Sermon at West Grimstead St. John’s Parish Church, 2nd Sunday in Lent – Sunday 13th March 2022
Genesis 15:1-12, 17-18; Philippians
4:17-4:1; Luke 13:31-35
This week
has been a particularly difficult one for me when, on many occasions, I have
felt a sense of absolute hopelessness about many things. Each and every morning I have woken up to
worse and ever worsening news about Ukraine and the suffering of its people; on
Wednesday I had to assist in officiating at the funeral of a close friend who
died quite unexpectedly at the age of 53; a friend who had been staying at my
home only four hours before he died as well as grappling with my own personal
issues. A feeling of absolute fatigue and despair fell upon me by the end of
the week as I prepared this short homily. Was there any good news out there?
Even attending a football match in Southampton on Thursday resulted in a defeat
for my team too! Nothing at all seemed
to be going right. Prayers didn’t seem to be answered. Where was God in all this? I attended a prayer session on Tuesday when
we spent a considerable amount of time praying for the situation in Eastern
Europe and things seem to be just getting more and more desperate. Just like
Abram, in our passage, I can normally take solace in the stars but this week it
has been permanently cloudy it seems.
I am sure I
am not alone in wondering what on earth is going on in the world. War and economic depression seem to be upon
us and it is not unnatural to ask again and again “where is God? What is he doing? Why is he allowing so much
suffering? Questions posed to me also,
this week, by a spiritual directee of mine. What do I answer, how do I answer?
I think we
can take some comfort from the passages of scripture we have heard this
morning. In our first reading, Abram,
later Abraham, is also feeling in a desolate hopeless situation. Here we have a man in old age without an
heir. Back then, not having an heir was
a terrible situation to find yourself in – nobody to secure your land and
possession in your family. Indeed, we learn that Abram is resigned to the fact
that all his wealth and inheritance will pass, by default, to his Damascan
slave Eliezer. Abram is confused as God had uprooted him from his home in Ur
and made him travel to the Holy Land; yet it seemed his lineage would die out.
A feeling of absolute confusion and hopelessness must have descended upon him.
God reminds
him of the promise he made – a miracle.
Abram would indeed bear sons despite his old age and his lineage would
be as numerous as the stars in the sky.
What an amazing promise. Anyone
who has looked up in the night sky of a desert will know just how wondrous and
wonderful such a sight is. Today, as I
look up at the night sky with the eyes of scientific knowledge, it still makes
the hairs on the back of my neck stand up with awe and wonder. And so God made a covenant with Abraham and
it all became true. He was indeed to
bear a son, Isaac, and the fountain of the Hebrew nation sprung forth. This story reminds us today that how ever
hopeless and impossible a situation we might find ourselves in, God can make
things happen and so we must continue to pray for a good resolution.
Paul, in his
letter to the church in Philippi is responding to those church leaders who were
struggling with the concept that many ungodly people seemed to be doing very
well for themselves. Paul reminds his followers that those others have their
sights set on earthly things – things which give instant gratification. Their god, he says, is their belly – that is
feasting and leading a hedonistic life. Repeatedly, Paul in his various letters
reminds his readers that to lead a Christian life is to run a long race – not
instant gratification but delayed gratification. My wife often comments that when we eat
together I always leave the best piece of food to last, not gobble it up at the
beginning of the meal. That is delayed
gratification – enjoying the best at the last – just like the wine at Cana.
Paul is telling us that we have to endure many “slings and arrows” – as
Shakespeare put it – to reach the right result.
In our final
gospel reading Jesus is warned by the Pharisees, no less, that King Herod is
out to kill him. Jesus’s response is
that he wants to send a message to Herod that he will continue to undertake his
ministry, however difficult Herod might make it especially as his time has not
yet come.
In our
present global crisis, we have seen how the Ukrainian solidarity has so far prevailed
against the evil forces of Putin. Whenever we see interviews with displaced
Ukrainians they display the one great asset they are continuing to maintain –
hope. In his first letter to the
Corinthians Paul reminds us that the three great pillars of Christianity are
Faith, Hope and Love that is – to have the faith that Jesus died for us to save
us from our sins, the hope of life eternal and the love of God which defies
understanding. All three are necessary although Paul goes on to remind us that the
greatest of these is love, agape.
Going back
to my original sentences – yes this week for me has brought many challenges and
difficulties and a feeling of hopelessness.
The way I have overcome this, as I sat down to write this piece, was to
remember the other two pillars of support – faith and love. The Ukrainians have
shown hope and if they bolster this up with faith and love they will prevail
over darkness and evil – just as Paul promised. It might just take some time –
as it did for Abram – but with our support and prayers we can maintain hope
during a time of great despair.
Amen MFB/170/11032022
