Posterous theme by Cory Watilo

Sermon--God has looked favorably on God's people

Dear one, I say to you, rise.  In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

I find it quite ironic that I’m preaching at Spanish Eucharist, because last summer I worked at a mostly Spanish speaking hospital in San Antonio for CPE, and my knowledge of the Spanish language was (and currently still is) COMICALLY horrible. 

There was a huge tension for me, between my desire to really reach out and love and build relationships with the patients on my floor…… and the fact that I felt like I couldn’t carry a conversation with many of them. 

Many times, I would have to find a translator.  And we’d go back and forth, and I’d learn about their lives, but through the words, lips, and accent of someone else.  

Every time I was faced with a person on my floor who I knew spoke Spanish, there was a temptation to refer that patient to another chaplain who spoke Spanish.  While this happened a few times, it was a practice I tried to keep at a minimum, even though the idea of walking into the hospital room felt horrifying.

As someone who finds conversation to be one of the most exciting parts of human existence, this was all very difficult for me.  I wanted to be able to speak to the people—to speak words of comfort, hope, and LIFE…   

But my broken Spanish felt so very dead.

Today’s gospel reading is deeply conversational, and thus deeply relational.  There are so many characters, ad so much conversation.  The crowd is surrounding the disciples and Jesus (who are a small crowd of their own!) and then a family passes by, in what seems to be some sort of a funeral procession.

Jesus sees pain, and he speaks to the reality of it by saying to the mother, “do not weep.”  Jesus enters into her pain, and speaks comfort.

But speaking comfort isn’t all – Jesus speaks life into the mother’s son.  The young man wakes up, and how does he respond?  He speaks.  Jesus offers the son to his mother.
 
And what happens then?  The people glorify God, speaking of how Jesus is a prophet and has risen among them.  All throughout the gospel, people are speaking.
 
So, I wonder—what happens if Jesus doesn’t speak?  What if Jesus stays silent?  I’ve heard many people quote Desmond Tutu when he says that “"If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor. If an elephant has its foot on the tail of a mouse, and you say that you are neutral, the mouse will not appreciate your neutrality.”  I’ve heard other manifestations of this quote, and but I can always hear, over and over again, the critiques of the Church that we still obviously need to hear.
 
And I think we need to hear that.  I think we need to see today that if Jesus stays silent, it is at the cost of the son’s life, and the mother’s heart.  And so I ask myself, who pays the price for my silence?  What would have happened if I had not struggled through broken Spanish to try to pray for the people I cared about?
 
Sisters and brothers, we are called to speak at the very times that it may be most comfortable to stay silent.  We are called to say things that are uncomfortable.  We you’re called to try to speak even when it seems impossible.
 
We’re called to speak when we don’t even feel like we know the language, because we believe that there is something bigger than us—the God who became Incarnate—who is speaking life through the words we manage to choke out.

Still, as much as I feel called to speak, the real struggle for me is to listen.   Speaking life and listening to God go hand in hand.  We discern what it is that God is calling us to, what it is that God wishes for us to speak, by dwelling in the silences such that we can hear the voice of God.

Yes, all the people in the text seem to be speaking.  But, these people are also listening.

The soul of the son hears the Spirit of God speaking life, and his listening gives way to life.

Listen to the voice of God such that when God is offering you the compassion, grace, and love that you need—you hear it.  And you embrace it.  And you realize the abundant life that you’ve been given by God.

Because, as the gospel proclaims today, “God has looked favorably on his people.”  Hear that—believe that—and proclaim that.
 
Amen.