Today's Sermon - Finish the Race - 10/27/19

Finish the Race

Nearly an hour after the medalists had taken their victory lap on Sunday, October 1, in the year 2000, three lonely marathoners made their way into the Olympic Stadium – but drawing even more cheers than the winners.

First came Jose Alejandro Semprun of Venezuela, carefully plodding his way into the stadium more than 20 minutes after the previous marathoner.  He circled the track, finishing 79th and coming within two seconds of finishing in three hours.

Semprun, who was 27 years old at the time, approached the finish line as the time clock ticked away those crucial seconds toward that all important 3 hour mark, the crowd tried to will him to go just a tiny bit faster, but he just couldn't do it.  The clock read 3:00.02 at the end of his race.

Then came Rithya To of Cambodia, who smiled and raised his arms to the adoring crowd as he slowly covered the final 20 yards.  Then the 32-year-old To, the flagbearer for Cambodia began grimacing.  He collapsed to the track a few steps after finishing in 3:03.56.  Rithya To stayed on the ground for several minutes, and then was removed on a stretcher.

Finally, more than five minutes later, the last runner entered the stadium.  Elias Rodriguez of Micronesia was in 81st place, but he accomplished what 19 other men in the marathon could not -- he finished.

Rodriguez crossed the line in 3:09.14, more than 59 minutes behind the winner.  After he crossed the finish line the workers quickly gathered the orange cones on the track and set the stage for the closing ceremony to begin.

These three men were in intense pain, they had no chance of winning a medal or even a place in the record book having finished the race after the 3 hour mark, yet they finished the race anyway.  Why?  Why didn't they just quit?

I think the answer to that lies in a response by a runner from a previous event: It was 7 p.m. on October 20th, 32 years before the event in Sydney, in 1968.  Only a few spectators remained in the Mexico City Olympic Stadium.  The winner of the 26-mile marathon had crossed the finish line more than an hour ago, and now, the last of the marathon runners were across the finish line and leaving the track.

And as the last few spectators began to leave, those sitting by the entrance suddenly heard the sound of sirens.  One last runner appeared at the entrance.  The man, whose leg was bloody and bandaged, was wearing the colors of Tanzania.

The Tanzanian runner, experiencing intense pain, hobbled around the 400-meter track in the stadium, and the few remaining spectators rose and applauded him as though he was the winner.

After crossing the finish-line he slowly walked off the field without turning to the cheering spectators.  In view of his injury, and having no chance of winning any medal, a curious spectator asked him why he did not quit the race.

The Tanzanian runner replied, "My country did not send me 7000 miles to simply start a race, but sent me 7000 miles to finish it."

In his letter to Timothy, Paul says, "I have finished the race."  Note what Paul does NOT say.  Paul does not say, "I have won the race."  That is not what he says.  He says, "I have finished the race."  Paul does not think of this life as a sprint, as a 100-meter dash, where speed and victory are the only things that count; rather, he thinks of this life in Christ as a marathon.  In a marathon it is endurance and perseverance that counts.  One of my favorite verses in Romans 5:3, “Not only that, but we boast in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint us…”

          In a different letter to the Corinthian Church, Paul wrote about this marathon he was living.  It was not a short sprint, done in just a short time period, but rather it was about a long-suffering marathon.  He wrote in 2 Corinthians 11:24-27 that, “five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one.  Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked, I spent a night and a day in the open sea, I have been constantly on the move.  I have been in danger from rivers, in danger from bandits, in danger from my own countrymen, in danger from Gentiles; in danger in the city, in danger in the country, in danger at sea; and in danger from false brothers.  I have labored and toiled and have often gone without sleep; I have known hunger and thirst and have often gone without food; I have been cold and naked.

In spite of all of this, he endured and kept true to his faith; he kept preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ, regardless of anything that might distract him or lead him off of the pathway.  At the end of his second letter to Timothy Paul mentions specific people and again more events that tried and tested his commitment to God, but he did not give up. 

What you see and what you focus on will certainly determine how you feel about what you get.  It is the "cup is half empty" versus the "cup is half full" principle.  Focusing on the bad things in life and on all the disappointments that come with it can cause you to lose sight of the finish line, the race itself, and of God's faithfulness to you in it.  But focusing on the blessings of this life, of the good and wonderful things that are abundant to us each and every day, we are reminded of God's faithfulness in the past and have increasing hope for the future.

As Paul writes to Timothy, he took a moment to reflect and look back.  And in doing so, he realized that God had met all of his needs, exactly when he needed them.

Paul recalls a particular incident in his letter to Timothy.  Paul found himself standing alone before Nero's hostile court.  No other believers had appeared to support him.  While some may have been involved in ministry far from Rome, others had simply feared the persecution that made any identification with Christ risky.  At any rate, Paul had experienced abandonment from his fellow Christians and workers in ministry.  But rather than dwell on their faithlessness, Paul realized that if Jesus could say, "Father, forgive them," while dying on the cross, Paul could say, "May their desertion not be held against them."

Looking back at that time of loneliness, Paul realized he had not been forsaken.  God had been faithful.  The Lord had stood beside him as he faced Nero.  In that moment God gave him strength, sustaining him in every way.  Paul had not only stood, but he had also spoken.  And to Nero and the entire court, Paul proclaimed the gospel of Jesus Christ regardless of what sentence that might bring upon him.  And being faithful to God, Paul was miraculously granted a pardon from a death sentence; which was, at the time, the penalty for publicly proclaiming and believing in Christ.

Having been faithful in the past, Paul could then look to the faithfulness of God in the future, as well.  Paul knew that what he had endured during this earthly race would be acknowledged and rewarded.

Having fought the good fight, finished the race, and kept the faith, Paul could look forward to God’s faithfulness and receive his reward.

Each of us are on different paths in this race.  Each of us have encountered and endured a variety of incidents that have tried our faith, that have made us look at the cup as half-full or half-empty.  But, what we learn from those trials and sufferings is that we can not give up.  We must be like those marathon runners; we must be like Paul.

We were not sent here to start a race, but we were sent here by God to complete one.  So my friends, continue on your run…focus on the blessings of God, the miraculous that happen every day, fight the good fight, finish the race, and keep the faith.

Thanks be to God.

AMEN.

Today's Sermon - Equipping the Saints - 10/20/19

Spoiler Alert:

There are several references to Downton Abbey's new movie.  If you haven't seen it and don't want to hear how it ends, you might want to see the movie first before reading today's sermon.

Equipping the Saints

(basd on Jeremiah 31:24-37, 2 Timothy 3:14-4:5)

Have you ever been consumed by a dream of something you’d love to have or accomplish or realize in your life, motivated by an impulse so strong that it might seem crazy to those around you, perhaps a little bit crazy even to yourself?  For some people, that dream may be of offering a better life for our children than we had ourselves, so we work two jobs, sometimes at night or on weekends, pouring our hearts into that future for our children to give them that dream.  For others, that empowering vision may be of taking a trip to distant and exotic places, to see the immense diversity of God’s creation, so we scrimp and save in order to travel.  For some it could even be owning their own home.  For one woman I met years ago, through a mission project our teens got involved with, that dream seemed just that – a dream.  But obtaining a home after years of apartment dwelling with four children, owning her own home was the experience she thought she would never have.  Thanks to hard work and a new vision of her future, an organization called “Habitat for Humanity” helped her reach her dream and through them, we had a small hand in making that happen for her.

          What existed once only as thought, she couldn’t begin to express all that it meant to her.  Which is true for all of our dreams, once realized.  We can’t even begin to put into words the great satisfaction, the empowering sense of accomplishment, pride and joy that having a dream realized gives us.  But it could have only remained a dream if she hadn’t made it her destiny.

          The distinction between dream and destiny is not a matter of truth or fiction, but rather one of perception.  It is one thing to talk about the future, and another actually to invest in that future; just as it is one thing to have a covenant with God inscribed on stone, and another to have that covenant written on the heart.  When it is inscribed on a stone, the covenant is outside our lives.  It is external.  It might be something to achieve, but it is not necessarily something to realize within ourselves.  When that covenant is written on our hearts however, it no longer is something external, but now it is internal.  It is part and parcel to who we are.  It is the future dream hoped for and actualized – then and only then does it become destiny. 

          Jeremiah was a prophet active in Jerusalem in the years before the city’s fall in 587-586 BC.  He was a prophet especially “tuned in” to God’s perception of how far God’s people were from the people God wanted them to be.

          Over a period of years, Jeremiah tried to persuade a succession of kings that God wanted obedience and not political solutions to Judah’s problems.  Beginning with King Jehoiakim, son of Josiah, Jeremiah tried to convince these kings that what was happening around them in the political world was less important than what was happening at home and that God wanted them to obey God’s laws and God’s requirements for living.  God wanted them to look inward and not outward.  Looking outward was a trap.  God wanted Israel to see the things they had done to themselves to bring them to their own destruction.  But the kings would not listen and they tried to find political solutions to Israel’s problems and this only created more problems.  Jeremiah’s warnings fell on deaf ears.  In 587-586 BC. Babylon took advantage of Jerusalem’s inner weakness and made a final conquest of Judah.  The city of Jerusalem was sacked, the temple was razed, and most of the people of Judah were carried off into exile.

          Jeremiah’s special prophetic anguish came from knowing that God’s covenant with God’s people was not wrong.  What was wrong, was the way God’s people had tried (or more accurately, not tried) to keep that covenant.  Jeremiah had a vision of a time when God’s covenant would not be subject to human error: “The days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah…I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts.” 

God will go directly to the hearts of God’s people, who then will know God as their God.

The word of the Lord came to Jeremiah to buy a piece of land.  So, Jeremiah bought a field in his home town, an investment in a time yet to be realized.  He took a dream and made it his destiny.  Jeremiah knew what the future would hold and invested in that future as proof that God would call the people back from their exile and renew the covenant that God had with them.

The distinction between dream and destiny is not a matter of truth or fiction, but rather one of perception.  It is one thing to talk about the future, and another to actually invest in a future; just as it is one thing to have a covenant inscribed on stone, and another to have that covenant written on the heart.

          Several years ago there was a series on PBS called Downton Abbey, which just recently added a full-length feature film about the same characters and storyline.  How many of you watched the series on TV and have seen the movie?

          For those of you who have, this will be a bit of a recap; for those of you who haven’t, this will be a brief summary.  But, if you have only seen the series, but not the movie yet, the rest of today’s message does have a bit of a spoiler in it.  So, just a warning.

          Downton Abbey is a fictional story set in Yorkshire County centering around the lives of the Crawley family and their hired domestics during the declining aristocracy in England from 1912 through 1926.  As the new century brings with it turmoil in the world, new industrial innovations, and a growing middle class, the great houses of England are in decline.  Economics bring their privileged status into question and many of these once great houses cannot survive.  Lord Grantham of Downton Abbey finds himself in much the same situation.  His eldest daughter Lady Mary, as well as the rest of his daughters, buck conventional traditions and find ways of making their way in this new world that is changing rapidly around them.  The series concentrates the storyline about their way of life and all the drama of living in such a world. 

          The movie furthers the storyline, but it also presents several scenes where I believe there are some messages (100 years later), particularly for the church about the changing world we find ourselves in, as well.  Truthfully, it isn’t much different than the message that Jeremiah has for us, nor the message that Paul gave to Timothy in his letter to the young leader.

          I’m going to ignore the one great divide between the rich and the poor, which unfortunately is definitely an enormous part of Downton Abbey’s storyline, but in making some comparisons between Downton, our scripture texts and the message it has for us, I’d prefer to concentrate on other aspects of the story.

Historically, Downton Abbey was the center of life for the community.  The family of Downton held festivals and parades, held fundraisers and did charitable work for the community.  Every person in the community looked to Downton Abbey and the family living at Downton Abbey as their benefactor through work that they provided them or through the lifting of their spirits by holding community-wide festivals, providing money for the hospital, leading various social groups.  As the grand houses of England slowly disappear, leaving their own communities without such centers, the question at Downton Abbey is, how will they survive?

In the series, Lady Mary finds various ways of diversifying their resources and coming up with new methods of earning money.  But the questions remain; will that be enough? will they survive?

In the movie, the Dowager Countess of Grantham, Lord Grantham’s mother, tells Lady Mary, her granddaughter, in a heartfelt scene towards the end of the move, that she is the future of Downton Abbey.  That Lady Mary and her generations will find a way to make Downton Abbey the center of the community it once was, that Lady Mary has the spirit and the ability to make Downton Abbey viable, and that the memory of the Dowager Countess will go on through the leadership of her granddaughter.

The church, here in the US, is seeing the very same situation occur.  We were once the center of our community, but we aren’t any more.  We struggle financially to make it work, when we didn’t used to have that same struggle.  We’ve had to downsize the need for staff, as the “family” has dwindled.

But the Dowager had a message for her granddaughter much the same as Jeremiah’s message to the exiles in Babylon and Paul’s message in Timothy.   Do not make the dream an external part of yourself, it must be internal.  For Downton Abbey, that meant that the granddaughter had to look inward to find the skills and the leadership her grandmother saw in her and to live into that destiny, to embrace it, and bring Downton Abbey back to its grandeur once again; probably in a completely different way, because the old ways no longer work.

Dowager Grantham tells her granddaughter Lady Mary that Downton Abbey is her destiny.  Jeremiah tells the exiles to invest in their future, to write that future on their hearts.  Paul tells Timothy to equip the saints.

So, today, I tell you; this church and its community are our responsibility.  We must be at the center of it.  And we will hand it down to the next generation, but only if we have faith in a future and invest in that future.

Amen.

Today's Sermon - Lessons from our Ancestors - 10/6/19

Lessons from our Ancestors

(based on 2 Timothy 1:1-14)

          Before I even begin with today’s message that comes to us from Timothy, I’d be a bit remiss if I didn’t at least address the passage from Psalm 137.  Sometimes, there are scriptures that you just wish weren’t there.  Or you wish that the writer had stopped while he was ahead.  This psalm is one of those. 

I love how it begins.  It begins as a psalm of lament, a psalm of sadness and yearning, a psalm of remembrance and struggle.  The people of Israel were exiled from their land and sent to a new home in Babylon.  There in Babylon, their captors prodded and joked with their new toys requiring them to dance their jigs, sing their songs, play their instruments.  But they lament their situation and can’t imagine singing of joy and love and peace and prosperity in a foreign land at their tormentor’s request.  In tears, they remember Zion.

But, since the writer of the Psalms is a human and has human emotions that span the full breadth of emotion, the psalm turns from mourning into a song of hellfire and brimstone, requesting recompense and judgment upon Jerusalem’s captors.  The writer hopes for the worst things to happen to their devastators and prays with joy and gladness if one day, Babylon is repaid their due and have their own children captured and bashed against the rocks.

Yes, I know that the writer of this Psalm is sad and angry and yes, I know that the worst in us comes out when we are full of emotion, but I just wish it wasn’t written down in scripture.  Why?  Because, then it can sometimes be used as justification for all kinds of horrible things that we do to one another.

Having said all that, there is a lesson in this about what we hand down to our children.  Will we hand down to them the anger of our past or the hope of a better future through the inspiration of what we learned?  It’s important to notice that the church in Ephesus, where Timothy is now the leader and preacher, already has a long history of faithful servants.  Paul reminds Timothy that his faith was handed down to him from his grandmother, Lois and his mother, Eunice – at least three generations already in this new Christian Church movement in Ephesus.  Paul instructs Timothy that he has been entrusted with the Good News and to guard the good teachings he has learned.

What lessons have you been entrusted with from your mother, your father, your grandmother, or grandfather?  What lessons, people older and wiser than you, have you learned to be truthful and accurate?  What will you hand down to your children and grandchildren to entrust to future generations?

These walls resound with the lessons of our ancestors.  These classrooms and fellowship halls echo the Good News they tried to teach us.  Have you brought them forward into your own life?  Have you written them upon your heart?  Are you willing to share and to teach those of us who come after you?

Just over 10 years ago, a CMU professor by the name of Randy Pausch learned that he was dying of pancreatic cancer and gave his last lecture.  The script of that lecture became a New York Times Best Seller called, The Last Lecture, and has sold over 5 million copies in the US alone.  It has also been translated into 48 other languages.

In that lecture he offers some advice he learned along the way to hand down to his children.  I think they would have been quite similar to some of the things Scripture, in its entirety, hands down to us, as well.

Here are some of them.

Have fun.  Regardless of the circumstances you find yourself in; they may be dire, they may not be what you’d hoped for, they may be “for the moment” a difficult time.  Regardless – have fun!  It is what brings joy back to life, it is what brings happiness and smiles to a heart that might be heavy.  Dance the jig, sing the songs for a time of remembrance.

Help others.  We don’t go through this life alone.  We live in community, connected to one another.  Help those who are less fortunate. Help those who need someone kind to speak words of comfort.  Help those who have inner potential that has not yet been noticed.  Help those who have been mistreated, bullied, disliked or hated by others.

Never lose the childlike wonder.  Scripture often tells us to be like children.  Look at the world around you with new eyes, as if they’d never seen such perfectly shaped clouds before, raindrops that fall from the sky, lightning that flashes, thunder that roars, leaves that change color, flowers that bloom.  See God again and again anew for the first time in all the things around you.

Show gratitude.  Always say thank you and please.  Always find the split second it takes to smile and nod appreciation, if nothing more, for a door held open.  The gratitude you give comes back full measure, multiplied, overflowing.  Like the miracle of the fish and loaves.  At the end of the day, you’d be amazed how your small offers of gratitude led to others’ gratitude which can spread like a tsunami of joy.

Be good at something.  Find your purpose in life and go after it.  Find what brings you joy, what fulfills your life, what ignites your spirit and soul.  Chase after that and be good at it.  God created you for a purpose, seek it out, look for it diligently, find it.  And when you do, let nothing in this life redirect you, distract you, or lead you somewhere else.  And be good at it. 

Never give up.  There are many stories in our scriptures about the relentless actions of people who did not give up.  The man at the pool who waited for years to be the first one in to receive a healing.  The persistent neighbor who kept knocking on the door to ask for bread.  The friends who lowered a man down through a roof in order to bring him to Christ.  Zacchaeus who climbed a tree in order to listen to and see Jesus.  God always finds a way when there seems to be no way.

Find the best in everyone.  Have faith in others.  Randy Pausch says to be patient with others.  That inside everyone is wonderful, life-affirming, beautiful person.  Sometimes they’ve not learned how to show it, or even know of its existence in themselves.  But be patient.  Eventually, it comes out.  Afterall, isn’t God patient with us?  Doesn’t God hope for and want the best in us to shine forth, too?  So, find what others may have missed because you might just be the ambassador of hope to the person who needs it.

Apologize when you screw up.  Forgiveness is a two-way street.  Don’t hesitate to say, “I’m sorry.”  Then don’t just say the words, but do whatever you need to do to make it right.

Focus on others rather than on yourself.  We have enough “me” people in the world.  It’s time that we started thinking in terms of “us” and “you”.  Refer to the earlier lesson about not getting through this life alone. And we were created to be in community, not a stand-alone island.

The last two – stop making excuses.  They are only self-delusions.  They are also what is keeping you from finding your purpose in life – being who God created you to be.

And the last one – do the right thing.  We find lots of opportunities in this life to make a choice.  To do good or to do harm.  To bless or to curse.  To love or to hate.  To be joyful or to be angry.  In all that you do, make the better choice and do the right thing.

Friends, this building, these walls have born witness to the silent and spoken aspirations of our ancestors.  They have stood silent absorbing the thoughts and prayers we’ve sent to God in our worship.  As we come to the Lord’s table today, we are reminded of the great cloud of witnesses that walked these aisles, sat in these very pews, ate this bread, drank this cup.  They, like Timothy, were entrusted with the Good News in Jesus Christ and tried to do their best.  May we try to do ours, as well.