sermon excerpts: Dark and Twisty

Is anyone familiar with the TV show Grey’s Anatomy? It’s the latest of medical dramas featuring the restless lives of young doctors, Dr. Meredith Grey being the title character. She has been told by one of her colleagues, "Yeah, but you're all dark and twisty inside." And there's a list of reasons why her friends think so: dysfunctional relationship with her parents, something else involving tequila, her involvement with inappropriate men.

This line, “dark and twisty” became a catchphrase for her character and for the show. And it’s not just this fictional doctor in a fictional hospital who could be described that way. I think we all have times when we feel that way. Maybe we’re not the best people that we can be. We all have issues that need work and some days we’re all dark and twisty. That is how life is.

In fact, that is how the world is. Our path through life is dark and twisty. We cannot journey through the wilderness on the straight and narrow, there will be hill and valleys, bends and curves in the road.

We’ve heard in Luke that the story of Jesus begins with John. John is the one who gathers the people, who points the way. We hear quite clearly his call to repent and make changes; it is not open to interpretation, these are things that must be done. He is preparing the way for the one.

And yet, we also heard that someone else had to prepare the way for him, before John the Baptizer could begin his ministry. The passage from Luke 1 is traditionally called The Benedictus and it is used each morning as a canticle in some church traditions. It is Zechariah’s song of praise.

He speaks to the power and mercy of God, but also mentions the work that John would do. It’s more than a proud father imagining what life would be like for his child. This was a man of faith knowing his son is ordained to a higher calling. He gives his son a tall order to fill, “to give knowledge of salvation to his people by the forgiveness of their sins.”

This was something different: salvation through forgiveness. Up until that point, salvation was achieved primarily through ritual sacrifice performed by a priest, or on the battlefield by defeating one’s enemy. Either way was bloody and temporary. New armies and enemies arose to replace the ones gone before. And each year the people went to the Temple to offer their sacrifice.

This is not to say that forgiveness is a one-and-done deal; it is always an ongoing process because forgetting is not forgiving. Forgiveness is about restoring relationships between people and with God. Forgiveness assumes a long term commitment to others and a willingness to work together through tough issues. Forgiveness takes into account the full involvement of community, family and neighbours in people’s lives. Salvation is about restoring all of these relationships in the same way that forgiveness tries.

Jesus’ life centred around building community. We see it in the fellowship of his disciples, and the way he reached out to those on the fringes of society: prostitutes, lepers, widows, the poor, the outcast. He brought them into relationship with each other to build community, care and understanding so that forgiveness could happen. True forgiveness can’t be anonymous, it can’t happen between strangers. It can transform strangers into friends and enemies into allies.

... God’s greatness and goodness endures through all the cycles of life. God’s promise of love, deliverance and sanctuary remains steadfast and true. Zechariah highlights this point with the first words he’d spoken in months.

His song of praise ends with some beautifully poetic verses, “By the tender mercy of our God, the dawn from on high will break upon us, to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace." Brightness is promised us, we will have a guide. That is not a guarantee that we will never know trouble or sorrow; life will not be all sunshine and roses if we follow this path. There will be unexpected events and consequences of past decisions come back to haunt us. Following in the way of John the Baptist and of Jesus Christ will not immunize us from the suffering and setbacks of life.

The road will remain dark and twisty. Although John the Baptist is calling us all to prepare a way that is level and smooth, straight and easy to travel so that all may come to know God. He is preparing a highway through the wilderness of life, removing obstacles so that we may travel freely.

Although the trouble with a highway is that people on it are so obsessed with getting to the destination, they forget about enjoying the journey. We see it in road rage and animosity towards those travelling the same route. It is an imperfect metaphor, which is why we must also remember Zechariah’s words about his son, bringing the light to darkness, pointing the way to morning out of the midnight darkness. The world is dark and twisty. If we wait for someone to come and rescue us, it will continue to remain that way.

In a later episode, our intrepid Dr. Meredith Grey vowed to be bright and shiny, but came to the realization that that wasn’t who she was either. We are who we are, and as we travel through life what is most important is that we get on the road and continue to move forward. Moving to a deeper understanding of ourselves, our relationship with God, seeking the way of Christ, the presence of the Holy Spirit, and the difference we might make in the world. And as we with each step we take, we remember that we are not alone. Thanks be to God, Amen.