Sunday, August 11, 2019

In the dark, we see farther



Season of Creation: Cosmos Sunday
Genesis 15: 1-6 and Luke 12: 32-34

In the summer, in the north, darkness is in short supply. I usually think about that with gratefulness – I love the long summer days. But, when we wake with the dawn and go to sleep with the sun, in this summer season we’ve been getting a lot less sleep. Those of you who have had the experience of waking with young children at the crack of dawn know this struggle... you get why my sister-in-law (living in far northern Canada with five little ones & another on the way) has invested in room-darkening shades. Others of you – teens, for example – know how hard it is in summer to accumulate 15 hours of nighttime driving, when night doesn’t really start ‘til about 10:00 pm. In summer in Minnesota and especially in the proximity of a major urban area like this one we live in, darkness is limited. And it is only in darkness that we can really see the stars, really see out into the cosmos.

Abram receives a vision and shares a direct encounter with God in this early story from Genesis – the book whose title means formation, emergence, becoming… Abram’s name means “many” but this far in the story, Abram grieves because he is the opposite of many. He has no children. He feels alone. He has given up that he will ever have a descendent and this is the only marker of his worth that means anything to him. So God takes him out to the night sky and asks him to count the stars… it’s impossible.
And then God tells Abram that his descendants will be like that… more than anyone can count. Given that people of three major religions—Judaism, Christianity and Islam all look to Abraham (whose name means “father of many, parent of multitudes”) as their ancestor, we know now how the story came out eventually… just as God promised… but way back as they looked at one small part of the cosmos together, Abram had no way of really knowing that. He trusted God, he believable what seemed unbelievable.

What seems unbelievable to us today?

Maybe we can’t believe anymore in an end to violence… 
46 people died in Chicago last week Sunday
In Dayton, Ohio and El Paso, Texas and in Gilroy, California, 34 people died the last two Sundays and 67 more were wounded
My dear friend, a leader in her own local chapter of “Mom’s Demand Action” traveled to Des Moines, Iowa this weekend for the Presidential Gun Sense Forum…
Maybe we just can’t believe anymore in a country that allows people to walk into a Walmart or a City Festival or a restaurant or bar and open fire…
Maybe we can’t believe in a way forward through the rhetoric of fear that keeps things as they are… guns too easily in the hands of the hateful… maybe instead, it’s just easier to blame God for not giving us the vision we need to change things... 
Yet in the night, God points us to the stars. So that we might remember our small place in the universe, our limited vision, our inability to see how the whole story will unfold… yet also, our ability to trust in the promises of God who invites us to place our trust carefully.
Not in the ability to arm ourselves, however valuable that may be, but in the one who gives life and walks with us through death.

In our love of light, in our fear and worry about darkness, about not being able to see, in our lack of trust, we have filled the world with artificial light… and it impacts not only our physical and mental health but the health of many other species, especially nocturnal insects, amphibians, fish, birds, bats and other animals.[1]
Jesus said in sharp contrast to our efforts to control the night, “Do not be afraid… for it is God’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.” That word can be confusing because we don’t fully understand what that means—what are we being given exactly? Well, certainly not what we think of first when we hear “kingdom” - not crowns or castles or armies or treasures… because the very next invitation is to sell our possessions. We release the security of things in order to gain something else. But then, the invitation is this—to invest in what doesn’t wear out, what can’t be stolen, what can’t be consumed. Invest in true treasure. “Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

Which makes me think of our Fifth National Night Out last Tuesday. Some of you set up and passed on the Facebook invite. Some of you were here all day, cooking & smoking chicken legs. Some of you donated your tables and chairs and others set them up. Some of you served lunch or invited people to come who were sharing lunch at Shobi’s on the corner of Rice and Sherburne. Some of you figured out how to set up sound outside. Some of you walked up and down Rice Street, inviting neighbors. Some of you invited youth to come & youth, you invited children to join you in games. Certain brave souls got up and sang karaoke; others danced; others listened as one neighbor, then another shared their thoughts—real and imagined. We were about as diverse a neighborhood gathering as any… and a small group of us got up to dance the Cupid Shuffle at one point, led by KICKS counselors from years past and including the two very young SPPD officers who joined us for that part of the evening. “Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

It makes me think of Three Days of Awesomeness, a Confirmation & youth retreat that also came together this week… also now in its fifth year. For the past four years, we’ve been the guests of the Rahbergs at River Place Tree Farm, a place where when the skies are clear, there is a remarkable view of the stars. Where we reflected together on how God calls us together – calls us to serve, play & share – and then calls us out. “Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” In the darkness, we can see farther…

There is a reason that we invest our time and resources in these kinds of gatherings—in Shobi’s lunches shared on the corner, in KICKS that gives young people a sense of “home” that lasts year after year, in music & food shared in Peace Garden that brought neighbors back again, neighbors who are learning to trust this community of faith, in Wednesday night suppers & evening prayer shared in Advent and Lent because when our treasure builds community, our hearts grow.

These past weeks, we have been in vigil with Shirley Brekke’s family as she neared the end of her life. As I visited this week, more than one person came in to say some word of advice about what the family should do to ease her journey… maybe you’ve experienced this, too… somewhat unwelcome advice about how you should be navigating the passage with a loved one near to death. One of her children looked into my eyes and here’s what I shared, “I hope you know, you are not doing anything wrong. Death is a great mystery.” Like any part of the future, things do not always unfold in our timing or as we would want or expect, but we wait in mystery, without firm answers, looking to the Creator of the stars of night, who gives us the ability to invest in true treasure together as we welcome God’s good dark that helps us see a bigger picture of our place in the cosmos… and trust in the future that God is creating in and through, within and even in spite of us.

At Shirley’s bedside as she grew nearer to death, I prayed a prayer that I know she loves… a prayer that reminds us to trust in the God who leads and guides us.

Lord God, you call your servants to ventures of which we cannot see the ending
By paths as yet untrodden, through perils unknown
Give us faith to go out with good courage, not knowing where we go but only that your hand is leading us and your love supporting us, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen

“Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”
In the dark, we see farther… and step into it with faith, hope, love.            
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