About a month ago…on my drive home from
Valdosta…I saw something I’d never seen before.
On an otherwise clear day as the sun was
setting…I spotted a rainbow…very faintly stretching up over the trees and
disappearing into the scattering of clouds.
There hadn’t been any rain.
It wasn’t even particularly humid.
And yet this rainbow appeared.
Curious…I pulled off the road to make
sure my eyes weren’t playing tricks on me.
They weren’t.
Although it was very faint…there clearly
was a rainbow emerging near the Georgia-Florida state line.
And as I looked at this amazing sight…I
was reminded of the verse in Genesis…the one where God says that the “bow in
the clouds” would be the reminder of God’s everlasting covenant…that promise
God has made to every living thing…that never again will God try to annihilate
us.
I thought about the symbolism of a
rainbow.
That colorful spectrum of light has
served as a sign of hope to so many.
It’s the mark of pride and assurance of
goodness…and the visible symbol of that pledge that we are never alone.
Such a graphic message in the sky seems
an important one for all of us to remember in these times when we are witnessing
cruelty in our cities…both near and far… and as we bear up under the burdens
placed on us spiritually…mentally…and financially.
Yes…we are living in dark times.
And Jesus…in speaking to his
disciples…both then and now…also wants us to remember that in our moments when
we are feeling despair and at our lowest…He is still with us.
He is that member of the Godhead who has
been there…done that…felt that…been rejected and betrayed…beaten up and
killed….and yet…as the Maya Angelou poem says…like air…he tells us “I rise.”
I am not defeated.
I am not dead.
I am Love…and Love always wins.
It may not feel like it now.
We may not be able to look around and
see it…or experience it… at this time.
But Love does win.
Our saints…those lives that we look to
and celebrate on this Sunday…have known and lived by this type of assurance.
They’re trust and connection to this
life…ministry…death and resurrection of Jesus was that critical element that
kept them going…even in the face of adversity and hostility and even danger.
Those of us who have played along year
after year with the Forward Movement online game Lent Madness have had the
benefit of reading and learning about some ordinary people celebrated for their
extraordinary ability to keep on the path with God when it might have been
easier or simpler just to give up.
Naturally…we have those well-known
saints of the church: Paul who became one of the major writers and shapers of the
Early Church.
St. Francis of Assisi who found a true
kinship with all living creatures…and we remember and celebrate him with our
Blessing of the Animals each year.
And St. Mary Magdalene…a towering figure…who
has been called “the apostle to the apostles” as the first witness of the
resurrected Christ at the tomb.
But in our Episcopal Calendar…we also
remember those a little closer to our time…who endured suffering and many
setbacks…and yet remained persistent in standing for what was the good…and
right…and joyful thing.
Two years ago…we celebrated the 50th
anniversary of women being ordained in The Episcopal Church.
But long before there was an Allison
Cheek or a Carter Heyward…there was the Reverend Florence Li Tim-Oi…who we
remember on January 24th.
Li was born in 1907 in Hong Kong…one of
five children.
Her father was the principal at an
English school and Catholic nuns had taught her mother.
While her dad had hoped one of his sons
would become a pastor…it was Li who was drawn to the Gospel.
She graduated from seminary as the
Sino-Japanese War broke out in 1937.
She was working with refugees at the
Morrison Chapel of the Anglican Church in Macau when the Anglican bishop of
Hong Kong and Maucau….Ronald Owen Hall…needed a priest.
Maucau was in social disarray and there
were no men to serve the church.
And so Hall took it upon himself to ordain
Li to be first a deaconess and then made her the first woman ordained to the
priesthood in the Anglican Communion in May, 1941.
Word of this ordination was not
well-received…and the Archbishop of Canterbury ordered Hall that either he
would have to give up his holy orders…or Li would have to give up hers.
Florence Li Tim-Oi decided to take the
fall…but continued to do work in schools in China…but she was not safe.
In 19-61…she was forced to undergo
re-education and embraced Chinese socialism…and was sent to work in a factory
making syringes and medicine cabinets.
The Red Guard would raid her home
periodically over the next several years…taking valuable possessions and
causing her physical injury.
In 19-82…she finally left China and
moved to Toronto…where the Canadian Anglican Church embraced her and reinstated
her orders as a priest.
She died in 19-92 at age 85.
In our own diocese…we celebrate the life
and Christian witness of St. Anna Alexander…the daughter of former slaves of
the Butler Plantation on Georgia’s coast.
Even though Georgia Bishop C.K. Nelson ordained
her as the first Black deaconess in the Episcopal Church in 19-07 …Anna had to
accomplish her mission of educating children without much help from the Church.
And she did it against the backdrop of the
Georgia of the early 20th century… when Jim Crow laws were in full
swing…and “good” Christians would leave their white churches on Sundays to
attend a lynching in the afternoon.
Despite the bigotry and hatred of the
day…Anna refused to let other people’s prejudices stop her.
And to this day…she is remembered for
her commitment to the people of Pennick…Darien and Brunswick…and for inspiring
so many to seek higher education and better opportunities.
And she grounded all her work in the
Bible and the Episcopal Book of Common Prayer.
And no doubt…Luke’s version of the
beatitudes…spoke to the heart of her task.
Because when the Jesus of Luke talks
about blessed are the poor…the hungry…and the sorrowful…he’s not saying:
“Yippee! Isn’t this fantastic to be the
outcast!”
To be “blessed” in this case is to be
with Jesus…with those who are left waiting and wanting at the gates.
To be “blessed” is to be with the
Florence Li Tim-Ois’ and the Anna Alexanders…caught in the systems that fail to
stand with them…and in a world that denigrated them.
And yet…they faced the challenges…and with
the strength of Jesus… they stood up…rose up… and refused to let bitterness
sour their spirits.
This version of the beatitudes from our
Gospel captures the truth of the saints…and all of us…who are striving to stick
close to God in times that test and challenge our faith.
It’s the message to that our pains are seen…felt…understood…and
will be vindicated.
It’s the “bow in the clouds” that the
Spirit is still with us in thick of things…and continuing to call us into
action.
We are empowered to turn our suffering
into a drive to make things better.
Because out of our pain…we have been
given the gift of empathy.
And our ability to empathize …our
willingness to help one another through difficulty…to do to others as we would
like them to do to us…is the way we stay in a right relationship with God.
It’s that understanding that leads us to
take care of those who came here seeking a better life…just like our ancestors
did.
Make sure that we feed people…and give
them shelter…because that’s the right thing to do.
It’s what keeps us working for a just
society…where all may have the opportunity to live with one another in peace.
We may not be sainted yet…but the lives
of the saints…from throughout the course of time…can point us in the direction of
a life well lived…making a difference for another person.
And with each act of kindness…we are
making this a better place on earth.
In the name of our One Holy and
Undivided Trinity.
