Luke 13:10-17
Proper 16 / Year C
A couple of things happened to me a few weeks ago which left me
with a sense of awe and wonder about life’s journey – my life’s journey.
When I was in Ashville to officiate at a wedding, a woman about my
age introduced herself to me at the reception.
She told me her 93-year-old mother is an Episcopal priest. Over the course of our conversation, we learned
we had several other connections:
·
She
lives in Norfolk. I live in Suffolk.
·
We
are both Episcopalians.
·
We
each have a deep love for Chanco. Her
children went to camp there. I am on the
board.
·
She
has known one of our board members since this young woman was an infant.
While coincidental, none of this is beyond believability and
certainly is not “sermon worthy.” It only
became a “wow” moment when, out of the blue, she asked where I grew up:
·
I
grew up in Akron. Her family lived there
until she was in 2nd grade.
·
We
attended neighboring Elementary Schools.
·
Neither
of our families were Episcopalians at the time.
·
Both
were Presbyterians.
·
As
children, we attended the same church.
·
We
had several shared memories of ministers and events, especially picking up
buckeyes from the two huge trees in the church yard.
·
My
family drove past her house most every Sunday.
·
As
near as we could tell we were one grade apart in Sunday School.
·
Neither
of us recalled ever knowing the other at the time and only met when our paths
crossed again some fifty years later at a wedding in Ashville, NC.
What are the chances?
This came on the heels of another head-scratcher. A college friend shared with me a podcast link,
messaging to me “You will want to watch this.” It was an interview from a show on a Catholic
broadcasting network.
Some background. When I was
in college I worked in a Christian evangelical high school ministry called Young
Life. Some of you may have heard of
it. Keith and Tami were freshmen in high
school my senior year in college. They
began to attend our meetings and were very devout in their faith. They went on to attend my college and got
married as students, but lost touch with them after that.
Now, years later, here they were as adults being interviewed on a
cable TV program. Somewhere along the
way they converted to Catholicism and over the years, I learned Keith has been
active in youth ministry and served as the head master of a private
school. Tami has been a homemaker kept
busy by raising 10 children.
Early in the interview the host asked them to share their faith
story. They talked about their teenage
years and I knew and recognized several people who played key parts in it. And then, (again) out for the blue, Keith
dropped my name… “And Keith Emerson was a big part of that” – like everyone watching
would know who I am as if I was as famous as Billy Graham or Elvis.
They went on to discuss what brought them to Catholicism. Some of their story mirrored my own journey
to Anglicanism (the sacraments, the liturgy, the historical link to the early
church) and there were hints as to why our journeys led us on different paths
(given they have 10 children, you might guess the Roman Church’s view on birth
control is more in line with theirs than the Episcopal Church’s). It was humbling after all these years to
learn I had made a small impact on two people’s lives.
These stories came back to me when I first read and pondered this
morning’s gospel reading. What links
them is how each of our pursuit of God is a journey. While for some it is a straight line, for
many of us it takes unexpected twists and turns. I am confident the bent-over woman came to
the synagogue service never imaging how it would change her life. Jesus has a way of touching each of us in a
unique way and setting us on an individual path (as they used to say on The
Dating Game) “chosen just for you.”
Sometimes the path Jesus sets you on intersects with another’s for
a lifetime. Other times it may be only for
a short while. And yet each person we
encounter on the way has the potential to touch our lives in a way which molds
us into who we are and who we are becoming.
And, at the same time, we have the potential to touch the lives of
others, affecting them in ways we may never know. This why it is so critically important you
live every day and every moment with Jesus in your heart; having him flavor
everything you say and do. There simply
is no telling what will come of it.
There is another character in the gospel story which we need to
acknowledge… the Pharisee… the Critic… the voice which always seems to be there
to hold you back every time you are called to set off in a new direction. I am sure Keith and Tami heard from more than
one person who was unhappy when they converted to Catholicism. I know I heard from detractors at the
evangelical seminary I was attending when I let it be known I was going to
transfer to an Episcopal school. One
person pointedly said to me, “I don’t think you have prayed about this
enough.” I wondered to myself why he
thought he knew about my prayer life. Another
said, “What they teach you will cause you to lose your faith.” Forty years later I think my faith is going
to survive.
I see a little bit of myself in each of the three main characters
in today’s story. Like Jesus,
apparently, I am touching lives and making a difference. Like the woman, I find my life taking unexpected
and enriching turns. And like the
religious leader, I have been critical of some whose journeys moved in
directions I don’t think they should; especially when they drift into the
demographic category of spiritual, but not religious, which is a
euphemism for “I grew up in a church, but don’t attend any more.” As you reflect on your life, I suspect you
can see yourself in each of these characters as well.
Thanks be to God our journey is not cemented in place. You never know what Jesus has in store for you. You never know what might happen down the
road… or even today… even during this morning’s service.
