25BPentecostProper28, Sullivan Park Care Center & St
John the Evangelist Episcopal Cathedral, November 15, 2015 by Annette Fricke
I’m at work
now. The call light goes off and I rise from my chair to answer it. It is a woman that I have known for years; from
the time that I delivered dinner trays to her door due to a contagious malady when
she lived in the independent apartments.
She asks me to look out the window and points with her finger to a tree
outside, “Look at that tree! It’s an oak
tree and it’s dead. It’s a shame; they
should cut that thing down.” I
immediately recognize that she doesn’t remember; she said the same thing to me
last year. I know she will want an
explanation, so I say to her, “Are you sure it isn’t just the change of
seasons?” There’s a pregnant pause and I
can see that she is rolling over in her mind what I just said. This is just an example of another daily
dilemma for the job description of an aide. It isn’t a test; it just is. Although
I’ve had considerable training and experience in counseling from both
psychological and theological perspectives which ought to be sufficient, she remains
a challenge for me as well as to others.
Those writers of books about counseling who would purport to know what
to say with precise timing and wording are only speaking with authority out of
their own sense of “the right thing to say” from their own perspective. And since she taught Psychology, I can’t
claim to be an expert. There are times when I really think it is better to
simply do my best to listen to what the resident is trying to communicate. But
I do know her well enough to know I need to respond with something, something
that will ease her sense of anxiety about things she can no longer comprehend. I know her well enough to know that she will
demand a response. As time goes on, she will become a prototype for me, yet
each resident will respond just a bit differently according to their
personality and brain processing. I keep to the balance in my own mind of being
both an authority and not an authority.
I am a child and an adult almost simultaneously as the case may be. Like
all people living in this world, I too, am subject to all the changes and
chances in life. When I lived for a
month and a half in Dubuque, IA I could tell when a big storm was coming,
because my left knee had the tendency to give out when ascending the stairs
just outside my classroom. Then living
in Minnesota after a tornado, I witnessed the aftermath of broken glass from
one of the classroom windows. One thing
that is for certain, anxiety comes from within and without and is the result to
our reactions to both personal problems and the effects of “natural disasters”
and war. We can certainly resonate to both the Old Testament and gospel texts.
In the Old Testament lesson, Hannah
probably keenly observed that the seasons of the year continued to change as
predicted and compared that to her own personal life. On a regular basis, the trees produced leaves
and flowers blossomed every year. She prayed for many years, but remained
barren. Her husband’s other wife had
both sons and daughters; however, she was unable to produce even one offspring. Even though her husband loved her deeply and
showed that love, she was repeatedly shamed by others who had children. Surely she felt very alone and ridiculed in
the world, especially when even the priest accused her of being drunk. Many in her situation would become filled
with despair and hopelessness, but not Hannah.
Hannah was determined and persistent, correcting and demanding respect
from Eli. A harsh exchange of words quickly turned into a mutual pronunciation
of blessing. Hannah is an indisputable,
almost flawless model of faithfulness to God.
Just like the widow who put the two mites in the temple treasury of the
Gospel lesson last week, Hannah does not waver in the face of having nothing;
she goes forward with her life fearlessly and without regret, forgetting what
is past and ready for the future.
Both our Old
Testament and Gospel lessons were written during times of turmoil. For Hannah, it was personal turmoil. For Mark, the destruction of Jerusalem was
either about to happen or already did. But
to keep perspective, this is an example of apocalyptic literature. The purpose of apocalyptic literature is not
to foretell the future, but to encourage faithfulness and patience in the
present time, especially in times of trial, adversity, and suffering.[1] There
will be destruction of lands, houses, and peoples as there has been since the
beginning of time. It makes no
difference if someone is out there predicting the end of the earth as we know
it, as if someone’s prediction coming true validates God’s existence. It is
more likely to point to the predictor than to God. Those who predict the end of the world want
people to take notice of them, not God. Martin Luther was asked what he’d do if
he knew the world would come to an end tomorrow and he said he would plant an
apple tree. When the world ends does not
matter because we are still called to live our lives, as Hannah, in
faithfulness to God. We are to live into the future in spite of external
eruptions and disruptions around us, despite persecutions by those who would try
to destroy us. None of these matter
because they are only temporary, just as the Jerusalem temple of God for the
Jews was temporary. Our situations in
this life will pass.
Note what
one of Jesus’ disciples says, “Look, Teacher, what large stones and what large
buildings!’ The temple complex had more
than one building and there are a couple of different Greek words to denote
different parts of the complex. The
Greek word for temple here can refer to the temple itself or the larger
complex. The other Greek word for temple is the inner sanctuary. This is where God dwells according to Jewish
tradition and this is the same word that Jesus uses when he talks about the
temple to be re-built in three days. It
is also the word used to describe the curtain in the temple. Christians
concluded that Jesus took the place of the temple as the presence of God. God no longer is restricted to a designated
physical place as was the case in Judaism for much of their history. God is much bigger than that. No, the
presence of God is in you and all around you.
“When you
hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be alarmed; this must take place, but
the end is still to come.” “Let us hold
fast to the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who has promised is
faithful.” God has promised an end that
is still in the future. “…let us consider how to provoke one another to love
and good deeds…encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day
approaching.” None of us know when that
day will be, but learning how to relate to each other in the meantime is an
on-going, daily task. Don’t follow the temptations of this world and its
alluring invitations. Seek from God and
each other how to be a Christian in your world, in your space at this moment in
your life, for God goes into these tasks with you.
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