"Bus Nine to Paradise"
- Rev. Ken Streitenberger
Assistant Pastor
the Scripture Lesson:
Isaiah 55: 1-13
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Leo Buscaglia has a book titled “Bus Nine to Paradise.” In the book Buscaglia talks about the incident that named the book. He says,
“One peaceful Sunday I found myself wandering in one of Melbourne’s distant suburbs. I came upon a bus stop that had a large sign. My eye was struck by a designation that read, ‘Bus Nine to Paradise.’ How wonderful it sounded…,” he says. “Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we could settle back on a bus destined for Paradise?”
It would be wonderful! Paradise! And ultimately, God has promised his people Paradise. Indeed, according to the biblical accounts, God’s people began in Paradise. But something happened along the way. Something detoured the bus. Something got the excursion off track.
Much of what we know about life, much of what we hear on the evening news and read in the daily newspapers has little to do with Paradise. We would hardly call modern-day existence Eden or Shangri-La or Valhalla or Nirvana or Utopia or whatever word we would use for heaven. It would be wonderful, but it is not reality.
Look at what is around us.
Distant lands in turmoil –the Congo has almost constant pockets of uprising; Zimbabwe can’t even hold honest elections; the Sudan and Darfur seem to have a continuous tale of tragedy of life. Our own country is involved in wars on at least two fronts.
How many thousands of victims are there still from Hurricanes Katrina and Rita –two and a half years ago! People still struggling for housing, medical care, schools, livelihood.
We read in the paper about snipers and road rage and people killing or maiming each other in fights over the most inane and meaningless things. We read about elementary students taking guns and knives to school. We read about houses burning and innocent people losing their lives in the conflagration.
We could list areas far from Paradise that visit us personally. Struggles with relationships. Family pressures. Vocational insecurities and uncertainties. Are we in a recession? Medical concerns. Re-locations. Despair. Depression. Discouragement.
How could this possibly be God’s world? How could we be anywhere close to Paradise? How can we even hope we are on the right road!?
The author of Isaiah chapters 40-55 knew the despondency and desperation we sometimes feel. His people were in exile. And they had been in exile not just for a week or two, not even a year or two. They had been held captive in a foreign land for generations. Their beloved Jerusalem had been sacked and looted and destroyed. Not one stone of the sacred temple was left to stand. The people had been led off, separated from loved ones; isolated from all that was comfortable and familiar.
Into this state of existence, into this life far from Paradise, Isaiah wrote his beautiful words of hope.
“Ho, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and he who has no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.” (Isaiah 55:1)
It must have been almost more than the people could take. Was it a cruel joke? A hoax? God promising return? God offering again sovereign presence? God re-igniting the possibility of Paradise?
It was not a fraud, nor a ruse. Neither God nor Isaiah was seeking to deceive. Isaiah was simply reminding the people that God’s word is effective; that God will accomplish what God promises; that God’s purposes, in their time, will be achieved! God’s people were not hopeless. They were not left to fend for themselves –not even in the midst of disaster.
And you know the end of the story. In time the exiles did return to their homeland. They did rebuild the temple. They did experience again glimpses of Paradise.
Robert Fulghum several years ago wrote a book with that popular title “All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten.” Many of you read and loved it. Among his other writings, though, is a book titled, “Uh-Oh.” In “Uh-Oh” Fulghum writes these words:
“Uh-Oh” is not in any dictionary or thesaurus, and is seldom seen in written form. Yet most of us utter that sound every day. And have used it all our lives.
“Uh-Oh” is one of the first expressions a baby learns.
“Uh-Oh,” or something like it, has been used as long as people have existed. And it may be the first thing Adam said to Eve after he bit into the apple.
She knew exactly what he meant, too…
“Uh-Oh” embraces “Here we go again” and “Now what?” and “You never can tell what’s going to happen next” and “So much for plan A” and “Hang on, we’re coming to a tunnel” and “No sweat” and “Tomorrow’s another day” and “You can’t unscramble an egg” and “A hundred years from now it won’t make any difference.”
“Uh-Oh” is more than a momentary reaction to small problems. “Uh-Oh” is an attitude –a perspective on the universe. It is part of an equation that summarizes my view of the conditions of existence:
“Uh-Huh + “Oh-Wow” + “Uh-Oh” + “Oh, God” = “Ah-Hah!”
(“Uh-Oh,” pp. 3-6)
To my mind, Fulghum has just reiterated in modern idiom what Isaiah said. To sum: The challenges of life, mixed with the enthusiasm of following God’s way, tested by the hardships that come along, and inspired and interspersed by the spirit and promise of God equals victory.
“Uh-Huh + “Oh-Wow” + “Uh-Oh” + “Oh, God” = “Ah-Hah!”
You want examples of what I mean?
In the face of the disasters and cruelty and inhumanity we witness in our news, there come other events –the better side of life; the God-inspired side.
We know on a first-hand basis the thousands upon thousands of volunteers who have given of themselves and their resources to go to the Gulf Coast to help rebuild shattered lives and homes. We’ve already sent six hurricane relief teams and we have a seventh scheduled for July. And we didn’t just help to rebuild homes, we’ve given a church a new chance at life by leading a Vacation Bible School which resulted in that church beginning a children’s choir and a children’s ministry.
In the heart of Africa, and this year it will be the Congo itself, we have sent teams seven of the last eight years to teach and work with pastors and their families to spread the word and love of God and to help them find ways to survive and earn a living.
Just a few weeks ago, Pope Benedict XVI was in the U.S. And while security was unbelievably high and there were even snipers on the roofs of Yankee Stadium as the Pope led mass, and while the need for that security broke our hearts, we witnessed a wonderful outpouring of the faithful seeking for the blessings and love of God. Catholic or not, how could we fail to be moved by the response of masses of people to one of God’s emissaries!?
My favorite picture of that visit appeared on the front page of “The Blade.” It showed the Pope climbing the steps up to the altar erected near second base. In the picture you saw every priest, every altar boy, every person who was in the chancel area with a camera taking a photograph of a once-in-a-life-time moment.
There is more we could add to the list, but the point I make is that perhaps we are not as far from Paradise as we assume. Perhaps God’s word is working more than we perceive. Perhaps there is an undercurrent of the positive and the hopeful, and the promise of God pulling us onward and upward to God’s better day. Like the exiles of Isaiah’s time, perhaps we need to recognize anew the presence and activity of God in our midst.
A friend told me a story some time back. Maybe you’ve heard it. Maybe not. Either way, it is appropriate for this moment.
A telephone rang in a home. A little voice answers, “Hello.”
The person on the other end says, “This is the Telephone Company calling. Is there an adult there?”
“Yes,” the little voice whispers.
“Who is that adult?” the phone asks.
“My mother.”
“May I speak with her?”
“No.”
“Why not?”
“She’s busy.”
“Is there any other adult there?”
“Yes.”
“Who?”
“My father.”
“May I speak with him, then.?”
“No.”
“Why not?”
“He’s busy.”
“Are there any other adults there?”
“Yes.”
“Who are they?”
“A policeman and a fireman.”
“May I speak to one of them, then?”
“No. They’re busy, too.”
Finally the voice on the telephone says, “If I may ask, what’s going on there? Why are your mother and your father and a policeman and a fireman all there? And why is everybody so busy?”
To which the small voice replies, still in whisper, “They’re looking for me!”
God is looking for you. God is looking for you to be a part of God’s great redeeming work. God is looking for you to carry on the good and the positive and the hopeful. God is looking for you to experience the spirit of God present and to share that spirit and the enthusiasm it brings with those whom you meet. God is looking for you to get on board this bus of God that is headed for Paradise.
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God has promised Paradise for his people. And while that Paradise has not fully arrived, and while we may encounter struggles and hardships and set-backs as we proceed along the way, God’s word will be fulfilled. God’s promises will be accomplished. God’s purposes will be achieved.
Some time ago I lunch with Jim Hofstetter. At the time Jim was National Director of International Child Care –Grace Children’s Hospital in Haiti— one of the projects Epworth helps support. As a part of our conversation, Jim gave me a book of photographs of children in Haiti. Each photograph in the book was accompanied by a caption in Creole and translated into English. One of those pictures and its caption caught my attention. The photograph showed a young mother and her eight children
–all probably under the age of seven— standing in front of a rather ramshackle cottage. The English caption read:
“God’s Pencil has no eraser.” And then parenthetically,
(God will do what He promises.)
And God will! God’s word is effective. God will accomplish what God promises. God’s purposes, in their time, will be achieved!
If we have any doubts, we need look only as far as our altar and the communion elements placed there. No matter what the price. No matter how long the time-table. No matter how shadowy the day, God will redeem his people. God will bring us all home. God has given his word and sealed it with a Son.
This day, as you commune with your God, I encourage you to give thanks to God both for God’s promises and for God’s faithfulness to those promises. I would further encourage you to find appropriate words and ways to be a part of helping God’s Paradise to arrive on this earth. “Bus Nine To Paradise” is on the move. Let us all be on board!
