Rector's Sermon
17 October 2010

First Reading	Psalm	Epistle	Gospel
Genesis 32:22–31	Psalm 121	2 Timothy 3:14–4:5	Luke 18:1–8

       One of my favorite hymns is “I Sing a Song of the saints of God.”  The last verse reminds us that we may meet the saints of God in school, or in lanes or at sea, in church or in trains, or in shops or at tea. The words are very 19th century English although the beloved tune was written in the mid twentieth century on Grand Isle, Vermont in the middle of Lake Champlain. The Bible, however, is not a song of just model saints. Many of the people you meet in the Bible are not those you would choose to have for tea, or even wish to meet in a lane on a dark night. For example, the old Jacob was a cheat. You would not want him as your guardian, attorney or banker. He even cheated his own brother. The Bible tells of Jacob’s struggle between old Jacob the cheat and the possibility of a new Jacob, who would become an instrument of blessing, a possibility of new future that God always held out for Jacob to accept. Yes, for Jacob to accept what God knew he could be, involved a change that would affect him the rest of his life. Jacob was not able to become an agent of blessing without a profound change. 

       Jesus, too, was not timid in using stories of everyday life, stories that were full of a very mixed bag of characters in whose presence we might feel very uncomfortable: unjust judges, widows who may or may not have had a legitimate case, collaborators with the Romans, foolish-acting children, dishonest stewards, and unscrupulous landowners.           

       Right before Jesus told the parable of the widow and the unjust judge, Jesus was asked, “When will we see signs of God among us? How will we know that the peace of God is actually arriving on earth?”  Jesus replied, in effect, that the fruits of God's new world would not announce themselves by self promotion, blaring the music of the old world. Rather, the Spirit is already living among us. It is the parables from everyday life that often show us those signs. Moreover, these parables, like the encounters in life itself may well have more than one interpretation and offer us more than one lesson, depending on the circumstances.

       In the parable of the Good Samaritan, it is possible to identify the ministry of God with the ministry of the Samaritan who took pity on the victim, who was robbed, beaten and left for dead on the road. God enlists our help to reach out to those who are exploited and to care for the sick and wounded. Yet it is also possible to identify God with the victim who fell among thieves and was left for dead on the road. We serve God and in a sense meet God on the road of life, when we notice and stop to help those whom society has dehumanized and cast out.

       In the parable of the widow and unjust judge, the most obvious interpretation, is that if the widow could somehow have faith in a crooked judge how much more can we have faith in God, who unlike the uncaring and unmotivated judge, really cares about our welfare. The point isn't that we need to be annoyingly persistent because if we don't bother God enough, God won't care. The point is that in our everyday lives we put trust in people that are not perfect all the time. For example, in most cases, a child who is sick during the night will call or run to a parent because the child trusts the arms of a parent to be a place of safety. The child trusts that the parent will help. The child somehow knows even if the parent is asleep or has had a tough day at work, or even if the child has been bad at dinnertime, the parent will respond, because the child counts on the parent's love. Those of you who are pet lovers know a similar thing. Your pet never seems to get sick at a convenient time or gets sprayed by a skunk when you have nothing to do. I have no idea why vets even bother scheduling normal daytime office hours, because that’s not when we need them. It’s after hours, on weekends and holidays that the greatest demand is for their services. If parents and pet owners know this, how much more should we understand that there is never an off duty restriction or limit on God’s grace. How much more can we trust the Holy Spirit to be working for our best welfare and the welfare of humanity?

       A second meaning of this parable recognizes that there is something very insidious in unconsciously comparing God to an unresponsive judge and all of humanity bereft and pleading to be heard. Maybe in reality the images totally are reversed. What if we understood the poor powerless widow who continues to plead for justice, as the one whom God resembles, and the harsh uncaring judge as the way we often respond to God’s call for mercy? It is God who hopes, prays, and ultimately trusts that we have the ability to respond, to relent and to repent. The Holy Spirit is always pleading humanity’s case.

      We all know the church is an imperfect institution. We know we can't predict the future for either this parish or this larger community! Yet we live in faith that God works alongside us this day, this week, and next year. God works late at night when children get sick and when pets run off. God is always encouraging us and trusting us to serve as harbingers of the peace of God. God has confidence that we have the ability to perceive and understand grace, and that we may serve as instruments of blessing among the mixed bag of characters we must deal with, every day of our lives.

       And I offer this to you in the name of the Living God, Amen.