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Ninth Sunday after Pentecost
July 29, 2007
Delivered by Reverend Sandra Stayner
Genesis 18:20-33
Colossians 2:6-15
Luke 11:1-13
My beloved friends! We are all reeling from the terrible events of the past week, the tragedy that befell the Petit family. Some of us find it difficult to sleep at night. We are more careful where we park our cars now when we go to the stores. We're not quite as carefree about leaving an open window in our homes as we might have been before this happened. An indescribable fear sits like a stone in many hearts. We instinctively want to gather our family and friends in close - hug our children more often than before, keep them closer by our side. We may not have known the Petit family personally, but they are a part of our community and so we are all grieving with those who knew them more intimately. Our community has been invaded by something that was horrifyingly evil, and it will take time to regain a sense of equilibrium.
There are disturbing questions in the air, questions we may not have had to deal with quite in the way we are dealing with them now. "Dear God, where were you when this terrible thing was happening?" "How could you, our loving Father allow such a horrible thing to happen to this wonderful, faithful family?" "They were in church last Sunday like they are every Sunday, why didn't you do something to prevent this?" "They must have been praying for your help. Could you not have done something to stop this?" In the face of evil in this world I find myself wanting to grab God by the shoulders and ask him how a loving Father can allow such terrible things to happen not just to people who may have made bad decisions; but also to his own children, those who deserve his protection. My experience over the years tells me that we need to express the hard questions that are troubling us. It is not faithless to find such questions surfacing in our hearts at a time like this, when so many questions remain unanswered. We need to give our children the freedom to say whatever is on their minds so that God can speak to their hearts and their fears. We need to talk openly to God and perhaps to one another as well about the ways that our lives and our faith have been disrupted and deeply challenged this week -- because in the end this is the only way we can find the release and healing we need. "Bring things into the light" says St. Paul, "so that they can become light."
It is only as our fears and troubling questions are brought into the light of God's love that this love can begin to enter into the gaping holes that open up in our world when evil breaks out as it did this week. You see, in the end God is bigger, more powerful, more compassionate than all of our questions and our anger and our fear, and he will respond to us with the greatest gentleness if we can allow him to enter.
But it's not easy. I struggled with God for years when my best friend went for a walk in my home-town of Bristol, England during my 21st birthday party and never came back because someone had murdered her. That killer was never found. Many of us struggled with questions about our nation's security and yes, even our faith, after the September 11th attacks when thousands of innocent men and women were killed because of the venomous hatred of a small group of terrorists. An indescribable form of fear can overwhelm us at moments like this, and we simply don't know how to get over it. While there may never be completely satisfying answers to the questions and challenges that arise in our hearts and minds at horrifying moments like these, I want to share with you some things that have helped me regain at least some equilibrium in the past.
The first thing I want to say is that what happened to the Petit family is not within God's will - or any part of what we know of the God who loves it - quite simply, it should not have happened. This wonderful family did not in any way deserve the suffering and death they experienced, and we are almost certainly going to experience enormous anger that a family who lived their lives so well, loved God dearly and spent their time doing good things, loving and caring for those around them went through this. And you know what? God is the first to say how deeply he cares about and mourns for those who were hurt that dark night. There will be people who want to say that this is all in God's plan - and I want you to know that I simply do not believe that God wants anyone to be overwhelmed with terrible suffering any more than you or I would order up suffering for an innocent child -- and we are all God's children. To say "it is all in God's plan, or in God's hand" can not simply mean that God has a heavenly menu from which he has already every aspect of what will happen to us, because there are a lot of things in our world that God never wanted to happen. Evil and suffering and death remain a part of our world, even after the miracle of Christ's resurrection that has broken their ultimate power. Instead, we are called to help each other find ways to recognize that God cares intimately about every thing that happens so much that in the end evil will not prevail - can not prevail. We saw that when Jesus died on the cross. God did not let the evil forces that came together to cause Jesus' death to have the last word. And evil will not have the last word here in Cheshire because even though three beautiful people died a tragic death -- their death is not the end for them, but the beginning of new, utterly healed and loving life with God as they rise into God's presence as Christ himself was raised. We can say with complete assurance, that God does care for the family and friends of the Petits' as well as those of us who mourn for them today.
On last Monday evening Thom and I joined the congregation at the Methodist church as they gathered to share their pain and their grief at losing three beloved members of their congregation. It was very moving for me to see this congregation reach out to one another to offer support, and love and caring. Everyone was experiencing their own grief but that night as they huddled in the narthex of their church they began to share their thoughts and feelings with one another, and as they let their tears flow the process of healing was begun. Perhaps the worst thing we can do in times of tragedy is to isolate ourselves, go off on our own and try to wait until we have it all together before allowing others to help us in our pain. Even the act of telling someone else how we feel, allowing them to see our tears, allowing them to share God's love with us is healing. It is in this sharing that we experience for ourselves that nothing, nothing can quench the love of God that has already begun to overcome the powers of darkness that remain in this world.
Steve, the minister at the Petit's church saw Bill Petit in hospital on Monday afternoon. He shared with us Bill's response when he was finally allowed in the room to pray with him. Bill was grateful to see his minister; but he soon said: "Don't stay here with me." "Go home and hug your child. That's where you should be now, with your family. Go home and love them." In spite of the terrible things that had happened to him over the previous 24 hours - in that hospital room, the power of evil did not have the last word. Bill, even then, was reaching out in love to those around him. At the memorial service on Saturday he again urged those who were there to use this tragedy to motivate them all not to anger but to love each other with greater fervancy than ever before. The love of God in Bill Petit's life did not die that terrible day - it is stronger than the evil that engulfed him and his family.
A lot of hatred and desire for revenge has been stirred up this week. You only have to read people's response to the killings on the internet to realize how powerful is the impulse to strike back. Jesus' own disciples wanted to fight back when the guards came to arrest Jesus. But Jesus would now allow them to meet force with force. When Peter cut off the ear of one of the soldiers Jesus healed the body of his assailant. And we all know how Jesus prayed from his own killers as he died. You see unlike us God loves everybody, not just those who are kind and loving and just, but everything in this universe. God still cared for the soldier who arrested Jesus even as Jesus was taken away. If we get caught up in the hatred and desire for revenge that has erupted on the internet we will only do more damage to ourselves. For evil can never be overcome by evil. It is love that will win in the end.
In our scripture reading today God is likened to a loving father who will never give his children evil gifts. These scriptures are hard to accept at this time when the gifts that were meted out to the Petit family were certainly not those of a loving God. But if you look a little closer you will see that the gift that is being promised is not just anything we like to ask for, it is very specific. It is the gift of the Holy Spirit - God's spirit, God's life. As we receive the Holy Spirit we are offered the ability to live in relationship to the Father just as Jesus did. We are given the strength and the grace to try combat evil not with evil but with love. Be there for one another. Don't be afraid to share whatever you are feeling with one another because that is the way God's healing can begin. Encourage one another not to seek revenge but rather to seek to love more deeply, more openly, more courageously because it is only the love of God now poured out to the world through the Holy Spirit that dwells in us that will in the end overcome the evil in this world.
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