Be our best selves

Homily for October 16, 2016 (29th Sun. Ord. Time)
Exodus 17:8-13; Psalm 121; 2 Timothy 3:14-4:2; Luke 18:1-8

Last Sunday night I joined millions of other Americans to watch the second Presidential Debate.  Like many, I had hoped to become a little more enlightened about the two major party candidates and their positions on the various issues and challenges that confront our nation.  90 minutes later, however, I didn’t feel very enlightened.  Instead, I felt like I needed a shower.

This year’s nominees are among the most disliked, distrusted and flawed presidential candidates in history. Thanks to social media; hacked e-mails; a 24-hour news cycle; an almost insatiable appetite for controversy, scandal and conflict; and the increasing crudeness of our public discourse, we know—and seemingly want to know—far more about their weaknesses and vices than their virtues.  Whomever we elect on November 8 will be entrusted to lead a nation that is deeply divided and, sadly, has very low expectations of our leaders.  Will this election breed even more cynicism and alienation, or could it instead lead us to deeper humility?

The person who takes the oath of office as the 46th President of the United States in January will finish with these words:  “So help me God.”   It’s a simple but profound acknowledgment of what people have known from ancient times:  as human beings, we cannot save ourselves.  The author of Psalm 121 put it this way:  “I lift up my eyes toward the mountains; / whence shall help come to me? / My help is from the LORD, / who made heaven and earth.”

Our reading from Exodus 17 gives us a similar message in the arresting image of Moses overseeing a critical battle during the early days of Israel’s exodus from Egypt and their journey to the Promised Land.  As long as his hands and staff were raised, things went well for Israel.  But when he grew tired and lowered them, there were problems.  So Aaron and Hur found a place for him to sit and held up his arms.  It was clear that the power to redeem the people of Israel ultimately resided in God.  Moses knew better than anyone that he was just an instrument and he needed others to (quite literally) hold him up to fulfill that role. Do our leaders know this?

During this troubling time in our nation’s history, it’s good to keep that image of Moses in front of us, along with Jesus’ admonition in to be not merely persistent but even relentless in prayer like the widow in his parable.  Regardless of our different backgrounds and experiences, our opinions about the issues, the passion of our beliefs and whatever anxieties we’re feeling, in order for any community—family, company, team, church, nation—to survive and succeed we need to work together and hold each other up, especially in prayer.

As some scripture commentators have pointed out, God is also like the widow in the parable: One who, as Psalm 121 tells us “neither slumbers nor sleeps” and relentlessly calls us as individuals and as a community to be our best selves and to do what is right. Are we listening? +