Scripture:  Luke 13:^31-35
 

“Go and tell that fox for me, Listen I am casting out demons and performing cures today and tomorrow and on the third day I finish my work.  Yet today, tomorrow, and the next day I must be on my way…”

I must be on my way.  Even though Jesus hears that King Herod wishes him dead, he is neither intimidated nor deterred.  Even though he knows Israel’s religious and political establishment has a long history of killing non-conformist prophets like himself, he will not stop his work.  Jesus will lament, lash out in anger, wring his hands in despair, pray for mercy, but he will not give up.

Commitment can extract a high price. Those who have committed themselves to fearlessly speaking out against oppression, prejudice and racism, have passionately demonstrated for peace, or have dedicated their lives to truth know only too well the cost of commitment.  History has not been kind to seekers of truth, nor has it understood those who seek God’s vision.

2000 years later Jesus’ lament over Jerusalem is still heard:

“Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it.”  How often have I desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing.”

More than ever, it is matters that we are committed to our faith.

During Friday night’s annual World Day of Prayer worship service we experienced commitment of faith at many levels. The World Day of Prayer has been celebrated in 170 countries since 1922. In Canada alone, more than 2,000 communities join in common worship, written by women of a particular country,  printed and distribute by women of each country. The Women’s Inter-Church Council of Canada makes this service possible for us as Canadians

Locally, the women of Squamish churches  are committed to this important service.  This year it was the women of Panama who shared their faith with women and men around the world.  Panama, we learned, is struggling in the midst of many rapid changes in the world, and many people suffer from violence or struggle in the wake of …economic recession. The women of Panama pray that they can help transform society by their faith,  “to the changes which we desire, we add our ‘grain of sand’, in the hope that God lives and works among us as women and men to achieve peace with justice.”

In their words is a commitment to live their faith in the world, trusting that God is at work among them.

Lent is a good time to examine our commitment to living our faith and trusting that God is at work among us.  We may not think of commitment in terms of sacrifice, but whenever we dedicate ourselves to a course of action, we choose to take on certain obligations and let others go. Any parent who gets up at 5:00 am on a Saturday morning to take their child to the hockey rink knows about sacrifice. All of us here, who have taken the time to join in worshipping God, know about sacrifice. Those who give hours of their time for outreach know about sacrifice.  I think of the woman who knits yearly a hundred toques for First United. She knows about sacrifice. There are many examples from our church alone.  All reflects commitment and sacrifice.

We know in our daily lives that commitment to achieving a goal requires sacrifice. It is the same with our faith. Commitment and sacrifice are not always observable, but they always come with a cost.

I think of three stories in my life this past week during my day off.  I was in Vancouver for an art class, so I thought I would run some errands for the church. In all three places I encountered commitment and unknown sacrifice.

My first stop was at First United Church, where I dropped off food from our overflowing donation cart.  Gathered at the receiving door, waiting to unload donations,  dropped off by people such as my self, was a group of about five men.  They were dressed like street people, and one was in a wheelchair.  They were the clients who would benefit from the donations. They could easily have been elsewhere, choosing simply to receive, but there they were at 8:30 in the morning donating their time.  They had chosen to become part of First United’s ministry to the poor and homeless.

My second stop was at my art class.  That morning we had a discussion about the power of art to transform the eyes of the viewer into another world.  Then we looked at slides of artists' sketches, showing their disciplined practice of turning what they thought they saw into what they actually saw.  In developing the discipline to move beyond preconceived ideas into true perception they learned to render true form.  The commitment to seeing was evident.  My instructor himself is a thoughtful man.  During the break, I learned that he and his family had made many sacrifices so that he could study art- another example of commitment.

My third stop was at Vine and Fig Tree Christian Book Store to pick up study books.   I talked with Elaine Perry, the owner. She believes in what she does, and she offers a valuable gift to those looking for spiritual and religious resources. She has sacrificed her time and income to be of service.  A few years ago, she almost lost her store.  Overworked and pushed beyond endurance she just about gave up.  When all looked at a loss, others in the Christian community came to her aid and supported her through a difficult time.

If you didn’t know the story of all these people, you might simply have seen a worship service, a downtown church, an art studio, a book store.  Would you have seen the people as women of Panama, street people, an art instructor and a bookstore owner?  Knowing these stories, your eyes open to seeing struggle and poverty, sacrifice and commitment, helping and compassion.  In short -  God at work in the world in many ways.

Novelist Doris Bett asserted that faith is  “not synonymous with certainty…[but]is the decision to keep your eyes open.”

There are moments when we find it too hard to keep our eyes open and our hearts tuned into God’s message. At times I feel like it is too demanding to live out my faith amid the ambiguities and paradoxes of life. Like the disciples of Jesus we want to run away and find an easier path.    On the journey of faith, we need all the support we can find.  That is why we worship together, holding each other in prayer and love.

Jesus knew that God was at work in him and in all humanity.  Open to the spirit, he was compelled to move as God’s Holy Spirit called and pushed him.   He, like us, wrestled with demons and embraced angles.  He continues to call us, in our certainty and our uncertainty, to call us out of our complacency, call us through our passion, our fear and our joy, to follow him.

God is at work among us all.  Calling us to new beginnings, inviting us to let go and risk everything like Abraham and Sarah, asking us to be open to transformation like Paul and the early church, challenging us to follow Christ.

 “Today, tomorrow, and the next day, I must be on my way,” says Christ.  Follow me!

Amen.