Genesis 15:1-6
Hebrews 11:1-16
Luke 12:32-40
It was a warm sunny day in 1982 in Carver County, Minnesota, near the towns of Norwood and Young America, now Norwood Young America. Chuck Halliday and Michael Steinbrenner, two teachers from Norwood Young America High School, had just finished eating lunch at a house and a barn they were painting. Chuck was the high School football coach and Social Studies instructor and Mike was a High School English instructor. They were both fairly young, Chuck -29 and Mike -32 and both with very young children. Chuck - newly born baby and Mike and Mary - 6 and 3 year old. In the summers, they did house painting to earn extra money.
With lunch behind them, they needed to move a ladder in place to reach a particular high point of the barn, the eaves. The electric company was supposed to have turned the electricity off. In the process of moving the ladder, they hit an electric line and were immediately electrocuted!
It was a very tragic and sad happening! The entire School District community was in total shock and dismay as the news spread that weekend. The communities that the High School served were also in shock.
This happened on a Saturday and on Sunday evening Vicki Holliday called and asked if they could use the High School gym for the funeral. I was the Superintendent of Schools and I told her that I didn't think it would be a problem and would get back to her after I talked to the Chairperson of the Board of Education.
She then asked me if I would be willing to give a eulogy. I hesitated and told her that I only knew them from a working relationship. She insisted that both she and Mike's wife wanted me to do it as they were basically unchurched and I was their first choice. After some more discussion, I reluctantly agreed to it.
In today's Gospel, I believe that Jesus promises us three gifts. One is not to be afraid. Even though we have let Jesus down so many times in our lives, God's answer to our many failures is love, forgiveness and presence in our lives forever. When we reflect on our failures and our response to Christ's crucifixion and dying for us, we need to decide, I believe, that we never need to be afraid of any failure or tragedy ever again. I have already failed and God loves me and loves you and is present with you and me. It would be a waste of energy to be afraid!!
To live in the kingdom of God is to live daily without fear. We aren't to fear because Jesus has already chosen to give us the Kingdom. But the absence of fear is achieved only when we are filled with love. Being filled with love for God is the door we open to enter the Kingdom where there is No fear. This is the GOOD news but it can be frightening! Perhaps this is why angels throughout scripture tell the shepherds and others - "Fear not." There certainly is irony in all this. Living without fear because we are filled with the love of God can be a fearful concept.
The next promise from a Jesus is that we can enjoy our "stuff" forever. We can have an eternal purse. The stuff of an eternal purse is not money. The treasure of heaven is relationships. When we support our own parish, when we support our Diocese and its outreach and when we support Episcopal Community Services, and other charities we are giving to God and that means the work of God in this world can be done. A part of that work is sharing the good news about Jesus. When this good news is shared, people are drawn to him. They accept Jesus as their Lord and Savior and enter that realm of love we call the Kingdom of God. That Kingdom is eternal. We are the treasure of heaven for each other. It seems to me that we are already sharing the Good news in the Spirit of the Heartland through ALPHA and Total Team Ministry.
The Third promise that Jesus makes to us is happiness. We need to be ready ourselves, I believe, through the quality of the relationship that we have with Him. When we've been separated from one we love very much for a long time, there is great joy and happiness upon that person's return. The readiness is a consequence of love.
In relationship with Jesus and through studying his life and ministry, we grow into the promises of today's Gospel lesson. As we grow in love, we grow less and less fearful.
The funeral for Chuck Halliday and Michael Steinbrenner was indeed a very, very sad occasion. The High School gym was filled to capacity and I did my best to convey to those present a sense of both who Chuck and Mike were both as teachers, parents and individuals but also to the legacy they left behind for both their families, their children, and their students. It was one of the most difficult things that I had to do in my life up to that point in time. I'd like to think I made some impact on those present because of my faith.
But faith comes more easily at those moments when it's really needed to those who have practiced it a little beforehand. Abraham in today's reading was ready because of his faith to accept what God told him to day because he had practiced it all his life. When the time came, he was ready. As Jesus says in today's Gospel, The Son of Man is coming at an unexpected hour, so we too must be ready. We need to practice beforehand. It's not so good at a moment of crisis to suddenly call on God for help, if we don't even know who God is. If we already have a relationship with God and know how to talk and listen to Him, if we have been practicing our faith, then when the crisis comes we'll be ready. We will be ready to receive the Son of Man as he comes to help us.
So where are you going in your life today - August 12, 2001?