Lent 2, 2022

 You might feel differently than I do, and that is perfectly acceptable, but I really bristle when people talk about God’s plan.  That’s because I have heard the idea of God’s plan misused to hurt other people, usually unintentionally.  I can’t accept that it is God’s plan that a young mother would die or that a child would be abused, or that civilian targets would be bombed in airstrikes.  What I do believe is that God has a mission, a goal to accomplish, and that mission will never be derailed no matter who tries to interfere or what seems to get in the way. 

God has promised that Abram will be the father of many nations, with his wife, Sarai.  Everything is conspiring to keep this from happening.  Sarai is barren.  She and Abram are getting on in years.  Their servants are having babies and claiming their inheritance.  The years are going by, year after year after year after the promise. 

Abram is absolutely fed up.  He complains to God.  He takes matters into his own hands. He complains some more.  And still he waits.  Abram has a plan.  God has a mission.

In the Psalm, the enemies bring violence and war.  They tell lies.  They surround the psalmist.  The Psalmist complains, cries out, prays in desperation and fear.  The enemies have a plan.  God has a mission.

In the reading from Philippians, the enemies here, too, have their minds set on earthly things.  They worship what they eat and drink.  They are focused on their comfort.  Sometimes we are the enemy.  The enemy has a plan.  God has a mission.

In the Gospel, Herod is plotting and planning to destroy Jesus and his ministry.  Herod is jealous.  Herod is fearful.  Herod is planning to use his power to keep power.  Herod has armies.  Herod has spies.  Herod has systems in place to accomplish his goals.  Herod has a plan.  God has a mission.

Vladimir Putin, similarly has armies and powers.  Over the years, he’s silenced opposition, he’s silenced the press, he’s removed the checks and balances on his own power.  He has surrounded Ukraine on three sides.  He’s sent in tanks and aircraft bombers and attacked civilians, fleeing for their lives.  Already thousands have been killed in the conflict.  Putin has a plan.  God has a mission.

We have plans, too.  We will raise healthy children and nieces and nephews and generations to be like us—hardworking, thoughtful, faithful, prosperous people.  We have our plans.  We will stay healthy and strong—get our exercise and eat right and live forever.  We have our plans.  We will work hard and play hard and live in peace.  We have our plans.  We will take resources from the earth, given to us by God, and the earth will continue providing a temperate, safe place to live for all the creatures we like.  We have plans.  But we are small.  We can’t see the long-term consequences of the way we live.  Even when we can see the consequences, we don’t have the will to change.  We have plans.  God has a mission.

God says to us what God says to Abraham.  Look up.  Too bad we even have so much light pollution that we can’t see what God is trying to show us.  God says, go to the fields and forests, away from all the distractions and city lights and look up.  We look up, like Abram, at most of the same stars and all our plans fade away.   There before us is the record of God’s power and faithfulness, in the stars and planets, in the universe.  There are the billions of years of matter and movement and forces and reactions that don’t depend on our plans—that are unaffected by our plans.  This incredible network of light and black holes and comets and gasses.  It is beyond what we can know and understand.  It tells us what we need to know about God.  God has a mission, much bigger than our plans, and nothing, not anything can derail that mission because of the intense focus and love of God.

God has a mission to bless all the families of the earth, and God is going to do this through Abram.  God is on a mission to bless families with single parents, grandparents raising children, empty-nesters, adoptive families, gay and lesbian families, animal families, insect families, refugee families, families of all nationalities and religions, widows, widowers.  God has a covenant, a promise to bless all families and we can trust that no matter how many plans are getting in the way of that, nothing can subvert that mission in the long-term.

God has a mission for peace and shalom for all creation.  God has a mission to end war and violence, pollution, hunger, and lies.  God has a covenant, a promise of shalom and wholeness for all that God has made.  No matter how many plans are currently getting in the way of that, nothing can subvert that mission in the long-term.

God has a mission to transform the body of our humiliation, to take what has seemed shameful and weak and lifted it up.  God has a mission to conquer death and breathe new life in to this creation.  God has a mission to take what is seen as lowly and shameful, and instead bring honor and light and salvation.  God has a mission to transform a city named peace but living in violence and conflict, into one of new life.  God has a covenant, a promise to remake Jerusalem into a community without hunger or pain or crying, but one of celebration and hope and glory.  No matter how many plans are currently getting in the way of that, nothing can subvert that mission in the long term.

For the moment, that mission seems a long way away.  Sometimes we’re the ones getting in the way.  Sometimes we can point at an outside enemy.  Sometimes we are unwilling or unable to take the risk to do the work of peace and blessing that God calls us into.  So we lament, like the Psalmist saying, “⁹Hide not your face from me, turn not away from your servant in anger. Cast me not away—you have been my helper; forsake me not, O God of my salvation.”  We lament, like Jesus, “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you city named peace that kills prophets and perpetuates injustice.  How long will the people refuse to be gathered?”

We feel far from that mission of love, peace, and life, but sometimes we do catch glimpses of the promise coming to life.  I read a story about a Danish man who gave up everything and went to Ukraine to help the people.  I read a news story about someone in Poland who has room for 10 refugees in his house and he was getting the word out.  I read a facebook post about a Ukrainian refugee in Germany needing a ride to a relative’s and several people commenting to see that it happened.  I see someone handing clothing to a stranger in need and friends who haven’t seen each other in years rejoicing at being reunited.  I see my child calculating the area of a rectangle and I do feel hopeful that God will fulfill God’s mission.

We look up.  We see wings above us, gathering us.  We know there is a greater benevolent power in the world that has a mission above all our plans and plots.  We are not alone, but here’s the brood, the good and bad gathered together, none of us able to face the powers and forces that destroy alone, but each of us trying to be open to God filling us with new life, filling us with new vision, and enlisting us in the mission for blessing and peace, transformation, and joy.