Early Sunday morning, Carol and I met with Pastor Debbie in her office before the craziness for her last day at Hope could truly begin. We sat and chatted for a while and Carol gave Pastor Debbie a beautiful cross-stitched angel. I gave Pastor Debbie a booty-shaking dancing llama toy—because we all needed a laugh right then.
In fact, the booty-shaking dancing llama toy is going to be my go-to gift for people in need of a smile.
And then Pastor Debbie pointed out to us several things on the table in her office. There was a ceramic egg that held the exact same Tic-Tac that Jayden had given her many years ago, before he was baptized, before he could take communion but still wanted to be a part of the give and take of communion.
And then, there was this burnt piece of plastic.
I gasped. “Pastor Debbie is that Art’s candle?” I asked her. “Is that the plastic candle that Art set on fire?”
It was. As Pastor Debbie pointed out later when she recounted the story at brunch … she doesn’t throw anything out.
The story of the candle is this:
Many years ago, Art was serving that Sunday as Lay Eucharistic Minister at the eight o’clock service. Because the service is so small, we never have any acolytes so the LEM generally does double duty there and so Art was busy lighting the altar candles and such before the service.
Art was around eighty years old and he loved serving as Lay Eucharistic Minister. He took the job very seriously, so seriously that after my first time as Lay Eucharistic Minister, he offered me several suggestions including standing about two inches closer to Pastor Debbie at the altar. He had serving down to a science. And even though he was in his eighties, he was so incredibly fit. During the Prayers of the People, he would kneel … on the floor … there in the middle aisle. It hurt me just watching him.
So on this particular Sunday, I was watching Art light the candles and I noticed he was attempting to light the candles on either side of the lectern. Now I had served as the Lay Eucharistic Minister the week before and that Sunday, I had noticed that those candles were tiny, plastic tea lights that simply needed to be switched on.
Art was struggling to light the candles and I was about to tell him that the candles were fake when it appeared that he finally got them lit.
I thought to myself, “Well, okay, someone must have switched them out again. What do I know?”
Meanwhile Art and Deacon Pam and Pastor Debbie made their way to the back of the church and the service began.
As the three of them processed into the church, I began to notice a funny smell, like a chemical smell, like something bad was burning. I looked to the front of the church and knew right away what it was. Art had lit those plastic candles and they were now releasing some pretty foul odors.
Okay, I thought, I’m not going say anything. Surely someone will notice and do something about it.
But—nope—everyone just continued on as if everything was perfectly fine.
And then the candle exploded.
Well, maybe “exploded” is a bit of an exaggeration. The candle popped, burst, and then everyone knew what had happened.
And so … a story is born.
Whenever my mom was having a bad day, she’d call me and say, “Tell me again about the time Art set the plastic candle on fire.”
Art’s story helped my mom keep perspective.
Art had it all together. He was a perfectionist. But even he was not immune to mistakes.
I have been coming here to Hope for going on ten years and one of the things that I have loved about the people of Hope from the very beginning is how much they embrace their imperfections, how much they are able to laugh at their mistakes and move on.
In the simplest and smallest of ways—like with Art’s candle—this church says none of us are perfect, not one of us, and yet we still love one another and we are still loved by God—no matter what.
I think that should be the goal of every church, to welcome everyone and acknowledge that in some way, we are all broken, even those of us that seem to have our acts together, even those of us who seem impossibly blessed—we are all broken.
Church is here for the broken.
And God is here to heal.
We can see that in today’s reading from Jeremiah 33:1-13. Let’s be honest. The Old Testament is not an easy read. And sometimes it’s easy to either simplify God’s role in the Old Testament as hell-fire and brimstone God or to focus on the easy Sunday school stories from our childhoods—Noah and the Ark, Joseph and his coat of many colors, Moses parting the Red Sea. Most people’s knowledge of the Old Testament ends at Genesis. Maybe a few progress through Exodus and some may even try a psalm or two. But Jeremiah? Isaiah? That’s a rough theological ride. And don’t get me started on Leviticus.
But today’s reading from Jeremiah deserves our attention. There is poetry here if you listen. There is love here. Yes, God punishes—as he did to Jerusalem, alluded to in today’s reading.
But God’s role is so much more in our lives.
Too often we look at the God of the Old Testament as serving one role. He is the Father our Mother warned us about when we did something wrong as a kid. What did Mom say? “Wait until your father gets home.”
But just like (hopefully) your father and my father were more than just the punisher-in-chief, God is so much more and we see that here today in Jeremiah.
Listen again to verses 6-8.
God says, “I am going to bring it recovery and healing; I will heal them and reveal to them abundance of prosperity and security. I will restore the fortunes of Judah and the fortunes of Israel, and rebuild them as they were at first. I will cleanse them from all the guilt of their sin against me, and I will forgive all the guilt of their sin and rebellion against me.”
Listen again.
I will heal.
I will restore.
I will cleanse.
I will forgive.
We are broken but God will heal us. He will restore us. He will cleanse us. He will forgive.
I can’t think of more beautiful words.
I can’t think of a better definition of love.
And then God, in verse 9 says some of the most important words you will ever read. Listen. He says, “And this city shall be to me a name of joy, a praise and a glory before all the nations of the earth who shall hear of all the good that I do for them; they shall fear and tremble because of all the good and all the prosperity I provide for it.”
These words are so vital to our understanding of God’s role in our lives.
Nations of the earth will fear Him, not because He is the God who punishes, but because He is the God who rewards. He is the God that provides all things good in our lives. He is the God of love. He is the Good Shephard watching over His flock.
He is the God who takes what is broken and makes it whole again.
[And in case you think “prosperity” here means that God will give us money, let me direct you again to today’s Gospel reading from Matthew 19:16-22 where Jesus tells the rich man he must sell all his possessions and give to the poor if he hopes to be perfect. The rich man walks away in tears because he had a lot of possessions.]
God will take what is broken and make it whole.
He will heal. He will restore. He will cleanse and He will forgive.
Words to live by.
Words to embrace.
Words to help you make it through the day.
Amen.
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