A sermon for Proper 20 Year A 2020

Exodus 16:2-15
Psalm 105:1-6, 37-45
Philippians 1:21-30
Matthew 20:1-16

Grant us, Lord, not to be anxious about earthly things, but to love things heavenly; and even now, while we are placed among things that are passing away, to hold fast to those that shall endure; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

———

In Mid June I hit that moment, you know, you have all had it.

Staying within our precautions began to really grate on me. I felt gloomy, lost, foggy and tired of trying to be creative. I had had enough of being in one space.

SO, I looked outward and discovered the spiritual joy of Leslie Jordan. The actor.

Mr. Jordan has a 90+year old mother that lives in Chattanooga and in the midst of his visit with her he ended up stranded in the 30 day quarantine in TN.

Rather than moping about how he wasn’t in LA. He took to his Instagram feed and started telling short 30 sec stories. He greeted all his followers with. “Hey there Hunker Downers” and with a twinkle in his eye he would begin to tell a story. His stories are about not getting jobs and what he learned about that experience, the people he thinks are cute, the silliness of those around him and a general real sense of endurance. His first video made me cry. I laughed so hard. (It wasn’t that funny, well it was at the time).

His point is that we are all hunkered down here friends. While school has resumed and many activities are being creatively accomplished, we are still hunkered down as this virus is still around. We hunkered down just this week as Hurricane Sally blew past us and we waited to hear about our friends west of us.

Hunkering down and making due with where we are, listening deeply and reaching out to those around us.

We reach out of course through Calls, emails, drive-bys, notes, treats, random acts of kindness.

I have found that I live for hearing the “Silly Joke on Tuesdays” from my goddaughters. (They are pretty amazing)

We have been given schedules that are different, and so much more time for some to hunker down and to dig deep.

Howard Thurman, one of Martin Luther King Jr’s mentors used the words “center down”

My mother used to say that we all need to “Simmer down” as And the bible says “be still and know that I am God.”

And what then do we do with the stillness?

Howard Thurman says when we center down we:

“sit quietly and see one’s self pass by!

The streets of our minds seethe with endless traffic;

Our spirits resound with clashing, with noisy silences,

While something deep within hungers and thirsts for the still moment and the resting lull.

https://shalem.org/2018/01/19/how-good-to-center-down/

We listen to the deep still voice that runs through us, that lives within us and assures us that we are beloved, that we are who we are called to be uniquely, individually, in new ways and deeply in the environment we have been given to be community.

Thurman continues:

As we listen, floating up through all of the jangling echoes of our turbulence, there is a sound of another kind—

A deeper note which only the stillness of the heart makes clear.

It moves directly to the core of our being. Our questions are answered,

Our spirits refreshed, and we move back into the traffic of our daily round

With the peace of the Eternal in our step.

How good it is to center down!

Let’s be honest, we react differently to this isolation. Some embrace it and thrive with the space to dig deep, pray and accomplish the hard work of our own spiritual formation.

And others, fall into the category Of “I am tired of this hard work. I was thankful for the elimination of the distractions but now ‘who am I without those activities?’”

 I wanna go back to Normal (whatever that was)

Another theologian, Richard Rohr talks a lot about our true selves, he says that we

We wear our outer selves as a mask to the world and our true selves are our inner selves that we often hide from the world and often we also hide from embracing.

God meets us when we are hunkered down, tired, isolated, in search of meaning and can’t find our way.

Remember the Israelites- wandering the desert not for just 40days but 40 years- they were tired, it isn’t exactly at the beginning or end of their story but in Exodus Chapter 16 they are fed up with hunkering down, centering down, discovering their identity as chosen people of God in the wilderness without the structure.

God Bless Moses, right?

The Israelites are so tired of it they would rather go back to Egypt and be slaves.

And God meets them where they are and gives them exactly what they need. As the Israelites redefine hangry- God provides bread from heaven, food for their bodies and soul. White fluffy manna straight from the skies.

A new way to be fed.

The people of God are still wandering but they know they will be fed. Lean into me, hunker down and we will get through this, God says.

In our Gospel reading we hear the familiar story of the Vineyard and laborers.

This Landowner is economically ridiculous.

He employs all the workers,

He keeps going after people to hire and then, then even more ludicrously (when compared to a normal world of economic efficiency) he then chooses to pay everyone the same amount of wages regardless of how long they worked.

It makes no fiscal sense.

AND this is Jesus’ point.

The kingdom of God is not like the system here on earth.

God’s kingdom is so very different! Jesus says to us with this parable, “remove the distractions and stop projecting the earthly system and rules upon God’s love.”

God does not bestow grace upon you because of how long you have been present.

God does not dispense love because of how much you have worked or when you arrived.

God loves who you are, your deep inner core that even you might be hiding.

God hunkers down and invites YOU to join in the vineyard work.

Right where you are.

YOU

Uniquely. YOU.

You are a part of the community

And God wants you to listen to this call in this isolating confusing distanced time, be not afraid of the silence, do not let the distractions tell you that you are not enough.

Instead feel the closeness of God,

The consolation of God, as St. Ignatius calls it, and listen deeply.

Reach out to those around you when you feel like the despair and difficulty might be too much.

And keep reaching out.

Listen deeply to those who reach out.

Be with them.

As God met the Israelites, in their dismay.

Today’s unexpected white fluffy bread like manna comes in the form of prayer, walks, notes, flowers, unexpected ways from each of us.

The abundant love of God is there for you and in this topsy- turvey world.

Do not be afraid to take your metaphorical mask off and listen to God’s loving embrace right where you are.

Fully.

We are all laboring in this vineyard, doesn’t matter when you arrived, we are here with you.

It’s time to rediscover that love we were given when we were created and in turn help strengthen our larger community and start to heal with the abundant love that God greets us with us with in the stillness.

This week keep your eyes open for the manna God gives you in this wilderness time as you hunker or center down and embrace God in your midst.

Amen