St. Paul's Episcopal Church

St. Paul's Episcopal Church
425 Cleveland Ave SW
Canton, Ohio 44702
Phone: 330-455-0286
Fax: 330-455-9818
E-mail: office@stpaulscanton.org

2 Lent
St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, Canton OH
Genesis 15:1-12, 17-18

February 28, 2010
The Rev. Barbara L Bond

My name is Brian Bolling. I am eight years old. My dad worked as a computer analyst, but he lost his job. My mom works for the whole family now, but she doesn’t earn much. I have a brother who is ten, and our 16-year-old sister is going to have a baby soon.

So here’s what happened to us this past month. We started out the month with a little money, but the bills were more than my mom makes. Then she went to the bank to pay the mortgage, and they took the money, but she should have taken it to the mortgage company. We lost that $600. Then the utility company was about to turn off our lights and heat and water. Then my brother and I got into trouble at school, and I went to juvenile detention. My dad was running around, trying to get help from this office and that, but he kept getting in the wrong line because he didn’t really know how to do it. I came home from detention, and found out we had been evicted. Our whole family just looked at each other kinda funny, wondering what to do, when the whistle blew.

When the whistle blew, all of us returned to our own identities. I became Barbara again, and all of us in the room talked about our experience in the Poverty Simulation. We had taken on roles for an hour, representing one month in the lives of people who are living on the edge – mostly the middle class newly poor. Our deacon Carol Duncan was at the event too, and she carried a baby doll around for an hour, so I guess her character experienced major childcare issues as well as financial challenges. I played a child, and when some money fell on the floor in front of me, I grabbed it, and hid it, and took it home to my parents. Others in the room resorted to some illegal activity just trying to make ends meet.

The organizers of the event emphasized to us that this was not a game: these were real situations, and we were challenged to see how it feels. It was a very eye-opening experience. It was walking an hour in the shoes of the poor.

These were extreme situations which some people in our society experience every day. You have probably had some sort of this anxiety yourself, though probably not so concentrated. How do we deal with uncertainty in these uncertain times? With personal insecurity? With insecurity in our church? With insecurity in our world?

I look at the great founder of the Judeo-Christian tradition, our father Abraham, in our story today, and I hear him full of insecurity! Even God can’t get him to calm down for long! God says, “Don’t be afraid, Abram!” and he replies with his deepest fear, “What if I don’t have any children? I won’t have an heir!” God says, “Yes, you will. Look up in the sky and count the stars – you’ll have that many descendants!” Abram continues to quake – “O Lord, how can I be sure?” And so Abram goes to ritual, to act out his fears and move into God’s realm. He lays out a sacrifice, and birds of prey swoop down – perhaps symbolic of Abram’s insecurity swooping over this ritual act – and Abram drives them away. And then a deep and terrifying darkness descends upon him. Yet through this ritual, Abram receives the assurance of God – that Abram will have descendants, and they will dwell in the Promised Land. Through this covenant, Abram has the courage to journey on.

While I was immersed in pretending to be poverty-stricken, I never even thought about God and the church. Our time was very concentrated – one hour equaled one month – and we rushed about the auditorium, experiencing immense frustration with the systems of society. We didn’t have time to pray! That wasn’t part of the exercise.

I wonder if in times of anxiety and uncertainty, we don’t take time to pray. Look at poor Abram – he spent a lot of time arguing with God, reiterating his anxiety. But in the end, he did turn to a sacramental act. It did not remove his fear, but he saw clearly that God was with him, making promises for the future. The anxiety was still there, yet so was the promise.

I recommend to you the practice of prayer and the sacraments of the church. They are comforting and reassuring. And to your prayers, I ask you to include the poor, those who may not have even thought about praying because of their deep anxiety and uncertainty. Many things can shake up our sense of security, and they aren’t all about money – we too may experience a deep uncertainty, through failing health, or the failing health of a loved one; through the failure of an institution that we trusted – a bank, a political structure, maybe even the church. Sometimes it seems like the ground is shifting under our feet and we are going down in quick sand.

That’s when the ritual of the church can be so comforting. Come to the table of the Lord; see the Body broken for you; drink the blood poured out for you; join the community at the altar rail. Hold out your hands, empty with need; and receive the Promise of Christ. Present your own need, your own emptiness, and be filled with the love of Christ. You may still have your fears, but you also know that God is with you, no matter what.

AMEN