“Seeing Through Tears”
A sermon preached at Christos MCC, Toronto, ON
by the Rev. Venson Phillip Mathews, of MCC Washington, D.C.
29 February 2004
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“Seeing Through Tears” A sermon preached at Christos MCC, Toronto, ON by the Rev. Venson Phillip Mathews, of MCC Washington, D.C. 29 February 2004 |
In the middle of fifty-two chapters filled with judgment and pronouncements of God’s “displeasure” with God’s people, the prophet Jeremiah offers a vision of hope to God’s people in chapters 30 and 31. The prophet offers a people living in exile a vision of what God will do in spite of all they are experiencing in their present situation. He invites the people to look beyond their tears to see God’s unfailing grace.
At the beginning of each year many of us choose adhere to the practice of “making resolutions.” It is customary for many to make a list of things they are hoping to accomplish, relinquish, change or whatever may be the case. There is nothing wrong with doing so, but it seems that for so many these resolutions fall by the wayside before long. Maybe there’s a better way, and that way could be in seeking a vision, a God-given vision, for one’s life.
A vision differs from a resolution in that it “encompasses the discovery of fresh insights about the way things are and the cultivation of different outlooks on what can be. A vision leads to a re-examination of the assumptions beneath our understandings of reality.” (SpiritualityHealth) A vision doesn’t just invite us to look at particular parts of our lives, as resolutions do, but it calls us to look at the stitching that holds the entire “patchwork quilt of life” together. A vision is an invitation to look at our foundational and core beliefs about what is, and why it is the way it is.
An old Crow Chief was once asked the difference between the [Native American] way of life and that of the whites. He said, “for [Native Americans] there were visions, for whites there were only ideas. Visions, in the [Native American] context, require action and this action manifests itself in the community, enabling the people to go forward in confidence and obedience. The vision is complete, it is comprehensive, it includes and covers everything, and there is no mistaking its applicability. Ideas, on the other hand, have only a limited relevance.” (SpiritualityHealth) Resolutions are made of ideas and are therefore much more limited in their scope. A vision covers every aspect of one’s life and involves the wellbeing of the community. Peter Marshall once said, “Vision is not an idea. It is a force in peoples’ hearts.”
| As you can see from the text from Jeremiah, it takes imagination to hold a vision. Can you image being asked to envision the experience of a “party” which is ushered in by God’s mercy and grace while you were yet “suffering” from the consequences of “displeasing” that same God?! That’s just what Jeremiah invites the people to do. Albert Einstein one said, “Your imagination is your preview of life’s coming attractions.” What do the “coming attractions” in your life look like? Do you allow yourself to dare hold a vision as audacious as the one Jeremiah offers, even though things may not be a satisfying as you would like for them to be at this moment? | 
The Prophet Jeremiah, as painted by Michaelangelo. |
If you’re an “Oprah” fan you may be acquainted with Cupcake Brown. If not, it may be time you’re introduced to her. Cupcake is a woman who, with help, was able to “see through tears,” and hold a vision for her life that she is now manifesting with power and grace.
Cupcake came by her first name because of a nurse’s misunderstanding of her mother’s post-delivery request for a cupcake. “We lived in the ghetto, but it was home,” she says. One morning she woke up to the sound of the alarm clock in the other room blaring on and on. Her mother had choked to death during a seizure. Brown was 11.
Brown life took a drastic turn following her mother’s unexpected death. She was moved from foster home to foster home and experience a life of continuing sexual and physical abuse. She started running away and selling her body in order to survive. At 12 she joined a gang and started “doing what gangs do: robe, steal, fight.”
Two days before her 15th birthday, Brown was shot in a drive-by and doctors told her she might not walk again. When she did three weeks later she left gang life. That same year she left the foster care system and began “caring” for herself. Because what she wanted most was oblivion, she sought it in heroin, crystal meth, marijuana, powder and crack cocaine, angel dust, alcohol and acid.
At 23 Cupcake found and “angel” in the form of Kenneth J. Rose, a San Diego attorney who gave her a job as a legal secretary. Rose saw in Brown something she did not yet recognize in herself: her intelligence. “He acted life I was smart, and it just blew me away,” Brown said. Rose “held the vision” for Cupcake, when she could not hold it for herself. Nevertheless, as her responsibilities at work increased, so did her drug use. At one point, she lost her apartment and went on a four-day crack binge. But that isn’t the end of her story!
After walking nearly 60 blocks to Rose’s law firm, Brown told him for the first time that she was an addict. Rose got her in a treatment program where she got clean, and despite never finishing high school, Cupcake enrolled in community college. She went on to receive her B. A. and then applied to five law schools, four of which rejected her.
Cupcake Brown, Esq. |
She graduated from law school in the spring of 2001 and received the school’s highest honor for outstanding scholarship, activities and character. (O Magazine) Here was a woman who was able to “see through, and live through, the tears of a most troubled life.” |
No
matter what we may face, or have faced, in our lives, God has a vision for each
of us. The question is whether or
not we have the ability, and imagination, to see beyond whatever may be causing
us pain today, or caused us pain on yesterday?
And in doing so, are we willing to allow God’s Spirit to lead us to a
vision, the vision, that God has placed within us?
In this holy season of Lent 2004, may our answer be a resounding
“yes!”
Prayer
“Dear Holy Spirit, In this moment I [dare not] move. I do not know what to do. Please move through me, taking me in the direction that will serve your will [and your vision] for me. Fill my mind with the thoughts that will lead me in that direction. Shut my mouth. If I have to speak, speak through me. Shut my eyes. If I need to see anything, show me where to look. Close my ears. If there is something I must hear, please whisper it into my heart in a way that I can understand. If I stop, gently push me beyond fear and doubt. I am trusting you so that I may take the most appropriate action for my highest and greatest good. Thank you. Amen” (Iyanla Vanzant)