This last weekend I was in Spokane giving my sister some
relief
in
caring for my 91 year old mother.
They live together, and Barbara provides total care for
Mom
along
with the help of a few home health aides,
so whenever possible I go over there to give her a break.
On Saturday morning we got the news
about
the huge earthquake that hit Nepal.
It is bad enough to try to comprehend the extent of such a
natural disaster,
but
for us the impact of the news was worse,
because
in a real sense people there are second family to us.
In 1995 when my first son-in-law and my nephew, Barb’s
son,
were
killed in a recreational accident,
one
of the outcomes was that Barb came into possession
of
her son Steve’s import business from Nepal.
It was then that we discovered
that he had been quietly taking business profits
and
turning them back into public works projects in Nepal.
My sister is a deacon in the Diocese of Spokane
and
serves at the Cathedral there,
and
suddenly she was seeing a whole new diaconal ministry opening up.
A few months later she and I were in Nepal meeting the
people there
that
Steve had been working with.
We fell in love with the people and the country
despite
the unstable political situation, the poverty and corruption.
Yet there is a beauty to Nepal like no other,
reflected
both in the Annapurna mountain range
that
is a whole string of mountains twice the height of Mt. Rainier,
and
in the beauty and sweetness of the hard working people.
My sister established a non-profit foundation in memory of
her son
and
has used it to support some great work in Nepal,
most
significantly with a school in a tiny village
just
outside the Kathmandu Valley.
When she first visited this village, the road only went so
far;
then
they had to get out and walk the rest of the way.
The village was so poor they didn’t even have garbage,
and
the school – grades K through 4 –
had
a chalk board, a couple of well worn books and an small globe.
That
was it.
The foundation began supplying educational materials
and
working with the villagers to build new classrooms
and
the first toilets in the village.
Scholarships were given to provide for schooling beyond
the 4th grade,
which
covered tuition, uniforms, and books
for
children to leave the village to continue study.
First it was boys, but Barbara also encouraged girls to
get these scholarships.
More girls started attending school,
and
each year Barb would come to the village
and
hand out back packs filled with school supplies.
The mothers then came to Barb and asked for classes for
them too.
When she first came to the village the only local industry
was
hand
pounding large rocks into little rocks for use in road construction.
After a few years of support from the foundation for the
school,
the
whole village began to improve
and
diversify in trade and in what could be manufactured.
And, yes, every time Barb was in Nepal, she registered at
the US embassy,
not
because of political unrest,
but
because everyone knew that THE Earthquake was overdue.
It was important to know who and how many US citizen were
there
for
alerting families back home of survivors and casualties.
And so it finally happened, THE Earthquake,
and
for a desperate 24 hours we heard nothing from Nepal.
Then a call came from Tula Shankya,
the
head of the Kathmandu Handicrafters Guild.
He
and his family had survived the first earthquake and aftershocks.
Their
home had been so damaged that they were sleeping outside
with
so many others in parks and open spaces.
Barb has continued to be in daily communication with him
and now others,
but
there have been some losses and some we have not yet heard from.
The school and the village, we haven’t heard anything from
them yet.
Now why do I tell you all of this?
The answer is in the Gospel and the Epistle reading for
today.
Jesus said, “I am the vine, you
are the branches.”
“Abide in me as I abide in you.”
That divine oneness with God that Jesus lived
is
what he shares with us in a very organic way in this parable.
He is the vine, he supplies life to the branches.
The
branches are all part of that one organic life, that one organism.
No matter how far away one branch may be from
another,
the
branches are all connected.
Our lives are organically connected,
even
if we live on opposite sides of the planet from each other.
If we abide, that is live in, realize that our
source of life is in Jesus,
we
will come to recognize that truth of organic connection.
We
will come to recognize that every living being is brother or sister.
We
will actually come to realize that if another hurts,
I
am hurting too.
We feel that most easily with those we love and who
are near us,
but
have we matured enough to feel it with those whom we don’t see,
who
are farther from us?
Have we matured spiritually enough to feel this?
From the first epistle of John, a rich passage
packed with wisdom, we hear:
“Beloved, let us love one another,
because love is from God…
Beloved, since God loved us so much, we also ought
to love one another.”
“God is love,
and
those who abide in love abide in God, and God abides in them.…
God sent his only Son into the world so that we
might live through him.…
By this we know that we abide in him and he in us,
because
he has given us of his Spirit.…
We love because he first loved us.”
And, “There is no fear in love, but perfect love
casts out fear;
…whoever
fears has not reached perfection in love.”
Love – that is what I am about – love.
You
should know that about me by now.
Love lived out in relationship:
relationships
with those who are near
and
those who are far away,
with
those with whom we have a natural affinity and attraction,
and
those who are hard to get along with,
those
we dislike and those we fear.
Love that comes from God and is given to us
casts
out fear.
When fear is cast out we may come to see
that
those we disliked or even hated
were
actually ones we feared.
Then the whole relationship gets reconfigured.
Once we have looked into each others’ eyes and
breathed the same air,
it
is only a small step
to
seeing that we are indeed related.
We are more similar than different.
We are all branches on the same vine.
We all have the same Divine Source of what animates
our bodies
and
our consciousness.
Then the practical application of this spirituality
of love is easy and apparent.
In the Gospel for today Jesus says to his
disciples,
“Those
who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit,
because
apart from me you can do nothing. …
My
Father is glorified by this,
that
you bear much fruit and become my disciples."
And what is that fruit? It is the mission of the disciples,
which
is to carry out the same love and service that Jesus gave,
the
very same self-giving that Jesus demonstrated
with
each person who came to him.
So
when things like this earthquake happen,
or
a senseless death at the hands of those who are meant to protect life,
or
angry, frustrated rioting,
love
activates a response.
We
do what we can – give, pray,
or
more: engaging in direct service.
We
are always given a chance to activate love.
Every
day the news brings us new opportunities.
If
we say we love God,
but
ignore all these opportunities to love our neighbor,
then
we are either lying to ourselves,
or
have gone numb inside and are hiding out.
Now,
we don’t have to wear ourselves to a frazzle
in
attempts to respond to everything.
Each
of us needs to discern which opportunity to respond to
according
to what each of us has to offer.
And
then live that love everyday in selfless service.
The
Resurrection Presence of Jesus is ready to flood hearts that are open
with
Divine Love,
Love
that can transform our vision
and
empower us to respond in ways we never could imagine.
If
you want to help our sisters and brothers in Nepal,
I
can tell you about one way.
Talk
with me after the Eucharist.
If
the situation in Baltimore pulls at your heart,
examine
your own reactions
and
look deeper at racism here as well as there.
If
you are engaged in a ministry that has captured your heart,
then
may the Holy Spirit empower you to bear much fruit.
And
above all, love.
