I am told the experience of “crying UNCLE” actually goes back to the roman times, where one, when overcome by a bully would cry out “Patrue, mi Patruissimo,” translated: “Uncle, my greatest Uncle,” in order to surrender and be freed. (Why you said Uncle, and not “Aunt” or “Nephew” or “Neice” I have no idea…) To cry ‘Uncle’ was to admit you were overpowered by your opponent – that he or she was just too strong for you. To say uncle is to acknowledge that you were done fighting, done struggling, done with the competition and struggle.
Our scriptures provide several examples of people crying uncle scattered through the books of the bible. We hear of one today. Persecuted for preaching God’s message, for doing the right thing, for being faithful to everything that God was asking him to do, Elijah cries out: “This is enough, O LORD! Take my life, for I am no better than my fathers.” UNCLE! This is beyond me, Lord. I can’t do this on my own anymore… When was the last time you cried uncle?
I think we cry uncle in two different experiences of life. The first is personal. It didn’t seem like much that put me nearly over the edge. Just a meeting with my principal. Going over some calendar items and some small decisions that needed to be made. Having to write down some dates for meetings and deadlines, and set aside some time to get the work done. I remember walking back to my room and just wanting to curl up in my chair and cry UNCLE. I can’t do this any more. I;m not ready for another year of school to start. “I am tired. Mom just made the move from the hospital to the skilled nursing facility. I’m sad because I gave communion for the last time to one of my Friday communion calls. The Newman Center budget is due. And too top it all off, I forgot to put down the popsicle social in my calendar… UNCLE, Lord, Uncle! I’m done.
Sometimes, it doesn’t seem like much and we are undone. (I am aware that these are ‘first world problems’ – but they are my first world problems.) And yet, here is where the advise, given to Elijah, and echoed in the Bread of Life Discourse in John’s gospel truly come in to play. Get up and eat, else the journey will be too long for you!” We are not meant to make this journey of faith on our own. Guts-ing it out, pulling ourselves up by our bootstraps, doing all the work ourselves. That seldom works, at least for most of us. Rather, we are to draw strength from our common meal, strength from each other, strength from the God who loves us and who calls us to mission. Jesus says it this way: “I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever.” That is where the strength comes from – from the choice to tap into the gift that Jesus wants to give us in this Eucharist. When I come to this altar, this ‘table’, this place of sacrifice, then somehow, it is not just my strength I am relying on, not just my cleverness or skills or courage. Rather, what I offer to God on this altar – the gift of myself – is itself ‘lifted up’. It is multiplied and strengthened, and suddenly, there is enough for the journey…
And then, there is that other experience of crying UNCLE – not due to the personal woes, but because the issues being faced are huge. This weekend, as you know, marks one year since the death of Michael Brown and the unrest that follows. Some progress has been made. And some steps backward have also occurred. Yet, as I watched the parade walk down Lucas and Hunt, (truth in advertizing, I was watching from the golf course) I thought: “Here are some folks who believe it is never time to cry UNCLE in the ongoing need to work for Justice.” Rather, it is the time, one year in, to bring that fight for a more just and equal world here to this altar, to be multiplied by our Lord. And like Elijah, who did not have to have ‘everything figured out to continue on his journey’, we are called to just do the next thing before us. There are some days, for many of us, when that is ALL that we can do – just the next thing. And truth be told, that is all that Jesus asks of us – to do the next thing. So what is ‘the next thing personally for you to do in this movement for a more just world? For this parish to do? This community to do?
Are you ready to cry uncle? Elijah was. Jesus could have been in today’s gospel – as the people start murmuring. Instead, he simply does the next thing – “Let me tell you about the bread which sustains. Let me tell you about my Father and his care. We’ll figure out next steps after that. In the mean time, we’ll just do what is before us.”
The good news – we don’t have to do it all or all alone at every moment in our walk of faith. Just the next thing. Just the next step. Just that next one thing that keeps us being fed by hope and trust and faith, even when life is difficult. And then, strengthened by this bread from heaven, by the food from this table, you and I will be able to walk all the way to the mountain of God…