In spite of great progress, the human mortality rate remains at 100%-to each birth, there is one death.
Recently I was playing with a new computer program called Quicken®, which is a financial planner. It asked, "What is your life expectancy?" It then gave me the options to have the program figure how long I would live based on certain life style choices, such as "Do you smoke? Are you over weight, etc? I answered their questions and then struck the button for the machine to figure both Jane's and my life expectancy and it gave the answer: 104. But then after I furnished the machine some other information, I was informed that we would run out of money in our 80's. I called Jane and told her: "There's good news and there is bad news." The good news is that the machine says that you can live to be 104. The bad news is that since we will run out of money in our 80's, I had to lower your life expectancy. You can image as to how that went over. She then asked, "Well, what about your life expectancy?"
Well the good news is that we are all alive today. And the bad news is we shall all surely die. The Bible tells us that when we are in Christ we shall live after our earthly death. Jesus said: "I am the resurrection and the life, he who believes in me shall never die." Our life task, during this short human journey, is to be sure that we live before we die.
The scripture for today is about Lazarus whom Jesus called back from the land of the dead. Lazarus has often been pitied since he had to die twice, but maybe Mary and Martha, his sisters, are more to be pitied since they had to grieve his death twice.
The raising of Lazarus from the dead is a miracle story. We are the people of Lazarus heritage. We are a people of hope, confidence, and assurance. When we are alive in Christ, we can live in peace and die in confidence.
In an earlier book, entitled The Robins Are Back, I referred to a Viet Nam veteran who was a triple amputee, by the name of Max Cleland. Because of an error in an article in the New York Times, I assumed that Cleland had died and in fact wrote of his death in the first edition of the book. But then one day during an election season, I was in Georgia and noticed that a Max Cleland, Secretary of State for Georgia was in a run off election for the position of Senator from Georgia. He subsequently won the election and I wrote to him and asked are you alive or are you dead? I went on to explain my embarrassment in not checking out the facts of the New York Times article and that I would correct my story in the second edition of the book. He had in fact spoken at a funeral service in New York of a friend from the Viet Nam era, who was also a triple amputee, but he only spoke, he was not the one buried. I told him that in Alabama we were noted for voting dead people, but not electing them, so I assumed that he was alive or that Georgia had taken politics to a new level. He wrote back a delightful note saying in essence, "the news of my demise is greatly exaggerated" and included a copy of his very helpful book "Strong in the Weak Places" Max Cleland is of the heritage of Lazarus. The older I become, I catch myself holding on to little reminders of the past. Tangible things, which remind me of experiences and people in the past. There is an old faded red raincoat, which a passing nurse lay across my broken legs. There is an old housecoat which my father wore for years which sometimes I now wear. There is black windbreaker of my brothers, which on breezy days I will slip over my tea shirt when I run. And I run and remember.
I have in times past when reading this story of Lazarus, wondered to myself if Lazarus kept his funeral clothes as a reminder of the goodness of God in his life. I have wondered if he saw life with a new clarity or a new appreciation for his sisters, for Jesus, and for his neighbors.
One thing I am absolutely sure of, and that is that Lazarus would have had a new appreciation for the power of God. After all, that is what this story is all about. God has the power over life and death. We can trust ourselves and our departed loved ones to God's care. God has the power to create and to restore, that, which is dead to new life on the other side of the vale of darkness.
Really, that is the message of the entire New Testament God has the power to give new life, not only to Lazarus, but also to you and to me. To those of you who today may find yourself entombed with grief and despair, Christ says: "Roll away the stone"
To those of you who are imprisoned with overwhelming self-doubts and fears, Christ says: "Roll away the stone."
To those of you who no longer have hope,
To those who see loved ones hurting and confused,
To those of you who have violated the life of another or compromised your integrity,
To those of you who are thinking today to yourself: "I give up" Christ says: "Roll Away the Stone."
The Apostle Paul wrote, "We do not grieve about those who have died as those who have no hope, for Christ was raised from the dead, and it will be the same for those who die in Jesus."
Yes, we are the people of Lazarus heritage. And secondly, we are the people of Mary and Martha. We have experienced the bitter taste of grief and the grace and strength to carry on. Our Easter faith tells us that at Jesus' tomb, the early believers experienced the stone rolled away. And interestingly enough, at Lazarus tomb, the disciples are told: " You, Roll the stone away" and "You, Unbind him". We, you and I, have a part in God's miracle work today. We have a role to play and it is not a minor role. We participate as partners in ministry through our stewardship gifts and make possible modern miracles through our giving. We participate as partners in ministry through our volunteer service in the church and in the community, and together with the living Christ, we make good things happen. It takes each of us to make all of us.
Mother Teresa once wrote: "We can do no great things, only small things with great love."
In an old ancient Aztec Indian tradition, once each year, the Indians would celebrate what was called "The Day of the Dead". It was a day the Indians believed when those who had died would come back for fellowship with the living. Picnics would be enjoyed in cemeteries, and laughter and tears would blend together. We do not teach this, but it is interesting to consider the mysterious blending of the living and the dead.
In a Sally Field movie of a few years ago entitled, Places in the Heart, the closing scene, is that of a church service where so many funerals had taken place recording the rather tragic life of a farm family in the south west. The camera scans the crowd and then you realize that interspersed among the worshipers are those who have died having communion. They are present in the breaking of the bread and the drinking of the wine. In the divine mystery of the sacred meal of Holy Communion, those who are living and those who have died, are indeed present. There is a communion of the saints. There is a place in our heart for our loved ones that death cannot take away. When we are alive in Christ, death has no dominion, for to live is joy and to die is gain.
In preparation of the coming death of my brother we talked about his death. I told him if it became evident he was going to beat me to heaven and thus win one more race in our competitive lives, that if it was at all-possible after he died would he come back and let me know that everything was all right. Also, would he let me know any other details he would be able to share. It was not a strange request for we had made a lot of interesting and challenging commitments over the years. It was but reflective of a style of life we shared. It has been two years since he died and he has not come back. But I want to share with you an interesting experience. Two weeks ago, his middle daughter and her two children, one of which was born the week after Jim died, came to visit. She said it was just a holiday time but interestingly enough, it was the anniversary week of my brother's death two years earlier. As Jimbo, the little two-year-old bounced around the room and turned somersaults and looked up into my eyes and smiled, I had a strange feeling. It was then that Jane came to me quietly, just the two of us and said, "You asked your brother to come back to you, don't miss the fact that in this child, he is here."
When we come together in divine worship on All Saints Sunday and break the bread and drink the wine of Holy Communion, I say to you, "Don't miss the fact, He is here - they are here. Thanks be unto God."
In my new book Readings and Reflections About Death And Grief on page 50 there is this statement…
Today is a day of remembering and hoping.
Occasionally because of deadlines for printing purposes, I have to chosen a title for my sermon, that doesn't always work out with reality. Today's We Have a Winner!, in the light of the continued delays of the Presidential election, is no exception. For as of yet, we do not have a declared, certified, bonafide, non-contested, non-litigated, actual, real, in fact, winner.
And yet, listen to me, in the light of Christian belief, we do in fact have a winner, and it is Christ the King. And you also can be a winner, when you live your life in Christ. To live in any other way, you will be a loser.
In the latter half of the past century, America has experienced something of an identity crisis. It is hard to place your finger on a starting point, but perhaps it was in 1947, when the Supreme Court ruled on Everson Vs. Board of Education, and the doctrine of the separation of church and state was developed to curtail the role of religion in public life in America. In the last fifty years especially, we have moved from a nation that clearly recognized itself as "under God", to a nation that relegates any notion of God to the private sphere and radicalizes the secularization of our culture.
Most recently the Florida Department of Children and Families have distributed a policy reminder to all employees prohibiting the display of religious items in the work place. It's okay to have a picture of your dog or your flower garden, but no picture of your church, a cross or the Serenity prayer.
We are in a battle with a secular attitude toward life that there is no room for God. We see the horizontal reality of life, but are encouraged by state policy to make no room for the vertical.
Steven Carter of the Yale Law School, in his book The Culture of Disbelief, comments on the sensible notion to keep religion from dominating politics, that in our zeal, "We have created a political and legal culture that presses the religiously faithful to be other than themselves, to act publicly and sometimes privately as well, as though faith does not matter to them."
As a nation and as a people called Methodist, we need to rediscover ourselves as living "under God". The Gospel reading today tells of a time when Jesus confronts the secular, government of Rome in an interesting dialogue with Pilot. … Here in this interesting dialogue, Jesus speaks of a "Kingdom" not of this world and Pilot has no clue as to what he is talking about. Do you?
We have concluded an election and with no clear winner, and the immediate future is uncertain as to whom the winner will be, but this we do know, the future of our country will be pointed out by the tip of a pen and not a sword. We have been blessed over the 200+ years of the republic, that we have survived, but let us not be deluded nor arrogant, supposing that we have an unending covenant. Earthly governments and their rulers are not eternal. Every nation has its birth, ascendancy, prime, and decay. Let us not be arrogant. It could very well be that this very close, undecided national election in search for a leader in a new millennium, demonstrates most clearly that we do not have any idea where we are going nor who will lead us. It could be the beginning of the end.
I believe that we will have a future if, and only if:
1. There is a healthy fear of God in the heart of all of us. There is a desperate need for moral leaders who are committed to God and God's Way. George Bush and Dick Cheney are both Methodists by background. I only hope they are good Methodists. In the newly elected Senate, there are 12 Methodists. 9 are Democrats and 6 are Republicans. In the Congress, there are 63 Methodists: 32 are Republicans and 16 are Democrats. Frankly, our only hope for the government not to be one major stalemate, is for those who are religious to claim a higher loyalty than their political affiliation. I hope that the Methodists are good Methodists. This would mean that they are methodical in their desire to know the will of God. Methodical in their spiritual disciplines. Daily in their prayers and meditation. Weekly in their worship of God in the fellowship of believers. That they are methodical in reading God's Word and financially supporting Christian causes. That the will of God is clearly seen in their words and actions. That's what a good Methodist is. Are you one? A good Methodist is a winner. A poor Methodist is a looser.
Only a few years ago, we were all shocked when we became aware of the kind of gutter language which was used behind the doors of the oval office which led ultimately to the resignation of then Republican President Nixon.
And in this past year, we have all been embarrassed by the behavior and dishonesty of the leader of the free world which led to a very public impeachment trial of a Democratic President by a Republican dominated Congress.
Our only hope is for God's people to be God's people and fear God and to seek his will in all things above political affiliation.
2. We will have a future, if and only if, our leaders fear God, and if we as citizens of the republic, work together. Words like cooperation and participation are paramount for a marriage to work, a football team to win, for a Board of Education to build a better school system, for a nation to survive.
The last Texas President we had instituted The Great Society which was a program designed to help those who suffered from poverty and racism. Many new programs came online during the l970's including the war on poverty, rebuilding cities, providing for senior citizens and improving our educational system. But these issues are a constant battle. If we have improved today, it is minuscule in measurement. We are at war with an evil spirit which makes itself manifest in a desire for more and more and shows little evidence of real progress of getting people to work together for the common good.
The priesthood of all believers is a Protestant belief that we are all in this together. We continue as a church to remind one another that "Every Member is in Ministry." And this means that each person must contribute his monies and energies to make a difference both in the church and in the world. And when you don't participate and cooperate, then it doesn't work. One's vote and one's church pledge are little things which make a world of difference. Either you are trying to work together to make a better future for all, or you are a part of the problem. Which are you?
I noticed in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade, there was the Ohio State Marching Band of 110. Actually there are 194 persons in the band, but the figure 110 represents how much the members of the band are expected to give of themselves.
I don't believe that it is to much to expect. If you work for an organization, either you support it 110% or find another job with someone else. If you can't cooperate for positive change in America or in your job, then find another country or another job.
Whoever told you that marriage was a 50/50 proposition, told you a lie. It takes everyday going beyond half way in cooperation.
3. We will have a future, if and only if, we fear God and we cooperate in ministry for justice for all and never again compromise the best that we know. Words like integrity, honesty, respect, and truthfulness have had a hard time of it in our political leader's lives, and it is a sad commentary that individuals can be placed in positions of power, whether it be in the courts, in Congress, or in the pulpits of our land, and not represent the best of who we are and who we want our children to be. "A person's only as good as their word", my father use to say to me and we are sometimes hard put to find good role models among those who lead us. What about you? Are you a good role model? What if everybody was like you?
4. We will have a future and will be blessed as long as and only as: we live our lives "under God".
Summary: When Christ is crowned Lord of our life, then we are resolved to be obedient to the best that we know, to cooperate, and work together for justice for all, and to make manifest the presence of God in human life.