Genesis 28:10-19a; Romans 8:12-25; Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43
I am drinking my caffeinated coffee this
morning with a mug that reads, “Keep Calm and Carry On.” That phrase has become
a cultural meme, with many variations like “Keep Calm and Eat Chocolate,” “Keep
Calm and Call Dad,” and even “Keep Calm and Play Rugby.” But originally it was
a poster printed in the United Kingdom in 1939 to encourage the British people
at the outset of World War II. It’s tone is very English, of course, but we are
Anglicans after all, and it has been on my mind a lot as I have sat with these
readings today, all of which are marvelous.
And let me begin with Romans. The Apostle
Paul’s life is filled with hardship and suffering. And he looks around him and
sees a tumultuous world and a small church struggling to survive. But he does
not conclude that everything is going to hell in a handbasket. Rather he sees
it all as part of the process of giving birth to new life: We know that the whole creation has been groaning in labor pains until
now. That’s a striking image: labor pains are intense (or so I’ve been
told) and the process of giving birth is arduous and painful. As Paul sees it,
God is slowly giving birth to a new world, a world that hasn’t been fully
realized yet but will be. And how are people to live in such a time? Well, he
writes, For in hope we were saved. Now
hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what is seen? But if we hope
for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience. Yes, the world is in
tumult, but God is working God’s purposes out. Goodness and love will prevail.
So keep calm and carry on.
There’s a similar feel in the parable
Jesus tells today. Some enemy has sown bad seed among the wheat. The workers
are upset: they want to go dig out all the weeds and fix everything right away.
But the owner says no, that will damage the wheat as well. Everything will be
sorted out at harvest time. There is no reason to panic and overreact. Keep
calm and carry on.
Now obviously our own world is also
tumultuous, with challenges hitting us at every level. So the message of calm
perseverance is as timely and relevant as ever. I don’t need to list all the
problems we face, nor do I need to elaborate on the divisions and strife among
people as we struggle with them. The Bible doesn’t tell us to do nothing in
such a time: certainly Jesus and Paul worked hard, and there is much for the
church to do when the world is in such distress. But the Bible does say not to
panic and not to fear. Whatever we do, we do not need to act in desperation or
despair. There is a reason why we can stay hopeful and not panic; there’s a
reason why we can keep calm and carry on. And I think that reason is simply and
beautifully illustrated in our first reading from Genesis.
Jacob is also in tumult. After cheating
his brother Esau out of his rightful blessing, he is fleeing for his life. And
it’s at this critical moment when he is alone and afraid that God appears to
him in a dream. And Jacob has this remarkable epiphany: Surely the LORD is in this place — and I did not know it. Jacob’s
world has been turned upside down, but he is able to carry on because he comes
to see, in a profound way, that God really is with him and that God will be
faithful and will fulfill the promises God has made.
We want to resist the temptation of being
faithful believers on Sunday morning and then functional atheists the rest of
the week, people who act as if God is nowhere to be found. One of the reasons
we gather on Sunday mornings is to remind ourselves of the truth, which is that
even now God is working her purposes out. We are living through a difficult and
challenging time, no question, but we have not been forsaken and God has not
been defeated. So I ask you: how might this coming week be different if we look
around us and see not just uncertainty and confusion but the birth pains of new
life, a life of deeper caring and greater justice? How might our days be better
if we take Jacob’s epiphany to heart: Surely the Lord is in this place — even
when we fail to see it?
This is not a call to passivity: we need
to act. We need to love and support each other as a church. We need to work for
greater justice in our society. We need to be signs of hope to a hurting world.
But if that world looks at us, who claim to have faith, and sees people acting
out of fear or denial, as if God had somehow disappeared from the scene, then
we really have nothing to offer. Far better to follow Jesus and act with hope
and quiet confidence, as he calls us to do. So in the Spirit of Christ, and
remembering the example of Jacob and Paul, I encourage you to keep calm and
carry on. God is with us.
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