We’re still talking about covenants. A week ago we played in some different language about covenants. We looked for some synonyms and some alternatives. One of the words that I often find myself working with in my own journey is “trust.” Isaiah uses the word “steadfast.” God is steadfast. Trustworthy.
A covenant is a kind of trust. It is something of great value that we establish for the present moment and in hope for the future. It is also the emotional state of trust. Can we entrust ourselves to one another? Can you trust me? Can I trust you? Can we trust God? These questions are more alive for me now than ever.
We live in a world that in many ways holds a tremendous distrust of religion…of any spiritual institution or community really. And we have good reason as a society. Religion appears to be at the center of many global and local conflicts…and people notice. Somehow instead of being seen as agents of peace and transformation, of solace and comfort, of healing and reconciliation…We’re seen as something else.
Life is fragile…fleeting. People have deep and profound questions about life and seek guidance about how best to live it. I have no doubt that Christianity has much to offer to help people live meaningful lives. But can they trust us?
This is the question that the people are asking Jesus this morning. They ask that age old question “Why do bad things happen to good people?” They’ve heard that perhaps when bad things happen God is punishing people somehow. They’ve heard that maybe these people weren’t so good after all. So Jesus challenges them. He asks them if the people who perished in these horrible tragedies were worse people than anyone else? The implication here is “No.” Their goodness had nothing to do with it.
[Jesus] told this parable: "A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard; and he came looking for fruit on it and found none. So he said to the gardener, 'See here! For three years I have come looking for fruit on this fig tree, and still I find none. Cut it down! Why should it be wasting the soil?' He replied, 'Sir, let it alone for one more year, until I dig around it and put manure on it. If it bears fruit next year, well and good; but if not, you can cut it down.'"
The nature of God’s judgment is described in this parable. God is the gardener. The world is the man who owns the vineyard. God is never done with us. God is a gardener at work with his Beloved. The world seeks results and measures everything by some “bottom line.” God is patient. God is kind…
But like the time of Jesus, religion has bad press. Religious institutions seem to have lost the reputation for being compassionate and understanding. And it just seems to be getting worse. People assume that God is out to get them somehow. Is it really such a different time from our own? The people are simply asking, “Jesus, can we really trust you?”
Jesus says, “Yes.” And he adds, “but if you wish to follow God, you need to be ready to move. Life is fragile. People are in need. There is never time to waste.”
So, if there is any work before us, it is to find ways to rebuild that trust, to demonstrate that God is faithful and to be trusted and we too, as a faith community, can be trusted with the work of our loving and generous God. The passage from Isaiah suggests that God’s trustworthiness, God’s steadfastness, is what will draw the world to Israel. Can we embody this trust? I believe so. I believe in many ways we already do.
We’re not alone in this struggle, of course. There are many communities that have sought to demonstrate God’s steadfastness. And one of the best examples we have is the community of Taize whose worship style we borrow this morning.
The story goes something like this. Brother Roger left Switzerland at the age of twenty-five to begin an intentional Christian community near the boundary of France and Germany. The year was 1940 and he was convinced that he should come to the aid of the refugees crossing the border. He gave shelter to anyone who needed it. This response to the flight of people escaping the war and the death camps was the only ethical Christian response that made sense to him. There was little food or shelter available to him and his other companions. Life was very simple…and dangerous. At one point Roger and his companions did have to flee the area in fear of their lives.
By 1945, however, the small community and its buildings served as a residence for war orphans and welcomed German prisoners of war on Sundays for services. From the very beginning, Roger seized opportunities to serve God. The way he prayed and worshiped, the way he cared for the stranger and sought mercy and justice for everyone all serve this same end. He sought to proclaim the steadfastness of the Lord. God is trustworthy.
See, you shall call nations that you do not know, and nations that do not know you shall run to you, because of the LORD your God, the Holy One of Israel, for he has glorified you.
Today Taize welcomes tens of thousands of pilgrims to their community every year. The brothers of Taize represent several Christian traditions. Their worship practices have been emulated across the globe. They are trusted by Christians and non-Christians alike. And they are no strangers to the fragility of life. “Brother Roger died on 16 August 2005, at the age of 90, killed during the evening prayer. Since then, Brother Alois, whom Brother Roger chose as his successor many years ago, has been the prior of the Community.”
God is steadfast and promises much to us. God may ask us to do challenging things, difficult things, things that may even put us in harms way at times like Brother Roger. But in the end, God is simply asking us to be ready to move when asked. God is tending us, waiting for us to seize the opportunities set before us. All we must do is choose, for God is faithful.
