Bear One Another's Burdens
Sermon
A Hope That Does Not Disappoint
Second Lesson Sermons For Sundays After Pentecost (First Third) Cycle C
The composer Bizet was the original bad luck man. He stayed up nights to finish an opera by the deadline, only to find out afterwards that the production had been postponed for a year. He wrote a symphony and misplaced the manuscript before anybody could play it. He entered a composing contest with only one other entrant, and ended up with second prize. Once he went to visit his girlfriend and tapped on her window at the very moment her mother was emptying a chamberpot from the room directly above his head.
Have you ever noticed that some people always seem to be in the wrong place at the wrong time? Do you ever get the feeling that life is not fair? That's a universal feeling. It was an issue that Jesus addressed in the Sermon on the Mount when he said, "God makes the sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous" (Matthew 5:45).
This feeling of unfairness within each of us is a sign pointing to God. We want to see justice done. We want to see wrong righted. We want to see the good guy win. And we feel cheated if virtue does not triumph. Feelings like that are so universal that C. S. Lewis believed they are evidence that we are created in the image of God. And believing that helps us in times of struggle and times of tragedy.
A close friend's parents were murdered and the tragedy really hit their pastor hard. Maybe it was because of the friendship. Maybe it's because he knew the love the surviving son has for God and the joy he always gets out of sharing that love in quiet yet powerful ways. Maybe it was because of the son's involvement in prison ministry that makes this seem so ironic. He struggled partly because the daughter-in-law is a Methodist minister and a part of him wanted to say this shouldn't happen to ministers. Aren't they somehow exempt from this kind of thing? Isn't there some clause in the ordination service that says clergy suffer with their congregations and that makes them exempt from suffering in general. And then reality set in. No one is exempt from tragedy. Not only can this happen to a minister's family; tragedy happens in all families. There is nothing that makes any one of us exempt from suffering and tragedy.
So, why does it happen? Where do we turn? What keeps us going when tragedy strikes?
The World Is Unjust
The why is simple. We don't live in a perfect world. In a perfect world, courts act swiftly and with justice. Our world is imperfect. And we're imperfect; we're lost.
A pastor was walking around the church early one Sunday morning and saw a sight that struck a chord in his heart. Sitting on the table near the sanctuary entrance was the Lost and Found box. Nothing spectacular, just a cardboard box with the words Lost and Found written in magic marker on the side. But in the box, nearly filling it, was some little girl's doll. The way the doll was laid in the box is what struck him. The doll looked as if she was resting comfortably in the box waiting for her little girl to come claim her. Her arms were extended out and it looked as if she were saying, "Please come get me. I'm lost and I need to be found. Please hunt for me and take me home."
He probably would have forgotten all about that doll if he hadn't been there to witness the reunion between that doll and her little girl. The little girl saw her doll, rushed over, grabbed her up, hugged her really tight and said, "There you are. I've looked all over the place for you. I missed you so much." And then, still hugging the doll, she went about her business as if the doll had never been gone.
And that is so very much like us, isn't it? Sometimes we think that God has forgotten us or left us lying on the pew in church, when in reality, it is we who have lost our way. Like that doll, we are lost.
God wouldn't need to look for the lost if we weren't lost. And God wouldn't have needed to send Jesus if we weren't lost. How could someone do what was done in the Columbine High School if they weren't lost? How could someone have murdered this pastor friend's parents if they weren't lost?
You see, apart from God we don't have a clue how to live or act. And we don't have a clue of how to get back into relationship with God. And it is because of that lostness that incomprehensible tragedies happen. Tragedies are not God's will. They are caused by someone else's will getting in the way of and superseding God's will. God's will is life and a loving relationship with each of us, not death and destruction.
We may live in a world that is lost, but the Good News is that Christ searches for us. We don't have to go in search of our salvation; God came to us in Christ, the Good Shepherd. God loves us so much that Christ sought us out. And if we will but stretch out our arms to God through Christ, then we will become the Lost who have been Found.
Turn To God
But where do we turn when tragedies in life do happen? We turn to God in prayer, just as Jesus said. And we turn to each other. Paul tells us to "bear one another's burden." And he says, "Let us not grow weary in doing what is right, for we will reap at harvest time, if we do not give up. So then, whenever we have an opportunity, let us work for the good of all, and especially for those of the family of faith."
The resources to get through tragic events don't come from us. They come from outside. They come from Christ's presence through the Holy Spirit in our lives. How do we get through together? Like the Church has always gotten through, we hold each other up. We depend upon the grace of God. We "bear one another's burdens."
Part of what gets us through these times is simply the Church: the work, the people, and the ongoing ministry of the church. That is driven home every Sunday morning. Despite the horror and tragedy of events -- the message is still proclaimed; God's work is still done. Each Sunday men and women give testimony to their faith through great messages and sermons. Every Sunday people stand up and witness to their faith through testimony, praise, and song. The message of hope lives on as a family brings their children to be baptized.
When that happens the members of the church take vows to live their lives before the children so the children might see Christ living in the members. Members take vows to live their lives before the children so the children might be encouraged and grow to be like Christ by following the members' example.
Those are all part of the ministry of hope which we proclaim. During tragedies, it is a struggle to remember that hope. Sometimes it takes awhile. Do you want to know what really brought it all home for that pastor? The Sunday after the murder, his church had a potluck dinner and fundraiser for the youth. As this pastor stood in the dinner line, his friend called and said the family wanted him to preach the funeral. To be honest, he didn't want to do it, but he couldn't and wouldn't and didn't say, "No."
He cried and prayed with that pastor. But then had to go back into the fellowship hall and get himself back together. He cried a little and prayed a lot, then went back to the dinner. During that dinner he had a sacramental moment with an eight-year-old boy. The pastor had a bowl with potato chips in it and the boy wanted to know what kind they were. So the pastor told him, "They're mesquite barbecue."
The boy said, "Oh, I like those ... I think." So, the pastor moved the bowl over and asked if he'd like to try one. The boy tried one and he did like them, so they shared that bowl of mesquite barbecue potato chips together. They talked about all those little boy things while they ate. And when the bowl was empty, the boy jumped down. The pastor thought he was going off to play, but instead he brought back another bowl and said, "Preacher, now you have to share mine." And they did.
That sharing is a perfect example of the work of the church. As the Body of Christ we are called to share one another's joys and especially one another's burdens. We do it across meals, before and after meetings, during worship and Sunday school, in the grocery store, at fall festivals, and in the midst of tragedy. Our spirits groan in agony and concern for those who suffer, for those who lose loved ones. We empathize because we care. It hurts us because part of the body of Christ, our brothers and sisters in Christ, hurt. We hurt with them but we also find healing in that sharing.
Another place to which we turn is the Bible. We search the Scripture for the promises of God and claim them for our own.
What are those promises? Jesus said, "I will not leave you orphaned." "If I live you also shall live." And how about: "Will not God grant justice to his chosen ones who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long in helping them? I tell you, he will quickly grant justice to them."
And at the close of the Last Supper, just before Jesus prayed for the disciples and the Church, he said, "I have said this to you, so that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have trouble. But take courage; I have conquered the world!" (John 16:33). The list could go on and on because the Bible holds promise after promise of comfort and strength in times of trouble. We're called to claim them.
Never Give Up
Have you seen the poster which shows a crane or a heron standing in a marsh? The crane has a frog half way in its mouth and the crane's eyes are bulging. The reason for the crane's bulging eyes is that the frog isn't going easily, it has its front legs wrapped tightly around the throat of the crane. The caption of the poster says, "Never give up!" That's the kind of faith we should have. Because of the promises of God, we're called not to give up.
Recently I read the story of a boy who was dying of muscular dystrophy. After making his peace with his family and friends, he asked his father to arrange his body in such a way that he would die "in an impudent position." I like that story. I think it shows great faith. I'm positive that this young man will meet God and continue an ongoing conversation about fairness and justice. There's one thing for certain; with that attitude, he never gave up.
Tragedy can do one of two things. It can take the wind out of our sails and cause us just to give up. It can cause us to close and lock our doors and windows. It can cause us to build higher privacy fences and install stronger locks. It can cause us to barricade ourselves in fortresses. Or it can fuel the fire of our passion for spreading the Good News of salvation and bringing people to Christ, because Christ is the only one who can save the lost and bring them home. The one way protects us for a little while. The other brings light in the place of darkness and changes lives.
We're called never to give up and to continue to do the work of the Church. We're called to proclaim the faith, to proclaim resurrection in the face of death, to proclaim forgiveness and reconciliation. We're called to bear one another's burdens.
So, keep bearing one another's burdens and pray. Sometimes it may seem like there is never going to be an answer, but God does answer our prayers. God listens to our petitions and answers. You may not think prayer makes much of a difference in anyone's life, but I can tell you that prayer changes people; prayer changes lives. Prayer is heard and answered.
Let me tell you a story of answered prayer. One Sunday night one of our member's granddaughter got into a bottle of Tylenol and overdosed. They rushed her to the hospital, but her chances didn't look good. She couldn't keep down the medicine that was vital to her recovery. The doctors and pharmacists researched other ways to administer it but the only safe way was orally. On the last attempt, that now or never moment, she kept the medicine down.
There was a sigh of relief. But the doctors told them she wasn't out of the woods. Her liver wasn't functioning correctly. They could expect she would need to undergo a liver transplant. That was the news the church got on Monday morning. The family had already called several prayer groups and gotten their granddaughter on their lists.
Wednesday afternoon, to the doctors' and nurses' surprise, the granddaughter went home. All the tests showed that everything was normal. She was up playing like nothing had happened. The doctor said it was a miracle. Prayer did that. Bearing one another's burdens did that.
Do not lose heart. "Let us not grow weary in doing what is right, for we will reap at harvest time, if we do not give up. So then, whenever we have an opportunity, let us work for the good of all, and especially for those of the family of faith."
Have you ever noticed that some people always seem to be in the wrong place at the wrong time? Do you ever get the feeling that life is not fair? That's a universal feeling. It was an issue that Jesus addressed in the Sermon on the Mount when he said, "God makes the sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous" (Matthew 5:45).
This feeling of unfairness within each of us is a sign pointing to God. We want to see justice done. We want to see wrong righted. We want to see the good guy win. And we feel cheated if virtue does not triumph. Feelings like that are so universal that C. S. Lewis believed they are evidence that we are created in the image of God. And believing that helps us in times of struggle and times of tragedy.
A close friend's parents were murdered and the tragedy really hit their pastor hard. Maybe it was because of the friendship. Maybe it's because he knew the love the surviving son has for God and the joy he always gets out of sharing that love in quiet yet powerful ways. Maybe it was because of the son's involvement in prison ministry that makes this seem so ironic. He struggled partly because the daughter-in-law is a Methodist minister and a part of him wanted to say this shouldn't happen to ministers. Aren't they somehow exempt from this kind of thing? Isn't there some clause in the ordination service that says clergy suffer with their congregations and that makes them exempt from suffering in general. And then reality set in. No one is exempt from tragedy. Not only can this happen to a minister's family; tragedy happens in all families. There is nothing that makes any one of us exempt from suffering and tragedy.
So, why does it happen? Where do we turn? What keeps us going when tragedy strikes?
The World Is Unjust
The why is simple. We don't live in a perfect world. In a perfect world, courts act swiftly and with justice. Our world is imperfect. And we're imperfect; we're lost.
A pastor was walking around the church early one Sunday morning and saw a sight that struck a chord in his heart. Sitting on the table near the sanctuary entrance was the Lost and Found box. Nothing spectacular, just a cardboard box with the words Lost and Found written in magic marker on the side. But in the box, nearly filling it, was some little girl's doll. The way the doll was laid in the box is what struck him. The doll looked as if she was resting comfortably in the box waiting for her little girl to come claim her. Her arms were extended out and it looked as if she were saying, "Please come get me. I'm lost and I need to be found. Please hunt for me and take me home."
He probably would have forgotten all about that doll if he hadn't been there to witness the reunion between that doll and her little girl. The little girl saw her doll, rushed over, grabbed her up, hugged her really tight and said, "There you are. I've looked all over the place for you. I missed you so much." And then, still hugging the doll, she went about her business as if the doll had never been gone.
And that is so very much like us, isn't it? Sometimes we think that God has forgotten us or left us lying on the pew in church, when in reality, it is we who have lost our way. Like that doll, we are lost.
God wouldn't need to look for the lost if we weren't lost. And God wouldn't have needed to send Jesus if we weren't lost. How could someone do what was done in the Columbine High School if they weren't lost? How could someone have murdered this pastor friend's parents if they weren't lost?
You see, apart from God we don't have a clue how to live or act. And we don't have a clue of how to get back into relationship with God. And it is because of that lostness that incomprehensible tragedies happen. Tragedies are not God's will. They are caused by someone else's will getting in the way of and superseding God's will. God's will is life and a loving relationship with each of us, not death and destruction.
We may live in a world that is lost, but the Good News is that Christ searches for us. We don't have to go in search of our salvation; God came to us in Christ, the Good Shepherd. God loves us so much that Christ sought us out. And if we will but stretch out our arms to God through Christ, then we will become the Lost who have been Found.
Turn To God
But where do we turn when tragedies in life do happen? We turn to God in prayer, just as Jesus said. And we turn to each other. Paul tells us to "bear one another's burden." And he says, "Let us not grow weary in doing what is right, for we will reap at harvest time, if we do not give up. So then, whenever we have an opportunity, let us work for the good of all, and especially for those of the family of faith."
The resources to get through tragic events don't come from us. They come from outside. They come from Christ's presence through the Holy Spirit in our lives. How do we get through together? Like the Church has always gotten through, we hold each other up. We depend upon the grace of God. We "bear one another's burdens."
Part of what gets us through these times is simply the Church: the work, the people, and the ongoing ministry of the church. That is driven home every Sunday morning. Despite the horror and tragedy of events -- the message is still proclaimed; God's work is still done. Each Sunday men and women give testimony to their faith through great messages and sermons. Every Sunday people stand up and witness to their faith through testimony, praise, and song. The message of hope lives on as a family brings their children to be baptized.
When that happens the members of the church take vows to live their lives before the children so the children might see Christ living in the members. Members take vows to live their lives before the children so the children might be encouraged and grow to be like Christ by following the members' example.
Those are all part of the ministry of hope which we proclaim. During tragedies, it is a struggle to remember that hope. Sometimes it takes awhile. Do you want to know what really brought it all home for that pastor? The Sunday after the murder, his church had a potluck dinner and fundraiser for the youth. As this pastor stood in the dinner line, his friend called and said the family wanted him to preach the funeral. To be honest, he didn't want to do it, but he couldn't and wouldn't and didn't say, "No."
He cried and prayed with that pastor. But then had to go back into the fellowship hall and get himself back together. He cried a little and prayed a lot, then went back to the dinner. During that dinner he had a sacramental moment with an eight-year-old boy. The pastor had a bowl with potato chips in it and the boy wanted to know what kind they were. So the pastor told him, "They're mesquite barbecue."
The boy said, "Oh, I like those ... I think." So, the pastor moved the bowl over and asked if he'd like to try one. The boy tried one and he did like them, so they shared that bowl of mesquite barbecue potato chips together. They talked about all those little boy things while they ate. And when the bowl was empty, the boy jumped down. The pastor thought he was going off to play, but instead he brought back another bowl and said, "Preacher, now you have to share mine." And they did.
That sharing is a perfect example of the work of the church. As the Body of Christ we are called to share one another's joys and especially one another's burdens. We do it across meals, before and after meetings, during worship and Sunday school, in the grocery store, at fall festivals, and in the midst of tragedy. Our spirits groan in agony and concern for those who suffer, for those who lose loved ones. We empathize because we care. It hurts us because part of the body of Christ, our brothers and sisters in Christ, hurt. We hurt with them but we also find healing in that sharing.
Another place to which we turn is the Bible. We search the Scripture for the promises of God and claim them for our own.
What are those promises? Jesus said, "I will not leave you orphaned." "If I live you also shall live." And how about: "Will not God grant justice to his chosen ones who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long in helping them? I tell you, he will quickly grant justice to them."
And at the close of the Last Supper, just before Jesus prayed for the disciples and the Church, he said, "I have said this to you, so that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have trouble. But take courage; I have conquered the world!" (John 16:33). The list could go on and on because the Bible holds promise after promise of comfort and strength in times of trouble. We're called to claim them.
Never Give Up
Have you seen the poster which shows a crane or a heron standing in a marsh? The crane has a frog half way in its mouth and the crane's eyes are bulging. The reason for the crane's bulging eyes is that the frog isn't going easily, it has its front legs wrapped tightly around the throat of the crane. The caption of the poster says, "Never give up!" That's the kind of faith we should have. Because of the promises of God, we're called not to give up.
Recently I read the story of a boy who was dying of muscular dystrophy. After making his peace with his family and friends, he asked his father to arrange his body in such a way that he would die "in an impudent position." I like that story. I think it shows great faith. I'm positive that this young man will meet God and continue an ongoing conversation about fairness and justice. There's one thing for certain; with that attitude, he never gave up.
Tragedy can do one of two things. It can take the wind out of our sails and cause us just to give up. It can cause us to close and lock our doors and windows. It can cause us to build higher privacy fences and install stronger locks. It can cause us to barricade ourselves in fortresses. Or it can fuel the fire of our passion for spreading the Good News of salvation and bringing people to Christ, because Christ is the only one who can save the lost and bring them home. The one way protects us for a little while. The other brings light in the place of darkness and changes lives.
We're called never to give up and to continue to do the work of the Church. We're called to proclaim the faith, to proclaim resurrection in the face of death, to proclaim forgiveness and reconciliation. We're called to bear one another's burdens.
So, keep bearing one another's burdens and pray. Sometimes it may seem like there is never going to be an answer, but God does answer our prayers. God listens to our petitions and answers. You may not think prayer makes much of a difference in anyone's life, but I can tell you that prayer changes people; prayer changes lives. Prayer is heard and answered.
Let me tell you a story of answered prayer. One Sunday night one of our member's granddaughter got into a bottle of Tylenol and overdosed. They rushed her to the hospital, but her chances didn't look good. She couldn't keep down the medicine that was vital to her recovery. The doctors and pharmacists researched other ways to administer it but the only safe way was orally. On the last attempt, that now or never moment, she kept the medicine down.
There was a sigh of relief. But the doctors told them she wasn't out of the woods. Her liver wasn't functioning correctly. They could expect she would need to undergo a liver transplant. That was the news the church got on Monday morning. The family had already called several prayer groups and gotten their granddaughter on their lists.
Wednesday afternoon, to the doctors' and nurses' surprise, the granddaughter went home. All the tests showed that everything was normal. She was up playing like nothing had happened. The doctor said it was a miracle. Prayer did that. Bearing one another's burdens did that.
Do not lose heart. "Let us not grow weary in doing what is right, for we will reap at harvest time, if we do not give up. So then, whenever we have an opportunity, let us work for the good of all, and especially for those of the family of faith."
