On the Road Again
Posted by Priest on November 9, 2008 under Sermons |
On the road again. Do you remember the famous song by Willie Nelson? “On the road again. Just can’t wait to be on the road again.”
The song came to my mind when I was reading through today’s gospel story. Ten women – on the road again. This song also came to my mind as I was watching God or the Girl, a documentary that follows four young Roman Catholic men deciding whether to marry, or to become priests and therefore remain celibate.
I don’t really want to talk about mandatory clerical celibacy. At the end, it is something I cannot support, because I do not believe it can be justified by Holy Scripture or by a thorough studying of Christian tradition. It is a human-made decision of an ecclesiastical government that fails to listen to the murmur of the dove’s song, to the voice of Holy Spirit.
Yet, God or the Girl is a fascinating portrayal of this dilemma some Roman Catholics have to face. The interesting twist in the story is that almost all of the featured men come to a conclusion after a journey, after travelling to a place away from home. I was particularly fascinated by two men in the documentary: one went to Guatemala, the other made a pilgrimage to Niagara Falls. Yet, for both these men the journey was not so much about reaching the final destination. It was not about achieving something or about arriving at a certain place. Rather, it was about either being on the journey without a clear understanding of how to get to the destination or without knowing what the result of the journey would be. (Something to which those of us who walk the Labyrinth really can relate!)
When we first meet “Steve,” he is working as a campus missionary in Nebraska. He has left his high paying corporate job after reading a pamphlet about the priesthood. Something struck a cord within him, something that made him depart from the comfortable and superficially successful life he had known. Yet, he was not sure about this whole priesthood thing. In the midst of his struggles, his superior suggested he should spend some time at a mission in Guatemala, working among the poor and disenfranchised, among the forgotten and neglected. He wasn’t sure if that was “his cuppa tea.”
He accepted the challenge begrudgingly first, but gradually embraced it. His willingness to be on this journey prepared and opened him to hear what the Spirit was saying. Guatemala became a life-changing experience: one that not only made him understand how much God grieves the plight of the poor and wants the church to be a voice for the voiceless… but it was also an experience that showed him God’s presence, God’s compassion, and God’s love in his own life. Because he was open and ready, he heard God’s voice. He heard God’s voice in the voices of those he encountered on the way. And he heard God’s voice in the still small murmur he found waiting for him inside his soul.
“Joe” also was working as a campus minister; however, he had actually joined a religious order at one time – only to pull out again. As the documentary progressed, he became more and more tormented by the choices in front of him and so decided to go on his own pilgrimage using a technique he had learned during his time as a religious. Rather than plan the trip meticulously, the only thing he decided was his destination: a retreat centre in Niagara Falls, Ontario. He had no idea how he would get there. Furthermore, he left all forms of money, both cash and plastic, behind. To get to where he wanted to be, he had to depend on the goodness of strangers and on his own ability to work for food, shelter, and transportation.
On first sight, this looks like a foolish idea; however, this meant that there was only himself – and, more importantly, there was only God. He had to rely on his faith that God would provide. And God did provide! Throughout the pilgrimage God provided what he needed.
And God even provided an answer. Because Joe showed up, really showed up as himself, God spoke. Because he had been willing to listen, he learned. Because he was willing to discern, he discovered. Because he was willing to encounter, he experienced the true self that God intended for him.
On the road again.
These are two road stories that are rather unusual. Most of us would never travel like Joe, without any certainty of where to sleep and what to eat. Likewise, most of us would never leave behind the security and comfort of our home to embrace the lowliest of God’s daughters and sons. However, both Joe and Steve were willing to be vulnerable; they were willing to leave behind for a while the comfort they knew. Instead, there was an openness to listen, a preparedness to journey, and an intentionality to encounter what God has planned for them. This is why the journey, why God was able to speak to them in a way they understood. They were prepared. They were ready.
On the road again.
This of course also describes the people of the United States, who made a huge step forward on their journey with the election of a different kind of president last week. Whether or not we like it, what goes on South of the 49th impacts our lives here in Canada, too. Yes, we are not part of the United States, and I, for one, don’t think that is a bad thing. Yes, we are not just the wee sibling separated by an accident of history; Canada is unique, distinct, and different. And, yes, there are many things people in the U.S. could learn from the true North, not just about marriage-equality, social welfare, the abolition of capital punishment, – or hockey. However, there are also many things we can learn when we look beyond the horizon of our Dominion. And there are many things we can learn from the events of last week.
For one, I believe that Barak Obama’s election shows that it is time for all of us to dare a journey into a new way of being, into a new beginning. I will always remember the diversity of faces gathered in Chicago’s Grant Park last Tuesday night, the diversity of gender, of class, of sexual orientation, of age and, of course, most strikingly that particular night, the diversity of race. And this diversity of faces in Chicago has something to say about how to be a church in a changed and changing world, something about internationality and openness, something that speaks of hope, something profound and meaningful especially for a church that for the most part still looks like Tuesday’s gathering in Phoenix, Arizona, not like the one in Chicago.
And as Canadians got sucked into the U.S. election, it became clear that there is willingness not just in the U.S. to move on and to claim new shores, without giving up on the fundamentals of who we are. Yet, there is an urge to journey on. People are prepared. People are ready.
On the road again.
I think this is the biggest difference between the foolish and the wise bridesmaids in today’s story from Matthew. Yes, both decided to dare the journey. But the foolish bridesmaids came unprepared, came without a willingness to make the extra step, the extra effort. They weren’t ready. But the wise bridesmaids were ready. They were willing to be open, to be intentional and to be prepared.
This is the challenge of the Gospel. Yes, all are welcome, all are invited, and all are chosen to be bridesmaids at the feast. After all, Jesus says, “the kingdom of God is like ten bridesmaids,” not just five. But those who truly heed this invitation, those who let themselves be fully grasped by the joy of the feast, those who are fully immersed, fully alive in the abundance, compassion, and overflowing love of our triune God, they will want to do more than just show up, more than just trot along, more than equate faith with other interests and hobbies: They will be intentional to celebrate the faith of those who have gone before us, they will come prepared for the future that lies ahead, and they will be willing to be ready for what God has to offer and to offer all that they have and all that they are in return.
No, this is not some veiled stewardship message. But these are words right from Anglican wedding liturgies. Yet, they could also be words describing the wedding feast we read about in today’s gospel lesson from Matthew: The kingdom of God is like this: All that God is and all that God has God offers to us in the child born in Bethlehem of our sister Mary. And all that we have and all that we are we shall give in return.
Or as the Book of Common Prayer puts it: ourselves, our souls, and bodies.
This is God’s promise and this is our hope. Let’s be prepared. Let’s be willing. Let’s be ready.