by the Rev. John D. Lane
This sermon is based on Amos 8:11-12 & Luke 10:39.
The
time is surely coming, says the Lord GOD, when I will send a famine on the
land; not a famine of bread, or a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of
the LORD. They shall wander from sea to sea, and from north to east; they shall
run to and fro, seeking the word of the LORD, but they shall not find it.
[Martha]
had a sister named Mary, who sat at the Lord's feet and listened to what he was
saying.
Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans Mississippi
A big
storm was coming to a low-lying area, and people were warned they should
evacuate. Almost everyone heeded the warning but one man, Rick, who had ridden
out a number of storms before, refused to go. A few hours later as the water
began to flood the road, a sheriff’s deputy knocked on the door, “It’s time to
leave. The storm is coming for sure, and it’s gonna be a bad one. Come with me
while I can still drive out of here.”
“Thanks, but I’ll stay. I have faith; the Lord will protect
me.”
A few
hours later, the water had come up to the second floor balcony of the man’s
home, where he stood watching the sky. A rescue team came by in a boat. “You
need to leave now. Get in the boat, and we’ll take you out of danger.”
“Thanks, but I’ll stay. I have faith; the Lord will protect
me.”
A while
later, the water had risen even higher, almost to the top of the house, and
Rick was standing on the peak of the roof. A helicopter was flying low over the
area, and spotted him below holding on for dear life. A rescue worker came down
on a rope, and said, “You’re the last person still here. Your house will be
entirely underwater in a short time. I’ll hook you on to the rope and you’ll be
pulled up into the chopper.”
“Thanks, but I’ll stay. I have faith; the Lord will protect
me.”
The waters
rose, the house disappeared below the surface and washed away. Rick drowned. He
went to heaven, but he was really mad when he met Saint Peter. “I had total
faith in you. I’ve trusted in you completely since I was a young boy. A big
flood came, and I prayed for help, and what happened? Nuttin’! That’s what!”
Saint
Peter said, “Well, I don’t know what happened either. We sent a police car, a
boat, and a helicopter, and you drowned nonetheless. What went wrong?”
Prayer can be answered in a
variety of ways, by a variety of means. We pray to the Lord for help, and he
may delegate the responsibility to someone else. In the same way, the word of
the Lord can come to us in a whole assortment of ways.
Many people turn to the Bible
to discover the word of the Lord. It is, however, a long book, and different
people get different things from it. There are moving and profound stories and
passages in the Bible, but they often don’t have as much effect as music. A
particularly wonderful hymn can bring tears to my eyes. A particularly awful
hymn can also bring tears to my eyes, but for a different reason.
The
time is surely coming, says the Lord GOD, when I will send a famine on the
land; not a famine of bread, or a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of
the LORD. They shall wander from sea to sea, and from north to east; they shall
run to and fro, seeking the word of the LORD, but they shall not find it.
[Martha]
had a sister named Mary, who sat at the Lord's feet and listened to what he was
saying.
Mary was lucky. She was able
to sit quite literally at Jesus’ feet, and hear every word and nuance of his
teaching. The prophet Amos talks about a different reality, a famine of hearing
the words of the Lord. Though a very old book, its warnings sound disturbingly
contemporary. Many of us seem to be running on treadmills, overwhelmed by
outside stimuli and unable to filter the important from the frivolous. As
Thoreau put it, “Most men live lives of quiet desperation.” Today, it might be noisy
desperation. It’s important to remember, however, that Thoreau, the prophet of
getting away from it all, built his cabin a half mile from his mother’s house.
Sounds a little like a couple of 10 year-olds pitching their tent in the back
yard.
The word of the Lord can
indeed come to us through the Bible and through prayer and contemplation. I
think for me it often comes through the lives of others. My parents were good
people, humble people. Until my mother was unable to get out of the house, they
were in church every single Sunday. They went the extra mile in their jobs and
in the community. I didn’t realize it at the time, but by watching them I heard
the word of the Lord. And as Yogi Berra said, “You can observe a lot just by
watchin’.”
My greatest clergy mentor was
the rector of the parish where I worked during seminary. The parish was in
Spanish Harlem, and he was the only Episcopal priest in Harlem
who lived next door to the church. Everyone else lived in Westchester County
Our son Andrew provided many
life lessons for the rest of the family. We prayed a lot. We didn’t get what we
prayed for, but we did come to recognize Andrew as our special blessing. By his
life he taught us the word of the Lord. And Bizzy who devoted her life to
taking care of Andrew taught me a lot about God’s love.
We both have been inspired by
a special friend who has been around for over 100 years, Mary Artis Dennis.
I’ve never heard her say anything mean about anyone. Now there’s a lesson for
all of us. Call it the word of the Lord.
And speaking of Dennis, many
of us were touched deeply by the life of Dennis Case. As someone wrote in the
Trinity Tribune, Dennis had an unusual way of ending a telephone conversation.
He just hung up. When I was reminded of that in the Tribune, I thought his life
ended suddenly. Like one of his phone calls, there was no goodbye.
The Christian faith
emphasizes incarnation, and that includes those who bring us the word of the
Lord through their lives, transparently lived in front of us all. Think back on
those who have influenced you. And don’t forget to take a look around. You
might have been sitting at Jesus’ feet without realizing it.
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