<html><body>Here's the second part<div><br></div><div><br></div><div><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-indent: 0.5in; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">These past weeks and months which culminated in the elections on Tuesday and have produced Black Holes have created a lack of knowledge, and an extreme lack of certainty, bringing such confusion to the very places and people on whom we felt we could most depend. There are tangible, unbearable tensions which make some doubt relationships. Lives may be torn apart, mental and physical health jeopardised because of the way that the picture and talk of the street-roaming devils are being insinuated into our daily lives. Not one familiar, secure stone seems to be being left on top of another. Everything seems on the point of collapsing for people.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-indent: 0.5in; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">The verses from Isaiah and Luke which we heard today are part of biblical apocalyptic writings, descriptions of what is hidden about the future, but which everyone wishes would be revealed. Paradoxically, Jesus seemed to point to some things and suggest that they were signs that God’s reign was to become visibly present in creation. If that were the case, if the last days of creation as we know were upon us, then it might make the stressful, the fearful, the hopeless feelings a little more bearable. However, the other side of the paradox is that Jesus said immediately that no one had a clue when the last days will be. Not even He knows when that will occur. There will <b><u>ALWAYS</u></b> be rumours of destruction; there will <b><u>ALWAYS</u></b> be people and situations who seem to drag devastation in their wakes.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-indent: 0.5in; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Kenneth Bailey wrote that “We can affirm in quiet confidence that the ship of history moves in the direction that God intends, even when we live in the midst of destruction, horror and tragedy.” <sup>3</sup> In other words, as we pray so often that God’s will will be done, and that God’s reign will come to full fruition, how this comes about is never clear. That’s the point of apocalyptic writing. It can never be taken as a road map in the sense of saying that if the sky is falling, if people have lost track of their humanity, that isn’t a sure sign either that is bringing punishment on anyone or that things are wrapping up. It’s a sign of the degraded way in which humans can behave. It’s a sign of the way in which human beings can be filled with fear for themselves and those whom they love. It’s a sign, said Jesus, that we have to be the solace, the listening heart, the grace-filled hand that reaches out to all for whom faith, and hope, and love are in such short supply.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-indent: 0.5in; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">My seven-year-old grandson, Joshua, is in a multi-language immersion school in Philadelphia. He’s extremely bright. He’s extremely compassionate and sensitive. He must get it from his mother! But this means that he’s so agitated because so many of his close and important friends in his class are living now with the uncertainty of whether or not they’ll be rounded up as the Japanese Americans were sixty-plus years ago; whether or not tables and desks of seven-year-olds will be empty and he’ll lose the emotional and social support he needs and that he can give.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-indent: 0.5in; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Real fears or not, Joshua, just like every one of us, doesn’t want his world turned upside down, the building blocks of his life torn and scattered. But he, and we, and countless others may not be able to figure out how to deal with it. It may seem like the end of the world, like the Apocalypse which is what the passages from Isaiah and Luke both describe.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-indent: 0.5in; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">This is not merely a matter for children either. In many ways, they’re far more resilient than adults. There are people whom we know, perhaps even some of our friends, who are wondering when and where they’re going to find the hate-filled, venomously scrawled letter shoved under their windshield wipers while they shop, or stop for coffee, or, heaven forbid, while they worship in church. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-indent: 0.5in; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Hell is very real for so many people, and little seems to be being done to acknowledge this, to try to bring healing.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> So what comes next?<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> That, surprisingly enough, depends on us – not on God.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;"> As a friend from wrote from Texas, “How does The Episcopal Church create a safe space for all those feeling most at risk in the wake of this election – including Muslims, Jews?” <sup>4</sup> How <b><u>DO</u></b> we deal with our questions, our fears, our feelings of emptiness? How do we refind our security? How do we protect and encourage the Joshuas and their classmates?<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;"> Well, Joshua’s mother wrote, “</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Walking through Penn's campus (on Wednesday) I saw ‘Still We Rise’ on a giant banner across the front of the women's center. I couldn't help but cry, and then smile, and say, ‘Yes!’”<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></p><p style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-indent: 0.5in; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">The prophet and saint, Maya Angelou, wrote<o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> "You may write me down in history<br> With your bitter, twisted lies,<br> You may tread me in the very dirt<br><span class="textexposedshow"> But still, like dust, I'll rise. …</span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> Did you want to see me broken?<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><br> Bowed head and lowered eyes?<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><br> Shoulders falling down like teardrops.<br> Weakened by my soulful cries. …<o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> You may shoot me with your words,<br> You may cut me with your eyes,<br> You may kill me with your hatefulness,<br> But still, like air, I'll rise. …<o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> Out of the huts of history's shame<br> I rise<br> Up from a past that's rooted in pain<br> I rise<br> I'm a black ocean, leaping and wide,<br> Welling and swelling I bear in the tide.<br> Leaving behind nights of terror and fear<br> I rise<br> Into a daybreak that's wondrously clear<br> I rise<br> Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave,<br> I am the dream and the hope of the slave.<br> I rise<br> I rise<br> I rise." 5<o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-indent: 0.5in; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">We need to renew our FHL shots. We need to banish the devils and all signs of Hell from our surroundings. And we’re invited to commit to such as our diocesan statement about any and all who are having such trouble facing the devils trying to inhabit and harm them.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-indent: 0.5in; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">For we must all rise. <span style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">That is the will of God.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">NOTES:<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class="MsoFootnoteText" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 15.3333px;">[1]</span></span></span></span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> “short stories by jesus” by Amy-Jill Levine. HarperOne/HarperCollins, New York. © 2014, page 300.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoFootnoteText" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">2</span></span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> Amy-Jill Levine, Op. cit, page 300<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">3</span></span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> “<i>Jesus through Middle Eastern Eyes”</i> by Kenneth E. Bailey. InterVaristy Press, Downers Grove, Illinois. © 2008. Page 115.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"><sup><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">4</span></sup><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> Katie Sherrod.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><h3 style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;"><sup><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-weight: normal;">5</span></sup><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-weight: normal;"> From <i>“And Still I Rise”</i> by Maya Angelou. Copyright © 1978 by Maya Angelou. Reprinted by permission of Random House, Inc. </span><u><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(102, 0, 153); font-weight: normal;">Still I Rise - Poems | Academy of American Poets - Poets.org</span></u><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-weight: normal;"> <o:p></o:p></span></h3><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 102, 33);"><a href="https://www.poets.org/poetsorg/poem/still-i-rise">https://www.poets.org/poetsorg/poem/still-i-rise</a></span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: gray;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p></div></body></html>