Yes, Life is a Journey!

 

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 2^nd 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.