“Life’s Ups and Downs”

                                “Life’s Ups and Downs”
                                Jeremiah 2:4-13; Luke 14:7-14
                                Rev. David Hutchinson
                                Sunday, August 29, 2010

    Life is full of ups and downs.
At least that’s my experience.
There are moments of incredible beauty: beauty as in the breathtaking beauty of a mountain pass or a rocky ocean beach…and beauty as in the beauty of a simple act of kindness or a surprising expression of love. 
There are also moments of deep sadness, loss and pain: as in the loss of a loved one or the loss of a dream…the pain of a broken heart or a broken bone.
And sometimes these things come together: as they did when at the funeral for Judy Sprunger yesterday we were able to read the word “hooray” on the back of the memorial service bulletin, in a poem written by Judy’s brother. When they come together life can be magnificent. To celebrate life with a “hooray” at the time of a loss is a beautiful act.
But when life’s ups and downs do NOT come together…
…they can often separate us from God.
    One or the other…either up or down…alone…can separate…
    And maybe part of the business of life is figuring out which way to move…and how to move back and forth…between life’s ups and life’s downs.
    There is a moving van company that operates in Greece and the name of the company is “metaphor”. The moving vans have the word written on their sides and doors. A few years ago, the author Jane Kirkpatrick noticed this surprising and wonderful thing and told a group of people I was a part of. She is a writer and was talking to writers, and so she was talking about metaphors. How do metaphors function, well: metaphors are intended to MOVE us. Like the moving vans in Greece, metaphors move us somewhere that we were not previously.
    Jesus used them a lot.
    Jesus intended - - maybe - - to move us somewhere.
    Jesus used metaphors especially frequently when talking about the Kingdom of God.
    If you read the Bible frequently, consider how often you have read the phrase: “the Kingdom of God is like…”. The gospel of Matthew uses that phrase a lot. In Luke, Jesus asks it as a question instead. Twice in chapter 13 Jesus asks, “To what shall I compare the Kingdom?”
    And then he uses a metaphor or an image.
    In the case of the reading for this morning it’s a banquet.
    Commentator William Willimon has said that - - especially in the Gospel of Luke - - wherever Jesus is eating - - we are getting a description of the Kingdom. “Meals are central to Luke’s account of Jesus. Where some eat and some do not”, he writes, “the Kingdom of God is NOT present”.
    In all the meals, the truth of the Kingdom is acted out.
    Where is Jesus?
    Quite often at a table…eating…and often with some surprising people.
    So in the gospel reading for today, we get two stories about meals…banquets… 
    First we are invited to consider what it is like to be invited to a banquet. We enter the room and there are no assigned seats. Do we sit in the place of honor or offer the best seat to someone else? Do we sit up on high, or in a humble place? And as we consider those questions and our actions, Jesus says, more or less:
    What goes up comes down, and what is low down…rises.
    The exalted are humbled and the humble are exalted.
    So that’s the first banquet.
    Then another, and this time WE are the HOST. And we are asked to consider who will we invite to our banquet? Just our best friends? Will it be an exclusive party? Will everyone be welcome? Even the lowly?
    So - - where do these images of banquet seats move us?
        Well it depends on where you sit.
    It depends on where you need to go…up or down.
        And I think it can go either way.
    Last week’s lectionary reading was from chapter 13 in Luke. It was a story of a woman that Jesus healed. And in between that story and this one about the banquet - - come those questions of Jesus: “What is the kingdom of God like?  To what shall I compare it?
    In the chapter just before this one, we read about a woman who is bent over. She is crippled. Her back is bent, and she has been stooping…….for eighteen years.
    Imagine standing up tall.
        After stooping over.      [ go do it ]
    Imagine what that would feel like…after eighteen years. 
    To stand up straight after being forced down!
    Luke describes it as - - being set ‘free’.
    We reflected on the text as a group last weekend at the beach, at the all church retreat. And as we did, John Goff made a comment to the group that turned the story around a bit. He asked to be healed of the times he stands too tall. He said that for him as he heard the story he realized that sometimes it is important to remember to stoop down a bit. Maybe to stoop to help others. 
    His comments anticipate the reading for this morning!
    And they point to the need for this balancing question:
    Which way?
        Which way do we need to move?
            Up or down?
    How we live a balanced life?
        A balanced life in the midst of life’s ups and downs….
    The Old Testament reading for this morning moves us to ask similar questions. The prophet Jeremiah calls Israel to account. Jeremiah calls to mind the past idyllic relationship between Israel and God…maybe romanticizes it a bit. Jeremiah says it is important to remember that past in Israel’s present circumstances.
    What’s the difference between Israel’s past and present, from Jeremiah’s perspective?
        Up and down.
    The past was wandering and wilderness, combined with devotion and faithfulness. Israel was down but they were not out. They were wandering in the wilderness, but they were devoted to God.
Later, at the time or the reading for today, they have come up in the world…
…and they’ve abandoned their devotion.
    According to Jeremiah, the relationship between God and the people was breaking down. In a sense it is as if they are now in an even deeper wilderness…to use another metaphor.
    And the CRUX of the problem is that they had stopped asking one simple but important question: “Where is the Lord?”. Twice Jeremiah says it: “You did not ask, where is the Lord?”
    The question is simple enough.
        Easy to forget.
            And important to remember.
    Where is God?
        Where is God in this?
        And where are we?
            And where do we need to move?
    When we are low down we can feel abandoned by God and alone in the wilderness.
    But being too high up can separate us from God too.
    It is its own kind of wilderness.
    If you haven’t heard, Siskel and Ebert’s show “At The Movies” has finally come to an end. The TV show that began in 1975 aired it’s last episode two weekends ago.
    You may remember their trademark thumbs.
    One up and one down.
    Their personal rivalry and wonderful relationship was captivating. But Siskel died in 1999 after surgery to remove a brain tumor. Ebert appeared on the show until 2008, when cancer made it impossible for him to speak. Ebert wrote in 2008 that he missed Siskel terribly. But he didn’t stop working. Maybe in some way as tribute to their relationship.
    Their ups and downs…
    In an interview with Terry Gross on NPR Ebert said this about the first time he met the great John Wayne:
    “The first big star I interviewed was John Wayne, and I was completely intimidated. It was during the filming of “The Green Berets” and there was an overhead shot being set up, so nobody out of uniform could be visible on the airfield. So they told him on a walkie-talkie that the interviewer was there, and he came walking - - in full battle fatigues with a helmet and a rifle and side arm and a radio and canteen and grenades and a backpack, boots, knives, bayonets…walking toward me for a quarter of a mile!   
     I couldn’t move. I waited in the shade.
    He got up to me and stuck out his hand and said, “John Wayne”
    And I said, “I know”.
    Later as I began to interview other people - - of comparable stature, who were younger, such as Robert De Niro, or Meryl Streep, I realized a funny thing: for all of us, movie stars are the people who were stars when we were growing up…
    But either your age or younger…they’re just people.
    They’re just people.”
    The Kingdom of God is like that.
    When someone throws a banquet, instead of just inviting the movie stars, they invite everyone. And then even the movie stars come too. And it turns out they’re just people too.
    And the humble move up.
    And the stars stoop down.
    Imagine if people filled up parking spaces in the grocery store parking lot that way!
    Imagine if people spent their money that way…
    Imagine if we lived that way…
    Would it help us keep our balance?
    I think it would.
    At least in part.
    Life is full of ups and downs.
        That won’t change.
    But where we move…up or down…is up to us.
    And sometimes we need to stand up tall after years of stooping…and be healed…and be set free…like a woman who Jesus once healed.
    At other times…we need to stoop down.
    Or take a humble posture.
    Which is NOT to say…be pathetic.
    It IS to say…find a posture of humility.
        Good humble.
        Boldly humble.
    And then…when we figure out where we need to move…
        …maybe we will find that we are ALSO…
        …moving closer to God.
    Where is God in your life?
    And where do you need to move?
        Where is God at Westminster?
        And where are we moving?