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Sermon for
August 25, 2002
Sermon title: "New Life In Christ"
Scripture: John 10:22-33;40-42
Reverend Larry Gerber
Last week we reflected on two scripture lessons. One was from Matthew 15 as we reflected on the story of Jesus being confronted by the Canaanite woman, who dared to step out of her "box" and ask Jesus to step out of His. The other scripture was from Romans 12, where Paul explained that each of us lives in our own little box, and that each box had a special gift that we needed to take out of our box, and put in God's Box. When all of our gifts are put together, in The Box, then the fullness of life can begin. The problem, Paul reminds us, is that we often do not even recognize the individual gift that we have, let alone allow it to be shared with others. We too often are living in the little box of so-called security, because we are afraid to step outside of it.
We have just sung that beautiful hymn: Take My Life and Let It Be Consecrated Lord to thee. A powerful song, if we mean what we are saying. We must have faith and conviction that He lives in order to sing a song such as that with full meaning and dedication.
In another
song, "He Lives" which we sang not too long ago-----one verse goes
like this.....I know that my Redeemer lives! What comfort this sweet sentence
gives! He lives,
he lives, who once was dead. He lives, my ever living head! He lives to silence
all my fears; He lives to wipe away my tears; He lives to calm my troubled heart;
He lives all blessings to impart.
On a grave in Ruleville, Mississippi, there grows a cactus, one that flowers
every so often. It has been there since 1977, when a woman was buried there
after having lost her battle with cancer. On the tombstone, under the name of
Fannie Lou Hamer, are the words she lived by: I'm sick and tired of being sick
and tired. Fannie Lou Hamer is not the kind of person -- if you look at her
early life -- who you would think likely to have been written up anywhere, any
time. She was the 20th child of a family of black sharecroppers in the poorest
part of the poorest state in the nation. When she married and found she couldn't
have children, she and her husband adopted two daughters. Her only talent was
the ability to sing, especially the spirituals which were so much a part of
her life. In 1963, when she was 45, she heard a speech that turned her life
around. In the speech, she was told that she was a citizen and could vote. So
she tried to register but failed the literacy test which was then required.
She vowed she'd be back the next month to try again --
and again -- and again -- until she passed. The landlord came and told her that
if she persisted, she'd lose the little bit of farming equipment she had and
the land she and her husband were sharecropping. She persisted and was evicted.
One of the voter registration groups heard of her courage and asked her to work
for them, which she did. In her travels, she was arrested for going into the
whites only part of a bus station, hauled off to jail and badly beaten. After
some
pressure from the U.S. Justice Department, she was released. Surprisingly, the
bitterness that might have been there wasn't. As she put it, It wouldn't solve
any problem for me to hate whites just because they hate me. Here was a woman,
mostly self-educated, who decided in the latter half of her life to use the
God-given power that was hers for bringing justice to Ruleville and other parts
of the South. And so a cactus blooms over a grave that friends had to take up
a collection to buy. And the cactus stands as a symbol of a woman who could
bloom in the midst of an arid desert of injustice and hatred.....Because He
lives, I can face tomorrow.....life is worth the living..because He lives.......
Henri Nouwen
said: in his book, THE INNER VOICE: "When those you love deeply reject
you, leave you or die, your heart will be broken. But that should not hold you
back from loving deeply. The pain that comes from deep love makes your love
ever more fruitful. It is like a plow that breaks the ground to allow the seed
to take root and grow into a strong plant. Every time you experience the pain
of rejection, absence or death, you are faced with a choice. You can become
bitter and decide not to love again, or you can
stand straight in your pain and let the soil on which you stand become richer
and more able to give life to new seeds. The more you have loved and have
allowed yourself to suffer because of your love, the more you will be able to
let your heart grow wider and deeper. When your love is truly giving and receiving,
those whom you love will not leave your heart, even when they depart from you.
They will become part of your self and thus gradually build a community within
you. Those you have loved deeply become a part of you. The
longer you live, there will always be more people to be loved by you and to
become part of your inner community. The wider your inner community becomes,
the more easily you will recognize your own brothers and sisters in the strangers
around you. Those who are alive within you will recognize those who are alive
around you. The wider the community of your heart, the wider the community around
you. Thus the pain of rejection, absence and death can become fruitful. Yes,
as you love deeply, the ground of your heart will be broken more and more, but
you will rejoice in the abundance of the fruit it will bear." -- Henri
J. M. Nouwen, The Inner Voice of Love (New York: Doubleday, 1996).
When I decided to enroll in Arkansas College, in Batesville, Ar., I did not investigate very thoroughly. I knew that I was going to leave my 15 mile radius "box" that I had lived in all my life. I knew that I was going to a rather southern state. I did not know that it was a religious college. I didn't know that it was in a "dry county", whatever that meant. I didn't know a lot of things.
What I found
out was: I needed a c+ average to stay in school, there was to be no consumption
of alcoholic beverages, and that the Dean of Students, Dean Dick Kinser was
the last word.
I proceeded to do as well in college as I had done in high school....a c- average.
I found some friends who knew how to go outside of the "dry county box".
We relaxed one evening enjoying that which existed outside of the box. We got
caught. We were brought before Dean Kinser: x-marine, recovering alcoholic,
Dean of Students, the last word. The five of us were brought before Dean Kinser,
one at a time. We went in one door and out the other, so that we couldn't see
or talk with each other. I was #5. A long, lonesome time accompanied me in that
dark and quiet hallway. I "knew that fate of my friends", after all,
the rules are: no consumption of alcoholic beverages. Caught drinking and you
would receive a one way ticket home.....My folks were so proud of me.....going
off to college by myself....leaving my "box"......
Larry, Dean Kinser will see you now" were the words from one of my professors who had been standing over us. I will never forget those cold, steel, grey eyes, nor that twitch in his upper lip, as Dean Kinser asked if I had been drinking on that particular night. I proceeded to, not only say that I had, but began to tell Dean Kinser about the type of box I had been raised in. "You see, Dr. Kinser, I grew up in New York State, on a dairy farm. My father had a hard cider basement in our house, beer in an extra refrigerator....I could help myself anytime I desired, after I was 12.....I came here for an education, and to get a sense of direction for my life. I was just doing what came natural.....Yes, I knew the rules, but it is hard to change habits quickly...."
"Well, I like your honesty. I understand where you are coming from." said Dean Kinser. "You know that your grade average is a c-. You need a c+ to stay in school. You were caught drinking. If I send you home, what will your mother and father say?"
"I am not sure," I replied, "but my Dad will understand, because he enjoys his beer, and would understand and accept that I did no harm, just broke a rule."
"I want you to listen very carefully, Larry" came the retort. I know that you can make the grade. I understand your position on the drinking part, but more importantly, I admire your honesty. Your friends denied that they had been drinking." As his upper lip began to curl and quiver, I thought..uh-oh...he continued, "Your friends lied to me. They are packing as we speak. I am giving you a second chance on both accounts: grades and rules of the college....."
Four years later, no drinking and a B+ average, I graduated.
Fannie Lou Hamer got out of her "box" and challenged the world. She was beaten and thrown in the streets. She was ridiculed and spat upon.She died from a horrible disease. She was sick and tired of being sick and tired. But, she had new life in Christ. She had new life in Christ, and the world could not hurt her.
Henri Nouwen knew about pain and suffering. He also knew about the new life in Christ, even when those who love you turn against you, or leave you, or die....
I learned about love and compassion, through the Dean of Students, because he had seen pain, agony, and loss of control inn his own life, early on; but he made it through his time fighting as a marine; he combated his bout with alcohol, being a recovering alcoholic for over 40 years. I got out of my box, but Dean Kinser saw the gifts that I had not yet shared. He gave me a second chance. From that point I had a new life, and a new life in Christ. I went on to become very active in the church. Finally making a commitment to Christ at the age of 19. For sure, I have had my times of back sliding; I have had my short comings. I have not always put my special gift in God's Box, but I have never lost faith in a new life in Christ. His gift is always in front of me. I just need to accept it, and know that I can face tomorrow, because Hie lives. And I can sing Alleluja!
Garrison
Keillor says: " Gentleness is everywhere in daily life, a sign that faith
rules through
ordinary things: through cooking and small talk, through storytelling, making
love, fishing, tending animals and sweet corn and flowers, through sports, music
and books, raising kids-- all the places where the gravy soaks in and grace
shines through.-- Garrison Keillor, On the Meaning of Life, in We Are Still
Married (New York: Viking, 1989), as quoted in Tim Dearborn, Taste & See:
Awakening Our Spiritual Senses (Downers Grove: Ill.: Intervarsity Press, 1996),
71.
Let us pray.............
Our closing song is "Allelujha"
If you need to get inside God's Box; if you need a place to dump your garbage; if you need to renew your commitment to Christ; or if you just want to be a witness to the love of Christ in your heart, I invite you to come to the altar. Laura and I will be available, if you want to talk to either of us, or want us to pray with you. Come now, as we sing "Alleluja, Alleluja......
Let me know what you think. The church Email is: SLUMC@att.net, Phone: 480.895.8766