Proper 22 C Hang Around Jesus

 Proper 22 C Hang Around Jesus
October 7, 2007
By Rev. Ernest F. Campbell

The prophet Habakkuk is somewhat of a maverick! Most of the prophets speak God’s word to us. They are preachers calling us to listen to God’s word of judgment. Most prophets insist that we pay attention to God as He is, and not as we imagine Him to be. Habakkuk on the other hand insists that God pay attention to us. 


Habakkuk could see that God was about to use the Babylonians, a godless nation, to bring judgment and destruction to God’s own people. “The Message” translation reads like this:


“God, how long do I have to cry out for help before you listen? How many times do I have to yell, help! Murder! Police! Before you come to the rescue? Why do you force me to look at evil and stare trouble in the face day after day?”


Habakkuk, I believe, in his bafflement speaks for many of us when it looks and feels like evil is going to win.


I wonder how many times we have found ourselves standing with Habakkuk crying out, IF there is a loving God, then how can He look at what we read about in our daily newspapers and not do something about it!!!?????


I can tell you as a pastor that I have seen the pain in that question. Sometimes the best answer is not good enough. When God doesn’t seem to make sense, many choose to walk away.  A woman I visited last week confessed that her absence from church was just another casualty of her divorce. When I asked about her ex-husband, I could see grief and anger cover her face. The divorce occurred twelve years ago.


We have all seen what I call spiritual bankruptcy. A man, woman or child is led to believe that no one understands or cares about them. From that perspective it’s a short trip to convince yourself that God doesn’t care about you either. The ending of the story of spiritual bankruptcy is to run out of care…for yourself. 


Habakkuk is bold enough to ask God in as blunt a tone as possible – do you care??? Holy God, why don’t you do something about this? Why are you silent now? This is an outrage! Evil men swallow up the righteous and you stand around and watch!


If there are any advantages to being an old man, I turned eighty (80) in August; it is the gift of perspective. Over the 54 years of my priesthood, I have witnessed all sorts of personal and corporate church calamities. The clergy of the “Snake” and “Yakima” Deaneries spent some time with our Bishop right here at All Saints last Thursday talking about the present issue concerning human sexuality. 


We along with Habakkuk are looking for direction. In the book of Habakkuk God responds: God says write this down, write what you see. Write it out in big block letters.  


  • The person in right standing before God, through loyal and steady

    believing, is a person fully alive, to the joy of divine-human compassion. HAVE FAITH in that truth!


What is faith? Faith is what today’s lessons are all about. 


Above all – keep yourself in a right relationship with God. 


Faith is not something that we claim by sheer will power. Like, “I will have faith!” It would be cruel for me to suggest to the divorced woman, “Have faith.” As though she could close her eyes and find herself connected to God. What I did do is to say that we miss her and that we would love to have her join us in our faith journey. 


Faith is a gift that comes out of a steadfast relationship. We learn to have faith in a teacher because over time they show us ways to understand and are patient with our mistakes. The faith we have in a teacher starts with the teacher. The teacher, because of who they are, gives us the ability to have faith.


We learn to trust our doctor, priest, lawyer, broker, or mechanic, because of their endeavor and reliability on our behalf. That’s how we learn to have faith in God. Our faith connects us to something greater than ourselves; just as our faith in doctors, connects us to the wisdom and experience of the healing arts. 


Once we are connected to a source of wisdom and power greater than ourselves, we really don’t need more faith. Our Lord’s disciples asked Jesus to increase their faith. But Jesus told them that they had enough faith. Even a tiny bit of faith in another person or institution is enough to make the connection. 


Everyone here this morning has faith. Your faith has already connected you to a fellowship and love greater than yourself. If someone asks you what the sermon was about today, tell them that this old priest believes that there is real joy in being connected to God’s world and His church.


Some people wonder why we keep coming back week after week. It’s to celebrate the love of God and to share it with one another and those who feel disconnected. As one of my old acolytes put it, “When I make it to church, I always go home with a nugget.” 


Hang around Jesus and his friends, and live by faith!


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Annual Meeting Epiphany 3 C Going His Way

 Annual Meeting Epiphany 3 C Going His Way January 26, 1992 By Rev. Ernest F. Campbell I’ve been a priest for 40 years and I’ve been to my share of annual meetings. To be perfectly honest, I have not particularly enjoyed the responsibility of standing in front of a widely diversified, and in some cases, highly opinionated group of vote packing parishioner who now have the opportunity to talk back. I used to have this nightmarish fantasy that someone would jump up at the meeting and tear into something, or somebody, or me with breath taking precision. It never happened. In forty years, it never happened. But I submit to you that chairing the annual meeting was for me an annual test of my faith. I can see our Lord smiling at me, a teacher of faith, and saying, “Remember: I am with you always… no matter what… even at annual meetings.” The annual meeting, as I remember, with the smallest attendance, was at St. marks in Evanston, Ill. There the Rector insisted that everyone read their r...
Read more

Palm Sunday C Irresistible Theology

Image
 Palm Sunday C Irresistible Theology March 19, 1989 By Rev. Ernest F. Campbell The world seems to be caught up in a deadly argument. The greater the commitment to an idea, a cause, or a person; the greater the intensity of energy and power that gets mustered for battle.  A simple appeal for support becomes buglers call to make war. When Paul wrote his letter to the Philippians , he was in Rome … in prison. Reports had come to him that two women had quarreled in the church at Philippi . Their argument was endangering the peace. His letter is an appeal to maintain the unity of the church. Not even the healthiest church is immune from the danger of evil’s energy unleashed. If the devil had his way, he would destroy all meaningful and nurturing relationships. In writing to the church at Philippi, Paul identifies three great agents of disunity: There is selfish ambition . Those who instead of trying to advance the work… advance themselves. There is the desire for personal pr...
Read more

Proper 8 C We’re It!

Image
  Proper 8 C We’re It! June 28, 1998 By Rev. Ernest F. Campbell It is presumed by our presence in, at this worship service today, that we have found God’s word in scripture , the sacraments and in the fellowship of the church , to be of value to our lives. If that is true then we could also presume that the faith journey that we know and enjoy would also be of value to other people as well. This simple logic explains our purpose statement in our Sunday bulletin; “Our purpose is to know Christ and to make Him known .”  If we are not His disciples then where else would we think to look to find people committed to being extensions of the incarnation …. To work, pray and give so that the cause of Christ may extend eventually to the ends of the earth and beyond? In our Catechism (on page 855 of the Book of Common Prayer ) it asks: Q. Who are the ministers of the Church ? A. The ministers of the Church are lay persons, bishops, priest, and deacons . Q. What is the ministry of th...
Read more