As I was thinking about these scriptures, Isaiah 41:8-14 & Luke 19:1-10, and thinking about where we are. We have our annual meeting next week, and we have some big decisions to make.

I was struck by this idea of risk and the question of What are we willing to risk? We are living through what I have heard most of this year, called unprecedented times. That seems to be a buzzword this year. Unprecedented. They certainly are challenging, and they can even be scary. When we get scared, we have this tendency to circle the wagons and look inward and only focus on our own needs rather than seeing the needs of others.

I think there’s a really strong temptation right now to do that, but we’re also living through a time where we need, more than any other time, to stand for something. Because if we don’t stand for anything, it’s that quote I’ve repeated the past two weeks, “not speaking is to speak.” If you don’t stand for anything, then you literally stand for nothing.

Phil had colon cancer, which meant he needed to be near his doctors, and he wasn’t willing to just take the treatments and sit and wait it out. He wanted to be active. He wanted to find hope. So, he walked his trail, he walked his Camino in his own way, and he invited others to walk with him. One of the things that people do when they walk the El Camino is that they keep a journal and they write down each day what happened, what they saw, and who they encountered.

Phil journaled about every lap he took around his property, and he invited people to walk with him. In the process of that. He opened himself up to God ’cause he was not a person of faith. But in the process of the walking, which is what often happens to people on the El Camino, through the process of the walking, the showing up and being present to nature and to others, he found God. God touched his heart, moved him, and gave him hope,

He survived. In fact, he hated the phrase fighting or battling cancer. He said he was dancing with cancer. I’m not sure how many of us who would be in that position could say that. But to have that confidence that he would not be alone.

Our first scripture, Isaiah 41:8-14, is considered to be Second Isaiah.

The first 40 chapters are all about everything that Israel’s done wrong. Now this, and I don’t remember where it changes, but this set of chapters was written later to the Jewish people in exile.

This was written after the Babylonians had come in, they had destroyed Jerusalem, and they had taken the Jews away. They’ve taken them off to Babylon. They feel distant. They feel like they’ve lost their God because they thought God was in the temple in Jerusalem. Now, they don’t have God, they don’t have their land. They don’t have their community. They don’t have anything. Yet to those people who thought they had nothing, God sent a prophet. We don’t think this is actually the same person, which is why it’s called Second Isaiah, but it was a person who wrote under Isaiah’s name to bring comfort.

In this scripture, it says, “Do Not Fear” twice. Even though everything looks like it’s going hell in a hand basket, right? That’s our phrase. We think everything’s falling apart, and we don’t know what’s gonna happen, and we’re scared. God comes and says. Do not fear. Do not be afraid. That is the most repeated phrase in the Bible, whether it’s fear not, or do not fear, or do not be afraid.

God wants us to have that hope. It’s not about an easy life. It’s the hope that Phil had while dealing with colon cancer. It’s the hope that we can have as people of faith.

I think it’s a hope that Zacchaeus had. Zacchaeus is an interesting character. We know some things about Zacchaeus. Luke 9:1-10 tells us he was the chief tax collector. That is significant. We know that he was small in stature, so seeing Jesus in the midst of a crowd was problematic for him. He goes up into the tree. But I wanna suggest this isn’t in the text, but I think that there was within Zacchaeus a longing, or maybe there was this sense that he wasn’t living the way he was supposed to live.

I was walking with some friends the other day, and one said, “You know, it’s like there’s this line that we have inside of us that tells us whether we are living with integrity or not. Are we willing to cross that line? And at what point, at what point do we lose our integrity?” I wonder if Zacchaeus was wondering about that.

The fact that he was a tax collector at that time puts him in that category for the Pharisees of tax collectors and sinners. People who are doing everything wrong. The people you do not wanna associate with are tax collectors and sinners. We don’t talk to them. They were ostracized. Nobody wanted to be around them. As a tax collector, Rome told each tax collector how much they wanted from each district. But the tax collector was free to add their percentage on top. Think pyramid scheme, the top tax collector could add his percentage to all of the tax collectors below him. So he was making some money, but there must have been something within him that was unsettled or discontent. Or else he wouldn’t have been curious about who this Jesus is who brings hope, who helps people know that there is such a thing as forgiveness.

So, he came and saw, and Jesus saw him. And just like Jesus reaches out to all of the other people who’ve been pushed aside and told that they are sinners and unwelcome, Jesus goes to him and says, I’m coming to your house. We’re gonna have dinner, because, as the Pharisees often blamed Jesus for, he ate with sinners and tax collectors. That’s who he was. Because he believed in the community. He didn’t believe in shutting people out. He believed in bringing people together, in helping them, healing them, and giving them hope again. He believed in sharing the good news that they don’t need to be afraid because God is with them. The words from Isaiah, “For I am your God; I strengthen you and I help you.”

Zacchaeus has a major transformation. Luke 19:8, “Zacchaeus stood there and said to the Lord, “Look, half of my possessions, Lord, I will give to the poor, and if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I will pay back four times as much.” That was the thing about tax collectors, they were known for the percentage they wanted for defrauding people. He was willing to pay back the people because he realized it’s not about him, it’s about the needs of others.

How often do we forget to look out for the needs of others?

We’re scared, and so we turn inward. Because we have to protect ourselves, whereas what Jesus calls us to be is looking out for those who need us to say, “You belong, you are loved, and God is with you too.”

Friday was the National Prayer Breakfast, and they met at Shady Maple, and they talked about how blessed they are, and filled their bellies. It’s all you can eat. But instead, I chose to go to St. John’s, where POWER Interfaith had a simple prayer service where we prayed for the earth and for everyone to have what they needed, that no one would go hungry, that no one would feel left out, and that all would know that they are within the love and forgiveness or mercy of God.

We collected food for 12 hours. It was from 7 AM to 7 PM, and during that time, during my shift, I had two people who showed up with food. This is a picture of all the food that was brought in. Three families came looking for food because they said we don’t have anything, and they all left with a bag of groceries.

At St. John’s, even though their food bank is only open two days a week, if someone comes, they believe in giving everyone food. Which was always our rule, too. If you came when we had our food bank here, you got food. Now we send our food donations to Landisville at the Hempfield Community Food Bank.

Five people handed me cash, and I had $45 in an hour of standing at the corner of Chestnut Mulberry. Some of you brought in food this past week, so we took three bins and a box of food. I parked in the parking lot and said, “Can I get some help? I have bins of food.” Four people showed up, unloaded my bins of food, and gave me my bins back.

That’s what it means to say it’s not just about me. That’s about choosing life. It’s about choosing life in every moment of every day. We have that choice. Do we wanna shut down and isolate? Or do we wanna be part of growing the community, of helping others know about the love and presence of Jesus? Can we bring the light of Christ, which is within each of us, to others so that we can bring light to their darkness? Can we bring light and love everywhere we go?

May it be so. Amen.

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