LENT 5
March 21, 2010 All Saints
The young recruit to the monastic order was warned of its severity, strictness, and vow of silence. At the end of ten years he was allowed to speak two words. After the first ten years he said to his confessor, "Food bad." Criticism accepted. At the end of the second ten years, again he lamented, "Bed hard." Accepted without comment. At the conclusion of the third ten year period, the monk emphatically stated, "I quit." To which the abbot replied, "Good! You have done nothing but complain since you have been here." Another story. A man said to his friend, "You look depressed. What are you thinking of?" "My future," said the friend. "Well what makes it seem so hopeless?" the man asked. "My past," said the friend. One more. Louis L'Amour, in his book "Lonely on the Mountain" wrote, "There will come a time when you believe everything is finished. That will be the beginning."
A couple of weeks ago, when I was here, I used a line in my sermon that was written by George Santayana about 100 years ago. He wrote, "Those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it." The past is one of the major themes of our scripture lessons today. And today, as true and as important as Mr. Santayana's words were, we heard that Isaiah told God's people to forget the past, or at least to cease living in it, so that they would be open to the new things that God was going to do. The psalm also deals with the past but takes a little different view; remember it but let the past bring you encouragement for the future. And in the epistle reading, Paul sees his past as nothing more than garbage, "rubble" in comparison to the new hope, the new life he has found in Jesus Christ. Even Mary's act of extravagant love in the Gospel lesson can be seen as a look into the future because of Christ's acts in the past.
When Isaiah spoke, the Israelites were in Babylonian exile. They looked back to the good old days, to their "Golden Years" when God had delivered them from bondage in Egypt that we know of as the Exodus. They thought that their best days were behind them forever. But Isaiah came on the scene and told them in effect, "You haven't seen anything yet. Do not keep your eyes on what was but rather on what can be. God is about to do something new. Your best, God's best, is yet to be" Just as God had made a way out of Egypt and through the Red Sea, God would make a way through the wilderness between Babylon and their homeland. God would sustain them on this new journey as God had sustained them on the old one.
And in fact it happened. Another prophet, Ezekiel, gave us an unforgettable image of what the nation of Israel was like then; a valley of dry bones. In other words, they had no more chance of living again as a nation than did a valley of bones on an old battlefield! But in 538 B.C., the bones began to rattle and stir. Flesh started to form on them again! They came back to life. Another nation, Persia, under King Cyrus, defeated the Babylonians and allowed all the Jews who wanted to, to return home. There was tremendous joy and people had to confess, "The Lord had done great things for them."
Psalm 126 also deals with and separates the past and future. Verses 1-3 sing about what God did for the people in the past while verses 5-7 sing a song about what God will do in the future. St. Paul, in the reading from Philippians, distances himself from his past and seeks only to press forward, to grow in his own walk with Christ. Paul had a lot to leave behind. He had been a Pharisee in his love and zeal for the law. His zeal had even led him to persecute Christians having all that he caught cast into prison. Paul had been very sure of himself, very proud, very self righteous. He had attained the very heights of his religious faith. But because of the encounter with Christ on the way to Damascus, he discovered the new and wondrous thing God was doing in Christ. Paul considered all of his past as loss. He had found something far better. He acknowledged that he still was learning what that meant for him but he vowed to spend his life pressing forward to grow into and serve Christ. Much like the story of Israel in the Babylonian times, God was doing new things and Paul was struggling to look to the future.
The Gospel story is a story of extravagant love shown by Mary to Jesus. But it also has a tie to the past and a look forward to the future. Many see this story as a foretaste of the extravagant love Jesus showed for all people by his death on the cross. Jesus pointed out that his time was short and he wouldn't be with them for long. He looked to the future and he recognized that what Mary was doing could be considered as preparing him for his burial. Mary may have seen to the future but others were caught up in the past, in the ways things had always been done.
Churches are often caught in that bind. They often look back to their golden age, to a former time, a former rector, a former ministry, or a former style of worship that in hindsight looks to be perfect, whether or not it really was. Some churches even lock their future to their past. They cannot see what can be because of their preoccupation with what was. They get so used to looking back that they cannot see or envision the present and future that God has for them. "We have never done it that way" has prevented many a church from seeing the new paths, the new ways that God has laid out for them. If Isaiah were here today he would be saying, "Forget the past, God is doing a new thing here."
All of this talk about forgetting the past or remembering but not being tied to the past is perfect for All Saints' at this moment. I have worshiped in this parish for about 32 years. I've served on committees, on the vestry, been a warden, lector, Sunday School teacher, Lay Eucharistic Minister, deacon and priest here. I think that there have been 5 rectors and a couple of interim rectors during those 32 years. I have seen and been part of the good times and the bad times. I truly feel a part of this parish and see it, in my current role with the bishop, as leading the way, not only in this diocese but in the church at large, toward multi-cultural inclusive ministry to the people of God. The stories that we heard today are here for us right now. We do need to remember the past but we also need to let it go as we look to the future.
Oh, I've heard the murmurs of members here. Some of the people wind up bearing more of the load, whether financial or physical, than others. Following God's path, God's new things, brings change and change is difficult. We, like those of old and those in other churches today, can get so caught up in what was, in our own traditions and beliefs, even in our own past spiritual experiences that we close ourselves off from the new things God wants to do in and through us. It is easy to learn one thing, see things one way, become so rigid that we cannot learn new things, cannot grow anymore. And just like those to whom Isaiah spoke, accepting change is difficult. It is not easy to change, to grow, to accept and believe in the new things God is doing and wants us to do. But if we are going to be able to be a part of God's new works, we must be able to accept change.
Hopefully soon we will be meeting a new interim rector and for us that will be a new act of God in our future. We are in the process of moving into the future and while we can remember the past, it is time for us to let it go and be part of our new future in God. Just like Louis L'Amour wrote, "There will come a time when you believe everything is finished. That will be the beginning." We are now beginning.
