Peace Sabbath - October 23, 2005
by Rev. James Farrell
The
book of Deuteronomy ends with the words you heard from chapter 34 read by Alice.
Those words also conclude the Pentateuch, the first 5 books of the Hebrew Bible…
words thought by the ancients to be written by Moses himself. Important words
they are. After the long journey of the Hebrew people, we close with this scene
of Moses' death as he contemplates the land that his people were promised but
which he personally would never enter. That's
the Hebrew scripture story we look at today and it sounds a bit like any story
that leaves us somewhat frustrated by not seeing what we might expect or hope to
see. In
life it happens all the time! The
internet has been a marvelous tool to bring people together. When first I heard
of it being a vehicle for uniting folks in relationships I was surprised and
thought that no serious relationship could possibly come from internet
conversation. I thought it was like the Jerry Springer show…something not to be
taken seriously virtually ever. Since that time I have had the privilege to meet
a number of couples who have established rather wonderful relationships that
began online. Just
goes to show you that things don't always turn out the way you expect. A
colleague of mine who finds herself single after many years thought she would
try to meet a nice person on the internet. The conversation went well and the
two cyber buddies decided to meet. Her new friend said he would be arriving at
the coffee shop in an old van. My friend had arrived before her date and saw,
indeed, an old van appear. From it emerged a big man wearing a cowboy hat atop a
head of very long hair, cowboy boots and a large cowboy buckle adorned the front
of his jeans. When
they actually got to be face to face and it was time to exchange greetings, her
new friend smiled and said, "I have to apologize, I was so excited about meeting
you that I forgot to put my teeth in." Many
things in life don't turn out the way we might expect. It's
the last scene in his ministry—Moses is held back from entering the promised
land. Yahweh let Moses get to the door, but would not allow him to go over the
threshold with Israel. Not at all, I'm sure, what Moses expected. There
is a lot of unfulfillment in the church; a great deal of life is spent on the
verge—at the door, but not over the threshold. In the same manner, preaching is
such a delicate art. Who knows what good it does? For me, for Jane, for the
choirs and the gifts of any special or guest music that might get shared in
worship—all these contribute to things like Moses' work, the end of the story is
not easily known. People
sing and play instruments, we preach, and God only knows where it all leads,
what land of promise will be opened through our ministries. God only knows. A
school superintendent said that the teachers who are best able to keep at it
are those "who are good sowers rather than good reapers." Most
of the good we do is good that we will never personally see. How many of those
who deeply touched your life with just the right word, or perhaps an appropriate
and decisive action, the hand on the shoulder at the essential moment, how many
of them did you personally thank? Most of the really important gifts of
ministry that are given to us by other people go unacknowledged. This
was a bit of a crazy week…the kind of week that doesn't really see a day
off…lots of travel, presbytery work, work on the pastoral charge to try and
secure special funding to help with an important project…meeting with our
partners in neighborhood ministries, sharing in a celebration of life
service…working in the teaching capacity of an evening group, Friday night at
the movies, Saturday workshop, in short, lots of diversification in ministry…the
kind of week that makes you wonder what difference all the running around really
makes…amid all of that, I received a phone call from a man who 15 years ago lost
a son in a head on collision in a snowstorm in Manitoba's North Country. He
called to chat and share and really, just to tell me that he appreciated all
that we did those 15 years ago to help him and his family get through their
tragedy. He
told me they just got a new minister—a few ministers have served their small
town over the years but he still feels connected to us, the old. I
assured him that any one of the ministers that have moved through their lives
since the loss of his son would have supported them similarly if his son had
died while they were there…that said, his connection, he felt, was with Jane and
me. We
can't know what difference our ministry makes in people's lives…I'm sure you
don't know how your efforts make a difference in others lives either. You just
work ahead embracing your hope and moving toward your vision. Moses
didn't get to see the promised land…he did his work, with errors, as do we all,
perhaps he was prevented from seeing the promise come to fulfillment because of
some of those errors. Even
though he didn't rest in the new land, the promised land, his memory was carried
by those who knew him and has continued to be a profound blessing long after his
original influence…Moses remains Israel's greatest prophet. If we
are going to keep at Christian ministry, as preachers, choirs, musicians, or to
continue to provide energy for whatever service God calls us to, we will do so
only by having confidence that God really does convey treasure through us
"earthen vessels." God
really does put us to good purposes, even though we may not see them
clearly—even though we may not enter the promised land of substantive and
visible fulfillment with those whom we have tried to uphold along many journeys
from here to there. So in
our working for peace and justice sometimes we aren't even able to see how that
work gets played out beyond our contribution. The people of Westminster United
Church who are no longer with us but whose contribution has helped shape who we
are and provided this structure and some vision of where it might all lead,
could never have known how their contribution would play out. They
could only make their contribution in trust that God would lead us by the spirit
to accomplish things yet unseen. That's faith. That is the act of faith that
each of us here today are part of. It is the vision we share! It is,
again, Peace Sabbath and maybe you thought I might share some statistics about
what wars are being fought or what part we are playing as a church or country in
bringing peace to a troubled world. That
is a pretty big order that gets rather lost in our interpretation, and can
become overwhelming in our spirits. So today I thought I would conclude by
telling you a story… a true story. Because it is the true stories that touch our
hearts that lead us in strength to make changes for peace. It was
an unseasonably hot day. Everybody it seemed, was looking for some kind of
relief, so an ice cream store was a natural place to stop. A
little girl, clutching her money tightly, entered the store. Before she could
say a word, the store clerk sharply told her to get outside and read the sign on
the door, and stay out until she put on some shoes. She left slowly, and a big
man followed her out of the store. He
watched as she stood in front of the store and read the sign: No Bare Feet.
Tears started rolling down her cheeks as she turned and walked away. Just
then the big man called to her. Sitting down on the curb, he took off his
size-12 shoes, and set them in front of the girl saying, "Here, you won't be
able to walk in these, but if you sort of slide along, you can get your ice
cream cone." Then
he lifted the little girl up and set her feet into the shoes. "Take your time,"
he said, "I get tired of moving them around, and it'll feel good to just sit
here and eat my ice cream." The
shining eyes of the little girl could not be missed as she shuffled up to the
counter and ordered her ice cream cone. He was
a big man, all right. Big belly, big shoes, but most of all, he had a big heart.
For
Moses the whole scenario began in the wilderness with a conversation with God.
To Moses God explained the promise of a land for the Hebrew people and he
was to be their leader. It was also in that conversation that God said, "Moses
take off your shoes for the place where you are standing is holy ground." He
never saw the fulfillment of that land promise… many have speculated why… was
God angry with Moses? Some think so. Was there something else that prevented
him from making that final journey into the promised-land? Maybe? At 120
years old, was his life simply over? Very probably. People
in seemingly good health often die quickly and with our modern perspective of
medical understanding we can speculate that Moses' cause of death was, perhaps,
a heart attack or a stroke. The
person who finished this portion of Deuteronomy… and we can be quite sure it
wasn't Moses, didn't have our understanding to fall upon. Still, Moses not
entering the promised-land is not so much a sad story as it is a "good story,"
one that bodes well with our own lives. After all, how much do we start as
ministry that we never see finished? The
big hearted man in the ice-cream shop knew something of the mystery of taking
off his shoes to make that ice cream shop a bit of holy ground for one young
girl. How that simple act of kindness would be played out throughout her life
or through the lives of those who hear her story, he could never know. Does
that unknowing make the act less genuine… less instrumental in someone's life?
No! What about the acts that we choose to do in the spirit of the one whose
very life was a supreme act? Do our acts become less instrumental in people's
lives because of our limited vision? Because we can't see the end from the
beginning? Not in
faith they don't. So the
acts go on, one at a time, without ever knowing the extent of their reach. That
is the life of a faithful person. That is the call upon the life of every
person who seeks to walk in the path of peace and love set forth for us in Jesus
Christ. Do we
then, in God's economy, live in hope and grasp a vision of what God can and will
do with our meager efforts? Certainly! Does it really matter that we may not
see the end of our work? I think Not! Yes
today is designated as Peace Sabbath for 2005. Peace will only be known as we
offer our shoes to one another, our gifts of music to one another, our prayers
and stories and culture to one another, as we simply seek to be Jesus to one
another, ONE ACT AT A TIME. Amen.