On Eagles Wings
February 5, 2012
Fifth Sunday After Epiphany
Isaiah 40:21-31
Mark 1:29-39
The Reverend Dr. Cathy S. Gilliard
Senior Minister
Park Avenue United Methodist Church
106 East 86th Street
New York, New York 10028
Telephone: 212-427-5421
Fax: 212-534-0410
This morning we are invited to remember our history and our journey with God; to remember our story and how we have been formed and transformed over the years. It seems that memory is an integral part of our life of faith. Not so long ago, we were invited to remember our baptism. Do you remember that odd looking exercise a few weeks ago when the lay leaders and I walked around the church sprinkling you with water as a reminder of your baptism and that you are a beloved son or daughter of God.
Again, the prophet Isaiah invites us to remember the path that we have set out on. It is often so easy to forget, isn’t it? There are things that we want to forget, especially those times that were harmful and painful We want to put them aside - as far away from ourselves as possible and as quickly as we can. We want to move away from them. But, I think if we are honest, we can admit in hindsight that such difficult days were the most transformative periods in our lives.
None of us like to go through those dark periods; they are certainly not welcomed friends. Somehow, by the grace of God, we do survive them, and as a result of it, we are better than we could have possibly imagined. We learn some things about ourselves: what really makes us tick. We learn about our values and priorities. We learn things about God and what we really think and feel about all of this. Our faith comes alive in ways we could not imagine, or it waned and we discovered that we were not nearly as far along as we thought.
Even in the best of times, it is easy to forget. We forget where we came from; the source of our supply. It is easy to think that we have charted our own good course. That things have worked out well because of our good hard work, our intelligence, or craftiness, or our self-sufficiency.
But Isaiah calls us to remember: Have you not known? Have you not heard? Has it not been told you from the beginning? Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth who you are? And who your Creator is? You are like grasshoppers; a drop in the bucket or fine dust. But your Creator is high and lifted up. He stretches out the heavens like a curtain, and spreads them like a tent to live in. He brings princes to naught and makes the rulers of the earth as nothing.
This beautiful passage first spoken in the 6th century – with all of its poetry and symbolism – has been used for hundreds of years to inspire and encourage individuals and groups of people to not give up on life. Don’t give up on God.
It was spoken to a people of Israel who found themselves in exile; held captive in a foreign land. Their day-to-day reality was difficult at best. They had been forced away from their homes and scattered like refugees from the very land that had once held promise. They were a people who longed for Jerusalem but who were forced to weep by the rivers of Babylon. They had grown tired and weary; oppressed and despondent. And they had concluded that the gods of their captors were stronger than the God they had known. Or worse yet, perhaps their God did not really exist at all. Even their children had become weary and anguished.
Perhaps you know something about that yourself. Life has a way of zapping our strength, doesn’t it? We can feel the energy in our mind, body, and spirit draining from our very being. We sometimes grow tired and weak.
But Isaiah says, “Wait!” Remember. Remember your God. What he has done in the past; he will surely do again. Once you were no people at all but God has made you a people. God has claimed you as his own and calls you by name.
Wait on God. Wait on Him. Do not give up. Do not despair. Do not quit.
The One who has creat-ed is still creating. Still making something new – even out of the mess you find yourself in. Those that wait on God will be renewed. They will be refreshed. Though they are tired and weary; their hearts are faint - they will find strength beyond themselves. They will mount up on wings like eagles. They will run and not be wear out. They will walk and not faint.
Now, have you ever seen how eagles fly? They are unlike other birds. They are magnificent; majestic. They spread their wings far and wide and they soar. Up up up away – above the clouds – above everything that eyes can see. You will mount up on wings like eagles. And you will fly.
I am reminded of a story I discovered not too long ago. It is a true story about a man named Soni, who had dreams of flying.
Soni was born with cerebral palsy and the first five years of his life were lived in a crib in an orphanage for the physically and mentally challenged in Port-au-Prince Haiti - one of the poorest nations in the world - a nation fraught with starvation, malnutrition, disease, homelessness, illiteracy, violence, chaos – even before the earthquake.
In his dreams, Soni’s crib cage would fly open and with his red and purple wings, he would fly up to the clouds and perch himself on the highest branch of the highest tree in all of Haiti. At least, there he would be free. He would be able to be part of the great world that existed outside his room. Yet, he knew he would always awake to find himself “trapped in a body that did not work and a room that did not love."[1]
In 1985, a man named Michael Geilenfeld, who was a former “brother” of the Order that Mother Theresa founded at St. Joseph’s Home for orphaned boys – also had a dream of providing them a Christian home and family.
When French missionaries announced they were leaving Haiti, Father Michael asked some of the older boys from St. Joseph's to choose a child to bring home and care for. But the boys surprised Michael and instead of wanting to adopt a single child, they chose to adopt all of the disabled children, reminding him that he had taught them that with God, all things are possible.
These street children knew what it was like to be treated like garbage. They knew what it was like to feel unloved. They had never been called a living piece of “anything” so they understood how Soni and the other children felt.
Father Michael had always hoped that his boys would be given a dream beyond themselves where God was at the center. And so they began to pray the Prayer of Abandonment: "Father, I abandon myself into your hands. Do with me what you will. Whatever you may do, I thank you. I am ready for all. I accept all. Let only your will be done in me and in all your creatures. I wish no more than this, O Lord."
These orphaned boys became agents of grace and their youthful enthusiasm was transformative for disabled children like Soni. Prior to their arrival, Soni spent his days confined to his crib. Every day when the older boys came to take him outside, he would growl and grumble. Two of them would hold him up – one on each arm - and drag him around the room while a third boy made his feet touch the ground and round and round the garden they would go. Every day this ritual continued and somehow - the stimulation from this kind of daily exercise - this kind of youthful care and attention, simply being valued as a living human being gave Soni and all the others a greater determination to make improvements in their lives.
As you might imagine, in spite of cerebral palsy, Soni did walk. Then the boys decided that Soni might as well learn how to dance. And so Soni learned how to dance. And his verbal skills improved so immensely that this child who once only responded with grunts and groans could converse in three different languages.
These young orphaned boys had nothing. Yet out of their generosity - the lifeless were resurrected. The lame walked, the dumb talked. And out of the grace that they had been given - they realized that they could also make a difference. And what a difference they made!
Well – you might imagine the rest of the story. Soni has become an ambassador. Years later, while on vacation in Haiti, Peter Eyvindson, a Canadian writer met Soni and being unable to divorce himself of the images he saw, wrote a book called Soni’s Mended Wings. It is Soni’s true life story.
And for many years - author and subject - Eyvindson and Soni traveled all over the world to raise funds to continue the work that had begun. And the story is told that while Eyvindson, the author is signing books, Soni is seen flying across the stage - in a bright, purple costume dancing with a group of other boys to a different drum beat. His dream has come true. And he flies like an eagle. He runs and doesn’t grow weary. He walks and does not faint.