Homily for Mid-Week Lenten Prayer Week III 2014 Change of Circumstances

Transcription

1 Homily for Mid-Week Lenten Prayer Week III 2014 Change of Circumstances How many of you have read any of the Harry Potter books? The seven books of the series were extremely popular about 10 to 12 years ago. And, of course, there are the popular films which are now played on cable TV frequently. I recently watched again the second movie Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. If you have see it or have read the book, you know that the great battle at the end pits Harry against a basilisk. That may be a new word to some of you. And you may be surprised to find out it is not unique to Harry Potter. While there are a lot of words or terms in the Harry Potter books that are made up words by the author J. K. Rowlings (like muggle or apparate or quiddich ), the word basilisk is the name of a type of mythological beast like the dragon or the unicorn, which is written about in the folklore of many countries around the world. Some even think it is mentioned in the bible. While the basilisk tends to look different in different cultures, there are certain things it has in common no matter where the stories are told. The main point to remember should you encounter a basilisk in your travels is that its gaze will kill you. Not only that, but should you manage to avoid the eyes, its breath is poisonous and full of fire... unlike the breath of God that gives life, the breath of the basilisk withers anything that gets too close. If you want to avoid the basilisk (which I think is a good idea), you should stay away from the desert, because most cultures agree that s where they live. Now here s what I find really interesting... the basilisk does not choose to live in the desert. It s just that, when everything it looks at dies and everything it breathes on withers, anyplace it chooses to live ends up becoming a desert a barren place. It is so toxic that should it look in the mirror 1

2 it will even kill itself. By now you may have already filed all of this under news you can t use but I ask you stay with me just a moment longer so I can explain why the basilisk is an important metaphor for us to hang onto. We just heard a portion of Paul s letter to the church in Thessolonica. Paul tells this small group of persecuted Christians who are worrying and grieving over the death of loved ones and who are being rejected by their neighbors and even family members Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. It occurs to me that giving thanks in all circumstances is the way to avoid becoming a basilisk. Giving thanks, cultivating gratitude, is a way to avoid becoming the kind of person that no one wants to look in the eye, the kind of person whose words go forth and wither anyone standing near, the kind of person who lives in the desert of their own creation because nothing truly alive wants anything to do with them. The way to conquer the basilisk in ourselves is to take a long, hard look in the mirror and acknowledge that we need a grateful heart. Now I have heard a lot of well-meaning people misinterpret this passage about give thinks in all circumstances. Many think God is directing them to give thanks for all circumstances. This would mean that we would say ridiculous things like, Thank you, God, for my cancer. Thank you, God, that my husband died. Thank you, God, that Hurricane Sandy destroyed my home and our church and our local businesses. First of all, I don t believe that God brings those things upon anybody. But most of all, to think in this way is a misunderstanding even a distortion of what Paul is saying in this passage. There is a huge difference between giving thanks in all circumstances and giving thanks for all circumstances. 2

3 To give thanks in all circumstances is a way of remembering that, however bad our situation may be or even however good it might be, God s presence and God s promises and blessings are all around us even when we cannot yet see them in all their fullness. Paul is giving us life-giving practices. He is telling us that it is salutary that is life-giving to our wellbeing and spiritual health to remain centered and focused on what is good, to keep our hearts and minds on the God of peace. To admonish (or warn) the idlers, to encourage the faint hearted and help the weak, to be patient with all of them. To see that none of us repays evil for evil and always seek to do good to one another to all in this way we are as Paul will say in another letter more than conquerors of our circumstances. We are not victims but survivors and even more than mere surviving, we are co-creators of the kingdom of God. I hope that you can see that this is also very different from looking for the silver lining. Looking for the silver lining is trying to put a positive spin on a bad situation. Looking for the silver lining is not necessarily a bad thing, but sometimes we can be so carried away with this that there is no room left to do the natural and important work of grief in a bad situation. Sometimes those looking for the silver lining won t even allow you to see the cloud and that s neither healthy nor truthful. The bible does not in any way ignore or deny the black clouds of experience that visit every single one of us. There are entire books in the bible devoted to lamentation. There are angry Psalms. There are prophets and people of God who really let God have it for things that have happened to them. The bible is not saying to ignore the pain of your circumstances or to try to imagine that it is really something good in disguise. What I do believe the bible teaches us is that we should not dwell there. 3

4 We should not get so stuck in what is going wrong become basilisks that we can no longer see the good things around us, or experience the love of a friend or even the compassion and care of a stranger and respond with gratitude for these good things. Learning to approach all circumstances of life with a grateful heart is good for you and it is good for those around you. It is the key to peace and harmony in any group of people but most especially in the church. But there is even more to it than that. Living with a grateful heart is also a witness to our faith and a testimony to Christ in whose name we serve. When we take the name Christian, we tell the world that we are trying to model the life of Christ so others will experience and learn what Jesus is like and want to be a part of his kingdom. One more thing... giving thanks in all circumstances is not about being a cock-eyed optimist. It is about something far greater; it is about hope. And what is hope? Well, Bishop Desmond Tutu says that hope is being able to see that there is light despite all of the darkness. And I would say that faith is trusting that the darkness cannot overcome the light. And love is the light that overcomes the darkness. Now Harry Potter and his friends had to take a class in their school called Defense Against the Dark Arts. The class was supposed teach them what to do when confronted with evil creatures or spells. For over 2000 years, Christians have had their own version of Defense Against the Dark arts we have the word of God, both in print in the bible but also in our hearts as the Spirit of Christ teaches us how to combat evil. The witness of both of these sources is give thanks. Because giving thanks is an expression of faith, of hope and above all an expression of love. Where there is faith, hope and love there can be no death. Where there is thanksgiving, there are no basilisks. Giving thanks in all circumstances opens us up to living waters of God s grace. 4

5 This is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you and me and it is our defense against the dark arts of the enemy those basilisks within and without. During a Sunday class the question was asked, "In your time of discouragement, what is your favorite Scripture?" A young man said, "The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want." A middle aged woman said, "God is my refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble" Another woman said, "In this world you shall have tribulations, but be of good cheer, I have overcome this world." Then old Mr. John who was 80 years old, with a head of white hair and dark skin, stood up and said with as much strength as he could muster, "It says, 'And it came to pass...' 85 times in the Bible." The class started to laugh a little, thinking that old Mr. John's lack of memory was getting the best of him. When the snickering stopped, he said, "At 30, I lost my job with six hungry mouths and a wife to feed. I didn't know how I would make it. At 40, my eldest son was killed overseas in the war. It knocked me down. At 50, my house burned to the ground. Nothing was saved out of the house. At 60, my wife of 40 years got cancer. It slowly ate away at her. We cried together many a night on our knees in prayer. At 65, she died. I still miss her today. The agony I went through in each of these situations was unbelievable. I wondered where was God. But each time I looked in the bible I saw one of those 85 verses that said, 'And it came to pass' I felt that God was telling me, my pain and my circumstances were also going to pass and that God would get me through it." I hope you will join with me in giving thanks for the witness of old Mr. John and for the love of God in Christ who is faithful in all circumstances. 5