Listen to their cries...
Last Epiphany Sermon
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[00:00:00] So, good morning, good people of St. Peter's parish. My name is Beth Beall, and I thank you for opening your hearts to me today. I know that your heart beats all around this world as you care for neighbors near and far. I'm, okay, and I just want to say, bring on the cries, because we're going to talk about cries this morning, actually.
Um, I'm the director of a San Diego based non profit that is called the Vida Joven Foundation. We are a ministry of the Episcopal Diocese of San Diego and you, St. Peter's, have been part of this ministry for many years. Vida Joven Foundation provides life changing support to orphaned children south of the border.
We, and by that I mean you and I, we are working to strengthen and to resource six orphanages this year in Tijuana and in Sonata. These are orphanages where children who have been born into [00:01:00] really hard places can now receive the tender care and the life changing opportunities they need. And exciting news this year, we will also be working with the Episcopal Diocese of San Diego to open a shelter for migrant children and their moms in Tijuana.
So thank you, St. Peter's. Thank you for saving the lives of children born into hard places. I'm talking about children who have been born into crushing poverty and zero educational opportunity. I'm also talking about children who have been born into abuse and abandonment. I'm talking about children born into hard, hard places.
You listen attentively to the cries of those who are suffering. You listen to the cries of children in Tijuana. You listen to the cries of your neighbor beside you on your pew. You listen to the cries of your own heart, and you allow your listening [00:02:00] to shape how you then live. In today's gospel reading, perhaps you notice that there's a voice that speaks from a cloud, which is just so amazing, right?
That voice said, "Listen, listen, listen." So listen with me, St. Peter's. There's a story in the Bible you might be familiar with that we call the Exodus story. And it's a story about a man named Moses who leads people from captivity into freedom. And that Exodus story begins with God listening. God is listening to the cries of those who are suffering.
God hears, God listens, and then God acts through Moses to bring about healing and liberation. In that first story of Exodus, there's a cloud, there's fire, there's water, there's a big mountain. Those [00:03:00] same images, perhaps you noticed, they echo across our Bible readings today. In our Bible readings that you heard this morning, we have fire, we have water, we have a mountaintop, we have a cloud.
Those images echo perhaps to remind us that that story of Exodus, it's not just a one time story from long ago. That story of suffering and liberation, that story of captivity and freedom, it continues to unfold in our lives today. And in our world, this is the story into which Torrey Ray is being baptized today.
This is our story, St. Peter's. This is a story of listening with God to the cries of the world, to the cries of our own hearts. It's a story of listening and acting. So, if you haven't been listening yet, I ask you [00:04:00] to listen now, St. Peter's. Listen to a story. This is the story about the cry of one little girl's heart.
This is also a story about God. And this is a story about you. And you. This is a story about you and you.
Once upon a time, a little girl was born into a very hard place. Leelai is her name. Leelai and her parents lived in Tijuana. And I just want to say, like, this truly no better soundtrack, right?Leelai and her parents lived in Tijuana.
Mom and Dad had very limited educational opportunity. Very limited opportunities. They, too, were born into a hard place. One day when Leelai was just a couple years [00:05:00] old, her mother was killed in a car accident. In that same car accident, Leelai lost her arm. Listen. Can you hear the cries of that child? Then a year or so later, Leelai's father ended up in prison.
Gone from this little girl's life. She was just three years old. Listen. Can you hear this little girl's cries? Social services brought Leelai at age three to the Vida Joven Orphanage in Tijuana. Vida Joven is our flagship orphanage. And because you helped to keep that orphanage open, St. Peter's, Leelai was able to find a home there when she had nowhere else to go.
At that orphanage, at your orphanage, Leelai was loved. [00:06:00] And she was protected. Because of your kindness, that little girl went off to preschool, and then off to kindergarten, and when she would come home from school, there would be a yummy snack waiting for her, and caring adults at the orphanage to help her with her homework.
Several years later, Leelai's dad got out of prison, and so this little girl was reunited with her father. But it was not a happy ending. Because you see, Leelai and her dad lived in a home with various other people, and there was a lot of violence in that home. And this little girl, who was seven years old at the time, she ended up on the street.
Because sometimes, the street is safer for a child than their own home. Listen, St. Peter's. Listen to this child's life. Fortunately, a caring police officer found Leelai . And when the officer [00:07:00] found her, this precious child of God was filthy and hungry and terrified. The officer took her to social services and social services brought her back to the Vida Joven Orphanage back into your arms.
St. Peter's At our orphanages, our orphanages, at our orphanages, children are protected. At our orphanages, children are safe. At our orphanages, children are cherished. When Leelai came to that orphanage for the first time at age three, when she came again to the orphanage at age seven, its doors were open only because people like you and you and you.
Throughout the Episcopal Diocese of San Diego and beyond, you step up and you say, "We are listening." "We care." "We will be your home." "We will be your [00:08:00] family." Today, Leelai is still at the Vida Joven Orphanage, and she's 16 years old. She is a junior in high school. Her favorite band is Metallica. And I can't say this without gulping. She has a boyfriend. And wow, can this girl sing.
So now I ask, would you like to listen? Would you like to listen to Leelai in person? Then grab your passport.Come with me. You St. Peters are invited to go on a special trip just for you. To the Vida Joven Orphanage in Tijuana on Saturday, March 16th. The only requirement is a valid passport.
You are invited after church to speak with members of your outreach committee and [00:09:00] me to get more information. We'd love to help you sign up. There's going to be a taco truck kind of thing there. Leelai has promised she will sing.
Leelai was born into a hard and a heartbreaking place. Because you listened to this child's cries, and because you are listening still to this little girl's life, her world today is more tender, more hopeful, more spacious, and more free. This, St. Peter's, this is the story we are baptized into. This is what a holy Lent is all about.
And this is what Salvation looks like. I have a picture of Leelai on the table outside. I hope you will come and look at salvation. Thanks be to God, and thanks be to you, St. Peter's. Amen.
