Bad News, Good News In An Uncertain Life
Children's sermon
Illustration
Preaching
Sermon
Worship
Object:
Bad news is unavoidable. From the bad diagnosis at the doctor's office to the six o'clock news headlines, we cannot get away from somber tidings. Even our own mortality can be a source of depression for many! Where is the good news in all of this? Where is the gospel? Paul Bresnahan will provide the main article, with Stephen McCutchan writing the response. Illustrations, liturgical aids, and a children's sermon are also provided.
Bad News, Good News in an Uncertain Life
Paul Bresnahan
Matthew 7:21-29
It really should come as no great surprise, given his age, but when I heard the news earlier this week that Ted Kennedy had been diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor, I was stunned. Ted has become so much a part of the landscape of our national political life. Love him or hate him he has become a ubiquitous symbol of "The American Liberal." It was akin the news of the assassinations of his two brothers, Martin Luther King, and even the 9/11 attacks. While obviously not nearly so traumatic as the others, the news still put me in touch with the reality that life is vulnerable. "Life is a terminal disease!" we used to say in seminary. In our younger years, we were able to muster a nervous laugh to comments like that.
The reality of disease, trauma, and tragedy is no laughing matter. We feel ourselves on anything but solid footing when the news comes. I never relish going to the doctor; less so as I age. The refusal to face the truth is often fraught with its own set of problems.
So then, how do we build our lives on rock? How shall Jesus be a rock to us in lives that are so beset with the "slings and arrows of outrageous fortune"? Today, let's explore that very question. Recent events point out that tens of thousands of people face questions like that every day. Let's give the question enough thought to see if we can venture a response! Many people, including ourselves, are waiting for good news when bad news strikes!
THE WORD
We are told in the lesson from Genesis today that Noah walked with God. That turn of phrase reminds me of how God walked with Adam in the "cool of the day" at a time when all was well in the garden. But then something went terribly wrong. Disobedience and self-will entered the landscape and there was alienation between God and his people... there was alienation between and among people. Some biblical scholars will tell us that there are two narratives that run through scripture. There is the narrative of companionship where we find ourselves "walking" with God in the cool of the day.
Everything seems right with the world and within us. We are at peace and we are filled with gratitude. Another narrative postulates that something goes wrong. There is a "fall" from grace. We find ourselves seeking our own will instead of the will of God. Everything becomes distorted. There is conflict, we find ourselves out of sorts, and somehow violence breaks out. Everything is at sixes and sevens and the whole of the landscape seems unredeemable. We are in alienation from God and one another. It is as though a flood had covered the earth. It is as though but one family remembers what it is like to walk with God, and it is time to start all over again. The story of Noah and the ark is very much a part of our story.
Paul notes too that there really is no distinction since we have all fallen rather noticeably short of the mark. Since that is so convincingly the case and thus the bad news of our sin surrounds us on every side, we are all the more dependent upon the good news; namely that it is only through the grace of God given in the gift of faith that there is any hope for any one of us. But that is precisely what the good news is. The power of God for our salvation is given to us while we were yet sinners, Jesus found it worth our while to give his life for us well before we even knew we were sinners. We are a strange lot since we like to point out who the sinners are: usually our enemies. Yet if we were to explore what it is that we find disquieting in our enemies -- if we're honest about it -- we'll find the same thing in ourselves in abundance. That's just a fact!
However, thanks be to God, God sees through the deception. God sees that there are no distinctions and that we are all sinners... and so he offers salvation freely to all.
The psalmist walks with God in simplicity of faith, it seems to me, in today's devotional. Without any shame or hesitation, the Psalmist hides himself in the rock. God is our refuge, our strength, and our salvation. Great is God's goodness, and the poetry of the psalm articulates the shape and nature of a spirituality that devotes itself to God.
Our gospel finds its focus rightly not in words but in actions. For it is not in the mentioning of holy words that we will find salvation coming to us, as much as it will be in the practice of the presence of God that will deliver a sense of the kingdom of heaven. To enter God's heart will require that we enter the honesty of our own hearts; that will bring us to the heart of God and that is where heaven reigns. That is where we will find our rock. The winds will come, the storms will beat in upon us, but we will remain unshaken because we are in the heart of God! Those are no mere words; that is a way of life. That way of life is articulated in the most magnificent way in the Sermon on the Mount which bears reading again... and these words from Jesus are right in the middle of that sermon!
THE WORLD
A casual look at the morning paper tells us that there is much in the way of human misery to go around. Victims of earthquakes and aftershocks in China, a cyclone in Myanmar, tornadoes in the US, and cancer and calamity taking the lives of the rich and the famous. Just this past weekend we marked Memorial Day and gathered to remember more than 4,000 of our own young who have died in foreign lands, and God knows how many others in Iraq and Afghanistan have also been taken. It is sad. There is much bad news for us to digest in the daily papers, or if you catch the news online as I often do, thanks to the folks at Google news.
How often do I find myself sighing deeply after digesting all there is to see of the passing scene of the world we live in? Where am I to find the good news to counterbalance this constant bombardment of bad?
CRAFTING THE SERMON
John Stott, a well-known preacher of another generation, was fond of saying that for every page of the newspaper we read, we ought to read a page of the scripture. That is to say: we owe it to our spirits to balance the bad news with the good. The reality of the matter is that it is not just a people far away or a wealthy senator from Massachusetts who are subject to the vulnerabilities of living; we all are.
If we train our eyes only on the bad news, we'll be unprepared to proclaim the good. I must remind myself all the time that beauty, art, music, and joy are every bit as much a part of life as are all those realities that fall so far short of that mark.
When I lived in West Virginia, I often found comfort in the hills and mountains and country roads of that great state. Now that I'm living in Massachusetts, I find comfort walking along the seashore or by taking a trip in to one of Boston's great museums. The truth is that I am not just looking at pretty nature settings, or the handiwork of man, I am looking at the glory of God when I look at beautiful things.
I love to watch the women of the congregation (some men, too, come to think of it) who enjoy arranging the flowers for the altar on Sundays. There is a quiet sanctity to the work. Mostly in silence, sometimes with humming a familiar hymn, a lovely vase is prepared and placed on the table behind the altar. Standing back artfully, a gracious parishioner will adjust his or her creation to a satisfactory angle and almost always smiles. This kind of thing has been done for thousands of years as we prepare to meet the mystery of God.
We meet the mystery of God not just on Sundays in word and in sacrament. We meet the mystery of God on a daily basis as the good news of life intersects with the bad... when the gospel meets reality. God did not relinquish his Son to death, but rose victorious through the grave to everlasting life.
So, too, when tragedy strikes, we are not a people who are to lie prostrate in defeat before inevitability. We are to rise up in the knowledge that God has a destiny in store for us that far outweighs this momentary affliction with which we suffer.
God is always making of us something beautiful for God. When I look in a mirror, I am often disappointed by what I see... but if I stop long enough, I will notice that there is quite a character there... I will notice that it is not who I offer but what God has done for me that makes me part of what God's glory is becoming.
If we find ourselves stunned by the vulnerabilities of ourselves or others from time to time, we probably have not spent enough time basking in the glory of God. Perhaps we haven't been creating something beautiful for God. We may have forgotten to become part of God's redeeming and sanctifying work. These are no mere words. This is a way of life. This is the rock that God would have us build our lives on.
Still, I am afraid from time to time. God knows that and has already factored that into his salvation plan for me and for you. Therefore, press on toward the upward goal. Build your life with Jesus strong in the knowledge and love of God. If ever we're lost, God will show us the way.
Remember, God stands knocking at the door, waiting. All we have to do is remember to open the door.
ANOTHER VIEW
Stephen McCutchan
The recent news story about Senator Ted Kennedy's brain tumor highlights our fascination with time and how easily we are attracted to the dramatic, unambiguous moment in time. We have a distaste ambiguity. We want answers that have a certainty to them. What made the announcement about Senator Kennedy so dramatic was that doctors said he had about six months left to live. It would not have been nearly as major a news story if the medical report had said that he has a brain tumor but no one can predict whether he will live a few months or a few years. We don't like such ambiguity. We want clear answers.
Most medical professionals would tell you that all time predictions are an estimate and not a certainty. I have a friend, folk singer david bailey (He always spells his name with the lower case), who was diagnosed with a brain tumor and given only a few months to live. He left his job and returned to his passion for song writing and performing. Now twelve years later, twenty albums, and 44 states later, david and his music continue to offer a ministry to others. You can see more of his story at his web site, www.davidmbailey.com.
We want the same certainty fueled by clear dramatic action with respect to events on a worldwide scale, as well. That is why we can easily get frustrated with the slow pace of diplomacy, where no one is getting killed, and so easily tempted by war where force is used to bring about the desired result. The problem is that force rarely achieves its ends and often corrupts the user of the force in the process.
There is an old conundrum that presumed atheists like to quote. God can be all good or God can be all powerful but given the reality of evil in the world, both cannot be true. They therefore conclude, with a touch of self-righteousness, that God is either not all powerful or not all good or perhaps does not exist at all. The unexamined assumption behind this thesis is that power can make a condition good.
Our lectionary passage gives us excerpts from the Noah flood story (Genesis 6:9-22; 7:24; 8:14-19). In parabolic fashion, this story demonstrates the falseness of the above thesis.
The story suggests that the world was evil and God decided to exercise divine power to cleanse the world of evil through a flood. Since he did not desire to completely destroy his earthly creation, he chose Noah, a righteous man, to build an ark and preserve a remnant of righteousness to continue creation. (One can hear echoes of this same story in the Left Behind series in which a righteous remnant is also preserved, only this time through a rapture rather than an ark.)
If the lectionary passage had continued for a few more verses (Genesis 8:20-27), we would have read that the first thing Noah did upon exiting the ark was to plant a vineyard, produce wine, and get drunk. The problems of humanity began again. Power, in and of itself, cannot force righteousness on the world. If you have ever wondered why the all powerful God doesn't just punish the wicked and rid the world of evil, the story of Noah suggests that the line that separates evil from good runs down through everyone's heart.
If God is going to save the world from sin, it has to be done in a different way. Our passage from Romans 1:16-17; 3:22b-28 (29-31) suggests that different way. The problem is that the way that is revealed, while including the dramatic moment of the cross, recognizes the ambiguity of the world and the murkiness of our lives. It begins by recognizing that you cannot separate the "sinners" from the "good people." "For there is no distinction, since all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God...." God's solution to this dilemma is not the exercise of force but the redemptive power of grace. "They are now justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus... He did this to show his righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over the sins previously committed...."
Whether in the case of Ted Kennedy and my friend david bailey, or in the situations of Chinese earthquakes, cyclones in Myanmar, or violence between nations and factions as is taking place in Iraq and between Israel and their neighbors, we need to learn that the future always remains open. Our hope is not in a predictable moment but in the faithfulness of God who is present to us in every situation. In the words of Paul in Romans 8:28, "We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose." That is not because all things are good but because God is capable of working in every situation in a redeeming way. Therefore, in all situations, we are called to trust God and be alert to his redeeming work even in the worst of situations.
ILLUSTRATIONS
There've been some big questions raised in Sichuan, China, lately, ever since the magnitude 7.9 earthquake struck on May 12 and caused the deaths of so many thousands, with many more thousands injured.
"Why," people want to know, "did so many school buildings collapse, trapping and killing hundreds of children inside, while nearby buildings survived?"
Had these school buildings, some of which were fairly new, not been built according to the required code? Had the builders skimped in order to make more profits for themselves?
In our gospel lesson from Matthew today, Jesus reminds us that we need to build well, that we need to build our lives on the solid rock of God's love for us.
If we want our lives to be able to withstand the storms and earthquakes of this life, we need a rock-solid foundation, and Jesus is that rock.
* * *
In regard to Noah, Luther says that God sent the flood upon the earth because of humans' violence toward each other, that the earth was filled with violence. Luther says that God is not as concerned about how people treat him as he is about how we treat each other, that God is not as concerned about the first section of the Ten Commandments as he is about the second.
It is the abundance of His compassion and love that causes God to complain more about the wrongs with which His members are oppressed than about those that are inflicted on Him. We see that He is silent about the latter in this passage when He threatens destruction not only for humankind but also for the earth.
-- Martin Luther, Daily Readings from Luther's Writings, selected and edited by Barbara Owen (Minneapolis, Augsburg, 1993), p. 73
* * *
Jesus calls you and me to action in our gospel reading today. He says:
Everyone who hears these words of mine and acts on them will be like a wise man who built his house on a rock (Matthew 7:24).
We often quote Ephesians 2:8-9 to emphasize that we aren't saved by anything we do, that our salvation is totally God's gift to us:
For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God -- not the result of works, so that no one my boast.
But we need to continue reading on through verse 10:
For we are what he has made us, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand to be our way of life.
* * *
I listen to a local radio station on the way to work and recently a caller said that when she learned about Senator Kennedy's brain tumor, she immediately went on line to find out more. Her concern was not Senator Kennedy -- she didn't know him personally. Her concern was not the treatment for the cancer. Her concern was how long he had to live. Because somehow, learning about the imminent mortality of a famous person suddenly makes you ask the same questions about yourself. If you knew you had one year to live, how might that change your day-to-day life?
* * *
The reading from Matthew always makes me pause with a bit of fear when I hear that some who call on Jesus will not be among the saved. You can't hear that without taking it personally and wonder if you might be saying the same one day. I remember the conversation between Martin Luther and his most famous student, Philip Melanthon. One day, Philip said to Martin, "I don't know if I love the Lord enough today. Yesterday I did but today I'm not sure." Luther is said to have responded with those famous words, "Philip, go and sin boldly." Now, unfortunately, many people end with those words and miss the point. Luther said, "Philip, go and sin boldly, and then boldly bring your sins to the cross." The point that Luther was trying to make is that if your eternal salvation is based on your feelings, you had better hope that you die on an up cycle! However, our salvation is based not on our feelings but on trusting the promise of God's word that your sins are forgiven for Jesus' sake. Boldly bring those sins, boldly place those sins at the foot of the cross and boldly trust that his promise (and not my feelings) are true.
* * *
Sandcastles
Even now when we go to the beach, we have a fun time digging in the sand and making castles. And to protect that castle, we scoop out a moat, build a retention wall, and create this elaborate series of canals to avert the damaging flood that comes in with each wave. As the tide rises, there is an increased sense of panic that we must protect this castle, so we dig and sculpt and bail water until the tide slowly rises and finally that inevitable wave crashes over the retaining wall, floods the canals, and wipes out the beautifully made turrets and then... well then we abandon the castle, jump into the water, or throw a football. What always surprises me is how very little time passes and soon nothing remains of this magnificent castle. Not a trace of our hard work, dreams, and time.
That's expected when it comes to building sandcastles. But it is a tragedy when it happens in real life. When you pour out your heart and time and money and work during a lifetime only to sit back and watch it all wash away like a sandcastle at high tide.
How can we build something with our lives that lasts longer than a sandcastle? The houses we build will one day deteriorate. The money we pass down will one day be spent. The heirloom jewelry we leave will be stuck in a drawer. It will all one day be erased with the rising tide like a sandcastle. How can we build something with our lives that will last? Something that will make a difference?
In Matthew 7, Jesus provides the answer -- by building on solid ground.
* * *
A man hasn't been feeling well, so he goes to his doctor for a checkup. A few days later, the doctor calls him in to hear the results.
"I'm sorry to say, I have some bad news for you," says the doc. "You're dying, and you don't have much time left."
"That's terrible news!" says the patient. "Give it to me straight, Doc. How long have I got?"
"Ten," replies the doctor.
"Ten what?" asks the man. "Ten years, ten months, ten weeks?"
"Nine, eight, seven...."
* * *
A news article from May 2007 tells of John Brandrick, a 62-year-old British man who went on a wild spending spree shortly after doctors told him he had pancreatic cancer and would have but a short time to live. When he learned the doctors had made a mistake and that he would live after all, he considered suing the hospital where the mistaken diagnosis was made.
Brandrick quit his job, sold nearly all his possessions, stopped paying his mortgage, and burned through his savings on travel and restaurants. "When they tell you you've got a limited time and everything, you do enjoy life," he explained.
-- "Big-spending Briton wants payback for cancer scare," Reuters, May 7, 2007
* * *
In his response for this week, Steve McCutchan has told the story of his friend, david bailey, who came back from a terminal brain-cancer diagnosis and has been pursuing the life of a Christian singer-songwriter ever since. His song, "If I Had Another," is a poignant reflection on time and how we use it.
Bailey begins the song by asking how he'd spend his time if he knew he had just one week to live -- then one day, one hour and finally, one minute. It's a fruitful approach for a sermon.
The lyrics can be found here.
WORSHIP RESOURCE
Call To Worship
Leader: Be still!
People: The One who cradled the remnant of creation
in the cleansing waters calls us here.
Leader: Be still! And know this:
People: At the present time, God cradles us in safety
even as fear floods all around us.
Leader: Be still! And know who God is.
People: The One who is with us in every moment:
past, present, and future.
Prayer Of The Day
In every city center
where lives teeter on the edge;
in every suburban home
where lives can be trapped
in the quicksand of complacency:
you are there, Helping God.
In every corridor of power
where nations can hurl insults
or whisper hope;
in every prejudice
rooted in fear,
in every grace-filled conversation
between strangers: you are there,
Strength of the World.
In every heart that welcomes
the broken and beaten-down of the world;
in every reconciling embrace
of those we once boasted were our enemies:
you are there, Spirit of Refuge.
God in Community, Holy in One,
early in the morning,
your glad rivers of hope and joy flow through us,
as we lift our prayers, saying,
Our Father ...
Call To Reconciliation
When we gather to praise our God, we remember that we are people who tend to choose our will over God's. Accepting God's power to create us as new people in Christ, let us confess our sins before God and one another, as we pray,
Responsive Prayer Of Confession
Leader: In the lonely neighbor next door, you come to us,
but we do not recognize you;
in the cries of children sleeping in the street, you call,
but we do not hear you;
in the laughing hug of an old friend, you bless us,
but we do not feel you.
People: Forgive us, and make us new.
Leader: In the immigrant who sits beside us on the bus,
you accept us,
but we cannot shake your hand;
in the family member who tells us to "forget it,"
you forgive us,
but we cannot let go of what they have done to us.
People: Forgive us, and make us new.
Leader: In a broken world, we see your mission,
but we insist on doing everything our way;
in the outcast, the poor, the needy, we find you,
but we do not care what is happening to you;
in your death and resurrection, we find life,
but we dare not believe you.
People: Forgive us, and make us new.
Silence is kept
Assurance Of Pardon
Leader: There is no shame in the good news, only hope, only life, only joy, only peace.
People: Even now, God is forgiving us; even now, God is making us new. Thanks be to God. Amen.
CHILDREN'S SERMON
A beach home
Object: some water in a pitcher, some sand in a pan, a big rock in a pan
Matthew 7:21-29
The rain fell, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on rock. And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not act on them will be like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell -- and great was its fall! (Matthew 7:25-27)
Good morning, boys and girls. How many of you have ever been to a beach? (let them answer) Was it a sandy beach? (let them answer) Do you like to stand on the sand in the water and let the waves come in and push you back or knock you down? (let them answer) The beach is a fun place. I wonder why people don't build their houses on the beach? Don't you think it would be a good place to live? You could run out your back door and into the water. That sounds like fun. Why don't you build your house on the beach? (let them answer)
Let's see if I have the answer right here. I brought a pan with some sand in it and I brought another pan with a big rock in it. Now let's watch what happens when I pour the water out of the pitcher onto the rock. (let everyone watch what happens) What happened? (let them answer) Nothing happened except the rock got wet.
Let's see what happens when we pour the water on the sand. (pour the water over the sand until you begin to see the ridges develop and the sand slide away) Now what happened? (let them answer) That's right, the sand moved. Imagine if your house was built on the sand. It would slide away into the lake or ocean. A lake or the ocean would not be a good place for a house.
Jesus told this story to people a long time ago and it is still a good story today. Jesus said that people who listen to what he teaches and believe in him would be like the wise person who builds his/her house on a rock. Nothing will move that house. Water, wind, and storms cannot destroy the house that is built upon a rock. Nothing will ever move you away from God if you listen and believe.
Jesus also taught us that people who build their homes on sand would always be in danger of losing them. It could be a storm, a large wind, or waves that will destroy a house built on the sand. The same is true of people who do not trust in the love of Jesus. Things will happen that make life hard and uncertain.
The next time you stand on a beach, remember what Jesus taught us. The beach is a good place to have fun but not a good place to build a house. It is also true that a real life and a good life are built on the words of Jesus and his love. Amen.
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
The Immediate Word, June 1, 2008, issue.
Copyright 2008 by CSS Publishing Company, Inc., Lima, Ohio.
All rights reserved. Subscribers to The Immediate Word service may print and use this material as it was intended in sermons and in worship and classroom settings only. No additional permission is required from the publisher for such use by subscribers only. Inquiries should be addressed to permissions@csspub.com or to Permissions, CSS Publishing Company, Inc., 517 South Main Street, Lima, Ohio 45804.
Bad News, Good News in an Uncertain Life
Paul Bresnahan
Matthew 7:21-29
It really should come as no great surprise, given his age, but when I heard the news earlier this week that Ted Kennedy had been diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor, I was stunned. Ted has become so much a part of the landscape of our national political life. Love him or hate him he has become a ubiquitous symbol of "The American Liberal." It was akin the news of the assassinations of his two brothers, Martin Luther King, and even the 9/11 attacks. While obviously not nearly so traumatic as the others, the news still put me in touch with the reality that life is vulnerable. "Life is a terminal disease!" we used to say in seminary. In our younger years, we were able to muster a nervous laugh to comments like that.
The reality of disease, trauma, and tragedy is no laughing matter. We feel ourselves on anything but solid footing when the news comes. I never relish going to the doctor; less so as I age. The refusal to face the truth is often fraught with its own set of problems.
So then, how do we build our lives on rock? How shall Jesus be a rock to us in lives that are so beset with the "slings and arrows of outrageous fortune"? Today, let's explore that very question. Recent events point out that tens of thousands of people face questions like that every day. Let's give the question enough thought to see if we can venture a response! Many people, including ourselves, are waiting for good news when bad news strikes!
THE WORD
We are told in the lesson from Genesis today that Noah walked with God. That turn of phrase reminds me of how God walked with Adam in the "cool of the day" at a time when all was well in the garden. But then something went terribly wrong. Disobedience and self-will entered the landscape and there was alienation between God and his people... there was alienation between and among people. Some biblical scholars will tell us that there are two narratives that run through scripture. There is the narrative of companionship where we find ourselves "walking" with God in the cool of the day.
Everything seems right with the world and within us. We are at peace and we are filled with gratitude. Another narrative postulates that something goes wrong. There is a "fall" from grace. We find ourselves seeking our own will instead of the will of God. Everything becomes distorted. There is conflict, we find ourselves out of sorts, and somehow violence breaks out. Everything is at sixes and sevens and the whole of the landscape seems unredeemable. We are in alienation from God and one another. It is as though a flood had covered the earth. It is as though but one family remembers what it is like to walk with God, and it is time to start all over again. The story of Noah and the ark is very much a part of our story.
Paul notes too that there really is no distinction since we have all fallen rather noticeably short of the mark. Since that is so convincingly the case and thus the bad news of our sin surrounds us on every side, we are all the more dependent upon the good news; namely that it is only through the grace of God given in the gift of faith that there is any hope for any one of us. But that is precisely what the good news is. The power of God for our salvation is given to us while we were yet sinners, Jesus found it worth our while to give his life for us well before we even knew we were sinners. We are a strange lot since we like to point out who the sinners are: usually our enemies. Yet if we were to explore what it is that we find disquieting in our enemies -- if we're honest about it -- we'll find the same thing in ourselves in abundance. That's just a fact!
However, thanks be to God, God sees through the deception. God sees that there are no distinctions and that we are all sinners... and so he offers salvation freely to all.
The psalmist walks with God in simplicity of faith, it seems to me, in today's devotional. Without any shame or hesitation, the Psalmist hides himself in the rock. God is our refuge, our strength, and our salvation. Great is God's goodness, and the poetry of the psalm articulates the shape and nature of a spirituality that devotes itself to God.
Our gospel finds its focus rightly not in words but in actions. For it is not in the mentioning of holy words that we will find salvation coming to us, as much as it will be in the practice of the presence of God that will deliver a sense of the kingdom of heaven. To enter God's heart will require that we enter the honesty of our own hearts; that will bring us to the heart of God and that is where heaven reigns. That is where we will find our rock. The winds will come, the storms will beat in upon us, but we will remain unshaken because we are in the heart of God! Those are no mere words; that is a way of life. That way of life is articulated in the most magnificent way in the Sermon on the Mount which bears reading again... and these words from Jesus are right in the middle of that sermon!
THE WORLD
A casual look at the morning paper tells us that there is much in the way of human misery to go around. Victims of earthquakes and aftershocks in China, a cyclone in Myanmar, tornadoes in the US, and cancer and calamity taking the lives of the rich and the famous. Just this past weekend we marked Memorial Day and gathered to remember more than 4,000 of our own young who have died in foreign lands, and God knows how many others in Iraq and Afghanistan have also been taken. It is sad. There is much bad news for us to digest in the daily papers, or if you catch the news online as I often do, thanks to the folks at Google news.
How often do I find myself sighing deeply after digesting all there is to see of the passing scene of the world we live in? Where am I to find the good news to counterbalance this constant bombardment of bad?
CRAFTING THE SERMON
John Stott, a well-known preacher of another generation, was fond of saying that for every page of the newspaper we read, we ought to read a page of the scripture. That is to say: we owe it to our spirits to balance the bad news with the good. The reality of the matter is that it is not just a people far away or a wealthy senator from Massachusetts who are subject to the vulnerabilities of living; we all are.
If we train our eyes only on the bad news, we'll be unprepared to proclaim the good. I must remind myself all the time that beauty, art, music, and joy are every bit as much a part of life as are all those realities that fall so far short of that mark.
When I lived in West Virginia, I often found comfort in the hills and mountains and country roads of that great state. Now that I'm living in Massachusetts, I find comfort walking along the seashore or by taking a trip in to one of Boston's great museums. The truth is that I am not just looking at pretty nature settings, or the handiwork of man, I am looking at the glory of God when I look at beautiful things.
I love to watch the women of the congregation (some men, too, come to think of it) who enjoy arranging the flowers for the altar on Sundays. There is a quiet sanctity to the work. Mostly in silence, sometimes with humming a familiar hymn, a lovely vase is prepared and placed on the table behind the altar. Standing back artfully, a gracious parishioner will adjust his or her creation to a satisfactory angle and almost always smiles. This kind of thing has been done for thousands of years as we prepare to meet the mystery of God.
We meet the mystery of God not just on Sundays in word and in sacrament. We meet the mystery of God on a daily basis as the good news of life intersects with the bad... when the gospel meets reality. God did not relinquish his Son to death, but rose victorious through the grave to everlasting life.
So, too, when tragedy strikes, we are not a people who are to lie prostrate in defeat before inevitability. We are to rise up in the knowledge that God has a destiny in store for us that far outweighs this momentary affliction with which we suffer.
God is always making of us something beautiful for God. When I look in a mirror, I am often disappointed by what I see... but if I stop long enough, I will notice that there is quite a character there... I will notice that it is not who I offer but what God has done for me that makes me part of what God's glory is becoming.
If we find ourselves stunned by the vulnerabilities of ourselves or others from time to time, we probably have not spent enough time basking in the glory of God. Perhaps we haven't been creating something beautiful for God. We may have forgotten to become part of God's redeeming and sanctifying work. These are no mere words. This is a way of life. This is the rock that God would have us build our lives on.
Still, I am afraid from time to time. God knows that and has already factored that into his salvation plan for me and for you. Therefore, press on toward the upward goal. Build your life with Jesus strong in the knowledge and love of God. If ever we're lost, God will show us the way.
Remember, God stands knocking at the door, waiting. All we have to do is remember to open the door.
ANOTHER VIEW
Stephen McCutchan
The recent news story about Senator Ted Kennedy's brain tumor highlights our fascination with time and how easily we are attracted to the dramatic, unambiguous moment in time. We have a distaste ambiguity. We want answers that have a certainty to them. What made the announcement about Senator Kennedy so dramatic was that doctors said he had about six months left to live. It would not have been nearly as major a news story if the medical report had said that he has a brain tumor but no one can predict whether he will live a few months or a few years. We don't like such ambiguity. We want clear answers.
Most medical professionals would tell you that all time predictions are an estimate and not a certainty. I have a friend, folk singer david bailey (He always spells his name with the lower case), who was diagnosed with a brain tumor and given only a few months to live. He left his job and returned to his passion for song writing and performing. Now twelve years later, twenty albums, and 44 states later, david and his music continue to offer a ministry to others. You can see more of his story at his web site, www.davidmbailey.com.
We want the same certainty fueled by clear dramatic action with respect to events on a worldwide scale, as well. That is why we can easily get frustrated with the slow pace of diplomacy, where no one is getting killed, and so easily tempted by war where force is used to bring about the desired result. The problem is that force rarely achieves its ends and often corrupts the user of the force in the process.
There is an old conundrum that presumed atheists like to quote. God can be all good or God can be all powerful but given the reality of evil in the world, both cannot be true. They therefore conclude, with a touch of self-righteousness, that God is either not all powerful or not all good or perhaps does not exist at all. The unexamined assumption behind this thesis is that power can make a condition good.
Our lectionary passage gives us excerpts from the Noah flood story (Genesis 6:9-22; 7:24; 8:14-19). In parabolic fashion, this story demonstrates the falseness of the above thesis.
The story suggests that the world was evil and God decided to exercise divine power to cleanse the world of evil through a flood. Since he did not desire to completely destroy his earthly creation, he chose Noah, a righteous man, to build an ark and preserve a remnant of righteousness to continue creation. (One can hear echoes of this same story in the Left Behind series in which a righteous remnant is also preserved, only this time through a rapture rather than an ark.)
If the lectionary passage had continued for a few more verses (Genesis 8:20-27), we would have read that the first thing Noah did upon exiting the ark was to plant a vineyard, produce wine, and get drunk. The problems of humanity began again. Power, in and of itself, cannot force righteousness on the world. If you have ever wondered why the all powerful God doesn't just punish the wicked and rid the world of evil, the story of Noah suggests that the line that separates evil from good runs down through everyone's heart.
If God is going to save the world from sin, it has to be done in a different way. Our passage from Romans 1:16-17; 3:22b-28 (29-31) suggests that different way. The problem is that the way that is revealed, while including the dramatic moment of the cross, recognizes the ambiguity of the world and the murkiness of our lives. It begins by recognizing that you cannot separate the "sinners" from the "good people." "For there is no distinction, since all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God...." God's solution to this dilemma is not the exercise of force but the redemptive power of grace. "They are now justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus... He did this to show his righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over the sins previously committed...."
Whether in the case of Ted Kennedy and my friend david bailey, or in the situations of Chinese earthquakes, cyclones in Myanmar, or violence between nations and factions as is taking place in Iraq and between Israel and their neighbors, we need to learn that the future always remains open. Our hope is not in a predictable moment but in the faithfulness of God who is present to us in every situation. In the words of Paul in Romans 8:28, "We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose." That is not because all things are good but because God is capable of working in every situation in a redeeming way. Therefore, in all situations, we are called to trust God and be alert to his redeeming work even in the worst of situations.
ILLUSTRATIONS
There've been some big questions raised in Sichuan, China, lately, ever since the magnitude 7.9 earthquake struck on May 12 and caused the deaths of so many thousands, with many more thousands injured.
"Why," people want to know, "did so many school buildings collapse, trapping and killing hundreds of children inside, while nearby buildings survived?"
Had these school buildings, some of which were fairly new, not been built according to the required code? Had the builders skimped in order to make more profits for themselves?
In our gospel lesson from Matthew today, Jesus reminds us that we need to build well, that we need to build our lives on the solid rock of God's love for us.
If we want our lives to be able to withstand the storms and earthquakes of this life, we need a rock-solid foundation, and Jesus is that rock.
* * *
In regard to Noah, Luther says that God sent the flood upon the earth because of humans' violence toward each other, that the earth was filled with violence. Luther says that God is not as concerned about how people treat him as he is about how we treat each other, that God is not as concerned about the first section of the Ten Commandments as he is about the second.
It is the abundance of His compassion and love that causes God to complain more about the wrongs with which His members are oppressed than about those that are inflicted on Him. We see that He is silent about the latter in this passage when He threatens destruction not only for humankind but also for the earth.
-- Martin Luther, Daily Readings from Luther's Writings, selected and edited by Barbara Owen (Minneapolis, Augsburg, 1993), p. 73
* * *
Jesus calls you and me to action in our gospel reading today. He says:
Everyone who hears these words of mine and acts on them will be like a wise man who built his house on a rock (Matthew 7:24).
We often quote Ephesians 2:8-9 to emphasize that we aren't saved by anything we do, that our salvation is totally God's gift to us:
For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God -- not the result of works, so that no one my boast.
But we need to continue reading on through verse 10:
For we are what he has made us, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand to be our way of life.
* * *
I listen to a local radio station on the way to work and recently a caller said that when she learned about Senator Kennedy's brain tumor, she immediately went on line to find out more. Her concern was not Senator Kennedy -- she didn't know him personally. Her concern was not the treatment for the cancer. Her concern was how long he had to live. Because somehow, learning about the imminent mortality of a famous person suddenly makes you ask the same questions about yourself. If you knew you had one year to live, how might that change your day-to-day life?
* * *
The reading from Matthew always makes me pause with a bit of fear when I hear that some who call on Jesus will not be among the saved. You can't hear that without taking it personally and wonder if you might be saying the same one day. I remember the conversation between Martin Luther and his most famous student, Philip Melanthon. One day, Philip said to Martin, "I don't know if I love the Lord enough today. Yesterday I did but today I'm not sure." Luther is said to have responded with those famous words, "Philip, go and sin boldly." Now, unfortunately, many people end with those words and miss the point. Luther said, "Philip, go and sin boldly, and then boldly bring your sins to the cross." The point that Luther was trying to make is that if your eternal salvation is based on your feelings, you had better hope that you die on an up cycle! However, our salvation is based not on our feelings but on trusting the promise of God's word that your sins are forgiven for Jesus' sake. Boldly bring those sins, boldly place those sins at the foot of the cross and boldly trust that his promise (and not my feelings) are true.
* * *
Sandcastles
Even now when we go to the beach, we have a fun time digging in the sand and making castles. And to protect that castle, we scoop out a moat, build a retention wall, and create this elaborate series of canals to avert the damaging flood that comes in with each wave. As the tide rises, there is an increased sense of panic that we must protect this castle, so we dig and sculpt and bail water until the tide slowly rises and finally that inevitable wave crashes over the retaining wall, floods the canals, and wipes out the beautifully made turrets and then... well then we abandon the castle, jump into the water, or throw a football. What always surprises me is how very little time passes and soon nothing remains of this magnificent castle. Not a trace of our hard work, dreams, and time.
That's expected when it comes to building sandcastles. But it is a tragedy when it happens in real life. When you pour out your heart and time and money and work during a lifetime only to sit back and watch it all wash away like a sandcastle at high tide.
How can we build something with our lives that lasts longer than a sandcastle? The houses we build will one day deteriorate. The money we pass down will one day be spent. The heirloom jewelry we leave will be stuck in a drawer. It will all one day be erased with the rising tide like a sandcastle. How can we build something with our lives that will last? Something that will make a difference?
In Matthew 7, Jesus provides the answer -- by building on solid ground.
* * *
A man hasn't been feeling well, so he goes to his doctor for a checkup. A few days later, the doctor calls him in to hear the results.
"I'm sorry to say, I have some bad news for you," says the doc. "You're dying, and you don't have much time left."
"That's terrible news!" says the patient. "Give it to me straight, Doc. How long have I got?"
"Ten," replies the doctor.
"Ten what?" asks the man. "Ten years, ten months, ten weeks?"
"Nine, eight, seven...."
* * *
A news article from May 2007 tells of John Brandrick, a 62-year-old British man who went on a wild spending spree shortly after doctors told him he had pancreatic cancer and would have but a short time to live. When he learned the doctors had made a mistake and that he would live after all, he considered suing the hospital where the mistaken diagnosis was made.
Brandrick quit his job, sold nearly all his possessions, stopped paying his mortgage, and burned through his savings on travel and restaurants. "When they tell you you've got a limited time and everything, you do enjoy life," he explained.
-- "Big-spending Briton wants payback for cancer scare," Reuters, May 7, 2007
* * *
In his response for this week, Steve McCutchan has told the story of his friend, david bailey, who came back from a terminal brain-cancer diagnosis and has been pursuing the life of a Christian singer-songwriter ever since. His song, "If I Had Another," is a poignant reflection on time and how we use it.
Bailey begins the song by asking how he'd spend his time if he knew he had just one week to live -- then one day, one hour and finally, one minute. It's a fruitful approach for a sermon.
The lyrics can be found here.
WORSHIP RESOURCE
Call To Worship
Leader: Be still!
People: The One who cradled the remnant of creation
in the cleansing waters calls us here.
Leader: Be still! And know this:
People: At the present time, God cradles us in safety
even as fear floods all around us.
Leader: Be still! And know who God is.
People: The One who is with us in every moment:
past, present, and future.
Prayer Of The Day
In every city center
where lives teeter on the edge;
in every suburban home
where lives can be trapped
in the quicksand of complacency:
you are there, Helping God.
In every corridor of power
where nations can hurl insults
or whisper hope;
in every prejudice
rooted in fear,
in every grace-filled conversation
between strangers: you are there,
Strength of the World.
In every heart that welcomes
the broken and beaten-down of the world;
in every reconciling embrace
of those we once boasted were our enemies:
you are there, Spirit of Refuge.
God in Community, Holy in One,
early in the morning,
your glad rivers of hope and joy flow through us,
as we lift our prayers, saying,
Our Father ...
Call To Reconciliation
When we gather to praise our God, we remember that we are people who tend to choose our will over God's. Accepting God's power to create us as new people in Christ, let us confess our sins before God and one another, as we pray,
Responsive Prayer Of Confession
Leader: In the lonely neighbor next door, you come to us,
but we do not recognize you;
in the cries of children sleeping in the street, you call,
but we do not hear you;
in the laughing hug of an old friend, you bless us,
but we do not feel you.
People: Forgive us, and make us new.
Leader: In the immigrant who sits beside us on the bus,
you accept us,
but we cannot shake your hand;
in the family member who tells us to "forget it,"
you forgive us,
but we cannot let go of what they have done to us.
People: Forgive us, and make us new.
Leader: In a broken world, we see your mission,
but we insist on doing everything our way;
in the outcast, the poor, the needy, we find you,
but we do not care what is happening to you;
in your death and resurrection, we find life,
but we dare not believe you.
People: Forgive us, and make us new.
Silence is kept
Assurance Of Pardon
Leader: There is no shame in the good news, only hope, only life, only joy, only peace.
People: Even now, God is forgiving us; even now, God is making us new. Thanks be to God. Amen.
CHILDREN'S SERMON
A beach home
Object: some water in a pitcher, some sand in a pan, a big rock in a pan
Matthew 7:21-29
The rain fell, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on rock. And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not act on them will be like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell -- and great was its fall! (Matthew 7:25-27)
Good morning, boys and girls. How many of you have ever been to a beach? (let them answer) Was it a sandy beach? (let them answer) Do you like to stand on the sand in the water and let the waves come in and push you back or knock you down? (let them answer) The beach is a fun place. I wonder why people don't build their houses on the beach? Don't you think it would be a good place to live? You could run out your back door and into the water. That sounds like fun. Why don't you build your house on the beach? (let them answer)
Let's see if I have the answer right here. I brought a pan with some sand in it and I brought another pan with a big rock in it. Now let's watch what happens when I pour the water out of the pitcher onto the rock. (let everyone watch what happens) What happened? (let them answer) Nothing happened except the rock got wet.
Let's see what happens when we pour the water on the sand. (pour the water over the sand until you begin to see the ridges develop and the sand slide away) Now what happened? (let them answer) That's right, the sand moved. Imagine if your house was built on the sand. It would slide away into the lake or ocean. A lake or the ocean would not be a good place for a house.
Jesus told this story to people a long time ago and it is still a good story today. Jesus said that people who listen to what he teaches and believe in him would be like the wise person who builds his/her house on a rock. Nothing will move that house. Water, wind, and storms cannot destroy the house that is built upon a rock. Nothing will ever move you away from God if you listen and believe.
Jesus also taught us that people who build their homes on sand would always be in danger of losing them. It could be a storm, a large wind, or waves that will destroy a house built on the sand. The same is true of people who do not trust in the love of Jesus. Things will happen that make life hard and uncertain.
The next time you stand on a beach, remember what Jesus taught us. The beach is a good place to have fun but not a good place to build a house. It is also true that a real life and a good life are built on the words of Jesus and his love. Amen.
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
The Immediate Word, June 1, 2008, issue.
Copyright 2008 by CSS Publishing Company, Inc., Lima, Ohio.
All rights reserved. Subscribers to The Immediate Word service may print and use this material as it was intended in sermons and in worship and classroom settings only. No additional permission is required from the publisher for such use by subscribers only. Inquiries should be addressed to permissions@csspub.com or to Permissions, CSS Publishing Company, Inc., 517 South Main Street, Lima, Ohio 45804.
