"Carry the Fire."

A few weeks back I came across a movie called The Road-- it is based on the Pulitzer prize winning novel of the same name by Cormac McCarthy.  I was so taken by the movie that I am now reading the book.  

For those of you who are not familiar with the Road—the Road takes place in a post-apocalyptic America—an unknown catastrophe has wiped out most everyone—The road is a story about a father and son who have survived and are journeying across America to the Atlantic Ocean. 

   

What I was taken by in the movie was the tension that the father and son encounter  as they try to be the “good guys”  along the road  in what has now become a dog eat dog world ---throughout the movie they are challenge  “to carry the fire”  as they call it and bring a some sort of ethics in the midst of this very terrible world they now inhabit. 

The little boy really become to be the  bearer of this message to do good and  to carry the fire  as his father struggles with his own parental impulse to  do what he needs to do to care for and ensure that his son will survive.   Several time in the movie the Father and son find themselves at odds with each other as the father’s actions conflict with their goal of being carriers of the fire and the bearers of goodness.

Today in our gospel we encounter an apocalyptic vision of a time when the temple in Jerusalem will be destroyed— Jesus says bad things will happen-- wars and insurrections.  Nation rising against nation, Earthquakes, plagues and famines.  Believers will be persecuted, arrested and some, Jesus says will be put to death.

 

In the midst of  it all that Jesus says the believer, the disciple  is to use those events as opportunities to testify— to in some way-- to carry the fire---to  be bearers of goodness-to share the  hope they have in Jesus Christ. 

Yesterday as I was continuing to process the election and all that has gone on this week-- I realized something—that our call after the elections hasn’t changed one single bit. It doesn’t matter that Donald Trump is going to be in the White house and it wouldn’t have mattered if Hillary Clinton was elected.   Our call is to continue to carry the fire ---to testify to goodness—to be bearers of goodness in a world that at times seems very opposed goodness.

Let me be clear  I am in no way implying that we are in Apocalyptic times because of what happened on Tuesday-regardless of who was elected we as disciples of Christ are called to carry the fire of goodness—we are to continue to be called to spread our message of loving neighbor  we continue to called to uphold the dignity of every human being —  to we seek and serve Christ in all people—to love and pray for our neigbhors.

I believe the world we desire to be created doesn’t begin or end in the White house - but I believe it begins and ends with our everyday decisions to live lifes defined by love and generosity—the world we desire begin and ends when we roll up our sleeves and work for those who have been cast to the margins-whom some say have no value. 

The America we desire to create is created just as much in the halls of congress as it on the on the playgrounds  of our schools when we stand up to the bully or in our coffee shops and on social media and in our places of employment  when we do the hard work of listening to the other with  an open mind that respects the dignity of that person. The America we create happens when we get on our knees and pray for the kingdom of God to come into our midst.

This week I have been troubled by the images of hate that are erupting around the country swastikas painted on walls—women having their hijabs pulled off—two students in York Pennsylvania shouting words of white power as they carry a Trump Pence sign through the halls of their school and students at a middle school in Michigan shouting “build the wall” in the lunch room as their Hispanic peers are moved to tears.

Folks how will we carry the fire so that our televisions are no longer filled with images of hate and intolerance but with tell  stories of love? We the church have to get serious about living the great commandment to love God and love neighbor—we can no longer simply give it lip service we must begin to live lives that reflect that ethic.  Our country desperately needs it—we desperately need it.

If we don’t carry the fire, who will?  

Our call has not changed— the core values of Jesus Christ have not changed--- we have been given an opportunity to testify  -- today we carry the fire with us out through those doors  into the world to create a world,  to  create an America where liberty and justice are really  for all.

AMEN