[Propertalk] 4 Advent a

[robertpmorrison at charter.net]

We have come through the strong wind and tornado (65 miles east) well, 
except for pretty extensive property damage. Humans and animals fared 
well.

I don't think I posted this earlier, but this is what I wrote in Albany 
a week ago Thursday, I think.

Still reading it through. 8 - )

Bob

THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH OF ST. ALBAN, ALBANY  	       	             THE 
FOURTH SUNDAY OF ADVENT
ISAIAH 7:10-16	                          		    	    	 
19th DECEMBER, 2010
ROMANS 1:1-7				 
PSALM 80:1-7, 16-18
MATTHEW 1:18-25

	“The days of our lives, for all of us, are numbered,” Edwards wrote on 
her Facebook page. “We know that. And yes, there are certainly times 
when we aren't able to muster as much strength and patience as we would 
like. It's called being human. But I have found that in the simple act 
of living with hope, and in the daily effort to have a positive impact 
in the world, the days I do have are made all the more meaningful and 
precious. And for that I am grateful.” 1

	That was Elizabeth Edwards. I read it on the 6th December and jotted it 
down, as something worth reading and re-reading. There’s so much packed 
into those words, written in a sense almost matter-of-factly.

	There are many times when I could be that matter-of-fact about my 
faith. Of course, I can – I speak the words of the Creed every Sunday 
and other days in between. I don’t cross my fingers, hoping that God 
won’t catch me out in some sort of uncertainty. But Elizabeth Edwards’ 
words cut through all the nonsense of wrapping paper and bows; of 
delicious, crispy turkey skin; of half-mumbled words of commendation on 
which we almost choke as we speak them. Straight out she spoke: “The 
days of our lives, for ALL of us, are numbered.”

	As I copied down these words thirteen days ago, I wondered whether 
Elizabeth’s number was more than thirteen, whether she’d be alive on the 
19th December.

	Yet, despite the gravity of that first sentence, think about the last 
two – “I have found that in the simple act of living with hope, and in 
the daily effort to have a positive impact in the world, the days I do 
have are made all the more meaningful and precious. And for that I am 
grateful.”

	She looked, and thought, and expressed what we all know, but find 
difficult to say out loud. Death is part of life, not just the death of 
our neighbours, here and in every settlement around the world. Death is 
a part of our lives. Yet, whenever we celebrate Eucharist at a funeral, 
we pray to God, “For them, life is changed, not ended.”

	Reality, then, teaches us that we need to deal with and to talk about, 
and to accept, that we all change.

	It’s a rotten idea, change. We’d much rather be in the Garden of Eden 
for keeps – or at least in Albany. Take away a few bills, maybe the cold 
wind and the threat of snow through the winter and a much drier summer – 
sure, there are some things we can ALWAYS do without. But few if any of 
us ever get used to the idea of change.

	Yet that’s at the very heart of life. THAT’S at the very heart of 
faith. You and I are called to change – to change our internal hopes, 
our external fears. We’re asked to put EVERYTHING in God’s hands – 
EVERYTHING – without exception. The only thing with which we’re to 
bother ourselves is, as Elizabeth Edwards put it, is the simple exercise 
and devotion of trying “to have a positive impact in the world”, for 
Christ’s sake.

	So we ALL need to face realism as head-on as we can, and not allow our 
internalising of anxiety prevent us from fulfilling our vocations as 
Jesus’ friends.

	That, essentially, is what Joseph heard in his dream.

	Dreams, actually, are as good a place as any to find out what we really 
feel, and to recognise conflicts within ourselves. Maybe it’s because 
our defences are down. For many, this is a time when inhibitions seem to 
allow strange ideas to enter our minds and we become aware of what might 
be. At any rate, dreams were regarded as the province of messengers from 
beyond this existence, so were treated very seriously. Thus Joseph finds 
his anger, and fear, and uncertainty addressed directly. God knows 
what’s troubling him. Joseph loves Mary. He respects her. He wants to 
the right thing by her – so he tries to send her off to some back-woods 
village where she can have her baby anonymously and not bring any shame 
– on him, at any rate. And she’ll be away from her family, so won’t have 
to embarrass them. Oh, it’d all be so neat.

	 If only she hadn’t become pregnant!

	But God looks head on at Joseph’s wild ideas, and all the ways in which 
his life has been turned upside down, and God actually blesses that 
which everyone else would condemn – even today, in some quarters at any 
rate.
	We need to be careful how we interpret this, though. This isn’t a 
blanket lifting of	 all societal norms. Yet the challenge is definitely 
there. It doesn’t matter what another person has done, there’s no out 
when it looks as if we might be embarrassed. There’s no running for the 
door when someone looks as if she or he may need our help.

	How often do we cross the street, or duck down another aisle in Costco 
when we see that certain person coming walking towards us, with a sense 
of recognition in her eyes. How often have we driven past the man 
standing with his thumb in the air and his pleading eyes catch us for 
what seems to be an eternity, while the rain pours down, or the wind 
catches up the car and pushes it as if in some uncontrolled waltz.

	Is it dangerous to pick up a hitch-hiker? Of course it is. It doesn’t 
matter whether you’re male or female; whether you’re twenty five or 
seventy-five – you can’t tell what might happen.

	Of course, you may pick up some incredibly interesting person. You may 
find yourself beside someone who’s related to someone, who’s related to 
the First Lady – not entirely beyond the bounds of possibility in this 
city!

	There’s no way of telling. Who knows, you may even pick up someone 
who’s been talking to God and has agreed to take on some unbelievable 
vocation!

	You never know!! That’s the whole problem. God expects us to be 
responsible, but not on our own terms. God expects us to be responsible 
with everyone and everything on GOD’S terms. God looks for us to be 
willing to accept ridicule, or danger, or even a haranguing from our 
spouse about the risks of stopping to check out someone at the side of 
the road.

	I remember one dark, wet, windy night on Highway 18. I was on my way 
back from Portland to Lincoln City when the transmission went out on my 
car. I was about fifteen miles away from Lincoln City, and I was in a 
cell-phone dead-zone. I knew I had about three-quarters of a mile or 
more to walk before I could get a signal. I didn’t even bother to raise 
my arm when a car passed me by. I was sure the driver wouldn’t stop.

	But then the car DID stop, about two hundred yards beyond me, and the 
driver got out. I could hear a woman’s voice yelling, “Ray, get back in 
here. Don’t be a fool!”

	Fortunately, Ray didn’t listen.

	Turns out I knew Ray – I still do. At that time he was the pastor of 
one of the Baptist Churches in town. I didn’t recognise him till he was 
two feet away from me – just about the same distance as it took for him 
to recognise me. All the while he walked towards me his wife was yelling 
at him.

	He came to help, risking dear knows what. A couple of years before, at 
almost the same spot, another car driver had stopped to help someone, 
and been murdered for his efforts.

	But Ray stopped and got out. Human responsibility, one for another, 
took precedence over any kind of personal safety. Someone was in need. 
Someone was in trouble. Neither Ray, nor his wife, nor any of the others 
in his car knew who was out there, or what the problem was, or what 
might or might not happen. Nevertheless, one man decided that the safety 
and the preservation of life of another person outweighed everything 
else.

	It took Joseph a dream to get that message. It took Ray about two 
hundred yards. It can take some of us a lifetime. Time, it seems, 
doesn’t matter that much. The point is, God sees when someone is in 
difficulty and hopes that someone else will get the message, will 
understand that the offering of comfort, and encouragement, and support 
are what reveal the divine in us.

	None of us know what time we have. I know that this can make us very 
uneasy. To talk like this is to admit our frailty, our temporality. But 
it also shows that while God blesses most of us with a pretty fair 
number of years, each year is made up of thirty-one million, 
five-hundred and fifty-seven thousand, six-hundred seconds, every one of 
them an opportunity to turn to the Mary’s all over the world and to 
offer them shelter, and respect, and hundreds of other signs of God’s 
Love.

	With Elizabeth Edwards, we can say very truthfully that “there are 
certainly times when we aren't able to muster as much strength and 
patience as we would like.” TELL me about it. It doesn’t matter who we 
are, how old, or anything else. As Elizabeth said, “It's called being 
human.”

But on those occasions when I’ve actually listened and responded 
positively to God’s prodding – through dreams, or through a newspaper, 
or a book, or through TV – or even in an aisle in Costco! -  “I (too, 
with Elizabeth, and Joseph) have found that in the simple act of living 
with hope, and in the daily effort to have a positive impact in the 
world, the days I do have are made all the more meaningful and precious. 
And for that I am grateful.”

	There are a couple of crazy things which I find a little hair-raising – 
and I’ll leave you to think about them in the remaining days until we 
celebrate God’s appearance on earth in the child Jesus.

	One – God knew what was troubling Joseph. God knew how he was wrestling 
with living within the law, and being sensible, and not risking his 
ministry in the community. And God spoke directly in such a manner that 
Joseph heard, and accepted, and responded – so that Love might come down 
to earth in an intensely practical way.

	And the second thing is even more arresting. Elizabeth Edwards died the 
day after I read what she’d said.   That little writing, the confession 
of Mrs. Edwards about her life’s last days, the words that set me to 
thinking about how God comes to earth and encourages us in our own daily 
crises – Mrs. Edwards’ name was – IS – Elizabeth – the exact same name 
as Jesus’ cousin, to whom His mother Mary went in joy, perhaps allowing 
Joseph time to come to grips with what was needed from him.

	How’s THAT for a sign, a word from God!

NOTE:

1 	“Elizabeth Edwards Gravely Ill with Cancer” 6th December, 2010 
http://www.charter.net/news/read.php?rip_id=%3CD9JUM37G2%40news.ap.org%3E&ps=1018
2	Elizabeth Edwards died Tuesday 7th December, 2010 
http://www.charter.net/news/read.php?rip_id=%3CD9JVAV181%40news.ap.org%3E&ps=1018

Robert P Morrison
Interim Vicar
The Episcopal Church of St Alban
PO Box 1556
Albany OR  97321   541-921-1076 (cell)
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