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The
Cathedral Church
of Saint John
Ten Concord Ave.
Wilmington
Delaware
19802

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fax: (302) 777-5789

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Dean’s Sermon
21st Sunday after Pentecost
25 October 2009

by the Very Reverend William B. Lane

What do we have to fear?

Jeremiah 31:7-9
Psalm 126
Mark 10:46-52

So, first of all, let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself. I want you to know that I am too young to have heard these words when they were first spoken. They come from Franklin Roosevelt’s first inaugural speech delivered in March of 1933. He was entering office as President of the United States at what was perhaps the worst moment of the Great Depression. As he presented his agenda to the American people, he called them to have faith for the future. On the far side of the darkness and despair would be found the light of promise and hope.

It is that kind of hope and promise that we hear coming from Jeremiah in today’s first reading. Judah has been taken into captivity in Babylon, just as Jeremiah had predicted because of its failure to be faithful to its covenant with God. Yet, even as he was an instrument of God’s judgment, he was also an instrument of God’s promise. As dark as things seemed, and they were indeed dark, God’s light would shine on Judah.

Thus says the LORD: Sing aloud with gladness for Jacob, and raise shouts for the chief of the nations; proclaim, give praise, and say, "Save, O LORD, your people, the remnant of Israel." See, I am going to bring them from the land of the north, and gather them from the farthest parts of the earth, among them the blind and the lame, those with child and those in labor, together; a great company, they shall return here.

There will come a time says Jeremiah, and it did, that the exiled will be able to return home to Judah and to Jerusalem. Jeremiah’s message to those in exile was to not allow despair to crush their spirit, rather to allow the words of promise and hope refresh that spirit and lighten the darkness that threatened to envelop them.

The role of the prophets of Israel, such as Jeremiah, was to speak the holy word to the reality of the human condition and with that word to announce the promise of God’s determination to redeem humanity from that condition. Jeremiah understood that Judah’s attempt to play in the big leagues of world politics was its downfall. He also firmly believed that God would not abandon Judah, that the sojourn in exile would end with Judah’s redemption.

That God loves creation and wills its well being, its wholeness, is a theme that runs through Holy Scripture, from Genesis to Revelation. Always, when creation appears to be all but lost, the Lord of creation is at work redeeming. The Psalmist puts it this way: Those who go out weeping, carrying the seed, will come again with joy, shouldering their sheaves.

When Mark recounts the story of the encounter between Jesus and the blind son of Timaeus, he does so, not only to report a healing of one from blindness, but also to assert that faith is the opener for experiencing the promise of God. Your faith has made you well. Bartimaeus expects something to happen, and it does, his life is changed and he journeys into that change.

Jeremiah and Jesus would both agree that fear and despair in the present can blind one to the hope and promise of the future. Bartimaeus’ faith, not his despair, opened him to the promise. So too would Judah’s faith during the dark days of exile in Babylon prepare it for the day of deliverance. And looking back at that deliverance, the people would sing: When the Lord restored the fortunes of Zion, then were we like those who dream. Then was our mouth filled with laughter, and our tongue with shouts of joy.

It is good for the Church not only to proclaim this good news, but to live it as well. Particularly for those of us who are Episcopalians and Anglicans. Last week we read Jesus’ words in Luke, words of healing, liberation and justice. For the forty-six years of my ordained ministry, the Church that I call home has been seeking to live out those words by being engaged in healing and liberating; and by striving to be an instrument of justice. Not perfectly, at times timidly, but it has been about doing it, and doing it in the context of its own story, not just telling others about justice, but seeking to be just in its own life. Across the board justice- Racial, gender, sexual orientation, economic, political justice. African Americans, women, gays and lesbians, children and adults in poverty are not God’s forgotten, they are children of God and whole members of the beloved community, the community of the faithful, the Church.

There are those who say our Church has paid an awful cost for all of this. But to the contrary, I suggest that the cost of being faithful is a holy cost, a faithful response to the cost of our redemption. Being just is never a cause for shame. I for one was reminded of this during the past week as news of Rome’s latest expression of Christian love was announced. It is interesting that the previous week, the Vatican’s Cardinal Walter Kasper who is responsible for promoting Christian unity, had said that the Vatican did not intend to “fish in Anglican lakes.” Then within a week of that, Cardinal Lavada who wears Pope Benedict’s former Vatican hat announces a plan for welcoming to Rome dissident Anglicans, most specifically, Anglicans who are opposed to the ordination of women and gay persons. What a statement that makes for Roman Catholic people who happen to be women or gay. The Vatican is saying to them, we are ready to fully incorporate those from outside who share our belief that you are not worthy of full incorporation.

I do not have, nor would I encourage anyone to have, anger for Rome in all of this. I do have a sense of sadness that the liberating, living, and life giving Gospel of Jesus of Nazareth is being so misconstrued. Jesus who, contrary to Rabbinical tradition, had women in the inner circle of his disciples, Jesus who never murmured a word against gay or lesbian persons, Jesus who was so very much concerned with fidelity and justice, Jesus who said that the living Spirit of God would fill and empower and enlighten the Church, this Jesus was a life giver, one who wanted humankind to have that life and to have it abundantly.

I believe, if we listen, we can hear Jesus say, Dear friends, do not fear, nor be ashamed of being faithful and just, for of such is made the kingdom of God

Faithfully,
The Very Reverend William B. Lane

Dean’s Sermons:

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