By Rev. Jamie Green Klopotoski
September 26, 2021
Watch here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mTGmFe0BbRA
The glasses were half full of water. And they were everywhere. Glasses of every shape, color, and size were on the kitchen counter, the coffee table, the bookshelves, even on the piano. In M Night Shyamalan’s 2002 movie “Signs,” 8 year old Beau never finishes the glasses of water that her father gives her when she is thirsty. She always claims that the water is contaminated or tastes funny, so she leaves these unfinished glasses of water all over the house. Near the end of the movie (spoiler alert for anyone who hasn’t yet seen it!), aliens attack Beau’s house. The family is trying to fight them off, when an alien knocks over one of the many half full glasses of water. The water spills all over the alien, and all of a sudden the alien shrivels up and dies. The aliens’ weakness happens to be water and the world is saved because the family had easy access to tons of water to pour on the aliens, thanks to little Beau’s obsessive compulsive disorder with the very substance that could defeat the aliens. Beau’s father foreshadows this moment when he says earlier in the movie: “There are two groups of people in the world. One believes that when something happens in their life, it’s a miracle. The other group believes in pure luck. Think of it this way- is it possible that there are no coincidences?”
Once upon a time, there was a Persian king named Xerxes. After kicking his wife, Vashti, out of the palace for refusing to “entertain” his party guests, he ordered the loveliest women from his 127 provinces to come to the palace so he could choose a new queen. He chose Esther. Little did he know that Esther, an orphan living with her Uncle Mordecai, was a Jew, and, like all Jews at the time, she was in exile from the land of Israel, stuck living in places like Persia, and forced to hide her Jewish identity.
In the king’s court there was also a wicked man named Haman (HAH-mahn). One day Haman ran into Mordecai in town, and Mordecai refused to bow down to him (being Jewish, Mordecai would only bow down to God). Haman was furious, and plotted to kill not just Mordecai, but ALL Jews, because he believed they were all troublesome foreigners who would never be loyal subjects. The King agreed to this ethnic cleansing plan of genocide, and used a lottery to choose the thirteenth day of the month of Adar (uh-DAHR) to be the day when all Jews would be slain.
Obviously, the Jews were very distressed. Mordecai sent news of the plan to Esther up in the palace, begging her to help. “Who knows?” asked Mordecai, “maybe you have been put in the palace for a moment such as this. Maybe you can talk to the King, and get him to stop this from happening!” Though Esther was scared, she realized that she may be the only hope her people had. She invited the King to a banquet in a few days and planned to talk to him then.
The night before the banquet, King Xerxes had trouble falling asleep so he ordered that the Book of Royal Records be read to him (because that would put anyone to sleep!). The section read happened to be about how Mordecai once prevented the King’s assassination. The king discovered that Mordecai had never been honored for this good deed, so right then, in the middle of the night, before he could forget, he summoned none other than Haman with instructions to give honor and praise to Mordecai!
The next evening at the banquet, Esther found the courage to tell the King who she really was, Mordecai’s niece and a Jew, and she pleaded with the King to save her people and prevent the genocide that Haman had planned. The King, influenced by all these recent positive experiences with Jews, had a change of heart, and nixed the plan. Mordecai rejoiced, and wanted other Jews to rejoice as well; he sent letters to all the Jews throughout the provinces to have them celebrate annually the fourteenth and fifteenth days of the month of Adar. This Jewish holiday, celebrated in the spring each year, is called Purim (Poohr-im), which means “lots” after the lottery used to choose the date of the prevented genocide. On Purim, the Jews read the entire book of Esther, to remember the story of how she happened to be the right place at the right time to save her people.
One more story, this time about me. When I was 6 years old, I moved from Chicago to Beloit, Wisconsin. One of the first people I met and became friends with was a neighbor girl my age named Dara. She invited me to join an after school kid’s drama group at her church. I decided to try it out, even though I was nervous, because it would be the first time I had ever stepped into a church. After a few delightful sessions, the very nice youth minister running the program invited me to come to a church service on Sunday. I decided to try it out, and Dara’s parents were willing to drive me. The people at the church were incredibly welcoming and loving, and I started attending every Sunday, not with my parents, but with Dara’s parents driving me each week until I could drive myself. I was baptized there, and confirmed, I joined the youth choir and youth group and volunteered with Vacation Bible School. As a college freshman, I felt my initial call to ministry there. And now, of course, I am an ordained minister. That church changed my life; everyone there genuinely loved and cared for me when I felt like no one else did, and they introduced me to a God who loved and cared for me too. If it wasn’t for Dara’s invitation and the kindness of her parents, the love of the youth minister, and the welcome of the church members, I most definitely would not be who I am today.
Speaking of today, let me also tell you the story of how I got signed up to preach here. This summer, I was invited by my friend and musical colleague, Dave, to join a volunteer Big Band in Peabody, and I just happened to have Thursday mornings available, so I said yes. During our first gathering, one of the trumpet players, Bob, who conducts the Rockport Legion Band, asked me to join that band since he really needed saxophone players. I said yes to that as well. During one of our concerts in Rockport, I played a solo and Bob introduced me to the audience as an ordained minister. One of your parishioners, Martha, who plays French Horn in the band, just happened to hear that and just happened to be looking for guest preachers for this church, so after the concert she approached me about preaching here. Again, if it wasn’t for the invitation, welcome, and kindness of Dave and Bob and Martha, and my willingness to try something new and say yes, I literally would not be here today.
The sequence of events that occurred in my life, and the lives of Beau and Esther seem like mere coincidences. A coincidence that Beau left glasses of water all over the house and a coincidence that water was the alien’s weakness. A coincidence that Esther, a Jew, moved into the Persian palace and became Queen, and a coincidence that the King couldn’t sleep the night before Esther’s banquet and was read a story about Esther’s uncle. A coincidence that I moved to Beloit, met Dara, and joined a drama group at her church. A coincidence that I met Martha at the Rockport Legion Band. But I argue these events are not just mere coincidences; they are opportunities. These strategically placed people and events are like tiny gifts from the universe, tiny miracles from God, signs of God working in the background of all of our lives through divinely orchestrated events, putting the right people in the right places at the right times. The book of Esther convinces me that people are put in our lives for a reason, and we are put into the lives of others for a reason. We are each like those half full glasses of water, we are all different sizes and shapes and colors, but each of us are placed on the right coffee table and the perfect bookcase, to be used at the right time to do something great, maybe even to save the world.
St. Teresa of Ávila once said: “Christ has no body but yours. No hands, no feet on earth but yours. Yours are the eyes with which he looks compassion on this world. Yours are the feet with which he walks to do good. Yours are the hands with which he blesses all the world.” I think that the coincidences we experience in our lives are opportunities for us to be the hands and feet of Christ. Beau’s family didn’t ignore the signs; they used those miraculously placed glasses of water to save the world. Esther didn’t ignore the position of the power she happened to be in to save her people. Dara and her parents and the youth minister and that church in Beloit didn’t ignore the new girl put into their lives, and they saved me. It may be scary, it definitely takes some bravery, and you may have to step outside of your comfort zone, but if we allow God to use us for a greater purpose, we really can make a difference in the world.
We need to be on the lookout for miracles disguised at coincidences, for times in our lives when we can act on behalf of God, when we can be that voice a person needs to hear, when we can be the Beau, or the Esther, or the Dara is someone’s life. The next time you just “happen” to bump into someone, maybe consider that it’s not just a coincidence, maybe it’s an opportunity. Maybe they are hurt and need your love. Maybe they are lost and need your guidance. Maybe they are sad and need your sense of humor. Whatever the reason, consider that they came your way on purpose.
And whenever we are the recipient of someone’s kind action, be thankful. Celebrate like the Jews do on Purim! Show your gratitude for the important role they played in your life. They may not even know they made such a difference.
Let us take advantage of divinely orchestrated moments, when the universe aligns, when we end up in the right place at the right time. Let us be ready to be God’s hands and feet in this world. Let us be open to the possibilities and brave enough to act. My favorite verse from the Book of Esther is one from chapter 4, when her uncle tells her, “Who knows, perhaps you were made queen for just such a time as this?” Because who knows, maybe you are where you are right now, for such a time as this. Amen.
