Things Seen and Unseen
Category: Sundays after Pentecost
Speaker: The Rev. Shearon Sykes Wiliams
The liberation narrative of Exodus has framed the experience of generations of African Americans. The image of Moses standing in front of Pharaoh, the most powerful man in the world in his day, demanding “Let my people go” is emblematic of the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s. Moses, as God’s representative, demanding justice for God’s people against all odds. Moses, with all of his limitations, fears and frailties, leading his people to freedom.
And it all started with a burning bush, that holy place from which Moses heard God calling his name, that still small voice calling, “Moses, I have a job for you to do.” Moses didn’t think he was up to it, just as many people called to lead a people to freedom don’t feel they are up to it. But God’s ways are not our ways. God uses people and circumstances as God chooses. God sees things that we do not see because God is “the maker of heaven and earth, of all that is”. And the life of faith is about learning to see what God is doing in the world, “the seen and the unseen.”
And this way of seeing the world is absolutely, positively, completely counter-cultural. That is why we need to come to church every Sunday of every week to be reminded of how we are supposed to look at things. Every day, we receive messages that run directly counter to what today’s liberation message teaches us. We hear, “rely on yourself” ,“trust no one”, “do whatever it takes to get ahead”, “produce, produce, produce, succeed, succeed, succeed”. And we raise our children to have those same priorities. “Grades are all important.” “The most over-scheduled child wins.”
Looking for burning bushes and trusting God to lead us to freedom is a very different message. And there is only one place to get it- church. Being part of a community that sees itself fundamentally as a people on a path through the Red Sea, led by God, against all odds- that’s who we are.
God held the waters of chaos back so that his people could walk through on dry land to get to the other side. Every day, we are surrounded by the waters of chaos, threatening to engulf us, the pressures of life in a very tense world. The story of the Red Sea crossing is reminiscent of the story of creation, when God brought order out of chaos. And training ourselves to live in a chaotic world without becoming chaotic and disordered, to claim peace and joy, and to be instruments of God’s creative order, the way Moses was an instrument of God, is what we are called to. And that peace and joy is the most precious gift we can give our children.
Whenever I hear the story of the crossing of the Red Sea, visions of Lego Egyptians and Israelites dance in my head. Every spring, our 3rd – 5th graders and their teachers, produce a film based on an Old Testament story. The Hebrew Scriptures are perfect for this- full of drama and intrigue – and most importantly action, just the thing that most late elementary age children really like. And the Spring 2012 film, “Let my Peeps Go”, (which I understand was nominated for “Best Short Film” at the Cannes Film Festival), told the Exodus story complete with riveting dialogue between God and Moses, with God instructing Moses to “Be cool” when Moses said he wasn’t up to the task that God had put before him. And my absolute favorite segment, the dramatic parting of the Red Sea, using blue jello, a true cinematic feat. It was awesome to see everyone gathered in our parish hall, young and old, munching on popcorn and waiting for the film’s world debut.
The students had a wonderful time making the movie and they learned so much. This experience made the Exodus story real in their own lives- and that is exactly the point of everything we do at church. The whole point of the Exodus story is that GOD is the star actor in life and God will lead us home and we are supporting actors and actresses for God’s drama in the world. And this drama is not at about what is NOT real, but what is MOST real. Seeing life at its deepest level, recognizing things seen and unseen.
If you were to look into the window of our preschool room upstairs on Sunday morning, you would see that divine drama unfolding in a most amazing way. The room itself is beautiful. It looks more like a church than a classroom. First of all, you take your shoes off before you go into the sacred space because it is holy ground, the place where children experience the mystery of God, just like Moses and the burning bush. There is an altar and a baptismal font. There is a prayer table with a candle and an icon. There is a picture on the wall of the Good Shepherd with a lamb draped around his neck.
Everything about Catechesis of the Good Shepherd is very, very intentional. The children are invited into an experience WITH their catechists, as they explore TOGETHER the mystery of God and the journey of faith. The adults learn from the children and the children from the adults as the catechists read the parables of Jesus and ask open-ended questions.
The central parable of the Good Shepherd is told with wooden figures of the Shepherd and the sheep. Even though no one tells them explicitly, the children KNOW that the shepherd is Jesus and they are the sheep.
After they have heard the parables as a group, they can go back to any of the materials on their own. And what children will often do is put the sheep as close to the Shepherd as they can possibly get them. They know that the Shepherd loves them and calls each one of them by name. The children also arrange flowers and polish silver, learning that beauty is a conduit for truth.
When last year’s inaugural group came into the nave and gathered at the altar with me one Sunday during Sunday school, they were all so attuned to the mystery of everything-like it was the most important thing in the world- because it is. They were very eager to tell me the name of everything and to talk about things seen and unseen.
Just a few days ago, I was talking to a parent who said her child was so looking forward to Catechesis starting again. Her daughter had told her very emphatically that Sunday school needed to get going again because “I REALLY need to get back to my chalice”. Music to my ears. Music that makes God’s heart sing.
Recognizing God’s love for us and the importance of the work that God calls us to- is the meaning of life. That’s it in a nutshell- or more accurately, a chalice.
The faith journey is about EXPERIENCING God. Not just studying theology or learning the tradition-although those things are important, they are secondary. What is primary is knowing at a deep, intuitive level that God is real and active in the world and that God calls each of us by name.
Bringing our children into that experience is so important. Church is the only place that gives our children an intentional container it. It’s an experience that you can’t have alone. The Eucharist is fundamentally communal. It is a multi-generational experience. It is not about competition or achievement. It’s about belonging for who you are and appreciating others for who they are, fellow sheep following the Good Shepherd through the Red Sea, the one who teaches us that home isn’t a place. Home is being in the presence of God- with all your peeps.
And this experience of being formed in community has an outward flow. It teaches us that we are to live not only for ourselves but for God, and to be agents for liberation in the world. Our children grow up to see that they are called to live a life of justice and peace and that they have a vocation in the world, not just a job. They are called to respond to a call on their life to bring life to others.
That is why we get up early on Sunday and bring ourselves and our children to church when it’s tempting not to. That’s why it’s important to make church our top priority, above all of the competing demands that are placed on us and we place on ourselves. What happens here- in community- is vitally important. Things seen and unseen – experienced together. Our lives and the life of the world depend on it.
Sources:
The New Interpreters Bible, Leander Keck, Ed. The Book of Exodus Commentary, Walter Brueggemann, Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1994. pp. 690-691, 792-795
http://saintgeorgeschurch.org/media/saint-georges-cinema/
Cavalletti, Sofia. The Religious Potential of the Child. Chicago: Catechesis of the Good She