The Twenty-Third Sunday after Pentecost
October 27, 2024
Psalm 126

The audio of this sermon is available here. The livestream of the worship service is available on the Trinity Episcopal Church YouTube channel.

Disappointment. This week I’ve been thinking a lot about that word, that emotion. Disappointment. It’s an odd thing, you know. I am disappointed so often, and yet, I’m still surprised and down when I’m let down. You would think I would be accustomed to it by now. People have, and will, disappoint me; I have, and will, disappoint other people. Disappointment is not like regret; regret is when we’re sorry for a decision we made. Disappointment is that yawning gap in our lives, between the thing we expect to happen and the thing that actually does happen. Disappointment.

I promise I’m okay. And this has nothing to do with my future. What I want to do is simply reflect with you about this hardest of human emotions, and to reflect on these holy scriptures for the day.

Now, I’m not talking about the little agonies of life. Yes, I’m disappointed that the Longhorns lost last Saturday, but come on. It is, by definition, a game. Sure, I might be disappointed that the cook behind the counter overcooks my burger. But, that’s a nuisance, not a disappointment. I’m talking about real stuff, the stuff of human relationships. I’m talking about the times when people we thought we know, turn out to be very different. I’m talking about when people say they will do one thing, but do another. That’s disappointment.

And I think that one of the most disappointing things about modern Christianity is that we love talking about love, about happiness, about joy, about living your best life, about success; which makes disappointment, when it is inevitably going to happen, that much harder to take because it feels like disappointment is unfaithfulness. Because we think that we should be happy all the time. So when we are disappointed, we can believe that God no longer cares for us. That God has looked at our messed up lives and said, “good luck with that,” and walked away. 

Not so. 

Because God is near. Perhaps God is nearest to us in the disappointments, in the difficulties, in the strained relationships. That’s what the scriptures tell us. Psalm 126. “When the Lord restored the fortunes of Zion, then were we like those who dream. Then was our mouth filled with laughter, and our tongue with shouts of joy.” At first, it seems that this is a happy psalm. A psalm for all the good times of laughter and joy; a psalm for when our dreams have come true. But that is not so.

The psalm goes on, “Restore our fortunes, O Lord.” Restore our fortunes. Things are not what they should be. The only reason someone might ask to be restored is if things have gone awry. And that, if anything is the story of holy scripture. Psalm 126 prays for restoration because the people have been carried away in exile and captivity. Their homes have been destroyed by a foreign army. Their beautiful Temple, and the city of God, were burned to the ground. The people of ancient Israel had hoped for God’s protection, they had hoped that their military allies would come to their aid, and they didn’t. They’re disappointed. So they’re crying out to God. Restore our fortunes, O Lord.

The same thing is happening in that gospel lesson. Bartimaeus, son of Timaeus, is a blind beggar sitting by the side of the road. Talk about disappointment. Imagine being that father, Timaeus, and because your son is  blind the only thing he can do is sit by the side of the road begging for his daily bread. Imagine being Bartimaeus, that blind beggar. He once could see but now is blind. He had dreamed of a different kind of life. Imagine the bitter disappointment of having had that dream taken away. Restore our fortunes, O Lord.

It’s like the psalm is saying to God, “look at the shambles that my life has become.” This is the lesson I’m drawing today, from my own disappointments and from these stories. I’m not supposed to hide my disappointments from God. No, I’m called to present my disappointments to God. Restore our fortunes, O Lord. And the psalm gives us the words, gives us the vocabulary to say those things to God. We don’t have to keep them to ourselves. We don’t have to pretend that everything is all good all the time. Even if we think it ought to be.

And I’ll tell you, if we don’t present our disappointments to God, they become something else. Disappointments morph into grievances. And grievances are corrosive. It’s grievances that drive us to hatred and evil. It’s grievances that coarsen our politics and public life. See, disappointments do not stay disappointments. If we hold on to them, the evils of this world will transform them into outrage. 

But if we present our disappoints to God, they can become a blessing. Restore our fortunes, O Lord. 

So, what I ask of you this morning is to present your disappointments before God. This is a spiritual lesson about offering. When we offer something to God, in faith, God will bless that offering and transform it. Bartimaeus, son of Timaeus, offers himself and his blindness. Jesus takes that offering and heals Bartimaeus, restores his sight. And then Bartimaeus follows Jesus. In the psalm, the people offer to God their disappointment that their homes, their lands, their ravaged lives. God takes their pain and gives them hope. And so they pray, “Those who sowed with tears will reap with songs of joy. Those who go out weeping, carrying the seed, will come again with joy, shouldering their sheaves.” When we present something to God, God will take it, bless it, transform it, and give it back. 

That’s the same lesson we learn by giving money to the church and charity. Like we are doing now in our pledge campaign. We offer that money, and we trust that God takes it, blesses it, and through it the church glorifies God.

I hope you see it. That transformation, that restoration, is only possible when the offering is made to God. So, present your offerings before God. Your money yes, but also your hopes, your dreams, and even your disappointments. Do not be ashamed of them. Tell God about your aches and pains; tell God how hard it is that you were not chosen for a job or hired for a position; tell God how disappointing it is to watch people in your family struggle; tell God how disappointing it is that you had expected one thing out of life, our of your job, out of your family, but have gotten something else. Pray Psalm 126, “Restore our fortunes, O Lord.” I cannot make any promises that God will make things perfect; but from my own life I know that by giving it to God, at least you won’t have to carry that burden by yourself. And, we hope, that God will transform whatever it is you are carrying. Sow with tears, reap with joy. Go out weeping, carrying the seed; come again with joy, shouldering their sheaves. An offering.

And I want you all to know, that every sermon I preach is, first and foremost, a sermon to myself. If I don’t need to hear it, then I don’t need to preach it. So, I offer to God whatever the future holds for my ministry and vocation. I offer to God my own money, as this morning I am returning my pledge card for 2025, and my family is giving a separate donation for our building preservation. That is our offering. And we trust that the Lord God will bless that, use it, and through it this church will continue to be transformed by the Spirit of God. And for all of that, I am grateful. And so I can pray the words of Psalm 126 – “The Lord has done great things for us, and we are glad indeed.”