“Thank Goodness the Lord is Near”

Phil 4: 1-9 & Isaiah 25:1-9

October 15, 22 - Pentecost 20

Pastor Deb - BRCC

In all the years I have been preaching sermons, my husband has always teased me saying, “Why don’t you tell them the combine story?” Well, today, I decided to do just that.

Combines are huge and expensive machines used in the fall harvest of grain crops. They are much more sophisticated and automated today, but when I was a kid, they were a “beast” to run and manage. It worked this way. First my father would come into a ripe grain field with a swather that cut the grain stocks at the ground and laid them in rows throughout the field. Once down, we had to work fast before rain or wind would impact the yield. Often farmers would team up to try and help each other get their crops in during a short window of good weather, so you see, there was always a sense of urgency and worry to gather the harvest efficiently. Next came the combine that would pick up those rows of downed grain, smash and grind it through a series of rollers, gather the grain into a collection hold and spit out the straw, dust and debris out the back. When the hold was nearly full of grain, it was augered into a truck bed that drove alongside the combine, holding steady as they both moved in tandem, so that time wasn’t lost stopping this big rig to unload. Dad’s job was to run the combine, my job was to drive the truck whenever he signaled, and somehow come close enough, hold steady enough and not hit the combine or lose the grain as it poured out of the auger arm into the box of the truck. This was not easy for a teenager to manage, and I lived in absolute fear of either hurting the machinery, the truck, or losing precious grain. I get anxious just describing it!

But on this fall day, my anxiety really doubled because my father had found an older model, used combine to buy and was determined that while he ran this second machine, I was to take over running our other combine! I remember that day well, as the weather was perfect, and the swath rows of grain were extra large and heavy that fall. We had to be extra careful to take in the grain at a speed that didn’t plug things up with the extra weight of the straw. And…actually, it was going quite well with my sister now taking over the truck driving….until…. something went wrong, and my combine conked out! Everything stopped, and my dad was beside himself to now be facing repairson what was to be our reliable machine. And so, he made the decision that I had to take over the new/old unknown machine and keep combining while he figured out how to repair the other.

Now you need to understand that this machine was completely different from the other one. It was older and required using a clutch to change gears and a lever brake that had to be pulled by hand. The other one was self propelled! Luckily, I knew how to change gears on the truck, and the first round and I stopped the combine for the first unloading of grain as my sister didn’t know how to drive the truck on the go. But then, from the moment I put it into gear and started combining again, I knew I was in trouble!

Now you need to understand the setting to understand what happened next. We were doing a field on an elevated plane along what we called a “coulee.” A coulee is a crossing over a stream bed that is just wide enough for farm machinery to negotiate, but not built for traffic. When I started up that combine this time, the machine was right on the top edge of that coulee area, rounding the corner to head up to the next row along the field.

I put it into what I thought was second gear and began down the row, but quickly realized the beast was going much too fast and that the grain was being swallowed into the gears at a pace that would surely plug everything up. I looked down and realized it was in 4th gear! So I pushed in the clutch and took it out of gear trying to get it into 2nd. But, of course, it wasn’t going to switch gears while moving. Instead, it began to roll backwards toward the sloping hill and the coulee! I grabbed the lever brake and pulled and pulled for it to stop, but it took on momentum so fast I quickly realized it was rolling out of control and was headed for not only a crash, but most likely would roll and be tossed into the stream bed.

I looked up and saw my father frantically running toward me and waving his hands. I looked down at the ground racing past me and the coulee dropoff and thought…I should jump and save my life! But instead, I clung to that wheel and brake and tried and tried to do something to save the rig. Suddenly, just before it would have toppled over, the whole rig slammed to an abrupt stop. It was a miracle! There are two little tires on the back of the machine and they had hit the one and only fence post along the coulee edge. Somehow, the machine didn’t topple. I wasn’t going to die that day.

Shaking, I got off the machine to face the fear and anxiety of my father, who before he could express his relief that I was alive and the combine was stopped, needed to vent his rage that now both of his combines were out of commission and his harvest day was ruined. He sent me with a fork into the field to adjust swath rows, while he went back to fixing the first machine and getting back to harvesting. He never looked at the one I had been driving until later that night. And he discovered that nothing was broken, the tires were fine, and the machine could have been used all day if only he had checked it over rather than assuming the worst. He later apologized for not being able to comfort me in what was a “near death” kind of trauma…but in retrospect, the comfort I got that day was more than what any human could give. It was a day when I realized just that God is truly NEAR to us…and meets us when we need Him most.

So why do I tell you this crazy combine story today? Because right now, it feels like our world is rolling backward, out of control and headed for major destruction, doesn’t it? I’m not trying to be political here, but the absolute and evil terror unfolding in Israel and Palestine is a terrible trauma for each and every one of us as we helplessly watch innocent men, women, young adults and children facing slaughter; abduction; and endless terror. In a time where hope seems to be swallowed up in a shroud of hatred and death, where do we turn? How do we live in hope for peace which history tells us humans can never sustain on their own?

Perhaps we turn, like the Israelites did centuries ago, to the words of the prophet who shares a vision of an ultimate banquet in which all people will be invited and at which death will be swallowed up forever. Where the prophet describes a moment when the eyes of all nations will be opened as they behold the glory of the Lord of hosts, and ruthless nations will be held to account. When God will once and for all destroy the shroud that is cast over all peoples, the sheet that is spread over all nations; and death will be swallowed up forever. Then the Lord God will wipe away the tears from all faces, the disgrace of his people will be banished from the earth. In the meantime…we have the Good Shepherd, a refuge to the poor and needy in their distress; the one who leads us out of war torn lands to green pastures and still waters. The one who walks with us even through the valley and shadows of death and evil. The one who is with us, bringing goodness and mercy, and a promise that ultimately, we shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

Listen to these words from a traumatized and imprisoned apostle Paul as he writes to reassure his flock: “Rejoice in the Lord always, again I will say rejoice. Let your gentleness be known to everyone. The Lord is near.” (Phil. 4:4-5)

The Lord is near!

What comforting words…what a powerful truth we can carry into each and every day…into each and every loss, struggle, challenge, terror and traumatic moments beyond our ability to control.

In my own experience of trauma that day on that combine…my dad, who loved me and cherished me was so traumatized, he couldn’t hug me and rejoice that somehow tragedy was averted…for in his humanity, he was frozen in fear. Thank goodness the LORD IS NEAR when we are brokenhearted. Thank goodness THE LORD IS NEAR when we are overwhelmed by raging war and its terrible destruction of life. Thank goodness THE LORD IS NEAR and preparing a feast of joy where all people will know the love and grace that can never be taken away. Thank goodness, THE LORD IS NEAR to swallow up death and lift the shroud, and restrain the ruthlessness of hatred and evil. Thank goodness. Amen.