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Sermon
Sunday, September 4, 2005
The Reverend Pamela P. Snare
"Let love be genuine; hate what is evil, hold fast to what is good
...Rejoice in hope, be patient in suffering, persevere in prayer...
Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep...Do not repay
anyone evil for evil, but take thought for what is noble in the sight of
all ... Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good." (Romans
12:9, 12, 15, 17, 21)
Since last Sunday, my friends, all of our lives have been changed,
radically changed, forever changed. Our daily lives are now centered on
the necessities of human life - food and water - things which we were
accustomed to take for granted only seven days ago. After food and water,
we are centered on cleaning up the debris which is all around us;
something which has to be done before any repair or rebuilding can take
place. This will be a slow and often tedious process.
This kind of radical change and devastation is a major stress producer. On
the Richter scale, it would be a ten.
Perhaps you could and did, but I simply could not and did not imagine the
magnitude of destruction and death that came in the wake of Hurricane
Katrina. Nor could I, or did I, imagine the length of time it would take
to restore and rebuild so very many things that we all take for granted.
Basic things like food, water, electricity, phone service, shelter.
Jerry and I evacuated our home in Old Landing late Sunday afternoon, and
waited out Hurricane Katrina with friends in Folsom. The roads were
impassable on Tuesday, but on Wednesday we drove into Covington to check
on our home. We were going first to the Bauerschmidt's, but we could not
find passable streets to Father John's home, so we parked on Vermont and
18th and began walking, climbing over trees and dodging power lines. When
we got to Jahncke, I did not recognize it. I looked for a street sign, saw
that it was Jahncke, and tears began to fill my eyes because it was so
ravaged I did not know where I was. My tears were not for me, they were
for everyone - everyone who experienced this storm. Everyone who survived
and everyone who did not. My tears were for people in Louisiana, people in
Mississippi, people in Alabama. They were for every disaster, natural or
man-made, that has ever afflicted humanity. As I was writing this sermon,
the words of the English poet, a Jesuit priest, Gerard Manly Hopkins, came
to me:
"No worst, there is none...
“My cries heave, herds-long; huddle in a main, a chief-
woe, world sorrow; on an age-old anvil wince and sing;
Then lull, then leave off..."
The cosmic nature of what has happened, and what we are now living
through, fell full force upon me. One of our parishioners said to me this
week, "If we were living in the times of the Old Testament, this event
would be written in the scriptures, right up there with Noah and the ark."
And, I believe, he was right.
I know people who are out of business now, not temporarily, but
permanently. Perhaps you are one of them. I know people whose homes were
badly damaged or completely lost. Perhaps you are one of them. I know
people whose homes escaped damage, or who had very little damage. Perhaps
you are one of them. I do not yet know whether all my friends,
acquaintances, and colleagues are safe. But at some point I will know, and
you will, too. I will tell you that I rejoice to see everyone of you who
are here today. It relieves and gladdens my heart, and I am thanking God
even as I speak that you are here and you are safe. I have been hoping and
praying this week for this church to be full at every service with
familiar faces and unfamiliar faces - to know that everyone who is here is
safe.
I believe, my friends, that it is of ultimate importance how we respond to
this disaster. I do not use the word ultimately lightly. I believe that it
is a matter of our salvation and the salvation of others how we respond. I
believe that we have a basic and fundamental choice in front of us. We can
either respond in ways that will debase, defigure, and further devastate
us and others as human beings made in the image and after the likeness of
God; or, we can respond in ways that will purify us, strengthen us, bring
us closer to God and to his love for us and others, and make us beacons of
his hope, his life, and his love in the midst of human suffering. And I
believe it is God's will for us to use us as his agents of hope and life
and love in this natural disaster.
But in order for him to use us as agents of his salvation, we must take
thought during this time. We must take thought, not first of all for what
is pleasing to us, but first of all, for what is pleasing to him. We must
take thought for what furthers his purpose - his purpose of mercy, of
kindness, of patience, of hope, of love.
"Let love be genuine; hate what is evil, hold fast to what is good ....
Rejoice in hope, be patient in suffering, persevere in prayer ... Rejoice
with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep... Do not repay anyone
evil for evil, but take thought for what is noble in the sight of all ...
Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good."
It would be easy , my friends, in what we are living through, to be
overcome by evil - to become angry, impatient, afraid and bitter. To
become angry and impatient at the lines for food, or water, or gas; or at
the lack of food or water, or gas. To become afraid and bitter because we
are not working, or because we have lost our jobs or businesses, or
because we do not know when or whether we will receive income again. To
become angry or afraid or bitter because we have no home, or we do not
know when we will have a home, or when our home will be repaired. If we
focus on ourselves and our own suffering and our own misery, we are sure
to sink, we are sure to be overcome by evil.
We do not want to do that. It dishonors and disgraces God, and it
dishonors and disgraces whom he has made us to be and whom he has called
us to be. If we let this disaster overcome us with evil, the powers of
evil will have taken possession of us and of our lives, and led us away
from God - away from patience, away from faith, away from hope, away from
kindness, away from love.
If there is anytime for persevering in prayer it is now. Constant prayer.
Not prayer every day, but prayer every hour, every minute, every second.
All times require, but this time especially requires constant closeness to
God, and constant vigilance over our hearts and minds and thoughts and
desires so as not to be overcome by this.
"Hold fast to what is good." We need to arm ourselves everyday with a
sentence of scripture or a short prayer that reminds us of God's goodness,
and closeness, and help, and love for us and for everyone we meet: for our
family members, our neighbors, policemen, utility workers, telephone
repairmen, the national guard, volunteers, FEMA representatives, people in
the streets. We need to remind ourselves every minute that Christ is in
each one of those whom we encounter and that he loves each one of them as
he loves us. We must make kindness, patience, and hospitality our
priorities with everyone. If the stress is getting to us, if we need
"time-out" time, we need to take “time-out” time - to regroup, to
reconnect with God, to remember who God has made us to be.
For those who were not as hard hit by this disaster, let us rejoice with
them. For those who suffered great devastation of human life, or property
or business, let us weep with them. Let us ask ourselves how we may help;
let us be God's compassion, present to them and with them.
If we are mistreated because of another's anger or impatience or fear or
bitterness, let us not be reactive, let us not return evil for evil. Let
us stop and take thought for what is noble, for what would please God, for
what would honor God.
My friends, this a great test of our faith - as great a test as we will
most likely have in our lives - in learning to trust God's provision, and
his faithfulness, and his love. We have a choice. We can be overcome by
evil, or we can call upon God every minute, every second, to help us to
overcome evil with good.
Hold fast to what is good; take thought for what is noble; and above all
and most importantly of all, take thought for what is pleasing to God.
AMEN.
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