Looking for Signs
Habakkuk 1:1-4, 2:1-4
How long? Is this a question that floats
in your mind very often? I know it does. Just about this time every
Sunday, I can sense many of you out there quoting Scripture when the
sermon gets too long, “How long, O Lord?! ” When we drove across
country, spending hours in the car, and when we drove to California
for our vacation, we heard the question more than once, “How long?”
But then there are times, aren't there,
when the questioning comes from a deeper place? If you search for all
the instances of this question in Scripture, you will often find it
often on God's lips with regard to God's people (e.g. “How long will
they refuse to believe in me, in spite of all the signs that I have
done among them, Numbers 14:11), but this question in Habakkuk is different.
It comes not from God, but is addressed to God. “For crying out loud,
LORD! How long will it be before you listen to my cry for help?”
Have you ever asked that question? When
a struggle has sapped your strength, or when the need to make a difficult
decision has vexed your mind and heart? Or when a hurt has refused to
heal, have you uttered, from the depths of your being, “How long?”
How long, O Lord, is it going to be
before I learn from my mistakes? How long will I be bound by this addiction?
How long will I have to scrap and fight to take care of this month's
bills? How long will this struggle, this argument, this distance, between
my loved one and me last, O Lord? Don't you have any answers?
How long are we going to remain in Iraq?
How long will the suffering in Darfur continue? How long will the oppression
last in Myanmar? How long, O Lord?
For some, it might appear unseemly to
question God in this way. God is God after all. But such an idea is
not backed up by Scripture. In fact, Scripture contains not only the
most profound revelation of God, it also gives us the most ardent questioning
of God. When the faith of God's followers is tested, or when God's silence
is loud in the life of God's follower, then scripture gives voice to
that churching question inside of us?
For crying out loud, LORD! How long will it be before you listen to my cry for help? How long will it be? How long do I have to scream before you come to the rescue? This is
Habbakuk's question. Is it yours this
morning?
There is gospel in asking this question,
my friends, for it expresses the stubbornness of faith that does not
let God off of the hook. “I am going to stand at my watchpost,”
proclaims that stubborn Habbakuk, “I am going to station myself up
on that rampart. I'm not budging from this spot until you answer.”
How many of you know stubborn people?
How many of you know stubborn when you see it? It's always worst when
we see it in other people isn't it? Be honest! How many of you are stubborn?
Many times being stubborn is not too
good a thing: when we have to have things our own way, or we are resistant
to change, or when we refuse to see new possibilities.
But there is also another kind of stubborn, a good kind. This is the faith kind of stubbornness, the kind of stubbornness that refuses to give up on God, and that refuses to let
go of a conviction that God has an answer.
We don't know how long Habbakuk had
to wait up on that rampart, but there is gospel also in that an answer
eventually did come. What did God say?
“I have given you a vision. Just get
out your pen and write it down. That vision of peace, and justice, write
it down in big letters. What I have told you is coming is still true.
When the time is right, what you have heard will happen.
It may seem to be taking its time coming, but wait; it will happen. You can count on it. Write this vision down, make it plain for all to see.”
The gospel here is the discovery of
the kind of faith that is not afraid to stand up on the rampart, calling
out “how long, O Lord?” This is the faith that stubbornly waits,
listening for an answer. Lastly, the good news here is the discovery
of the kind of faith that discerns God's vision for peace, justice,
and healing, and writes it down for all to see. This faith makes big
signs, with big letters, proclaiming that what God has said is real,
and its coming.
If you are questioning this morning,
I will wait with you. Your brothers and sisters around you are waiting
with you. Go ahead and complain. Pour your heart out to God, for the
good news is that God is listening.
For the rest of us, for those of us
who heard God's answer, or part of it, for those of us who have discerned
God's vision and accepted it as our own, we are the sign-makers.
Today is World Communion Sunday. This sacrament will be celebrated in many different languages, and within the contexts of many different cultures. It will be celebrated with different understandings and theologies (some of which we agree with and others with which we do not). This sacrament will be celebrated by people who are a lot like us, and by those who are very different. This sacrament will be celebrated by those whom we like, and by those whom we do not like. In this sacrament we are joined together. That's a sign.
When you are hurting, and yet continue
to stand up on the rampart, stubbornly not letting God off the hook,
calling out “How long, O Lord?”, that's a sign.
I have heard it: How long will this
building program take? Well, we have a vision now. The fact that we
will persist, and that we will see it through, and that the Spirit will
give us the perseverance and the resources that we need, this will be
a sign.
Writing a check, giving to the peacemaking
offering: that's a sign.
This week, we celebrated the one year
anniversary of that tragic shooting at an Amish schoolhouse in Pennsylvania.
The killer had a problem with God and did not last up on that rampart
waiting for an answer. 5 young children were killed. In the aftermath,
the world was astounded when the community forgave the killer. When
they mourned with the killer's family, embracing his wife and children,
we couldn't believe it. Their forgiveness made a difference. They still
live with the pain, but they have given up the anger, and been set free.
Now, a year later, the old schoolhouse
is gone, and new one is built. It is called New Hope School. Get out
your big marker pens, everyone, because that's a sign.
Waiting for God, working for peace,
living and forgiving in love, even when love and forgiveness is tough,
now these are signs.
Lord, make my life a sign.
October 7, 2007
Rev. Paul Heins
First Presbyterian Church
Logan, Utah