Proper 16 C
Transcribed from a
sermon given
August 26 2013
By Rev. Valerie Ann
Hart
At St. Barnabas
Episcopal Church
Jeremiah 1:4-10
I want to go back to the first
reading today to the call of Jeremiah, a classic prophet’s call. I love what it
says, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you.” Think on that - before God
formed us in the womb God knew us. God knew us before we were even conceived
and being formed in the womb. And God knows us long after we are finished with
this earthly journey. It presents a sense of the eternity of that relationship
with God. “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you.” And it goes on to say, “I
consecrated you.” Before you were born God consecrated you. So there is a way
in which each one of us, even before we were born, is consecrated for this
moment to serve God, to be an instrument of God.
Then we have the call of the
prophet. They are all fairly similar. God says, “I want you to be my prophet,”
and the prophet says, “No way.” And God says, “Way.” So God says to Jeremiah,
who has said, “I am only a boy, I don’t know how to speak,” “Do not say I am
only a boy, for you shall go to all whom I send you and you shall speak
whatever I command you.” Now that’s the most important thing about a prophet. A
prophet is not someone who tells the future; a prophet is someone who speaks
what God calls them to speak. Someone who is an instrument for God to
communicate God’s word. Then God says to Jeremiah, “Do not be afraid of them”.
Now one of the reasons that prophets don’t want to become prophets is they know
what happens to prophets, which is usually not very pretty. So God assures us,
assures Jeremiah, “Do not be afraid for I am with you.”
What wonderful words for each and
every one of us. That when we find ourselves in a difficult situation that God
is with us, and we don’t need to be afraid. We have an example of someone who
lived this out this week, and I am sure that all of you have heard of
Antoinette Tuff. She is the woman who is a bookkeeper who wasn’t even supposed
to go to work that day but came in and was in the front office of an elementary
school when a man walked in with an AK 47 and five hundred rounds of ammunition.
An amazing thing happened. She talked to him. She spoke with him. She had
compassion for him. And he put down his gun. No one was injured. It could have
happened very differently. How did this amazing thing happen? This woman who is
lifted up as a hero. Well on CNN, when Anderson Cooper said, “You are a hero,”
she said, “No, It’s all about God. I was praying the whole time. I was praying
not just for myself but I was praying for him, and God gave me the words.” God
gave her the words to say to him. I would have had no idea what to say.
It is interesting that people who
train individuals who are working with hostage situation have said that it is
really quite amazing what she did because even the inflection of her voice,
everything she did, was exactly what they spend weeks training people who work
with hostages. And yet this woman spoke those words because she prayed and she
asked God to give her the words. Because she prayed and she knew God was with
her. She didn’t react out of fear or anger. She was able to stay in the state
of compassion and empathy and even say to that young man “I love you.” She says
it is all about God and about her prayer. How else could someone be so clear and
so perfect in that situation?
We have another example of a
prophet that we are remembering this week. This week is the fiftieth
anniversary of Martin Luther Kings’ I Have a Dream speech which is being
remembered in many different ways. Here is another man who didn’t want to be a
prophet. When Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat and was arrested in
Montgomery Alabama some people came together and said that she is the perfect
example of someone whom we can lift up, someone of whom we can make an example
to show the injustice here. How are we going to respond to this? They had a
meeting and it happened to be at the church of a young preacher who was new to
town, Martin Luther King Jr. When they gathered and they planned for the bus boycott
they thought about who would be the best person to be their spokesperson, to be
their leader. They chose Martin Luther King Jr. because he was new to town and
he hadn’t been intimidated by the authorities yet. He hadn’t learned to be
afraid yet. He didn’t want to particularly take on that responsibility. But he
did. I’m sure he had no idea where it would eventually lead him. But he did know
it would be dangerous. Even in those first few weeks there were threats and
there was danger to him. Few people want to be a prophet. But what you see in
Martin Luther King Jr., and those words that he spoke 50 years ago, “I have a
dream,” - we know that those words came from God. They are the words of love
and purity and clarity and prophetic voice that ring down through generations.
To be a prophet, to be called to speak
for God, is a scary thought. But each one of us, each one of us, could find
ourselves in a situation where God can use our voice. It might not be a calling
to be a leader of a group of protestors. We hopefully never will find ourselves
face to face with someone with an AK 47 but there may be other situations in
which God wants to use us to speak love and compassion and hope. Antoinette
Tuff was ready for this. She hadn’t been trained to be a hostage negotiator but
at her church they had just finished a series called “anchoring.” The idea, the
best I understood it from what I read in the news, is that anchoring is about
anchoring yourself in God and in prayer. And it was a training program to help people
be more compassionate with those who are in need, with those who are
struggling. It was something to use within the church, but also to use outside
the church, so she was ready. She knew in this situation that her best hope was
to pray. And her best hope was to listen. And her best hope was to love and
have empathy.
Think about the times we have said
something that we later regret. We all have done that. Now, how different would
it have been if in that situation before we had spoken we had prayed and asked
God for guidance? If we had prayed for ourselves and the person who we were
with. It doesn’t have to be a long prayer. It’s just an inner prayer. It is one
of those prayers that I think are most effective. Those one word prayers – “Help”
“Please” “Thanks.” That’s really what all prayers are. God knows the help we
need. But if we stop and took that small moment to pray and ask to be God’s
instrument, how different would our conversations be? Might we speak
differently with the person who has cut into line at the grocery store if we
saw that person with a little love and compassion and prayer. If we were able
to empathize with someone who has a whole handful of coupons and food stamps.
To understand that the reason they are taking so long is because that is the
only way they can get enough food to eat. How different would it be when we are
talking to our children or our grandchildren or our spouse and feeling some
anger if we took just that moment to ask God to give us the right words to say
and a little empathy and love for the person we are confronting?
It would be a different world if
we could all do that. God assures us that God is with us. He knew us before we
were formed in the womb. He is with us and tells us not to be afraid. And if we
ask, God will give us the words of love and peace.
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