital, with an IV and Oxygen, he was alert and stronger than he had been in weeks. Do Not Lose Heart but Believe?