Fall Beginnings - Taking a Chance
The Very Rev. Harry Pritchett
Homily for 9:00 and 7:00 Eucharists
Cathedral of St. Philip
August 27, 2006
One of the unique gifts of Hebrew culture is the Biblical view of history. Contrary to most near eastern religions of the time, the Hebrews believed we were going somewhere…we were on our way...history moved forward… it was more lineal than cyclical, as nature-based religions tended to be.. Jesus, too, seemed to express this lineal understanding. The Kingdom of God, the Realm of God, was tasted now in the present, but only in spoonfuls. The full course banquet came later in the future. We are moving on down the road, so to speak, on our way somewhere, not just the repetitious same old, same old. The early church prayed, in the words of the confirmation intercession, that we would “daily increase more and more until we come to thine everlasting Kingdom.” Many of our favorite, more rousing hymns elaborate on this basic understanding of history. “God is Working His Purposes Out As Year Proceeds to Year” or “Come Labor On,” or “Lead On O King Eternal,” or “Ride On, Ride On in Majesty.”
And yet I think the cyclical, seasonal, natural understanding of history is integral to our humanity as well. The life cycle, the repetition, the constant chance to start anew, has solace as well as truth. Hegel and Marx and thesis-antithesis-synthesis history have more in common with Biblical hope, perhaps, but nature and her spring-summer-fall- winter rhythm has the hope of eternal turning and the constant opportunity for rebirth and starting over as well.
One early morning last week in these dog days of August, as I headed back home on a particularly hard and humid run, the lines from an old song crept slowly into my consciousness. I have no idea where they came from. Soon I noticed I was moving to the beat: “ Here I go again – I hear the trumpets blow again – All aglow again – Taking a chance on love.” Suddenly the lilt in the melody was also in my stride. September starts next week, start-up time – new ideas –new programs – new people – new things to do – a chance to take another chance. The internal singing gave me energy. I began to relive a fresh fall expectancy of something new. The trumpets blow again. Maybe I’ll be aglow again… As I reached my driveway, I stopped and leaned over to suck a good breath. The early rays of sun were beginning to light up the city. And I thought to myself, “Pritchett, you’re just a sentimental old fool who likes corny, forgotten songs. Or maybe in the late autumn of your life, you are beginning to believe the promise of forever newness in Christ” Probably I’m a little of both, I chuckled to myself, as my aching legs made it up to the front stoop. All of me was yearning for the fresh clarity of September air as I sat down to recover.
And then it occurred to me that for our whole culture, regardless of our age or situation, the beginning of a new school year has become the most significant occasion for starting over – much more so than calendar or fiscal, or ecclesiastical new years. (Who, out side of the church faithful, even knows what or when the first Sunday in Advent is?) But the entire world seems to gear up again, not just people in schools, at this time of year. September is start-up, start anew, start-over month for practically everybody. It has become a chance to fashion a new beginning, to celebrate and take with us what we value in the past, and to leave behind and discard that which we did not value, that which did not work, that which did not enhance the fullness of life for us and for others.
It seems to me that in a broader and more profound sense, it is almost fall again, almost September for the church as well. It is time to begin again not just for our parish programs and worship, but in a deeper sense we as the whole Christian church are becoming something new and moving into a different time in our life and identity. In the Biblical view of history, we are on our way, we are going somewhere… we are always on our way. Every segment of time is a unique time. To try simply to repeat or reinvent the past is to fall into the cycle of the purely natural order and not to discover and co- enable the Kingdom of God for this special time and this special place as God works God’s purposes out for us and for the world.. And so my fellow Christian runners of the race of faith, we are at the starting line. It is time to go again – time to hear the trumpets blow again. And most of all, it is time to take a collective and creative chance again on God’s love and on our future.
Amen
Comments? Contact Dean Pritchett at: HPritchett@stphilipscathedral.org