PPC POST

"HOPE IN THE FACE OF DEATH"

In the Presbyterian funeral service, the prayer of thanksgiving goes like this:

O God,

before whom generations rise and pass away,

we praise you for all your servants

who, having lived this life in faith,

now live eternally with you.

Especially we thank you for your servant N.,

whose baptism is now complete in death.

Most of us don't think of the connection between death and baptism, yet our particular journey of faith begins with our baptism and ends . . . this side of heaven with our death. During the next few minutes, I want you to hold on to that word "particular."

"All that lives must die." That's what Hamlet's mother tells her son who is grieving the death of his father. Hamlet is staring at the ground, as if searching for his father's corpse. Gertrude says to her son:

"Do not for ever with thy vailed lids

Seek for thy noble father in the dust:

Thou know'st ‘tis common; all that lives must die,

Passing through nature to eternity.

            Hamlet:  Aye, Madam, it is common.

            Gertrude:  If it be,

Why seems it so particular with thee?"

Death is particular. When we are grieving the loss of a loved one, it doesn't ease the pain to say "all that lives must die." Maybe you're not a fan of Shakespeare, so let me put it another way: "Death and taxes are the only two things you can count on in life." While taxes infuriate us, the end of life scares most of us half to death.

There is a strange irony at play in the church whenever we speak of death. Faith compels us to confront death, yet church is the last place we want to talk about dying. Oh, it's OK to have a funeral in church-especially in the reformed tradition-but hey, let's not deal with death on Sunday morning. We don't come to church to talk about death. We come to church to talk about life, hope, faith, resurrection, victory. In fact, some churches preach not just about life, but the good life, a life of success, prosperity and achievement. Forget that doom and gloom stuff. The gospel is good news-and given the choice between death and life, we'll choose life every time!

But I want to suggest to you that we can't ignore death if we want to live a full life. And what exactly is a full life? Our gospel reading this morning gives us a clue. I love this story of the persistent widow. Against a cruel judge, she persists. She knows he is cruel, she knows he doesn't care about her in particular or about justice in general-and yet, she wears him down. By hounding him and harassing him and demanding of him justice-she gets it. Doesn't it make you feel good when she wins? Listen again to the judge:  "Because this widow keeps bothering me I will see she gets justice." You can almost hear him say, "Please, just get her out of here." Boy, this is good news for us. Cruel judges can get weary, injustice can wear down, evil does get tired.

Persistence is nothing, if not hope with its working shoes on. Persistence is the daily ordinary face of hope. We're all going to die, but that doesn't mean we can't be persistent in life. As Christians we pray "Come, Lord Jesus" every week. Every single time we pray The Lord's Prayer "Thy Kingdom come," we're moving closer to the end of the life we know and understand. But I hope we aren't ready to board the next bus to heaven.

Years and years ago, my parents bought some of the first cemetery lots sold in Mt. Pleasant Memorial Gardens. Then, a few years ago, my mom decided to pre-pay her funeral. For several years she made payments, and now it's all paid for-the lots, the coffin, vault, the viewing, the obituary, the hearse and all the particulars. She has been persistent about death, but unfortunately she hasn't had that same persistence for life. There is so much she's missed out on. She's a Christian and goes to church every Sunday, but for years she's held back-not reaching out for every bit of joy and fun she might could have fit into her life. My younger sister was killed at an early age. So maybe my mom won't allow herself to fully live now.

I don't know, but I do know this:  the question of death really is a question of life-unfortunately, too many people are so absorbed with the reality of death they overlook the matter of life. I know I'm going to die; so are you. So how can we live now so that when we die, we die well? I want to be like the Apostle Paul, who wrote in II Timothy, "I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith, now there is in store for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award me on that day."

This business of persisting toward justice, persisting toward Jesus, persisting toward God is a very good way to live. We can embrace death knowing that Christ is as present in death as he is in life-which is what scripture teaches us. Isn't it better to live in God's reality than the world's? In a worldly reality, you live, you die, you pay taxes. In God's reality there is this thing called eternity. You live, you die, you meet Jesus. The hopeful person expects a new beginning at death. We don't know what that new life will be like, but if we believe life is good, so is death. Like the widow who didn't believe the judge was really evil, but rather believed she could get justice from him, we don't believe death is evil-we're just afraid of it-and by our persistence in life, we simply wear our fear down.

The Psalmist speaks of living 80 years. I guess if everyone could count on that, we wouldn't fear death so much-we could all be as insistent as our widow, pursuing life to its fullest. But then someone dies prematurely, a child, a young adult, even someone who is a youthful "50 something." When death is premature, a whole other journey is required. If persistence is hope with its working shoes on, now this walk is barefooted, calloused, excruciating.

If God is a righteous judge, we can't explain a premature death-at any age. Some people claim every death is the will of God. Well, don't say that to any parent who has lost a child. They must battle this ancient theology just like the persistent widow did. "The judge is unjust, but I mean to wear him down; my walking shoes are worn out, and my bare feet are killing me, but I mean to persist toward God, through Jesus, or toward meaning, through struggle, or even just toward life-even if I can't bear to speak the words God or Jesus, I'm going to persist. I mean to keep on, because I don't believe this was the will of God." People who have lost children know there are some things even God can't control. The will of God is an over-worked notion.

In my home church in Hanahan, there was this lady who spoke to God . . . and God spoke back, literally. She would insist God told her we should have ham for the covered dish dinner, and everyone else wanted chicken-but who is going to argue with God? Frankly, I don't think God really cared what meat we ate for dinner. Things happen outside the will of God, but friends, nothing happens outside the love of God. God's will may not be all powerful, but God's love is.

This is an important distinction. It's not my theology-it's the theology of the cross. If God's will were all powerful, surely God would have prevented the death of his own son. But, because God's will was bent on behalf of humanity-and with our human nature came free will-we see evil has a pretty good contest with God. I'm not sure even God knows who is going to win. So like the widow, we must be persistent in the face of death. Paul offers us hope when he says that nothing, not life, death, powers, principalities, or as our widow would add, wicked judges, absolutely nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus. Therefore, we persist toward Jesus, toward the light, toward the good, confident that even in death there is goodness. Things may be out of control, even for God, but nothing is outside the reach of God's love.

That's why the persistent widow is such a good model as we approach our own deaths or face the death of a loved one. You persist because you know love, not death, is final. You don't believe that death, or the judge, or that evil can possibly win, and you wear them down rather than have them wear you down.

Hamlet's mother, Gertrude, was right: "All that lives must die." This morning we witnessed a particular baptism as Capers, God's beloved son, began his journey of faith in this life. One day Capers and all of us here will end our journey with our particular death.

My prayer is not that we won't die, but that we all will be persistent in life and someone will pray at our funeral:

O God,

we praise you for your servant

who, having lived this life in faith,

now lives eternally with you.

We thank you for the particular servant N.,

whose baptism is now complete in death.

 Amen.

Thanks be to God.

"HOPE FOR HAPPINESS"

Luke 16:1-15

"Don't worry-be happy!"  I don't know when they first came out, but I remember instantly hating those yellow "happy face" stickers. "Have a Happy Day!" Ugh!

Somehow that's just too easy. I think happiness has to require some effort-I want happiness to be connected to deep, complex stuff, like the meaning of life, or the real understanding of Jesus' Beatitudes . . . you know, "Happy are those who . . . "

Years ago the great preacher Robert Schuller wrote a book called The Be Happy Attitudes, and I wanted to throw up. Can one really discover true happiness following Schuller's eight simple rules for happiness? I don't think so.

Today, we continue our sermon series on hope by focusing on "Hope for Happiness." The author Eric Hoffer wrote, "The search for happiness is one of the chief sources of unhappiness." I don't know about that, but I do know I'm not as cynical about happiness as the Greek historian Herodotus, who said, "Call no man happy till he dies."

Well, I'm relieved to say I'm alive this morning, yet no more the wiser in discovering the secret to happiness, and I've been reading all week! And of course, Jesus doesn't help. Nowhere does Jesus say come and follow me . . . and I'll give you a yellow "happy face" sticker. Like me, Jesus' idea of happiness is more complex, maybe even a little mysterious. It's a mystery because most of the time Jesus includes talk of wealth and riches with happiness. And he doesn't always say the same thing-or maybe he does-and his listeners, those who wrote the gospels, heard and interpreted his words differently. Take our reading this morning from Luke. Jesus is telling a parable about a rich man and his shrewd manager. This is a hard parable to understand, and we aren't sure what Jesus is trying to say.

For Luke, no subject is of more concern for teaching the disciples of Jesus than this issue of wealth and poverty. Luke has used practically every literary vehicle available to him to put the money issue before the reader. There is the Song of Mary, the sermons of John the Baptist, the prophecies of Isaiah, the blessings and woes, the parable of the rich fool, the warnings about anxiety, and other parables, including today's reading. They all focus on money, but the message is never the same. Woes are pronounced on the rich, yet they are saved. Beatitudes are spoken to the poor, yet possessions can be used for good. Jesus associated with the poor, yet many of his closest friends were indeed rich.

And it's just as confusing today. Many people in the church are rich, and we have reconciled this by saying right before the offering, "To whom much is given, much is required." We live in an affluent community, and at Palmetto we have been blessed with generous givers. So maybe I need to say, "To whom much is given, much is required" every week before the offering!

Do we focus too much on money? You bet we do. It's the American way. Are the rich happy? Can money buy happiness? We don't know, but we sure hope so! We've been talking about hope for the last two weeks. What are your hopes and dreams? Don't they include materialism? Is that OK? I don't believe we live our faith in a vacuum. We are part of the real world, and how we live our lives here will determine our reward in heaven-it's true; that's what Jesus says in today's parable.

Let's look at the parable. A rich businessman fires his manager. Well, the manager is shrewd and cuts deals with his accounts, hoping they'll take care of him when he needs their support. Now maybe he's a little dishonest, but he's also a realist. He knows he's not the martyr type. "Hey, I can't be a laborer, and I sure don't want to beg." So he handles his situation, and surprisingly Jesus commends the guy for being smart. In other words handle material things so as to secure heaven and the future. Use possessions to gain not lose your future. God gave some of you minds to make money-you're good at what you do. You reap the rewards, and in this parable the lesson is that for all the danger in being wealthy, it is possible to manage your wealth in a way that is appropriate to life in God's Kingdom. People of the light should be as "street smart" as people of the world. Use you wealth to gain friends. Help those in need-you never know how or when these folks will show their gratitude in the future.

Jesus then says, "If you can be trusted with little, later you can be trusted with a lot."  I know lots of people who think they don't make enough to tithe. They miss the point. If they can't give back to God now, will they be able to afford to tithe later on when they have more?

You know why I think Luke includes so many teachings about money and wealth? You do know Luke was a doctor. He comes from a well educated, well compensated group. He knows the struggles of those who "seem to have it all." And so I think Luke takes seriously Jesus' words in verse 13: "No servant can serve two masters. You cannot serve both God and money."  You cannot worship God and money. Worship God-manage your money. Worship God-enjoy your money. Worship God-focus on how things are adding up with God, not how you money is adding up or down-and then, we are promised, we will be happy. When Jesus speaks of worship, he is talking about Joy. Let your joy be with God, your bills with mammon. You see, religion is the higher happiness which keeps the lower happiness in check.

Happiness is a consequence, not a goal of life. So granted, not every week is filled with big, yellow happy faces. But when we put God first in our lives, we will find ourselves happy. Interestingly enough, one of Webster's definitions of "happy" is suitable, clever. Like the steward in Jesus' parable, maybe we can find our own happiness-if we know where to look. One place is at the Lord's Table. In the Bible, the words "happy" and "blessed" are used interchangeably to mean the same thing. The words of institution, inviting us to the Lord's Table, go like this: "Happy are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness for they shall be filled."

In Ecclesiastes the author says: "A man can do nothing better than to eat and drink and find satisfaction in his work as long as he knows it all comes from God. For without God who can eat and who can find happiness. To the man who pleases God, God gives wisdom, knowledge and happiness but to the sinner he gives the task of gathering and storing up wealth to hand it over to the one who pleases God."

I can't tell you how to do it-but if you put God first in your life, you will be happy.

Come, taste and see that the Lord is good.

"Don't worry-be happy!" You don't need a yellow happy face.

Amen. 

"HOPE FOR ACCEPTANCE"

Luke 15:1-10

Friday morning in our men's Bible study from Hebrews, we talked about sin and how the members of our group though Christian were still sinners and yet we accepted one another and were good friends. As I sat there listening to Gary Mullaney read these thought provoking verses, I thought about my own sins this week-the many times I lost my temper dealing with our incompetent builders; the sleep I lost worrying about things our contractor should have been worrying about; the time I lost not doing church work because I was doing the builder's work; and frankly, I thought about the money that might be lost if we don't keep negotiating and working with a group of people I no longer accept as trustworthy.

That's one kind of loss-the loss of temper and patience and confidence in someone you have to deal with. Then there are more basic losses. I lose my keys every day. This week I lost the holder my phone clips onto, so it's just a matter of time before I lose my phone . . . again.

But really, a lost temper, lost keys or phone, these are minor losses. Many of us here this morning have experienced serious loss: lost jobs, lost loved ones through death or family crisis, the loss of a friend because of a move or a misunderstanding, or maybe you've experienced the loss of good health due to a serious illness. And from a theological point of view, think of all the people who are lost in terms of salvation. They haven't experienced the love of God in their lives-a love that offers direction and purpose and the hope of acceptance.

Our reading this morning from Luke is all about loss. Jesus says that most of us, when we lose something, immediately begin a search to find the thing we lost. A shepherd has one hundred sheep; one is lost. He leaves the ninety-nine to go search for the one. A woman has ten silver coins. She loses one, and she tears up the house hoping to find the one lost coin. Every time we lose something, especially something meaningful, we hope to find it. But there are some losses that can't be recovered. And there are times when we decide to "cut" our losses and move on. I'm sure all of us would look for the one lost coin, especially if it were, indeed, silver. But what about the story of the sheep? If we still had ninety-nine, how many of us would worry about the one? Well, the beauty of this story is that it doesn't matter. Jesus is telling a parable here that focuses not on us but on God. In the Protestant culture of the south, where the emphasis is always on what we have to do, it's easy to overlook the significance of this parable. What a great story. Here is a picture of God who takes the initiative to find the lost. The focus in this parable is on the shepherd, not the lost sheep. The good news for us is that God searches out the sinner. When we're lost, we don't have to find the way on our own-God finds us.

Think about it-there are lots of good Christian sheep running around out there. In fact, there are a few hundred good sheep right here in this congregation-sheep a lot better than me, a lot more committed than me-yet this parable says if I'm the only one who gets lost, God is still going to find me. With so many of us suffering from low self-esteem, dealing with insecurities and doubting if "I'm O.K., You're Ok." is really true or just a catchy title to sell books, isn't it good news to hear that God not only knows when we're lost, God will actively search us out and find us?

Have you ever wondered what would happen if you just dropped out of your favorite civic club or group or even the church? Would anyone miss you? Would they even know you were gone? Would it matter? It makes me wonder how in the world can God keep up with all us lost sheep. But then I remember that God is bigger than we are-and it's wrong to bring God down to my level, or yours. Scripture says God knows us so well, even the hairs on our head or numbered. And God loves us so much, he actually yearns for us until we are found.

Today's sermon is the first in a series of sermons on HOPE. This morning's scripture, dealing with loss, is about our hope for acceptance. I think everyone wants to be accepted no matter who we are. So this reading about the lost sheep is reassuring because it says Gods loves us and accepts us so much he's willing to leave all the other sheep just to find us, if and when we are lost. And I guess that's good news depending on who you are in this story. You see, all of us may want and need acceptance ourselves, but we don't always accept everyone else.

At the beginning of this parable, the scribes and Pharisees are critical of Jesus for associating with tax collectors and sinners. Jesus' choice of company is inappropriate, contradictory, disruptive, for one in his line of work. Church people have a certain image to uphold. Do you think the Pharisees were being too pious? Don't you tell our children that: "Be careful of the company you keep," "Hey, birds of a feather flock together"?  Don't we believe the separation of "good" and "bad" people preserves a community's sense of righteousness and is essential for the moral instruction of the youth? What about in the church? Who do we accept and who do we decide not to accept? Or even more to the point, who do we actively accept and welcome into the church? And who do we just tolerate or become indifferent to? You see that was Jesus' problem. He didn't just happen to be with tax collectors and sinners. He searched them out. Our scripture says he welcomes sinners . . . and eats with them. And surely there's a lesson for us in verses 7 and 10 when Jesus says, "There is more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent." If we are the lost sheep, this parable offers good news-but shouldn't it be good news for everyone who is lost?

There's a lesson for the church in this parable. Someone defined the church two ways: It's either a sanctuary for saints or a hospital for sinners. I guess if we want to be accepted-and let's face it, few of us are saints-our church needs to be a hospital for sinners. And our hope for acceptance comes through Jesus Christ, who accepts us no matter what. We are all like lost sheep to God, but God means to find us period. The end! We are accepted unconditionally. There are not good sheep and bad sheep in God's eyes-just sheep. Sheep who do good and bad things! And remember, sheep aren't the smartest creatures; they need a shepherd. As for loss, we will continue to lose things-lost keys, lost phones, and even lost tempers-and maybe we won't find every lost sheep out there, but, by God, we sure better give it a try.

Friends, the good news this morning is we were once lost but now we are found, we were once blind, but now we see. We see that God has accepted us-all of us. So this morning for Palmetto, a sign of hope might read like this:

Church Openings-Sinners Accepted-Apply Within

Thanks be to God.

Amen.

"A CHARGE TO KEEP"

I Thessalonians 1:1-10

Some weeks sermons come easy and some weeks they don't. This should have been an easy sermon. After all, today we are installing my good friend Angela Redden as our new Director of Christian Education, and it's not like she's new. She's been doing the job unofficially since we first started worshiping together 2 ½ years ago.

Once again, my sermon topic and today's scripture readings are about God's call. You see, for Angela and for us the position of Christian educator is not a job-it's a calling. Now friends, I have to tell you, a religious calling is a mystery to be sure.

            What does it mean "to be called by God"?

            Who does God call?

            When and how does God call?

            And most importantly-

            Who is listening to God's call, and willing to respond when the call comes?

So if you think this sermon has nothing to do with you and you can check out and take a "power nap" for the next few minutes, think again, because you might discover today's sermon is not just about Angela, it may be about you!

OK, it's been a busy week-we're moving into the church, we're planning a big barbeque/oyster roast in the midst of a terrible storm, I have meetings every night, and yesterday morning I'm in my new office before 7:00 a.m. searching for my Bible, some paper, and my sermon ideas, and I'm reading I Thessalonians one more time. At 7:30 I'm getting really worried about this sermon. Come on, how many times can I read the first chapter of I Thessalonians. Obviously, I hadn't read the chapter enough times, because a sermon was not materializing. I had lots of ideas, but . . . I'm sitting at my desk watching the rain and thinking about God's call. Wishing God would just call me and tell me what to say for today's sermon. And then I realized God wasn't going to call me and God wasn't even going to have someone else call me because AT&T didn't show up Friday and I didn't have a working phone!

But then, at 7:37  it came to me. I was preaching on call years ago when the phone did ring. A good friend was calling to tell me his daughter had broken her arm, and that's what my sermon the next day was about-broken arms. It worked then, and I believe it can work today for this Mt. Pleasant congregation. You see, most folks who hear God calling them to any form of ministry have to have their arms twisted, if not broken, before they respond. And even then only the most intuitive and courageous among us say yes to God's call.

In the official training manual for leaders in the Presbyterian church, entitled Called to Serve, the opening paragraph states:

The key for congregational revitalization in the 21^st century will be spirit inspired church leaders-those who know and love the Lord, who know and love the church and who understand the profound and powerful sense of God in their lives, to serve Christ through the church.

In writing to the Thessalonians, Paul says he remembers their work produced by faith, their labor prompted by love and their endurance inspired by hope. Those same attributes apply to Angela. She has been involved in the formation of Palmetto from the very beginning, serving as chair of the presbytery commission to start a new church in upper Mt. Pleasant, and then leading our Christian education efforts once we started meeting together as a congregation at Laing Middle School.

Paul says that the gospel came to the good folks at Thessalonica not simply with words, but also with power, with the Holy Spirit, and with deep conviction. Again, Paul could have been speaking to Angela. We all know how energetic Angela is, how she can get the job done, and we've seen the fruit of her convictions.

But I guess the words in our text that stand out the most are when Paul says, "you welcomed the message with joy given by the Holy Spirit." In working with Angela, I see excitement and joy in whatever she does. She's not a martyr. She sets boundaries and she gets along with people-and in the church that's not always easy. I know, on an average day I can offend two or three people before lunch!

But, all you have to do is look around you this morning, reflect back on the ministry of Palmetto the last two years, look at the many ways God has blessed this congregation in such a short time, and you'll see that God's call is powerful and real. God calls preachers and Christians educators, choir directors and singers; God calls special people to teach and to care for our children, to serve on ministry teams, to pray, to give, and to sit in the pews.

Now, someone unfamiliar with church may wonder why we need a Christian educator. Isn't that the preacher's job? That's a fair question, and the answer actually comes from our text this morning. I don't know if you realize this, but the Bible is not arranged in chronological order, especially Paul's epistles. Most Bible scholars agree that I Thessalonians is actually Paul's earliest letter. Paul knew from the very beginning that no one person can grow a church. It takes a team of committed believers called by God who are imitators of Christ, who welcome the message of faith with joy, and who are talented enough and gifted enough that their faith is known-inside the church and beyond.

In our Psalter reading this morning, there is a list of people God has called through the ages, names familiar to most of us-Jacob, Moses and Aaron, Samuel. Our scripture tells us these great witnesses of the faith called on the Lord in prayer and God answered their prayers.

I know Angela has prayed about her special call as our educator. I know many of us have prayed for the church in general and for our Christian education ministry in particular. And friends, we look around us and see that God does indeed answer prayer.

But ministry is never easy-church is never easy. I work with new churches and pastors, and I tell them right up front church is hard, which is why we desperately need spirit-led leaders today. In Angela Redden, we have such a leader.

Someone has said the church is just one generation away from being extinct. If we fail to teach our children and youth the stories of faith, how can they ever pass them on to their children?

So today we affirm Angela's call to Christian education, but we also affirm your calling, whatever it may be.

As for Christian education at Palmetto, we have many, many opportunities to grow in faith and knowledge, so don't wait for Angela to twist your arm before you participate, because knowing her, she just might break it!

And that, friends, is how a broken arm can be inspiration for a sermon on Christian education!

Amen.