Based on Matthew 21:23-32
There was an incredible story about a mom, her daughter and a very helping hand on Thanksgiving Day. The day before Thanksgiving Lucy Crutchfield called to tell her daughter that she was sending her daughter money to buy food till the end of the month. As Lucy was leaving this message on what she thought was her daughters voice mail, she was also informing her daughter that sending her this money was going to put Lucy even further behind on her mortgage, but not wanting to see her daughter and grandchildren suffer, she would do what she could. Lucy's house was already in foreclosure. Her own mother had recently died and she was trying to pay off the house. Little did Lucy Crutchfield know that she had infact left the right message at the wrong number on someone else's voice mail. The voice mail Lucy left the message on belonged to Virginia Saenz a real estate agent. Virginia was moved by the desperate voice of Lucy as she listened to the message. Virginia returned Lucy's phone call to not only tell her that she had left the message on the wrong voice mail, but that she understood that everyone right now was in a real bind. Virginia told Lucy to go ahead and write the check for her mortgage and that Virginia would go shopping for Lucy's daughter and grandchildren. When Virginia called Lucy's daughter and asked what they needed, Lucy's daughter just told Virginia that they needed bread and milk. Virginia heard this message and knew that they needed a lot more than just bread and milk. So Virginia took along with her, her own 14 year old son and they went shopping on Thanksgiving morning for all the good things that children like to eat and got enough for Lucy's daughter and her children to live on until the end of the month. This story is rightly entitled "Wrong number miracle."
When we listen to what God is calling us to do and we answer God with our hearts willing to do what God wants, there is no telling what we can do. All of us have opportunities to do good work for God and God's people. All God wants of us is to answer God honestly and with true devotion and trust in God's will and way. Sometimes in our prayers to God, we can do God a lot of lip service with our hearts still stuck on ourselves. This can be especially true for people who worship in Liturgical Traditions. Being someone who is in love with Liturgical Traditions, I do not know what my life would be like without a Liturgy that helps me focus my entire self in the worship of God. However, if we are not careful all of the prayers we say, all of the bowing and kneeling and standing and reciting can easily become an abstract story recitation rather than become the Gospel actively alive in and through our life story.
Reading the Scriptures and saying prayers day after day is a necessity if we are to better understand what God wants for our lives. However, if what we pray does not become our intention to be actively pursuing God's will than our prayer remains just empty words and lives that are like the second son in Today's Gospel. We say yes to God in our prayers, but no to God with our lives. Injustice continues to live in our world. The poor continue to struggle to survive. People who have never heard that God loves them still think that God does not care. Our lives lived with love for God and neighbor is how the Gospel jumps out of the page and becomes a living testimony to the Person and power of Jesus Christ in our world.
Yesterday we remembered World AIDS Day. A day to recall that there are many suffering and sick people in the world who need to be remembered. We are also hearing how our Senate is watering down the Health Care Reform Bill and our Legislators are doing it without people speaking up and letting them remember who this bill is being written for. The District of Columbia's City Council just voted for marriage equality allowing same-sex couples to get married. These and other situations are places where the voices and lives of people who are followers of Jesus Christ can and need to be actively involved. A world with a killer disease such as AIDS and almost no one paying attention anymore cannot be allowed to continue without Christians and other people of good will taking action. With the prognosis of over 45,000 Americans said to be dying due to a lack of health care, the watering down of the public option in the Health Care Reform bill cannot go unchallenged. With the Catholic Archdiocese of Washington threatening to discontinue services to the poor if D.C. passes marriage equality, Christians and all fair minded people must be ready to speak up and take a stand for what is right. When the Salvation Army is checking green cards to see if illegal immigrants should share in incoming Christmas funds, people need to be speaking up and saying that this is wrong. It is not enough to pay God lip service, we must do it with our lives and our whole selves in the activity. And we must never apologize for being a voice for those who cannot speak up for themselves.
Where in our lives are we praying yes to God, but saying no in our actions? What is a place in our lives where we can actually do what God has asked us to do, even though we have already said no? Have we been putting off that phone call to our legislators about health care reform? Do we have the ability to write a letter to the editor of our local newspaper about the anti-homosexuality bill in Uganda? Do you know of someone calling for help that we can actually do something for, but have been putting it off?
Look with pity, O heavenly Father, upon the people in this land who live with injustice, terror, disease, and death as their constant companions. Have mercy upon us. Help us to eliminate our cruelty to these our neighbors. Strengthen those who spend their lives establishing equal protection of the law and equal opportunities for all. And grant that every one of us may enjoy a fair portion of the riches of this land; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (Book of Common Prayer, #36 For the Oppressed, Page 826).
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