Uncertainty
Sermon by the Rev. Dr. Francis H. Wade
Saint George’s Episcopal Church, Arlington VA
Trinity Sunday, May 26, 2024
Isaiah 6:1-8. Romans 8:12-17, John 3:1-17
If I said we would talk about uncertainty this morning, you might reasonably wonder “Uncertainty about what?” And with that question a very wide door opens to all sorts of possibilities. This is Trinity Sunday when we think about the nature of God— always a straight path to ambiguity. But this is also an election year, a time that is unpredictable by definition since we do not know the outcomes. Then there are undecided wars in Europe, Africa, and the Middle East; angry divisions in our country; immigrants on the border; oceans on our doorsteps; greenhouse gasses over our heads; and around us there are children growing up, adults juggling careers, and seniors aging. These are all full of unknowns that can make us nervous if we let them. Uncertainty is ubiquitous. It is found everywhere, including in the lessons for this morning. Come with me for a few minutes, bring along the particular form of anxiety that unsettles your mind these days, and let’s see what these lessons say about how living with uncertainty.
In the first lesson, the prophet Isaiah was overwhelmed by mystery. A vision of the great unknowable God that is literally earth-shaking. It is the way we feel when death comes too close to be ignored or when we see our country against the backdrop of history’s list of great nations that have fallen. It is like leaving your child in the care of others for first time, praying when frightened, or realizing an opportunity is gone forever. Mystery always lurks behind the thin veneer of certainty. Isaiah’s response to that kind of experience was despair. “Woe is me! I am lost, for I am a man of unclean lips, and live among a people of unclean lips….” Despair is one of things people do in the face of uncertainty.
In the Gospel, Nicodemus faced a different kind of uncertainty. He had heard some new ideas, different ways of thinking that challenged the tried-and-true. We often stumble and mumble over little ideas like cultural norms in dress and behavior. And we are required to ponder bigger ideas like ways of thinking about gender, race, or politics. Then there is technology that mocks our ways and threatens to replicate our minds artificially. And there are theories that question capitalism, or democracy, or religion itself. Strange ideas abound. Nicodemus’s response was to place an unreasonable faith in reason. He wanted to figure the pieces out. He knew that if he got up earlier or stayed up later or went to ask Jesus or Siri or Wikipedia, he could tame the ways of ideas. He could cage them in his head like zoo animals so he could safely visit them at his leisure. That is one of the things people do in the face of uncertainty.
Uncertainty is always at hand. Neither despair nor rationalization changes that fact. But today’s lessons also give us two positive responses to life’s uncertainties. One is an idea. The other is an action.
The idea is in the epistle, Paul’s Letter to the Romans—
“For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God. For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received a spirit of adoption. When we cry, ‘Abba! Father!’ it is that very Spirit bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God….”
Children! We are children of God. We are not running the world, God is. God loves us as a parent loves a child. That love is not meant to leave us frightened as Isaiah was. We don’t have to understand it all as Nicodemus wanted to. We do not have to grab the world’s steering wheel. Worry is a waste of time. Instead we can take the place that is rightfully ours, the place of beloved children in the hands of a loving God. That is the idea behind a healthy response to uncertainty.
The action is in the example ultimately set by the depressed prophet and the curious Pharisee. Isaiah was overwhelmed by his vision but finished by saying, “Here am I. Send me.” The mystery he beheld was still well beyond his grasp, but he was ready to take the steps he could. He did not unravel the Trinity or tame the seraphs, but he spoke the truth he knew and took his place in our faith story. And as far as we know, Nicodemus never quite figured out what Jesus was all about, but on Good Friday he knew what he could do in the face of a great wrong. He took the dead body of Jesus off the cross and took it to what would become the focal point of our faith story, the Easter tomb.
Uncertainty in its myriad of forms is always close at hand. That can scare us as it did Isiah or confuse us as it did Nicodemus. But uncertainty in any form can never erase the fact that this is God’s world, not ours. Worry is a waste of time. And while we may never grasp it all, we always know enough to take one more step in faithful living. Amen.