Twenty-first Pentecost

Sunday, October 25, 2020
Creation Season
Galatians 6:14-18

A few summers ago, during my sabbatical – yes, it was a pre-COVID19 time, which seems so difficult to remember - I took a flying lesson out at the Morristown airport. I definitely have a disposition for adventure, and I’ve always wanted to learn how to fly, so I made a reservation and just showed up. There was no prep. No study . . . no parachute! 

I realized though what made a flying lesson so different than any other kind of lesson I’ve ever taken (like swimming lessons, or piano, or horseback riding lessons) was that there’s no warm-up. No baby pool.  No small pen or lead for the horse. No simple ‘chopsticks’ on the piano. You simply sign a piece of paper, walk to the airplane, the instructor tells you to sit behind the controls, and hands you the headphones. With a quick push of the button, he moves the blocks away from the wheels, the engine starts, and we pull out onto the runway. And the instructor turns the plane over to me. All of sudden, there was land, and there was sky, and the plan was to leave one and head into the other. But I had no idea how.

The problem was, as tightly as my hands were gripping the controls, those controls had absolutely NO CONTROL over guiding the airplane down on the runway! Instead, while the airplane is on the runway, it’s two foot pedals guide it, and there’s a bright yellow stripe down the center of the runway to guide your plane toward take off. It was maddening from the very start. Because I kept trying to steer/guide the plane using my hand control. Of course, why wouldn’t I, that’s all I’ve ever known. From the time I sat in Disney’s “Tea Cup” ride, which has a steering wheel right in the middle, to the time I earned my driver’s license at 16, that is how I’ve always controlled any other movable object – a golf cart, a go-cart – you name it. They have all been controlled by the steering wheel in my hands. 

So when I tried steering the airplane down the middle of the runway using only my feet (I’m not sure which one it was), it was either disastrous or comical – or maybe a little of both – because I was all over the place. Too far right. Too far left. I was still gripping the hand controls and turning those, just in case they might work through the power of suggestion. And then, wouldn’t you know, “Oh no, here comes another plane,” so I had to stop to give him the right of way etc. etc. etc.  I thought we would never make it to take-off, and I contemplated giving up. 

Contemplated giving up. Has there ever been a more accurate ‘summary statement’ for the time we’re in right now, than “contemplated giving up”? I feel like we are in that space right now. Each one of us in the cockpit, on the runway, trying to guide the airplanes of our lives, uncomfortably and with less control, with our feet – rather than our hands.

I mean, when we were in our church building on Sunday mornings, we had control. I’d wake early to pray and finish my sermon. The altar guild would have the altar set up and looking beautiful. The flower arrangers would add even more color with beautiful flowers. I’d listen to the choir warm up their voices. The people would pray and connect with one another over warm cups of coffee. The children would play chase all over the place. And the clergy would preside over worship and listen for needs in the community and world. We controlled the church with our hands. We were adept, listening closely to the Holy Spirit, a community moving along the path where Jesus pointed . . . following Christ’s mission.

But now, as we move along our missional runway using our feet as pedals, the experience is very different. And that’s exactly what Paul is speaking to in this morning’s letter to the Galatians. He’s writing them a letter saying, ‘No, we’re not doing things in the old way, and NO, we are not contemplating giving up.’ In Christ, with Christ, for Christ: everything is new. And yet, Paul – through all of his conversion, travels, letter writing, persecution, prison time – Paul reminds each community he connects with, that through all of it, there’s still peace. That Jesus said to his disciples, “Peace be with you,” and “Do not be afraid.”

Of course, the problem for me is that when I’m guiding this airplane and/or a community with my feet in the middle of a global pandemic, I am not at peace. And I am afraid.

But here’s the rub: The truth: The peace: That thanks to the gift of the Holy Spirit, thanks to the cross of Christ – his death, resurrection, and ascension – everything is new, has been new, and will continue to be new! God’s kingdom is right here and right now. There’s no division between the runway and the sky, between “up there” and “down here.” It’s all God’s Kingdom and our call as disciples is exactly the same, whether we’re guiding our plane with our feet – or flying using our hand controls.

“Feed my lambs . . . Feed my sheep.”  (John 21:15-17) “Pray without ceasing.” (1 Thess. 5:17) “Love our neighbor as our self.” (1John 4:9) “Love your enemy.” “Bless those who curse you.” (Matthew 5:44) “Love the least.” (Matthew 25:40) “Bring good news to the poor.” (Luke 4:18) That’s the path. And that’s what we, as a congregation, continue to do. Believe it or not, God helps guide us, even when we’re stumbling over our feet, trying to guide our airplane down the yellow line. We may veer too far right. Or too far left.

And pardon me, for the cliché - - but it fits - - God is right here with us. Dare I say it . . . I’m going to say it . . .  as our co-pilot. Using our every breath – our strengths, and our weaknesses - to build a blessed community of justice and peace.

St. Ignatius, a 16th c. monk, most famous for his ability to reflect and see God’s hand in the world, had a famous maxim or koan, (something like a Zen riddle, if you will) – that said, “So trust in God as if all the success of affairs depended on yourself, and nothing on God. Nevertheless, so work in them as if you were to accomplish nothing in them, and God everything.” Let me translate, in other words, “PRAY as if everything depends on God, and work as if everything depends on you – AND PRAY as if everything depends on you, and work as if everything depends on God.” 

Use your hand controls. Your foot controls. Your prayer, meditation, your money, your effort, your energy. Whatever it is you have. Knowing that even in the middle of a global pandemic, God is right here with us, as we lift off and live in God’s kingdom.
Amen .