Pastor Karen Karpow
August 15, 2010
A Love Song
.
V V V
Pray also for me, so that when I speak, a message
may be given to me to make known with boldness the mystery of the gospel. Ephesians 6.19
V V V
Most of you know
that I got back from vacation last weekend. I was away for two weeks, and got home last Saturday night,
in time to be here on Sunday morning.
I have found this week to be quite a contrast to the week before.
Ten days ago, I
was sitting on the deck of our little rented cottage in upstate New York, under
the shade of a huge maple tree, looking out over the lake just a few yards
away, sparkling in the sun. I
considered opening the book in my lap, but instead I just sat. I felt a gentle breeze on my face, a
breeze that carried the scents of fresh water and honeysuckle and mown grass
and cornfields. I listened to two
doves singing a duet, call-and-response, and to the endless cyclic rasping of
crickets. I ate a few more of the
blueberries that came from the farm at the top of the hill. For once, I’d had enough sleep—I wasn’t
tired. What a feeling! I thought, “Ahhh…this is the way it’s
supposed to be.”
But is it
supposed to be that way? This week
wasn’t very much like that. It
included 14-hour days, a couple of sleepless nights, early meetings and late
meetings and extra meetings and days I didn’t get to my email until after 11 at
night. Vacation Bible School starts tomorrow, and some people have been working
really hard to get ready. I tried
to be a channel of God’s love and grace and comfort to people who got bad news,
who had a death in the family, who are sick, in the hospital, lonely,
afraid. I ran around with Anna,
trying to get her ready for soccer and school. And did anyone remember to feed the cat?
Maybe that is actually the way life is supposed to
be. I’m beginning to think that
solving problems is the essential work of our lives. Anybody here have any problems? It seems that we are always either in the middle of one, or
just recovering from one and waiting for the next one to surface.
If I look at
today’s passage from Hebrews, I see that we are not alone. The lives of the saints weren’t
easy. The reading today is the end
of a long passage about the heroes of the faith—the things they
accomplished—and endured—by living out their faith in God. The list includes some names that might
be familiar, like Abel, Noah, Abraham and Sarah, Moses, and King David, and
some others that are more obscure—Rahab the prostitute, Gideon the warrior,
Barak who led the Israelites into war under the guidance of the prophet
Deborah. Here are the things they
experienced:
… through faith [they] conquered kingdoms,
administered justice, obtained promises, shut the mouths of lions, 34
quenched raging fire, escaped the edge of the sword, won strength out of
weakness, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight. 35
Women received their dead by resurrection. Others were tortured, refusing
to accept release, in order to obtain a better resurrection. 36
Others suffered mocking and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. 37
They were stoned to death, they were sawn in two, they were killed by the
sword; they went about in skins of sheep and goats, destitute, persecuted, tormented—
38 of whom the world was not worthy. They wandered
in deserts and mountains, and in caves and holes in the ground.
I’ve had some
tough times, but I’ve never been flogged or sawn in two, or had to cover up in
a goat skin or live in a hole in the ground. Life could be worse.
Perhaps we make it worse when we expect life to be easy. It’s just not. And today’s scriptures offer us two
ways of coping with that reality.
The way of the unfruitful vineyard is laid out for us by
Isaiah. This beautiful piece of
land, up on the most fertile hill, receives everything it needs, but
inexplicably bears no useful fruit.
“Let me sing for my beloved a
love-song,” the prophet begins. The music will soon surprise and dismay
us, but it’s still a love song, a song of passion and desire and hope. Every single thing the gardener does is
love’s eager work. Every hole dug,
every rock removed, every selection made, every planting, every
protection.
The
rage that follows the vineyard’s inexplicable refusal to bear good fruit is
love’s other voice. Even the
abandonment may be seen as the sad work of love. The gardener gets disgusted, and
decides to let the vineyard have its own way. He’s done. He
will do no more for this vineyard.
If it wants to be wild, the gardener will let it be. And even more: he will command no rain to fall upon
it. With that, the gardener’s
identity is revealed—and the identity of the vineyard as well. Only God can withhold the rain. God is the gardener—and God’s people
are the garden. If provision and
protection are meaningless to the people, then God will let them have the
wildness they crave. God knows how
it will end, but grants them the autonomy they have asserted.
That is one way
we can deal with the problems and disappointments that life brings us. We can do things our own way. Another way is laid out for us in
Hebrews. After recounting what the
lives of the saints were like, the author continues.
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, 2
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.
Inspired by the
faithful example of our heroes, we too can run the race. We don’t get to choose the racecourse,
and maybe some days we run better and faster than others. We run more swiftly and easily when we
are able to put down everything that’s not essential—when we lay aside our
stuff and distractions. But
whether it’s a fast day or a slow day, every day we put one foot in front of
the other, keeping those footsteps on the path as much as we can, so that we
don’t have to spend a bunch of time and energy getting back to it again after we
wander off. We try to focus. We keep on the racecourse not by
watching our feet, but by looking up and ahead—to Jesus. He’s out there ahead of us.
Can you see
him? Knowing how to look is
important. To see Jesus, we may
have to stop looking at some other things. (Insipid TV shows come to mind, but you probably know
whatever it is that’s blocking your view of Jesus.) We have to look in the places where Jesus hangs out—in
scripture, with marginalized people, in small groups studying and working together. It does help a lot to be running in a
pack of people. Everyone sees a
little differently. We can help
each other find the way. We can
encourage each other to keep going.
When burdens get too heavy—and when joy is too sweet to keep to
ourselves—we can share them.
So we have two models here, of ways to cope with trouble—the way
of Isaiah’s unfruitful vineyard, and the way of the cloud of witnesses—our own
way, and God’s way. The song of
the vineyard raises a troubling possibility, though: is it possible that God can give up on us? I don’t think so—but it is possible for
us to give up on God.
But even if or when we do, God continues to sing. God
has not stopped planting vineyards or restoring ruined ones or singing love
songs. There
is a happier vineyard song in Isaiah 27, a song sung years later from
the ashes of the destruction that came when the people turned away from
God.
2 On that day:
A pleasant vineyard, sing about it!
3 I,
the Lord, am its keeper;
every moment I water it.
I guard it night and day
so that no one can harm it;
4 I
have no wrath.
If it gives me thorns and briers,
I will march to battle against it.
I will burn it up.
5 Or else let it cling
to me for protection,
let it make peace with me,
let it make peace with me.
We can be God’s pleasant vineyard, the object of God’s
love and care. Instead of putting
our energy into beating out our own path, having things our way, let us cling
to God and make peace with God.
We
can do it our way or God’s way.
Hebrews 11.29-12.2
29
By faith the people passed through the Red Sea as if it were dry land,
but when the Egyptians attempted to do so they were drowned. 30
By faith the walls of Jericho fell after they had been encircled for
seven days. 31 By faith Rahab the prostitute did not
perish with those who were disobedient,k because
she had received the spies in peace.
32
And what more should I say? For time would fail me to tell of Gideon,
Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets— 33
who through faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, obtained
promises, shut the mouths of lions, 34 quenched
raging fire, escaped the edge of the sword, won strength out of weakness,
became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight. 35 Women
received their dead by resurrection. Others were tortured, refusing to accept
release, in order to obtain a better resurrection. 36 Others
suffered mocking and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. 37
They were stoned to death, they were sawn in two,l
they were killed by the sword; they went about in skins of sheep and goats,
destitute, persecuted, tormented— 38 of whom the
world was not worthy. They wandered in deserts and mountains, and in caves and
holes in the ground.
39
Yet all these, though they were commended for their faith, did not
receive what was promised, 40 since God had provided
something better so that they would not, apart from us, be made perfect.
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,a and let us run with
perseverance the race that is set before us, 2 looking
to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith, who for the sake ofb
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.
Isaiah 5.1-7
Let
me sing for my beloved
my love-song concerning his vineyard:
My beloved had a vineyard
on a very fertile hill.
2
He dug it and cleared it of stones,
and planted it with choice vines;
he built a watchtower in the midst of it,
and hewed out a wine vat in it;
he expected it to yield grapes,
but it yielded wild grapes.
3
And now, inhabitants of Jerusalem
and people of Judah,
judge between me
and my vineyard.
4
What more was there to do for my vineyard
that I have not done in it?
When I expected it to yield grapes,
why did it yield wild grapes?
5
And now I will tell you
what I will do to my vineyard.
I will remove its hedge,
and it shall be devoured;
I will break down its wall,
and it shall be trampled down.
6
I will make it a waste;
it shall not be pruned or hoed,
and it shall be overgrown with briers and thorns;
I will also command the clouds
that they rain no rain upon it.
7
For the vineyard of the Lord
of hosts
is the house of Israel,
and the people of Judah
are his pleasant planting;
he expected justice,
but saw bloodshed;
righteousness,
but heard a cry!