21 Pentecost 2007 Zion, Washington

Today's readings reveal a strange thing about our relationship with God, from God's point of view: that sometimes God wants to wrestle with us. Moreover, sometimes, God seems to want to wrestle with us when our lives get complex; like with Jacob as he was about to meet his brother Esau, from whom Jacob had stolen their father's blessing or the widow who persisted in pestering the fearless judge until he gave in.

Today's readings remind us that one of the Seven Godly Virtues is Fortitude. Powerful stamina. The ability to take on whatever presents itself to us, and to bring along with that Fortitude the other six Godly Virtues: Faith, Hope, Generous Love, Moderation, Prudence and Justice.

We don't usually think of Fortitude as one of the essential virtues of holy Christianity. We're prone to focus on Jesus as being "meek and mild", along with other feminine virtues; which is all well and good. But here is evidence that there is a place for masculine virtues like Fortitude and Justice and Moderation and Prudence. And here is Jacob, wrestling with an angel of God and receiving a new name.

(You see, when the twins, Esau and Jacob were born, Esau was born first, but Jacob came out holding on to Esau's heel. OK, here's where it gets a little complex. Jacob was named "Jacob" because it sounds like the Hebrew for the phrase "He takes by the heel". It also sounds like the word for "Supplanter" or "Deceiver", because, as it turns out, Jacob stole the "Blessing of the First-Born" by disguising himself as Esau and going to his blind father Isaac and asking for the blessing. Needless to say, Esau was furious with Jacob, and that's the reason why Jacob was so nervous about meeting Esau, in the first part of today's First Reading. whew!)

So here Jacob is, terrified that Esau, his brother, is going to come and kill him and all of his family, and take or kill his servants and livestock. Which is to say, he was probably spending a lot of time, running in circles, waving his hands and yelling something like, "O God! O God! O God! O God!". And up pops God's angel and says, "Let's wrestle." Yikes! Just what Jacob needs: one more adversary, one more challenge. And yet Jacob wrestles with the angel of God until the first light of morning; at which point the angel says, "Let me go, for the day is breaking."

(This is one of those wonderful sentences that gets dismissed, that is, in fact, very important to the story because it attests to the antiquity of this episode, as happening at a time when it was believed that angels only came to earth at night.)

Obviously, Jacob could never pass up an opportunity to be blessed, so he told the angel that he wouldn't let him go until he blessed him. But before he blessed Jacob, the angel gave Jacob a new name. He was no longer to be known as "the Supplanter" for stealing his brother's blessing, he would be known as "He strives with God", which, in Hebrew, is the name "Israel". And then the angel blessed him and disappeared.

 Furthermore, Jacob/Israel names that place Peniel, which means "God's face", because, in wrestling with the angel of God, he understood that he was wrestling with God, face to face, and yet his life was preserved. (Remember, the word "angel", simply means "messenger". It's because of ancient Persian art that we portray angels with wings.) And, in fact, when Esau met Israel, Esau hugged him and kissed him and they both wept. The division between them had been overcome and they went their separate ways in peace.

But, of course, this isn't just a little slice of ancient history, spiced up with some nifty names that make clever puns. This is a story for you and me, as we get to wrestle with God, even while what seems like danger is approaching. This, like today's Gospel story of the persistent widow, is a story meant to inspire in us the godly virtue of Fortitude.

Yes. Like Jacob, there are times when we're tired. We're apprehensive. Our future is uncertain. Something ominous seems to be approaching at a distance - like Esau and his mighty army. And we find ourselves running in circles, and waving our hands, and yelling something like, "O God! O God! O God!". And then God appears in the form of an angel who wants to wrestle...of all things! Great! Not what we were looking for. Certainly, not what we were praying for. But, as every good coach knows, the best discovery of our true strengths and resources come out only when we think we are at the edge, only to find out that we had talents and abilities that would have never been exposed, had we not been pushed to what we thought were our limits.

At any age, young or old or middling, we can look back and recognize those times when, by the grace of God, we discovered that we could do much more than we ever thought we could. The Good News is that this is a continual discovery that, conceivably, never ends. Consequently, as in these stories today, we look to our past to gain insight and hope for the future.

And again, whether we are young or old or middling, the future always looks complex, at best, and fraught with dangers and - to catch the spirit of Halloween and quote an old Scottish litany - fraught with "ghosties and goolies, and long-leggedy beasties, and things that go bump in the night." And into all of that comes Jesus, with a strong, gentle smile, saying things like, "Fear not." or "O ye of little faith." or "Be of good cheer." or "Do not be anxious."

One of the most important aspects of Christianity is that we understand ourselves to be constantly encouraged by God in Christ Jesus. The heart of our Christian message is called " the Gospel", which means "Good News". We Christians are people to whom Good News has been announced and who have taken that Good News to heart, to the extent that we cannot but share that Good News by all the things we think, say, and do.

The Good News is contained in one of the names of Jesus, which is to say, "Emmanuel", which means "God is with us". The Good News is that God not only made us, God loves us and God takes care of us. The Good News is that, at death, life is only changed, not ended. And when our mortal bodies lie in death, we know that there is a place eternal prepared for us in heaven.

But we are created in such a way that each item of Bad News that we hear carries seven times the weight of every item of Good News we hear, so we are prone to fret and worry and waste a lot of time and energy that would be much better spent enjoying the blessings of being a beloved child of God; of being an object of God's delight. But we wear ourselves out with useless speculations or tying ourselves up in knots over things beyond our control, rather than plotting out our best courses of action and changing for the better, those things that are within our control or our influence.

I take a lot of inspiration from this parish. Next year, Zion Parish will be celebrating 270 years of ministry in this community. You and I are only the current members of a parish family that has been around longer than any of the states of the United States of America. We started out as colonials. We have survived, as a parish family, every war and social and economic disaster that this nation has ever faced. We are blessed with the continuing lines of Cutlers and Douglases and Alligoods and Braddys and Woolards - and, of course, the Wooligoods. And we are blessed by all the other families who have been here and have moved on, like Congleton and Comish and Eborn and Richardson. And we are blessed by everyone who understands themselves to be part of our parish family today.

I still snicker when I hear Zion referred to as a "satellite parish" of St. Peter's, Washington, when, in point of fact, they are an off-shoot of Zion Parish, just as we are an early out-growth of St. Thomas' Church, Bath. We have a proud history. And one of the great jewels of that history is our generosity to the greater Beaufort County community, through our outreach and our community service, but also in the free things that we do so instinctively, like the Easter Monday Fish Fry and like today's Pew-Back Quilt Show. There is no doubt that the good that we do flows from our experience of worshiping God in this place, with these people. There is no other good explanation.

And sometimes, the good that we do requires Fortitude, because the weather turns bad or we don't feel like doing what we've set out to do. But in mustering our strength and our stamina, we discover that we see the Face of God in our fellow parishioners and in those people who come to eat our fish and admire our quilts... and thereby we are blessed.

There's more. I have recently encountered a parish that was founded four years ago, with forty people, by a priest who has only been able to be there on Sundays. That means that he has not been able to make any hospital visits or lead any week-day activities at all. And in four years, that parish has doubled in average Sunday attendance, to 80, and they have built a church and a parish hall, in such a way that there are plans to build a bigger church as they outgrow their current church, and turn the church into a parish hall and the parish hall into more Sunday school rooms. For all intents and purposes, this is a lay-led parish, and it is thriving and growing.

It is essential that Zion Parish family understand that this parish really can thrive and grow, if there is the Fortitude on the part of this whole congregation to commit to growing and thriving. It means inviting people to come and see Zion's parish family at prayer. It means putting together a year of events celebrating 270 years in this community. (My word! The only people who could sniff at that are over in Bath, and their parish is only four years older than our's!) It means keeping the Good News of God in Christ right before your eyes in phrases like, "Fear not." or "O ye of little faith." or "Be of good cheer." or "Do not be anxious."

God is inviting this parish to a wrestling match, in which Zion will be blessed. We must not be deceived. This parish family will continue for another 270 years and beyond. And it is our honor to serve God to the best of our abilities while the mantel of active membership rests on our shoulders.

Fear not! Be of good cheer! Do not be anxious!