January 13, 2019

Luke 3:15-17, 21-22 

Isaiah 43:1-9 

Acts 8:14-17

      I don’t know about you, but I feel like the wheat and the chaff thrown up into the air by the winnowing fork, and I feel just about midair right now. I’m not feeling like I’m flying, I just feel tossed, and the uncertainty is, where will I land? Maybe you feel the same way—where will you land, as a congregation, as an individual with the things you’re always dealing with, health, parents, grandchildren, marriage, politics. We’re often in a state of being tossed by the forces of this world. Maybe we have the illusion that we’re more settled than we are. But sometimes it is just too obvious and we have to admit we’re tossed, rattled, in free-fall, living in the chaos.

As we fall, we feel we could go in a million different directions. That’s what happens when I drop my bowl of cereal or break a glass on the kitchen floor. It goes everywhere and no matter how well I sweep, I find more of it even a month or two later! Our scriptures today, understand that. The people in Isaiah have been in free fall. Israel is in decline and the Assyrian empire is expanding. They could go a lot of different directions. The apostles in Jerusalem could go a lot of directions after learning that the Samarians, of all people, had accepted the word of God—foreigners were getting it! It’s disorienting! It isn’t what anyone would have expected! What direction will the teachings of Jesus be taken? Where is this thing going to land?

      The two main directions are that they will be chaff and blow away to destruction, or they will find they are wheat and land where they are supposed to. What if we aren’t the good wheat we thought we were? I feel very disoriented in my midair chaos. Am I going to be able to convince someone to rent to me? We got that taken care of, now. Now will I be able to convince someone to hire me? Will I be found to be good wheat? Will I get to use my skills? Will someone want to rent my house? Will they see wheat or chaff when they consider living there? Will you get an interim who likes your quirks and scrappiness? Will you find fellow parishioners who stay despite some discomfort and uncertainty to see where this good wheat finally falls? Will the work go on and in what way?

In this uncertainty, there is a lot we can’t control. For what we can’t control or have a say about, we can only choose how we respond. We can respond with fear, or maybe that’s the default—more of a reaction. That’s an easy one to do, and we all go there. We fear the worst or even the second worst. We act out of our fears of people who are different from us. We panic. Our brain shuts down. We say things we don’t mean. We do things that aren’t us. We complain and drive people away from us. Sometimes in our fear we even hurt those around us. And sometimes we respond to our fear by clinging to easy answers and quick solutions. We build bigger barns. We try to take over. We strut around like we’re more important than other people. We buy a fancier car or house. We rush into a relationship. We take too much on because we want to be nice and say yes. There are lots of ways that we respond to fear that aren’t helpful.

The scriptures give us a lot of negative examples of people who react with fear. King Ahab in the Old Testament, Pharisees, Herod, Pontius Pilate, even Peter. Fear is one way to go and we will go there sometimes.

The scriptures remind us that fear isn’t the only possible response. The reading from Isaiah says, “Do not fear, for I have redeemed you.” And it goes on to name all the things God is doing: God has called God’s people by name. God is with God’s people. God created us. God demands our return. God commands our oppressors to release us. When we feel fear, it can be helpful to remember God who is powerful and knows us, loves us, and sees the whole picture.

Far isn’t the only possible response. That’s part of what I think prayer is. Prayer is about sorting out what we can’t control and giving it to God, and prayer is about motivating us to act on what we can act on from a centered place of love and hope, and grounded in the scriptures, the stories of God’s people and their reactions to being tossed, over and over and over. That’s really what life is, a constant tossing from a winnowing fork!

The scriptures offer many examples of people who don’t respond with fear, or start out scared, but find their way to hope and faithfulness. So often it is someone that you wouldn’t expect—an outsider, a woman, a child, a leper, a foreigner, a Gentile.

The truth is, we can’t control where we’ll land, and we can’t control what parts of us are wheat and chaff. But God is faithful. God loves us. We can’t control that either, but that’s a good thing! No matter where we fall, we belong to God. No matter who the next pastor is, we belong to God. No matter what troubles come our way, we belong to God. No matter what joys come our way, we belong to God. No matter where my next job is, we belong to God. No matter who our president is, we belong to God. God is the one who sees the big picture. God cares about us and is working to save us. God is working through us to bring God’s saving power to all those who are struggling and in pain. No matter where we land, God is our creator, redeemer, and sustainer. God loves all of us and nothing will ever change that. Will we be the same as before we were thrown into the air? No! But God will be with us.

Do you know what else is up in the air this morning? The dove. The Holy Spirit descends on Jesus as he is praying after his baptism, in bodily form, like a dove. Every great leader had a bird that represented him. Caesar had an eagle. Herod had a hawk. Jesus has a dove. This is the dove that Noah sent out to see if the land was dried up enough to be habitable again after the flood. The dove is gentle and humble and peaceful. The dove is tender and innocent. This dove at Jesus’ baptism says what kind of leader Jesus will be. But that it is in the air shows how he will handle gusts of winds and chaotic times. He will not respond with attacks, but with humility and tenderness. He will not seek to destroy, but to build up.

Sometimes when we are in chaos, all we want to do is get to the part where we land. We want to rush through or deny the time when we are up in the air. However, it is in the air where we learn to have faith that wherever we fall, God is with us, and even when we are up in the air we find God with us. In times of chaos and uncertainty, which is always really, we can stop panicking, look around us at others who have been there far more often and make connections, we can look to God instead of our own power and remember who is really in charge, and we are more open to becoming the beloved children of God that we are. Times when we are in the air, we practice trust in God. We exercise our trust muscle.

The process is a pain in the neck: Whether you’re standing in line at the DMV or waiting to hear back from a job or a possible pastor, or whether you’re taking another survey or having another congregational meeting. It’s irritating, but that chaos is a beautiful in-between place of becoming, where you don’t know the answers and you can ask the questions and be creative. This in-between place is a place where God can transform you and transform the church more into God’s image, when you stay calm and centered and prayerful.

Don’t rush through. Don’t miss God with you while you’re up in the air. Don’t neglect the learning and growing that takes place there. Those are holy moments, up in the air with the Holy Spirit, with everyone who’s ever walked in chaos and found God by their side. And when it comes time to land, do it. Don’t fight it.

Today we remember our baptism, whether we can remember it or not. We went through the waters of chaos and admitted we couldn’t do it by ourselves, that we had no control, that we belong to God and the community of believers. It happened once, to most of us. But everyday we renew that promise, when we wash our face or hands, when we pray, when we breathe. We admit our sins, our shortcomings, our brokenness, our chaos, our lack of power, and we place ourselves in God’s hands for healing, hope, grace, and love, not only that we would receive it, but that we would give it away in this chaotic toss-up we call life.