The Rev. Julie Guengerich Hutson
May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, our rock and our redeemer. Amen.
Early one morning a typical family arose with eagerness and excitement….the day had finally arrived….they were going on a much anticipated and talked about vacation trip. For days, even weeks, the parents had prepared their children for what was ahead. The sites they would see along the way. The activities they would enjoy at their destination. Luggage had been carefully packed, snacks had been stashed away in the car, the car had been carefully mechanically checked and it was time. Time to go. The kids were giddy. Vacation! They pulled out of their driveway, left their neighborhood, went about two miles….two miles…down the road when they heard it for the first time. “Are we there yet?”
The first reading this morning from the book of Numbers is such a rich, relatable reading. It is the story of the Israelites as they are journeying through the wilderness. In fact, for the Hebrew people, this book is not entitled Numbers, it is entitled “In the Wilderness”. It’s something of a travelogue, and the section we read today is marvelous in its accessibility.
As they travel along, out of slavery in Egypt en route to the Promised Land, the Israelites become agitated. They are hungry for all of the delicacies they enjoyed while they were in captivity and they have tired of what God has sent to sustain them. And so begins their whining. It is not long before Moses adds his own voice, only his complaint is against God. Moses would like to resign as the tour guide for this little expedition. “These aren’t even my people!” Moses shouts to God. “You gave birth to them, not me. And now you expect me to get them….the whole complaining, whining lot of them….all the way to the Promised Land? We aren’t even going to make it out of the neighborhood! ”
This week our congregation has hosted homeless women and their children from Mary’s Place. It is no small undertaking, but I can think of nothing we do….nothing….that is this important. This is our third opportunity to engage in this ministry and we’ve had the privilege of hosting 5 mothers and their 10 children. Karen Olsen works night and day…literally night and day….to put this together. And then, in spite of her best planning we often get unexpected challenges…new families are added, families go through crises, teenage children don’t make it on the right bus and their mother has no idea where they are because they don’t have cell phones with which to check in like the rest of us do.
Many of you have contributed to what has to be done….you have cooked meals, you have stayed overnight here, you have made donations, and you have prayed. One of my jobs when we host Mary’s Place is to drive the van. Vicar Inge joins me in this task. We take the families early each morning back to the Mary’s Place day shelter downtown. We have to be there in time for the school aged children to catch their school buses. They are never eager to leave here, where they have a roof over their heads and a bed in which to rest their tired bodies and a safe place for their children to be. They have food that is in abundance, though it is hard to get them to believe that. And so the van ride in the morning is a more subdued one, with soft conversation, and sleepy children, and mothers who must wonder if this will be the day they find a job or if this will be the day that they get permanent housing.
Afternoons are a different story. When we pick the families up at 5:00 they are weary and tired. The children have not been able to come home from school and have a snack or play outside before they do their homework. They have come from school to the day shelter. The mothers have spent their days calling the same places they called yesterday. One mother told me this week that she had to go to four different locations to try to find the Social Security office that could help her. By bus. With her one year old child.
We ramble up in the van, make sure all of the carseats are in place and everyone piles in. Kids are tired in that way that often results in a meltdown. Moms are worried and weary. Everyone longs for some time to decompress.
This is a different sort of journey and it is fresh in our minds and hearts because we are smack in the middle of it. These mothers carry a heavy burden on this journey. Karen and those who volunteer here carry a heavy burden.
In truth, we all carry a heavy burden and there are days when we are certain that it is too heavy for us, whatever it is. Maybe we are carrying the load of a diagnosis, our own or someone we love. Maybe we are carrying the load of broken relationships. Maybe we are carrying the load of unrealized expectations. Maybe we are carrying the load of uncertainty. We know what it is we carry.
We can learn from Moses and his wilderness wanderings. We can learn that God is big enough to hear our boldest complaint. Difficulties in life, burdens we carry, are not given to us by God and they will not be taken away by God…but God is with us. Just as God was with Moses, God is with each of us. And on those days when we want to shout at God, as Moses did, God hears our plea.
Well, you say, that’s all well and good. God is with us. Great. But how is that going to help with this very real problem that I am carrying today? Because the truth is, sometimes we need an outward sign that God is with us. And we have those sacramental signs here in this place. In water that washes us in a holy bath and in bread and wine that feed and fill us.
But sometimes we need more. We need a shoulder to cry on or arms to enfold us or a real, in-the-flesh person with whom we can share our burdens. That was what Moses needed, too. God said to Moses:
Gather together seventy of your elders, those you know to be leaders and officials among the people. Have them come to the Tent of Meeting and take their place there with you. I will come down and speak to you there. I will take some of the Spirit that lives in you and give it to them. They will share the burden of your people, so that you do not carry all of it by yourself.
This is God’s answer to Moses, people to help him carry the load. “And God gives us people to share the load as well – we call it church. We sometimes grumble and bicker in the back seat, but we pull together as church to share our lives and our loads and prayers and tears, casseroles and communion. Our loads are bigger than any of our own lives, but so is our church, for we also are surrounded by the great communion of saints, joined in our work by all the faithful who have come before…”[1]
This is the gift of being a part of a community of faith, that when the load is too heavy or the burden too great, there are others, upon whom God has placed the Spirit, that will help us carry it. This is why it matters that we are part of a community that can remain constant even when we disagree. This is why it matters that when we disagree we do not walk away, for in so doing, we are leaving behind the very people God has place us among, the very people who are there to help carry the load.
Sisters and brothers, we are here to bear one another’s burdens. To offer up support and supplication, prayer and presence. We are here because God has loved us so much, each one of us, that God has drawn us to the heart of God and into the midst of this people for a holy journey. A journey from font to table, from water to wine and then out into the world…where we visit one another, where we cook meals and wash bedding and drive vans and send cards and make lunches and craft quilts and put together school bags, so that the burden of our brother or sister may be a lighter load.
Thanks be to God. Amen.
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