Sunday, July 14, 2024
/Proper 10
Amos 7:7-17; Psalm 85:8-13; Ephesians 1:14-29; Mark 6 14-29
The Rev. Jeff Bohanski
Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my
heart be acceptable in your sight,
O Lord, my strength, and my redeemer. Psalm 19:14
Victor and I lost power about 9:30. The lights had been flickering since 4:00 AM. We were up in the study watching the wind and the rain when we heard a really weird metallic boom and then the power went out. This time there was a dead quiet in the house that hadn’t been there before. The house felt dead. All we could do was sit. Sit, watch, wait and pray as the hurricane passed over us.
That was a week ago. Since then, we’ve been staying with a friend who has power. We are thankful to have a great view of our powerless house from her living room. We’ve been fortunate that we sustained no major damage that we know of yet. I guess we’ll find out more information about that when the power comes back. We are very thankful.
Friday, when we were at home cleaning, the water pressure died. The pressure did not go down to a slow trickle, but it just died. One moment we had water and the next moment we had no water. We couldn’t believe we were now standing in the midst of a powerless and a waterless house. It was awful. We felt like crying. We slunk back to our neighbor’s home dejected.
As I tell my story and as I listen to other people’s stories, I notice our story is also a part of a much larger story. Our story is part Beryl’s story. How we tracked it across the southern Caribbean Ocean and up to Houston. How it passed Houston, became a tropical storm and went up into the Midwest as a strong line of thunderstorms. It finally it went off the continental shelf into the Atlantic as a strong low pressure system.
My loss of power story is also part of a larger story. A story of how a power company is regulated and how the state manages the power grid. My story is also part of the larger story of how dependent we have become on our technology and how vulnerable we are when the power goes out. Your story is not just your story. Your story is also part of a bigger story. Your story is our story.
Paul’s opening chapter of Ephesians is a telling of how Jesus is part of a larger epic of creation. Jesus is not merely God made human, but he is and was part of creation. Paul tells us he was there at the beginning. That God destined us for adoption as his children through Jesus Christ. We, as humanity, are children of God. All of us. Together.
So, it is not just one’s own personal relationship with Jesus, the Holy Spirit and the Father that is important. It’s also our communal relationship with the God that is important. Notice how we will use the “we” form of the Nicene Creed. We are in life together; we practice faith together. We are also part of the greater story, the universal catholic Church.
We read the prophets. Amos. He was the older contemporary of Hosea and Isaiah. He was active, according to Encyclopedia Britannica, around 800-701 BCE. He accurately foretold the destruction of the northern kingdom of Israel. In the passage we read today, God showed Amos a plumb line.
I am by no means a builder. But I do know something about plumb lines.
In another lifetime, I was in Mexico City. During my time there I visited the Metropolitan Cathedral. Upon entering we learned the building was under construction. After many centuries the building had gone off level. It was in danger of falling over. Hanging from the main central dome we saw a very long, very thick plumb line. At the end of the line was a huge weight. On the floor there was a dot. The dot indicated the center of the cathedral. We were told when the weight came back to be right on top of the dot, the cathedral would be level. That day the weight was about six feet from the dot. The cathedral was very off level.
Amos informed Israel that she was very off level, like the cathedral. She was in danger of falling. In fact, she would fall if she did not fix her foundations squarely on God’s foundation, not on a foundation of their own making as she was doing. This is Amos’ story, and I believe their story is our story. I think we are called to pay heed to Amos’ words and embrace Paul’s words. I think we are called to build our foundation on God’s foundation. A foundation of love and Grace. To embrace our adoption as God’s children through Jesus Christ. I think we do this individually and communally.
This week I have experienced fear. My fear was calmed through prayer. My individual prayer and communal prayer via technology and with people around me. This week I’ve experienced frustration and upset. I have found peace when I have confessed my feelings to Jesus, God who became human, and who walked through the grave. I have also found relief by acknowledging my feelings to myself and with those around me.
I believe the Christian Walk is a walk we walk alone; we walk with God, and we walk with our community. I believe our individual story is also part of our collective story. I believe we are called to build our lives on a sure foundation of God. We do this individually and we do this together.
So, separately and together, let us walk faith and life together as adopted siblings of God almighty, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.