How Can That Be?
Rob Gieselmann, Pent. 12B, 2015 July 26, 2015
Good morning,
Perhaps you’ve
heard about the mother who wanted to teach her son what
certain symbols and gestures mean in the
Episcopal tradition.The little boy had
seen people genuflect, and cross themselves.
He would lean into his mom and ask, What does that mean? And she would
patiently explain everything to him.
So when the boy saw the priest go into the
pulpit, remove his watch, and place it in front of himself on the pulpit, the boy leaned into his mom and asked, Momma,
what does that mean? To which she
responded, Absolutely Nothing!
Desmond
Tutu used to tell a similar story – of a girl, whose
father was a priest. Each Sunday he would kneel in
prayer before entering the pulpit. Why do
you do that, she asked him one day. So God will make us better preachers, he replied.
To which the responded, Then why doesn’t God do it?
I
don’t mind telling you, a preacher might feel a lot of pressure on his first Sunday in a church, armed only with the story of David and Bathsheba. Really,
God? You had to give me that Scripture? Well – of course there is
Jesus and the multitude … But
King David sinned, big sins that are hard
to ignore. He violated at
least four of the Big Ten. He
coveted his neighbor’s wife, committed adultery, murdered, all while, dismissing God.
Four
of ten, but we could look at it like my friend, Bruno Tapolsky. Bruno is French, and
when it comes to the Ten Commandments,
he quips: In France, we have only six. Perhaps King David
thought he lived in France. Regardless,
God became angry at David, which you would expect
of God in response to leaders who take egregious advantage of their power. God remains positioned on the side of justice and kindness and mercy, always
against injustice and evil. Now, maybe
you’re starting to worry about your
new priest-in-charge, but I’m going down this road
for a reason. I hope to tell to you, on this my first day in a long time with you, one of my
foundational beliefs. What is it we are doing here, anyway?
The
San Francisco Bay Area is a Garden of
Eden. If you have lived or visited there,
you are aware of its exquisite natural
beauty. I used to jog through its mountains and redwood forests; ride my bike along the coastal trails. Would
stroll at night along the waterfront, watching lights
glitter as twinkling stars. So when my
friend John - not his real name,
although what I’m going to share isn’t a confidence,
as he is quite open about his life.
When
John asked me to join him on the Bay for one last sail the week before I moved, I immediately said, yes. John docks his sailboat at Sausalito,
just north of the Golden Gate
Bridge, so we sailed southward past the Golden
Gate and Alcatraz, eastward along Fisherman’s Wharf,
and finally back north, behind what is
called Angel Island – to Sausalito. While
we were sailing south toward San
Francisco, I was seated facing west, watching the Pacific fog, the way it cascades like a waterfall across the ridge above Sausalito – So extraordinary …
And as I watched the
fog swirl and fall, I felt my heart grow
full and satisfied, at peace, but also – and this is my point – overflowing with gratitude.
Not just for the beauty of the
earth, but also for John, my friend, my good friend.
I watched John as he turned the great wheel to adjust
for wind gusts, and I thought about him, as a human
being – and his journey, which-due to his own behavior
– has not always been easy. In his twenties, John was a monk; he later resigned his order on good terms, married, and became a Lutheran pastor. Clearly
touched by God, John nonetheless
did not feel complete, or at least during
a particularly difficult time in his life, he committed
at least two of King David’s four sins. He had an
affair – and it became public. He was forced out of the church. He then
wandered through a dry wilderness, struggling
deeply with his identity, all while trying desperately
to hold his marriage together.
Now
… when Jesus asked Philip where they could buy food,
it wasn’t because Jesus was worried about food. Scripture
tells us, this was a test. But here’s the thing. Most of us think God
tests people like an old school marm might
– ruler in hand, just itching to knuckle us. You don’t measure-up! We imagine God chiding. But God doesn’t
test you to prove you how bad you are, but
to teach you. Jesus didn’t test Philip to prove Philip didn’t have enough faith – Jesus already knew Philip didn’t
have enough faith. Jesus tested Philip to teach
Philip how to engage faith. Jesus
did not expect Philip to believe
Jesus could feed 5000, but to learn Jesus could feed 5000. That God still provides manna in the wilderness, in an amount that is neither
too much, nor too little. No need to hoarde, and no need to beg, in
God’s world. Give us today our
daily bread. With God, Jesus taught
Philip, there is always just enough bread to
feed those spiritually hungry and physically hungry.
Which brings me
back to my friend John. He struggled for years, spiritually starving in a
wilderness of his own making. The
same as King David, who as you’ll find out, I believe
next week, suffered awfully as a result of his indiscretion.
But you see, there is this thing called Grace.
So
if you want to understand the spiritual principal that guides me most fundamentally, listen now: When Jesus and
Scripture speak about salvation, which they do often,
neither is so much referring to heaven and hell.
But this world. This
life. Salvation begins today. It means nothing
if not the transformation of a wilderness life into
one of depth and meaning. God takes you and me where
we are, with who we are, regardless of how we got there. Regardless of the life you’ve led, the good or bad – or like most of us –the somewhere in
between. And transforms us. Salvation
is the conversion from a meaningless,
nihilistic life into one of depth, grace and hope. God loves you, after all. God is for you, after
all. God has a purpose
for you, after all. You aren’t alone,
and you needn’t wander alone. And
you needn’t die alone.
So there I was, the
fog swirling above Sausalito, watching
John, and it struck me. Because John now lives the
most extraordinary life – he is one of the most humble, generous people I know. He lives with an integrity I only dream of, and he touches
other peoples’ lives. Literally, John feeds those hungry in the
wilderness, helps people with AIDS. Prays gently and kindly for all types of people who hunger and thirst for
righteousness. And there is King
David – After David sinned, God could have
changed the plan, but God didn’t. David became Jesus’progenitor,
anyway.
And you have to wonder,
how can that be?
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