Loading...A teacher gave her young art class the materials to draw anything they wanted. One little girl was so focused on her project that it caught the teacher’s eye. She was all in to the project. “What are you drawing?” she asked. “A picture of God,” the girl replied. “But no one knows what God looks like.” said the teacher. “They will in a minute,” replied the girl.
This sermon is both inspired by and in some places copied verbatim from the Bishop’s address during the 191st Convention of the Diocese of Kentucky held in Henderson this weekend.
Many thanks to our delegates who represented St. James: Eric Martin, Debbie Stover, and the Rev. Dr. Mary Abrams. And many thanks to Joe John who allowed his name to be submitted for election to Trustees and Council and was indeed elected.
The three resolutions passed without debate. The first was that the diocese would divest of fossil fuel investments and invest in clean energy if possible.
The second is that should it become available, the diocese would support national efforts towards a carbon fee such has been instituted in Canada.
The third is that the diocese sends a scolding to the government for reducing the number of refugees authorized to be processed in 2018.
And a balanced budget was passed.
That’s the business we are about as a diocese. Such business can feel burdensome at times. Like any polity, the burdens we share also provide the freedoms we enjoy.
Bishop White recounted how Veteran’s Day is personal to him because his grandfather served in World War I. Arthur Edmund White faked his way into the army at age sixteen. Pinned down in a certain death circumstance, his unit had given up — until they heard the sound of horses. The calvary had arrived and with them a cannon. If they could fire the cannon the fighting would stop and they would be safe.
Arthur was the one who knew how to load the cannon. In doing so, he knew that when it fired he would not be able to take cover fast enough to avoid the concussion. He lost his hearing.
As a child, Bishop White only knew of his grandfather’s war experience because Arthur said that is why he wore hearing aids. He never said why. When Arthur died, Bishop White was given the opportunity to read the letters from the soldiers in his unit thanking him for saving their lives at the price of his hearing.
Arthur was all in. Like the widows in our Scriptures this morning. The widow of Zarapeth uses the very last of her flour and oil to make food for Elijah. The widow in Mark’s gospel gives her last penny to the Temple treasury. These women are the authentic expression of God’s love. Nothing is held back.
Bishop White asks this question which I will bring home for our consideration: What can we do as a faith community to mirror these widows?
Like the young artist, how can we paint a picture of what it looks like to love and even trust God. We are the picture painted of what God’s love looks like to a world so hungry and so needy for love and for trust. The picture the little girl drew showed God wearing a huge smile with arms in the form of a hug embracing the artist. When the world looks at St James may we look something like an artist and something like a soldier and something like a widow: All in.
