Homily – Isaiah 11.1-10, Vida Dutton Scudder, October 10, 2013

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activism, Congress, homily, Jesus, Kingdom, politics, prayer, Vida Dutton Scudder

Today we honor the work of Vida Dutton Scudder.  Born in 1861 to Congregationalist missionaries in India, Scudder and her mother were later confirmed in the Episcopal Church in the United States.  She studied English Literature in college and eventually became a professor at Wellesley.  But her love of scholarship was matched by her social conscience and deep spirituality.  She joined both Christian Socialist groups and the Society of the Companions of the Holy Cross, a community devoted to intercessory prayer.  As s socialist, she supported immigrants, workers’ strikes, and eventually, after WWI, became a pacifist.  But her activism was also deeply rooted in prayer.  She said, “If prayer is the deep secret creative force that Jesus tells us it is, we should be very busy with it.”  She added there was one sure way “of directly helping out the Kingdom of God.  That way is prayer.  Social intercession may be the mightiest force in the world.”

As our Congress continues to shut down government, arguing over debt and health care, while crumbling all sorts of services and parts of the economy, I have been wondering where God is in all this.  We get caught up in labels like Democrat, Republican, Tea Party, and heaven forbid, Socialist, and we use those labels as curse words.  But I have always thought Jesus was not only a man of prayer, but a bit of a socialist – probably not unlike Scudder.  You can imagine how excited I was this week when prayer and Congress started colliding in the news.  The chaplain for the Senate has been offering some fiery prayers these last weeks, and his words seem to be not only reaching our Representatives, but also reaching across America.

What this chaplain, Scudder and Jesus all point to is the hope we see in our vision from Isaiah:  a world where the wolf can live with the lamb, the cow and bear can graze together, and a nursing child can play over the hole of the asp.  This is the Kingdom vision.  But we do not have to wait for the Kingdom after death.  Scudder’s witness reminds us that we can take steps to realize the Kingdom here and now.

Now, how we get there is a bigger question.  We could be here all day fighting over whose party can do that best.  But that is where Scudder’s life points us most helpfully – to the life of prayer.  Scudder invites us to stop name-calling or stewing and to start praying.  If we can be very busy with prayer, as Scudder suggests, perhaps we might liberate our feet to take those first steps toward the Kingdom here and now.  Amen.

On compassion…

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compassion, Congress, evangelism, humanity, Jesus, transformation

Courtesy of http://vividlife.me/ultimate/33329/a-guide-to-practical-compassion/

As our Vestry has been exploring the spiritual practice of evangelism, we have been doing some self-work.  This week we focused on the work of compassion.  David Gortner, in Transforming Evangelism, says, “Compassion is not pity, but the recognition of another person’s full humanity, warts and all.”  Our Vestry talked about our experiences of seeing others show compassion, but also how hard compassion can be to express – especially when people hurt us.

Our conversation reminded me of this blog entry I saw recently.  As a Long Island Driver, I totally get this story.  I have been yelled at many a time since moving here – and to be fair, I have expressed my own impatience at times, but hopefully never in such an extreme way.  What I love about this blog post though is that this is the ultimate example of seeing with compassion.  In that moment, that mom was able to see the other driver’s full humanity – in a way that probably Christ sees us every day, but in a way that we rarely take the time to see.  This kind of compassion does not come naturally – especially when someone is yelling expletives in our face.  But when that compassion was shown, both drivers were transformed – transformed by God’s love.

I have been thinking we could all use a little more compassion lately.  As our Congress has derailed an entire section of our economy and as we have been raging about whatever side is not “our side,” I think compassion has been long gone.  I include myself in that omission.  I found myself this week literally yelling at the radio as I heard one of the Representatives explaining why her party is doing the right thing.  And the whole situation makes me so angry that I am not sure I could even sit in the same room with these Representatives as they attempt to find a solution.  But thinking about that driver at Starbucks and thinking about our Vestry’s conversation about compassion, I have been wondering how Christ sees this whole debate.  I have my own sense of what position Jesus would take on all this (though I won’t share that here), but I also know that Jesus is fully capable of loving both sides and seeing the humanity in all the people involved.  Of course, that does not make the situation any easier or my frustration any lessened, but it does take the edge off my raging anger a bit.

Perhaps that small bit is all I can ask for now.  Perhaps that small glimpse into compassion is enough to shift my way of being and interacting with others.  Perhaps that first step is all that Jesus needs to begin the slow conversion of each of us toward a life of compassion.