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Sermon March 15, 2020
The Rev. Rebecca S. Myers,
The Church of the Nativity and St. Stephen’s
Third Sunday in Lent, Year A
http://www.lectionarypage.net/YearA_RCL/Lent/ALent3_RCL.html
But the people thirsted there for water; and the people complained against Moses and said, ‘Why did you bring us out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and livestock with thirst?’ Exodus 17:3
Please be seated.
Many years ago, I taught Sunday School to youth in grades 4-6. Now I cannot remember all of the particulars, but we must have been studying Exodus and I suggested we act out this story from Exodus during a church service. But how to get the water to come out of a rock? Well, of course, you use a water balloon! We must have also had a stick with a pin or nail on the end of it so we could poke the water balloon and make the water come out. All I remember is that we could not get that balloon to break and when it finally did, it really splatted all over the place. I’m clearly not a great set designer.
Exodus is one of my favorite books in the Bible. It’s such a great story about God’s love for the people and about God doing amazing things in liberating the people and about how we as people, even witnessing such amazing actions of God, still whine and complain. I mean, if you had crossed the Red Sea on dry land and then seen your pursuers, who were from one of the most powerful armies, swallowed up and drowned, would you then question God at all?
Yet, today, the Israelites are so thirsty – and I’m sure many of us know what that is like to be thirsty and not be able to drink – that they nearly have an uprising. This wilderness time is so challenging and difficult that they’d rather go back to where they were, even though that life was harsh and nearly killed them.
They’ve escaped and the uncertainty of their lives is scary. Their lives are not like before and even though it was a tough and challenging life, at least they knew what to expect.
Aren’t we now in uncertain times ourselves? Our lives are upended and changing. We don’t know when this time will end and we do know that our lives will be different as a result.
How has your life been upended and how has your behavior changed in the past couple of weeks?
I’ve definitely washed my hands more often and for a much longer period of time than ever before. They’re really dry, but I’m not sure putting lotion on them is a good idea. I have disinfectant for my laundry and more disinfectant wipes than ever. I think twice about going someplace and I certainly hug less.
Probably many of these procedures are things we should have been doing during certain times of the year, like flu season. But there’s this new virus going around that is new for us and there’s no immunity, so it’s pretty contagious.
Yes, for many people, it’s only like the flu or a mild cold, but for others it’s something that will change their lives forever, or cause their deaths. We are being forced to think in new ways. No longer is it just about me, it’s about us as a community.
Make no mistake, we are not stopping the spread of this virus, we are merely, hopefully, slowing it down so we don’t overwhelm our healthcare resources. We are hopefully going to see less infections and less death. We are isolating ourselves and canceling in-person church services not just for ourselves, but because we are thinking about others. We are thinking about the people in our community over 60, especially with underlying conditions that make the virus more lethal. We are thinking about the healthcare workers and all of the others who may have to work regardless of this virus and who are taking the risk of being infected themselves.
We are limiting our physical contact with each other because we care for each other.
This upheaval comes with confusion and uncertainty, though. How long will this last? What happens when the children aren’t in school, especially in families that have few resources to feed their families? What happens when people cannot work for 2 weeks or more because places of business are shut down? How do they pay their bills?
We are being required to think about our lives together in community in new ways. The old rules just don’t work.
In our Gospel today, Jesus speaks to a Samaritan woman, which was totally against the rules of life during his time. He speaks to her and lets her know there is a different way to be in community. She is so excited by Jesus’ teaching that she can’t keep quiet. She has to share that there is a new way to live together. She brings people out to meet Jesus and those people become excited and ask Jesus to stay to teach them some more. Jesus stays two days.
We don’t hear what happens after that and I’m sure we can imagine that the people are thrown off their daily routine. They have to experiment and find new ways to embody what Jesus has taught them. It must have been challenging and yet, I imagine the changes in their lives brought them peace and hopefully a stronger community.
The times are uncertain and we’re having to change how we gather together and adjust our lives together. May we learn new things that strengthen our faith, strengthen our connection to God, and care for each other and our communities.
Amen
