Monday, November 20, 2017

Times of Labor

November 19th, 2017        “Times of Labor”         Rev. Heather Jepsen
1 Thessalonians 5:1-11 with Psalm 123
          We have been busy for a month here with our stewardship sermon series and discussing Joy Practices in our lives.  It was a good time and we all enjoyed it and I hope that you are working to include those practices of forgiveness, gratitude, compassion, and generosity in your lives.  In the meantime though, the world around us has continued to swirl with torment and violence.  I want to assure you that while I have been talking about joy, I have not been blind to the world’s suffering.  And neither has our Lord.  In fact, this morning’s texts are all about how people of faith cope in a world of suffering.
          From the shooting violence enacted on brothers and sisters in the faith a few weeks ago, to the rise of sexual assault complaints, to the on again off again threat of North Korean nuclear war, to our simple inability to even have a civil conversation with someone from the other side of the political aisle; one might come to the conclusion that things have never been this bad.  “We have had more than enough of contempt” the Psalmist cries in the NRSV.  Henry has been reading The Message in which Eugene Peterson says “We’ve been kicked around long enough.”  I think that pretty much sums things up, don’t you?
          Scholars think that this Psalm is from the post-exilic period in Israel’s history.  The people had been taken into exile by the Babylonians and when they returned to their homeland they find that it lies in ruins.  After generations of hardship and struggle, they return home to only find desolation.  Can you imagine spending years waiting and longing to come home, only to finally find your home no longer exists?  This is their source of heartache.  After all that waiting and prayer they are still being “kicked around”.
          To top it all off, the powerful and wealthy are still in control.  “Our soul has had more than its fill of the scorn of those who are at ease, of the contempt of the proud.”  Or as Eugene Peterson paraphrases, we’ve been “kicked in the teeth by complacent rich men, kicked when we’re down by arrogant brutes.”  That sounds about right to me.  With the way money plays such a huge part in the formation of policy in this country we could be writing this Psalm in America today!
          The Psalmist knows that the only hope of redemption is from God.  “Our eyes look to the Lord until God has mercy upon us.”  Eugene Petersen paraphrases, “Watching, waiting, holding our breath, awaiting God’s word of mercy.”  The Psalmist demonstrates their faith by looking to the Lord for help, by praying for change, by hoping against hope, and by resting in God’s promise of providence.  So too should we turn to God in times of need.  But I’ll be the first to admit that that doesn’t always feel like enough.  Some days I need more.
          That’s where our reading from 1st Thessalonians comes in.  In Paul’s time the city of Thessalonica benefitted greatly from the Roman Empire.  A group of Christians wandering about, preaching against Rome, would not have been a popular bunch.  We can imagine that this Christian community suffered hardships at the hands of their Thessalonian brothers and sisters.  They were a people who were picked on; and they were a people who were suffering.
          In our reading for today, towards the end of his letter, Paul is encouraging the community to keep faithful.  The time of chaos is upon them.  To them it feels like the world has never been worse.  “Now concerning the times and the seasons, brothers and sisters, you do not need to have anything written to you.”  They know what time it is, for it feels like the end of the world.  “They say, ‘There is peace and security,’ and then suddenly destruction will come upon them, as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman, and there will be no escape!”  Sounds pretty frightening.
          Paul warns the community to be alert, to be looking for the work of God in a world that seems to be filled with darkness.  “Beloved, you are not in darkness, for you are children of the light and children of the day.”  So too, we are people of the light.  And now more than ever we need to work to let our light shine in our world.
          We know that it can take a long time to find God in the midst of tragic circumstances, or in a world that seems to be bent on its own destruction.  Paul tells us to keep looking though, and not to lose hope.  “So then let us not fall asleep as others do, but let us keep awake and be sober.”  These words are as fitting for our time as they were for the people of Thessalonica.  Think of all the things that lull us into complacency these days.  From our addiction to our smartphones to our consumption of news that only fits our point of view, from numbing ourselves with shopping to numbing ourselves with drugs and alcohol; we are as guilty of falling asleep as the next person.
          Plus, there is the added effect of our own weariness in the midst of trauma.  Scientists call this “compassion fatigue” and it happens when our hearts are hurt so much that they just can’t hurt anymore.  I know I am getting to that place.  After the Las Vegas shooting I was so sad and depressed, and I was also so angry and ready to fight and act for some common sense gun control.  But, when the Sutherland Springs shooting happened just weeks later, I couldn’t process it anymore.  I had to turn off the radio and look away from the news.  I just didn’t have the heart to contemplate any more suffering.  That is compassion fatigue, and it is one way this world is lulling me to sleep.  I can’t cry over every unjust death, I am just too tired.  As we do so often in the midst of tragedy, I feel like I have cried myself to sleep.
          Paul reminds us that we belong to the God of light, and now, more than ever, we need to work to stay awake.  “Since we belong to the day, let us be sober.”  God has given us tools to protect us from the things that numb us and lull us into the sleep of complacency.  “Put on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet the hope of salvation.”  Faith, love, and hope are the things that will protect us; these are the things that will give us the strength to keep going.  These are things that will help us to stay awake, to be alert, and to continue to look for God in our broken world.
          “For God has destined us not for wrath.”  We are not meant to be a part of this worlds’ ruthless fighting “but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ.”  We are made for the salvation of love, and as children of light, we are called to share that love with the world.  No matter what happens, the love of God is with us to offer us comfort and strength.  “Whether we are awake or asleep we may live with God.”  Even if we succumb to the siren song of this world, and fall asleep to suffering, we are still in the presence of God.  Even if this world literally kills us, and we sleep the final sleep, we are still in the presence of God.  These are the words of hope that Paul offers the community of Thessalonica.
          Paul asks the community of the church to be the place where people go to for support.  “Therefore encourage one another and build up each other, as indeed you are doing.”  It is here, within the church that we are going to find the things that we need to survive in this broken world.  It is here that we find brothers and sisters who are also trying to stay awake and alert to the world’s suffering.  This is the place where a neighbor in the pew will elbow you in the ribs to help you stay awake.  It is here that we will find others who can point out to us the light of God in our world.  And it is here that we will have a friend who can lift us up in those moments when we are suffering.  Here at church we find companions for the journey, and here we find hope for the future.  The community of faith becomes the community of survival in a world that is full of sudden destruction.
          I think it is no accident that Paul uses the metaphor of birth pangs to describe the times of hardship and pain.  Any woman who has experienced labor knows how sudden the experience can come on and how all-encompassing the pain can be.  But of course, birth pangs are but the beginning of something else.  While terrible and frightening, birth pangs are the harbinger not of destruction but of new life.  So too, Paul would remind us, that just when it feels like the world is ending, is just when it feels like the world is beginning.  Our times of hardship and pain are but the birth of new life.  And anyone who is watching the goings on in our country today can tell, there is something new afoot.  We may not know what it is, but we can all feel that something is coming.  Change is happening, and while it is painful, it can also be good.
          And so this morning, in this time of labor for our world, I would invite you to remember the words of the faithful who have come before us.  “We have been kicked around long enough, and so we are watching and waiting, holding our breath, awaiting God’s work of mercy.”  “We know what time it is, the time of labor pains and new birth.  Here in the church community we will strive to keep awake, to keep watch, and to not be lulled into silence and sleep.  We are the people of light, shining the love of God in a world of darkness.”  May we be those people today.  Amen.

           

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