Taking A Long View

Scripture: Deuteronomy 3:23-29

           

Last weekend I had the immense honor of participating in Georgetown Universities “Let Freedom Ring Celebration!” at the Kennedy Center. You see, once a year Georgetown hosts a free concert honoring the legacy of Dr King, and each year they commission two original songs based on a specific aspect of King’s life. This year they chose to focus on Rev. King’s last sermon, which he delivered in Memphis Tennessee the day before his assassination. He went to Memphis in support of striking African American city sanitation workers. The workers planned a sit in to protest unequal wages and working conditions imposed by the mayor. Most of the people who packed the sanctuary that night were sanitation workers.

            In his sermon, Dr. King made a number of biblical illusions to support his message, but he chose to end with a reference from the 3^rd chapter of Deuteronomy, which happens to be one of our lectionary texts today. In this chapter, Moses is telling God how excited he is to one day enter the promised land of Cana, but God interrupts and gives Moses some pretty disappointing  news: “Take a good look,” he says to Moses, “because you will never enter the Promised Land. I have chosen another to bring the people into Canaan.” After 40 years of wandering through the desert this has got to hurt.

Having worked tireless for racial equality, having been beaten, stabbed and ridiculed by his fellow countrymen, Rev. King must have felt a little like Moses that night, as he stood at the pulpit looking over a crowd of people whose parents and grandparents had been share croppers and slaves. And like God’s message to Moses, he wants his people was to continue the long, grueling fight for justice even if he is not able to experience it with them. He writes somewhat prophetically:

“I don't know what will happen now; we've got some difficult days ahead. But it really doesn't matter to me now, because I've been to the mountaintop. And I don't mind. Like anybody, I would like to live a long life – longevity has its place. But I'm not concerned about that now. I just want to do God's will. And He's allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I've looked over, and I've seen the Promised Land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight that we, as a people, will get to the Promised Land.”

Those last words, “I may not get there with you… but we as a people will get to the promise land” became the chorus to the song our choir sang last Monday.

            The story of King’s sermon to the sanitation workers reminds me of another story told by the faith rooted community organizer, Alexia Salvatierra. In 1987 Alexia was in the Philippines trying to build a union of workers on a sugar plantation. She joined the group of mainly women, as they labored long hours for little pay, and struggled to feed their children who were showing signs of mal-nutrition.  As an act of creative resistance, a young innovative woman organized the women to plant banana trees around their huts. Week’s later managers of the plantation (run by an American company) sent guards to tear up the banana plants. Alexia says that as the families wailed, she turned to the woman who came up with the idea and asked:

“ How can you continue in the face of such discouragement?”

She replied that she knew they would win.

Anguished and furious, Alexia asked her, “how will you win!?”

“Soon,” said the organizer.

“Are you crazy? What do you mean ‘soon’?”

“In the time of my daughter’s daughter,” she replied. “Soon.”

Instant gratification is a desire all of us wrestle with; at least I know I do. Myself and others from subsequent generations were born into a world where fast food, instant messaging, Amazon Prime and crash dieting are part of the cultural milieu. Generally speaking, we get what we want and we can get it NOW. There are days when I feel like 1 minute rice just takes too dang long.

Instant gratification is all well and good when it comes to convenience, but what about when it comes to our dreams, our vocations, our relationships, or our faith?  Rationally we all know that important endeavors take time. Rome wasn't built in a day, right? Unconsciously, however, we can't seem to release the expectation that everything should fall into place RIGHT NOW.

I see this unconscious desire demonstrated most clearly in my work with freshman over here at the university. By the Spring semester students believe they should have perfected study habits, an established social group and a junior year internship on the hill all lined up. This stress is compounded by the illusion that everyone has figured it out, which of course isn’t true, because everyone is coming to us with the same frustration. 

The truth is building the life we yearn for takes time, sometimes much longer than we'd like it to, and sometimes unfolding very differently than we think it should. I like to tell the college students how the college friends I still keep in touch with I made my junior year, and the major I graduated with has little to do with the work I do today. But like my students, I can’t tell you how much time I have spent over the years agonizing when my "life" would finally come together. I was so blinded by my desires I couldn't see that I was already living it. Looking back, I realize how much unnecessary stress I put on myself -and those around me trying to force things that are, ultimately, out of our ability to control.  This doesn't mean we shouldn’t try our best or actively strive for what we want. Rather, it is about taking a long view of life. ​

            I have sat with many patients in the hospital who know they have months, weeks, or days to live. With this timeline hanging over their heads it can be easy to get stuck in the immediate worries and fears of preparing for death. It can be easy to become paralyzed with regret. In these situations I try to remind patients to consider questions that have to do with the bigger picture, such as where do you find meaning? What do you want these final days to look like? How do you want your kids and community to remember you? What lessons and values do you want to leave them with? Asking these questions demands that we root ourselves in the present while keeping our eyes on the horizon.

            If you are not facing a terminal illness what can practicing a long view of life look like? Well, consider these examples:

- You get annoyed with a good friend. Is this something you will care about a month from now, how about six months from now? If not, consider moving on, or actively working to resolve the issue sooner rather than later. 

- You fail at something. Is this mistake that will impact your entire future? Will it be something and employer, friends, or family member ask about five years from now? Does it reflect your best effort? If not, make peace with it and resolve to try harder next time. 

- Your family doesn't agree with your lifestyle/identity. Is this something you can say with absolute certainty they will hold against you forever? If not, give them time and space, trusting that one day they will come to accept your truth. 

            As I think about all the unrealized dreams I have for this world and for my own life, I can’t help emphasizing with Moses as he looks out over the Promised Land, knowing he may never get there. But it is also true that Moses has seen miracles in his life time. God has used him to liberate his people and helped him become the man he was born to be. None of his wilderness experience will have been in vain.

            Friends, I hope all of us can say we have seen miracles in our lifetime, even as we wait at the edge of our promised land. May we take heart in these miracles and entrust our future to God, who is actively working to bring about the kingdom Jesus inaugurated.

When?

Very soon.

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Works Cited

Rev Dr Martin Luther King Jr, Sermon:I Have Been To The Mountain Top. Delivered in Memphis, TN. April 3, 1968.

Alexia Salvatierra, Faith Rooted Organizing: Mobilizing the Church in Service To The World. IVP Books. 2014.