Sunday 09/15/12 FUMC/HAUMC UMC’s
Sermon Title:
“The Democracy of the Dead: Listening to the Saints
who went before us”
(Reclaiming our Wesleyan Heritage Series,
Part 2 of 5)
Old Testament Scripture Lesson: Jeremiah 4:11-12,
22-28
New Testament Scripture Lesson: 1 Timothy 1-12-17
Gospel Lesson: Luke 15:1-10
Good morning
my brothers and sisters, and greetings in the name of Risen Christ, on this seventeenth
Sunday after Pentecost. Pentecost that holiday so long ago that tongues of
fired descended upon the Apostles, and they were will filled with the Spirit.
This indwelling of the Holy Spirit, then gave the early Christians the courage
and the authority to go forth and preach the gospel far and wide. So far and so
wide in fact, that Christianity is the world’s largest religion today, with
about 2.2 billion believers. Starting originally with our savior Jesus Christ,
12-Apostles and some others, we have grown to be the world’s biggest faith. In
fact, the Christian faith comprises about one-third of the world’s population.
Given this
then, how could this have happened? Why would the early Christians in the Roman
Empire be willing to die for their faith in Christ? Are we to believe that all
Christians over the past 2,000 years of Christendom have been just fakers?
If some people
were willing to risk life and limb to get the gospel of Jesus Christ to people,
then it must be true, must it not? How else can you explain this beautiful church,
all of the beautiful churches in this country and the world? To me, this is the
reality of the grace and the truth found in Jesus Christ. As the Apostle Paul
said in first letter or epistle to Timothy from this morning’s reading, he said
“I am grateful to Christ Jesus our Lord, who has strengthened me, because he
has judged me faithful and appointed me to his service.” You see these words
were originally penned almost 2,000 years ago, and yet we still read and
believe these words today. The Apostle Paul then ended this letter to his young
friend Timothy by saying, “To the King of the ages, immortal, invisible, the
only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.”
My brothers
and sisters, as I am speaking, I would ask that now in this very moment and in
this place that you all look around this church for a minute. As you’re doing
so, do you notice the stained glass windows? Do you notice all of the beauty of
this church? You might notice the names on the stained glass windows, or the
metal placards that are all over this church, that commemorate a saint or saints
that have gone before us. That at one point, the people of God, saw fit to come
together on this holy ground and build this beautiful church. Yet I wonder
though, who were those people? Who were the people that invested the time, the
money, and the energy to build this beautiful church? Perhaps some of them are
listed on the stained glass windows? Perhaps some of them are on some of the
metal placards throughout the church? Perhaps some of them are your
grand-parents, your great grand-parents, and so on and so forth? Who were these
people, and what were they like? What were there faiths like? Did they pray
often?
When I originally
gave a sermon similar to this over a year ago, I wondered what it would be like,
if would we could, just for full day, bring all these saints I speak of back
from this church and all churches straight from heaven, just for one day? What
would these saints have to say to us? What would they teach us about our faith?
What would this “Democracy of the Dead” have to say about our church, our
community, and our country? What if our Methodist founder John Wesley were come
in on this same day?
When I started
here at this church, a whopping week ago now I will have you know, I was told “Pastor
Paul you feel free to change around the bulletin.” After church last Sunday
though, somebody very lovingly brought to my attention, “You know Pastor Paul,
I don’t know if you knew this or not, but we always do this or that in every
church service.” This person then said, “But pastor, this is your church, and
we can change that if you want.”
You might have noticed, that in the
bulletin this morning that I have tried to add back all of your worship
traditions. Why have I done this? I have done this, because our traditions matter
and what we believe is timeless. As your pastor, it is not my role to come in
and turn all that you know to be true on its head. Rather, I come to love you, uphold
our scared traditions, and uphold your sacred individual churches’ sacred traditions,
once I learn them of course.
You see my brothers
and sisters, while the world around us is changing, and changing to what we don’t
know, the Kingdom of Jesus Christ remains steadfast. One day in fact, this
church and all manner of things in this city will be gone, yet the Kingdom of
God will remain.
When looking
at our gospel reading from the gospel according to Luke from this morning, the
scribes and Pharisees are ridiculing Jesus because as they said, “This fellow
welcomes sinners and eats with them.” Jesus then told the parable of the lost
sheep, and that if there are 100-sheep and one is missing, you go after that
sheep. Jesus than said, “Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven
over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no
repentance. Jesus then said that if a woman has ten coins, yet loses one, she
will look to find it. When she does, she will call her friends and neighbors
together and rejoice. Jesus concludes this gospel reading by saying, “Just so,
I tell you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner
who repents.”
I remember when I was a first year
seminary student in Rochester, a whopping 3-years ago! Yes folks they had
schools way back then. Of course we had to walk 5-miles though, up-hill both
ways, and in the snow, but we had a school. I remember that it was my second
semester at the seminary and the good Reverend Paul Livermore was teaching our
class that semester. Dr. and also Reverend Livermore has been and ordained
Methodist minister for well over 40-years, and has been a seminary professor
nearly as long. He always had a dry yet pleasant sense of humor, and I always seemed
to give him a run for his money. In fact, in being an even younger snot nosed kid
at that time than I am now, sometimes I wanted to stump the good Dr. The good reverend.
Yet it would blow up in my face every time. You see while I believed in the
Holy Trinity, of the Father, the Son, and Holy Spirit, I didn’t understand it
that well. So I raised my hand in class one night and said Dr. Livermore, “I
don’t understand the doctrine of the Holy Trinity in modern day world I am
living in. Can you explain it me?” Now bear in mind, that the belief in the
Trinity is many centuries old. Well about 3-minutes later I had heard enough
50-cents words that if I had sold them, I could have bought a new car. I might
have also gone crossed eyed, but I can’t remember.
I then looked at the good professor
and said, “Dr. Livermore, thank you for that explanation, but it still doesn’t
make any sense to me” I said with a smart grin on my face. He then did as he always
did, said something brilliant that stopped me dead in my tracks. He responded by
rattling off a list of famous Christians. What I am about to read is but a few
of names he stated, when he said, “You know Paul, if Saint Augustine believed
it, if Saint Francis of Assisi believed it, If Saint Thomas Aquinas believed
it, if Martin Luther believed it, if John Wesley believed it, if John Calvin
believed it, if Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. believed it, if Mother Theresa believed
it, if C.S. Lewis believed, and if Bill Graham and Dr. David Jeremiah believe
it sill, then guess what Paul, then it’s probably true!” Wow! Well that did it
for me!
You see what
Dr. Livermore was teaching me was that our sacred faith hasn’t changed, but that
our society and our world have changed. It is our duty then, to preach the
gospel in a new and fresh way that speaks to young people, but that at the same
time honors our traditions, and upholds what we he have believed for centuries.
My brothers and sisters, as I often
do, I would like close this morning with a true story. This story is called, “The Storm.”
Here is how it goes, “After a few of the usual Sunday evening
hymns, the church's pastor slowly stood up, walked over to the pulpit and,
before he gave his sermon for the evening, briefly introduced a guest minister
who was in the service that evening. In the introduction, the pastor told the
congregation that the guest minister was one of his dearest childhood friends
and that he wanted him to have a few moments to greet the church and share
whatever he felt would be appropriate for the service.
With
that, an elderly man stepped up to the pulpit and began to speak. This is what
he said, "A father, his son, and a friend of his son were sailing off the
Pacific coast," he began, "when a fast approaching storm blocked any
attempt to get back to the shore. The waves were so high, that even though the
father was an experienced sailor, he could not keep the boat upright and the
three were swept into the ocean as the boat capsized."
“The old
man hesitated for a moment, making eye contact with the two teenagers who were,
for the first time since the service began, looking somewhat interested in his
story. The aged minister continued with his story, "Grabbing a rescue
line, the father had to make the most excruciating decision of his life: to
which boy would he throw the other end of the life line. He only had seconds to
make the decision. The father knew that his son was a Christian and he also
knew that his son's friend was not. The agony of his decision could not be
matched by the torrent of the waves. As the father yelled out, “I love you son!,”
he threw out the life line to his son's friend."
"By
the time the father had pulled the friend back to the capsized boat, his son
had disappeared beneath the raging swells into the black of the night. His body
was never recovered."
“By this
time, the two teenagers were sitting up straight in the pew, anxiously waiting
for the next words to come out of the old minister's mouth.” "The
father," he continued, "knew his son would step into eternity with
Jesus and he could not bear the thought of his son's friend stepping into an eternity
without Jesus. Therefore, he sacrificed his son to save the son's friend. How
great is the love of God that he should do the same for us. Our heavenly Father
sacrificed his only begotten son that we could be saved. I urge you to accept
his offer to rescue you and take a hold of the life line he is throwing out to
you in this service." With that, the old man turned and sat back down in
his chair as silence filled the room.”
“The
pastor again walked slowly to the pulpit and delivered a brief sermon with an
invitation at the end. However, no one responded to the appeal. Within minutes
after the service ended, the two teenagers were at the old man's side.
"That
was a nice story," politely stated one of the boys, "but I don't
think it was very realistic for a father to give up his only son's life in
hopes that the other boy would become a Christian."
"Well,
you've got a point there," the old man replied, glancing down at his worn
bible. A big smile broadened his narrow face, he once again looked up at the boys
and said, "It sure isn't very realistic, is it? But I'm standing here
today to tell you that story gives me a glimpse of what it must have been like
for God to give up his son for me. You see - I was that father and your pastor
is my son's friend."
Brothers
and sisters, tradition, our faith, the sacrifices born by so many matter, and they
matter very much. Our faith is not dead, it is very much alive and well, and
Jesus is very much still of the throne of grace. So let us this week take a
moment in this church, in our homes, or in our hearts, to remember “The
Democracy of the dead,” those saints who went before us. In the name of the one
whom are ancestors have worshipped for centuries, Jesus the risen and the sovereign
Christ. Amen.
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