Sermon for 12th Pentecost
God is still at work in this world
By The Rev. Eric Christopher Shafer -
I have a confession to make – some days I wake up and do not know what day it is. Now, you could blame this on my age, but I think in these COVID-19 days, in these weird days, I believe that I am not alone and that many folks of all ages are waking up perhaps even often unsure of what day it is.
COVID-19 has thrown off our regular schedules and even our body clocks. It may only have been 23 weeks or so since we went on full or partial lockdown, but, and I know you feel the same way I do, it may only have been 23 weeks or so since lockdown, but it feels like 230 weeks! (2,300 weeks!) Just ask any parent with young children trying to figure out how to be a parent and a teacher and maybe even hold onto a job! As well as so many others.
And, in the midst of not only COVID-19, but everything else going on around us – the struggle for racial equality, the economy in crisis, continued environmental degradation and a toxic political culture to name just four more – in the midst of all of this it is sometimes hard, at least for me, to keep the faith.
So much threatens to tear us apart. So much leads us to distrust. So much makes us really want to, especially on those days when we forget what day it is, so much makes us really want to roll over in bed and try to dream it all away, hoping it is all just a very bad dream, instead of getting up and getting going.
This all has led me, thanks to scholar David Lose for suggesting this direction, this all has led me to want to read today’s Gospel lesson a little differently than I might have in the past.
You often hear me speak of the context for a Gospel lesson and the need to look at verses before and after the assigned lesson to understand a text more fully. And, when we do that with today’s text, it is easy to gloss over Peter’s wonderful confession when Peter responds to Jesus – “You are the Messiah, the Son of the Living God!”
If we study the context, we know that Peter’s wonderful confession is followed immediately by Peter’s rebuke of Jesus. Just after these verses, Jesus explains to his disciples, perhaps for the first time this clearly, Jesus explains to his disciples what is going to happen to Jesus, that suffering and death for Jesus is coming. And, Peter, who in today’s text is obviously still stuck on the image of an earthly Messiah, Peter cannot handle the truth and blurts out, “God forbid it!” to Jesus.
So, soon after Jesus is giving Peter the keys to the kingdom of heaven, Jesus is calling Peter “Satan” for Peter’s lack of understanding about who Jesus really is!
Understanding the broader context for today’s Gospel does take away some of the power of Peter’s confession.
However, let’s not read the text this way today. Not this year. For at least this moment, let us just bask in Peter’s epiphany and celebrate his confession. “You are the Messiah, the Son of the Living God!”
For perhaps the first time and at least for this moment, Peter really gets Jesus. It is an epiphany; a confession; a big accomplishment.
Except, of course, it really is not Peter’s accomplishment, is it?
Immediately following Peter’s confession, Jesus says, “Heaven and earth have not revealed this to you.” No, Jesus says, Peter’s confession has been revealed, “By my Father in heaven.” Revelation, it turns out, comes from God. And only from God. And always from God.
And here is the thing, as they say, the same is true of faith. Faith is always a gift from God.
In the midst of such strange times as these. On the days when we hardly know what day it is. On the days when it feels like we have been in the midst of a dreaded disease for many more than 5 or 6 months. On the days when we feel that faith, hope and courage, at least for ourselves, is in short supply.
On those days, on all days, we need to remember that faith, confidence, hope, all of these are gifts from God. Faith, confidence and hope are all gifts from God.
And this is the most wonderful part – God loves to bestow these gifts to and for us. Perhaps, God even loves to bestow these gifts even more in times like these. God just loves to bestow the gifts of hope and faith and love to and for us.
Yes, we are in the midst of a pandemic disease, one out of which we do not yet see a way. Yes, we are in the midst of a most turbulent time in our nation and economy, perhaps one of THE most turbulent times in our nation and economy. In this midst it is only natural to wonder how it will all come out, how we will get through it all.
In the midst of all of this it is important to remember that God, the God who is creator of heaven and earth, the God who brings life out of death, the God who has created the universe, that this God is still at work sustaining our faith, creating us in hope, and stirring us to acts of courageous generosity.
“Heaven and earth have not revealed this to you,” Jesus tells Peter, Jesus tells us, but rather it has all been revealed to us by our Heavenly Father.
God is still at work. More than that, God still shows up in a variety of ways to create faith, hope and love during challenging and even, perhaps especially, during unprecedented times, these times. God still shows up in the ways we are caring for one other in these times, staying close to home, wearing face masks when we do go out, helping our neighbors in need, working for racial equality and justice. God is still at work even as we have had to forego, for a while, getting together for worship in person as much as we miss seeing one another in person.
God is at work today. Sustaining us in faith. Equipping us to meet the needs of our neighbors near and far. Renewing us in hope and courage. And, preparing us to allow God to work through us for the sake of this world, the world God loves so much.
I want to close with this blessing written by William Sloane Coffin, chaplain of Yale University in the 1960’s and one of my young adult heroes, a blessing so relevant today –
“May God give you the grace never to sell yourself short, grace to do something big for something good, grace to remember that the world is too dangerous now for anything but truth, and too small for anything but love.”
God is still at work in this world. Through you and me. And the world is too small for anything but love.
Amen.
The Rev. Eric Christopher Shafer
Senior Pastor - Mt. Olive Lutheran Church
Santa Monica, California
Sermon for:
August 26, 2020
