Pentecost 2A 2005

Deuteronomy 11:18-21,26-28

Psalm 21:1-5,19-24

Romans 1:16-17;3:22b-31

Matthew 7:21-29

 

 

I am sure you are familiar with that old image of the duck.  Looks calm and collected on top of the water,  paddling like crazy underneath!

 

Pretty good description of this 21st century world that we live in.   For the most part,  we try to look calm, cool,  collected.   We can buy lots of products to help with that.   Pills to help you sleep,  makeup to give your eyes a lift,  and energy drinks,  energy bars,  energy  snacks.

 

 The name of the game is control,  as in “I’ve got it all under control.”  We want to look like that duck above water.

 

But the not so secret truth is we are all paddling like crazy underneath.   

 

We are working harder than ever,  programming even our children’s free time and our family vacation time.   We are trying to keep up with the Jone’s three car garage and weed free lawn while we brag about the number of activities our children are in.

 

All the time trying to make it look easy.

 

Meanwhile,  beneath the Jone’s cool and easy exterior they too are paddling like crazy,  so that no one sees their stress,  their pain, their fear.

 

 

What would happened if we stopped?  Stopped paddling like crazy for a moment?  Admitted outright that we too are filled with stress,  prone to hiding our pain?  Afraid of the chaotic world we live in?

 

What would happen if we threw up our hands and admitted that we cannot control life as hard as we try?  Admitted that all the energy drinks in the world are not enough to keep us  sane and ahead of the game.

 

What would happen if we admitted that we keep busy because we are afraid to stop and admit to the pain,  we are afraid to stop and see the chaos,  we are afraid to stop and take in the mess of the world.

 

I had a professor who was found of comparing our culture to the early Romans.  They would put on big spectacular events,  like throwing a few Christians to the lions,  to entertain folks,  keep folks occupied so they would forget about how bad the world really was.

 

So we watch 100 tv stations so we don’t have to pay attention to the ongoing war and destruction in Iraq.  We can watch “reality shows” 24/7 so we don’t have to see coverage of the situation in Darfur.  We can be entertained in the privacy of our own homes so we don’t have to step outside and get to know our neighbor.

 

It is a crazy world,  if you take the time to stop and think about it.

 

And we don’t like to do that.  So off we go,  paddling like crazy,  looking cool and calm on top.

 

 

What is at the heart of all this fear?  This denial?  This need to look like we are in control even if our hearts our breaking and our worlds are falling apart?

 

 

Are we afraid of what others will think?  If we stop paddling are we afraid that our friends will think we are weak?   They will circle around us and laugh?

 

Are we afraid of what  will happen to our  neat and tidy lives?  Will the bottom fall out if we don’t hold it all together?   That if we quit paddling we will fall to the bottom of the pond?

 

Or are we afraid of ourselves?    That if we quit paddling we will have to feel  those uncomfortable emotions of pain, sorrow,   inadequacy?

 

 

Or is it all of this?   Sometimes one,  sometimes the other?      The pressure to look good to others,  the pressure to be important in our world,  the pressure to stay happy?

 

I’m not talking just on a personal level,  but on a national level as well.    Our country wants to look the same,  controlled,  neat and tidy,  keeping pain at a distance.   Keeping the people entertained so we don’t start asking hard questions about the economy,  the war,  the lack of concern for other countries that are struggling….

 

 

What happens if we quit paddling and fall?   

 

 

             Suspended           By Denise Levertov

 

            I had grasped God’s garment in the void
            But my hand slipped
            On the rich silk of it.
            The ‘everlasting arms’ my sister loved to remember
            Must have upheld my leaden weight
            From falling, even so,
            For though I claw at empty air and feel
            Nothing, on embrace,
            I have not plummeted.

 

If we stop,  we will not plummet into the abyss.   We will be held up on the water and allowed to float.  

 

For we believe that a person is justified by faith apart from the works prescribed by the law.

 

And it is not our faith that justifies us,  for that would make faith one more reason to paddle hard.   It is the faith of God in Jesus that makes sets us right,  that holds us up. 

 

 

It is God who justifies,  who holds us together,  who holds us up.  Who is the very water we are traveling through.

 

So it is okay to stop paddling,  we may fall a bit  but God will not let us plummet to the bottom.

 

And when we stop paddling,  we begin to see.   Our eyes can focus not on our own busy feet,  but on the fear in our neighbors eyes,  the pain in our friends hearts,  the fear in the world around us.

 

And in seeing,  we can move again,  this time in faith.     Not speaking empty words or lame promises,  but acting in love.    

 

We don’t just say    “Don’t worry, be happy,  God will provide.”  Then turn back to our own feet.

 

We paddle alongside our neighbor.  We provide food and clothing and warm socks.   We   work to set things right  by advocating and agitating  and pressuring the powers that be.

 

We show by example that the world will not stop if we take a break.   Our children will not fall apart if they have free time.    Our  importance doesn’t depend on the size of our garages.  

 

And when we stop paddling ,  trusting in the foundation God has put beneath us,  trusting that we will not plummet,  trusting that Jesus holds us up amazing things happen.

 

For when we quit paying so much attention to our paddling feet,  and start caring for each other,  admitting that we too hurt and fear and long and dream for a better world…

 

We find that the current moves us along.   Our paddling had  just kept us going in circles.   Like the Isrealites  stuck in the wilderness for fourty years,  unable to trust that God would provide,  God would lead,  God was holding the world together.

 

When we hear the words of God and act…working for justice,  caring for the least of these,   tending to one another….   Life is no longer to be feared, but it is to be embraced in all of it’s  pain and sorrow,  joy and hope.  

 

Then others who are busy paddling will look,  see that we don’t just call on Jesus name for our own agendas,  but we actually do the peaceful,  loving work of God,  and still float on faith.

 

And we can say,  let go,  stop paddling,  you will not plummet.    The current of God’s love will carry you through.

 

Trusting in the current,  we work together to gather others into the stream of life.    Making a calm  in the chaos  and   sending  peace into the fear.

 

All in the name of Jesus,  the faithful one:  In whom we put our trust.

 

Amen.