“To Make the Best of a Bad Situation”
A sermon by Sid Burgess for Edgewood PC, Birmingham, AL
October 14, 2007
Texts: Jeremiah 29:1,4-7, Psalm 66:1-12
You have heard me say it before; and, you’ll hear me say again.
Suffering, at some time, in some manner, is inherent in the human
condition. Illness, injury, anxiety, heart ache, grief, distress--at
some time, in some manner, will eventually come to us all. No
one--neither the royal family nor the first family, neither the rich
and famous nor those of humble
origin and modest means. No one gets an exemption. After all, we are
human and not divine--mere mortals with finite bodies and limited
knowledge. Our bodies are susceptible to disease, accident, and the
ravages of age. In addition, the human mind is fallible. We make
mistakes, and we suffer from the mistakes of others. What’s more,
God has given human beings freedom--freedom to do good, to help
others, to achieve positive ends means also the freedom to do wrong,
to injure others, to cause suffering. Put all of that together with
volatile weather, malfunctioning machinery,
plus ‘war and rumor of war,’ and what you get is the certainty that
somewhere along life’s way, “it’s gonna hurt.”
Today’s first scripture lesson recalls a time when Israel’s finest
citizens were suffering “big time.” Five centuries before the time
of Christ Babylonian conquerors uprooted the top echelon of Judean
society and took the “cream of the crop” off into exile. Babylon’s
theory was take away the leadership and the conquered people would
be more docile, easier
to rule. Last week we heard something of the despair of these
once-privileged exiles. We read the melancholy complaint of those
who once had it all, but now had nothing.
1 By the rivers of Babylon—
there we sat down and there we wept . . . (Ps. 137)
So what are the defeated and abandoned people of the Southern tribes to do? Among their options: rebel against their captors, sabotage the government, plot their escape, or fantasize about a miraculous rescue.
Prophet Jeremiah has another idea. Speaking on behalf of Holy God
Jeremiah tells the Hebrew exiles to make the best of a bad
situation. Hunker down for the long haul, build houses, plant
gardens, enter into relationships.
“Seek the welfare of the city in which you live.” Last week the poet
of the exiles cried: “How can we sing the Lord’s song in a strange
land?”
This week, God authorizes Jeremiah to answer: build houses, plant
gardens, raise families. “Seek the welfare of the city in which you
live.” In other words, do what you can, with what you have, where
you are, for those around you--family, friends, neighbors, even your
enemies. Popular wisdom calls it making lemonade from lemons. Life
serves up sour lemons, make lemonade.
Now this is not the first experience our ancestors in faith have had with exile. It had happened a century and a half earlier to the Northern Kingdom. At the time, our northern cousins were more prosperous, more urban, more sophisticated. But then the mighty Assyrians swooped down and carried substantial numbers of them into captivity. Except for those few people left behind in the land, and who later came to be called Samaritans, the Northern tribes--“so-called” lost tribes of Israel--disappeared from history.
One is left to wonder if they had had a Jeremiah to give them wise counsel. Had those earlier exiles been instructed to build houses, plant gardens, raise families. “Seek the welfare of the city . . . ,” make lemonade from lemons. One wonders if they, too, might have survived.
Oh my, so much tiresome ancient history! Northern kingdom, Southern kingdom. That was then, this is now. That was there, and this is America, land of the free, home of the brave, the most powerful nation on earth. No one’s ever going to take us off into exile!
Need I mention 9.11, when a rag-tag band of terrorists taught the whole nation just how vulnerable we can be. What’s more, most of us are far more precariously perched than we like to think. Truth be told, just one or two missed paychecks . . . . Just one or two major, unexpected expenses--the car, the roof, the furnace. Just one sudden injury or illness. Just one dread diagnosis--cancer, heart disease, stroke. Just one broken relationship. One parent in decline, one child in jeopardy, and quicker than you can say King Nebuchadnezzar we could be hustled off into exile!
“It couldn’t happen to me,” and yet, sooner or later, everyone gets
a turn. Everyone gets to take a turn . . . in exile. Sooner or
later, disease or injury or age or disagreement or failure is going
to carry us off into exile--a place and condition entirely foreign
to us. A place we are unprepared to go, where we don’t speak the
language, don’t know the
rules, and for certain, we don’t like the food!
I remember my Dad trying to tell me this when I was in my early 20’s. I’d had some success in college, and early in my career. He tried to warn me that the bowl full of cherries could quickly become a basket of lemons. I thought to myself, ‘What in the world is he talking about?’ Soon enough, I found out. Like they say, the dumb old parents of teenagers become the wise and insightful parents of twenty-somethings.
So, what’s a person to do when life “goes to hell in a hand basket?” What’s a person to do when all the props have been removed? When all that once was familiar has been lost? When all that once seemed so secure has become unsteady? When all that once was firm has become “sinking sand?”
Our temptations are the same as those of our Hebrew ancestors. Fight
. . . or flight . . . or fantasize. Fight: Dispute the facts.
Challenge authority. Hire a lawyer. Flight: Change jobs or schools,
change doctors, change partners. Fantasize: Pretend it never
happened. Pretend it will all go away. Or, we can follow the divine
counsel delivered by Jeremiah: Build
and plant. Enter into relationships. Seek the welfare of the city.
In a word, “Face reality and respond positively.” In the face
of loss, in answer to defeat, following disappointment, here is what
the people of God are instructed to do: face reality and respond
positively. Get up off the floor, dust off your britches, and make
the best of the situation by starting up and starting over. Build
and plant, enter into relationships--make new friends. Get your mind
off your own situation by
seeking the welfare of others. In medical/psychological parlance,
the ability to bounce back from disappointment, even from tragedy,
is called resilience.
There are several well-know examples of resilient people in our time. John Walsh began his highly successful crime-fighting TV show, America’s Most Wanted, following the abduction and murder of his six-year-old son. Candy Lightner responded to the death of her daughter by organizing MADD, Mother’s Against Drunk Drivers, When her beloved sister died, Nancy Brinker created the Susan B. Komen Foundation to fight breast cancer.
Heaven forbid such tragedies should ever come to you, but even dealing with “split milk” and the common cold call for the exercise of resilience.
But how? From deep in exile . . . . Far, far from home, from the
familiar . . . . From deep inside the hurt, the disappointment, even
the despair, how does one summon the strength, the energy, the will
to start up and start over? Psalm 66 says we can start in this way:
“Make a joyful noise to God, all the earth; sing the glory of God’s
name; give to God glorious praise” (vv.1,2). Might have to begin
slowly, and start quietly. Might have to start singing through
clinched teeth, but keep repeating song. When the chips are
down, when disaster descends, when death itself seems
imminent, “Make a joyful noise to God . . ., sing the glory of God’s
name.” Sing and remember “great things God has done.” Remember when
“God turned the sea into dry land; they passed through the river on
foot.”
Remember the Exodus, how God brought our Hebrew ancestors out of slavery in Egypt, through the wilderness and into the promised land. Remember that God brought the exiles home to rebuild the city of Jerusalem. Remember that Jesus healed the lepers. Remember that God raised Jesus from the dead. Remember that “the work of God in Christ is not over.” These sacred memories gives us the courage to build and to plant when all that we once held dear has been torn down. These sacred memories give us courage to enter into new relationships even when the old ones have left us wounded and discouraged. This divine hope--“the work of God in Christ is not over”---gives us the courage to seek the welfare of others even when our own well-being seems threatened. This hope, this faith, this love, can help us to make the best of a bad situation.
Now to the One who by the power at work within us
is able to do far more abundantly than all we ask or imagine,
to God be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus
to all generations, forever and ever. Ephesians 3:20, 21