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Sermon July 28, 2019
The Rev. Rebecca S. Myers,
The Church of the Nativity and St. Stephen’s
Seventh Sunday After Pentecost Track 1, Proper 12
http://www.lectionarypage.net/YearC_RCL/Pentecost/CProp12_RCL.html
Yet the number of the people of Israel shall be like the sand of the sea, which can be neither measured nor numbered; and in the place where it was said to them, ‘You are not my people’, it shall be said to them, ‘Children of the living God.’ Hosea 1:10
Please be seated
On Sunday evenings I like to watch Masterpiece Theater. In March a 3-episode story aired, titled Mrs. Wilson. It was based on the true story of Alison Wilson. The series was executive produced by her Wilson’s, granddaughter Ruth, who also starred as Alison Wilson.
In 1941, Alison Wilson married Alexander Wilson, whom she believed worked for the British spy agency MI6 during World War II. Prior to that time, he was a best selling author, a teacher, and a principal of a school in Lahore, India.
Alison was married to Alexander for 22 years and they had two sons. Alexander Wilson was often gone and explained this as part of his spy work. However, in 1963, Alexander Wilson died and suddenly Alison Wilson learned she was not Alexander’s only wife and her two sons were not his only children. She knew he had at least one other wife and three children. What she didn’t know, but which the series shows, is that Alexander Wilson had 3 additional wives and 5 more children.
Many questions are raised, as you can imagine. How did she not know? Did he really love her? Did he really love her sons? What foundation had she built this 22 years of marriage on? What was truth and what was a lie?
Alison went on to get a Divinity degree and wrote a book. In the last episode of the PBS series, they show a gathering in 2007 of the living descendants of Alexander Wilson. Four of the seven children were still living; the oldest was 97 at the time.
The family and a biographer have tried to piece more together; however, to this day the MI5 and MI6 agencies in Britain will not fully release their records on Alexander Wilson.
This week as I read the Hosea passage, I wanted to quickly jump over it. It’s hard to read. Isn’t it hard to hear? God tells Hosea to take a wife of whoredom and then the three children have frankly depressing names. And luckily there are so many other choices to preach about. I can skip over these troublesome passages if I choose.
Yet, I decided I shouldn’t be so dismissive. That maybe there was something important there in the story. I also thought about the many songs in nearly every genre that speak to unfaithfulness. I thought of the people I know, too and I’m sure most of you have stories you could tell, although probably not as complicated or mysterious as that of Alexander Wilson.
Yet, it is that experience of unfaithfulness that Hosea is talking to us about in the passage today. How do we feel when those we love are unfaithful to us? What does it do to us? What does it do to our families? It’s the same questions raised by the series Mrs. Wilson. Who am I? What was this relationship? What was true and what was a lie? How could I not know?
When someone we love is unfaithful, we are shaken and everything shifts for us.
Now, God is not a human being, yet Hosea is saying that when we, individually and as a community, are unfaithful to God, our community can be destroyed. When we are the unfaithful partner, there are consequences for our personal lives, the lives of those we love and for our community.
We know we are not always 100% faithful, so can you think of some of the consequences of our unfaithfulness? Probably going through the seven deadly sins of pride, envy, gluttony, lust anger, greed, and sloth provide us with some things to think about.
And the wonderful thing in this Hosea passage is that God does not abandon us. Yes, our unfaithfulness, our failure to put God first in our lives, has dire consequences for us and for our communities and we often get to experience those consequences. Yet, God is still with us, ever calling us to be more faithful.
What do you do that helps you return to faithfulness or keeps you grounded in faithfulness? I know some find the daily Bible readings helpful or coming to Sunday worship or prayer or meditation or some quiet time or working to help others.
I think the first part of our Gospel today also provides us with a simple way to return to faithfulness: The Lord’s Prayer. Now the prayer so many of us know and say is from Matthew and slightly different from the one we heard today. Yet the concepts are still there. The challenge with this prayer is that we say it so often, the words don’t always sink in. We don’t always say it from the depths of our soul…from the bottom of our heart.
Yet, it continues to be a way with words to connect deeply with God and to remind us of our faith – God is as close as our parent; God’s Will not my Will; forgiveness is key; getting our daily sustenance is important; saving us from the times of trial or at least reminding us that when those times come, God is with us.
Thanks be to God that our unfaithfulness is not the last word. We are God’s people and we are children of the living God.
Amen
