Listen to Readings and Sermon

12th Sunday after Pentecost

The Good News Written

Jeremiah 23.23-24 (NRSV)

²³”Am I a God nearby,” says the Lord, “and not a God far off? ²⁴Who can hide in secret places so that I cannot see them?” says the Lord. “Do I not fill heaven and earth?” says the Lord.

From the wisdom of Ernest Holmes:

“We must awake to the realization that a Divine Partnership has already been formed between the seen and the invisible.”

Luke 12.54-56 (NRSV)

⁵⁴[Jesus]… said to the crowds, “When you see a cloud rising in the west, you immediately say, ‘It is going to rain’; and so it happens. ⁵⁵And when you see the south wind blowing, you say, ‘There will be scorching heat’; and it happens. ⁵⁶You hypocrites! You know how to interpret the appearance of earth and sky, but why do you not know how to interpret the present time?”

The Good News Proclaimed

Preached by the Reverend Doctor Durrell Watkins at the Sunshine Cathedral on Sunday, August 15, 2010.

“We Are” (Y. Barnwell, 1993)

For each child that’s born/a morning star rises/and sings to the universe/who we are.
We are our grandmothers’ prayers./We are our grandfathers’ dreamings./We are the breath of the ancestors./We are the spirit of God.
We are Mothers of courage/Fathers of time/Daughters of dust/Sons of great vision.
We are Sisters of mercy/Brothers of love/Lovers of life and/the builders of nations.
We are Seekers of truth/Keepers of faith/Makers of peace and/the wisdom of ages.
We are our grandmothers’ prayers./We are our grandfathers’ dreamings./We are the breath of the ancestors./We are the spirit of God.
For each child that’s born/a morning star rises/and sings to the universe/who we are./WE ARE ONE.

………………………………………………………………………………………………………

There is something urgent in the writer’s mind, and he is apparently annoyed that people are chatting about the weather.

The weather!

Luke is writing somewhere between 90 AD and 120 AD. Jesus was executed more than half century earlier. The Temple of Jerusalem has been in ruins for at least 2 decades.  The apostle Paul was executed about 6 years before the temple was destroyed. The new Jesus movements have been dismissed as heretical by the religious establishment and accused of being subversive by the government. It’s a rough time in the life of the early church.

Paul and other early leaders seemed to believe after Jesus’ execution that not only did they experience his living presence beyond death in what they called the resurrection, but they also believed that Jesus would somehow return to them in a very tangible way to lead them in rebellion against the imperial power of Rome, and re-establish their independent homeland.

But Paul’s been gone for decades, and now even the holy city and its temple have been destroyed, and no return of Jesus in any literal, undeniable way has occurred. The people, under the weight of oppression, and disappointment, and heartache, and loss are becoming increasingly depressed.

Some of us thought Jesus was the messiah…the anointed one chosen by God to rule over us as king in a re-established, independent Jewish kingdom. When no such kingdom came to pass, others of us started seeing him as the son of humanity (or son of Man, or Human One), that mystical figure from the book of Daniel…a magical sort of person who would come riding in a cloud righting wrongs and comforting those who had suffered loss. But now it’s been a while, and there is no kingdom, and there is no super-hero riding on a cloud coming to save to the day. And like the psalmist in that famous psalm of lament, Psalm 22, a psalm placed on the lips of Jesus in the crucifixion narratives, the people start to wonder, “My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?”

We’re in a tough spot. Jesus didn’t set up a government-in-exile. In fact, he was arrested, tortured, tried, convicted, and executed. And he didn’t return on a cloud to set up a new government in the holy city, in fact, the holy city no longer exists…Rome leveled it in the year 70. And things don’t seem to be getting any better. And what happens when we feel overwhelmed, uncomfortable, ill at ease…we seek a distraction. And in the midst of this chaos and pain and devastation there are people talking about the weather. The weather.

And Luke imagines Jesus shaking people out of their distractions. “You’re talking about rain and heat and wind, but how about paying attention to what’s really going on in our lives! People are hurting! People are scared! People are desperate! Forget about the temperature for heaven’s sake and let’s deal with the human souls that are crumbling under the weight of oppression sickness, that are withering from isolation and despair. If it’s hot, find some shade. If it’s raining, take cover. But the oppression and depression and regression happening in our community won’t just go away…we need to respond to it. We need to offer something, now.

And the beautiful thing is, that what needed to be offered was already available to them. They just needed to be reminded, shown.

The prophet Jeremiah knew pain…he’s known as the weeping prophet. As one who had faced pain, he knew the importance of healing actions. And so, speaking for our loving God, Jeremiah wrote, “Am I a God nearby rather than one far away? Where could you hide that I couldn’t see you? Do I not fill all the universe, including your world where you are?”

That’s what Jeremiah had to offer hurting people…assurance of God’s unconditional love.

Jesus, no stranger to pain himself, had to offer hurting people…assurance of God’s unconditional love.

That’s what we have to offer hurting people: the assurance of God’s unconditional love. Right where you are…in your pain, in your loneliness, in your uncertainty or woundedness, God is with you as unconditional love, holding you, watching over you.

Now, it’s one thing to say that…but how will people really know it’s true?

Well, Jesus touched people…he touched people with such compassion and offered them such hope, they believed that God was touching them. Jesus touched them…even when they felt untouchable, even when society said they were untouchable, he touched them, and in his touch they felt healing love, and that love was the power of God. We can touch people.

Now, hugs are nice, hand-shaking is nice, and pats on the back are nice, but there are many ways we can touch someone.

When Amy Walker collects food and encourages you to give food for local food banks…she and you are touching people with the love of God.

When our visitation teams show up at someone’s bedside, they are touching people with the love of God.

When we contribute money to the place that spiritually nourishes us and tries in so many ways to encourage others, we are touching people with the love of God.

When our musicians sit at the drums or hold their instruments or place their hands on the keyboards or join their voices together in song, they are sending out healing energies through sound and they are touching people with the love of God.

When you volunteer to count money, to enter data, read from the lectern, to greet people at the door, to prepare refreshments for hospitality, to clean the worship space, to answer the phone, to run sound or lights or video, you are contributing to an infrastructure that is making it possible for us to touch people with the love of God.

When we say to someone who is hurting, “I love you. I’m wishing you the best. How can I help?,” you are touching that person with the love of God.

I received a couple of emails and couple of phone calls this week that touched me so deeply, that offered me profound healing. One woman prayed for me…it’s my job to pray for people, but she prayed for me…and it was so beautiful. I don’t even remember what she said, but I know what she did…she offered love, and that love was nothing less than the power of God. Just people sharing love, sharing themselves, making time, offering their concern and attentiveness… it was like water on parched lips…I felt the renewing power of God’s love flowing through them into my awareness, lifting me up. You can so easily touch someone with the love of God, and in that moment I promise you, you are a miracle worker.

Leadership expert John Maxwell says, “People don’t care how much you know, until they know  how much you care.” When you make it a point to let someone know you care, maybe someone who really needs to know that somebody cares, you are a miracle worker. You are sharing the prophetic knowledge that God, divine love, is right where they are, ministering to their most urgent need.

It’s so easy to get distracted by gossip or busy-ness or habits or worry…or even the weather…but when we look at what is really near us, we’ll see a need, and we’ll find we have something to offer that might help meet that need, and when we offer ourselves in that way, we are the healing love of God in action.

What we have to offer our world is the knowledge of who we all are. We are miracle workers who can bring hope and comfort and encouragement with a simple touch, a loving word, a meaningful action, a generous response.

“We are our grandmothers’ prayers./We are our grandfathers’ dreamings./We are the breath of the ancestors./We are the spirit of God.”

This is the good news. Amen.

The Good News Affirmed

The love I share is God’s love.

The love I give is healing love.

The love I offer is changing the world.

And the love I give is returned to me multiplied.

Amen.

The Good News Repeated

“Though our feelings come and go, God’s love for us does not.” C.S. Lewis

Audio readings and sermon (http://sunshinecathedral.org/sermons/audio/20100815_1.mp3)