9-25-2005

Celebrating the freeing, supportive presence of God. So your experience of God may become your experience of life. It is wonderful what God can do!

"A Shocking Possibility"

September 25, 2005

Good Morning!

    After four weeks of the news media reporting on the devastation of Hurricane Katrina on New Orleans and the oil industry, many are convinced that Hurricane Katrina begins to resemble that which was experienced by Noah of old. They begin to wonder—does God have a hand in any of this? Well of course God does. God can be seen doing his compassionate work among the rescuers and even the neighborhood people who reach out to others in need.

    Now, this past Thursday, we learn of two earthquakes in the San Joaquin Valley north of Los Angeles near the White Wolf fault—one a 3.4 on the Richter Scale and the other a 4.7 shaking things up in several areas.

   Then on Friday, the day after the earthquakes, heavy rains caused water to pour over three previously breached levees in New Orleans, re-flooding several large areas in the city which had just dried out only days earlier.

    Then early yesterday morning, Hurricane Rita slams into the Gulf Coast on the Texas and Louisiana border causing new destruction and spreading its rains over a wide area, and well into the already devastated New Orleans, complicating the flooding problem.

    Later yesterday, we were reminded of our nation’s ongoing war as we learn of the march on Washington, D.C. protesting the war and its loss of life. Along the roadsides were those protesting the protesters with signs promoting the war’s longer-term benefits.

    Some people are beginning to feel a sense of insecurity as we are bombarded by these regular reports. In this age of technological communication, it is quite easy to develop a fear about what seems to be a large number of natural and man-made disasters. History, however, tells us that we are not experiencing a large number of tragic events. It seems like more are happening because our ability to communicate instantly worldwide makes us more aware of these events and their powerful affects on human lives.

    Also, people are choosing now, more than ever before, to relocate to the so-called prime areas of the tropics which just happen to be prime areas for hurricanes. Previous generations were not nearly so aware of the events in distant places, nor were they so readily inclined to move away from family, friends, church and community.

    As more and more people move from the traditional north and northeast to the prime tropical areas of our nation, it heightens the size of the potential devastation from hurricanes. The greater the population and size of a community, the greater interest we share with the news media in wanting to know about the coming of storms and their gruesome details.

    If I were a fundamentalist, or a fear monger, or a best selling author, I would be writing and proclaiming about the high probability that the end of the world and the second coming of Christ is at our door step. Hurricanes, floods, earthquakes, and war are the very events that certainly give fodder to the rumor mill and increase the natural anxiety of persons.

    Usually, during times of natural disaster and war, there is an upsurge of those seeking religion and a sense of spirituality. People begin to think beyond their mortality when they are reminded of how fragile life really is, and they see how quickly it can be turned upside down or even eliminated. Why even our local folks in Perry seem to be responding to these current events—the registration for our Wednesday afternoon Release Time Education has quadrupled this fall over last year; and no less than fourteen youth came out for last night’s Lock-In event here in our church. There is an old saying, “These are the times that try men’s souls,” which has been heard many times in the past 100 years or so.

    The Psalmist reminds us that we are like the grass of the field—here today, but gone by tomorrow. Unlike the grass of the field, however, we have immortal souls about which we should be thinking and planning. Part of that plan should include God and God’s expectations of us while yet on earth.

    It really should not be shocking to us that one day our physical life will end. Even those without faith understand this reality. The shocking part is how unexpected and unplanned our demise might be; living in a world where so many of other people’s decisions ultimately affect the safety and longevity of our own lives.

    God has given us a life of free choice—free to chose our lifestyles and whether or not we will respond to God’s call in our lives. God would have created life much differently if God intended to run our lives instead of us having choices to make.

    We even have choices when it comes to responding to Mother Nature. We can chose where to live, how to live, and what level of safety and security to build into our lifestyles. We can even choose how we will respond to Mother Nature’s sometimes-violent weather patterns and her occasional need to adjust and expand through earthquakes. We can sometimes even choose whether to become victims or heroes simply by some of the early choices we make.

    Most importantly, we have the opportunity of choosing what our priorities in life will be—

—whether or not God is at the helm or if we prefer that God reside in steerage;

—whether or not we work to develop our “treasures in heaven,” or prefer to emphasize spending our time and money on the things of this world.

—whether or not we reach out to others as Jesus taught, or if prefer nurturing our own pleasures.

    This morning’s gospel is the parable of the two sons. Jesus is an absolute genius in the way that he uses something so mundane and yet universally experienced to make his point. Allow me to update and paraphrase this story.

    A father had two sons, Bill and Bob. He went to Bill and said, “Bill, please take out the garbage today.” Bill responds by saying, “I don’t want to, so I won’t.”   Later, however, he changes his mind and takes the garbage out. The father went to his other son, Bob, and made the same request. Bob replies, “No problem—it’s as good as done;” but Bob never did follow through. Jesus raises this important question, “Which of the two did the will of his father?” The faithful responded, “Bill.”

    Here is where we learn that Jesus would be in total agreement with the 20^th Century catchphrase, “You must walk the walk, not only talk the talk.” All of our talk of faithfulness and love for God does us no good, if in fact we do not follow through. If we never do an act of kindness, if we never go out of our way for someone in need, if we never feed the hungry and cloth the naked, all the talk in the world will not have prepared us to answer God as we stand at Heaven’s Gate.

    Listen to the words of Jesus as he puts forth this shocking possibility – “Truly I tell you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes are going into the kingdom of God ahead of you.” His strong point being, that even those who appear to be evil doers—the sinners—will make it into Heaven before those who only appear to be faithful. Because, he says, many times the evil-doers have changed their minds—repented, if you will, and have begun following the way of righteousness. Whereas those of us who are so accustomed to the “traditional and regular functions of American church faith” have on occasion, failed to follow through in doing what Christ has asked of us. We often get caught-up so much in the things that we are doing, that we fail to remember those things and those people who are truly important to God because of their need.

    The work of the church is only the work of God insofar as it follows the heart and the will of God. What is the heart and will of God? We turn to our reading from Philippians, verses 3 and 4: “Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility regard others as better than yourselves. Let each of you look not to your own interests, but to the interests of others.”

    Why is this important? Verse 13 answers the question: “For it is God who is at work in you, enabling you both to will and to work for his good pleasure.”

    As a youth, my grandmother and I would often have conversations about good and evil. The conversation would inevitably turn to the subject of Jesus and just “what was it” that Jesus was looking for in our lives and our living. On occasion, when our conversation became too gossipy, I remember her saying, “We may be quite surprised to see who* we see in Heaven.” I have always remembered that.

    Let’s just be sure we are ready for the surprise as we continue to work for the hearts and lives of others. If we only have ourselves in mind throughout life, we may indeed be shocked at the possibilities of whom we see as our neighbors in eternity.

    The important issue is not so much the damage or even the storms, quakes, and wars themselves, but rather the issue before God is people and the priorities within their spiritual transformation. Look! Look, now, in the midst of the tragic events, even we can see the working and the actions of God through the love responses of God’s people.

    Let us pray:

    O God, help me to keep my life ready, willing, and able to used by you to accomplish your will and your way among all the people of your beloved earth. Amen.

* (sic) whom

Please take some time to browse our Sermon Archives - where we'll be storing sermons for you to enjoy again...

Also you may email the church for any Sermons you'd like to see again. perryumc@frontiernet.net