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Rector's Reflection – Trinity Sunday C
May 30, 2010
There has been a lot in the print media and on TV about Michael J. Fox. He is well known
as an actor in the TV show "Family Ties" and in movies like "Back to the Future." He seems like
a genuinely nice guy and, through the miracle of syndication and 400 different cable movie channels,
he has provided entertainment for millions of people. Today, however, Michael J. Fox is in the most
significant role that he will ever play. He is living with Parkinson's Disease. He has been, almost
from the beginning, very honest and very candid about his struggle with the disease.
The father of a close friend of mine when I was growing up was diagnosed with PD. He
made his living as a photographer... and a darned good one at that... but as the disease advanced, the
very hands that carefully focused the lens and framed the shot became of no use to him. He could
not hold a spoon, much less a heavy camera. I marveled at how he retained a sense of humor and
how he did not seem to rage against the injustice of this disease that took a long time to take his life.
I thought of my friend's father not long ago when Michael J. Fox was reported to have said
that he was thankful for Parkinson's Disease. I am not so sure that my friend's father would have
put it quite that way, but I do remember him saying that he was discovering new insights and new
relationships every clumsy, awkward (his words) step of the way. I could not wrap my head around
that kind of peace. Come on. Be mad as hell, Mr. N!
Years later, lymphoma would teach me a lot about what Mr. N and Michael J. Fox had come
to know. Now, I'm not so certain I would say I was thankful for cancer, but what I discovered was
that I had cancer; I didn't become it. And oh the moments of grace and hope that I experienced
along the road to remission.
I suspect anyone who has been confronted with a tragedy or a significant challenge has come
to have a different take on the words we read today in Paul's letter to the Romans. I know that I
have.
"Therefore, since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus
Christ... and we boast in our hope of sharing the glory of God. And not only that, but we also boast
in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and
character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint us..."
Where once I probably thought Paul had to have been some sort of crazy masochist, seeming
to enjoy his suffering, I have come to understand that hope is not about languishing and wishing
things would magically change. Hope is not an abstract. It is a state of mind. For those in Christ,
it is a promise and a way of life. Indeed, we are immersed in hope by virtue of our immersion in the
life of Christ through our baptisms.
Of course it is not necessary to have tragedies in order to live in hope. That would be an odd
skewing of works righteousness... a kind of angst righteousness. But I'd venture to say that
everyone, in some form or fashion, has experienced a dark night (maybe even many dark nights) of
the soul. But just as John speaks of the Light shining in the darkness and the darkness being unable
to overcome it, so it is with our hope in Christ. Nothing will overcome it and it will never disappoint
us.
Susan+
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