22 September
Below is a DRAFT text of the homily. It may vary considerably from the recorded version. Please excuse typos and grammatical errors, and do not cite without permission.
“Grant us, Lord, not to be anxious about earthly things, but to love things heavenly; and even now, while we are placed among things that are passing away to hold fast to those that shall endure.”
What a timely prayer. Timely for these tumultuous days in our world. And timely for today’s dual celebrations. 2 baptisms (Nielsen and Hayley)…baptisms are always wonderful, joyful celebrations, and every child brings all kinds of new and unexpected anxieties to parents…and then at the very end of our worship today we will lay to rest in the columbarium Caroline Rousseau who passed away after 99 years of life a few weeks ago, and grief brings with it a whole host of anxieties itself.
Today we are especially aware that we are placed among things that are passing away. Today we are aware of and celebrate the circle of life…birth and death…And all that comes in between…in the midst of life…and in the midst of life, as our collect reminds us…we are anxious.
Anxiety is something that is always with us. This collect today is ancient. It comes from something known as the Leonine (from Pope Leo the great) sacramentary and was likely composed during his papacy (440-461 CE) when Rome was under attack by northern European tribes. Whoever wrote it knew something about living in anxious and uncertain times.
So did Jeremiah. A thousand years before the western Roman empire began to crumble…Jeremiah looked out and saw the world he knew hurtling towards catastrophe. Invaders from Babylon were closing in…those not killed will be carried away into exile…And so he lifts his voice in anxious mourning…is there no balm in Gilead? From where will our help come?
The Psalmist echoes this…Psalm 79 was also likely composed during the time just after the Babylonians rode in and destroyed Jerusalem in 586 BCE.
Jump forward to the end of the first century CE, and the author of the letter to Timothy (probably not Paul, but someone writing in his name) is still anxious…anxious about shoring up “correct theology”…anxious about the way things are done in church—and wanting to make sure we’re doing it correctly….
The other anxious person today is the dishonest manager…he’s going to lose his job and what is he going to do once that gravy train has dried up? (and this particular parable always makes us pretty anxious…especially that last comment about wealth…any time Jesus starts talking about our relationship with money we get anxious. And if it’s not money…then it’s the state of the world in general…or the state of my life specifically…there has always been more than enough to be anxious about…
“Grant us, Lord, not to be anxious about earthly things, but to love things heavenly; and even now, while we are placed among things that are passing away to hold fast to those that shall endure.”
Do you remember Our Town by Thornton Wilder…do you remember the great line the Stage Manager has at the beginning of Act III?
Act III, opens in the graveyard, he says, “Now there are some things we all know, but we don’t take’m out and look at’m very often. We all know that something is eternal. And it ain’t houses and it ain’t names, and it ain’t earth, and it ain’t even the stars . . . everybody knows in their bones that something is eternal, and that something has to do with human beings. All the greatest people ever lived have been telling us that for five thousand years and yet you’d be surprised how people are always losing hold of it. There’s something way down deep that’s eternal about every human being.” (Thornton Wilder, Our Town, Act III).
“even now, while we are placed among things that are passing away to hold fast to those that shall endure.”
But how do we locate that?
I want to invite you to do a little exercise. Get comfortable…feet on the ground…close your eyes if you’d like, and just become aware of your breathing…don’t try to change it, just become aware of it…
Then let your attention go to that place in your body where you store anxiety…anxiety about whatever it is…that place could be your mind (my mind often churns with thoughts when I get anxious), or it could be a knot in your back, or neck or shoulders…could be a lump in your throat or a pit in your stomach…wherever it is for you, just locate it, and be aware of it…don’t try to change it, or wish it away…just let it be, but be aware of it.
Now…let your attention move to what else is going on in your body…what else is there…those anxieties can be pretty loud and demanding, but it’s never going to be the only thing there. What else is there? Is there a place of calm somewhere? A reservoir of strength? Is there a balm somewhere? For me if I can feel my feet solidly on the ground…or sense my breath deep in my belly, those are often places where I can discover grace, hope, faith, courage…what is also there for you? What is there that is eternal? What is it like to simply hold those two things together in your being? …What would that balm of grace say to your anxieties? Yes, anxieties are always going to be there…but they are never going to be the only thing that is there.
But too often we let our fears and anxieties drive our actions? How often do we forget the eternal that is ever-present all around us and deep within us? How often do our spiritual lives get short-shrift because our anxieties are so demanding? And like the dishonest manager, how often do we approach our relationships (with God and with others) as mere transactions…what can you do for me…what can I do for you? What’s in it for me?…Rather than relationships of mutual care and support…I need this from you? I have this to offer you?
Yes, we are placed among things that are passing away, it has been this way since the beginning. And yes, we are anxious about many things…this has also been true for thousands and thousands of years…But we also know—in our bones—that something is eternal. We can feel it in our bodies…we can breathe it in. It’s always there……if we open up to it…It’s there…and it sustains the whole of creation…
There is a balm in Gilead…It’s within each and every one of us…Waiting to be discovered…and shared.
Amen.