For Sunday, August 7, 2016 – Luke 12:32-40
Last Saturday our community celebrated the life of Mary Campbell Cosby, co-founder of the Church of the Saviour. She had dedicated her life, from early childhood, to the pursuit of God’s realm “on earth as it is in heaven.” She believed that realm was possible because she herself was helping each day to embody it. When she was about 9 years old and Gordon was 14, both active members of the same church, they would dream together with other kids about the kind of church they would want if they could have any kind of church. The unpredictable nature of life did not stop them. Mary and Gordon had a deeply rooted sense of the promise of Jesus: “Do not be afraid, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.”
“Do not be afraid, little flock,” even in times of assault and violence, disrespect and meanness, when even the ones we call leaders speak all manner of evil against you. Do not be afraid. God is, right now, growing among us a different kind of kingdom, a realm of love and hope. How shall we live if we want to practice this realm of be-not-afraid? Jesus says, for one thing, to go ahead and release everything we cling to, and start to give. Start carrying new kinds of purses for our real valuables, the kind that do not wear out, that no thief can steal away from us. What, then, will we need to fear?
A couple of days before our celebration for Mary, a very special gathering that I had the joy of helping to plan and hold the heart of, my own mother had a massive stroke and entered hospice care in Iowa. Six days later, she died. If I had known this intruder was coming, the hour and the day, I would have tried to be there sooner, alongside this other strong woman of God who shaped me. Wounded yet unafraid to be who she was, made of dust, created in God’s image, she deserved my full attention. So often it happens this way. The burglar breaks in and steals away our grand plans—all we cannot imagine letting go—leaving us without a map in the land of loss. Even so, God still wins. Loss, too, is part of the blessing God is trying to give us. Even the driest desert ends up full of blossoms.
If we don’t shut down, suffering softens us, carves out more capacity to receive what God wants to give. Our work is to stay open, let go of what doesn’t last anyway, and be not afraid.
