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Ordinary 19, C
Wis 18:6-9, Hebrews 11:1-2, 8-19, Luke12:32-48
August 12, 2007
Fr. Carl McCarthy
While standing in line to get coffee the other morning, the
woman behind me said, “Excuse me Father; I don’t believe I know you. Are
you a new priest in town? " I introduced myself and told her where I serve
as pastor. She then said, "oh yes; I have heard about you. (That always
gets my attention!) You have been instrumental with the St. Benedict
Homeless Shelter, and you're coming to my church, Trinity Episcopal, next
weekend to talk about the shelter with our men in the St. Andrew Group."
We talked about the shelter for a few moments, and then she
said that her parish was hosting a speaker from the Darfur region of Sudan
this weekend. She spoke with passion and knowledge about the war's
atrocity and the world's neglect of that region. It was bracing for me,
but I could offer little to the conversation because of my minimal
understanding of events in that part of the world.
At least 200, 000 civilians have been killed in the genocide
that began in February of 2003, and 2.5 million people have been
displaced from their homes. Many more are left hungry and dying.
In the Gospel, Jesus uses the image of being wide-awake to
illustrate the need to remain vigilant for the Lord’s return. Darfur is
one of those issues to which our society has failed to remain wide-awake.
To be honest, I fear that there are many issues for which our society has
failed to remain awake – homelessness, hunger, disease, life issues and
the war in Iraq.
We are not wide- awake to Darfur because our media, for the
most part, ignores it. This war does not sell advertising - there are no
oil, gold, or diamonds there for which to dig.
However, Ann Curry of NBC news has been there to cover the
story. Three times she has gone, and every time that she goes, she
puts her life at risk. When she returned this spring from her last trip to
Darfur, she was asked why she is willing to risk her life to cover this
tragedy. "Aren’t you afraid of dying?" She responded by saying, “I am
more afraid of not doing enough to help others, than I am of dying.”
It is a powerful statement from someone who makes more money
in one year than most people will make in a lifetime. Yet, the emptiness
of a hopeless mother's stare, the silence of a baby who is too weak to
cry, and the fear of a child ,who may never see joy, must drive a
reporter like her to cover this story. “I am more afraid of not doing
enough to help others than I am of dying.”
In a very real way, this statement brings to light our gospel
– Jesus’ call to be awake, prepared, ready, on guard, vigilant for the
Lord’s return.
But as a Christian, how do you ever do enough? The Christian
life is not about doing enough; it is about not turning away, about giving
it our best shot; it's about maybe even putting our lives at risk in an
attempt to do for another.
The Christian life is not about doing enough. It is about
having hope, about having love, about having conviction, about having the
faith to believe that, no matter how wide-awake we might be, or how on
guard we may feel, or how confident we are, when we least expect it, the
Son of Man will come and lead us home to God.
sdrose@bellsouth.net
9-10-2007 |