Keeping Faith in Tough Times The recent fires in California are enough to break anyone s heart. How could we not be affected by the 50 mile per hour firestorm that destroyed the entire town of Paradise, leaving residents homeless and without any of their possessions except what they managed to take with them? How could we not mourn a toll of over 80 dead in the Camp Fire and 3 dead in the Woolsey Fire? How could we not be shaken by over 14,000 homes and businesses destroyed, or the hundreds of thousands of acres of scorched earth, or the billions of dollars in damage, or the foul atmosphere making northern California s air the unhealthiest on the planet? I spoke with one attorney who is helping residents with their insurance claims. The attorney told me he could never forget one couple that met with him. Their faces were numb, their speech monotone, their energy sapped. Yes, most residents are determined to rebuild, but there is this deep, pervasive sadness on their faces, draining and debilitating. Maybe you ve never had to cope with a natural disaster but think about it. We ve all been there in one way or another those moments when the firestorms come our way and we stand powerless. Here you are, feeling fine, you get some routine medical tests, and the next thing you know you are diagnosed with cancer. Or your mind starts to slip a bit, and you think nothing of it, but the doctor says it s dementia setting in. Or you get into an automobile accident and you end up losing your license. Or your company decides to relocate, and you find yourself out of work. Or your son or daughter gets addicted to drugs, and you re at your wits end not knowing what to do or how to help. Or your spouse tells you at
the dinner table, This marriage is over. I want a divorce. We re not a couple anymore. So many things can go wrong in life so many things do. In our gospel today, Jesus says, There will be signs in the sun, the moon, and the stars, and on the earth distress among nations confused by the roaring of the sea and the waves. People will faint from fear and foreboding of what is coming upon the world, for the powers of the heavens will be shaken. They will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. Now, when these things begin to take place, stand up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near. Biblical faith acknowledges the reality of tough times. Yes, God is coming into the world and will make all things right. But before that happens there will be many trials and tragedies, disappointments and heartaches. We need to brace ourselves for the unexpected, because we never know when heartbreak or tragedy will come our way. The truth is: this can be a cruel world, and we are never fully ready for what may occur. In November 1963, seventeen-year-old Laura Welch borrowed the family car to attend a party with some friends. A few hours later, the Welches received a telephone call any parent dreads: a hospital official was calling to tell them that Laura had been in an accident. She never saw the stop sign, so she drove through the intersection at normal speed, plowing through a car that had the right-of-way. Laura suffered only bruises. The driver of the other car, a track star at the local high school and a good friend of Laura s, died on impact. How does a seventeen-year-old deal with the reality of killing your friend in an accident that was your fault? Laura would say that
experience shaped her perspective on life. She gained compassion for people who suffer as well as the wisdom to understand that sometimes, bad things do indeed happen to good people. Even today friends and family marvel at her serenity and strength in the face of adversity. We know this woman. For Laura Welch went on to become Laura Bush, the wife of former United States President George W. Bush. (1) This can be a cruel world. And no one s exempt. Saints and sinners alike eventually need to acknowledge the reality of evil in our world, which can bring heartache and suffering to the best of us. That s why our gospel today is so important. Jesus gives us a promise. He says there will be times of trial, and none of us will be exempt. But neither will we be alone. In times of adversity, Jesus promises that we will receive the strength from heaven to walk through whatever we must face on earth. In his insightful book Who Needs God? Rabbi Harold Kushner reflected on where people get the strength to bear their sufferings. He wrote this: I have seen weak people become strong, timid people become brave, selfish people become generous. I have seen people care for their elderly parents, for brain damaged children, for wives in wheelchairs, for years, even decades, and I have asked myself, where do people get the strength to keep doing that for so long? Where do they get the resources of love and loyalty to keep going? The only answer I come up with is when we are weary and out of strength, we turn to God and God renews our strength, so that we can run and not grow weary, so that we can walk and not feel faint. (2) Perhaps Rabbi Kushner s words resonate with you. Your world
falls apart because of a divorce or losing your job, and yet you find the strength to pick up the pieces of your life and start anew. Your spouse dies after fifty years of marriage, and you wonder if it will even be possible for you to face tomorrow by yourself. But you find the strength to move forward with your life. You get a terminal diagnosis, and yet you have a strange peace within you that all will be well because you are in the hands of God. I remember a man who was diagnosed with terminal cancer in a Toronto hospital. The doctor walked into his room and said, Go home, get your affairs in order. There is nothing we can do for you. The cancer is too widespread. You are going to die. That night in his hospital bed, the man said that he never slept more peacefully. He was told news of his pending death and yet he felt God s peace and presence as never before in his life. It happens, doesn t it? When your burdens are too heavy to bear by yourself, God is by your side to carry those burdens with you. God gives us strength from heaven to get through the tough times on earth. Jesus warns us that the days ahead may be difficult, but we are not alone. There was an elderly woman in my former parish who was the coordinator of our community breakfast program. She shared with me her story. When my husband died, she said, I felt my life was over. I told God that I had nothing left to live for. My world was destroyed. But wonder of wonders, I went on, not with the same life, but with a new life. I wouldn t have chosen for my marriage to end, to be alone, yet that was the life I got, and I must say, it s turned out okay. With God s help that woman moved beyond her pain by responding to the pain of others. Death didn t have the last word in her life. God did.
When I was Canon for Ministries at the cathedral in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, a parishioner who was an executive at Bethlehem Steel was unceremoniously terminated. When he went to his office on Monday morning, one of the Vice-Presidents walked in and told him to clean out his desk and leave the company was being restructured and he was one of the casualties. A guard escorted him out of the building. I found him the next day, lying on the sofa in his living room, staring at the ceiling, terribly depressed. The company was my life, he said to me. Now my job is gone and I m out of work. I feel so empty and useless, and I have no idea how I will support my family. That man felt his life was over when it was taking a new direction. In the next few months, he and his family moved to Virginia where he got another job. When he returned to the cathedral to attend a wedding, he looked different, much improved, relaxed and smiling. I asked how he was doing. He said to me, I didn t have the guts to quit my job, so the company did it for me. I should have done it five years ago. I gave too much to the company and not enough to my family. But I m better off now, happier, more relaxed. I love my new job and we found a great church. Here is someone who went through a tough time, but he came out a better person. The point of our gospel text is that when there is nothing you can do absolutely nothing God will act on your behalf. When the earth shakes, the wind blows, and firestorms come our way, and everything we valued and held dear is either threatened or destroyed, it is then, Jesus says, that our God comes to us. When you feel powerless, when you stand hopeless before some tragedy that you cannot prevent, when you have nothing left no defense, no power to fight back, no shred of hope in anything you can do that is the time to lift-up your head, for when things are
darkest you can see the stars. My friend, Lutheran Bishop Ted Schneider, told a story at a stewardship conference several years ago. The airport was a sea of people, hurrying and pushing. This night was especially hectic because a snow storm had snarled schedules in the air and on the ground. A little girl, probably six or seven years old, had disembarked from a plane and sat quietly by herself. She kept watching for someone. A security guard spoke to her softly, asking if he might be of help. No she answered, I m waiting for my daddy. She waited for more than an hour. Finally, there was a huge smile as she recognized a snow-covered man coming toward her. See, she said, I told you he would come. There never had been a doubt. Never did her hope falter. She knew him in whom her hope was fixed. She believed in his love. She trusted his word. She knew no storm would keep him from meeting her. Dear people, some of you are going through tough times this holiday season. You have your own firestorms, your snowstorms, your burdens too heavy to carry alone. Whatever you are going through right now, trust God, keep faith, and take courage because your redemption is at hand. The Bible is quite realistic: in this world there will be disappointments and even tragedies but be of good cheer: Jesus will not fail you. On this Advent Sunday, take to heart his words: Now when these things begin to take place, stand up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near. Dr. Gary Nicolosi December 2, 2018 Text Luke 21: 25-36 Advent 1, C 1. Ann Gerhart, First Lady from The Perfect Wife: The Life and
Choices of Laura Bush, condensed in Reader s Digest, January 2004 2. Harold Kushner, Who Needs God? (New York: Summit Books, 1989) 137