Emile Aebischer, Noah and the Dove
On Sunday, February 18th, we examined the story of God's covenant with Noah and Mark's account of Jesus' temptation in the wilderness. We considered these stories in light of the tragedy last week in Parkland, Florida.
Lonesome Valleys (2/18/18)
Sermon
Good morning. What a week it was. I guess it goes without
saying that this is not the sermon I thought I would write on Wednesday morning.
But first, I’d like to talk about some good things that happened that day.
On Wednesday afternoon I set up a little station in the
fellowship area for the imposition of ashes. I have to tell you, I love Ash Wednesday.
I think it’s a beautiful reminder of our mortality; it’s a reminder that we
must be humble. Lent is a time for penitence, which requires humility. The
ashes are a visible reminder of this—if we are filled with pride, we cannot
repent. So, in this season, we can look within, to search for the ways in which
we need to change.
Four people came to get ashes on Wednesday. Someone asked me
if I was disappointed that so few people came out. I wasn’t. My hope was to
create a space for conversation, reflection, and prayer. Two of the people who
came for ashes are members of this congregation that I talk with all the time,
and it was great to visit with them. The other two are members of this congregation
with whom I haven’t had as many opportunities for conversation, so I was grateful
that we had that space to visit and pray. Please know that I will gladly make
that space for any of you, though I think I won’t burn any more palms this
year.
I was energized by those conversations, but I also heard a
lot of fear and anxiety about the state of the world and our society. I’ve
heard a number of you say similar things and I share your concerns. I didn’t
hear the news about the shootings in Parkland, Florida until I got in my car Wednesday
evening. Only then did I realize that some of the folks who came to receive
ashes were responding to that awful news.
It begs the questions: Where is God in the midst of this
tragedy? How can a loving God let this happen? What the heck is going on?
In our reading from Genesis, we hear God make a promise to
Noah, a covenant, “that never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of
a flood, and never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth.” This is
the covenant between God and every living creature. God will be faithful to
this covenant forever; for every man, woman, and child. This covenant is
radically inclusive. It applies to everyone. There are no exceptions. But in
the wake of the massacre in Florida, I’m sure that a lot of people are left
wondering about God’s faithfulness to that covenant, and also, why these
massacres keep happening.
There are no quick, easy answers to these questions. In
fact, mass killings and mass shootings in our schools are not new. In 1927, in
Bath Township, Michigan, a man named Andrew Kehoe murdered his wife, then later
detonated several bombs at an elementary school, killing 43 more people,
including 38 children. This was the first and the deadliest mass killing at a
school in the United States.[1]
In 1966, Charles Whitman “stabbed his mother and his wife
to death,” and then “took rifles and other weapons to the observation deck atop
the Main Building tower at the University of Texas at Austin, then opened fire
on persons indiscriminately on the surrounding campus and streets.”[2] He shot and killed 14 that
day, while injuring another 31.
In 1974, in Olean, New York, Anthony F. Barbaro went on a
shooting rampage at Olean High School. The shootings occurred shortly after the
school day had ended; no students were killed, but three adults lost their
lives and eleven more were wounded.[3]
In 1979, Brenda Spencer, then aged 16, opened fire on
Grover Cleveland Elementary School in San Diego, California. Two adults were
killed and eight children and one police officer were injured.[4]
I want to caution you against viewing any of these events
as some sort of divine punishment. That would mean that God was not being
faithful to the covenant that He established with Noah. I believe that God is
always faithful. But I am frightened by all of these shootings.
It’s easy to say that these things didn’t happen when
students were allowed to pray in school, but they don’t pray in schools in the
United Kingdom. There hasn’t been a school shooting there since the killings in
Dunblane, Scotland in 1996. I don’t think they have school prayer in Canada,
but there hasn’t been a mass shooting there since 1992, and in that case, one
university professor shot five of his colleagues.
What we do find, over and over again, is that the shooters
were socially isolated, and in many cases, they showed obvious signs of severe
mental illness. It’s worth noting that the overwhelming majority of people who
suffer from mental illness are not
homicidal. Most people who suffer from mental illness pose no danger to anyone,
though some are dangerous to themselves. And mental illness is not more common
in the United States than in any other advanced industrial society.
What is different is the availability of guns. Here are
some numbers. The population of the United States is approximately 325 million.
According to the Congressional Research Service, in 2009, the estimated number
of firearms in the US was 310 million.[5] I assume the number has
increased since that time. It’s approximately one gun for every man, woman, and
child.
I don’t have an easy answer for you. I think we all agree
that this needs to stop, but as a society, we can’t agree on a solution. Some
people say the answer is to ban all guns, or at least all assault-style rifles,
while others argue that the only way forward is to arm more people, to equip
all of our teachers with guns. I don’t think that either of these extremes is
realistic. But as long as we keep shouting at one another and arguing on social
media and talk radio, nothing ever changes. We simply retreat into our own
camps, where we feel most comfortable.
In the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke, after he is
baptized, Jesus is driven out into the wilderness by the Holy Spirit. There he’s
tempted by Satan. That’s always the Gospel reading for the first Sunday in
Lent. Mark’s account doesn’t tell us what Jesus was tempted with, only that he
was in the wilderness for forty days and that “the angels waited on him.”
One of my seminary classmates reflected on this story in a
devotional that was published online. She’s a bit of an introvert. She writes:
I’ve long been attracted
to the solitary life, particularly in an extreme setting. Growing up in Alaska, my image often included
a cabin surrounded by snow, but has expanded to include many different
landscapes. I love the idea of living a
quiet life where the biggest struggles seem to be the landscape and my inner
demons.[6]
And that’s a pretty
typical expectation for the season of Lent. It’s a time for self-examination.
That may be done in solitude, and that’s great, if that’s how you need to do
it. Solitary prayer and fasting are good disciplines; that’s a positive form of
isolation. But that’s not the same as retreating from our problems and settling
in our comfortable camps of like-minded people. That’s a temptation we must
resist.
Jesus doesn’t remain in the wilderness; he returns to
Galilee to proclaim the good news of God; he tells the people: “The time is
fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the
good news.” This is why we have to come out from our camps and have
conversations with the people we disagree with—conversations, not shouting
matches.
I firmly believe that God doesn’t do for us what we can do
for ourselves. God isn’t going to fix this problem for us; we have to fix it
for ourselves. If we’re going to do that, we have to live as if we actually
believe in the promises that God makes to all of humanity. We have to live as
if the kingdom of God has come near. We have to repent and believe in the good
news:
- True repentance requires
us to let go of the anger we hold against people on the other side of the
political divide.
- True repentance requires
us to view our political adversaries as God’s beloved children, because we are all God’s beloved children.
- True repentance requires
us to speak and act with self-restraint when we engage people with whom we
disagree.
- True repentance also
requires us to gently urge our friends—the people we agree with—to speak and
act with self-restraint, too.
Our politics separate us
from one another; that’s unhealthy. In fact, that separation is sinful. If we
want things to be different in this nation, then we have to be different. This
is the time to be humble, to take stock, and then to live faithfully into God’s
covenants with humanity. Thanks be to God. Amen!
Benediction
Now, beloved, as you depart from this place, remember that
we are called to be the Church, the body of Christ in the world today. We are
called to go forth and be instruments of God’s love and peace and love and reconciliation.
This is how we live into our baptismal vows. Do not return evil for evil to any
person, but know that we are all loved by God, and that we are called to
reflect that love to everyone we meet. Go forth and be the salt of the earth
and the light of the world. In the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord, let all
God’s children say, Amen!
[1]
Wikipedia, “Andrew Kehoe,” retrieved on 2/17/18 from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Kehoe
[2]
Wikipedia, “University of Texas tower shooting,” retrieved on 2/17/18 from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_Texas_tower_shooting
[3]
Wikipedia, “Olean High School shooting,” retrieved on 2/17/18 from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olean_High_School_shooting
[4]
Wikipedia, “Cleveland Elementary School shooting,” retrieved on 2/17/18 from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cleveland_Elementary_School_shooting_(San_Diego)
[5]
William J. Krouse, “Gun Control Legislation,” Congressional Research Service,
retrieved on 2/17/18 from: https://fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/RL32842.pdf
[6]
Shana Hutchings, “Dark Devotional: Happily Stuck in the Desert,” retrieved
from: http://www.patheos.com/blogs/sickpilgrim/2018/02/dark-devotional-happily-stuck-in-the-desert/#S8CLTyPjrWij6V2d.01
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