From the road, driving
by, living in the country looks so peaceful. From the other side of the fence,
it is a very different place.
It was not long after we moved to the farm
near Brenham the romance faded and I realized, I was on the wrong side of the
fence. I was a city boy. I knew very little about so much I needed to know and
so much of it was on such a grand scale. But I was resourceful and I soon
discovered my education for all things country was as sure as my nearest
neighbor.
I knew enough to know the
health and safety and well-being of our young family depended on our neighbors. Living in the country it is critical you
spend the time and energy necessary to be ready for any and all surprises and
the generations of experience from neighbors is invaluable.
For those of you who
were “country before it was cool” you will agree, surprises come fast and without
warning when you live in the country.
There were those times
when frozen water pipes thawed and began to leak. So, you crawl under the house
and learn about pipes and wet cold ground and closed in spaces. When the well
stops working you learn what ants can do to electrical boxes and you learn how
to fix the problem, prime the pump and get water back to the house and animals.
When water percolates from the ground you discover the end of your field line
from the septic and you get to fix that too.
When the tractor will
not start, the fence breaks, the cows get out, the chicken snake finds the hen
house, or one finds its way into your house, you cannot turn to anyone but
yourself and your knowledge from neighbors to be a mechanic, fence builder,
cowboy, or snake charmer.
Trial and error, along
with conventional wisdom, and the help of kind neighbors, and you get done what
needs to be done. Then you fall in bed and sleep like never before.
We are often in
similar settings with our faith life. It seems peaceful from the pew. But, we
know better. There is a lot we need to know from our nearest neighbor to just
survive, let alone flourish. Faith seems to demand every ounce of our wit and
wisdom and then some.
In the Isaiah and Luke
readings this morning, God is our dependable neighbor as God lays out wit and
wisdom for us and offers sound steps for our faith development and life on the
other side.
The vision from Isaiah
tells us, “wash yourselves; make yourselves clean; remove the evil of your
doings from before my eyes; cease to do evil; learn to do good; seek justice,
rescue the oppressed, defend the orphan, plead for the widow.” If we will do
these things we “shall eat the good of the land,” but, if we refuse and rebel, “we
shall be devoured by the sword.”
Then from Luke, “Do
not be afraid, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you
the kingdom. Sell your possessions and give alms.” “Be dressed for action and
have your lamps lit; be like those who are waiting for their master to return
from the wedding banquet, so that they may open the door for him as soon as he
comes and knocks. Blessed are those slaves whom the master finds alert when he
comes; truly I tell you, he will fasten his belt and have them sit down to eat,
and he will come and serve them. If he comes during the middle of the night, or
near dawn, and finds them so, blessed are those slaves. But know this; if the
owner of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not
have let his house be broken into. You also must be ready, for the Son of Man
is coming at an unexpected hour.”
It sounds like we are
on the other side of the fence again. The nature of the unexpected hour sends
us knocking on doors for help. We are not equipped, we are not ready. We need a
wise neighbor.
It must be human
nature for us to so easily make the leap from worry or concern to worst case
scenario when faced with the challenges of life’s little vicissitudes, as my
mother called them. You know the times. Those unwanted phone calls, frightening
doctor’s visits, contentious family meetings, knowing the boss is looking our
way.
Isaiah’s words this
morning offer little comfort. If anything, they confirm worst case situations. God
is fed up with the sinfulness of Sodom and Gomorrah. God will not let them make
their usual offerings for forgiveness. God will not listen to their usual
excuses. God knows they will not change their ways.
That is what God wants
from Sodom and Gomorrah and it is what God wants from us. Cease to do evil, learn
to do good, seek justice, rescue the oppressed, defend the orphan, and plead for
the widow. Apparently we do none of these well enough. If we refuse we shall
“be devoured by the sword.” Oh, great, worst case scenario!
Then in Luke we have
an impossible response, “Do not be afraid.” Oh sure, we are about to be
devoured by the sword and the message is “Do not be afraid.”
Doesn’t God remember we live in worst case
scenarios! Luke is right.
We are afraid our sins
are completely unforgivable and we are afraid that we never do enough to be as
good as God wants us to be and we are afraid that we will never “eat the good
of the land and receive God’s kingdom.” Because we know ourselves.
Jesus, ever the
understanding neighbor tries to comfort us. He says we will be blessed if we
are living our lives dressed for action and waiting for our Lord, waiting for
him in the midst of his life for us.
We easily forget Jesus
has a life for us and if we will be found waiting for him to return, so we can
open the door to our hearts and love him when he knocks, our life with him will
be blessed.
In our waiting we get
ready by spending time with God in a best case scenario. We pray and we talk
with God. We study and learn who God is through scripture revealing who Jesus
is. We love Jesus and do things for him. We are alert.
This does not mean we
will not be anxious, worried, or afraid. It does mean that we will always have
Jesus in our hearts to turn to in those “keep you awake at night” moments for
comfort and assurance and instruction about how we might grow closer and deeper
in our love. Where we will be safe on his side of the fence.
God’s promise is
clear. No matter how things turn out, Jesus will come to us and serve us. He
will tend to our hearts to sooth and comfort us in joy or in pain. For, dear
ones, it is God’s love and God’s grace that makes us ready for the unexpected
hour.
This truth about God’s
love is at the heart of God’s grace. God, we forget, creates us out of love, never
ending limitless love. So, instead of worst case scenario’s, what if we project
instead God’s scenario?
I had a friend in
Uvalde who was diagnosed with a brain tumor. He prayed for two miracles. His
first prayer was for his miracle, the one where he would be healed to care for
his family.
His second prayer was
for God’s miracle. Where God would give him the strength he would need if the
worst case scenario happened. He was not afraid, because he knew without a
doubt it is our Father’s good pleasure to give us the kingdom, the kingdom
here, or the kingdom there in heaven. Either way, Farris lived with God, which
was his best case scenario.
Our response is to
find equal joy in loving God back and living in God’s kingdom, God’s best case
scenario, in a state of grace. Our response is to fill the kingdom with God
like love. To make ready and preparing our lives and the lives of those whom we
love. Which according to Jesus, includes everyone. For God’s kingdom is
inclusive, not exclusive.
Our call this morning
is to respond to God’s grace with grace. Grace that helps us sell all that we
have and give alms. Grace that draws us to pray for God’s scenario so we can
give up on creating our own kingdom filled with Sodom and Gomorrah doings.
Perhaps most
comforting of all, with God’s grace, we are to give up on creating for
ourselves a kingdom filled with our own worst case scenarios. Scenarios of
death, and destruction, and impossible pain and suffering.
We have not been
blessed with an abundance of rain these past few years and the farms and the
country are dry. Our land and rivers are thirsting for rain. Yet, they retain a
different beauty.
Many of us love to
spend time being in those places where we can fill our souls with God’s
blessing from God’s natural created order. Just being in those places where
smells, colors, and textures are calm and quite soothes the most troubled soul
and restores our hope. Seeing the occasional rain cloud and knowing the rivers
and ponds will run deep again keeps worst case scenarios from defining our
lives. We hear ourselves say again how we love the out of doors, the country.
We love this world we feel alive in and the world where we feel God’s blessing
refreshing our souls.
It is a bit easier to see
the possibilities of God’s desires in our lives, living with purpose, in the
beauty of place and land. We see a glimpse of the profound truth that God’s
grace is constantly being given to each of us as the sun rises, the day
stretches with new wonder, and the sunset colors our hope.
Yet, we still may not
imagine God’s plan for us. We do understand God’s blessings create God’s
kingdom. We do believe God’s blessings unfold for this little flock as only God
can desire. But our scenarios have extreme limits. God’s, we have faith, have
none.
So we prepare
ourselves to always be ready to receive God’s grace and through our life to
give that same grace to others. We give grace to others when we love as Jesus
has loved us. We give God’s grace to others by giving our lives to God as God
gave his Son’s to us. Not for our sakes, but for Gods.
For the Son of Man is
coming at an unexpected hour to take all those who live by grace to the kingdom
of grace.
Do not be afraid,
little flock, for it is our Father’s good pleasure, as loving neighbor, to give
us this grace and this kingdom where from either side of the fence we will be
ready for that unexpected hour.
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy
Spirit, one God, now and forever, Amen.
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