UCC Church of Charlotte

'To download a copy of this sermon please click here

'
Faithful Wonder
Psalm 146
Luke 7:11-17

Grace and Peace to you this morning.  Grace and Peace.

This morning’s psalm speaks of God’s holiness, majesty, and
awesomeness; but it also speaks of God’s connection to us, God’s
faithfulness, God’s judgment and righteousness.

God is the one

    who made heaven and earth,
    the sea, and all that is in them

and also

    who keeps faith for ever;
    who executes justice for the oppressed;
    who gives food to the hungry.

The one who set the world into motion is also the one who cares for
the poor and the poor in spirit.  This is no Deist’s god, who wound
the world up like a clock and set it running and left it alone.  This
is the God who cares deeply for us, who is active in our lives.

    The LORD sets the prisoners free;
        the LORD opens the eyes of the blind.
    The LORD lifts up those who are bowed down;
        the LORD loves the righteous.
    The LORD watches over the sojourners,
        he upholds the widow and the fatherless;
        but the way of the wicked he brings to ruin.
    
God’s acts of creation, the amazing ways of nature, the beauty of the
sunrise and sunset, the majesty of the Appalachian Mountains, the
Grand Canyon, the Great Lakes, the power of storms – these are enough
o evoke our praise.  Our own creation, for we are fearfully and
wonderfully made, in God’s image, with God’s breath breathed into us
that we might live – this is enough to evoke our praise.
    
But for God it is not enough.  There is a bend to the arc of history.
There is a goal to God’s creation: Justice; Mercy; Wholeness; Peace;
Shalom.
    
And so the psalm begins with the phrase “Praise the Lord!”  But then
it reminds us of why we praise God.  For us, there is a simple
reminder.  We praise God because of what we see Jesus doing:

        Setting prisoners free,
        Opening the eyes of the blind,
        Lifting up those who are bowed down,
        Watching over the sojourners,
        Upholding the widow and the fatherless,
        Ruining the plans of the wicked.
    
We see this in this morning’s reading.  Jesus is traveling around,
teaching and healing and reminding people of Psalm 146, reminding them
why they are to praise God.  And the disciples and a large crowd are
following him.
    
As he enters the city and Nain, he sees a funeral procession.  A man
has died.  His grieving mother, who has already lost her husband, is
there with a crowd from the town following her.
    
Two processions:
    
Jesus, preaching the authority of God, the community of the kingdom,
the presence of God’s love and the power of the resurrection, being
followed by those gathered around this message, gathered around new
life.
    
The other, a dead man, being followed by his grieving mother and the
crowd gathered around her, gathered around grief, gathered around
death.
    
And Jesus sees her.

It can be hard to look at people in grief.  It reminds us of our own
grief.  It reminds us of our own mortality.  Jesus sees her.
    
And he has compassion for her.
        
    Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
    I will fear no evil: for thou art with me;
    
When God sees us grieving, God does not turn away.  When Jesus sees
the widow grieving, he does not turn away.  He does not detour his
procession of new life around the block to avoid this procession of
death and grief.
    
He looks.  He sees her.  He has compassion.  He faces our human pain
straight on.
    
And then he gives new life.
    
And the people are amazed.  Fear seized them all, it says.

We like our miracles in nice neat bundles.  We prefer our miracles a
little more normal, a little more settled, a little less disturbing
than Jesus coming to a funeral procession and touching the body of the
dead man and him getting up, speaking, and enjoying the funeral
luncheon with the rest of the guests.
    
Word spread about Jesus throughout the town, throughout Judea,
throughout the surrounding country.
        
    “A great prophet has arisen among us!”
    “God has visited his people!”
    
I have to admit, I have taken part in a lot of funeral processions.  I
have never seen one end the way this one does.  But I have seen people
receive new life.
    
I have seen people who thought they were unlovable realize that they are loved.
    
I have seen people who were filled with bitterness and anger and
frustration discover a deep and abiding peace.
    
I have seen people who thought that their usefulness was over because
they lost their job, or they retired, or the children had all left
home, discover they still have gifts to give, service to offer, praise
to sing.
    
I have seen people forgive things they swore were unforgiveable.

I have seen people live without those things their addiction said they
couldn’t live without.
    
I have seen people who were silent for years start to find their voice
and speak the truth and find out that the truth really does set us
free.
    
And when I remember these moments of grace, I can start to wonder
about other areas waiting for God’s touch.

Whether we are here this morning because we are graduating from high
school, or college, or seminary, or graduate school, or are simply
here to offer our prayer and praise to God, our job is the same: to
live in faithful wonder.
    
If we have faith, but do not let our imagination touch it, do not let
our minds wander a little bit and imagine “what if?” then we wind up
suffering from a hardening of the attitudes.  We make no room for the
Holy Spirit to come in and shake the foundations and blow new life.
We become more doctrinaire than faithful.

Life’s problems don’t get solved with the same thinking that got us
into them.  We need imagination, creativity, inspiration, hope to find
our way through.  How often is burnout the result of trying to be
faithful after losing one’s sense of wonder, the joy of discovery, the
dreams of what might yet be?
    
If we are full of imagination and creativity, but lack faith in the God who

    sets the prisoners free;
    and opens the eyes of the blind.
    lifts up those who are bowed down;
    who loves the righteous.
    and watches over the sojourners,
    who upholds the widow and the fatherless;

then we simply imagine the worst with no relief, we fall into despair.

Faithful wonder means being open to the majesty of life, but also
being willing to look at its grief and its pain.  Faithful wonder lets
us ask not “what good is this?” but “what is God asking us to do
here?”  Faithful wonder reminds us that we don’t have all the answers.
Faithful wonder prays, “Lord, what blessing do you want to come out
of this moment?”
    
For God means for a blessing to come out of each moment.  Let those
who live in faithful wonder see what the blessing is, and proclaim it
to the rest.
    
Thanks be to God.
Amen.