Eagle Harbor Congregational Church, UCC

Sermon preached by Rev. Emily Tanis-Likkel

August 28, 2011

I can’t understand you when you’re whining

My kids are learning that whining does not get them what they want. I’ve taken to saying, I can’t understand you when you’re whining. They sigh, start over with their request, using please this time and maybe even “with sugar on top.” Sometimes they whine because they are hungry or thirsty and they forget that they can make themselves a snack. Okay, truth be told, I whine too. I whine about being hungry or thirsty, too hot too cold, the weather, the pile of mail to go through. I whine about the lack of universal health care and the gap between rich and poor and about how we’d be happier in Europe.

The book of Malachi is the last book in the Old Testament. At the time it was written, about 500 years before Christ, the Jews were back in Jerusalem after a long exile. The temple had been rebuilt. They were finally able to worship again at the temple, but after some time they felt disillusioned.  They looked around them and asked why the non-Jews seemed to have it better than them. They complained to God out of their unhappiness, and their offerings to God in the temple comprised of left-overs. The prophet Malachi said to the Hebrews, “You have wearied the Lord with your words. Yet you say, “How have we wearied him?” By saying, “All who do evil are good in the sight of the Lord, and he delights in them.” Or by asking, “Where is the God of justice?” I read a book last week called Why Doesn’t God act more like God? which explores why God does not always intervene when we think God should. I believe God does intervene at times, but that the primary way God acts is through human beings. St. Teresa of Avila wrote “Christ has no body now on earth but yours, no hands but yours, no feet but yours, Yours are the eyes through which to look out Christ's compassion to the world. Yours are the feet with which he is to go about doing good; yours are the hands with which he is to bless...” God acts through us. But we are given a choice. God does not manipulate us, so we are not coerced into carrying out the justice God commands. We humans are the stewards of the earth, we are to take care of one another, we are to love and show compassion and work toward shalom. But sometimes instead of doing these things, we weary God with our words.

When I step back and remember my creator, I repent of my complaining and say thank you to God. I’m sorry that we humankind have sucked so many resources from the earth, that we’ve polluted this beautiful place to the point of damaging the very climate of it. I’m sorry that we humankind have allowed so many children to die of starvation. I’m sorry that children die of malaria because they don’t have mosquito nets. Or immunizations. Or medication. I’m sorry that I become numb to the pain in the world. I’m grateful to live in this country. I’m thankful for food in the pantry and coffee in the morning. I can turn on the tap and have water. Thank you, thank you God.

In the book No-Impact Man: The Adventures of a Guilty Liberal who Attempts to Save the Planet, Colin Beaven was sick and tired of his own whining. He took a step back and realized that he was doing a lot of complaining about the state of the world and not doing much to improve it. He made a radical shift in his life-style for one year, taking his toddler daughter and wife Michelle along with him. They did not change everything at once. They began with attempting to go garbageless. Not one paper napkin, no food packaging, not even recycled items. Next they gave up transportation other than their feet, bike or scooter. That included elevators, unless the stairs were only permitted in emergency. They ate only local, seasonal food. They went from eating mostly take-out to all home-cooked. Fast food meant peanut butter sandwich or cheese and fruit. The most difficult change was pulling the circuit breaker on their electricity. Now that the project is over, the book published and documentary seen, Colin and Michelle have gone back to some modern conveniences. But some things they would never consider going back to: using throwaway cups, eating food out of season, television. They still spend their evenings reading by beeswax candlelight instead of watching reality TV. They integrated life-style changes that made a significant reduction in their carbon foot-print. But that wasn’t all. They slowed down. They became happier. They did more for others. They felt a meaning and purpose in life. They stopped whining.

When it comes to faith, actions speak much louder than words. Malachi wrote that the people wearied God with their talk. In my family we often quote one of Brett’s closest friends, Geoffrey, who once said “I’m tired of the talk!” We say it when somebody repeatedly says they are going to do something but haven’t begun, haven’t tried.

Malachi’s audience were half-hearted in their offerings to God. They thought of themselves as righteous, but wearied God with their complaining.  Faith in action is giving away a portion of what we have been given because it is all a gift. Practicing faith is showing compassion because we have been shown compassion. Sometimes we wait to offer our gifts, whether they be gifts of time or money or skill. Sometimes it feels like we need to make more time or money or be somebody else. You are the only hands on this earth that Jesus has. Yours are the only feet. If we human beings do not try to save the planet, show compassion, feed the hungry, love our neighbors, and we wonder why God hasn’t done more to help (act more like God), the problem is with us. God wearies of our words.  The hungry wearies of our words. Will we act? Malachi prophesied about the coming messenger of the covenant, saying, “he is like a refiner’s fire and like fullers’ soap; he will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he will purify the descendants of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, until they present offerings to the Lord in righteousness. Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasing to the Lord as in the days of old and as in former years.” We need to be refined and cleaned, we need to be changed until we offer the right gifts to God and to the world.

I am making a commitment to no-impact week, September 18 through 25: each day has a different focus: consumption, trash, transportation, food, energy, water, giving back, eco-Sabbath.  Gratitude always!! I know that I need some refining. I need to live into “Preach the Gospel at all times. When necessary, use words.”

(Ignatian exercise: Review the last 24 hours. Have you held back from loving and giving genuinely, generously? Imagine the next 24 hours. How can you live by the Spirit, giving your gifts, living into who you are? What word of grace do we need to hear?)

At a certain point we need to trust that there is enough, that we are enough, that God will give us strength enough to live our faith no matter what the circumstances. When we have faith in all circumstances, then we may rejoice in all circumstances. Our joy then is not because of fleeting experience, but because our hearts are being conformed to God’s heart.