“A WAKE-UP CALL”

Luke 13:1-9

Sunday, July 6, 2008

This has been a week of significant tragedies.

1. Hussam Dwayat, a Palestinian construction worker goes on a deadly rampage on a busy street in Jerusalem with his front-end loader crushing three people to death and injuring dozens of others before being shot to death.

2. Fast moving fires in northern California force the evacuation of 1,400 residents of Big Sur.

3. 16 year old girl was killed early Friday a.m. when she apparently tried to cross Highway 401 near Milton.

4. 3 men died and another is in hospital after their car plunged into Lake Joseph near Bracebridge.

5. 38 die as ferry sinks in a river in Myanmar’s cyclone-battered delta.

6. 3 people killed when their trailer burst into flames on Monday at Epping Forest Campground near Harrow, Ont.

Somewhere in the world, maybe right here on our own doorsteps, there are other, less visible, less reported tragedies. People grieve losses. In another news article of this past week was this observation: “Mass job losses are leading to significant economic shifts in Ontario putting more families into low paid unstable work or welfare which is leading to a major crisis.”

At some level, everyone tries to make some sense of their particular tragedy. People are always struggling with the question “Why?” There are tragic events in life that just don’t seem to make sense. Life doesn’t seem to be fair. Do people deserve what they get?

The question is a question that haunts us all. It is also a question of our times.

Today’s reading from Luke’s gospel opens with a gathering of people who are trying to make sense of two tragic events. In the first of these events, some Galileans were murdered by Pontius Pilate as they were making their religious sacrifices. In the second event, a tower fell on 18 victims, killing them all.

In Jesus’ day, there really was no question. The measure of life’s tragedies had a direct correlation with human sinfulness. The greater the person’s sin, the more likely the misfortune. The conclusion was clear: in order to deserve such a fate in life, they must have been worse sinners than those who have been spared.

“Jesus, do you think those Galileans were worse sinners than all the other people from Galilee?” Do you think that those who were killed when the tower fell on them were worse offenders than all the others living in Jerusalem?”

It’s human nature to want to know why things happen. Whatever befalls us or the world, we like to find a cause and we like to be able to assign blame. Playing the ‘blame game’ gives us some sense of security to know that things happen for a reason.

In a recent article in ‘Christian Century,’ Barbara Brown Taylor writes, “Calamity strikes and we wonder what we did wrong… We hunt for some cause to explain the effect, in hopes that we can change what we are doing and so stop whatever has gone (or is going) wrong…What we crave, above all, is control over the chaos of our lives.”

“It’s time we wake-up to the real truth,” exclaimed Jesus. “Your line of reasoning is just hot air. Those killed by Pilate and those killed by the falling tower were no worse offenders than the group talking about it. Those who have been spared these tragedies are not better people. You are no less mortal than they who have experienced disaster or death.”

“No, I tell you,” said Jesus, “unless you repent, you will all perish just as they did.”

Literally the word “Repent” meaning to turn around. To repent is to change direction; it is to change your mind; it is to change your life. In calling us to repent, Jesus is calling us to change our mind about the way the world operates and about the way in which God is active in the world. He is calling us to change the direction of our priorities and the way in which we live their lives. In calling us to repent, Jesus is talking about repentance as the action of turning our hearts and minds to embrace the wisdom and way of God.

In the Christian Century article, Barbara Brown-Taylor continues, “It is that turning Jesus wants for them, which is why he tweaks their fear. Don’t worry about Pilate and all the other things that can come crashing down on your heads, he tells them. Terrible things happen, and you are not always to blame.” It’s the turning to God that leads to life.

To drive his point home, as Jesus so often does, he told a parable - not exactly a warm and fuzzy parable. It’s a parable intended to wake us up to the truth about God’s judgment and our need for repentance.

As Pastor Lloyd Oakey and I decided back in June, it’s one of those intriguing stories we are invited to live our lives by. It’s one of the shorter stories Jesus told - the story of a fig tree that was not producing, and how the landowner had grown impatient with its inability to bear fruit. He proposed cutting the tree down. Unproductive fig trees take up valuable space and soil. But the gardener argued for a one-year reprieve. “Let me work with the tree for one more year, he asks. I’ll stir up the earth, work in some good manure and give it some ‘T. L. C.’ If it does not produce fruit, we can cut it down.”

The parable of the Fig Tree is the gift of another year. It is the word Jesus came to proclaim - the time of God’s mercy - the year of the Lord’s favour - the season of forgiveness, restoration and second chances.

Two weeks ago, Dawn Best and I attended a major symposium in Toronto on the state of The United Church of Canada. On the opening night, Rev. Dr. Peter Wyatt, Principle of Emmanuel College, proposed a very thought-provoking question: “Why doesn’t the United Church just throw in the towel?

- we are shrinking numerically

- we are getting greyer every year

- amalgamations and closures are happening frequently

- congregations are on the cusp of survivability

- some are moving to part-time ministries

- some feel that we’ve moved into the palliative care room

- we wonder if our whole pattern of worship is too staunchy, boring and even trivial to attract a lively, younger generation

- the millions spent on the Emerging Spirit and Wonder Café.Com have not produced growth statistics for our congregations.

- why doesn’t the United Church just throw in the towel?

If it wasn’t for parables like this one from Luke’s gospel, maybe we should throw in the towel. But there is a word of good news in this parable. There is hope for our congregation, and there is hope for The United Church. We are not part of this Body of Christ because we are perfect - but because we are loved - because God’s grace is greater than our weaknesses and short-comings.

We are the church’s life. Our potential is mind boggling. We have been planted in the soil of this good earth - we have been planted right here in Ayr, in this part of God’s vineyard for a divine purpose.

This is the challenge I heard coming from the event in Toronto. “To be fruitful in these days, we need to develop new ways to reach out and minister in the changing, cultural environment around us if we are to draw people in the front doors of our church.” As one person said, “this kind of evangelism begins right here in the local church.”

Each one of us has a unique gift to offer in the mission of the church - and God is always giving us another chance to turn our lives around, to nurture this life we have in Christ, and become fruitful once again for the Kingdom of God. But it won’t happen if we don’t stir things up a bit and work in some fertilizer along the way.

And so, the question is not ‘should the tree be cut down’; nor is it, ‘should The United Church throw in the towel?’ The question is: “How are you and I responding to God’s amazing grace this morning? What are you passionate about this morning? What is it that you are giving your life to accomplish?

In church on Sunday mornings we don’t get easy answers to life’s tough questions; instead, we get the presence of a God who is willing to dig around our hearts, patiently encouraging us toward fruitfulness.

This is the gospel: this morning we have a God who has given his whole life to us as fertilizer so that we might learn how to give our lives to God more fully.

This is the season of God’s grace - a time for second chances. God’s priority is not about dishing out punishment. According to the parable, God’s priority is all about helping us to grow and flourish in our relationship with God and with one another. Living in a season of grace is all about believing that things can be different.

Jesus is calling us to a different way of seeing things - into a new relationship with God who is like the patient gardener. To be in this relationship means that we too are called to be gardeners. Nurturing fruitfulness in this earth and its peoples will always be a sign of our trust in God’s way among us.

Could this be the year for figs?