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WHAT KIND OF A DAY ARE YOU HAVING?A sermon for November 9, 2008 (nearly the end of the season after Pentecost) “What kind of a day are you having?” This, I have learned, is a loving question. To ask that question, to want to know how someone’s day is going, to ask another human being how they are doing and really mean it – that’s love. It’s love that says, “I care about you and how your days and nights go. Your life and your journey matter to me. So tell me a bit of the story of your day. What has been the best part of your day so far? What kind of a day are you having?” This, of course, depends. We will get and we will give different answers to that question, depending on the day. Or the hour. Or the moment. “Well, my day has been great so far. I spent all afternoon outdoors in that beautiful fall sunshine. It was glorious! It made me want to sing, ‘It’s a beautiful day in the neighborhood…’” Or: “My day’s been OK. I’ve been glued to my chair in my office, getting lots of work done, and that’s good.” Or: “My day was going great, until…I opened my mail…(or) I walked into the classroom…(or) I got a call from my doctor…I watched the election results….” I would guess that, for most of us, most days have an “until” in them. Do you remember the book Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day? Alexander was a boy, who, when he woke up one morning, found gum in his hair, tripped over the skateboard and then dropped his sweater in the sink while the water was running. He could tell it was going to be a terrible, horrible, not good, very bad day when: there was no dessert in his lunch bag; the elevator closed on his foot; he fell in the mud; his best friends deserted him; and at bedtime, his cat wanted to sleep with his brother. “My mom says some days are like that,” he tells the reader. He is not alone, and neither are we when we’re having a not good, very bad day. But does knowing we’re not alone really help? What helps when we are having a really bad, horrible, terrible day? There’s an expression I learned once: “you can start your day over at any time.” Sometimes, that helps. Sometimes, in the middle of the afternoon, when nothing seems to have gone right all day, I stop and think, I’m starting my day all over. And sometimes, that works. And sometimes, I can’t even think that, because the day I’m having seems to want to wear me down and keep me in the pit of horribleness. And sometimes, when I suggest that little wisdom about starting over to someone else, saying it with the best of intentions, I make things worse. Bad days and bad seasons of life are not limited to the 21 st century. Take Bible times. In the Bible, in both Old and New Testaments, sometimes it’s a whole lot worse than having just one bad day. Take the book of Joshua. Written in a time when the opinion of lawmakers was especially strong, it gives us a theological perspective unlike some other books of the Bible. The theology of Joshua is about how God will be good to the children of Israelif they are faithful. Obey me, says God, and I will finally give you Canaan, the land you have been promised. I will do that, says God, by helping you defeat all your enemies in that land. Now, we’ve just heard part of the 24 th chapter of Joshua, the last one, the end of the story, in which Joshua and the tribes of Israel renew their covenant with God. But when we read the whole book of Joshua, the phrase “I’m having a bad day” takes on new meaning. Joshua is a book devoted to telling us how God finally brought God’s chosen people into Canaan, the promised land, after wandering for forty years. Actually, it’s been 800 years since God told Abraham that he and Sarah would have daughters and sons as numerous as the stars, centuries since Isaac and Rebekah had two sons, Esau and Jacob, years since Jacob sent his wives and their children on ahead so he could wrestle with God. And then, of course, there was Moses, whose entire life was, in a way, preparation for Joshua to lead the Israelites into the land of promise. These were a second generation of his people, since all others died along the way, their children continuing the forty-year journey. Now, finally, the children of Israel have been given a land of their own. But the first half of Joshua, chapters one through twelve, are filled with one bad day after another, if you are not one of the chosen ones. The Israelites invade and conquer every nation they meet. It is not a pretty picture. Only the Gibeonites save themselves by trickery. All the others – including the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Jebusites and Hivites – all those indigenous kingdoms and more are defeated, annihilated at the command of the God of Israel. For them, no enemy will get out alive. “For it was the Lord’s doing,” the Scripture says, “to harden (the enemy’s) hearts so that they would come against Israel in battle, in order that they might be utterly destroyed, and might receive no mercy, but be exterminated, just as the Lord had commanded Moses” (Joshua 11:20) For all those who grew up in Canaan, this is more than a bad day. It is a horror story, a tale of sheer terror. Even if you are on the winning side, your day might become terrible. Achan, an Israelite, who keeps some of the victor’s spoils, confesses his sin but invokes God’s wrath. The punishment for Achan and his family: death by stoning, executed by all his countrymen. Sometimes, it’s too late to start your day over. For Christians, the story Jesus tells of the ten maidens in today’s gospel confirms this. There may be times when it is simply too late to get more oil for our lamps, to turn away from some bad choices we have made – even times when we are not responsible for horror or terror in our lives. I’m thinking again today, as I am sure many of you are, of the Middletown High School student who died tragically this week. Our hearts and prayers go out to her family, friends and loved ones. I’m thinking also of all those women, children and men who are victims of domestic violence, about which our friend Anne Weatherholt has written a book called Breaking the Silence. Anne taught some of us on Wednesday night how we can help save lives, by creating safe and healthy places in our church, our homes and our community. We need teachers of non-violence like Anne, because educating others in violence has been the terrible nature of humanity, even before Joshua’s time. Amidst all this bad news, there is Good News. Sometimes, it is NOT too late to start our day over. After Election Day Episcopal Bishop of Massachusetts Tom Shaw said, "we find ourselves at a place of intersection, where it feels as if God's time and ours have met, not in the sense of a favored candidate's win or loss but, instead, in that something new has happened and that we've been reminded that history is ever calling us forward" (The Episcopal News Service, 11/6/08). Today, right now, we are at a moment in time, a place of intersection, where past and future meet in the present moment, in this very day. So, for us, right here, right now, it is NOT too late to start our day over. In three weeks, the season of Advent begins. Advent will be a time for us to get ready once again for the coming of Christ. However, today, this is the day for us to get ready to get ready. Here are some get-ready-to-get-ready questions: How’s the oil in your lamp? Our 21 st-century obsession with oil is not new. What steps do we need to take to be better stewards of all kinds of oil, including the oil of gladness? How awake are you? Are you awake to the fact that, in this decade, twice as many women in this country have died from domestic violence as our troops overseas? How ready are you to get ready? There’s also willing and able: how ready, willing and able – how really, truly ready are you and I to listen to what God is telling us - even today? Here are a few more questions, questions of love: What kind of a day are you having? Are you ready to start your day over, with God’s help? How can we, this church, this family of God, help you have a good day, no matter what kind of day you’ve been having? - The Rev. Thomas A. Momberg, All Saints’, Frederick, MD
The Rev. Thomas A. Momberg |
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