Harken, Holy One, to
our prayer and petition and deliver us…grant us favor…so that all the earth may
know that you are the Holy One our God. [Baruch 2:14a,c; 15-a]
The ROCK WHO GAVE US BIRTH is my rock, my
fortress, and my deliverer, my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge…In my
distress I called upon she who hears…
[Psalm 18:2, 6a]
…with regard to the coming of our
Redeemer Jesus Christ…Be not quickly shaken in mind…nor by word or letter, seeming
to have come from us, claiming the day of the Savior is here now…Let no one
deceive you all in any way. For it will not come unless the rebellion comes
first and the revealing of the lawless one, the one born for destruction…self-exalted…self-proclaimed
to be God. [2 Thess 2:3-4]
…fear the one who,
after killing, has power to cast into hell. Yes! I am telling you all, fear
that one. Are not 5 sparrows sold for two copper coins? And not a single one of
them is forgotten before God...Fear not; you all are worth many sparrows. [Luke 12:5b-6, 7b]
The readings
for this week begin with the generally obscure Baruch, a scribe for and
companion of Jeremiah. His writing is not found in Hebrew Scripture or Evangelical
Christian Bibles (NIV, ESV, etc.) but is in the Bibles of Orthodox and Roman Catholicism
in the deuterocanonical or second canon. The apocrypha or hidden
books, are the same as those in the deuterocanonical but they are in a separate
section. They are generally placed between the Hebrew Testament and the
Christian Testament in Protestant Bibles such as the New Oxford Annotated
Bible, The New Revised Standard Version (NRSV), etc., and not considered as part
of the official Canonical books of Scripture, yet relevant. Biblical
scholars may have issues with authenticity of authorship and content yet feel
that the work still contributes to greater understanding.
In this reading
from Baruch, those in exile are pleading to be released, begging for mercy, and
confessing their sin of turning away from God, ignoring God’s Commandments. They
are turning back toward God ~ repenting ~ and asking for God for restoration.
Jeremiah and Baruch
are in that liminal space, the in-between space, on the verge of something, between
what was and what will be. From the blessings of God to the wondering,
worrying, pondering the what-if—what-if-not space that all of us find at one or
many times in life. IF I get the job, or can’t pay the rent again, if my lab results
are…, if the car breaks down, if I lose my health insurance, if grandma is tossed
out of the nursing home, and an endless list of what current everyday-people
face and also, many facing actual exile to a country not their own.
The psalm is
set before the fall of the Temple in the year 70 CE/AD, in a 7 month siege by
the Romans. The psalmist speaks to God’s power and glory and the solace in
praying with hymns and poetry set to music. Even in the dark wilderness of
exile, God’s presence carries the faithful and calls to those who have
abandoned their faith to turn back.
The true writer
of 2 Thessalonians isn’t clear and in this Letter, Paul or another, understands
that Thessalonica’s Jesus Movement has different issues than the exiled
Israelites did, however, they are living in their own land under the foreign
rule of Rome. Yet this community of believers have new voices and writings in
addition to the comfort of their familiar scriptures. Paul and others keep the
message of Jesus alive and growing ~ with the message that God is always
present, and knowing the endurance needed and the struggles to keep faith alive,
God has not forgotten them. Yet there is also an important message to them and to us in this letter ~ that we are not to allow ourselves to be deceived by others neither by spirit nor word nor letter...claiming the day of the Savior is here now. I'm sure many of us have heard all too often that "the end times are upon us" because of this or that event as has been said throughout known history. It will come when it will come and we will not know, as we've been told in the Gospels, the day or the hour. The “Word” in Christ will overcome as he bids us to
“fear not.”
We, who have
never experienced exile to a foreign land to escape violent rule, or have one’s
country of origin stolen by ruthless invaders, to see children, women, and men
simply held hostage and/or massacred to instill deep fear and induce subservience.
Yet it is all around us in our own time and has never gone away. Indulgence in
too many available and distracting activities can keep us blissfully and intentionally
unaware of the desperation of those around us. We are called by the faith we
claim to read more deeply into the realities of those we consider as “others” and
“less than” and “irrelevant” to imagine the parallel “what ifs” for ourselves.
But we don’t always recognize, or perhaps try to ignore, the impact of our own
fears of political upheaval, a life-threatening family medical issue, or now,
having our children, family, and friends, young or grown, traveling away from us,
because of the horrible weather event in a camp in Texas, as if we are suddenly
aware of such occurrences.
Jesus is preparing
his disciples to carry on his work. They are understandably afraid, perhaps
even terrified, and he and they know the
persecution they will face. He tells them not to worry about people who kill
you because they can’t do anything more to you after you’re dead. (So, um,
thanks for that?) He tells them to be afraid of the one who has the power to send
you to hell. Then an abrupt shift to the selling of sparrows seems awkward to
us but they knew what we generally do not. Sparrows in that time were being
sold to the poor as cheap food. Looking at the size of several species of sparrows
at my bird feeders, it would take a lot of pairs of sparrows just for lunch.
Their price then of 2 copper coins, has less value than one of our US pennies
today. But Jesus makes the point that although they were of little worth to be
sold at such a price, the little feathered ones that, like us, were created by
God are not forgotten. So, therefore, while we may face imagined and unimagined
terrors and danger, God is with us and our worth is far more than little birds.
Does that help relieve the fear, not really, but if we can hold onto that presence
we can endure, if feebly at times, by helping ourselves and others to muddle
through.
Fearing the fear in every era, of the “what ifs” in life creates
more fear and can lead to a paralysis of one’s spirit. Simplicity in and of faith
can move the mountains of anxiety into smaller rocks and pebbles that can become
spiritual steppingstones for us to move forward or even backward, when life circumstance
seems to stop us in our tracks. The old saying “Life happens when we’re making
other plans” applies. When fearing fear takes hold breathe deeply, remember
that everything ~ the good, the bad, the weather, the politics ~ is cyclical; keep
walking, and when the mountain appears, whisper to Jesus hold me close and
remember that we and them and everyone are worth more to God than many
sparrows. Meanwhile, I hear them chirping as I write and it’s time to fill their
feeders…
LET US, GOD’S PEOPLE,
PRAY
Leader: ~ Holy One, Our God, may our prayers and
petitions for mercy reach you, SHE WHO HEARS. Grant us your favor and save us
from our times of trial. Keep us away from the deceptions and false promises of
those who self-exalt themselves as gods, born for destruction and lawlessness, until
our Christ returns to free us forever.
O
God our Rock, our Fortress, and our Refuge
RESPONSE:
Deliver us from Evil
~ Holy One, Our God, give
us the words and the courage to speak your truth to power, to reconcile all
earthly rulers to your will, especially for the care and protection of all your
people. We pray especially for: add your own petitions
O God our Rock, our Fortress, and our Refuge
Deliver us from Evil
~ Holy One, Our God, restore
health and hope for those with chronic pain in body, mind, or spirit; and
refresh all who bring them comfort and care. We now join our hearts together to
pray for those in need… add your own petitions
O God our Rock, our Fortress, and our Refuge
Deliver us from Evil
~ Holy One, Our God, lift
grieving hearts with the promise of joy for an eternal life in glory, now
bestowed on those we have loved in this life. We pray especially for…add your own petitions
O God our Rock, our Fortress, and our Refuge
Deliver us from Evil
~ Holy One, Our
God, we pause in this moment to offer You our other heartfelt
thanksgivings, intercessions, petitions, and memorials, aloud or
silently… add your own petitions
O God our Rock, our Fortress, and our Refuge
Deliver us from Evil
~ Holy One, Our God, look
with extra favor upon those who lead us in Your Church. As your anointed servants
of the Gospel, they shepherd our souls to follow with them in the footsteps of
Christ. We pray especially for: add your own petitions
O
God our Rock, our Fortress, and our Refuge
Deliver us from Evil
The Celebrant adds: O God our Rock and our Salvation, release us from the
traps of worry, busy-ness, and earth-bound distractions that we set for
ourselves, estranging us from You and one another. Open the eyes of our hearts
and souls, to see with compassion and to hear with empathy, all who seem so different
from ourselves and yet are all one with us through you. We ask through Jesus, our
Redeemer Christ; and the Holy Spirit, the Wisdom of our souls; who together
with You are our One True God, now and forever. Amen.
*Readings for our Parish in this Year C
are from The Rev. Dr. Wilda [Wil] Gafney, Womanist biblical scholar,
and the Right Rev. Sam B. Hulsey Professor of Hebrew Bible at Brite Divinity
School in Fort Worth, Texas. She is the author of A Women’s Lectionary
for the Whole Church Yr C, and others in her series, and translator of
its biblical selections. I definitely commend her book for the complete
readings, to Clergy and Laity, for her Text Notes, and “Preaching Prompts”
whether or not you will use them in your Liturgies/Services/Preaching. There is
much to learn from her work to inform every facet of our lives in Christ. To
learn more about her and her work, see her website: https://www.wilgafney.com/
