How could I ever forget you?

RCL Epiphany 8A

27 February 2011

Saint Faith’s Anglican Church

Vancouver BC

(1)  The wonderful serendipity of the lectionary

         While there are Christians tradition in which the choice of the biblical passages to be read on any given occasion is left to the presider, preacher or those who plan worship, the Anglican tradition is not one of them.  If I am to be honest, then I have to admit that Anglican preachers have not always preached on the readings read in the liturgical assembly.  But I am not one of them.

         So it is that we come to the eighth Sunday after Epiphany in Year A and discover the wonderful serendipity of the lectionary.  Here we are on the Sunday of the annual Vestry of the Parish, a day when we make decisions about the parish’s finances, about future directions for ministry and, in general, discuss the state of the parish.  On this Sunday, a day when I am sure that there are some members of the parish who will have legitimate concerns about the budget, we hear these words from the gospel according to Matthew:

Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?  Look at the birds of the air; they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them.  Are you not of more value than they?  (Matthew 6.25b-26)

And can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your span of life?  (Matthew 6.27)

I can almost hear the thoughts of the Church Committee pondering whether Jesus ever had to deal with the financial planning associated with his missionary trips through first-century Palestine.

         I can also hear the voices of those in my own past who have quoted the last line of today’s gospel, “Today’s trouble is enough for today,” when I have sounded worried or thought too much about the future.  But in preparing for today I realized that this verse comes in the context of a more important statement that I want to repeat:

But strive first for the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.

         So do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will brings worries of its own.  Today’s trouble is enough for today.  (Matthew 6.33-34)

Those who strive for the kingdom of God may well worry, but that worry is quickly swallowed up in realization that God is at work with us and for us in all the dimensions of our lives, whether in our workplaces, in our families, in our neighbourhoods or in our parish community.

         This does not absolve us from the responsibility of being good stewards of the resources given into our care nor from taking prudent actions to further the work of ministry in this place.  But it does lift from us the burden of thinking that the future is only in our often incapable hands and the worry associated with our knowing how we often make decisions that go awry.  It is as if Jesus says to us, “Take care of today’s business.  God is at work taking care of tomorrow’s.  Just keep your eyes on God’s horizon and all will be well.”

(2)  The community to whom the gospel according to Matthew was written

         Let me say a little bit about the community to whom the gospel of Matthew was first addressed.

It is a community of Jewish believers in Jesus as the prophet that Moses is said to have promised God would send to the people to lead more closely into following the ways of God.  This community is experiencing external pressures from other Jews who see this community in competition with the emerging rabbinic Judaism that will form the foundations of what we know as contemporary Judaism.  But as if external pressures were not enough, this Jewish Christian community is also being torn by internal disputes that pitch family member against family member, friend against friend.  All of this, external pressure and internal dispute, is occurring in the context of a Palestine that is suffering the consequences of a disastrous revolt against the Roman authorities.  The Temple in Jerusalem has been destroyed, as great a tragedy for Jewish believers in Jesus as it was for other Jewish movements.  Roman reprisals against civilians have been severe and the entire province is littered with empty villages and ravished cities.

         It is to this community of believers that today’s words are directed. “Take care of today’s business.  God is at work taking care of tomorrow’s.  Just keep your eyes on God’s horizon and all will be well.”

(3)  The community to whom God speaks today

         We cannot compare our present situation to the situation of Matthew’s community.  Although we experience the pressures of an increasingly secular society that is sometimes contemptuous of and hostile to religious communities, we still enjoy the financial privileges of a non-profit society.  Even though our own religious tradition is in the midst of a conflict that is theological, pastoral and legal, we have been spared that conflict within our own parish community.  It is true that we have experienced a serious financial crisis that has affected everyone in this country and in this parish, perhaps some of us more than others, but we cannot say that we live in a devastated landscape dominated by hunger, fear and oppression.        

         What we can say is that we know that the future of ministry, whether here at Saint Faith’s or at any of the more than seventy congregations of the Diocese of New Westminster, will take new forms during the next five to ten years.  For some that is frightening and discouraging, but for others it is a moment that awakens the imagination and entices us with new possibilities, even ones that we haven’t even dreamed of yet.

         So we shall soon gather for the annual vestry.  We shall hear reports, elect officers and approve a budget.  But we shall not do this in an atmosphere of worry but of hope.  We shall do this with our eyes fixed on God’s horizon and with our minds and hearts open to new possibilities.  We shall do this knowing that God is not finished with us yet, because God is not finished renewing the world that God created and for which Jesus gave his life.  Let us strive for the kingdom of God and for God’s righteousness.  If we can do this, then everything will fall into place.

         We may even be tempted to think that God has forsaken us, but how could a mother forget her nursing child, or show no compassion for the child of her womb?  For God has not forgotten us and has inscribed us on the palms of the divine hands.  Amen.