Westmoreland Sermon Archive

November 15, 2009                     
1 Samuel 2:1-10, Hebrews 10:19-25                              
Rev. Rich Smith

In the summer of 1924 my grandparents, when they were about the age my children are now, sold most of their possessions, packed the rest into their new Model-T, and left the only home they had ever known, Edwardsville, Illinois, for a new life in the West. I don’t think they had a specific destination in mind. I have copies of old sepia photographs of them wandering from place to place – on the top of Pike’s Peak, and standing on the edge of the Grand Canyon, basking on the beach near Santa Monica, and pausing on an old plank road, the only way to get across the Mohave Desert. I just think they were simply in search of someplace warmer, a place where Grandpa could fish and hunt, and Grandma could garden year-round. They found it, two months after they set out, in a small dry and dusty desert town called Phoenix. As they approached it on that July afternoon, with the thermometer pushing 110, it must have looked like a mirage, but to them it was paradise. (As they learned to say, “It’s a dry heat!”)

This was two years before my father was born, so they weren’t plagued along the way by those constant cries from the back seat, “Are we there yet?” Otherwise it might have been a much shorter trip. For them, the journey was the thing, they weren’t really sure where they would end up, only that they would know it when they got there.

In that, they were at least better off than Alice in Wonderland, who on her travels came across the Cheshire Cat and asked, “Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?” To which the Cat replied, “That depends a good deal on where you want to get to.” Alice: “I don’t much care where.” “Then it doesn’t much matter which way you go.”

For the past several weeks we’ve been inviting you to “Join the Journey,” with the promise that “We will walk together.” It’s our year-long theme, though for the next couple of weeks at least we will be focused on our stewardship campaign, with the suggestion that by supporting the church with our tithes and our gifts we are indeed joining the journey that is Westmoreland. Unlike Alice, I do think we care where we are going. But like my grandparents, while we may still not have a specific destination in mind, we have a pretty good idea of the goal of our travels. Just as they knew they were looking for someplace warm and sunny, we are seeking to be a church with certain qualities, endeavoring to build a world that reflects certain values, and at the same time we are working on our own personal faith and evolving spirituality. We may never really get there, never be able to say “The Eagle has landed,” but we will enjoy the trip.

Nevertheless, if we did make it to the neighborhood, would be know it? How would we seek to answer the age-old question, “Are we there yet?” Let me lift up a couple of benchmarks.

First, there is our scripture reading from the Old Testament, a poem or a psalm from 1 Samuel, known as the “Song of Hannah.” As background: Hannah was one of two wives of Elkanah. The other one, Peninnah, was constantly producing children, which was seen as a blessing, a sign of God’s favor, but Hannah was barren. Until, that is, she prayed to God and struck a bargain: Let me have a son and I will give him back to you, to be your servant. And, lo, she became pregnant, with a child who was to be named Samuel, and who was to become the first real unifying influence of the tribes of Israel. Hannah’s song is one of thanksgiving and hope, recounting the great deeds of God in the past, and describing as well what the kingdom of God will look like in the future. Certainly, God has already shown great care for the people of Israel in leading them out from Egyptian bondage, through the Red Sea and the wilderness, dealing with their “Are we there yet” questions, feeding them along the way with manna and giving the law to direct how they were to live in community. They had finally come into what they called “The Promised Land,” but things weren’t going all that well, there was anarchy, everyone for themselves, and leadership was needed. For Hannah, having this child was not just a personal vindication, it was the promise that God was still looking after all of them, and thus the future orientation. God would raise up the needy and exalt the lowly, the present unjust order would be turned upside down.

It turned out to be a very long journey – the destination was not realized in Hannah’s lifetime or Samuel’s. There were glimpses here and there. David – anointed by Samuel – was a strong leader, the first monarch, and whether he really established God’s dream on earth, his rule was always held up as the gold standard, probably better in memory than in actuality. Almost a millennium later, Hannah’s song would be sung once again, this time by a poor, young, unwed peasant girl, named Mary, and it has come to be known as the “Magnifcat” – “My soul magnifies the Lord.” It’s all about what God has done, but even more, what God promises to do, and a description of the way the world would look if the kingdom actually arrived, the great turn-around marked by justice for all, compassion for the least of these, love as the guiding force and rule. And it improves upon Hannah’s song, ethically speaking, for when Mary sings it, it lacks the vindictive qualities of the earlier time, where God’s enemies are decimated. And very fittingly so, for as Mary’s son would later say, “Love your enemies, and do good to those who persecute you,” a standard Christians have a hard time keeping even with 2,000 years to practice behind us.

Are we there yet? Are we living in the kind of realm that Hannah sang about, much less Mary? Of course not, but it is our goal if we are indeed followers of Jesus. It is the journey to which we are called, and as we join that journey, I do believe we get a little closer each day. Especially if we take seriously the charge of the writer of the letter to the Hebrews, in our other lesson: “Let us hold fast to the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who has promised is faithful. And let us consider how to provoke one another to love and good deeds, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day approaching.”

I love that phrase, “Let us…provoke one another to love and good deeds.” I know in the church we are often pretty good at provoking one another, and not always in a good way. But aren’t we also on a journey of provocation? Not just lifting up opportunities to do good things, not merely making suggestions for how to get involved, but challenging, proclaiming like the prophets or John the Baptist or Jesus himself, that this is what God’s dream is, this is what the kingdom looks like, this is where God is calling us to go, and thereby provoking a response of love and righteous action.

At Westmoreland we have already adopted documents that guide us on this journey. We have our Statement of Purpose, which we read this morning, which spells out our aim as a church: to bring joy to little children, instruction and high ideals to youth, inspiration to those in the midst of life, comfort to those nearing the end of the journey. Echoing the prophet Micah, our purpose is to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with God. We seek a church of the warm heart, the aspiring soul, the social vision, all reflecting the mind and spirit of Jesus.

One way we attempt to live out this vision is in our Statement of Openness and Affirmation – which along with our Statement of Purpose may be found posted in the narthex, so that even before we enter to worship we are reminded what we are about, and so visitors may be warned: this is the journey. This is where we are headed. We seek to welcome and include everybody, irregardless of sexual orientation, or station in life, or racial or creedal background, to see and honor the face of Christ in every person.

Lofty goals indeed, a destination never quite realized, but always held up before us, so that we at least know where we want to go. And every year, the Trustees lay out a road map in the form of a budget, saying that we will travel down this road by way of things like a strong Christian Education program that does bring joy to children and ideals to youth and much more; worship and music that bring inspiration and comfort, but also fill us with God’s spirit and God’s energy; an Outreach Ministry and a Volunteer Corp that don’t just work on our behalf but challenge us to get involved in that work; preachers who help us hear and respond to the voice of the Still Speaking God in our midst; pastors who not only care for the various needs of the congregation and beyond but who also create a caring community through which the love and healing of Christ is experienced. And all based in a place where the heat works, the lights come on, the hallways are clean and the rooms safe. When we make our pledges next week, we commit to follow that roadmap, to joining the journey, to walking together.

And our own personal journeys may wind around a bit, sometimes with a clear destination, sometimes not so clear, but they are journeys of faith. Maybe yours is a journey of faith in the sense that you are finding yourself with new understandings of the nature of God. You are studying the Bible, reading theology, growing intellectually. Maybe yours is a journey to greater generosity and stewardship, raising your giving level by a percentage point each year, so that whereas once you were giving 2%, then 3% of your income, and so on, you are now approaching the Biblical tithe of 10%. Maybe yours is a journey of increasing commitment of time and talent, so that you are out there actually doing ministry, giving of yourself in the service of others, tutoring, leading ESL, making sandwiches, or any number of other things you’ll see illustrated in the poster fair…. Or maybe yours is simply a journey of growing trust, so that more and more you trust in God’s care, like Mary and Hannah, and therefore you are more willing to live out God’s ways, to take risks, to forgive, to stand up for justice, to make your voice heard, to really follow in the way of Jesus. And like Hannah to give back to God that which is most precious.

It is a journey. Are we there yet? Of course not. But until we join the journey, we’ll never even stand a chance of being able to answer positively. So, join the journey. We will walk together!