We are the good news
Thirteenth Sunday after Pentecost
18 August 2024
The Rev. Margaret Dyer-Chamberlain
May the words of our mouths, the meditations of our hearts and the actions of our lives be acceptable in your sight, oh God our strength and our redeemer.
Good morning, people of Holy Innocents.
I almost always focus my homilies on the Gospel – you may have noticed that – but today, I just can’t resist diving into the story about Solomon that we heard in today’s first reading. Part of my reason is that we don’t run across Solomon that often in our lectionary cycle, and it is just such a great story. Also we have four Sundays in a row in which our gospel focuses on the bread of life – and so I figure there’s still time to unpack the bread of life theme!
In the story of Solomon, we hear about Solomon’s love of God and his faithful way of life. Solomon even sees God in dreams and talks with God in those dreams. To me, what Solomon shares with God is what is so fascinating about this story. Solomon was a very powerful person whose father David was king before him; he grew up in a world of power and privilege and confidence. So we might have thought Solomon would want to talk with God about leadership strategy or details about his reign or difficult decisions he faced – but that’s not what he’s about. Instead, he confides in God that – “I do not know how to go out or come in.” He shares that, as a young King, he is unsure of how to lead his people. He asks this of God – “Give your servant therefore an understanding mind to govern your people, able to discern between good and evil….” Solomon’s vulnerability and sense of overwhelm about his role is palpable.
And God responds with love and compassion and understanding. He reassures Solomon that he is asking the right questions – that spending time discerning what is right is paramount. He reminds Solomon that he is wise and he also reminds him that he is a beloved child of God. “No one like you has been before you and no one like you will arise after you” God says. God also notes that he will give Solomon gifts and blessings that he has not even asked for.
This is quite a conversation, this dialogue between Solomon and God.
Why, you might wonder, does this story draw me in so mightily?
I think I can pin it down to three main reasons.
First, I love this story because Solomon’s sense of overwhelm and self doubt – his feeling of not knowing what to do – this captures such a deeply human emotion doesn’t it? I’m going to take a moment to do a quick poll on this – Has anyone here ever felt overwhelmed when asked to lead something in their workplace? Has anyone ever doubted their confidence as a parent when suddenly their child begins to inexplicably grow and change? Has anyone ever found that they faced a situation in life about which they just simply didn’t know what to do next? Overwhelm and doubt of self and confusion is, to state it simply, a part of life.
Second, I love God’s reminder – to Solomon and to us – in this story. God’s words – “I give you a wise and discerning mind” and “no one like you has been before you and no one like you will arise after you” – these are words that are meant for each and every one of us. We are all of us, created in God’s image and we are each unique and wonderful and flawed and imperfect and human. Like Solomon, we won’t always know our way but the one thing we should try to always remember is that God is with us. And with God’s help, we will find our path.
The third part about this story that strikes me are these words from God – “I give you also what you have not asked…..” – and I love this because it is a reminder that God will give us what we need. That’s not necessarily the same thing as what we ask for, or what we think we need. It reminds me of the line in the prayer of St. Chrysostrom in which we say, “Fulfill now, O Lord, our desires and petitions as may be best for us; granting us in this world knowledge of your truth, and in the age to come life everlasting.” This speaks to the expansive, unknowable, unfathomable wisdom and love of God. It’s that peace that passes all understanding. It’s the bread of life that we’ve been hearing about in our Gospel texts last Sunday and today and for the next two Sundays to come.
This very human story from Solomon has caused me to think about an experience in my own life. It was when my father was in his last days, almost 5 years ago, just before Thanksgiving. My dad had been in hospice for a couple of months, getting incredible care, and then – as often happens - he stopped eating. This resulted in a pretty rapid decline for him – he began to have trouble moving, he became confused about where he was, and he needed help 24/7.
I have 3 sisters and 1 brother, and as often happens in families, it was hard to negotiate who would do what to support dad. Some of us felt more comfortable helping him, for others it was harder – you know how this kind of thing goes.
My sister Liz, and how she reacted during this time, reminds me of our Solomon story. Like Solomon, Liz was overwhelmed – in her case, overwhelmed by the idea of staying overnight with Mom and Dad to help them. She was very open about not feeling confident about knowing what to do, she worried that certain of the siblings might not have confidence in her either, and she has a tough time when confronted with things medical. But what she did – despite all of this overwhelm - was amazing and unexpected. Sensing how exhausted everyone was and despite her fears, she stepped up to care for Dad, staying overnight by herself on what turned out to be one of Dad’s most difficult last nights. She has shared with me that during that might she prayed the Lord’s prayer over and over again, and also she prayed for peace for dad. I am sure that God was with her, telling her, as God also told Solomon, that she had the wisdom and love to do this.
And I believe that God gave my sister something she didn’t ask for, nor did she ever think she would need – which is the quiet confidence to know that she could in fact do something that she never thought possible for herself. Liz has not talked much about that night, nor has she ever sought kudos for her selflessness, but from what she has told me, I think that night transformed her in a pretty significant way. And I think God gave her exactly what she needed in that moment. What an unknowable gift.
Dad died peacefully at home, in his own bed, a few nights after Liz was with him. Another gift.
And so, for me, this story of Solomon is a story about how we face the challenges in our lives – naming them and allowing ourselves the humility and vulnerability to share them – with one another and with God. And it’s a story about God’s ever present reminder to each of us that we are beloved, made by our creator in God’s image. Finally, it’s a story about the surprising ways that God provides for us what we need, even when we don’t know what that might be.
And I guess there’s one more part that, from my perspective as a deacon, I can’t resist adding. It’s that all of the values embedded in this story – humility, vulnerability, faith in God, the belief that we are beloved, the conviction that God gives us what we need – all of these are values that are so needed in our fractured, hurting, divided world. Each of us has the capacity to bring these values into the world – even if we think, like my sister Liz did and like Solomon did, that we might not know what to do or if we feel overwhelmed. There is always some way that we can show up.
I recently read an inspiring memoir called Searching for Higher Ground, by a folksinger named Reggie Harris. He put it this way:
“It can be hard to remember that we are the good news. If we realize that still can open our hearts to honest connections that bind us to each other, then the world will change for the better. Whether that’s talking to a stranger on a plane, talking to the young people we love to help them make sense of what’s happening in the world, volunteering for an hour or two at a school or community center, or helping people register to vote, we can help build the kind of society we want to live in. If not us, then who?”
I pray for us that we remember that we are the good news, that we are beloved by God, and that we have what we need to live our lives in faith, peace and love. I pray for us that we really truly believe these words from God - “no one like you has been before you and no one like you will arise after you.” Finally I pray for us that we remember that Jesus, the bread of life, is with us always.
May it be so.
Amen