Readings:
Psalm 100
Isaiah 12:1-6
Philippians 1:3-11
Luke 17:11-19
Sermon:
Oh how great is thy goodness, which thou hast laid up for them that fear thee; which thou hast wrought for them that trust in thee before the sons of men!
The Book of Psalms 31:19
Grace, Mercy and Peace from God our Father and our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, Amen.
Terrible, vengeful, unforgiving, full of wrath...
How...
How is it possible to see God in any other light? In any other way?
Pain, sorrow, hardship, suffering...
We toil day and night in a sinful world living amidst our own inadequacies, our own inabilities. We struggle and fight for everything we have and everything we dream of, given small comforts, and insignificant cliches that are whispered to us in our darkest of hours. Words easier said than done, lessons easier taught than learned.
And amidst it all divine judgement that seems to hang over our heads, punishing us in this life for the sins of our fathers and threatening us with hell for all of eternity in the next for our own.
We read the stories of Job, suffering needlessly, the eyes of a seemingly indifferent God turned to him, the stories of Isaiah struggling against the sins of his people, the cities and towns of Isreal fallen to their enemies, the wrath and anger of God turned to them, or the stories of Noah as those flood waters raised, the anguished cries of the condemned reaching up for mercy knowing their time is at hand. It's hard... it's hard not to see God as terrible or vengeful, perhaps even spiteful and petty.
Even in our own lives...
Our days are long and our labors full of hardship. The struggles, they may not be the same as the struggles of Job or Isaiah or Noah or Moses, and yet they wear at us, they try at our very being and we come to believe that, at times, they will overtake us. And why? What for? Because generations before Adam watched as Eve took of that fruit and then, believing he could be as God, bite into it, trying to recreate the Lord in his own image?
Why?
We question and trying to understand God as we understand ourselves, we too recreate Him in our own image, attaching our thoughts and our behavior, who we are and how we see the world to Him and His divine plan...
Yet those... those who see God as angry or full of wrath and vengeance... they do not see Him rightly, nor do they do Him justice. Rather they see Him as if the sun and all of its warmth was blocked by the long, cold, drawn night, that chills us to the bone. They see him as if a veil were drawn across their face, clouding the eyes as if to show forth nothing more than a blur, the shadow of those former things that we had, when we looked upon the world with newness of eyes, seen so clearly.
But God... God must be mercy.... God is nothing if He is not mercy...
If we know that Christ is our redeemer, if we cling to that faith that tells us that He is our savior then truly Immanuel... God is with us and that God... that God is love... A God that sees us for who we are, not who we long to be, a God who sees us for all that is in us and judges us not for our iniquities that tries to capture us, but for the righteousness that has set us free. To look upon Him in that faith is perhaps not to understand all things of this world or in this world but it is to understand that it is through Him that we are saved and that the hardships and struggles of this world are nothing compared to the joy and the peace that we are to find through Him.
Is there anything... anything at all that we may find that blesses our lives and gives us more to be thankful for than that faith that, through His Spirit, we are called to?
In these days where we celebrate all that we have been given, all that has been offered to sustain us, it isn't unusual to find our souls under attack, to find our spirits under seige from a powerful, old enemy, that raises our sins, that raises our hardships, that raises our iniquities and draws our minds to those places. But as he does, there we must cling to those blessings we have, not just on one day, but through all the days of our lives. Even in our hardship and struggle we must kneel in humble submission and pray our prayers of thanksgiving, calling out to our Redeemer, I am yours, I am in your hands, save me.
In those moments, as the Devil comes to us and seeks wreck havoc upon our souls, saying that we are not worthy, that we deserve, we have earned the condemnation and wrath and the vengence of the Lord, we can look Him straight in the eyes, through all the strength of the Holy Spirit, and say This I know... This I know with all of my heart and all of my soul... I know my sins are great and my troubles many. And yet what... what of it? For in all that I am thankful for there is one thing that I raise up every prayer of humble thanksgiving for with all of my strength and all of my courage, there is one thing that is the delight of my soul and the peace of my spirit and for that I shall always be thankful, come whatever may, for I know of one who suffered living that perfect life I could not. I know of one who died on a lonely cross, the atonement I could not offer, the price I could pay, and in God's mercy, in God's love it was a sacrifice made that I might live and find my reward, if not in this life then in the next.
There, in the perfect redemption of Jesus Christ, I shall fear and love the Lord my God, not in terror, not with viels over my eyes or darkness clouding my vision, but with a deep and abiding adoration for all that has been given for me. Where God is, where Christ is Crucificied, there I will be also, come what may, come what must.
There I will raise myself in thanksgiving all the days of my life, building my foundation on that sure footing, taking to that refuge for the lost.
Now the peace of the Lord that transcends all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus even unto life everlasting. Amen.
Wednesday, November 26, 2008
Monday, November 10, 2008
Episode 10: 11/10/08
Readings:
Psalm 77
Nehemiah 9:1-25
Revelation 18:1-8
Matthew 15:21-28
Sermon:
I will cry aloud to God; *
I will cry aloud, and he will hear me.
Psalm 77:1
I cannot begin to count the number of times I have cried out to the Lord, but I can confidently testify that He has indeed heard me and answered me each time that I did. If He hadn’t, I wouldn’t be here speaking today.
Through the darkest nights of my life, when I felt, as did the psalmist, that the Lord had cast me off forever, I clung to that tiny shred of hope that His loving-kindness had not come to an end, that if I cried out to Him, He would hear me and save me.
When I became pregnant with my oldest daughter 15 years ago, I was thrilled even more than I normally would be. I had recently suffered a miscarriage, and my doctor told me I would be unable to have any other children without surgery and in-vitro fertilization. So this baby was my miracle baby.
But it didn’t take long to realize that something wasn’t going right this time either. My morning sickness became all-day sickness, and instead of getting better after the first few weeks, it never quit. The baby didn’t move much, and I was going in to the doctor every day for stress tests to make sure her heart was still beating. The doctor suggested that it would be entirely understandable if I wanted to have an abortion and try again.
But I cried out to the Lord, and my friends cried out with me, and He heard me, and my baby was delivered.
It quickly became apparent, however, that something wasn’t right with my newborn daughter. It turned out that she had suffered a stroke while still in the womb, and the left side of her brain was heavily damaged. The right side of her body was twisted and paralyzed. Her facial muscles were too weak to be able to suckle. Her doctors were not optimistic.
As we struggled along, thankful for each day that she survived, we began to undergo almost daily tests and evaluations, each one bringing in more unwelcome news. The therapists said she would probably never walk or talk, and that she would be severely retarded. She suffered terrible seizures, and her doctors struggled to find the right medication to bring them under control. I was exhausted and in despair, telling myself that this time the Lord had really forsaken me. As I would drive wearily between home and hospital, I would think longingly of just driving my car off the road and crashing into something. No one would have to know it was deliberate; my family would assume I fell asleep at the wheel and drifted off to my tragic end.
And yet, as I tried to cling to an ever-fading hope, little things would happen that I could see as an answer to prayer. The baby would sleep through the night for a rare change, or my mother would fly down for the weekend and fix me my favorite comfort foods. Then the Lord answered me in a totally unexpected way: I became pregnant again. From that time on, I put aside my thoughts of killing myself, focusing on protecting that little life inside me.
Again my friends rallied to me, offering me encouragement, though I often didn’t appreciate it. One friend was fond of quoting St. Paul’s instructions to be thankful for everything, and to give thanks in all circumstances. It wasn’t easy for me to find something to be thankful for, but as I made the effort, I could begin to see how the Lord had reached out to me, touching me with His love. And I could begin to see a history there, how He had answered every time I cried out. This was a great blessing to me in hard days ahead, when I could say like the Psalmist,
As time went on, and my daughter grew stronger and healthier; when the time between hospital trips could be counted in months rather than days, and then years rather than months; when my concern for her survival was replaced by irritation over teenage behavior; I had the assurance that my God was indeed a God who worked wonders, who had redeemed me and my family just as He had redeemed His people of old. No matter what the future still has in hold for us, we can confidently stand on His promise that He will hear and answer us whenever we cry out to Him.
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Psalm 77
Nehemiah 9:1-25
Revelation 18:1-8
Matthew 15:21-28
Sermon:
I will cry aloud to God; *
I will cry aloud, and he will hear me.
Psalm 77:1
I cannot begin to count the number of times I have cried out to the Lord, but I can confidently testify that He has indeed heard me and answered me each time that I did. If He hadn’t, I wouldn’t be here speaking today.
Through the darkest nights of my life, when I felt, as did the psalmist, that the Lord had cast me off forever, I clung to that tiny shred of hope that His loving-kindness had not come to an end, that if I cried out to Him, He would hear me and save me.
When I became pregnant with my oldest daughter 15 years ago, I was thrilled even more than I normally would be. I had recently suffered a miscarriage, and my doctor told me I would be unable to have any other children without surgery and in-vitro fertilization. So this baby was my miracle baby.
But it didn’t take long to realize that something wasn’t going right this time either. My morning sickness became all-day sickness, and instead of getting better after the first few weeks, it never quit. The baby didn’t move much, and I was going in to the doctor every day for stress tests to make sure her heart was still beating. The doctor suggested that it would be entirely understandable if I wanted to have an abortion and try again.
But I cried out to the Lord, and my friends cried out with me, and He heard me, and my baby was delivered.
It quickly became apparent, however, that something wasn’t right with my newborn daughter. It turned out that she had suffered a stroke while still in the womb, and the left side of her brain was heavily damaged. The right side of her body was twisted and paralyzed. Her facial muscles were too weak to be able to suckle. Her doctors were not optimistic.
As we struggled along, thankful for each day that she survived, we began to undergo almost daily tests and evaluations, each one bringing in more unwelcome news. The therapists said she would probably never walk or talk, and that she would be severely retarded. She suffered terrible seizures, and her doctors struggled to find the right medication to bring them under control. I was exhausted and in despair, telling myself that this time the Lord had really forsaken me. As I would drive wearily between home and hospital, I would think longingly of just driving my car off the road and crashing into something. No one would have to know it was deliberate; my family would assume I fell asleep at the wheel and drifted off to my tragic end.
And yet, as I tried to cling to an ever-fading hope, little things would happen that I could see as an answer to prayer. The baby would sleep through the night for a rare change, or my mother would fly down for the weekend and fix me my favorite comfort foods. Then the Lord answered me in a totally unexpected way: I became pregnant again. From that time on, I put aside my thoughts of killing myself, focusing on protecting that little life inside me.
Again my friends rallied to me, offering me encouragement, though I often didn’t appreciate it. One friend was fond of quoting St. Paul’s instructions to be thankful for everything, and to give thanks in all circumstances. It wasn’t easy for me to find something to be thankful for, but as I made the effort, I could begin to see how the Lord had reached out to me, touching me with His love. And I could begin to see a history there, how He had answered every time I cried out. This was a great blessing to me in hard days ahead, when I could say like the Psalmist,
I will remember the works of the LORD, *
and call to mind your wonders of old time.
I will meditate on all your acts *
and ponder your mighty deeds.
As time went on, and my daughter grew stronger and healthier; when the time between hospital trips could be counted in months rather than days, and then years rather than months; when my concern for her survival was replaced by irritation over teenage behavior; I had the assurance that my God was indeed a God who worked wonders, who had redeemed me and my family just as He had redeemed His people of old. No matter what the future still has in hold for us, we can confidently stand on His promise that He will hear and answer us whenever we cry out to Him.
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
Episode 9: 11/05/08
Readings:
Psalm 119:73-96
Nehemiah 13:4-22
Revelation 16:1-11
Luke 13:10-17
Sermon:
"For my people have committed two evils; they have forsaken me the fountain of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water."
Jeremiah 2:13
Grace, Mercy and Peace from God our Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ...
Imagine that you had a spring...
Imagine that you had a spring and all that poured forth was pure and clean water, water that sparkled by the light of the sun and the moon. Cool to the tongue it would rejuvenate you when you were thirsty, when the sweat of your brow beaded against your face, when all you see around you is dirty and mud and sand. Plentiful, it is a spring that will never dry up, that you can drink from all the days of your life, and yet that will never show any signs of coming close to being used up.
So you begin to dig...
You begin to dig a hole and you place a cistern...
Perhaps you don't trust that the spring will always be there, you worry that it will, in fact, run dry. You look around and there isn't any more water that you can see so you don't have faith that it will provide you the water that you need for you and your family...
It may be a strange concept for us, the idea of a cistern or the idea that we won't have clean drinking water, we always have. You can turn on a tap and it will pour right into a glass for you or you can go to the store and you can buy it in bottles or in jugs. Treated and retreated it's safe to drink, you never really have to worry about that all too often. Yes, at times perhaps we hear about tainted water but the cases are few and far between.
So what is a cistern?
Unlike a spring a cistern is man made, much like a well except where with a well you dig until you reach water this is a giant vat you dig into the ground and place a wall of rock or stone around to keep water stored for drinking. The problem is that it wasn't a great solution. As is often the case the water would stagnate and grow algea, it would become poisonous to drink, snakes and other animals would get into it and it would make it unclean, a veritable ceaspool
Now imagine that with the wear and the use of it, with the natural erosion of time the cistern cracked and would break with the strain of it all.
So it was with the children of Isreal...
Except that, as God spoke, it wasn't a real cistern, nor was it a literal spring... of their bodies and souls, of their spirits and minds they had built cisterns of themselves, turning their backs on the Lord God Almighty, He who had delivered them from the Pharoahs, who had tore down the walls of Jericho, and had slain Goliath, to protect and care for children. The spring of living water the God of Abraham and Isaac, Moses and Joshua, would provide them with all that they would need, He would lead the from slavery to their own land, a land flowing with milk and honey.
But never would they trust Him to be there for them always.They would cave under pressure and they would build their own gods, or they would blow before foriegn gods, idols with eyes that could see and ears that could not hear their cries. They would be the cisterns of faith that would stagnate the soul, filling it with poison.
Believing they could hold God in the golden form or in statues and rock they would bow before these cisterns and drink of its water. Slowly, drink by drink, they would bring their own spiritual death...
Those ancient Isrealites would not be alone...
How often does God provide for us? How often does He show Himself to be the Spring of life, an eternal water flowing that will rejuvenate and revive us? So much so has He shown this in our lives that He gave His only Son, a sacrifice for our sins that we might find eternal life through our faith in Him.
Yet we turn, we look elsewhere, we worry that He isn't always going to be there or He isn't going to always provide for us, the first time we see dry weather we begin to worry that his well spring will dry up leaving us nothing except to mourn and wonder at our lot in life. So we build ourselves false idols, earthly wealth, earthly success, governments that promise to provide everything we need from craddle to grave, we look to new cars or a new house, or a bigger pay check or an entitlement check, it really doesn't matter. There we put our faith, like so much fresh spring water, in these cisterns, cracked and broken.
Still no matter how much faith we place in we find that it's never full or its never able to hold it, and what's left is sheer poison, bitter to the lips, warm and always leaving us wanting more....
But there is hope...
Turning our backs to those cisterns of this world, our eyes transfix upon the spring of living water, turning looking from the false idols and false gods we create in our own imperfect images, we look upon God in all His perfect form. There He is great enough, strong enough, powerful enough, to provide for all we want and all we need. Stronger than any earthly creation, He will never crack or break. Able to provide for us that which will rejuvenate He will never go bitter or warm, but will always be cool and quenching to us.
In Him and through His beloved Son our salvation is made perfect, it is made whole and we are never left to want, we are never left to thirst. In all that we are and all that we do He will give us all that we need to perservere and to go on in strength.
Place your trust in His well spring, turning from the stagnate waters of this world, and never find ourselves disappointed.
The peace o the Lord that Transcends all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus even unto life everlasting. Amen.
Psalm 119:73-96
Nehemiah 13:4-22
Revelation 16:1-11
Luke 13:10-17
Sermon:
"For my people have committed two evils; they have forsaken me the fountain of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water."
Jeremiah 2:13
Grace, Mercy and Peace from God our Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ...
Imagine that you had a spring...
Imagine that you had a spring and all that poured forth was pure and clean water, water that sparkled by the light of the sun and the moon. Cool to the tongue it would rejuvenate you when you were thirsty, when the sweat of your brow beaded against your face, when all you see around you is dirty and mud and sand. Plentiful, it is a spring that will never dry up, that you can drink from all the days of your life, and yet that will never show any signs of coming close to being used up.
So you begin to dig...
You begin to dig a hole and you place a cistern...
Perhaps you don't trust that the spring will always be there, you worry that it will, in fact, run dry. You look around and there isn't any more water that you can see so you don't have faith that it will provide you the water that you need for you and your family...
It may be a strange concept for us, the idea of a cistern or the idea that we won't have clean drinking water, we always have. You can turn on a tap and it will pour right into a glass for you or you can go to the store and you can buy it in bottles or in jugs. Treated and retreated it's safe to drink, you never really have to worry about that all too often. Yes, at times perhaps we hear about tainted water but the cases are few and far between.
So what is a cistern?
Unlike a spring a cistern is man made, much like a well except where with a well you dig until you reach water this is a giant vat you dig into the ground and place a wall of rock or stone around to keep water stored for drinking. The problem is that it wasn't a great solution. As is often the case the water would stagnate and grow algea, it would become poisonous to drink, snakes and other animals would get into it and it would make it unclean, a veritable ceaspool
Now imagine that with the wear and the use of it, with the natural erosion of time the cistern cracked and would break with the strain of it all.
So it was with the children of Isreal...
Except that, as God spoke, it wasn't a real cistern, nor was it a literal spring... of their bodies and souls, of their spirits and minds they had built cisterns of themselves, turning their backs on the Lord God Almighty, He who had delivered them from the Pharoahs, who had tore down the walls of Jericho, and had slain Goliath, to protect and care for children. The spring of living water the God of Abraham and Isaac, Moses and Joshua, would provide them with all that they would need, He would lead the from slavery to their own land, a land flowing with milk and honey.
But never would they trust Him to be there for them always.They would cave under pressure and they would build their own gods, or they would blow before foriegn gods, idols with eyes that could see and ears that could not hear their cries. They would be the cisterns of faith that would stagnate the soul, filling it with poison.
Believing they could hold God in the golden form or in statues and rock they would bow before these cisterns and drink of its water. Slowly, drink by drink, they would bring their own spiritual death...
Those ancient Isrealites would not be alone...
How often does God provide for us? How often does He show Himself to be the Spring of life, an eternal water flowing that will rejuvenate and revive us? So much so has He shown this in our lives that He gave His only Son, a sacrifice for our sins that we might find eternal life through our faith in Him.
Yet we turn, we look elsewhere, we worry that He isn't always going to be there or He isn't going to always provide for us, the first time we see dry weather we begin to worry that his well spring will dry up leaving us nothing except to mourn and wonder at our lot in life. So we build ourselves false idols, earthly wealth, earthly success, governments that promise to provide everything we need from craddle to grave, we look to new cars or a new house, or a bigger pay check or an entitlement check, it really doesn't matter. There we put our faith, like so much fresh spring water, in these cisterns, cracked and broken.
Still no matter how much faith we place in we find that it's never full or its never able to hold it, and what's left is sheer poison, bitter to the lips, warm and always leaving us wanting more....
But there is hope...
Turning our backs to those cisterns of this world, our eyes transfix upon the spring of living water, turning looking from the false idols and false gods we create in our own imperfect images, we look upon God in all His perfect form. There He is great enough, strong enough, powerful enough, to provide for all we want and all we need. Stronger than any earthly creation, He will never crack or break. Able to provide for us that which will rejuvenate He will never go bitter or warm, but will always be cool and quenching to us.
In Him and through His beloved Son our salvation is made perfect, it is made whole and we are never left to want, we are never left to thirst. In all that we are and all that we do He will give us all that we need to perservere and to go on in strength.
Place your trust in His well spring, turning from the stagnate waters of this world, and never find ourselves disappointed.
The peace o the Lord that Transcends all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus even unto life everlasting. Amen.
Monday, November 3, 2008
Episode 8: 11/03/08
Readings:
Psalm 65
Nehemiah 6:1-19
Revelation 14:1-13
Luke 12:49-59
Sermon:
Then I heard a voice from heaven say, "Write: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on." "Yes," says the Spirit, "they will rest from their labor, for their deeds will follow them." Rev. 14:13
Last week we celebrated two important feasts of the Church: Reformation Day and All Saints Day. On those two days we celebrate heroes of the faith who lived and died for their Lord. Some of them, like Martin Luther, were giants who risked all to bring the Church back to the authority of Scripture and the teachings of the Apostles. Luther was excommunicated from the Church and lived the rest of his life in exile as an enemy of the state.
Other reformers paid with their lives. In England, the Oxford martyrs, Archbishop Thomas Cranmer, and Bishops Hugh Latimer and Nicholas Ridley were executed for their reforming work. As Latimer and Ridley were burned at the stake, Latimer’s last words were prophetic: “Be of good comfort, Master Ridley, and play the man; we shall this day light such a candle by God’s grace in England as I trust shall never be put out.”
That candle continues to burn brightly not only in England but in some of the darkest parts of the world today, lit by the sacrifices of everyday Christians who are persecuted or murdered for their faith. While they may not be as well known as the superstars of Church history, they are following in a proud tradition and have earned a place of honor in the history of the church.
Take, for example, the Christians of Orissa, in India. We don’t normally associate a democratic nation like India with religious persecution, but anti-conversion laws make criminals of Christian missionaries who often work among members of the lowest castes, the untouchables of Indian society. Although the caste system was officially abolished when India gained its independence, it still exists in practice, and Dalits who try to escape its tyranny by converting to Christianity are often murdered or abused, as well as the foreign missionaries who bring the Good News of Christ to them. An Australian missionary and his two sons were burned to death in their car by an angry mob nearly a decade ago, and anti-Christian violence continues to this day.
Or consider the Christians of Pakistan, where Islamic laws against blasphemy make it a crime to mention the name of Christ. Or Christian converts in Iran, who face hanging or stoning for leaving Islam. While we admire the dedication and perseverance of these modern-day saints and martyrs, we may wonder what drives them to make these heroic sacrifices, what gives them the strength to endure abuse and prison and death.
Persecution and hatred for one’s faith, near and far, has happened through every chapter of history.
In Russia, for generations upon generations faith was adored and it flourished. Then, in one moment it all changed. Looking to the Supremacy of Man and his wisdom, the communists would strike out in vile anger against Christians. Sent to Siberia or tortured in prisons, for eighty years the community of believers would be cast into a bitter Diaspora, their contact with the larger body of the church rare, and only when bibles would be smuggled into the country.
In the Beatitudes, our Lord says “Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”
This sounds rather counterintuitive to most people, even Christians, who would consider themselves to be blessed when life goes well for them, when they are happy and prosperous and well-liked and respected. While a great reward in heaven is a nice thought, for most of us it’s too far off to be much of an incentive, and if we really thought we might be looking forward to it in the next day or two, we might have second thoughts on how nice it really is.
So what is the blessing in being persecuted? Where is the joy to be found that sustains them in their suffering and keeps them faithful even unto death?
St. Paul, who certainly underwent his share of suffering for the Gospel, being flogged, stoned, arrested and eventually beheaded, tells us that “to live is Christ and to die is gain.”
Like Paul we say the words, but when put to the test do we really believe them in the way that we should?
We don't live in a world like Paul's or like those believers in India or Pakistan or Iran. Here in America we are blessed with a society that cherishes freedom of religion and we are able to testify to our faith any time we would like. Still we meet opposition and critics, those who would mock and berate us for our faith, trying to cut us down. So here's the test. Knowing that about our surroundings, do we still testify? Do we still preach the word in our daily lives? Or do we shrink from it, believing that somebody else will take up the task?
The blessing we find in our persecution is the understanding that what we do is for something greater than ourselves, putting our own comfort and complacency secondary to God's will and desire for our lives; knowing that through faith we will gain our reward in our salvation. The blessing we find there sustains us through this life in the strength of God, and comforts us in the peace of the Holy Spirit, unto the salvation we find in Christ.
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Psalm 65
Nehemiah 6:1-19
Revelation 14:1-13
Luke 12:49-59
Sermon:
Then I heard a voice from heaven say, "Write: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on." "Yes," says the Spirit, "they will rest from their labor, for their deeds will follow them." Rev. 14:13
Last week we celebrated two important feasts of the Church: Reformation Day and All Saints Day. On those two days we celebrate heroes of the faith who lived and died for their Lord. Some of them, like Martin Luther, were giants who risked all to bring the Church back to the authority of Scripture and the teachings of the Apostles. Luther was excommunicated from the Church and lived the rest of his life in exile as an enemy of the state.
Other reformers paid with their lives. In England, the Oxford martyrs, Archbishop Thomas Cranmer, and Bishops Hugh Latimer and Nicholas Ridley were executed for their reforming work. As Latimer and Ridley were burned at the stake, Latimer’s last words were prophetic: “Be of good comfort, Master Ridley, and play the man; we shall this day light such a candle by God’s grace in England as I trust shall never be put out.”
That candle continues to burn brightly not only in England but in some of the darkest parts of the world today, lit by the sacrifices of everyday Christians who are persecuted or murdered for their faith. While they may not be as well known as the superstars of Church history, they are following in a proud tradition and have earned a place of honor in the history of the church.
Take, for example, the Christians of Orissa, in India. We don’t normally associate a democratic nation like India with religious persecution, but anti-conversion laws make criminals of Christian missionaries who often work among members of the lowest castes, the untouchables of Indian society. Although the caste system was officially abolished when India gained its independence, it still exists in practice, and Dalits who try to escape its tyranny by converting to Christianity are often murdered or abused, as well as the foreign missionaries who bring the Good News of Christ to them. An Australian missionary and his two sons were burned to death in their car by an angry mob nearly a decade ago, and anti-Christian violence continues to this day.
Or consider the Christians of Pakistan, where Islamic laws against blasphemy make it a crime to mention the name of Christ. Or Christian converts in Iran, who face hanging or stoning for leaving Islam. While we admire the dedication and perseverance of these modern-day saints and martyrs, we may wonder what drives them to make these heroic sacrifices, what gives them the strength to endure abuse and prison and death.
Persecution and hatred for one’s faith, near and far, has happened through every chapter of history.
In Russia, for generations upon generations faith was adored and it flourished. Then, in one moment it all changed. Looking to the Supremacy of Man and his wisdom, the communists would strike out in vile anger against Christians. Sent to Siberia or tortured in prisons, for eighty years the community of believers would be cast into a bitter Diaspora, their contact with the larger body of the church rare, and only when bibles would be smuggled into the country.
In the Beatitudes, our Lord says “Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”
This sounds rather counterintuitive to most people, even Christians, who would consider themselves to be blessed when life goes well for them, when they are happy and prosperous and well-liked and respected. While a great reward in heaven is a nice thought, for most of us it’s too far off to be much of an incentive, and if we really thought we might be looking forward to it in the next day or two, we might have second thoughts on how nice it really is.
So what is the blessing in being persecuted? Where is the joy to be found that sustains them in their suffering and keeps them faithful even unto death?
St. Paul, who certainly underwent his share of suffering for the Gospel, being flogged, stoned, arrested and eventually beheaded, tells us that “to live is Christ and to die is gain.”
Like Paul we say the words, but when put to the test do we really believe them in the way that we should?
We don't live in a world like Paul's or like those believers in India or Pakistan or Iran. Here in America we are blessed with a society that cherishes freedom of religion and we are able to testify to our faith any time we would like. Still we meet opposition and critics, those who would mock and berate us for our faith, trying to cut us down. So here's the test. Knowing that about our surroundings, do we still testify? Do we still preach the word in our daily lives? Or do we shrink from it, believing that somebody else will take up the task?
The blessing we find in our persecution is the understanding that what we do is for something greater than ourselves, putting our own comfort and complacency secondary to God's will and desire for our lives; knowing that through faith we will gain our reward in our salvation. The blessing we find there sustains us through this life in the strength of God, and comforts us in the peace of the Holy Spirit, unto the salvation we find in Christ.
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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