Title: “Our Yes to Real Life!”
Scripture: I Thessalonians 5:1-11
11/13/05 33rd Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A
Stewardship Sunday
Rev. Joy R. Haertig
A couple of weeks ago we baptized little Maggie Duffy and welcomed her into our church family. You might remember when her father stood her in front of all the children and we introduced her to her new family, that she smiled and clapped her little hands.
That was one of those precious moments of spontaneous delight that small children seem to be able to tap into. I will not quickly forget it, for it would be my wish that we might all have that clapping child in us when we realize that we ARE welcomed into the family of a loving and generous God.
It is a great response to a great gift. It is pure joy in response to a gift of joy.
Last week the choir sang a wonderful song that our own Tammy Burdett wrote called “And When the Spirit Moves Me”. It sings, “each time I feel the spirit I've got to sing 'bout the wonders God can do. And when the spirit moves me I know one thing, His love will see me through. Each time I feel the spirit I've got to dance, my feet just won't be still.”
These words are Tammy's response to a great gift. It is a song of pure joy in response to a gift of joy. Thank you Tammy, thank you for sharing your joy with us.
How many of you are in touch with the joy you feel and know because you are loved by God and are a part of God's world-wide community and this community in particular? (Pause)
I hope you are in touch with your joy - that you do have at least moments of laughter and delight, contentment and peace. Moments when you are aware of being loved and of being a part of a loving community, because I know how easy it is to be seduced by worry or fear in our lives. People even use religion to induce more fear; our joy can get lost in shame - hopelessness and despair - because of religion! What's with that?
Are any of you familiar with the “Left Behind” book series, I think there are movies out based on it as well. There are eight books in all written by Tim F. Lahaye and Jerry B. Jenkins and they are all bestsellers! They are about “the rapture” (a word that is not actually used in the Bible). The authors believe that at a certain time - after a number of terrible signs from God - real Christians will be snatched up to heaven and the rest of us will be left behind in hell. They are books that as much as I can tell, are written to literally scare you into believing a certain way in order to be saved. They have taken their premise from parts of Paul's first letter to the Thessalonians, which has been in the lectionary (the assigned readings) the past weeks.
These “Left Behind” books are a frightening example of how easy it is to take scripture out of its context and squeeze out every ounce of joy and fill it back up with fear and worry. And they are best sellers! Why do we prefer fear to joy? What is it about us human beings that draws us towards threat and disaster?
Paul understood the “parousia” (the return of Christ) not as the end of the world, as we know it, but as the end of brokenness and violence, war and poverty. Not as a time when God's chosen one's would be removed from the earth but as a time when God's “will would be done on earth as it is in heaven” - just like we pray in the Lord's Prayer every single Sunday. Paul believed it would be a time when the Lion would lay down with the lamb. A time when the poor would have enough to eat and the homeless, the widow and the orphan would have a roof over their head and a community to be a part of.
Paul believed that when this happened it would be the fulfillment of what I refer to as “Christ consciousness”, when the goodness of the created order would be freed it of its corruptibility - its greed and prejudice. (N.T. Wright, Bible Review, Aug 2001)
Paul's description of this happening with trumpets being blown and archangel's calling out, of being caught up in the clouds with Christ are metaphors. They were not meant to be understood literally, they were metaphors that represented joy and victory, the joy of God's love being made manifest completely on earth, not a sign of fear and separation. It was not really an end time as much as a fulfillment of time - when God's vision of this world would finally blossom and be made real. The people of Paul's day thought that this wonderful time was just around the corner, yes, any minute now, but not somewhere else - right here.
We all know that it didn't happen that way and time has passed by and the goodness of the world is still all mixed up with the corruptibility of the world
As people of faith we must hold on to the belief but let go of the time line! (Just as Paul states in his letter - we do not know the day or time - it will come like a thief in the night.) God's vision of the kingdom (kin-dom) will be made manifest in the midst of this amazing created order - the place where children laugh, Song Sparrows sing an ecstatic song and lambs dance in the spring - SOME DAY.
And in the mean time we are challenged to be alive in Christ TODAY. What good does it do to wait or do nothing until the ultimate day of shalom comes? This is the life we have been gifted with today - today is REAL LIFE and we can foster the coming of the kingdom of God on earth, as it is in heaven, by how we choose to live today.
People that threaten us with the idea of the rapture discount the gift that we have been given today. It denies the beauty of creation that God calls good!
God didn't create this amazing place and say, “try this until I can come up with something better!”
Supporting the mission of this congregation TODAY is our “yes” to God's gift of life on this precious and vulnerable planet we call home.
Mind you, our joy is not naive. It has been a difficult year across our beautiful planet. We have witnessed the suffering of folk hit by a tsunami, we have watched the war in Iraq continue day after day and wonder when it will end. We have witnessed the suffering caused by hurricanes, tornadoes and flooding. We have walked with loved one's as they have died too young.
We hear the horrors of suicide bombings in Jordan and women and children being raped in apartment buildings too close to home. We know our planet is suffering from misuse and overuse.
As people of God, our joy must have roots that sink way past the surface of life and into the heartbeat of God where instead of giving up we move closer. We seize these hard times as opportunities to learn, to serve, to strengthen, to make helpful changes and to rebuild.
The answer is not to dream of another realm far away or to fear that the whims of nature are signs of God's wrath. The answer is to BE HERE NOW with Christ, with one another - embracing joy as we care for one another, nurture faith not fear, compassion not exclusion and justice - not an eye for an eye; community not isolation.
People come here to RBCC UCC because they find joy and hope, meaning and purpose. People come here because they experience the joy of the Still Speaking God and are enabled to find the strength and courage to live today in a world of beauty and chaos, joy and sorrow. People come to RBCC UCC because they experience the spiritual presence of Christ today, in the midst of the cacophony of laughter - music - prayer and opportunities to help others.
Our pledges are our “yes” for our little applauding Maggie Duffy and others like her that they might grow up still in touch with the joy of being loved by a loving God and a committed community of Christ.
Our pledges of time, talent and money to the mission of this congregation are a reflection of the joy we know in God's love and the joy we know in this community of Christ. It is our “yes” to the real life we are living today with God and the hope we have in tomorrow. (Pledge cards were brought forward at this time.)