Homily Pentecost 12C
2019
Fr. Dale Matson
My title is taken from the title of our processional hymn. (Verse 5) “Time like
an ever-rolling stream bears all our years away; they fly, forgotten, as a
dream dies at the opening day.” [Words by Isaac Watts]
The Church of Christ is called to be salt and light on this earth. Today
I would like to offer some examples of intercession. As we examine our readings
today more carefully, it is evident that through the eyes of faith and trust, God truly loves us. I
so often visualize the kingdom of heaven as God taking us into a life raft. Or
maybe I should think of it in terms of Noah’s Ark. In either case we were
drowning and God pulled us to safety. The idea of Salvation is really one of
rescue. God rescues us from eternal death and encourages us to pull others on
board His raft. That is the Great Commission. We are told to rescue others.
While water announces our arrival on this earth and is the
means of our baptism, humans were not intended to exist in the water. They were
made from dirt and intended to walk and inhabit terra firma…. earth…. dry land.
Whenever we talk about water there is some sense of uneasiness because while
walking on land is natural and normal, we cannot walk on water. There is no
Scriptural difference between being in the depths of the ocean and being in the
land of the dead. To be in the depths of the ocean is sometimes referred to as
Davy Jones’s locker the place of drowned sailors.
My folks had a summer home on a lake and we spent every summer there
until I went into the army. One day when I was out on the lake fishing a young
man was calling for help. At first I thought it was just another city slicker
clowning around. I pulled anchor and motored our boat over to him. He cried out
that he was drowning and I helped an exhausted young man into the boat. I
thought he would calm down but he only became more panicky. He said, “My brother
is at the bottom of the lake. He’s gone forever”. His twin brother aged 18 had
drowned before I got there. I saved him but not his brother. The story of Jonah
brings back memories for me because the divers from the state police found his
body two days later in about fifteen feet of water with weeds wrapped around
his head.
God has always provided selfless nurturing individuals at important times
in my life. How about you? Has he
done this for you also? Is it your turn to comfort others with the comfort that
you were comforted with? (2 Corinthians 1:4)
My mentor Dr. Bob Wilson was diagnosed with an aggressive form of Non-Hodgkin
Lymphoma about 1984. He wasn't given much chance for survival and even went to
Lourdes seeking a cure. During this dark night of the soul Bob, already a
deeply religious man, turned finally to his wife Dede and said, “May God’s will
be done.” Bob’s cancer went into remission and God gave him an additional 15
years of life. I personally benefitted from the last eight years Dr. Bob had on
this earth. This month I will be 75, two years older than Bob when God called
him home.
It is not possible to discuss Bob’s professional life without discussing
his Christian life also. He was a deeply committed and spiritual Roman
Catholic. He was a lector and Eucharistic minister at his church, Our Lady Of
Victory. He would pray with his advisees and offer supportive counsel along
with academic guidance. He started the Counseling and School Psychology masters
and credential programs at Fresno Pacific University after he had retired from the Fresno Unified School District. He
was voted counselor of the year by the San Joaquin Counselors Association and
received the highest honor in California counseling, the H.B. McDaniel
award. He was the first Roman Catholic
(and a Marine Veteran to boot) professor hired at Pacific, a Mennonite Brethren
University (Pacifist). He won over the “Brethren” who previously had been
unsure if Catholics were even Christians.
Bob rarely made it to meetings on time because someone would spot him
headed to the administration building and have a pressing problem that needed
attention. Bob would always make time for them. He would say to me, “Save a
place for me, I’ll be a bit late.” Sometimes he never made it to the meeting.
Bob had no malice toward anyone. He loved everyone and always attributed the
best motives to the behavior of others. He had a pure heart and I never heard
him say a negative thing about anyone. He brought out the absolute best in
others. We simply called him, “Coach”. A
coach helps you to become better. In addition to the Holy Spirit being the
advocate and teacher, the Holy Spirit is a coach.
Bob and Dede lived a simple life in a small house. They raised six boys
and one girl. He was continually giving away money to those in need. I was
driving a group of us to lunch and we came to a red light. He gave me a dollar
to hand to a homeless man holding a sign at the intersection. I chided Bob that
the man was probably running a scam. Bob simply looked at me and said, “ I've
got it and he doesn't.” It reminds me of verse nine in our Psalm today. “They
have given freely to the poor, *and their righteousness stands fast for ever; they
will hold up their head with honor.” (Psalm 112). I have tried not to refuse
anyone since that time. Bob was not just a coach. He was a model for all of us.
He did a lot of in person counseling and counseling over the phone with folks
including children of faculty who were autistic and even some who were
dangerous. Bob was their last hope because he, like Jesus never gave up on
anyone.
Before Bob retired, he stepped down as the director of the PPS program
and I became his supervisor. When Bob retired from Fresno Pacific, we had a
party in his honor and invited all the alumni from the Counseling and School
Psychology program we could still contact. There was an enormous response and
attendance. For the first time Bob’s family was able to see all the people that
they had shared their father with for so many years. Many of his graduates were
at mid-life and some cried as they told how Bob had made it possible for them
to get a new start.
Bob’s resume’ would have been dozens of pages of names of people that he
had encouraged and helped over decades of service. We helped preserve his
legacy by starting a scholarship in Bob’s name.
Bob died while Sharon and I were in Ireland and we returned just in time
for Dede to contact me to ask me to read the Old Testament lesson. One nephew
told about Bob taking all the men Ling Cod fishing. Bob pushed the huge rubber
raft into the surf and got wet to his waist. He was obviously cold the entire
time out but just smiled at the opportunity to be with his sons and nephews.
After the funeral, Dede said to me, “You know Dale he loved you.” I said,
“Dede, Bob loved everyone.” She said, “Yes, but he loved you like a son.” That
kind of love for eight years brought enormous healing to me. Soon thereafter, I
sought Holy Orders and retired from Fresno Pacific too. I look forward to
seeing Bob again. I often think of Bob during the Great Thanksgiving as I pray
“…and at the last day bring us with all your saints into the joy of your
eternal kingdom.”
What is the purpose of this
story? How does it apply to your life?
Is God calling you to come alongside someone else? Is God calling you to
be an intercessor, a spiritual guide? If
we are willing to be used by our Lord and use Him as our navigational reference
point, He will give us the opportunity to come alongside others who struggle as
they unexpectedly find they are drowning in the “open water” of real life. Jesus
tells us in our Gospel lesson from Luke, “But when you give a feast, invite the
poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed, because they
cannot repay you. For you will be repaid at the resurrection of the just. “
We
can be the encouraging voice helping others that have lost their way. We can
also help others by conducting our lives in a gracious way. Establishing
personal boundaries curbs resentment. By keeping our lives on course, others
can be guided by our actions. Sometimes listening helps another speak a
solution to his or her own problems. Sometimes when others simply know we are
available to help them, they are able to remain independent and empowered.
The sea is not just deep, it is
vast. In 2004, I trained
in Millerton Lake for the 2.4 mile ocean swim portion of the Hawaii Ironman
competition. I was confident that I could complete the swim distance but also
knew, being a slow swimmer, that I might not make the cut off time of two hours
and twenty minutes for the distance. Sharon and I arrived in Kona Hawaii a week
before the competition and I knew that I would need to practice the ocean swim
before the Saturday competition. Fortunately, Sharon was born and raised in
Southern California and spent much of her formative years body surfing at
Corona del Mar. She is as comfortable in the ocean as Brer Rabbit is in the
briar patch. On Tuesday as we stood on the pier near the swim start, we could
see the large turn around buoy 1.2 miles off shore. I set my timer on my watch
hoping to get to the buoy in less than one hour and ten minutes.
The
ocean cannot be compared to even a large reservoir like Millerton Lake. When
you are swimming at ocean level, the huge ocean swells completely cover a
distant object from a swimmer’s view. Isn’t this a lot like life? Much of the
time you are navigating and hoping to catch your next glimpse of the object you
are swimming toward. Sharon remarked at one point, “Would you just look at the
dolphins swimming below us”. My response was, “Don’t tell me about any dang
fish!” We finally got to the buoy and I looked at my watch. It was one hour and
fifteen minutes out to the buoy. I said to her, “I’m not going to make the time
limit.” When we reached shore, my watch timer indicated one hour and thirteen
minutes total time. The onshore current had brought me home in time and Sharon
had been by my side the entire time with words of encouragement. I did finish
the swim in time and the Ironman competition too but if Sharon had not come alongside
during the practice, I would not have had the confidence to complete the swim.
God had allowed Sharon to be more than a wife. She was my intercessor, my coach.
Like Dr. Bob Wilson, like
Sharon, like Jesus and like you, we are called to speak words of comfort or
words calling others to repentance. This is not something God is telling us is
optional. God said to Jonah, “Arise, go to Nineveh the great city and cry
against it, for their wickedness has come up before Me.” Like Jonah, we can’t
head in the other direction. If God has put words in your heart to offer
others, those words will be like a hot coal on your lips until they are spoken.
We are called to be God’s messengers to a people that God loves in spite of the
things they do. Speak the truth. Speak the truth in love. Be an intercessor for
God today. Amen.
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