You all might think that this is the
first cold Wisconsin weather that I have ever seen, but when I was a small
child we occasionally made the pilgrimage from
We would leave very early in the morning in order to board the train at the closest station, which was 110 miles away. Our car would be packed with luggage and presents and my brother and sister and I would each have a bag of puzzles and books with which to busy ourselves on the long trip. By the time we finally got on board I would be so excited that I could hardly stand myself because the train was too fabulous for words!
Our tiny sleeping berths seemed
palatial and the dining car was, in my mind, the epitome of fine cuisine. I always ordered French toast for breakfast,
a club sandwich for lunch and roast beef for dinner because I figured
that’s what the
My favorite part was climbing up
into my upper berth and going to sleep to the sounds of the clackety-clack-clack…knowing
that when I woke up we would be stopping in
Memory is a tricky thing though isn’t it? My grandmother has been gone for many years, but one Saturday last fall my sister and I drove to LaCrosse to see if we could find her house. We remembered the address, but when we saw it we were sure that we must have made a mistake. Her special, wonderful and gigantic home seemed to have shrunk, or it had been replaced by something much smaller and much more ordinary. We knew in our minds that this was the same house, but in our heart of hearts we were still confused about how she could have fit a 20’ Xmas tree under a 10” ceiling. We had a good laugh at ourselves on our way home, which I always recommend as a good prayer practice.
By that point I had already
reconciled myself to the realities of present day train travel. Each week for a year I took the train from
Wisconsin Dells to
We are often presented with a
metaphor that compares the Christian life to a pilgrimage, a jouney. We are told
that the Christian travels, through time and creation, in order to reach
another time…a better time. The
message we are given is that we are in transition through this earthly life to
our heavenly life. This metaphor puts
the difficulties of life in a different perspective … always subordinate
to the future. I think this is a helpful
metaphor, and at times I have clung to it fiercely. When things seem unbearable in our present
life it may be literally life saving to know that this train ride is only to be
endured for a relatively short time, and that eternal joy awaits us “on
the other side.” This theology is
the core of African-American spirituals like “Swing Low Sweet
Chariot”, “There is a Balm in
But for us, I think that this metaphor is far more powerful if we reverse it and say that our life is not spent on the train, but rather, to think our life as the station through which God’s future passes…. I don’t believe we can ever live our best lives if we think of ourselves as something traveling through space and time … making progress on a pilgrimage or conquering obstacles in our way toward an important destination. If we do this then we are literally just “along for the ride.” With enough perseverance and patience we can endure…but is that consistent with what Scripture tells us about God’s purpose for our lives? Did the Lord speak to the prophet Jeremiah, and say “For surely I know the plans I have for you…and your best bet would be to duck for cover? No, the Lord said, “For surely I know the plans I have for you…plans for your welfare and not your harm.” The Lord said, pray, and trust me…pray to trust me…and you will become the instrument of my will.
Think for a moment about how your
life might be impacted if you considered the entirety of your life as the
station through which God’s future passes. You are here, at this place, at this time, at
this station in life so that God can pass through you…transcend
you…transform you. In other words,
our lives dwell in the movement of God’s purposes and directions. The very words of Jesus’ “Sermon
on the Plain” in Luke’s gospel challenge us to be the
“stations” through which God’s purposes pass. The challenge is not to
move out of life into a future not yet present, but to dwell…to
live in the challenges of the
The challenges that Jesus spoke of in Luke’s gospel remain today…the majority of our world is poor, and hungry and sorrowful. His words are meant to comfort the afflicted…in his time and in ours. Jesus blesses those whom the world curses -- the poor, the unemployed, the dispossessed and the oppressed.
"Blessed are you who are poor,
for yours is the
"Blessed are you who are hungry
now, for you will be filled.
"Blessed are you who weep now, for you
will laugh.
"Blessed are you when people hate
you, and when they exclude you, revile you, and defame you on account of the
Son of
If that were all there was to Jesus’ sermon that day, then we might remember it as one of the sweetest sermons ever preached. But Luke’s recollection of the Beatitudes takes a sharp turn from those remembered in Matthew’s gospel. He attaches a corresponding series of woes:
"But woe to you
who are rich, for you have received your consolation.
"Woe to you who are full now, for
you will be hungry. "Woe to you who are laughing
now, for you will mourn and weep.
"Woe to you when all speak well
of you, for that is what their ancestors did to the false prophets.
Luke differentiated the poor from the rich by the focus of their attention rather than the by the size of their bank balances. The poor would inherit God's kingdom because that was where they set their sights… they recognized their dependence upon God for all that is life. Freed from the temptation of money, the "poor" were marked by their spiritual concern. The rich, on the other hand, were concerned with maintaining and enjoying what they already had; their focus was upon the present gratification…they were marked by their concern for money and what it could buy. No matter their actual financial circumstance, the woeful rich were those who craved wealth and the comforts that it could buy, even to the determent of others.
As in other places throughout scripture, Jesus isn’t saying that having money is evil…he is saying that the love of money is evil, because it is all consuming, and drives us to consume things that should never be for sale…the rights and dignity and freedom of others is seldom on our minds when we shop and spend.
One of the hallmarks of modern morality is the emphasis on the personal freedom and responsibility. The measuring stick of morality seems to be: "If my actions as an individual do not injure others, then, the actions are permissible." Of course, this ignores the broader picture. We, as individuals, form a society. We contribute to that society in one form or another. Hence, we need to take a certain responsibility for our society. Personal freedom and responsibility do not preclude a sense of social justice. Our unwillingness to consider our social obligation to others is often obstructed from our view. Most of the time we are not arrogant, we are simply simply ignorant. We don’t set out to flaunt our privilege, we just fail to recognize or understand the impact that our affluence has on God’s economy.
The reality
is that Americans spent $13.2 billion on
Valentine's Day gifts in 2005. And that
was two years ago! While there's
not necessarily anything wrong with giving special — sometimes even
expensive — gifts to those we love, marketing specialists have convinced
us to spend in order to show our love. The assumption seems to be, "The
more you spend, the more you love."
In fact, if we were to gather up the money spent on giving "love"
gifts for Valentine’s Day in 2005 and apply that money to loving the
undernourished in our world, we could do a lot. Providing access to clean,
drinkable water and basic sanitation for the world's poor will cost $7 billion
a year over the next decade; an additional $4 billion per year will help to
provide basic health care to prevent the deaths of three million infants a
year. Combined, that's less than what Americans alone spend on Valentine's
Day! Please understand that my intent is
not to make anyone feel guilty or ashamed about their spending. I adore getting and giving gifts…for
years I lived by the motto that “it’s better to have something and
need it, than to need something and not have it.” But this year, as gift giving opportunities
arise … I am just asking that each of us consider the possibility of
matching gifts…certainly give a card or a gift to those you
love…but match it by giving an equal amount to those that God loves...the
poor, the hungry, the sorrowful, the despised.
It might mean that your beloved might receive something that cost less
than what you initially planned to spend…but your reward will be greater
than you ever imagined “on earth as it is in heaven.” Loving one another in this one small way
allows us to live our lives in ways that reveal our priorities…as the
station through which God’s future passes.
May we pray?
Transform our hearts, our minds and our wallets God, because you alone can bring transformation into our lives and to our world.
Mary Anne Biggs, Pastor
Nekoosa United
Nekoosa