"Faithful Steps"

Proverbs 3:5-8, 4:26, 16:9

 April 26, 2015

Mark S. Bollwinkel

 

The Road Not Taken (Robert Frost, 1916)

 TWO roads diverged in a yellow wood,

And sorry I could not travel both

And be one traveler, long I stood

And looked down one as far as I could

To where it bent in the undergrowth;

 Then took the other, as just as fair,

And having perhaps the better claim

Because it was grassy and wanted wear;

Though as for that, the passing there

Had worn them really about the same,

 And both that morning equally lay

In leaves no step had trodden black.

Oh, I marked the first for another day!

Yet knowing how way leads on to way

I doubted if I should ever come back.

 

I shall be telling this with a sigh

Somewhere ages and ages hence:

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I,

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference.

Frost suggests that what "made all the difference" was taking a road less traveled.  A journey not as popular.  A path not as easy as the other.  Have we done the same?  Did we strike out on our own and forge our own way?  Are we about to start a journey that's safe and comfortable in part because it is so popular?  Do we look back on life and regret that we didn't take another "road less traveled" after all?

The "road", the "path" or the "way" have long been a metaphor for life's journey.  We find this in literature, painting and music among other art forms.   Each life has a beginning and an end.  Each life is very much like a journey with a start and a destination.  Where are we going?  What is our path?  Where will it lead?  Those are relevant questions whether we are 9 years old or 99!

Our faith tradition would suggest that God has everything to do with that journey.  We sing "I want Jesus to walk with me..." or "...and he walks with me and he talks with me...." or "I have decided to follow Jesus, no turning back, no turning back...".  All symbolic for the sense of God's guiding hand along life's journey.

As comforting as the notion of God walking with us on the road of life, there is nothing easy about it.  Intentionally choosing to follow God's path in life is certainly "a road less traveled".  But it doesn’t guarantee success or safety by the world’s standards.

Consider:

Enter through the narrow gate, for the gate is wide and the road is easy that leads to destruction, and there are many who take it. For the gate is narrow and the road is hard that leads to life, and there are few who find it.  (Matthew 7:13-14)

When we say we are followers of Jesus it doesn't mean that we've joined a club, or signed up for an insurance policy, or that we will fit in his teachings or attend to his priorities when it’s convenient.  It means we are followers of his way.  We are the ones who turn the other cheek when insulted (Matthew 5:39).  We are the ones who pray for our enemies (Matthew 5:44).  We are the ones who refuse to return evil for evil but rather we return evil with good (Romans 12:9-21, I Peter 3:9, I Thess. 5:15).

Jesus says:

"If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.  For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake...will save it." (Mark 8:34-35)

Now that's "a road less traveled"!  That is not the path taken by most in a "me first" world, where winning is more important than anything else.

John Wesley, the founder of the Methodist movement in 18^th century England, was born and raised in a devout Christian family, was an ordained Anglican priest and an instructor of Church History at Oxford University.  He could have chosen a successful academic career.  He could have maneuvered for a prosperous and prestigious parish to serve as pastor.  In his zeal he volunteered to serve as a missionary to the colony of Georgia.  It was a disaster.

As a result of an unrequited love for the daughter of the governor of the colony his short term there would be a terrible failure.  He returned to England discouraged and depressed.   Seeking encouragement for his faith he sought out fellowship and counsel from a group of Moravian Brethren to whom he was introduced on the passage home.  

On the evening of May 24th 1738 at the Aldersgate Chapel in London, while Martin Luther’s commentary of the fifth chapter of Romans was being read, Wesley understood in his heart and not just his head, God’s unconditional love; “For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly…but God proves his love for us in that while we still were sinners Christ died for us…” (5:6-8).  These verses from the apostle Paul are the heart and soul of the Protestant Reformation.   We do not have right relationship with God because of anything we do, believe, say or practice.   God loves us before all that.  God’s nature is so completely love that God offers us that grace before we deserve it, in spite of our failures, simply because God is love.

After a life of academic learning and organized piety, that night Wesley received the good news in his heart.  It transformed his life and set him on the course that would change the world.  He described the moment as “heartwarming”.   He didn’t call it a “conversion” experience; although an important spiritual experience in his life it was one of many (Heitzenrater, Wesley and the People Called Methodists, Abingdon, 1995, pp. 80-82).   Months later he would begin the open air preaching and small group organization that would become the Methodist revival which changed England and contributed to the Protestant Reformation.   When he died at the age of 91, John Wesley was one of the most well-known and respected Christian leaders in England and the world.

Wesley’s journey to Georgia may have been a failure in many ways but it was the path that lead him to become all God had called him to be.   To go off to an Indian colony in a distant land was not the normal course for an academic such as Wesley.  To refuse to serve Holy Communion to the family of the Governor of Georgia because his daughter was betrothed to another was the wrong thing to do for an Anglican Priest.  But this road not taken, even with failures along the way, lead John Wesley to something much greater indeed.

To find the right direction in life the heart and the head need to be connected.  When the intellect and center of our emotions are in balance we find a passionate purpose for living.  Few will take the “road less traveled” without it.

That was true for Lori Piestewa.

Pfc. Lori Piestewa, of the 507th Army Maintenance Unit, died during the invasion of Iraq on March 23rd, 2003 (“Mom, soldier and Hopi Indian: 'She fought and died valiantly'”, Jeordan Legon, CNN, 4/03).  She was the first woman to die in that war.  It is believed that she, a mother of two, was the first Native American woman in the uniform of the United States military ever killed in combat.

 

She died fighting during an ambush near Nasiriya.   Piestewa was driving the truck that was transporting Pfc. Jessica Lynch and other soldiers. When the Iraqi soldiers attacked her convoy, Piestewa and the master sergeant riding next to her tried to hold the attackers back.   "She fought. She drew her weapon and fought," said Congressman Rick Renzi at the memorial service held in her honor at the Tuba City, Arizona Roman Catholic Church. "She fought and died valiantly with courage and honor."  Nine soldiers, including Piestewa, died in the battle while Lynch was taken prisoner.  They were roommates and friends at Fort Bliss.  

During High School Piestewa was the head of her school’s ROTC unit. She put off joining the military due to marriage and pregnancy.  Yet following in the tradition of her father, a Vietnam veteran, and her grandfather, a World War II veteran she joined up as soon as she could.  Some questioned why an indigenous American would fight for a nation that so oppressed and marginalized their people.  But in the Piestewa family it was an honored tradition of service that transcended the injustices done. 

Two Phoenix landmarks, Squaw Peak and Squaw Peak Freeway have been renamed Piestewa Peak and Piestewa Freeway in her honor; a decision hailed by Native American groups who consider the word "squaw" offensive.   The "Lady Warrior," as her family referred to her, was buried on the Hopi Reservation. Her brother, Wayland Piestewa, told reporters: "She is our hero.  We are going to continue to believe that. We're going to hold that in our hearts forever. She will not be forgotten."  In fact, annual memorial services have been held ever since to honor Pfc. Piestewa in Arizona and Jessica Lynch has attended everyone, now with her own children.

It is no easy thing to have a heart in a heartless world.   Some soldiers sign up to defend the innocent, to fight for justice, willing to make the ultimate sacrifice for the welfare of others.  When they do so we hear the echoes of Jesus’ words that continue after our text this morning, “This is my commandment that you love one another as I have loved you.  No one has greater love than this, than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends…” (15:12-13)

So precious is that sacrifice that it is the duty of those of us who send them off to war only do so when there are no other options left and with the promise that we will care for them and their families after their duty is discharged.

Not many members of Pfc. Piestewa’s community chose or choose to take the journey of national service as she did but for that community, her family and this nation it made all the difference.

Most often we measure the success or failure of our journey in life by social standards; wealth, fame, influence.  For the followers of Jesus in the end life is all about love and compassion.

That’s good to remember when we’ve lost our way and we don't know what to do.

Remember the ancient words attributed by the Apostle Paul.  They are still true for today, maybe even more so for those seeking "the road less traveled"..:

Finally, beloved, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. (Phil 4:4-8)

Or in the words of a not-so-ancient American, Mark Twain:

 

"Always do right. This will gratify some people and astonish the rest."

          (Mark Twain, 1835-1910)

 

Amen.