All That I’ve Seen

Sermon based upon Acts 17:22-31 <-- Audio file of sermon

Good morning and welcome to the first Sunday of Advent. This advent a few stars are going to tell you their story. Stars you say? Yes, stars… as in the twinkling lights in the night sky. Our advent devotional, “The Stars Tell The Story,” walks us through the this year’s journey to Christmas through the eyes of several stars.

This week Polaris will tell you about the birth of light and God’s faithfulness to creation. Next week, the fallen star of Lucifer will talk to you. And the following week another star will share with you about promises. That will then lead us to the guiding star of Bethlehem illuminated by the cantata on the 4th Sunday of Advent.

So without further ado, I present to you Polaris.

Hello, my name is Polaris but a lot of you know me as the North Star or even the handle of the little dipper. I must admit I was a little surprised to be invited to speak. People look at me and wish upon me because I burn so bright in your northern sky but they don’t usually care to hear what I have to say. So I thank you for inviting me because I’ve seen a lot and I especially love to share what I’ve seen of God.

You see, God is the reason I know anything. In the beginning, I was just a ball of dust in the darkness. I didn’t really even realize who I was or what I could be because all I knew was darkness. But then, just like your bible says, God whispered a word to me… a word so simple but it changed everything. God said “light.” It was as if life began at that moment… at least I know my life began at that moment. See, when God speaks to us, we are forever transformed.

This thing called light has been an ongoing gift from God since that day. Think about it. The story of God’s work in creation is referred to as conquering darkness so that life can spring forth. Whether it’s lighting a path forward or driving away evil or casting out secrets that fester in the darkness, light is a tool and gift of God and I’ve been truly blessed to be one of God’s faithful servants by sharing my light.

I’ve pointed the way for travelers, kept people company, and watched over them while they sleep. My work as one of God’s good creations has been very meaningful. But you know what the best part has been? Watching people like you.

The first people I watched were Adam and Eve. Did you know that they loved the nighttime? It’s true. They would sit together and tell each other stories as they gazed into the night sky. I liked watching them. I liked it because they were just so full of love. They loved each other. They loved God. They loved the gifts of God. Everything they did, was from love in its most pure form. Even when that serpent tricked them, they weren’t trying to act in an unloving way. They were manipulated into thinking that the fruit would make them grow wise because of the knowledge of good and evil. They didn’t realize that they could not really handle such wisdom. So sadly, the knowledge they gained only polluted their love.

Lots of folks like to point to that story as saying that we’re somehow bad or broken. I don’t know if that’s true. You know what I think? I think it’s just that we’re all limited. We’re limited in what we can see. We’re limited in what we can understand. We’re limited in time. Only God who is in all places, knows all creation intimately, and lives beyond the bounds of time can really use wisdom of good and evil correctly.

Let me tell you what I mean. Take me for example. I am limited in what I know of the earth because I’m always on one side of it. I’ve never seen most of Africa. I’ve never seen Chili or Argentina. And I’ve never seen Antarctica. To me, they might as well not exist. And they don’t know I exist either.

But I’ve seen folks that travel from that side of the earth. And I trust my star friend, Sirius when she tells me that they are beautiful places. But I’m so limited, that I don’t think I could make a good judgment or assess what God has done there or tell you what the people need there. I just don’t know enough.

People are the same way. Adam and Eve and all of humanity now carry the burden of knowing both good and evil. In many cases, you know what good and evil look like and often know how to handle them. But sometimes you know just enough to cause trouble because only God can use that power fully.

For example, look over there at Lavender. She seems nice enough. But when you try to use God’s wisdom of good and evil to judge her, things just get all messed up. Watch this… Did you know that she gave $5 to a homeless person last week? That seems good right? Well it was good for the homeless person but Lavender didn’t do it because of a loving desire to help. She did it because she felt her own shame and inability to truly look into the eyes of the other person. So, you tell me… she did something good but not from a loving motivation. How should she be judged? And let’s go back in time. Did you know that she used to steal things when she was a child? That sounds bad right? But what you don’t know is that her family was very poor and they were hungry. And she has worked hard to make amends for it ever since. So see, trying to use the knowledge of good and evil is complicated. We’re all just so limited. Only God knows enough to use it well.

And speaking of what God knows, I think our limitedness includes what we know about God too. That’s why I love the story of Paul seeing the Athenian shrine to the “god nobody knows.” At least the Athenians were humble enough to know that God might be bigger than what they knew. When I was watching God form the rest of creation, it was clear that we would all be looking at God from different sides, just like I look at the earth from a particular side. So, I encourage you to be careful when you speak of God. Speak boldly of what God has done in your life but speak humbly about what God’s will is for others. It’s just so hard to see what God is doing when you only see part of the story.

But take heart. I’m not actually here to make us feel small and remind us of our limitedness. To me, the real miracle isn’t that God can use this wisdom and the rest of creation can’t. The real miracle is that creation just keeps being beautiful and amazing in spite of our limitedness. Think about it. With all the things that could go wrong in creation, there’s far more that’s gone right. Accidents are rarely as bad as they could be. Wars are avoided at the last minute. Children are born into love every minute. Relationships are formed and make us more than we were. All this beauty is swirling around us and the only real explanation for why such a limited creation could make more beauty than destruction is that most of us are always being drawn to the light.

Since God’s first utterance of light, we seem to have this little voice inside of us that keeps us moving forward in search of more light, more beauty, more love… a fuller view of God. That’s the whole meaning of Advent. I’ve heard lots of folks talk about Advent as a time of waiting and expectancy. I guess that’s true. But the word Advent comes from the Latin word adventus meaning “coming.” Coming is a progressive verb… which means that it is currently happening and will continue to happen.

Now you don’t need some star giving you a grammar lesson but the point I want to make is that Advent, the coming, is a journey. Much like how creation is always moving toward the light, Advent is about our journey toward a light being born. We’re not waiting… we’re on our way.

You know what else I always like? Even as we’re drawn to the light of God, God is with and amongst us. Read your bible. Talk to your friends and neighbors. You can even talk to many of the people you might call enemies. What you’ll find from listening to their stories is that God never gives up on us and never leaves us. God didn’t give up on Adam and Eve after their mistake in the garden. Instead, God made it clear what the consequences were and helped them know how to prepare to live life differently. God didn’t abandon Paul as he took the gospel to new places. Instead, Paul found that God made provision for him through the ever growing & ever working body of Christ. And today, when we feel lost in the darkness, we are not abandoned by God. We need only be faithful and soon we’ll be able to see God working for our support and help during those times.

I’m always amazed at how God keeps reaching to us. It’s like watching that prodigal son come home over and over again. Trust me, I’ve been watching this go on for more time than humans have existed. Because you see, God is just so full of love and grace. God’s love keeps drawing us all toward God and to each other. And God’s grace keeps us seeking to find more light even when we’ve stumbled into darkness.

God loves us as we are and for who we are. God won’t ask the dandelion to stop being so fuzzy or the rose to not be so thorny. God loves and joins us in all our beauty, our defenses, our darkness, and our light. God knows that our rights and our wrongs have a story. They have a reason. God knows that we have deeply rooted fears. God also knows that we have a huge heart made for love. God knows every part of us. God knows all of creation and still reaches out to us every single time offering love, redemption, transformation, growth, nurture, and relationship. God loves us for who we are but knows that in the light, it is our beauty that will grow and flourish.

I’ve been watching you and will continue to watch you. You are a beautiful people. Trust in God’s presence and that calling from the dawn of creation to walk toward light. When you let God dispel the darkness, you’ll be amazed at just how beautiful you become. Amen.

Let It Rain

Audio podcast of sermon

On this day, I scrapped my sermon based upon Joel 2: 23-32 at the last minute and preached a somewhat awkward sermon from an outline because I kept hearing an little voice say, “if they can’t see God’s faithfulness in their own lives, then they won’t be able to see or connect to it in people from such a different context and time.”

Hearing that enough made me realize that the act of integrity was to go way out of my comfort zone and produce the following outline that can be found in it’s entirety in the audio file. The audio file is from the first time I preached it. Personally, I was so far out of my comfort zone that I felt like it was horrid. But people from both services said it was precisely what they needed to hear. So, I trust that God used the words well even if I felt like I stammered.

Also, folks didn’t share as openly in the first service about God’s faithfulness but they were more interactive in the second service. Nevertheless, I could see the wheels turning inside people. Many people were crying tears of remembrance, joy, and longing as they remembered God’s presence in their lives.

Sermon Outline
What does God’s faithfulness look like?
• The history, context, broader understanding of the book of Joel
Characteristics of God’s faithfulness
• Covenant, promise (there’s a whole history of God making good on covenant/promises)
• Presence (in good times and especially in tragedy)
• Nurture (gifts, healing, comfort)
• Love
• Guidance
• Justice
• Relationship
Invite people to share their experiences of God’s faithfulness




text of original sermon 101024 - Ordinary 30C – Let It Rain

Good morning. As always, it’s a delight to share with you in this time of worship and today is no exception. Today is UN Sunday. It is a day to recognize Presbyterian involvement in the UN’s global advocacy and work for justice, helping the poor, and making peace a reality.

The two scripture texts this morning have something in common… they both tell us of God’s grace and faithfulness that is bigger than our ability to comprehend or understand. When we look at the text from Joel specifically, it would be easy to break out into a chorus of “Great is thy Faithfulness.” We are hearing about how God is with them. But it’s not naive praises of an ideal life that God has in store for them. No, this is the praise of a people who found honor for and relationship with God in the midst of famine. They found their deepest connection with God during the times of unknown, strife, and challenge.

See, when we read the lectionary text from Joel, we’re taking a sneak peek at the uplifting part. We’ve bypassed a famine and the loss of their livelihood and hope. Truly, it’s hard to understand Joel unless you read the whole book. But it’s a short one so let me summarize.

This is still in the period of exile for the Jewish people that we discussed the other week and you may recall how I said that being in exile was a fragile state. The passage we studied that week reminded them that their welfare was wrapped up in the welfare of others. Well, this text is picking up on what happens when disaster strikes.

Joel is writing in response to drought and famine that have left people starving. Even their seed for a new harvest has been destroyed and locusts have decimated the land. In a time when life was so fragile, this famine could not have been more painful. It must have been wretched to watch the people they loved die because of the earth shriveling up.

But at this dark time is when Joel calls the people of God to be most faithful. Joel knows that for most people, nothing motivates and focuses us on what we need to fix or change so much as pain and discomfort do. Joel points out that part of why they are experiencing the bleak, joyless life is because they had stopped caring about God and doing what is important to live righteously. Through God, Joel calls them to repent and live faithful lives even in the midst of all this heartache because he is sure that God’s faithfulness will see them through.

This is where our passage picks up. Joel is delighted that the early rain has come. He writes:
O children of Zion, be glad and rejoice in the LORD your God; for he has given the early rain for your vindication, he has poured down for you abundant rain, the early and the later rain, as before. The threshing floors shall be full of grain, the vats shall overflow with wine and oil. I will repay you for the years that the swarming locust has eaten, the hopper, the destroyer, and the cutter, my great army, which I sent against you. You shall eat in plenty and be satisfied, and praise the name of the LORD your God, who has dealt wondrously with you. And my people shall never again be put to shame. You shall know that I am in the midst of Israel, and that I, the LORD, am your God and there is no other. And my people shall never again be put to shame.
To people who had lost their children to starvation and their hope had been eaten away like the locusts ate their land, this must have been sweet music to their ears.

But there are 2 things we need to recognize about what’s going on here. First of all, this is part of an interactive encounter with God. Throughout this book, not just this passage, Joel and God are speaking in an exchange. God invites the repentance of the Israelites and promises salvation. I point this out because when disasters happen in our own lives, our fears and feelings of unworthiness often go to the place of asking “Why did God do this to me?” or “What have I done to deserve this?” Likewise, when something good happens, we can quickly slide into the thinking that we earned God’s favor by being better than or good enough. So when we read a passage like this, it’s not a farfetched connection to say, “well, they earned the rain so if I do enough good things, God will help me get a better job.” But friends, that kind of thinking really isn’t how God interacts with us nor is it what’s going on here.

This really is a direct dialog where God has something bigger going on. The reasons for sending rain are not in exchange for salvation but something else. This brings me to the second thing I want to point out about this passage. It talks of the rains being given as vindication and so that they will never be put to shame. This dialog is not about them being good enough to deserve rain. God has been with them and faithful throughout. The rain and healing of shame is about proving to non-believers the power of God and a healing salve to their faithfulness for enduring persecution.

Remember, they are living in exile amongst people of many different beliefs. What was most striking about the Jewish people is that they were the only monotheistic religion at that time. They had the one God, not many gods. They worshiped a God of covenant, love, and ever presence while others worshiped fickle gods demanding obedience in exchange for their favor. So, the idea of a one all-powerful God was very odd during that time and so the Jewish people were mocked and treated badly. But God sends these rains as a balm for their spirits, to not only restore the land but to vindicate them in the eyes of others.

Now, we’ve walked down this road of looking at the background story for some very important reasons. We need to know the bigger story to get what was going on here. And more importantly, we need to know what’s not going on here. There is no bargaining for favor with God and the people did not earn God’s rewards. God was with them and would continue to do so. God had promised them restoration and God was delivering. So, ultimately we go through the background story to help us make sense of what it means here and now.

See, even though we’re not really going into the whole text of God’s spirit coming down upon them and an apocalyptic day of the Lord (I’ll save those for another day), there is still a lot here for us. I think our take aways from this passage are 1) God is faithful 2) God’s restoration meets our whole needs, and 3) our involvement matters to God.

Okay, God is faithful. What does that mean? Well, it means that God always makes good on God’s promises. If there is one thing that is clear from studying this book (hold up the bible), it is that God holds fast to what covenant relationship means. Presence, nurture, love, guidance… all these things are part of how God reveals and abundant faithfulness. So, when we have turned our backs on God, God is still knocking at our doors nudging and calling us back. When we feel in the darkness of sorrow, God is still there with support along the way and a light to guide us toward healing. When we are in the good times, God is still there nurturing a bigger love in us by opening our eyes to the ones that aren’t so privileged. God is faithful to creation by never leaving us and never letting us be. Faithful relationship always calls us to more.

Next, God’s restoration meets our whole needs. What does that mean? In this passage God’s rains restore their physical world full crops and plenty of harvest but it also restores their spirits. You see, God’s restoration does not just seek to put a quick fix on it or offer a hand out to make it better for the moment. God’s healing in creation is for our whole selves. So when we are suffering, God is working to heal all the parts of us. We can experience both a relief in our emotions and a healing of our spirit. We can find healing for both our bodies and our minds. No part of us is too damaged or unworthy of God’s healing and restoration.

Finally, our involvement matters to God. Just like God went to the people in this passage calling them back to faith, God calls us back every time we turn away. This is kind of part of God’s faithfulness but the part we often need to hear the most. God has not made a creation to tend to like a garden and control what is in it and prune it to look a particular way. God set in motion a world of relationships and calls us to relationship with God. Whether it’s because God delights in our relationship as a creator or the way we live out being God’s hands and feet in the world, God is always calling us to interact. Whether we’re being healed or doing the healing, God is reaching to and through us. God acts for the betterment of us. God acts to make creations whole. God acts to get us to interact. Calling us, holding us, reaching for us, teaching us, healing us… God’s actions are extended in hopes of our response.

So, here we find ourselves at the center of a relationship where God’s faithfulness is bigger than our ability to earn favor. It’s full of love and hope for us. How will we respond? How will we interact with God? In the places where we’ve gone astray will we turn and face God? When disasters in life strike, will we receive the hand of God as it’s extended to us? When we see others who suffer, will we be God’s hand extended in the world?

Sisters and brothers, we are a beautiful, loving, and creative people who are also broken and fragile. But we are not alone. We are the children of God made for relationship with both God and each other. God’s faithfulness precedes and will extend long after us. The rain that we need to heal the brokenness is in God. The rain that we need to cultivate the love is in God. God wants to drench us in love and relationship. So today I ask you, what rain does God want to pour out on you?

Amen

Along the Way

Along the Way <-- Audio File - Sermon based upon Psalm 107:1-9, 43

Good morning. It’s an honor to be back with you again to worship. For those of you that weren’t here on my previous visits, my name is Lavender Kelley and I’m a chaplain at Children’s Memorial Hospital in Chicago. I’m a graduate of Louisville Seminary and have been a chaplain in the 4 years since then. Actually, some of your youth recently met Adam Fischer, a classmate of mine from seminary. He is now at Harvey Brown Pres in Louisville, the host church for the youth mission trip.

As a chaplain and cancer survivor, I’m very involved in volunteering for causes near and dear to me. Some of you may recognize that I have more hair than I did last time I was here because I had shaved my head in a fundraising event one month prior to that. Anyway, I mostly just want you to know that I’m grateful to spend some more time with you in this holy time of worship.

Our scripture text that John read for you this morning is from Psalm 107. The lectionary guide for this week chose only to include verses 1-9 & 43. That means you heard the introduction, 1 story illustration, and the benediction. But if we were to read the whole psalm, what we would see might seem more like a full sermon. Because the whole psalm contains an introduction, 4 very similar sermon illustrations, a conclusion, and a benediction.

This Psalm focuses on God’s “steadfast love” or “hesed” as it is read in Hebrew. Scholars frequently refer to this as the model psalm of God’s “steadfast love.” They say this because the psalm in its entirety contains repeated stories of God’s unrelenting love for people. That’s part of what I find remarkable about this psalm. Many of the psalms are written to God as prayers. Those prayers reveal what people believe God should do or how they want to interact with God. But this one is written from a different perspective. In this one, the psalmist shares their previous experience with and of God… how God intervened and delivered them from distress.

Verses 4-9 are the first of those similar stories that the psalmist shares of God’s loving intervention. The writer tells us:

Some wandered in desert wastelands, finding no path to an inhabited town; hungry and thirsty, their soul withered within them. Then they cried out to the Holy One in their trouble, and God delivered them from their distress; God led them by a straight way, until they reached an inhabited town. Let them thank the Holy One for this steadfast love, for God’s wonderful works to humankind. For the Holy One satisfies the thirsty, and fills the hungry with good things.

Within this story and the other three that follow later in the Psalm, there are different details but the plot is the same. It begins with the people feeling hopeless and lost. They are not just suffering with physical hunger & thirst. Their soul is withering. Next the people cry out to God for help. This is followed by God delivering them from their distress. And finally, the people encourage thanksgiving and gratitude toward God.

Several things strike me about this story. First, like I said earlier, this was written about their experience of God rather than what they wanted God to do. Second, God delivers them only after they call out for help. And third, God’s deliverance does not magically transport them out of the desert. Rather, God’s deliverance was to help them along the way.

So let’s look at these pieces a little further. When we read this psalm, it tells stories of the people in the wilderness and deserts. It’s easy to imagine the early story telling that led to writing this psalm. It might have arisen from the experience of the Israelites being led out of Egypt by Moses. They traveled and searched and kept getting lost. They called out to false gods and idols for help but still were lost. It was only with the help of the one true God that they found their way. Or maybe the story was of shepherds traversing wild terrain looking for grazing lands and becoming lost. They seek and try all the ways they know to get their bearings but are still lost.

Regardless of the story’s origins, the images make sense given the history of the people in that era. Yet, even sitting here we can imagine such an experience today. Though few of us have been lost in a literal desert, many of us find ourselves lost in the wilderness of finding or keeping a job. We feel lost in a maze of ethical decisions like whether to choose financial security for ourselves at the expense of others. False gods offer us quick and easy ways to get rich but never ask what God’s calling on our life is.

Others of us have confronted illnesses that leave us feeling in the dark, struggling to make sense, find answers, and build a new path home. We ask questions, look for understanding, and use all our best methods to get our bearings but we are lost.

Still others of us have struggled through traumatic events where we just can’t seem to find our way home. We sit in what feels like a wilderness of sorrow and loss feeling all alone. We grow tired not knowing how to help ourselves and soon we start to feel our soul wither.

And let’s face it, even without extreme events, our day to day lives can feel daunting and draining and like we’re all alone. We try all kinds of things to help make the journey better… to help us find our way. But for all our best efforts, sometimes we still find ourselves in a wilderness, wandering and hungry. We were still hungry for that which only God can provide.

This psalm recognizes that hunger and tells the story of how others that came before us were filled. I find great comfort that this is not simply a prayer for what we want God to do but rather people touched by God telling of the great things from God. I don’t know about you but sometimes my most hope-filled moments are hearing the stories of others and this one is no different. It gives hope.

It is that hope that brings me to the second point in this passage. As they talk about their experience, they say that God delivers them after they call out for help. Why do you think that is? As a hospital chaplain, I often sit with people who feel alone and abandoned. They truly are in the darkest places of their lives. So if God’s love is so steadfast, why does it take calling out for them to experience deliverance?

Maybe the answer is not that simple. This is a story of people who knew God intimately and already believed God was there for them. They were already believers and they struggled like the rest of us. So what are they trying to tell us? I think they are sharing their story from their point of view. Think about it. When we talk about our experience of something, there’s a particular way people talk about the timing of things happening. They talk personally rather than a big picture point of view that might explain how God was always with them but they could not see it. But more importantly, I think the psalmist’s story of calling out to God reminds us that we usually aren’t open to help until we ask for it.

Think of those times when we’re frustrated such as when we’ve been working on something truly difficult. If someone just comes up and offers help, we usually aren’t open to it. I had one of those uncles who would never ask for directions no matter how lost they were. And I once saw someone break 2 bones falling because they refused help in carrying something. Sometimes we don’t ask for help because we’re too proud to receive it. Yet at the hospital I meet people who are too overwhelmed by sorrow and worry to even remember to ask for help. When offered even something simple like water, they refuse because they are too overwhelmed in that moment to receive. We go get them water, a cool cloth, and call their family, all of which they will use. But until they are open to help, they will not have an experience of being supported. They feel alone.

Yet, when we call out for help it is an entirely different matter. It’s us saying that we want and are open to help. It’s us letting go of our ego, our fears, and our walls to be humble and receptive to help. When we call out, especially in desperation, we have our ears, eyes, heart, mind… our whole self open to help.

So it goes with these people of God lost in the desert. They called out and God was there with the help they needed. But what was it exactly that they needed? This brings me to what I find most striking about this passage. What stuck out to me is not that these people were desperate or that they called out to God or that God helped them. What is most remarkable is that this passage tells us the way God helped them and it may not be what we expect.

The passage says that “God delivered them from their distress; God led them by a straight way, until they reached an inhabited town.” God’s deliverance did not magically transport them out of the desert to their destination. Rather, God’s deliverance was from their sense of distress… their withering soul. They no longer felt alone. Though God was already with them before, now they knew God was present with them. Their emotional and spiritual experience of hopelessness was nurtured and they were delivered from their distress.

God also stayed with them and helped them journey on a straighter path that would lead to inhabited towns where they could be replenished along the way. I thought this was an interesting passage so I looked up the history of people finding passage through the desert. What I found out is that there is no path because in the desert, the sand is always moving. Even the sand dunes moved. So the way one group went was not the way another went. What they did was that the leader would get their bearings on the direction they needed to go and they would try to walk a sort of wavy path around the sand dunes. That way they expended their energy more efficiently walking on level ground rather than up and down dunes. The path would be longer but they would not be so tired. So the path they traveled may have made them miss an oasis or small town, thus missing an opportunity for fresh water and a straw mattress.

So when this passage says that God led them on a straighter way that passed through towns, they are not saying that all was easy. Being delivered didn’t mean they were suddenly without work to do. They did not go from roughing it to sitting by the pool with an umbrella drink. And they did not suddenly arrive at their destination. They were still in the midst of a long and perilous journey… but they were not alone. God’s presence in the form of steadfast love stepped in and transformed their experience of the desert.

So let’s linger here for a bit. They clearly understood this as action as God’s love for them. They even said, “Let them thank the Holy One for this steadfast love, for God’s wonderful works to humankind. For the Holy One satisfies the thirsty, and fills the hungry with good things.”

So what happened to them? They found satisfaction and fulfillment along the way. They experienced God’s actions as wonderful works towards them. They were open to help and received it.

But what did this help look like exactly? They don’t say that a booming voice came from the sky directing them. They really don’t say much at all. But they are clear that God was with them along the way.

Honestly, I don’t think their experience of God is much different than our own. When God’s love shines through the faces of other people, if we are open to it, we recognize it as God. When God’s love holds us through the dark places, if we are open to it, we recognize it as God. When God’s love guides us to make decisions that are best for our families and communities, if we are open to it, we recognize it as God. And when God’s love lightens our hearts and fills us with hope, if we are open to it, we recognize it as God.

But the key here that seems to be that their fulfillment and even ours today is that God helped them along the way. So often we pray for things to be fixed. Or we want the miracle cure. Sometimes we desire a change but without all the work. But these people found God’s help along the way.

What do our lives look like when we receive God’s help along the way? Well, it usually means we still have work to do of some sort. But it also means we have something we’re focusing upon. It may not be a destination. Perhaps it is an ideal instead.

Have you ever been involved in one of those trips where everything just seems to go as planned? I think it would be very easy to attribute that to God… and rest assured, God was there. But the times I am more keenly aware of God are when things aren’t going well. Because if we’re open to it, we find unexpected help, meet new people that make our world brighter, and become better people for the journey.

I have spent a lot of time talking with cancer patients during my own treatment. Attitude is what seems to make the biggest difference in how people experience it. I’ve met people who feel like everything that can go wrong will go wrong with them. They feel like the world or God is out to get them. But others who have almost identical circumstances talk of all the great new people they’ve met. They share stories of how they found new interests and hobbies they would have never even thought of otherwise. They share stories of how a certain nurse is surly an angle because she always has the right words to comfort. Life isn’t just happening to or at them. Life is happening with God at their side.

Sisters and brothers, this is a passage about life happening. Life includes the joyous and the tragic and all that lies in between. Not all these events happen because of God but God is in the midst of them and still with us after them. Our job is to be open to God’s help. Our job is to keep journeying. Our job is to share in the journey with others around us. And we do this with hope knowing God is with us all along the way.

Amen