Running With Perseverance

(Scriptures:Jeremiah 23:23-29, Psalm 80:1-2,8-19
Hebrews 11:29-40, Hebrews 12:1-2, Luke 12:49-56)

I think all of our families have favorite stories that get told every year around the holidays, or certain family photos that they like to pass around from time to time. For example, my parents took a picture of me when I was a few years old, eating corn on the cob rather messily. My face, covered from ear to ear with bits and pieces of corn, had this really intense look of concentration – at that moment when I was a few years old, nothing, but nothing, was going to divert my focus from that cob of corn. This picture, known as “the dreaded corn picture” had a way of reappearing as I grew up when I least wanted it to. But there may be other stories and pictures that we keep returning to in difficult times, stories and pictures of big moments in our lives – a photo of a fiancé or spouse that we carry in our wallet, maybe look at if we’re separated; a picture of mom and dad that gives us comfort when times are tough, maybe a picture of you and some fishing buddies with the really big fish you caught – the one that didn’t get away. If a loved one is dying, maybe a picture of you with that loved one in happier times. When a loved one passes, we share our memories of the departed – funny stories, sad stories, stories that remind us of the character of the departed.

This week, we continue in our reading from the letter to the Hebrews. Last week, we talked about Abraham, and Moses, and other patriarchs and matriarchs of the Old Testament, each passing the torch of faith along to those who came after. This week we’re given glimpses of key moments in the history of the Hebrews. As we read about these heroes of the faith, it’s a little like opening a family album and looking at the various snapshots – look, there’s mom and dad, and Aunt Sally, and Uncle Ernie…...

Last week we remembered Abraham, who maintained faith that God would fulfill God’s promise that Abraham and Sarah would bear a son, even though both were long past the age of parenting a child. Today we hear other names, names and events we may remember from Sunday school classes – the parting of the Red Sea, the falling of the walls of Jericho – we may remember the song “Joshua fought the battle of Jericho and the walls came tumbling down” – Rahab the prostitute, who showed hospitality to the Hebrew spies. And over and over again we hear the refrain “by faith” – by faith the people passed through the Red Sea, by faith the walls fell, by faith Rahab the prostitute did not perish. By faith – by faith – by faith.

As we discussed last week, the “faith” talked about here is not just intellectual assent to a creed – nor is it, in the words of the Archie Bunker character from “All in the Family” ‘believing a bunch of stuff that nobody in his right mind would believe’ – faith is not just a head trip - but rather it’s trusting enough in God to act - trusting God enough to step out in faith. This is the faith by which Peter was able to step out of the boat and walk on the water - for a few steps – anyway, before his faith was shaken and he plunged in. The faith of the letter to the Hebrews is a faith that empowered the Old Testament matriarchs and patriarchs and prophets – who otherwise were just normal folks - so that they “conquered kingdoms, administered justice, obtained promises, shut the mouths of lions, quenched raging fire, escaped the edge of the sword, won strength out of weakness, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight.” Faith is an action word. We remember the names of these heroes of the faith, not because they were superheroes flying around wearing capes, with a big "S" on their chests, or because they were otherwise awesome people, but because they were ordinary people saying "yes" to an awesome God.

The writer of the letter to the Hebrews goes on to make an interesting statement – that these heroes of the Old Testament, though commended for their faith, did not receive what was promised. Of course, on one level, they did see God’s promise fulfilled – Abraham and Sarah had a son in their old age, Moses led the people through the Red Sea, and so forth. But they didn’t see the full inbreaking of God’s reign – the author of Hebrews says this is because God provided something better so that they would not, apart from us – us the original readers and us here today – be made perfect. So the writer of Hebrews is saying that the fulfillment of God’s promises to the heroes of faith of the first covenant – what we call the Old Testament – is bound up with our salvation through the new covenant of faith in Jesus Christ. So we are part of the same great story, the same great drama of salvation, of all the heroes of the faith. These heroes are now witnesses to our faith, our lives, our journey to salvation.

You don’t need me to tell you that we live in difficult times. It’s hard to persevere when our lives seem to be little more than a series of misfortunes, one after another, when it seems that, if we didn't have bad luck, we wouldn't have any luck at all. There are times when we may feel so discouraged that it’s hard to get out of bed and put one foot in front of another, let alone run any race with perseverance.

The author of the letter to the Hebrews was writing to encourage early Christian churches that were feeling discouraged by persecution and difficult times. He reminded his readers how, through faith, their ancestors had overcome adversity. For his readers, these stories of Abraham and Moses and Rahab and Jephthah and all the rest were like favorite family stories that had been handed down through the generations. They are our family stories as well.

But we also have our own family stories, our individual family stories and our Emanuel church stories. These are the stories we hear every Sunday during the coffee hour – the stories of those who came from Germany to Bridesburg in the 1850’s to found this congregation - stories of how families continued to come to this church in very difficult circumstances, and the members of the church welcomed them - stories of beloved pastors from the past. And the not-so-upbeat stories as well – of pastors or congregants that didn’t quite fit, whose presence caused friction or tension or discord. These are the stories of which you’ve told me so often, “we could write a book.” And, in all seriousness, somebody really should write these stories down before they get lost – especially with our 150th anniversary coming up next year. They’re the stories of our Emanuel saints, those who’ve gone before us in the faith. They’re part of that cloud of witnesses that we read about, that cloud of witnesses cheering us on when things are tough. And, during our times of difficulty, times when we feel we want to quit or give up, if we have trouble relating to the Old Testament stories, we can draw strength from the faith journeys of those that are a little closer to home, those whose stories we still personally remember, because we were there, or a church member told us about them. In the same way, God willing, we’ll be able to pass our faith stories on to coming generations of Emanuel Church members.

So when the going gets tough, we can be inspired by the stories of those who ran this race before us. But the writer of Hebrews goes further – after all, we can’t just live on memories, though at times it’s a tempting thought. We’re told that in order to run the race with perseverance, we must cast aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely. We need to leave our excess baggage behind, to travel light. We can’t run well if we’re weighed down with burdens of addiction or other attachments to self-destructive behavior, or burdens of worry or resentment or bitterness. And we won’t run well if we’re turning our head this way and that way and the other way to look at every shiny object we see on the sidelines, shiny objects like wealth or power or concern about our status or reputation or respectability. In order to run this race, we need to be willing to leave behind anything that comes between us and the prize of the high calling of Jesus Christ. And this is what lies behind Jesus' very difficult words in our reading from Luke's gospel: as we run to focus on the prize of Christ's high calling, we may become alienated even from family members, from loved ones whose attention is diverted by the many distractions along the way.

Running the race of the high call of faith may lead us into some uncomfortable situations. You may have heard on the news about our sister congregation, Hope United Church of Christ in Kensington, the former Kensington Congregational church. They’ve been in an ongoing dispute with Phila L&I and the zoning board over the congregation’s use of their upstairs sanctuary area to shelter about 2 dozen homeless men. They’ve been trying to cooperate with the city authorities, but L&I seems intent on shutting the shelter down. But the congregation feels that a vital part of their calling is sheltering these men, and they’re not backing down. In support of the congregation, a coalition of UCC and other clergy held a press conference this past Tuesday. And in order to shelter the men and keep L&I at bay, the church is holding all-night worship services all through the month of August, including the homeless men, who are invited to be present to worship or …pray, or….meditate…or participate in worship at their level of comfort. Many Phila UCC clergy are taking turns. It’s one of those times when, in order to provide comfort to some homeless men in their time of affliction, we may end up afflicting some city officials who are entirely too comfortable with the notion of kicking homeless men to the curb. Will the church be successful in their dispute with L&I? I haven’t a clue. Are they being faithful to the call of Jesus to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, and bind up the wounds of the afflicted. You bet they are. This is what it looks like and feels like to run the race of faith, with perseverance.

“Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith, who for the sake of the joy that was set before him endured the cross, disregarding its shame, and has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of God.” Amen
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Come join us at Emanuel United Church of Christ on Sundays at 10 a.m. We're on Fillmore Street (off Thompson) www.emanuelphila.org