Reflect On Our Faith And Possibilities ~ by Ronnie Archer

On this Second Sunday of Lent and last Sunday of Black History Month, we were blessed to have Deacon Calvin Bailey from St. Mary's Basilica in Norfolk deliver our homily. Both sections of the following contain some of his remarks.

The Lord God had come to Abram in a vision, telling him "not to be fearful, I am your shield, and will make your reward great." But Abram and his wife, Sarai, were very much up in age and had been childless, which he expressed to God.

The first Reading of Genesis today, gives us the account of how God promised Abram that he would have descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky, as well as abundant land. God made a covenant with Abram that his promise would be fulfilled. Abram was to prepare the chosen animals for a ritual where literal cuts would be made by God to establish a covenant between Abram and God. Abram put his faith and trust in God and was rewarded.

In speaking to the Community of Phillipi, St. Paul tells them to beware of the evildoers, who are enemies of the cross of Christ... their end is destruction. "Our citizenship is in Heaven and we eagerly await a savior, Jesus Christ, who will change our lowly body to conform with his glorified body."

Peter and his companions had been asleep, but when they were fully awake, they saw that while Jesus was praying, His face changed appearance and His clothes became dazzling white. They also saw Moses and Elijah. Peter suggested they erect three tents; one for Jesus, one for Moses and one for Elijah. Peter did not realize what he was saying and became frightened when they all saw a cloud cast a shadow over them. The voice from the cloud told them,"This is My chosen Son... listen to Him." Peter did not understand; he felt that he had seen all the glory; he wanted to stay on that mountain top, not realizing that there was more GLORY to come.

Peter didn't see the possibilities. He couldn't see that our bodies would be glorified to look like Jesus.

From a human viewpoint, it was an impossible point of view to realize that Abram and Sarai would have many descendants, being elderly and childless, but Abram saw the possibilities and he put his faith and trust in God.

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Many of us here at St. Elizabeth's are now sitting in the presence of our forefathers and our foremothers in a church that has not always embraced the culture of African Americans. Our ancestors, as did Abram, also put their faith and trust in our Lord Jesus Christ and saw the possibilities of having that faith and trust.

Some of our young people do not know what struggles they went through to get us to the place that we are now in. Some of them might not have heard any of the "stories" of those struggles. Those of us, who are now "elders" need to share our "stories" with our young people, so they can better appreciate the places where we are now, and not take their opportunities for granted.

Our elders had conviction and the belief that they were the Body of Christ. They knew that we were baptized into Christ's death, as well as His Resurrection. They knew that we were baptized into a life of "ridiculous faith." They became Holy Elders by living a life of "ridiculous faith." They knew that life would not always be easy, but they knew that we were washed in the Precious Blood of Jesus. Even when we break our promises, we know that Jesus' Precious Blood is still there.

We know that we will be sick sometimes, cry sometimes, but we believe in the possibilities and know that the Blood is there. Our elders would say that "nobody told me the road would be easy" ...but the Precious Blood is still there and it will never lose its Power!

We celebrate our ancestors who have gone through the struggles to open up the opportunities that we can now avail ourselves to because of them.