Vulnerability and Hope

Vulnerability and Hope

          Consider those surrounding Jesus, hearing his words of Good News, and also experiencing the Good News. These folk, who he describes as Sheep without a Shepherd, Feral Sheep, I suppose… they are in desperate need of him, for they are harassed and helpless.

          Consider those whom Jesus sends the 12 disciples out to, out to cure and cleanse, cast out demons and raise the dead… all these maladies that would stigmatize them as outsiders, that would keep them from the Kingdom of God, keep them from the sheepfold, at least the way religion of the day (and perhaps of every era) would tell it, those whom Jesus calls lost sheep, folk alienated from the kingdom and lacking peace.

          Consider, too, the disciples, sent as Sheep among wolves. These men of a variety of backgrounds
—Zealots opposed to Roman rule and Tax Collectors collaborating with Rome
—whatever their previous identity, gets stripped away, as they go away in their common task…
trusting that what they have is enough
—becoming something else, no longer tax collector or fisherman, but followers of Jesus.
This new way of being, forms them into Disciples! Hurt, hated, betrayed, and killed, for Christ’s sake,
for the sake of the Good News,
for the sake of those to whom they are sent by Jesus.

          Endangered sheep, alienated sheep, desperate feral sheep… this image, this metaphor, sheep, points to vulnerability… they are vulnerable.

Prayer

 

          Vulnerable—We’re vulnerable when we admit we don’t know something, or that we got something wrong. Embarrassing isn’t it?
          You’re vulnerable when you go against a group or against the grain, it usually costs you. Hung out to dry.
           Vulnerable when you lose a part of your identity…
your identity as an employed person,
or a well person,
or a valued citizen of your community…
vulnerable…

          Perhaps humans are more vulnerable than the sheep of metaphor….
Think about it, sheep don’t require years of being raised into adulthood.
Sheep never have a first day of school.
Sheep never write love letters….
Yes, from our first breath to our last breath, humans are vulnerable…

          Our last breath…
vulnerable…
right now black people in this country, along with people of goodwill of all sorts, are lamenting the particular vulnerability of black life in America.
In fact, this Wednesday the ELCA will be commemorating the Charleston 9
—vulnerable in their own church,
killed at a bible study 5 years ago.

 

          Vulnerable too, to this virus. In fact, in this morbidly information rich world of ours you can calculate out roughly how likely you are to die if you get infected with Covid19, based on age, sex, race, and underlying medical conditions
—vulnerability laid out in callous percentages.

          Here at St. Stephen—vulnerable.
The commonly used tools that build up the faith, absent, or at least mediated by screens…
perhaps we can newly sympathize with the struggles of those sent Disciples,
they lacked staff and sandals, a change of clothing and coin in their pocket
—we are trying on a new type of Christian Identity
—we’re all now individual house churches,
dispersed and struggling to pay attention when together through screens
and courageously taking greater individual responsibility for our life in Christ.

 

          Vulnerable… yet there is something about vulnerability
—so often, it goes hand and hand with hope!
Vulnerability and hope.

          At our last Pub Theology we did a broad study of what the Bible says about Hope,
and noticed quickly a strange connection between vulnerability and hope
—that within times of distress and suffering,
the Spirit and hope find a home.

          “We boast also in our sufferings,” writes Paul,
“knowing that suffering produces patience, which produces a proven character, and such a character produces hope…
because God’s love has poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us…”

          “While we were weak,” he continues, “Ungodly, sinners…”
In all of our vulnerability
—there is Christ, he died for us!”

          Vulnerability and hope.

          For us, we distracted, dispersed Christians,
our identities shifting and slipping,
in neutral,
life idling
—for us.

          For this nation,
virus laden and on our back foot,
in denial even as ¼ of the global infections and deaths are our own…
for us!

          For every black life,
in the everyday and in the struggle,
there is Spirit and Hope!
He is among you!
For us!

          Vulnerability and hope.

          For us from first breath to last,
 the Spirit there,
especially in those vulnerable moments
—hope.

          In times of transition, Spirit!

          When you go against the grain and it is so rough, God is already there!

          In moments when you come up short, God is still there!

          Endangered, alienated, desperate
—feral sheep, lost sheep, sent sheep
—the Good Shepherd meets our vulnerability in hope.

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