All the days of my adult life, which in Marengo County, Alabama dated from either the day you were allowed to get a driver’s license, or when you were of legal drinking age, or when you were old enough to vote. In retrospect, none of these events were a measure of true adult maturity. Yet, those used to be the dates of transition. Nevertheless, from the early years of our adult life most of us have assumed that elected or employed officials in the church and in the government would represent the best of all of us.
In our recent history it has been a sad time for the church and for the nation that we have come to realize that church leaders and community leaders are not always what they are cracked up to be. Priests or ministers do things that we would not imagine their doing, and elected officials become involved in acts under the table, which are unbecoming a representative leader of the public good.
It was a sad day when President Nixon had to resign and the support documents that led to his resignation held recorded language that would shock a sailor, though I do apologize to the navy for that analogy. Then most recently, we as a people were dragged through the dirt of the Oval Office soap opera of the most immature sexual behavior of former President Clinton. It is a sad day when clergy is charged and convicted of acts that are unbecoming of who we are as people.
Then this week, it has been in our face again when four out of five of our County Commissioners were indicted. Sure, an indictment is not a conviction and we are to be presumed innocent until proven guilty, yet there is something which has not looked right or sounded right in our county government for some time. As my dad used to say to me: “Whereever there is smoke, there is fire.”
It is just a sad day when elected officials, whether they be in church or in public office, which are our representatives no longer represent the best of who we are. It is embarrassing, unbecoming a great people and a healthy community, and just not the way things ought to be.
Well, you are representatives! You are representative of God’s people of this church of Jesus Christ. Peter said, “You are a chosen people, a holy nation, God’s own” and you are to represent the best of who we are. How are you doing?
Every person I have confirmed in the faith in this church for the past 18 years, I have asked, among other questions, “Will you serve as Christ’s representative in the world?”
Is there evidence in your life that you are Christ’s representative? Do you represent the best that we are in the classroom, in the office, in the home, on the ball field, at a civic club, in church? What about your worship habits? What about your language? Do you tithe or give liberally to good causes? Do you represent the best of who we are as God’s people?
In the scripture lessons for today, Jesus now resurrected from the dead, is preparing the disciples for his departure and tells them that he will not leave them alone, but that the Holy Spirit will come to be with them:
(John 14) “If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will pray the Father, and he will give you another Counselor, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him, you know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you. He who has my commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves me and I will love him and manifest myself to him.”
Is it not clear, that to receive the Holy Spirit, we have to keep the laws of God?
In the scripture from the writings of Peter, the church is young and fragile, but growing and developing. At times, the young church is out of step with current society and at times persecuted for righteousness’ sake.”
(I Peter 3:15) “Now who is there to harm you if you are zealous for what is right? But even if you do suffer for righteousness’ sake, you will be blessed. Have no fear of them, nor be troubled, but in your hearts reverence Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to make a defense to anyone who calls you to account for the hope that is in you, yet do it with gentleness and reverence, and keep your conscience clear.”
Based on God’s word and a burning desire that we represent the best of God’s people in the world, let me suggest the following:
Obey the commandments of God.
Be a positive Christian believer.
Do it with gentleness and reverence.
Keep a clear conscience.
“If you obey my commandments, (conditional) I will send the Counselor to you.” Often in Jesus’ teachings, there is this conditional phrase “if.” Like in John 15:7. “If you abide in me, ask whatever you will and it will be done for you.” The commandments are clear and concise teachings of the fathers of our faith. To abide to anything less than these instructions is to do less than our best.
2. Be a positive, believing Christian believer.
Peter says that we are to give an account for the hope that is within us. We do not serve God well when we live on the negative side. It is a human tendency, which has the potential to drag us down and others with us. Persons who are negative function out of a great deal of anger, which borders on despair. They are down on the world, down on their neighbors, down on the governing authorities not unlike I am just now. When you are negative, you tend toward being cynical, sarcastic, and hurtful to others.
“Give an account for the hope that is within you!” We are an Easter people, what is all this negative stuff, which sometimes gets inside of you. Look at problems as possibilities. Look at difficulties as challenges. Look at endings as new beginnings. If God can raise Jesus from the dead, he can get you up and going. Representative people are gentle and relaxed.
Wayne Dyer has a new book out entitled, “Every Problem Has A Spiritual Solution.” The very title speaks of an affirmative, positive and believing attitude.
3. Gentleness is one of the nine “fruits of the Spirit,” which the Apostle Paul lists in Galatians 5:22. “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.”
Recently I walked by a pet store in “The Mall of the Americas” in Minneapolis. There in the front window under a sign that read: “The sacred doves of peace” were two white doves in the cage, flapping their wings and beating each other to a pulp. It just seemed like an appropriate image in the confusing world in which we are currently living. But that is not what Peter had in mind when he suggested a way of witness through gentleness and reverence.”
4. Finally, “Keep a clear conscience.” Let us live in such a way that we don’t have trouble sleeping at night.
Summary: Tony Campolo has a book entitled: “Following Jesus Without Embarrassing God.” In my estimation, he has hit the nail right on the thumb. There are many Christians who are an embarrassment to God. Their views in no way, shape, or form resemble the spirit of Jesus, and unfortunately, many of these people are very visible and very vocal, and the damage they do is incalculable. They are to Christianity what the Taliban has been to Islam. Don’t embarrass God and don’t embarrass us.
When the time for Jesus’ departure, the ascension came and Jesus was faced with the dilemma of what his disciples would do and how his work, now begun, would continue. His decision was magnificent: I will leave the disciples as my representatives. They will represent the best of who we are as a people and I will equip them with the inner counselor, the Holy Spirit, to strengthen them, to comfort them, to teach them, to guide them.”
That was his plan and that is what he did. Although over the years I am confident that he has had some doubts about his decision considering our faults and failures. Yet, that was his decision and he, to this date, is sticking by it. We are the representatives of Jesus Christ. We are to the best of who we are as a people. Be positive. Be reverent. Be obedient. Be gentle. And, for heaven’s sake, don’t do anything that would embarrass God.
The Bible uses many metaphors to point to the reality of the Spirit of God in the world. The Holy Spirit-The Holy Ghost-Spirit Like a fire, like the "rush of a mighty wind" on the day of Pentecost. This morning let us look at the metaphor of wind as the Spirit of God.
The Winds have been strong lately, especially over the last few years. Sometimes the wind is freezing and destroys; at other times it cools and refreshes. Sometimes you hide from the wind and at other times you live in hope that it will stir the earth.
Recently Jane and I visited with our youngest daughter who works and, now lives, on the Island of Bermuda. Years ago when we were in College, I served a small Methodist Church on the weekends in a community just south of Monroeville Al, called Bermooda. It is a word spelled the same as the Island, so it has taken us a little time to stop pronouncing the name of the Island as Bermooda. On the rather sophisticated, international culture of the Island, it does sound a little hokey when someone asks how are you doing? And you respond: "Fine, thank you, I just arrived here in Bermooda and glad to be here." The island natives just look at you a bit funny.
One day after a stroll down the magnificent south side shoreline, we stopped beside an outdoor café for drinks. As often happens in crowded areas, whether it be in an urban American city or on an island paradise, people will be careless and will leave their trash scattered around. I watched as a plastic cup, right in the middle of the street, was blown about by the wind of the cars. Every time a car passed by, the cup would simply roll to the opposite side without moving far from the two yellow lines. When another car from the other direction came by, the force of the wind would blow the cup to the other side. When two cars passed at the same time, the cup went wild in a calypso sort of dance in the middle of the street. Well, it wasn't long before a tourist on a moped ran over the plastic cup leaving it destroyed to dance no more. Many a human being is like the plastic cup, blown by the prevailing wind of passing cars.
The Bible says that we are not inanimate objects like a plastic cup with no thought or will of our own simply being blown about in the winds of the earth. Rather, the Bible says: we are children of God and that we are made in His image, that He has breathed into us his breath, that the wind of God is in us and God alone will determine our destiny.
And yet, there are so many today who seem to be but victims of the prevailing winds of a contemporary culture gone askew or blown about by the prevailing winds of immature individuals who are themselves out of control. I've had funerals for some of them and it's no fun at all. Are you like a victim of the prevailing winds, which blow you from time to time? If you are moved and shoved along by the prevailing winds of contemporary society, you will be much like a plastic cup which in time will be gushed to dance no more. Or you will be like a piece of driftwood shoved about by underwater currents with no direction of your own. Or you will be like “Alice in Wonderland,” who, when asked by the Tin Man where she was going, said "I don't know and it doesn't much matter." The Tin Man then said, “if it doesn't much matter and you don't know, then I'm sure you will get there."
If you want to have meaning and purpose in your life, more direction, lasting joy and a peace, which surpasses all understanding, then consider committing your life to Jesus Christ. Jesus once said: "I am the way, the truth, and the life…if you love me, you will keep my commandments and I will send to you the Counselor, the Spirit of Truth and the Wind of God to be with you forever. The world does not know him, but you know him, for he dwells within you, and will be in you."
Although you cannot determine the wind of God's presence, you can prepare yourselves to receive it and be better able to realize its presence when it is with you. Jesus once said: "The wind blows where it wills, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know whence it comes or whither it goes." (John 3)
You have the power as Children of God to catch the wind as it flies, to harness the wind much like a sailboat catches the winds of the Gulf and moves in a desired direction.
Recently I have tried my hand at sailing, which is a fascinating experience of catching the wind of air, harnessing it and using it to push you along in a desired direction. Someone has said that the difference between a person who has a sailboat and a powerboat is that a person in a sailboat knows where he wants to go and is in no hurry to get there, whereas a fellow in a powerboat has no clue so rushes from first one place to another.
There is such a thing as the true wind, which is the real wind direction, and the apparent wind, which is often created by your own movement or by other movement such as a moving car. An apparent wind blows the plastic cup from first one side of the road to the other. The movement of the cars created a false or apparent wind. Walk with a candle on a still day and the flame will blow back toward you, you have created an apparent wind. But be still and the true wind will blow the flame in the true wind direction.
God gives to his people "the true wind" and he has given you sails to catch His wind, but you have to use them. You have to be intentional about your life lest you be blown about like the cup in the middle of the road blown this way and that. You have to be still in order to discern the true wind direction. It will come and it will come to you.
On a sailboat, you have all kinds of sails to help you harness the true wind: a mainsail, a spinnaker, a jib or a genoa. You have sails that God has given you to catch the wind.
They are prayer, meditation, conscience, and also what the Apostle Paul calls your talents or gifts and each person has been given something that is very unique. Only as you use that which has been given to you will you find meaning, purpose and joy and the direction, which the true wind of God is blowing.
As young Christians now graduating from high School, you will be confronted with so many decisions that you and you alone can make. It is a strange sensation, like pushing away from the dock into a deep blue sea with many prevailing winds. Many of you have chosen your college to attend, but there will be decisions as new friends, and what area of study, and then a career choice, and then a life mate, and so many other decisions.
Do not panic, but be still and know that the true wind of God will come to you. Your sails are three:
Your gifts, or talents,
Your interests, what lights your fire.
Where the world needs you.
You line these sails up and you will catch the true wind, for it blows today awaiting your sails to be raised.
Do you know that there have been people who have died that you might enjoy the freedom to practice your religion? To express yourself? To speak your mind?
Memorial Day Weekend in this nation is more than a long holiday weekend, more than just the end of school, more than some great sales at the mall, more than a time to barbeque chicken in the backyard. In fact it was originally designed in this nation as a time to remember those who have died for our freedoms and to celebrate their lives.
So I propose to you, I invite you; I encourage you to join with others and me across this great land of ours, to remember. Remember in such a way that you don't just give a polite nod to the past, but that your active memory gets in gear and you participate in this weekend of a living memory.
Remember the persons
in this nation who have given their lives.
Remember Jesus Christ who gave his life so that you might live.
Remember who you are so that in days to come, you may be one of these noble
individuals in times past who left a legacy of greatness for your children.
First, remember the persons in this nation who have given their lives.
A friend said to me recently, I don't believe we really appreciate our parents until we stand at their graves after they are gone. Then you realize how much they meant to you, how important they were, and what they did for you.
On a small plaque in the entrance area to the west, is a list of men who were members of this church who died in World War II:
Earl Peterson Bernie Lawton, Jr.
Charles Mankin, Jr. James Glen Connor
Henry White, Jr. William King
In London's St. Paul Cathedral, prayers were offered earlier today for the American soldiers who gave their lives in World Wars I and II. I stood in the small chapel behind the high altar at St. Paul's looking at the thousands of names of American soldiers who gave their life, and was overwhelmed at the long list.
There are graves all over the world of American soldiers who gave their lives. One of the many very nice things about our city is the memorial park honoring the men and women of the armed services of many wars who have given their lives for the good of all.
One of the most famous images of World War II is captured in the photo, now turned statue in Washington, DC of the five valiant Marines raising an American flag on the island of Iwo Jima. The young man in the center of the group was John Bradley. After the war John Bradley returned to his home in Antigo, Wisconsin, married his high school sweetheart and raised a family. Like many of the returning soldiers, he didn't like to talk about the war and he refused any kind of hero recognition that came his way, although he did receive the Navy Cross for saving the life of another soldier. One of his few recorded comments was this: "The heroes of Iwo Jima are the guys who didn't come back."
This weekend, we honor those men and women who didn't come back. The ones who, in President Abraham Lincoln's words in the Gettysburg Address said: "gave the last, full measure of devotion."
In Chicago, there stands Soldiers Field, which is a sports arena and was originally built as a memorial to the men and women who gave their lives in the World Wars on behalf of the nation. In the last few years, the city of Chicago put the stadium out for bids to be renovated and updated and offered it to be renamed for the person who would be the highest bidder for the project. Such a crass, cheap sale was rescinded when the people of Chicago rose up in arms at such a sale, which would drop the name "Soldiers Field". Much too often, progress seems to mean more to us than our history, and there are to many who will sell out such things as integrity, for the common good, honesty at the altar of personal, recognition, or financial gain. Thank heaven for the people of Chicago who would not put up with selling history to the highest bidder.
Since September 11, we look upon policemen and firemen in a different way. We realize that every day these persons dress for work; they might be called on to step into a burning building or in the path of a speeding bullet. When they kiss their spouse goodbye, they might never see them again. As we begin to get back to "business as usual", I hope that 9/11 has helped to remind us of the difference between the celebrities of our time and true heroes. Celebrities are people who make the news, but heroes are people who make history. Their names may be different, fireman, policeman, soldier, but the qualities of heroism are the same: self-sacrifice, courage, honor, and duty. And in today's New Testament reading, Jesus adds the ingredient of love. "My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends…"
The Bible has some of the most quotable quotes, the most memorable statements. This is one of them: "Greater love has no one than this, but that he lay down his life for his friends." Hear is another one: "The wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid, and the calf and the lion and the fatling together…and they shall not hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain; for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea."
We live in a world that only occasionally measures up to the vision of God for creation. In remembering the persons who served this country in the wars of our nation, let’s remember the fact that they sacrificed their lives in order to make the world free, safe for democracy, to stop the violation of human rights and to make the world safe for the children of tomorrow.
Today, this weekend, let us remember the vision and the people who died to make the vision a reality. Especially the ones who didn't come home.
Secondly, let us remember Jesus Christ who died for our sins.
I have spent most of my life trying to figure out who Jesus was and what his death accomplished. I know what the Church historically has told me. I know what the Bible says about, but a great deal of it doesn't make sense to me. The Bible says he came to die—"wounded for our transgressions—bruised for our iniquities", but he talked about living, "I have come that you might have life and have it more abundantly." The Bible says he died to satisfy God's desire for justice and righteousness, but God is quoted as talking about his desire for peace and love.
You know what I think? I think he came to show us how to live and to teach us how to love, not to die. His death was but the last illustration of how far God will go to love us. There are no limits to God's love.
Today I want to remember Jesus as God's purest expression of love. The reason I want to remember Jesus is because I don't want to get caught up in hating the terrorists or the Arabs or the Osama bin Laden's of the world. They have had enough of our attention and they are not going to rob us of any more of our lives than they have already claimed.
Thirdly, let us remember that we are a people who have seen the value of sacrifice. If Memorial Day can teach us anything and it can teach us much, it can teach us to look upon the best of humanity, not the worst with respect.
In Ps. 8, we read: that we are made a little less than God…That we are like angels. Someone gave me a small statue of a childlike figure with wings and one of the wings was broken. I keep it in a sacred spot in our flower garden to remind me of the fact that although one of the wings is broken, I am still an angel of God, made in his image, and like him and others who have gone before me and left me this legacy of true greatness on Memorial Day, as an angel with a broken wing, I will remember who I am and in time will become a person of honor, courage, duty and love.