Epiphany 3 (B) + You Can't Stop the Beat + 25 January 15

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Melissa Campbell-Langdell+
All Santos, Oxnard
(Jonás 3:1–5, 10; Salmo 62:6–14 loc; 1 Corintios 7:29–31; San Marcos 1:14–20)
Porque este mundo que vemos ha de terminar. For the present form of this world is passing away.
Me pienso de una canción de la obra musical “Hairspray.” For some reason this brings to mind a song from the musical “Hairspray.” Here are some of the lyrics:
Oh, oh, oh, you can't stop today as it comes speeding down the track
Child, yesterday is history and it's never coming back
'Cause tomorrow is a brand new day and it don't know white from black
'Cause the world keeps spinning round and round
And my heart's keeping time to the speed of sound
I was lost 'til I heard the drums then I found my way
'Cause you can't stop the beat
El concepto es que tiempo es una fuerza que no se puede uno parar. You can’t stop the beat!
Hay mucho sobre tiempo en las lecturas de hoy. There is a lot about time in the readings from today. St. Paul is speaking to a group in Corinth who are beginning to see the Roman Empire fall apart around its ears. El imperio romano empieza a derribar en el tiempo en que vivían Pablo y los Corintios a quienes habla. Change was happening.
Seeing John go to prison, and prepared by his sojourn in the wilderness, Jesus sees a ripening of the time. Now is the acceptable time to begin a ministry that will change the world. Ahora Jesús vea que Juan ha completado su trabajo y su trabajo de sanar y predicar las buenas nuevas empieza. You can’t stop the beat.
You can’t stop the motion of the ocean. No se puede parar el cambio. Can you imagine being the people of Nineveh facing the change that Jonah proclaims? La destrucción va a venir a Nínive y se imagina que la gente estaría con mucho miedo. Y posiblemente sí. Pero lo que vemos es su arrepentimiento. Interestingly, rather than respond with just fear and anxiety to Jonah’s proclamation of destruction, the people of Nineveh repent and mourn. Repent, and believe. Not the good news here but in believing in God, they get to the Good news, too. En creer en Dios, sus malas noticias conviertan en buenas Nuevas.
What can we learn from this? We have many Jonahs walking around the world today. Hay muchos Jonases caminando por nuestro mundo hoy. They tell us that with the way the world is heating up, we will find whole areas underwater, irreversible damage is almost guaranteed, we must repent. We must change our ways. Tenemos que cambiar para tener un planeta seguro.
I heard a story on NPR the other day that helped me understand this a bit better. Una arqueóloga, Hannah Morris, hablaba de como ella se enamoró de una isla donde trabaja excavando restos humanos y objetos culturales en la costa del estado de Georgia. The story featured a woman named Hannah Morris who works as an archaeologist, excavating human remains and cultural artifacts in a very old settlement on St. Catherine’s Island, on an island off of Georgia. She talked about falling in love with the place and learning about its culture, which included excavating an old Spanish mission, but that the effects of climate change have meant that she is now racing against the tides, which are literally at risk of sweeping away the precious historical artifacts of the early peoples of the Americas. En su historia, ella describa como esta isla esta poco a poco más y más cubierto de agua, y como las mareas del mar están poco a poco a riesgo de sacar al mar por siempre los objetos culturales de los pueblos originales de las Américas en aquel lugar.[1] And I Heard in her story a sadness, for what is being lost in that land and in the stories it can tell us, and for what is happening to our planet. Escuché en su historia una tristeza, una respuesta como la de Nínive. When we hear the Jonahs telling us of a change in the times, in the climate, how must we respond? Perhaps one way is to mourn what is passing. Una manera es de estar de luto de lo que esta pasando.
But staying there can be staying in a place of worry. And one thing is clear. St. Paul tells the Corinthians right after this passage, “I want you to be free from anxiety.” “Yo quisiera librarlos a ustedes de preocupaciones” (I Cor 7:32). Right after this passage. Which puts it all in context. He isn’t’ saying don’t mourn, but don’t do it so much that you forget the hope we have in Christ. No este tan metido en las preocupaciones de este mundo que se olvide que Dios es el que está encargado de todo.
We can’t stop the motion of the ocean. No podemos parar las mareas del mar. And the time is ripening around us every moment.
But we are in God’s time, too. Jesus, speaking here in Mark, is speaking of the Kairos moment. Jesús habla del momento de Kairos—el tiempo de Dios. Estamos allí.  And at the same time as all things are passing away in Corinthians, if you read the Greek what is being said is that the “schema” is what is changing. That is, the context that you are living in, all that you know, is changing.[2] San Pablo no dice que el mundo se termina pero que la escena, el medio ambiente en que vivimos, se esta cambiando. This change was true for the Corinthians almost 2000 years ago, and it is true for us to today.
And to live faithfully in this, we don’t have to have anxiety. God will help us find a way. No tenemos que estar ansiosos pero Dios va a proveer una manera. But we can take a page from Nineveh and repent of the things that we are doing to contribute to the destruction of the planet. We can try to do something better. Maybe it’s not possible to do it all at once, but if we trust in God to guide us and get humble we may yet find a way. Con la ayuda de Dios encontraremos una manera.
You can’t stop the beat. No se puede parar el movimiento del mar. But we can place our trust in God. Y creo que aquí en Todos los Santos, somos parte de la solución. And we know that God has a solution to climate change, as well as to all the challenges facing us. I think that we here are to be a part of the solution at All Saints, because we help people connect with their better selves, and with God. Formamos aquí una comunidad que dice que aunque vivimos en un mundo con muchos problemas, podemos juntos construir una comunidad fiel que puede ser parte de la solución.
Let us trust in God, and be part of God’s solution, which, ultimately, is the redemption of all of creation.
Toda la creación estará redimida. Que seamos parte de esta solución de Dios, ¿no los parece?
Because, you can’t stop the beat.


[1] Hannah Morris, The Moth Radio Hour, January 6, 2015, http://themoth.org/posts/storytellers/hannah-morris.
[2] Thanks to Alene Campbell-Langdell for this insight.

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