"For Just Such a Time as This"
Pastor Susan Langhauser
Thursday, October 28, 2010
Luke 18:1-8
The Rite of Reception for Rev. Donna Simon
St. Mark Lutheran Church, Kansas City, Mo. - October 28, 2010
Grace and peace to you from God, the Creator, and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.
R-E-C-E-P-T-I-O-N (What’s that spell?) Well, when you have waited this long, it spells PARTY! And you know that an invitation to a party needs to answer four questions:
What? Invitation to a wedding, Confirmation, Baptism - “reception to follow” –
When? Who knew at ordination it would take 10 years for a “reception to follow”
Where? Location verified thru Facebook post by Donna to Brian: “…glad you asked. It didn't make the papers, but at the CWA, right before the vote on Policies and Procedures, there was an amendment to require all Rites of Reception to be held at churches called St. Mark's. Because the lion is the symbol of St. Mark, (therefore) "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe" is the working subtitle of the official Rite of Reception.
Why? Reception; Reaffirmation; Reconciliation; Reformation – and don’t we Lutherans just love those “re” words?
What an honor it is to be standing here tonight. I could barely believe my ears with Donna asked me to follow in the footsteps of my own friend and mentor, the Rev. Donna Duensing from PLTS, who brought the ordination proclamation exactly 10 years ago today, and we “imagined” together the ministry that Donna Simon was just beginning among the good people of God at Abiding Peace Lutheran Church. But as any good preacher might do, my first question to her was, “What’s the text?” “The Persistent Widow and the Unjust Judge”, she responded, adding immediately that I was under no circumstance to depict Donna, herself, as the long-suffering widow and the ELCA as the unjust judge!
Not a problem! One of my favorite parables! OK. But shouldn’t we have checked the lectionary? For, yes, it DID just come around in our Year C cycle, a mere two weeks ago. Therefore, all of you have already heard great and glorious proclamation of this gospel text in your own churches, or even exegeted this passage within an inch of its life yourself. There is nothing new to tell you! Except, perhaps, to recall other Biblical widows: that widow from Nain and her soon-to-be raised son; the starving widow of Zarephath, soon-to-be miraculously fed; the widow in the temple - giving her last two copper coins to the system that should have taken care of her – soon-to-be lifted up as a model of sacrificial giving by Jesus himself. Widows, after all, have nothing left to lose, and cannot count on the “soon-to-be’s” that might come to others. Widows had nowhere else to turn, but to the inner connection to God that some call guts, and others call soul.
This past week, the Kansas City Repertory Theatre opened their production of Harriet Jacobs, a new play based on the real life slave woman, Harriet Jacobs’ Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl. She says in the introduction, “they took my hands, my body, and my family for themselves; but they could never take my soul.”
In “Bothering God” from Home by Another Way by Barbara Brown Taylor, we get an intimate glimpse of this particular widow’s soul:
“She knew what she wanted and she knew who could give it to her.
Whether he gave it or not was beyond her control,
but that did not matter to her.
She was willing to say what she wanted—
out loud, day and night,
over and over—whether she got it or not,
because saying it
was how she remembered who she was.
It was how she remembered the shape of her heart…
She would never have believed it herself—
how exhilarating it was to stop trying to phrase things the right way,
to stop going through proper channels
and acting grateful for whatever scraps
life dropped on her plate.
There were no words for the relief she felt
when she finally threw off her shame, her caution, her self-control,
and went straight to the source
to say exactly what she wanted.
She did not know she could roar until she heard herself do it.
‘Give me justice!’ she yelled at the judge. ‘Do your job!
Answer me now or answer me later, but I am coming back every day and every night—forever
—until you deal with me!”
The widow is a strong and confident character in the story, and it would be easy to cast Donna as this persistent, annoying, and in the end, effective petitioner of the local judge. Then we could also cast ourselves in that role, victims of our circumstances, only needing to claim our personal power to manipulate the Sovereign Creator of the Universe. But, what if, the story is turned to fulfill the basic premise of a parable – that it is about God, and not about us? Then we would have to cast God as the widow who comes, over and over and over again, never despairing, always hoping, forever focused on winning over the heart of the judge, who from all Scriptural indications, looks as fickle and unfaithful as we raggedy humans, in fact, ARE.
But do not forget that Jesus has already set the context for this encounter of character and story – and it’s all in the service of prayer - the need to pray, and “not lose heart.” There is a lot of “heart losing” around us these days…In fact, I’ve been frazzled and pretty weary lately, myself. I have said in my inner parts - in my heart of hearts - “I can’t do one more thing, even for you, God!” And I know there are many of you here who feel the same.
We pray, worship, try to live good lives; be humble, do justice, be patient, have faith and give…give again…and give some more. Yet the enormity of the needs of our worlds can overwhelm us: the crying out with no response; the paperwork that goes missing; the NINE candidacy essays; the requests ignored and the laments uncomforted – all bring us to the point of “losing heart.” But, just as we realize how small is our voice, how little difference one person makes…God steps into our hearts, and reminds us, invites us to trust again. To paraphrase, “the joy of discipleship can be overcast, and the gift of community can become a burden. But because God continues still to bless us with abundant and ever-present support, we can be sustained in our weariness and have our joy restored…”
Our joy can be restored! Our own “soon-to-be” becomes that for which we hoped, and dreamed, and for which we so earnestly prayed. Answers come when we claim our baptismal identity as “children of God,” and when we remember that we have been called by God to a purpose, a vocation, a “path whose end is yet unseen…” For God has loved us into existence, and continues to guide us to the very places for which we have been prepared. Reminds me of Mordecai’s words to Esther, “Who knows? Perhaps you have come into the world for just such a time as this.”
About the time Donna was ordained, a truly forgettable movie called The Legend of Bagger Vance was released. Even with direction by Robert Redford (sigh) and production by Dreamworks SKG, there was only one great moment worth remembering. It is of the mystical caddy, Bagger Vance, coaching the down-on-his-luck Southern golfer, Junuh about how to get back in the game. Bagger says:
“Each and every one of us has one authentic swing;
somethin’ that’s ours and ours alone.
Somethin’ that can’t be taught to you or learned,
it’s somethin’ that’s got to be remembered.
Over time, the world can rob us of that swing
it can get buried inside us under all our would-a’s and could-a’s
and should-a’s.
Some folk even forget what they swing was like.
(Junuh: You don’t understand.)
Bagger: I don’t need to understand. Not a soul on this entire earth ain’t got
a burden to carry he don’t understand. You ain’t alone in that.
But you been carryin’ this one long enough. (Time to put it down…)
But you ain’t alone. I’m right here wit’ ya.
I been here all along. Now play the game. Your game.
The one that only you was meant to play.
The one that was given to you when you come into this world.
You ready? Take a stand. Strike the ball, Junuh, don’t hold nothin’ back.
Give it everything. Now’s the time. Let y’self remember. Remember your swing.
Who we are as baptized Christians is the very heart of our relationship with God. It is where we learn that the God who knit us together in our mother’s womb draws us into a love affair that is strong enough for us to struggle with God - like Jacob - and for us to argue with God - like Abraham. Where we can “call God to account” for his promise to act, the same way we would hold our best friend accountable. Where we pour ourselves out in advocacy for the powerless, asking God again and again and again to change the world and bring the Kingdom of God quickly.
The answers we yearn for come when we stop using prayer for our personal demands as if God is the Good Fairy granting wishes; and when we start crying “Thy Kingdom Come!” - a persistent lament for justice, peace and the coming of Christ’s reign - and we do it as Christians all over the world.
Dare you approach the throne of God with boldness, for the healing of the world? Dare you begin to understand that prayer is not about getting what you want; it’s about being who you are? Dare you trust the process, regardless of the outcome, because the process itself gives life? Dare you trust your relationship with God that much?
A few days ago I was chatting with Bishop Emeritus Charlie Maahs, who spent a good deal of time with Donna around this date 10 years ago. Charlie says of her, “the thing I most appreciate about Donna is that she was not radical, but steadfast…” Donna herself told me, “My ordination into the ministry of Word and Sacrament was never about going around, bending the rules – it was only about following my call.” Today, the ELCA recognizes and affirms that call as well.
Someone recently gave Donna a copy of a sermon preached for St. Mark’s on May 12, 1912, when it was First English Lutheran Church. As we turn our faces to another celebration of “the church that is always reforming” this coming Sunday, I’d like to conclude with the last paragraph from that sermon, headlined, “Who is a Lutheran?” updating it only with more politically correct, inclusive language:
“A true Lutheran is whoever, knowing themselves as a sinner, trusts in the message of Christ. They allow neither pope nor priest to stand between their conscience and the truth. They are ever seeking more light. They have but one chart to guide them over the sea of life - the Bible. They know that God sees the heart. Instead of drifting hither and thither, they anchor their life to the Rock of Ages, to the Gospel of Jesus Christ – the sole foundation of the Lutheran Church. Amen.”
Tonight we have gathered for a reception – to celebrate one woman’s relationship with God; or, more accurately, we have gathered to celebrate God’s relationship with the world - through one woman…the Reverend Donna Simon. Thanks be to God! Amen.