Luke 13:31-35
Lent 2 / Year C
Daniel Boone, the 18th
century frontiersman, was known for going off into the wilderness on hunting
expeditions which lasted for weeks or even months. More than once he was gone so long his family
thought he was dead. Once a friend asked
him if it was difficult to find his way in such a remote, unforgiving land. “Well,” Boone replied, “I can tell you I have
never been lost.” Then he added, “But I
do confess to having been confused for weeks at a time.”
Uncertainty is a certain
feature of life. It happened every day
on each of my three pilgrimages when, after walking for some time, the typical
markers guiding the pilgrim’s way were nowhere to be found (a sure and certain
sign I had missed a turn somewhere). And
it happens from time to time on our pilgrimage through life. We find we are not where we expect to be,
have little or no idea how we got here, and don’t have a clue how to find our
way back on track.
Abraham is a perfect
example of this. God has promised to
make his descendants more numerous than the stars, but, as the years go by, it
is not at all clear how this is going to come to fruition given he and his wife
are old, getting older, and have no children.
What the path from where they are to where God promises one day they
will be is a vexing concern to Abraham.
This can make for great filmmaking
when a movie begins by showing you the end, then develops the story by tracing
how the main characters get to the climactic scene. But what makes for wonderful cinema does not
always translate well to life. As I said
last week, viewing your life as a pilgrimage means embracing the notion your
life begins in God, moves forward with God, and ends in God. It means living with the assurance every step
you take brings you closer to your ultimate destination. But there are times, as we see this morning
with Abraham, when we begin to doubt how we will find the way to our
destination.
Each morning on each of
our pilgrimages, we began with a briefing of what to expect on the day’s
walk. It included such things as
significant hills we would climb, cafes we would pass along the way, the total
number miles we would be walking, and where the day was going to end… our
destination.
About half of the days,
like Daniel Boone, I found myself “confused.”
I knew where I was supposed to end up, but I wasn’t sure where I was,
and I certainly did not know how to get from wherever I was to where I was
supposed to be. Thank goodness for cell
phone coverage and GPS, which often gave rise to another important, deeply
spiritual question: How on earth did I get here when I am supposed to be over there
(which strikes me as a great topic to pursue in another sermon, but strays from
today’s focus on destination and uncertainty)?
So, let’s stay focused
on destination. What is the ultimate
destination of our pilgrimage which ends in God? There are many different images and metaphors
for where we are headed. The Burial
Office in the Prayer Book draws on one of my favorites. The Rite II Prayer of Thanksgiving following
the receiving of communion has us pray this:
We thank you for your assurance of our place
at your heavenly banquet, which is our holy destination.
The Rite I version puts it this way:
We thank thee that in thy great love thou
hast fed us with the spiritual food and drink of the Body and Blood of thy Son
Jesus Christ and hast given unto a foretaste of thy heavenly banquet.
When you receive
communion do you experience it as foretaste of your ultimate destination? Do you conceive of it as a way of gathering
around the Lord’s Table with all those you love but see no longer? On our pilgrimages on the Camino and the Way
of St. Cuthbert I knew every day was going to end with us sitting around
tables, relaxing at a local café. So too,
God promises our earthly pilgrimage will end sitting at a Table with Christ
(our gracious host) and all the saints (our eternal dining companions). What we experience in part every Sunday one
day we will know in full.
This is our promised
destination but there are times when it does not feel at all certain. We lose our way. Our progress gets impeded. Our stamina and strength slip away. The way forward is unclear or seems
impossible. You may not doubt the
ultimate destination, but the way to go get there is most certainly
uncertain.
Abraham was in such a
place. And God’s answer to him was as
simple and direct as “Have faith.”
Abraham did and God was pleased.
It sounds simple and trite, but faith is the marker you need to help you
find your way forward with God.
During his fight for
justice and equality, Martin Luther King certainly wondered how he would ever
get to the destination when the path he chose was so riddled with challenge,
resistance, and violence. So he always drew
on his faith, which he described as taking the first step even when you don’t
see the whole staircase. It is being
brave enough to trust even though the details are not spelled out or nailed
down. God says to us, “Eventually this
path will get you to where you want to be.
Are you willing to go if I walk it with you?”
Here is one final
thought. Ponder the difference between a
diary or journal and a memoire. A diary
records what is happening in the moment.
It captures all of one’s emotion is real time, all the worry, all the
fear, all the pain, all the doubt. A
memoire looks back and reflects on all you have been through and what you learned
along the way. It is much easier to see
the hand of God at work when one looks back than it is to see in the present
moment.
Put another way, sitting
in a café at the end of the day reflecting with fellow pilgrims on the day’s
most strenuous climb was very different from standing at the foot of an
incredibly steep hill and wondering how I was going to muster the strength to
climb it.
“God, be my help” is a
prayer. “God will help me” is a
statement of faith. “God was with me” is
a testimony. When Abraham could not see
the way forward he set out in faith.
Only in hindsight does he make sense of how it all came to be. As you look back over your life, when have
you acted in faith? What do you tell
others about it? And, is there a step
you need to take today, but have been reluctant (for whatever reason) to take
it?
