25 Pentecost 2007 Luke 21:5-19 November 18, 2007

I want to share with you a correspondence I received recently from Pastor Elidard of the Kagitumba Parish in Rwanda .  But let me first set the stage.  Several months ago, after much conversation, our Social Ministry Team brought a proposal to the Church Council of possible next steps in our companionship with Rwanda .  It seemed that since I was able to visit there, mutuality would suggest we invite Pastor Elidard to visit us. 

The Church Council agreed, so I emailed Pastor Elidard inviting him to come and bring one of his sons who speaks English.  I sent the invitation in September.  September ended and I did not hear back.  October nearly passed and I still did not hear back.  I began to worry.  Did my invitation cause a heart attack? (How easy it is to jump to worse case scenarios.) Perhaps the first email didn’t go through, so I sent another.  And I waited. 

The waiting paid off, for on October 29^th at 1:46 a.m. my cell phone rang.  I leave it on for emergencies and this is proof we’ll wake up.  It was a text message.  I’ve saved it. It’s not everyday one gets a message from Rwanda .  “From Pastor Elidard, when you get this, please call.” Knowing he was available, and being thoroughly awake, I called right then.   

Pastor Elidard answered the phone.  It was 1:00 p.m. their time.  And we had a good, translated talk.  Access to email is not close by, so he had just read the email. And yes, he and a son would be very happy to come!  And he asked if they could come in November.  Oh my, I thought, that’s just days away.  But soon it became clear he meant 2008.

So we have a year to plan for their visit.  But in the mean time, I want you to know they are all well.  One of Pastor Elidard and Mary’s sons was married this summer – a big event!  One is ready to go to Bible School (their Seminary) so they look forward to that.  Many children are going to school and more are getting ready.  It is a good time for them.

But it was not always a good time.  As you know, in 1994, genocide was in full swing.  This morning’s text would not have seemed too dramatic. Dreadful things were going on.  The Gospel reminded the first readers of what had already taken place.  The Temple in Jerusalem had been burned down.  “Not one stone was found left upon another.” Though Luke writes as if it is about to take place, it had already taken place and the question was “what shall they do now?”

That was the question before the people in Rwanda after the genocide ended.  What shall they do now?  That is the question before us every day.  Whatever happened yesterday is yesterday.  The question before us is: what shall we do now – in this new day, and how does being a Christian effect how we answer that question?

Christians in Rwanda decided to rebuild their lives. They decided to not shut down in despair!  Despair is always an option in the face of catastrophes.  But it is never the only option.  I’m sure the people in Bangladesh and Chile right now are wondering what they can do next with a typhoon and earthquake upon them. Christians are among those responding with disaster relief – even through Lutheran World Relief.  Sometimes disaster relief means the difference between hope and despair.   

Sometimes disaster isn’t caused by nature.  Sometimes it is caused by human choices.  Sometimes it is our own fault.  And what are we to do then?  When it is our fault how easy it is to jump to the worst case scenario or to despair.  It is so easy to assume not even God’s love is big enough for the consequences of human sin.  But despair, Luther wrote, is never the option of the Christian.  Despair means we are leaving God out of the picture.  Despair means we are forgetting God is looking on the matter we are looking on, but God is looking on it with love, and more love and abounding steadfast love.  

Luke’s Gospel names the reality of brokenness when he speaks of betrayals by parents and brothers, relatives and friends – when people will be hated for following Jesus – some even put to death.  And in that worse case scenario, Luke reminds the hearers of an old proverb.  “Not a hair of your head will perish.” 

“Oh great!” we might say.  “We may be betrayed, hated or put to death, but our hair will be intact.”  What does that say to those who have no hair?   It says that this is a proverb.  In addition to Luke 21, the proverb can be found in 1^st and 2^nd Samuel, 1^st Kings and the Book of Acts.  All of these read, “Not a hair of your head will perish” – meaning the life God gives is a life that transcends even death.  It’s a proverb speaking metaphorically of God’s power.  Jesus says, nothing is too large that it falls out of reach of God’s love.

So what shall we do when foundational change happens – when one stone is not left on another stone in our world or in our church or in our lives because Jesus comes among us?  When Jesus comes, change comes too, always, and change can frighten us.  But Luke encourages us to “not be terrified,” but rather to courageously claim the name of Jesus.  Luke asserts that there is power in Jesus’ name, but he also asserts that there is trouble attached to it!  Luke says: “You will be hated by all because of my name.” 

Jesus did odd and unsuccessful-looking things.  He loved his enemy – not a very normal thing to do.  Jesus didn’t return evil for evil – again going against the grain.  Jesus went up to the mountain or into the garden to pray, often, something that could appear like a royal waste of time.  Jesus forgave those who abandoned him – he won them over by his ability to suffer – a reality Martin Luther King, Jr. recognized and followed in his work.  Jesus cared for those others called untouchable. He gathered with people who did not look like him, talk like him, or even agree with him.  

If Jesus were here today, we might not be wrong to guess that many of us might not recognize him, or if we did, we probably wouldn’t like him very much.  He would push our buttons, rub us the wrong way, and look more like a failure than a success, yet countless lives have been transformed by the story of his life, death and resurrection. 

This same crucified, risen Christ is with us today.  And he comes not to judge us, not to make us feel guilty or feel like failures.  He comes to feed us with such understanding love that if we take it to heart it will take our fear away.  Fear that we won’t have enough.  Fear that life will change and we won’t recognize our place in it.  Fear that when there’s a cost to doing ministry we will be abandoned by the very ones we thought were our friends.  Fear that our suffering or hard work will be wasted rather than fruitful. 

No one is immune to fear.  There’s fear sometimes just in getting through the day.  Will we be able to pay our bills?  Will we have someone to love who will accept our love and not reject it?  Fear comes when we forget how radical God’s love is.  God’s love is not limited to what we expect.  It is wider and deeper, broader and freer.  If the world knew how vast God’s love is, motivation for the fearful actions that happen would evaporate.

Fear makes us jump to worse case scenarios.  Fear constricts our thinking.  It causes us to use only a very small portion of our brain at the back rather than the more creative part up front.  This constriction compromises our freedom.  We become enslaved to fear and we don’t even realize it half the time. 

Love, however, helps us take time to reflect rather than panic.  As 1^st John says, “love casts out fear.”  It frees us to move forward in spite of all the convincing reasons not to. But, “Not a hair on your head, whether you have hair or not, will perish!” says Jesus.  In other words, “nothing will separate you from God’s love, so don’t be afraid.” 

Jesus meets us at the Table today to tell us just that.  It may seem like the meal we share is too small a thing to change the world, but that would be to not understand love’s power to transcend fear, if we will take this love to heart.  God comes to us in water and word, bread and wine, and in the communion of saints, the church.  Through things we can see and taste and embrace, God says, “Be not afraid.” This then is our message to the world. 

May we not underestimate the power of God’s gifts!  They may seem little.  Just a little bread and wine, water and word and humble believers, but as Dietrich Bonhoeffer says, what may seem trivial to us, just may be grand and glorious to God.  A feast, with Jesus as our host, is before us today and every Sunday.  For what more can we ask?

Amen.

+Pastor Peg Schultz-Akerson, to the glory of God
Faith Lutheran Church, Chico, California