The Interfaith Clergy Alliance of South County, whose members provide these articles each week, includes Jews, Christians, Muslims and Buddhists. All but the Buddhist share a common scriptural text, what Christians call the Old Testament and what Jews call the Tanakh.
In this, they are all “People of the Book.”
This past Sunday, my church read the words of one of the prophets from that book, the prophet Habakkuk, who wrote:
O Lord, how long shall I cry for help, and you will not listen?
Or cry to you “Violence!” and you will not save?
Why do you make me see wrongdoing and look at trouble?
Destruction and violence are before me; strife and contention arise.
So the law becomes slack and justice never prevails.
The wicked surround the righteous—therefore judgment comes forth perverted. Habakkuk 1:1-4
Habakkuk wrote these words more than 2,600 years ago about events in ancient Israel, and yet as I read them, I thought how much they sounded like America today.
At the time, Habakkuk wondered how such terrible things could be happening. Many of us today wonder the same thing. Many of us ask ourselves how our nation could have lost its soul without the forces of good rising to stop it. Those were dark days for Habakkuk; these are dark days for us. The prophet wondered whether Israel would ever recover. Many in our country wonder the same thing today.
And yet, Habakkuk was a man of faith, and people of faith do not lose hope. Habakkuk trusted his God. He trusted that with God’s help goodness would ultimately prevail. And God confirmed this hope.
There would be a time, God said, when all things would be made right again, and if this time seems far off then “wait for it; it will surely come, it will not delay.”
Of course, patience is a difficult virtue to cultivate. So, in the meantime, God tells Habakkuk: Look at the proud! Their spirit is not right in them, but the righteous live by their faith. (Habakkuk 2:4)
In other words, God is saying, study closely the men and women who are causing all this pain and confusion. Do they look happy? Do they look like they are at peace with themselves, their world or the people in it, or are their faces twisted with hatred?
Are their actions filled with bitterness, their need for vengeance eating them alive? Do they look like people who are going to last? No, no. Without God in their heart, without love in their heart, they will burn out. They will crumble to dust.
Next, God says, look around you at the people of faith. These are people who care for each other. They welcome strangers. They want the best for everyone. No one is left out.
These are also people who are at peace with themselves even if they are also deeply troubled by what is happening around them. They have God to sustain them, and God will continue to sustain them. They will still be standing long after the others have fallen away.
So, in this time of trouble, remain firm. Join the faithful. Care for those around you. Help those in need. Treat with kindness even those who trouble you. In this way you will find God. In this way will God win out.
Rev. Dr. Ernest Boyer is Priest in Charge, St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church, Gilroy, and an active member of the Interfaith Clergy Alliance of South County. He can be reached at bo**********@***il.com.
