Meditation: WE WON'T SURRENDER HOPE by John de Gruchy

WE WON'T SURRENDER HOPE

Jeremiah 29:10-14

Romans 8:24-25

"I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans for your welfare and not your harm, to give you a future with hope."

When the last days come, St. Paul tells us, a "trumpet will sound."  Some fear it will happen on Friday when the new President of the United States is inaugurated and blows his own trumpet.  Certainly, for those who elected him it will be a time of great expectation, but for many others, it will usher in a time uncertainty and fear for the future in America and world-wide.  The Christian response must be defiant hope. This is not the end of the world, so we we will not fear, be seduced by false promises, perpetuate racism, or give way to hatred. 

Imagine this morning that we are not in Washington DC, but in Babylon where God's people are in exile long before the birth of Christ.  Imagine how they felt as aliens in that foreign land far from home with little chance of returning.  They had lost all hope and even found it difficult to sing songs of praise.  It is in that situation that Jeremiah tells them that the Lord has plans for them, plans for good and not ill.  He promises them "a future with hope."  Jeremiah was defying the odds.  Things did not look good at all, and there was to be no immediate relief.  Jeremiah did not promise a quick fix, but his words gave the exiles courage, a "a hope that is against hope" as St. Paul calls it.

Jeremiah proclaimed hope in a time not unlike our own when there is so much uncertainty and anxiety in the world, as well as  in our  own hearts and minds, irrespective of where we live. It is a time of uncertainty and anxiety for peoples and nations across the globe,  for millions of refugees and others suffering from war and famine.  It is a time of uncertainty and anxiety for young people as they seek a better education or, having received one, cannot find employment and are losing hope.  And it is a time of uncertainty and anxiety for friends and family members whose lives are falling apart, some seriously ill, some diagnosed with cancer, and some facing imminent death.   

Every day here at Volmoed we counsel and pray for people who are going through such times.  But over the past few weeks we have been praying especially for a close family friend, and also a friend of Volmoed, who was suddenly diagnosed with a severe form of cancer a few weeks ago.  Suellen Shay is  the daughter of Carolyn Butler who comes here often and is known to several of you.  Suellen herself is the godmother of our grandchildren, a Faculty Dean at the University of Cape Town, a leader at the Rondebosch United Church, and she was with me the day I went to the place where our son Steve drowned in the Mooi River seven years ago.  Yesterday Isobel and I, along with other friends of the Shay family, received a letter from Suellen and Don her husband.  They wrote it from the Vincent Palotti hospital in Cape Town.  I take the liberty of reading a section.

... many of you have asked if there is something you can do to be helpful. So here’s an idea...  I propose some tangible act that would daily remind us, whether one is spiritual or not it doesn’t matter, that we are part of something that is collectively  ‘greater than the sum of the parts’. Hope can activate this. So my idea is to ask anyone who wishes to, to daily light a candle of hope – hope for me and my recovery but for anything else for which you seek hope -- hope for UCT’s restoration, hope for South Africa, hope for …. there is plenty of material. It is this hope that will protect us from being people of despair and cynicism and most of all fear.

For the past twelve years we have lit a candle in the sanctuary every Tuesday at Morning Prayer.  We called it the HIV candle because on Tuesdays, when we have prayed for the healing of the sick, we remember those suffering from HIV/AIDS.  Increasingly that prayer has enlarged to include those suffering from other virulent diseases, and increasingly on those with cancer which seems to be reaching epidemic proportions.  But in response to Suellen and Don Shay's letter we have decided to rename the candle the "candle of hope".  We will light it every day as we do today during this Eucharist.   

If you look at the candlestick you may see that it represents a pregnant woman, and specifically a pregnant African woman carrying, as they often do, something on her head.  Usually what they carry is a heavy burden, a large basket of food from the market, or some other load.  But as shown in this candlestick she is carrying a lit candle as a symbol of hope, hope for the child she is carrying within her, hope for her family, hope for the world.  It is no longer simply a candlestick reminding us of those who are suffering from some frightful disease;  it has become a symbol of "a future with hope" for all who suffer, all who are afraid, all who struggle for a better world, and for the next generation who will inherit what we leave them.

Such hope is more than cheerful optimism; it is a refusal to go along with anything that will make this world a worse place than it is, a defiant action that bucks the trend of self-interest, greed, and the misuse of power.  It is a response that lifts us out of resignation to fate, and commits us to making a difference, to care, to show compassion, to work for justice.  It is a refusal to believe that life is meaningless, and an affirmation that we live, move and have our being in a mystery of grace that is beyond our wildest dreams, one that transcends death  This is the hope that Suellen and Don ask us to affirm in lighting the "hope candle."  "This hope", they wrote, "will protect us from being people of despair and cynicism and most of all fear...it will translate to vigilance, courage, and maybe action. It will make a difference."   It is the hope that we have in Jesus the Christa, who is our  hope and has the power, to save the world.   I don't know what Trump or Zuma will do this year,  But Jeremiah tells us that the Lord will " give us a future with hope." That is a promise to hold on to in a time like this.  We won't surrender hope no matter how many trumpets blow of who blows them.

John de Gruchy

Volmoed 

19 January 2017

Meditation: MARRIAGE AS A MEANS OF GRACE by John de Gruchy

MARRIAGE AS A MEANS OF GRACE

John 2:1-11

"There was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there.  Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding..."

During the last few weeks there have been five weddings, but no funerals, at Volmoed.  It seems that marriage is still in fashion.  And, appropriately, the lectionary reading for last Sunday was about the wedding feast in Cana.  On reading the story again, I was struck by the fact that John does not tell us who got married!  Imagine a report in the Hermanus Times telling us about a wedding last Saturday on Volmoed, but forgetting to say whose wedding it was.  All the report said was: "Alyson and Mike Guy were there."  I think the bride and bridegroom, as well as their families would be a little peeved if not downright angry that they did not get a mention.  And then, to add further insult to injury, the report went on and said that the wine had run out!  How embarrassing, though, come to think of it, seeing the family name was not mentioned in the newspaper report, they were protected from that scandal.  But those were the salient facts.  Mary, Jesus and his disciples were there and the wine ran out.  That is, except for the additional and most startling piece of information.  Mary gets involved and tells Jesus there is no wine; Jesus appears to get angry with her, but he goes ahead and turns the water in a the jars into good vintage wine.  Now that was worth reporting.  Not even Barry or Bernhard together would have been able to do that!

When Isobel and I got married 56 years ago last Friday, if we may boast a little, we also ran out of wine at the reception.  In fact, there was none to begin with as we were married in a Methodist Church and no alcohol was allowed in the church hall where the reception was held.  So we were served tea, much to the displeasure of some of the guests.  And in those days tea meant Ceylon tea, none of the fancy teas available today.  Even Jesus would have had difficulty in turning that tea into wine!  But that did not matter to Isobel and me.  We were married and duly set off in our Fiat 600 to travel the country and begin to work out what the vows we had made actually meant: "for better, for worse..."  It did not take us too long to find out as our roller-coaster of a marriage began to go up and down!  "for richer for poorer," yes in those days we were "the poorer;"  "in sickness and in health," yes, we have had our fair share of sickness and sadness.  And while our marriage has been much better than worse, it has not been perfect,  and we know that there will come a time when "death will us part."

Marriage is a blend of romance and learning to tough it out.  It can be full of roses, but never without some thorns.  That's just how it is.  But we celebrate marriage like Mary, Jesus and his disciples did with that anonymous family in Cana because it is so fundamental to our lives and to the well-being of society.  In these days when many people simply  live together, and when divorce is common,  it is important that we reaffirm that marriage is, for Christians, a sacrament.  Not all our church traditions call it a sacrament, but that does not alter the fact that marriage is a God-given "means of grace."  That is, through marriage God promises to turn the water necessary for daily life into the wine of romance and joy!  We bring to the marriage our fallible selves with all our personality peculiarities, which would apply to gay marriages as much as any other.  Somehow by the grace of God there is a fusion in which we become one without losing our personalities.  In fact, our personalities are meant to be enriched not diminished as we are led into the mystery of our growing unity.  At least that is the theology of marriage even if it does not always work out that way in practice.  But it does help to put the romance back into marriage if we understand it as a sacrament or means of grace, for that lifts it beyond a legal agreement and places it within the embrace of God's grace.

Which leads me to the thought -- why is it that dancing is such a universal feature of wedding celebrations?  And why is it that traditionally the bride and bridegroom lead the dance at the reception?  Is it not symbolic of  taking the first step together into the future and then being joined by everyone else in the dance as supporting cast.  And could it be that at Cana, Jesus, Mary and all the disciples joined in that dance?  Yes, I think so.  After all, as the song has it, he is the Lord of the dance, and we are meant to dance with him wherever we may be!.

But dancing can be a challenge, as it was for me. There is much to learn and that takes commitment.  That is why we make vows about  remaining united even when we are poor, sick, or things get bad.  Marriage can be rough, we can stand on each other's toes, and there are many marriages that stumble and the dance comes to an end with bruises on our bodies and souls.  Then we may have to the truth and accept closure.  But let's not think about those times of failure right now.  Let us rather focus on our own marriages or those of our families and friends, or those living together to discover if they want to dance, for whom we care and pray, those with whom we dance along in the divine dance.   Yes, it is God's grace that makes marriage a sacrament and embraces us in the dance of life together, but with that gift of grace comes an awesome task.  We have to dance till the sun goes down, keeping each other on our toes and picking each other up when we fall. 

So marriage as a sacrament is not just what happens on the day of the wedding when we take our first steps in the dance, marriage is meant to be a means of grace throughout our lives as we work at being in relationship, bring up children, welcome friend and stranger, and find our way.  And the primary way in which we receive that sacramental grace that turns the water of the everyday into the wine of celebration and joy is through learning to forgive and accepting forgiveness.  If there is one place where we should not let the sun set on our anger, it is in the marriage bed!  For it is then that we renew our vows and find the grace we need.

None of this is passing a judgment on those whose marriage might fail; on those who might live together and decide not to get married, or on those who opt to remain single.  I am simply reaffirming what Christian marriage is meant to be from the moment we make those vows and take the first dancing steps, and for the rest of our lives -- a means of grace in which the water of daily life becomes the wine of eternal life, and in which even every-day Ceylon Tea can sparkle and refresh.

John de Gruchy

Volmoed 12 January 2017

WHAT HAS BETHLEHEM TO DO WITH JERUSALEM?

Matthew 2:1-12

"Having been warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they left for their own country by another route."

I was never keen to be a Wiseman in the Sunday School Christmas pageant.  How embarrassing it was!  Dressing up in an old dressing gown, with an apology of a turban on my head and a broomstick in my hand, I processed into the church singing "We three kings of Orient are," without having a clue what the Orient was, or why there were three kings and a star that kept moving, and what this had to do with anything at all.  But now that I am wiser I marvel at the story and keep on finding new clues in the text as to its meaning.  So I am delighted each year when Epiphany comes round, the festival of the light of God breaking through the cracks into the darkness of the world in Christ, and the traditional time to recall the visit of the sages from the East to the Christ-child in Bethlehem.

They had come a long way, from somewhere in modern day Iran then known as Persia. They were astrologers, maybe Zoroastrians by religion, so following  bright stars in search of the truth and meaning of life was familiar to them.  They were already men of spiritual wisdom, mystics if you like.  But their journey was about to begin in a new way.  Their lives would not be the same after they had seen the child, for it was only then that the light transformed all that they had previously known, lifting it into a new dimension.  What they saw in Bethlehem changed the course of their lives forever.    

On their way to Bethlehem these Wisemen stopped in Jerusalem to visit king Herod.  It was more than a courtesy call to Trump Towers.  They wanted information about the birth of a king and Herod they presumed would be able to give it to them.  Herod was frightened by their request.  He knew he was not popular, he knew that there were Zealots out to get him and usurp his throne in a coup.  But he was also cunning.  He got his aides to Google "birth of a king," and they informed him and the Wisemen to take the camel highway to Bethlehem.  But Herod also told the Wisemen to report back when they found the new born king.  So the Wisemen continued their journey.  The star did not stay in Jerusalem the seat place of worldly power and authority; it only paused for a nodding moment.  There is no light where the Herods of this world rule, only fear and cunning when they know that their time is up.  Darkness cannot tolerate the light.

Fortunately the Wisemen trusted their dreams more than they trusted Herod. They knew that once Herod knew where the light was he would send his minions to extinguish it.  It is always so.  The powers of darkness want to destroy the light before it enlightens too many people.  So once these wise sages found the child born to be king and presented their gifts, once they had seen the Christ-child, the light of the world, they continued their journey, returning home, but by another route.  They were not going to play Herod's game.  They had paid their respects to the king, but they saw through his deceit,  Herod was not to be trusted. 

As Christians we respect the office of kings, presidents and prime ministers, but respect for their office is not the same as trusting their word.    We may respect the office of Zuma, Trump, Putin, Mugabe and Netanyahu, but that does not mean we have to approve what they say and do, meekly bow the knee and obey their instructions. We know they survive through political cunning not godly wisdom.  And in any case, they will lose their power, and like all of us they are dust and to dust they will return, even if they have state funerals and are embalmed and buried in Pyramids.  They are not the Wisemen in God's world, powerful for the moment undoubtedly, shrewd and cunning quite obviously, men who know their way around and how to influence people, of course..  But they are not wise.  They could be, but it would mean leaving their palaces for a time and  journeying with the Wisemen to seek the light, acknowledging the truth that was born in Bethlehem -- God's power and wisdom lying in a manger.  This is what all the truly wise go in search of -- a king who is humble, vulnerable, the very embodiment of the wisdom of God,  The contrast between Jerusalem and Bethlehem could not have been greater then, it is still so today.  Truth resides in Bethlehem's manger, falsehood in Jerusalem's palace; love and integrity in Bethlehem; integrity not duplicitous cunning, and false power in Jerusalem.  Wisemen are always let to Bethlehem even if they visit Jerusalem on the way.

We have journeyed with the Wisemen to Bethlehem.  We have celebrated Christmas, the birth of the child, the coming of the light into the darkness of the world of power and corruption.  Now we are back on our journey.  We don't know where this journey will take us as a new year begins.  We hope it may be better that the last year, and we eagerly grasp hold of the predictions of those who say it will be.  But we don't know yet.  All we know is that there is a journey ahead of us, a journey to our ultimate home and destination.  Yet we do know something else.  To get home we have to bypass Herod and his headquarters in Jerusalem.  We can't depend on the Herods of this world to get us home, anymore than Americans can depend Trump or South Africans on Zuma.  We may no longer have the star to guide us, but we have the light to inform our path.  That light always shines in the darkness, for the darkness did not then, and cannot now, comprehend or overcome the light.

John de Gruchy

5 January 2017.

Volmoed