The Rev'd Jane B Bearden
I heard a sermon online, Day1.org I think, where the preacher told about a public service announcement playing on TV in which a teenager sits in a Laundromat and watches as another young man bursts in threatening the people there. His face is gaunt and scarred from drug use. He steals their money and then approaches the teenager in the corner. As the teenager looks up and sees his own face, the thief yells, "This was not supposed to be your life!" It is meant to be a warning to young people not to try meth, but it pulls at the hearts of parents who fear for the safety of their children in a world filled with dangerous possibilities that promise excitement, but hide the cost and toll they will take.
The preacher used of the words of Hosea how he speaks the words of a broken-hearted God who experiences the feelings of a parent, "When Israel was a child I loved him." This is a passage written by a Parent for parents, he sad. “When Israel was a child I loved him”
God here is a parent, patiently caring for a child through those formative years when children don't know how dangerous the world can be, when children don't know how much they need the security of a caring and attentive parent. And yet God was there watching the growth and maturity come to full flower, healing the early wounds that come from curiosity and wonder about the world.
It is painful enough to bring a child into the world, to see yourself in them, to dream of the possibilities that lie ahead for them, to try to keep them safe as long as you can, and then to watch as the world draws them away, into places you know will only bring them distress and despair. That happens every day here in Haverhill and in other cities. Our children are growing up in a world where just about everything they see pulls them away from family, from church and from God.
In the words of Hosea, we hear this God who watches as the people of Israel become more and more distant. "They shall return to the land of Egypt, and Assyria shall be their king, because they have refused to return to me. The sword rages in their cities, it consumes their priests, it devours because of their schemes." These aren't words of punishment; rather, they are the recognition of the consequences that follow the choices of a headstrong and wayward people.
Hosea knows both the justice of God but also the compassion of God. The very next words in our lessons today speak of the meaning of holiness. They define the character of God. "My heart recoils within me; my compassion grows warm and tender. I will not execute my fierce anger; I will not again destroy Ephraim; for I am God and no mortal, the Holy One in your midst, and I will not come in wrath." God who is just and righteous is above all things compassionate. As the anger subsides and the love is rekindled, God will find a way for grace to prevail. In the wisdom of God, grace and justice are intertwined. What is it the Psalmist says about mercy and justice kissing one another? Justice has an openness to the need for mercy and grace has as its goal justice for all.
I have spent this past week with about 120 youngsters, including three from right here, at the Barbara C Harris Camp – perhaps better known simply as “The Camp”. These young people came from all over the diocese, their counselors and program staff come from all over the world. What they all have in common is a journey to adulthood through a maze of challenges and temptations that will beset them on their way. Camp is a place where grace and justice are intertwined just as Hosea describes in our lesson today. There are rules for sure. There is precious little free time. There are physical challenges in water sports, ropes courses, arts and crafts, games, and archery. And there are emotional challenges – being away from home for the first time, trying to share living space with 9 complete strangers, - the list goes on and on. But BCH is different from most camps because this is a place where God’s love forms the central glue that holds us all together. We sing, pray, praise, and study with Holy Scripture several times each day. Bible study is guided by chaplains but it is led by the counselors and is taught with storytelling and with games.
On Monday the message was on who is worthy to be called by God. Our story was the call of David who was the least likely of the sons of Jesse to be anointed king, Tuesday we explored who our companions might be on our journeys as we heard the story of Moses and Aaron sent to free the Israelites in Egypt. On Wednesday we heard the story of Martha and Mary and we struggled with the need to find time to listen and to respond to Jesus in the midst of our busy lives. On Thursday was discovered Paul’s letter to Philemon asking him to go against the common culture and to free the slave Onesimus. We wondered how scared Onesimus must have been returning to his owner with only Paul’s letter between him and death. We talked about what it means to speak truth to power and to see those who are different from us - as brothers and sisters in Christ. On Friday we learned that we can trust Jesus to be at our sides even when life seems turned upside down as it was for the disciples after the crucifixion of Jesus. There on the shore of the Seas of Galilee, Jesus prepared breakfast for them and to provide for them in their time of struggle. We invited the children to trust in God to provide for them.
Each one of us needs to hear these stories again and again so that when life takes a turn for the worse we have them in our pockets to hold as reminders of God’s unfailing love for us. Remember that TV ad about the kid in the Laundromat? Each one of us plays a part in the lives of the children who come here to church to ACAT and to work through family issues. We play a part by providing hospitality, nourishment, entertainment, guidance, love, safety, all of these things. I wish each one of you could have the experience of spending a week being loved and cared for in a cloistered Christian community. I think I have told you about the pulpit at Trinity Copley that has inscribed “Please show us Jesus”. This week our kids saw Jesus at work in everyone around them. Thanks are to God. Amen.
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