Prop 14C; Gen. 15:1-6; Heb. 11:1-3, 8-16; Lk. 12:32-40; St. Paul’s, Smithfield, NC 8/11/2019 

Jim Melnyk: “We Are On The Way”

It’s a bright summer morning as a young family heads out on a car ride for the family vacation. The youngster in the back seat keeps asking his parents, “Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet?” This goes on for mile after mile with hours of driving yet ahead of them. Finally the father calls over his shoulder to his young child saying, “I promise you – you will be punished if you ask, ‘Are we there yet?’ one more time!” A few minutes later a rather meek voice comes from the back seat: “Dad, how old will I be when we get there?”

I’m sure my parents were overjoyed when I was finally old enough to recognize the various landmarks along the way and compute our ETA on my own without asking all the time!

Questions like, “Are we there yet?” or “When will we get there?” or “How much longer will it take?” seem to be a part of every child’s vocabulary. Even when we get old enough to know better, somewhere deep within us we keep asking the same questions – not just about simple trips across state; but about things like our careers, our relationships, our lives – and perhaps most significantly, about our faith and our relationship with God. Are we there yet? How much longer will it take?

When will we finally get to where we’re supposed to be going? When will we even figure out where we’re supposed to be going to begin with? When will God and God’s will for our lives become even just a bit clearer? When will humanity as a whole wake up and start treating every human being with dignity and respect as outlined in our Baptismal Covenant? When will we, or will we, find ways of ending the daily occurrences of violence in our land?  

The world, or our parents, and sometimes even our churches, sadly, have done their best trying to stop us from asking these questions. But the questions still play across our minds and echo within our subconscious – What am I doing here? Where is God in all this? What is God calling me to do with my life? What is God calling me to do to help effect change for good in this world?

Even with Jesus in their midst the Disciples couldn’t be content with the gradual unfolding of God’s promise as it took place before their very eyes. They kept asking Jesus, “when,” and “where,” and “how,” and “why,” even though they always received a variation of the same answer: “Of the time and place of God’s final answers, no one but God knows – not even me!” Jesus? How old will I be when the kingdom gets here?

But Jesus would also say time and again, “the kingdom of God – that is, the community of God, or the communion of God – the kingdom is here now. It’s yours for the asking – it’s yours for the taking – now. Even as we speak, Jesus tells us the kingdom ours – it has come upon us – and it will continue to come upon us from this day forward.

“Don’t be afraid,” Jesus tells his followers. “Don’t be afraid…for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.” Jesus tells his followers to live as a people already engulfed by the reality of God’s reign – to live as a people already enfolded in the fullness of God’s grace and love – to live as a community of people already touching the face of God and feeling the hand of God upholding and guiding their lives.

“And if,” Jesus seems to be telling his friends, “if you can focus your heart and soul and mind on the promise and presence of God breaking into your lives, and into the life of the world, then the reality of God’s peace – the reality of God’s presence – the reality of the kingdom – will be yours.” In those moments the world and everything in it – our hopes and dreams – our fears and anxieties – all of the stuff of our lives and this place – all will become opportunities to meet and know the promise of God in our lives.

And yet, how can we even hope to live our lives in such a manner when those who actually walked the dusty roads of ancient Israel with Jesus had such a struggle doing so? It’s a challenge that comes to every person in every age – and yet there will always be those whose faithfulness stands out as a beacon for us to follow – especially when we find ourselves shrouded with the darkness and the cloudiness of uncertainty.

Today’s readings from Genesis and Hebrews do just that. They point to Abraham and Sarah – ancient parents of our faith. Theirs was a faithfulness that wasn’t even nearly perfect – they challenged God many times – but it was still a faithfulness that trusted the promise of God’s presence in their lives. God tells them to go and they go. God tells them they will have a child – even though Sarah is barren and Abraham is “as good as dead.” And after trying a shortcut using Sarah’s slave Hagar as a surrogate, they finally trust God and have Isaac.

To be honest, Abraham and Sarah both need some extra nudging along the way, and their faith doesn’t stop them from asking God for clarification from time to time.  But for the most part they learn to trust God – in part by being aware of God’s presence in their lives along the way. You see, we belong to a tradition that honors – even demands – our questioning. Whenever we baptize someone we pray that God will give each of the newly baptized both inquiring and discerning hearts. We’re created to be questioning people – seeking people – just not people who get “stuck” in our questions!

The Holy Scriptures are filled with the stories of women and men from long ago who struggled with and found their faith in the midst of all their questions about life and about God. And the faith they found called them to and strengthened them for lives of world changing action.

But the stories of faithful response to God in the midst of life’s many questions – the stories of trust in God’s promise and presence for our lives and this world – the stories of faithful response to God – these stories don’t end with the final period of the last sentence of Holy Scripture.

The stories hold their meaning because the kingdom of God – the community of God promised in today’s Gospel lesson – the people and the community of God go on. And the promise of God’s presence – the promise of God’s kingdom – strengthens us now so that we can each do the work of the God in our lives today.

One challenge facing us is to live with the ambiguity of the questions we face every day and still make a difference in people’s lives for the good. Another challenge is to let go of all the “stuff” in our lives – the need to be in control, the need to have more and more, the need for status, the need to be right all the time and for someone else to be wrong.

Along with all that God challenges us to stop putting all those desires between ourselves and God – to stop putting all that stuff between our neighbor and God – and let God’s kingdom – let God’s presence – let God’s love – shape our lives, and with us and through us help shape our world.

It’s an incredible challenge. We all want to know the “how” and the “when” of all. As much as we want to trust, we get stuck trying to live faithfully in the midst of ambiguity. But God doesn’t want us to keep asking “How long?” God wants us to ask “How, God – how can I help make your Dream for this world a reality? How can I better practice tikkun olam – how can I better practice at healing the world?” And most of the time the answers are pretty obvious. Love God, love your neighbor, love the stranger – the alien in your midst, and love yourself.

I remember an old comic strip from my youth called Pontius Puddle. In one frame Pontius says to a friend, “Sometimes I’d like to ask God why the Holy One allows poverty, famine, and injustice – and today we might add things like mass shootings – how does God let these things happen instead of doing something to stop it.” Puddle’s companion asks, “What’s stopping you from asking?” “Because,” Puddle replies, “because I’m afraid God might ask me the same question.”

Jesus didn’t allow his disciples to focus on the “why” and the “when” of the coming kingdom of God. Jesus expected them – Jesus expects us – to actually live into its reality. To live as Jesus lives – to challenge one another as Jesus challenges – to love as Jesus loves – to forgive as Jesus forgives – to heal as Jesus heals.

Are we there yet? No, not fully. When will we get there? In God’s good time. For as theologian Martin Luther once said and I remind us each Sunday, “We are not what we shall be, but we are growing toward it; the process is not yet finished, but it is going on; this is not the end, but it is the road.” Amen.