Twenty Seventh Sunday October 7, 2007

Habbakuk 1:2-3;2:2-4 Psalm: 95 2 Timothy 1 :6-8,13-14 Luke 17: 5-10

1. Little Jimmy died. His mother Sally sat in shock. She wondered “Why do little children get cancer? Where were you God when my son needed you?” That night, Sally lay down and cried herself to sleep. She woke around midnight, there was a letter by her side. It read:

“Dear Mom, I know you are going to miss me. But just because I am not around, I still love you even though you cannot hear me say that. This is a special letter on God’s own notepaper. To all others it will be a blank page, but you can read it. Don’t worry about me. Grandpa and Grandma were here to meet me. The angels are cool. And you know what? Jesus does not look like any of the pictures I saw of him.

I think Gabriel is the name of the angel who is going to drop this letter off to you. God said for me to give you the answer to one of the questions you asked Him 'Where was He when I needed him?' "God said He was in the same place with me, as when His son Jesus was on the cross. He was right there, as He always is with all His children.

Oh, I almost forgot to tell you. I don't hurt anymore. The cancer is all gone. I'm glad because I couldn't stand that pain anymore and God couldn't stand to see me hurt so much, either. That's when He sent The Angel of Mercy to come get me. The Angel said I was a Special Delivery! How about that? Signed with lots of love... Jimmy.

2. Habbakuk’s lament is one we hear down the ages and will continue to hear as long as humans walk on this earth. Habbakuk speaks of Violence and Destruction, Wrongdoing, Strife and contention. “Why do the wicked prosper in this world and why do the good suffer?” Or where was God when we had all those disasters like the Tsunami and Hurricane Katrina and the suffering in Iraq and Afghanistan?

When we stop and think, the answer is quite simple. God does not micro manage the Universe. There are laws governing our ecological system, we break them, we suffer the consequences. However, this does not answer the emotional side of the question, “Where was God when I needed him most?”

3. As much as we desire it, we will not have in our lifetime, the peaceful world described by Isaiah where

the wolf shall dwell with the lamb

the leopard shall lie down with the kid

The cow and the bear shall feed together

They shall not hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain

And so we go to Paul’s letter to Timothy. He is the newly appointed Bishop. He has received the gift of the Holy spirit through, as Paul describes “laying on of my hands”. We have the same Spirit given to us at our own Baptism. We can call on the same gifts

when faced with health issues

when faced with economic difficulties caused by fraud and deceit of crooks.

when dealing with marital or family problems.

4. Problems do not come singly. They seem to come in bunches. When they seem overwhelming it is easy to say, “what is the use of trying”. We might as well throw up our hands in surrender. We could give into despair and depression.

However Paul reminds Timothy, and Paul reminds us that

we have the spirit of power to strengthen our faith community and ourselves

we have the spirit of love to heal the wounds of sin and division.

we have the spirit of self discipline to make these dreams a reality.

Paul tells us to be unashamed of the Gospel. There is a price to pay. Jesus was nailed to the cross. Paul is in prison. Timothy will suffer. Everything that is worth anything comes with a price.

Doctors put in years of internship

Actors often live for years in poverty and hunger before becoming stars.

Computer experts spend hours before a flickering monitor screen.

The timeless painting of the great French impressionist, Auguste Renoir, literally glow with life and light and colour. Renoir seemed to put light inside the people he so beautifully portrayed on canvass.

For the last 20 years of his life, Renoir was crippled with arthritis. His hands were twisted and gnarled, his spine was so affected that he could not stand when he worked and needed assistance to move from one position to another.

The pain he suffered while working caused beads of perspiration to stand out on his face. On one occasion his prize student Matisse, asked Renoir, "Why do you torture yourself to go on like this ?"

Renoir replied: The pain passes, the Beauty remains.

We listen to Habbakuk as he tells us to keep the faith in difficult times

We listen to Paul as he tell us we have the Spirit to help us live a life of faith.

5. Finally in the Gospel, Jesus tells us that faith is not only going to help us to survive and thrive in difficulties, but it will also help us to move mountains, move mountains of SPAM. Mountains of Spiritual, Physical, Academic and Moral difficulties.

But how deep is our faith? Hamlet says in his famous speech: “To be, or not to be; that is the question” aye, there is the rub. To do all these things I need faith. But things are so difficult, how am I going to have faith “aye, there is the rub”. For Luke, the Faith is not that I can get through difficult times.. Faith is a commitment, a fidelity to the Person of Jesus. It is not in trying to get things done, or in trying to over come sin and temptation. It is rather a fidelity to the Person of Jesus,

who has promised to be with us through all time

who has invited us to come to him when we are overburdened and distressed.

The beauty to this commitment to Jesus is that we can not only deal with the problems at hand, but we are also a source of strength to others who are weak. This is precisely what Paul is calling Timothy to do. In the Strength given to him by the Holy Spirit, Timothy can be a witness to those in need, and a tower of strength to those suffering.

For those who love Latin: “Sursum Cauda” and “Illegitimi non est Carborundum.”