Blowin' in the Wind
Proper 14C
Heb. 11:1-3, 8-16; Luke 12:32-40
8/8/10
Lorraine Ljunggren

        Last Sunday evening Jim and I, and a number of you, attended the Joan Baez concert at the North Carolina Museum of Art. It was a wonderful evening of folk music under the stars which took some of us back to our youth and which brought to life some amazing songs for new generations who were there.

        Some of the songs Joan sings are about love, most are about everyday people, and some are about the circumstances of life which surround us on every side. One of the songs she sang was written by Woody Guthrie after a January 1948 plane crash in Los Gatmos Canyon, Fresno County, California. The song is probably most well known by the simple title “Deportees.” Guthrie is said to have written the song for several reasons. One was to protest a government policy of destroying crops to keep food prices higher and allegedly more stable. He didn't think it was right to destroy food when so many people in the world are hungry. So, the song opens with the lines: “The crops are all in and the peaches are rott'ning The oranges piled in their creosote dumps.”

        Another reason for the song was because the migrant workers from Mexico who died in the plane crash were never named in the newspaper articles which followed – only the names of the white crew members and security guard were listed. The refrain imagines their names when it says: “Goodbye to my Juan, farewell Roselita Adios mis amigos, Jesus y Maria You won't have your names when you ride the big airplane All they will call you will be 'deportees.'” (Deportees [Plane Wreck at Los Gatmos] c-1961 renewed)

        I remarked to Jim and several people and posted on my Facebook page that what I regret about Joan Baez' concert is that the music she sings is still relevant. Our country is embroiled in what can only be called a battle over our immigration policies – or lack thereof. I want all of us in our country to be involved in a movement which will lead to just immigration policies remembering that almost all of our ancestors were once strangers in this land.

        In Luke's Gospel Jesus says, “Do not be afraid, little flock, for it is [God's] good pleasure to give you the kingdom. Sell your possessions, and give alms. Make purses for yourselves that do not wear out, an unfailing treasure in heaven, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is, your heart will be also.” (Lk.12:32-34) At first blush is may seem that today's Gospel is only about our worldly possessions including our money. But, I don't think so.

        Joan ended her concert singing a Bob Dylan song she said she hasn't sung in the United States for awhile. Now Dylan claims the song was not written to be a protest song back in 1962 but it certainly became one for a generation of Americans. I believe the lyrics clearly can be interpreted to apply to issues of civil rights, war and peace and, I would submit, economic justice as well. The song asks some seemingly simple but piercing and insightful questions: “How many roads must a man walk down Before you call him a man? … Yes, 'n' how many times must the cannonballs fly Before they are ever banned? … Yes, 'n' how many years can some people exist before Before they're allowed to be free? Yes, 'n' how many times can a man turn his head And pretend he just doesn't see? Yes, 'n' how many ears must one man have Before he can hear people cry? Yes, 'n' how many deaths will it takes till he knows That too many people have died? The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind, The answer is blowin' in the wind.” (Bob Dylan, 1962 renewed 1990)

        As I said, I regret that the themes of many of the songs Joan sang are still relevant. The immigration debate certainly involves divides along racial and class lines. Our nation and others are bogged down in wars which seem never to come to an end even though we pour billions of dollars and thousands upon thousands of lives into the war machine. [And, like David's t-shirt says today, 'I'm already against the next war.']

        We are once again entangled in issues reminiscent of the civil rights era – race issues which seem to have emerged from their hiding places since the U.S. elected a president born in Hawaii of mixed race parents. Someone would have to be ignoring all the media to miss the ways in which the rhetoric of fear and alarm around us is reaching epidemic proportions. It even raises its head as close by as the debates and political wrangling over where in our county our children and youth sit in a classroom and who sits next to them. In addition, whatever our personal position on marriage equality, which I favor, a poisonous fear-mongering is still being used in the attempt to codify discrimination into state constitutions.

        So, what are we to do as people of faith living in this present time? Jesus says, “Be dressed and ready for action and have your lamps lit; be like those who are waiting for their master to return from the wedding banquet, so that they may open the door for him as soon as he comes and knocks. Blessed are those…whom the master finds alert when he comes; truly I tell you, he will fasten his belt and have them sit down to eat, and he will come and serve them…You also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an unexpected hour.” (Lk. 12:35-36)

        Jesus follows his comments about how we relate to our material wealth, and how the measure of a person is found in what we value in our hearts, with a caution to be ready for action. The kingdom which God desires we possess has little to do with kingship as societies define it. The 'kingdom' which God desires will most fully come into being when we, as God's people, do all in our power to make it a reality.

        From years of reading the Gospels I keep coming to the conclusion that God in Christ Jesus is counting on us to be bearers of the Good News. And, by bearers of the Good News, I mean being more than people who can tell the stories of our faith – I mean being people who put faith into action! I keep coming to the conclusion that the servant leadership – to me so plainly clear in Jesus' life and ministry – is our calling. Servant leadership springs from love of God and love of neighbor – it springs from faith.

        And, I know, sometimes 'faith' seems so elusive – like trying to grab a seashell in the shallows as the tide is changing, or like trying to follow the path of a butterfly dancing from flower to flower, or like trying to find answers as they blow in the wind.

        One of the most often quoted lines in The Bible from Hebrews says, “Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” (Heb. 11:1)

My friends, that is the kind of faith God has in us! It is that 'assurance of things hoped for' – the hope God has for our world, her peoples, and her creatures. That we would learn to live in peace and harmony – that we would learn to share the abundant resources of this, yes, fragile earth, our island home, so that all would be fed and all would enjoy the benefits of justice and of freedom – that we would learn ourselves and teach others that respecting the dignity of very human being and seeing in them the image and likeness of God are ways into the heart of God.

        The kind of faith God has in us is 'the conviction of things not seen' – though perhaps I sense that so much more clearly than I can describe it in words. It is the kind of faith in us which gives God insight into who we are – into our heart of hearts – into our innermost being where what we value most can be found.

        You see, I believe that, like love, faith is a two-way street. God loves us and has tremendous faith in us. And, in like manner, we are to love in return and to have such faith in God that we can live without fear, ready for action, taking action each day to serve one another as Jesus the Christ serves.

        Dare I say, I think God looks forward to the day when we have no need for songs of protest but only songs of joy. Oh, that we will make that day come soon! Amen.

©2010 Lorraine Ljunggren