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The Third Sunday after the Epiphany

"God's Recalculating"

The Rev. Stephen Elkins-Williams

Did you ever wonder what would have happened if Peter and Andrew and James and John had responded to Jesus differently? How would history have been altered if Matthew had written, “They looked at Jesus as if he were crazy and went right on working with their nets”? Would Jesus only have had eight apostles, or would he just have added different ones? Would the Church have flourished as well and as far and wide and altered the course of history as much under different leadership? Would the eventual authorized English translation of the bible, if there was one, (with James out of the picture) been known, say, as the King Benjamin Version? Would my predecessor as rector, Peter James Lee, if he were even a Christian, been called perhaps Gamaliel Jacob Lee?

How would God have handled such a setback to the Divine plan as these potential disciples’ refusal? In fact, the deeper question I want to get to is, how does God work out salvation in the face of human free will? What happens when we, knowingly or not – the difference between sin and error – defy God’s will? Are we doomed? Does it all come crashing down around us?

During my theological studies in seminary, I had a professor who challenged us on our theology of God’s will. We all accepted the notion that God does have a will and that living our earthly lives involves trying to discern that will. But what happens, he asked us, if we get that wrong? Is your notion, he pressed, that God has carefully lined out a path for you to follow, and that as long as you dutifully walk that path, you are safe; but that the moment you step off it, you are liable to set off a mine which explodes in your face? Land mine spirituality, he called it: cross God and you will pay for it. Instead he called us to consider that the God who creates us and loves us into being, although he is not a deist god who simply sends us off to do our own thing, honors and respects our wills and in some sense partners with us and invites our co-creative efforts. While God knows what is best for us and wants what most brings us life, God also works with the circumstances of our lives and our good and bad decisions to bring good out of it all, even when we fail. “We know,” Paul wrote the Romans, “that in everything God works for good with those who love him, who are called according to his purpose” (Romans 8:28).

You may be familiar with the rather recent phenomenon known as the Global Positioning System or GPS. When you are driving to an unknown destination, it maps out directions and talks you through them at each needed turn. On a recent trip, my sons had ours set for a male voice with an English accent, whom they dubbed “Daniel.” Driving up to and into New York City was almost a joy with Daniel, and it occurred to me that if we all were this tuned into God and as careful about seeking and finding God’s directions, this would be a much better world! But then something very interesting happened. A detour forced us to take a different bridge into the city than the one planned, and we had to disregard what Daniel was telling us. I half expected him to say in an angry voice, “Wait. You’re not doing what I told you!” Instead, each time we did not take the U-turn he suggested to take us back to the original plan, he would say quite calmly, “Recalculating.” Which took me back to my theology professor thirty-five years ago: In some real sense we cannot ultimately thwart the will of God. Like Daniel, God is just patiently recalculating.

To some degree, Jesus does that in today’s Gospel. When he heard that John, his cousin, had been arrested, Mathew tells us, “He withdrew into Galilee; and leaving Nazareth he went and dwelt in Capernaum by the sea.” A change in venue seemed called for. When Jesus was first born and Herod tried to take his life, Joseph was warned in a dream to flee to Egypt for a while until it was safer. Recalculating. Had Peter and the other brothers not followed Jesus’ invitation the first time, perhaps he would have tried again until they agreed; we do not know. But it is safe to say that God has the resources and the love and the perseverance to work all things for good. Even if we take a wrong turn, God is recalculating.

This is true for us communally as well as individually. Last year we went through a whole process trying to discern whether or not God is calling us as a parish to express our pastoral care for our gay and lesbian parishioners by making available the blessing of their lifelong unions. The final decision, which was mine to make as your rector with your and the Vestry’s advice, is that we will. The grace and fruitfulness that have come from that process and from the one service of blessing that we have had thus far, lead me to believe that God’s Spirit was in that decision and that we got it right. But if we have any humility at all, we need to be open to the possibility of our misreading God’s directions and taking a wrong turn. If so we trust that God is patiently and compassionately recalculating.

Over five years ago, the Vestry and I began another process of asking what God would have us be and do as the Chapel of the Cross. Out of that seeking came the work of a number of committees and numerous discussions among the wider parish about our programs and about our facilities. Our best discernment is that God is calling us not to be complacent with what we have achieved in over 165 years, but to stretch ourselves to build literally new foundations for our expanding ministry. We believe God is calling us to a new boldness and generosity in being “A Light on the Hill”, a witness to the campus and to the whole community of God’s reconciling love, and by “Building to Serve.” What will be the final outcome, of course, is still in the future; but we proceed with confidence and with joy, knowing that God is with us, no matter what, and that if any recalculations are needed, they will be made clear over time.

A week from tomorrow, as many of you may know, I will be starting a three month sabbatical of renewal and refreshment. I look forward not only to that time, but also to being back with you starting on the Feast of the Ascension on May 1. I have no doubt that with the leadership of the rest of the staff and of the Vestry and the continued strong participation of all of you, these Lenten and Easter-filled months will be times of fruitfulness for this parish and for those we serve. God does not take sabbaticals, of course, and you can be assured that God’s Spirit will continue to work among you, recalculating as necessary, as you faithfully carry out the ministry God calls us to do. To God be the honor and the glory and the power and the majesty for ever and ever. Amen.

Matthew 4:12-23

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