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Sermon preached at Zion Church, Washington NC
Sunday March 19th 2023
The Reverend Alan Neale
“Exit Strategy”

Thinking about today’s sermon, I began to focus on a theme that prompted me to ask y’all an initial question “Are you FBI?”. Are you feeling in boxed-in?
The theme was underlined as I listened to a stunning and inspiring Quiet Day Lent Meditation yesterday given by Father Chris Adams, Rector of St. Peter’s in Washington. At one point he asked, “How do I get out of this hole?”.

I remembered that famous statement made by Oliver Hardy to his partner, Stan Laurel, “This is a fine mess you’ve gotten us into”.

And, final prefatory remark I promise, I remembered a church member who attended a Good Friday Three Hour Devotion I led at Trinity Church, Newport. Somehow he missed my comment about coming and going throughout the Three Hours, he stayed put and never quite forgave me for “boxing him in for three hours”.
It’s awful, wretched to feel that we are confined, boxed-in, without choices.

It’s like being asked that loaded question, “When did you stop beating your spouse?” You can’t win.

It’s like the question that the disciples asked Jesus at the very beginning of today’s Gospel – “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents that he was born blind?” (John 9:2) and Jesus is forced to respond (v.3 Message Translation) – “You’re asking the wrong question? You’re looking for someone to blame.” Come to think of it, that sounds like much of what passes for political discourse these days… but that’s another issue.

Though the question is asked with all deference (“Rabbi”) Jesus has to name the question for what it is (restrictive and prejudiced) and then open the way for truth to enter (embracing and unbiased.)

The neighbors of the blind man try to seduce him into making theological, partisan, controversial statements about Jesus but he will have none of it… “A man named Jesus made a paste, rubbed it on my eyes and told me to go to Siloam and wash. And I did what he said.”

He is marched to the Pharisees who just love to infect others with their disease of narrow, closed mindedness. “Give credit to God,” they say, “this man is an imposter.” The man now able to see in so many ways gives the answer that sets him free, “I know nothing about – that one way or the other. But I know one thing for sure… I was blind… I now see” (John 9:25.)

Like our liberated man in the Gospel so Samuel in our OT lection is feeling “boxed-in” and more than a little compromised. I think this experience, this feeling of FBI (feeling boxed in) begins in the opening verses of today’s OT Lection (I Samuel 16). Samuel is feeling boxed-in, imprisoned by his grief but then God offers an exit strategy by naming the problem and providing a way forward. We hear that God has told Samuel to visit Jesse and choose a king and Samuel’s reaction is “I can’t do that; Saul will hear about it and kill me.” The Lord offers a way forward (slightly shady it seems to me but then… it is the Lord!) and Samuel sets out. After viewing the seven sons, Samuel experiences again FBI, feeling boxed-in… “I was told it was one of the sons, I have seen the sons, so what now?” But then the ruddy, handsome young man with beautiful eyes appears… and this is Samuel’s exit strategy.

It is an integral part of our humanity to experience the wretched sense of being confined, boxed-in, without choices and without an exit strategy; maybe even from the moment, or just before the moment, we make our debut on the cosmic stage we are feeling rather confined and then… all light and noise and heaven breaks loose, yes? Sometimes, maybe often, we feel (in the words of St. Paul) that we are “groping our way through murky darkness” but then “we are in the light, in the open” with an exit strategy of glorious dimension.

In our many and varied experiences of being confined, without choice or exit strategy… know this… the Lord will intervene, grace will interpose. He asks us to stop and name what is happening, to take pause and breathe, to pray and watch for the open door – it will be there. Revelation 3:8 – “I see what you have done. Now see what I have done. I have opened a door before you that no one can slam shut. You do not have much strength, I know that.”

For each us, for those we love, the day will come when we confront the nearness of death; it will be alarming and seem to present us with no exit strategy at all but then, please God, the Shepherd’s words will resound in our hearts and minds, “The valley of death… you will walk through it and I will be with you.” The eternal, perfect, divine exit strategy.

Nearly four decades ago, I experienced a profound, psychic, penetrating experience of feeling boxed-in without any glimmer of an exit strategy except perhaps the most fearsome.
A friend, a missionary in training, listened to my story and she wrote this poem for me. I share it with you today. In this poem, The Company of the Crippled Ones, I believe Catherine shared with me the constant divine exit strategy – to come close, to visit us, to identify with us and to walk with us to freedom.

We are the crippled ones who were not healed along the way,
who spurred each other on with valid hope
and ran our limping, crutch-encumbered journey home with joy.

We are the crippled ones who laughed, surprised,
because we found that we, to our amazement,
were the ones he used to pipe the music clear when the way seemed long.

We are the crippled ones He kept as special tokens of His Grace,
and joined us, hobbling, laughing home,
as taking turns to lift each other on, we reached His rest.

Thanks be to God,
Amen