Responding to Ike

Brad Sullivan
Proper 20, Year A
Sunday, September 21st, 2008
Emmanuel, Houston
Exodus 16:2-15
Psalm 105: 37-45
Philippians 1:21-30
Matthew 20:1-16

Good morning y’all. I’m glad to see you here, and hope you all faired well during the storm. We were very fortunate and had little damage to our home. I know a lot of folks are still without power, damage isn’t getting fixed as fast as we’d like, and nerves might be wearing a little thin, but I was encouraged this week watching so many people offer help to those who needed it. On my street, our neighbors offered help to each other and began working together to clean up our street. Several of us met for the first time, sharing storm stories, glad to have come through the storm ok, and again, offering help to one another. From the standpoint of people caring for each other, this has been a pretty good week.

A frightening thought occurred to me last Saturday night, however, as I began thinking about life returning to normal in the coming weeks and months. The frightening thought was that life would return to normal. What I mean by that is I was frightened by the thought that we would or that I would be seemingly unchanged by hurricane Ike.

The areas affected by the hurricane will be able to rebuild. Some have very little damage and rebuilding will be very easy, and life will be able to go on largely as if the hurricane never happened. I was frightened by the thought of, weeks from now or months from now or even years from now, going on with life as if the hurricane had never happened. I thought of some of our neighbors and me going back to our usual routine of not interacting all that much, not taking the time to see how each other is doing, to simply say ‘hi’ and chat for a minute. Maybe I just really liked meeting my neighbors, but I was caught by the idea of our ability to keep events in life from changing us for the better.

Maybe I’m just searching for meaning to a very damaging storm, I discovered that I would rather let that storm change me for the better than merely be a painful hiccup in life as usual. I don’t know what’s going to change. Maybe I won’t take certain things for granted; maybe I’ll be a little less selfish; maybe I’ll have a little more patience. I don’t really care what the change is so long as I allow myself in some way to be changed for the better. Even through something as destructive as this hurricane, I want to allow myself to be changed by God’s grace.

I realize for some, God’s grace will be hard to find. For some it will be very hard to find, but I believe God’s grace is present for all, and for all who were affected by this storm, and God’s grace can change our lives for the better if we allow it to do so.

Look at our Gospel lesson for the day. The laborers were all paid the same, regardless of how long they had worked. That just doesn’t work according to our understanding of justice and fairness. God, however, doesn’t follow our rules of justice and fairness. As one might suspect of God, he follows his own rules of justice and fairness, and God’s justice and fairness may not make a whole lot of sense to us. Some laborers worked less and got the same amount of money as those who worked more. That certainly doesn’t fit our economic system. God’s wages just aren’t right; they’re unfair to those who worked longer.

I can imagine the laborers who worked all day complaining later. “I’m not going to work a full day if I can get paid the same for working a quarter of a day.” Suddenly now we’ve got a problem in the labor force. No one is willing to work more than a quarter of a day. It’s only fair.

Again, according to our system of fairness, God’s economics don’t work. According to God’s grace, however, his economics work great. Imagine if the laborers, rather than setting their minds on our rules of fairness (which largely focus on “me”), imagine if the laborers had focused on God’s grace. “Wow,” they might say, “he’s really generous. I’m glad those other workers were able to feed their families’ today too. Maybe tomorrow, we’ll all get to work together.”

Focusing on God’s grace, and being changed by God’s grace, we find ourselves less focused on ourselves, and more focused on the good of the people around us, the good of the community. Being changed by God’s grace, our problems and complaints diminish; love of the other increases, and trust and even joy in God’s goodness and love increases.

Looking back at our lives then, not only as hurricane survivors, but as Christians, do we at times not allow our lives to be changed by God’s grace? We have all been given God’s grace. In his love for us, in the forgiveness of our sins, in the assurance of everlasting life, we have all been given God’s grace, but there are times when we don’t really receive God’s grace. There are times when we don’t allow God’s grace to change who we are for the better. There are times when we don’t allow God’s grace to make us more grateful, more giving, more cheerful, more loving people. I raise this point not to be condemning of us (pot calling the kettle black on this one), but I raise the point that we often don’t allow ourselves to be changed by God’s grace to point out what we might be missing by not receiving God’s grace, by then acting towards others out of that grace.

Look again at the laborers. They chose to stew in their anger over complaints about fairness; they chose to stay miserable, when they could have rejoiced with their fellow laborers, and given thanks for a generous, graceful landowner. We miss out on a lot of joy when we don’t receive God’s grace.

Now, as I said before, I realize that God’s grace is sometimes hard to find. The gift of God’s love, his forgiveness of our sins, the assurance of everlasting life, these gifts sometimes seem a little too ethereal, not really helping in the concrete struggles of daily life, and we sometimes wonder, where is God’s grace in this life? I know there are many who lost a great deal from the hurricane, maybe some of you, and you might be wondering where is God’s grace in all of this.

It’s ok to ask that question. It’s ok to wonder where God is and to wonder why he isn’t helping out now. I’d like you to open your prayer books to page 638 which is Psalm 39. The psalm reads:

1 I said, “I will keep watch upon my ways, * so that I do not offend with my tongue.
2 I will put a muzzle on my mouth * while the wicked are in my presence.”
3 So I held my tongue and said nothing; * I refrained from rash words; but my pain became unbearable.
4 My heart was hot within me; while I pondered, the fire burst into flame; * I spoke out with my tongue:
5 LORD, let me know my end and the number of my days, * so that I may know how short my life is.
6 You have given me a mere handful of days, and my lifetime is as nothing in your sight; * truly, even those who stand erect are but a puff of wind.
7 We walk about like a shadow, and in vain we are in turmoil; * we heap up riches and cannot tell who will gather them.
8 And now, what is my hope? * O Lord, my hope is in you.
9 Deliver me from all my transgressions * and do not make me the taunt of the fool.
10 I fell silent and did not open my mouth, * for surely it was you that did it.
11 Take your affliction from me; * I am worn down by the blows of your hand.
12 With rebukes for sin you punish us; like a moth you eat away all that is dear to us; * truly, everyone is but a puff of wind.
13 Hear my prayer, O LORD, and give ear to my cry; * hold not your peace at my tears.
14 For I am but a sojourner with you, * a wayfarer, as all my forebears were.
15 Turn your gaze from me, that I may be glad again, * before I go my way and am no more.

There’s not a happy verse in that Psalm. Verse 8 says, “O Lord, my hope is in you,” but the hope basically seems to be that God will leave the person alone. “Take your affliction from me,” verse 11, and “turn your gaze from me, that I may be glad again,” verse 15. The psalmist sounds angry in an unrelenting lament towards God.
Now, turn the page to Psalm 40:

1 I waited patiently upon the LORD; * he stooped to me and heard my cry.
2 He lifted me out of the desolate pit, out of the mire and clay; * he set my feet upon a high cliff and made my footing sure.
3 He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God; * many shall see, and stand in awe, and put their trust in the LORD.
4 Happy are they who trust in the LORD! * they do not resort to evil spirits or turn to false gods.
5 Great things are they that you have done, O LORD my God! how great your wonders and your plans for us! * there is none who can be compared with you.
6 Oh, that I could make them known and tell them! * but they are more than I can count.
7 In sacrifice and offering you take no pleasure * (you have given me ears to hear you);
8 Burnt offering and sin offering you have not required, * and so I said, “Behold, I come.
9 In the roll of the book it is written concerning me: * ‘I love to do your will, O my God; your law is deep in my heart.’”
10 I proclaimed righteousness in the great congregation; * behold, I did not restrain my lips; and that, O LORD, you know.
11 Your righteousness have I not hidden in my heart; I have spoken of your faithfulness and your deliverance; * I have not concealed your love and faithfulness from the great congregation.
12 You are the LORD; do not withhold your compassion from me; * let your love and your faithfulness keep me safe for ever,
13 For innumerable troubles have crowded upon me; my sins have overtaken me, and I cannot see; * they are more in number than the hairs of my head, and my heart fails me.
14 Be pleased, O LORD, to deliver me; * O LORD, make haste to help me.
15 Let them be ashamed and altogether dismayed who seek after my life to destroy it; * let them draw back and be disgraced who take pleasure in my misfortune.
16 Let those who say “Aha!” and gloat over me be confounded, * because they are ashamed.
17 Let all who seek you rejoice in you and be glad; * let those who love your salvation continually say, “Great is the LORD!”
18 Though I am poor and afflicted, * the Lord will have regard for me.
19 You are my helper and my deliverer; * do not tarry, O my God.

What a change from Psalm 39, from ‘get away from me, Lord, that my affliction may end,’ to Psalm 40, ‘I love you, Lord; you are wonderful, please draw near to me, Lord, as quickly as possible.

Don’t deny being in Psalm 39 if you’re at a time in your life when you’re in Psalm 39, when you feel as though God isn’t there or maybe you wish he weren’t there. When you’re in those Psalm 39 times of your life, though, remember to turn the page.

Having sat for a while in Psalm 39, move on to Psalm 40. Allow God’s grace to change you. If you can’t find concrete, here and now examples of his grace, then let his love change you make you more loving. Let his forgiveness of your sins make you able to forgive others. Let the assurance of everlasting life take away your fears and give you confidence in this life. Then, look for the concrete, here and now examples of God’s grace in your life. Even in the midst of hardship or tragedy, wait patiently for the Lord, let his grace change you for the better, and sing a new song of praise when you discover his grace in your life. Amen.