Sunday 02/28/21 - Sidney UMC
Sermon Title: “The
Suffering and the Anger”
("The Journey to New Hope and New Life"- Series: Part 2 of 7)
Old Testament Scripture: Genesis 17:1-7, 15-16
New Testament Scripture: Romans 4:13-25
Gospel Lesson: Mark 8:31-38
Today is the Second Sunday in this the
season of Holy Lent. This 40-day season where we are invited to follow Christ
to the cross and to walk the road with him to Good Friday. As I said last
Sunday, this season in part developed through the worshipping life of the early
church, to model Jesus’ 40-days in the wilderness, where Jesus fasted and was
tempted by Satan. This is also a season for us to examine ourselves, and to
give up and to give away. A season where we turn to Christ and walk with Christ
and remove anything in our lives that separates us from Christ.
As I do in every season of Advent and
Lent, I started a new sermon series last Sunday called “The
Journey to New Hope and New Life”. As we are called to prepare our hearts and our
minds for the coming trial, torture, and death of Jesus Christ on Good Friday,
we should also have great hope that resurrection is coming. Jesus will suffer, but
on Easter Sunday he will conquer sin and death, as he will be raised to new
life.
What I attempt to do every year in my sermon series for
Advent and Lent, is relate the timeline of Biblical events and realities of the
season we are in, with our own lives. Some years for example in Advent, I have talked
about how commercialized Christmas has become, or how the Advent and Christmas seasons
have become too busy and stressful. In this season of Holy Lent, which started
on Ash Wednesday, we are reminded of our own mortality, of our own weakness, and
our own frailty. The season of Lent is not supposed to be an oppressive or a
bad season, but it is a season where we are challenged to give up, give away,
simplify, and draw closer to Christ. All this once again is to in part, model
Jesus’ 40-days in the wilderness.
Last Sunday, in the first week of this sermon series called,
“The Journey to New Hope and New Life,” I talked about “The Time of Trial”. Since
Jesus was in the wilderness for forty-days and forty-nights being tempted by
Satan, can we really fully understand what that was like for Jesus? The short
answer is no, but sometimes we enter this season with a lot of suffering and a
lot of hurts and pains.
This year, 2021, and part of Lent 2020, we had and have the
Global COVID-19 Pandemic. Maybe we already had struggles, fears, worries,
losses, and temptations, similar to what Jesus had during his time in the
wilderness, but for most of us, our struggles have been magnified by this pandemic.
Perhaps if there was a year to truly relate to Jesus being tempted in the
wilderness, then 2020, and 2021 would make sense. For this pandemic has taken
so much from us.
With all of this said, I want to take some time this
morning to talk more specifically about the suffering that many of us have
endured. For as my sermon titles says, through this pandemic many of us have
experienced, “Suffering and Anger”. I want to talk about it this morning, but
then next Sunday, I am going to be talking about how we then need to pick ourselves
up, regroup, and forge ahead. The pandemic will end, just as Jesus’ horrific
death on Good Friday will end in resurrection. Friends, “New Hope and New Life”
is coming soon!
My sermon title for this morning is once again called, “The
Suffering and The Anger,” and it is modeled by our experiences through this
pandemic, and our gospel of Mark reading for this morning. In this reading,
Jesus tells his disciples that he we will killed, but that he will be raised to
new life. Let us hear Mark 8:31-33 once again:
31 Then he began to teach them that the Son of Man must undergo great suffering, and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. 32 He said all this quite openly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. 33 But turning and looking at his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, “Get behind me, Satan! For you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things” (Mk. 8:31-33, NRSV).
Through this time of pandemic, some of
us have had COVID-19. Some of us have lost friends and loved ones to COVID-19.
The thought that someone we love or care about is going to die, is scary. It is
a thought that might anger us or cause us to suffer.
Now I do not what Peter’s mood was
this morning, when he literally takes Jesus aside and rebukes him. Peter takes
Jesus Christ our Lord aside and tells him he is wrong and what he is saying will
not happen. Was Peter angry? It is in entirely possible. I would certainly say
that Peter was shocked, and Jesus’ words probably caused him to suffer. I mean Jesus
tells his disciples that he will suffer greatly, be rejected, and be killed.
This cannot be good for the disciples to hear, and I can imagine it could cause
confusion, anxiety, and yes “Suffering and Anger”. Jesus did of course say that
three day later he would rise again, but Peter was not focused on Easter, he
was focused on Good Friday.
As a result, I will indulge Peter this
morning and focus on “The Suffering and the Anger”. Next Sunday though, we will
regroup and move towards resurrection. This morning, Peter tells the Lord of life,
Jesus Christ, you are not going to die. Jesus, the Lord of life, once again,
says back to Peter:
“Get behind me, Satan! For you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things” (Mk. 8:33b, NRSV)
Jesus may have displayed righteous
anger, or at least discontent with Peter’s lack of faith and questioning God’s
plan through him. If we are honest though, can’t we relate to Peter, through
this time of Pandemic? Haven’t we had “Suffering and Anger”? What was it like
to get that phone call that your loved one had COVID-19? What has been like to
not see a friend, or a family member for months?
I remember late last summer or early
fall, Bill Dann and I met in Oneonta, because were going to visit Dot Drake. In
order to visit her, we had to stand on the lawn of the nursing home and look
through Dot’s bedroom windows. She had to do the same on the other side of these
same windows. We had a phone, and she had a phone. Bill had his little husky
dog, which Dot loved, but she did not understand why we could not just come into
the nursing home and into her room to see her. At points she seemed frustrated
and angry, and Bill and I just told her that we cannot come in right now. We
noticed as we looked in the window, that Dot’s bulletin board that once adorned
pictures of Bill, items from our church, and other things, was bear. Dot did
not always fully understand why we cannot come it to see her. Other residents
were also “Suffering” and were “Angry” that they had not seen friends and
family in months. This sense of abandonment, and not fully understating the
realities of the global pandemic has made these many months so hard.
I called Dot recently, and she wanted
me to come and visit her in person, and I do not think that she fully understood
why I could not. Friends, I saw Dot’s “Suffering and Anger,” and I had it to. We
have had church members in the hospital over these many months, whether with
COVID-19 or something else. Yet, we could visit any of them. This has caused “Suffering
and Anger”.
I remember when Beverly Gregory passed
away, and we were not able to do a proper funeral for her here at Sidney UMC. I
remember being on the phone with her husband Les Gregory, telling him that I
wanted this church to give his bride the best service and luncheon we could.
Yet, we were not able to do this. I was “Angry” and “Suffered,” because of this,
and I was not the only one.
I remember when Aggie DeShaw went into
a rehab facility in Norwich. I remember talking to her family, and how saddened
and frustrated that they were that they could not see Aggie in the nursing home.
Sure, they could talk over the phone or a tablet on the internet with her, but
not in person. I remember towards the end of Aggie’s earthly life when she
ended up at the hospital in Norwich, and finally her children we permitted to
see her, one at a time. They had not seen or touched their mother in weeks. I
remember when Aggie’s health was failing, and I asked her daughter Kathy if I
could go to the hospital anoint Aggie with oil and pray for her. “Of course,”
Kathy said.
I then called the hospital, as it was
about 7:30-8:00 pm at this point, and the nursing staff told me that they would
call the hospital administration and check on this. The medical staff was
overworked and super busy. About 9:00 pm rolled around, and Melissa knew that I
was not leaving the church office, until I had an answer on whether or not I
could see Aggie. Melissa then brought me dinner over at about 9:30 pm. I then
got a call from a nurse at the hospital at about 10:30 pm apologizing that I was
not allowed to come.
This pandemic has caused so much “Suffering
and Anger”. Not only has this been, as I said last Sunday, a “Time of Trial,”
we have suffered. I remember when Ron Nemire had to quarantine twice, even though
he never got COVID-19 once. He was home all of January and the first week of
February. He said, “Pastor, I just want to come the church, to do my work duties,
and to see our people”.
I remember last month when some of our
church folks got COVID-19, and it was one of the scariest two weeks in my entire
time being a pastor. Praise be God, virtually everyone recovered. We prayed and
prayed, and we surely all had “Suffering and Anger”. Even though Peter should
not have rebuked Jesus this morning and even though he should not have told
Jesus that he would not be crucified this morning, I can maybe understand more
now what Peter felt like.
This past week I officiated two
funerals right here at the CH Landers Funeral Parlor in Sidney. Due to all the
COVID-19 restrictions, families cannot have calling hours and funerals the ways
they once did. Gatherings for a big meal, and even hugging each other is off
limits. There have been times through this, where I have had great “suffering
and anger”. Next Sunday though, we will pick ourselves back up, dust ourselves
off, and forge forward.
The rest of this morning’s gospel
lesson is one that really challenges us, once again, Mark 8:34-38 says:
34 He called the crowd with his disciples, and said to them, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. 35 For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it. 36 For what will it profit them to gain the whole world and forfeit their life? 37 Indeed, what can they give in return for their life? 38 Those who are ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of them the Son of Man will also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels” (Mk. 8:34-38, NRSV).
Jesus tells us, that in following him,
we just might in fact suffer. We all know it more than ever right about now. So
today, let us temporarily wade the waters of “Suffering and Anger,” so we can
get it out and process what we have experienced these many months. Know though
that we will not stay in these waters of “Suffering and Anger,” because we are
called to be about God’s business. As hard as it is, even though we have
endured so much “Suffering and Anger,” we will soon pick ourselves up, dust
ourselves off, and continue walk with Christ to calvary. For Jesus is with us,
he saves us, and he can save you to, if you but repent of your sins, and turn
to him.
Last Sunday, I was so excited that Sarah
Pressler was back to the church, and that she was back to playing the organ and
the piano. I got so many comments and mentions of how nice it was to hear the
organ and piano being played again by Sarah. I sat with tears in my eyes at
different points of the service last week, just being grateful. It was also Sarah’s
birthday last Sunday, and as a result, she was not going to get out of this
church without that being recognized. We got her a carrot cake, as she loves
Carrot Cake. She then came back a few days later to give Ron Nemire and I half of
it, because apparently, she doesn’t love that quantity of carrot cake.
We had also celebrated that Gary
Pressler recently had a negative COVID-19 test, and that he no longer had pneumonia.
Gary had been moved to a rehabilitation facility, and he was going to get
rehab, and hopefully eventually come home. The day after Sarah’s birthday, we
had spoken on the phone, and she told me how she was able to interact with Gary
using her I-Pad over the internet. Gary had gone from needing 100 liters of
oxygen in the hospital to just 2 liters of oxygen in rehab. On Monday he had
one and half hours of physical therapy, and he was tired. I was so glad and
thanked God that he not longer had COVID-19. In fact, when Gary was being transported
from the hospital to rehab, Sarah, and Gary’s daughter Lizanne and son-in-law
Dave were able to run up to the ambulance and look in the window. They were
able to see Gary through the windows, and they waved to each other.
After Sarah had video chatted with
Gary on Monday morning, she then called me a couple of hours later, and told me
that a nurse at Gary’s rehab facility had just called her and said that Gary was
not breathing. I felt a cold chill go up my spine. I then asked our church
leaders to pray, and oh did we!
Sarah
called me back about 15-20 minutes later, and said that Gary had passed, and friends
I felt “Suffering and Anger”. None of us could see Gary in person, except for Sarah
when she was in the hospital with him, and after beating COVID-19, he just suddenly
passed. I felt “Suffering and Anger”.
I did not realize until this global
COVID-19 pandemic how broken a human heart could be, but friends through all of
this, Jesus is with us! We will not stay in the valley forever. This evil and
terrible pandemic has taken so much from us, but know this friends, as
Christians we are a people of “New Hope and New Life”. We are resurrection people,
and we called to be children of life, light, and love.
Today
I take time, so that we can wallow in “The Suffering and the Anger,” but next
Sunday we regroup. We will not allow this pandemic to destroy us, to destroy our
faith, to destroy our hope, to remove our love, and we will not allow it to
keep us from shining the light of Jesus Christ through Sidney and world! Even
though Good Friday is coming, and even though we have felt like were in Good
Friday for a year, resurrection is coming. “New Hope and New Life” are coming, and
Jesus is with, here and now! Amen.
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