Although many of us have memorized hundreds of different things: poems, hymns, songs and passages of scripture, the two most quotable statements set to memory that a recent Gallup Poll says are the most familiar in North America, are John 3:16 and The 23rd Psalm.
Often in our funeral services we will ask you to affirm your faith out of your memory with the words of the 23rd Psalm. I can tell you this, it breaks my heart when I see members of a family who stand there like a knot on a log, who have no clue because they have no memory of the words and, I fear, no awareness of the reality of the meanings of the words. How sad, I think, as I lead the memorial Psalm, how tragic that they have not claimed the meaning of this marvelous affirmation of a mysterious truth. Sometimes I blame their parents for never demanding or helping them to memorize these words, but really folks, if you are over ten years of age, it is now your responsibility and you will one day thank me. Set it in your mind. Write it in your heart. “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.”
He looked like he had been “rode hard and hung up wet,” but there was a peace about him. He said to me, “I don’t know what I would have done had I not had it in my memory. What do you mean? I asked. “You know, The Lord is My Shepherd, I shall not want.” I had lost my family, my job, all my resources, my self respect, everything, but I had in my memory the words, “The Lord is My Shepherd, I shall not want, he …”
Sometimes when I quote this Psalm and others at funerals of tragic deaths, a suicide, a car accident, a murder or a cancer victim, I think, these words don’t ring true. When reality and skepticism get together inside of our mind, they struggle with the Psalmist is perspective expressed in such words as, “He will not let your foot be moved. The Lord will keep you from all evil.” Sometimes there is something inside of me that wants to cry out, “If the Lord is my shepherd and it’s his responsibility to keep me safe, then why isn’t he doing a better job of it?” People die despite the prayers of those who love them. Jesus died in spite of the fact that he was God’s son. Accidents happen. Premature deaths occur.
In these struggling, skeptical moments, it helps to understand just what it is God is promising to us. He doesn’t promise to keep us safe from all harm. There is no way that God can provide safety when we live in a world where laws of nature and human cruelty take their daily toll. There is no way that God can lead us beside still waters when we have freedom of choice and are hard headed. But what God can do for us is to give us strength and the assurance that we will survive.
William Sloan Coffin, the chaplain at Yale for years, lost his son in a terrible accident. When he finally returned to the pulpit he preached a sermon entitled, “God Offers Minimum Protection, But Maximum Security.”
Look at one of the promises in the Twenty Third Psalm, and there are many—Remember: “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want, he makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters, he restoreth my soul, he leads me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for thou art with me.”
There is so much here, but I call your attention to one word in this one line from the Psalm, a word you may not have noticed: “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death.”
It is the word “through” the Valley. For sure, we all live in the shadow of death.
What God promises to us is that we will make it “through.”
Here we are in Eastertide and we have made it through Lent and through Good Friday, and now we are living on the Easter side of the valley. We have made it through. That’s the promise, that we will make it through.
I have run into a number of people of late who have not made it “through” the valley of the shadows. Their life is in the shadows. Their life is nothing but a shadow. They are stuck in the valley. They are addicted to alcohol, drugs, or a negative, critical, “I can’t do” spirit. Broken down in the valley. We are a people who walk “through the valley of the shadow.” We don’t camp out in it.
There are some who choose to remain in the valley out of a misplaced sense of love and loyalty. The valley of the shadow of death can be a seductive place, impossible to enjoy but hard to leave. Sometimes people who have never been the center of attention find people fussing over them in a crisis and are reluctant to give the attention up. Consequently they move from one crisis to the next so that the “rescuers” will come to their aid. They remain stuck in the valley of the shadow and are not interested in “walking through” although they are miserable and everyone around them is miserable. They just camp out in the valley.
I once knew two women who lived in the same little Alabama town who were alike but different somehow. They were about the same age, their husbands had each committed suicide, and they both lived in the country on a little farm. Therein the similarities ended. One decided to walk through the valley of the shadow of death and the other decided to camp out. One was delightful and a joy to be with. One would get up and say: “Good Lord, What A Morning,” and the other would say, “Good Lord, what a morning.” Same words, but two attitudes worlds apart. Both were members of the same church. One gave homemade Christmas ornaments to everyone while the other gave hell to everyone who gave her the time of day. For one, every word she said was“praise,” while for the other one, every word was a lament. One Had Decided To Camp Out And Eventually Died In The Shadow Of The Valley Of Death. The Other One Decided To Pass Right On Through The Valley.
Walk through the valley, don’t camp out there. Look, God’s promise to us is not to protect us from pain and loss and death, but to protect us from letting pain and loss define our lives. Walk on through this lonesome valley. One step at a time, one day at a time, and soon you will be through.
Jesus walked this lonesome valley, but he walked through it, and so can you.
Over the last few years, about 22 to be exact, there have been a number of men in our congregation who have pointed out that on Mother’s Day I would praise the mothers and pat them on the back while on Father’s Day I would criticize the dads and kick them in the posterior. They were probably correct in their observation. I mean, “What goes around comes around.” So that being the case, don’t think I am going to change this late in the game. You can’t teach old dogs new tricks. You get what you deserve and truth be told, mothers deserve their praise. Often they get very little praise from the persons who are the recipients of their life’s energies. For one day a year they deserve our recognition.
I have always remembered and appreciated the statement on a church marquee that read: “God couldn’t be everywhere, so he made mothers.”
Recently I was privileged to hear Rabbi Harold Kushner, when he was here in Pensacola, speak on the subject of, Living A Life That Matters. He seemed to capture in his title the deepest longing of most of us.
The titles of his books are always so good: When Bad Things Happen to Good People, When All You Have Ever Wanted Isn’t Enough, and, How Good Do We Have to Be?
Hearing him in person was a good experience. He had a ministerial twitch. I am glad I don’t have any unusual annoying habits or mannerisms!
Well anyway, I was quite moved and encouraged by Kushner’s statements about trying to live a life that matters, when he said that we should seek the award for, “Best Actor in a Supporting Role.” Of course, he was referring to the Oscars, which are presented every year in March at the Academy Awards. The Oscars are given to the best director, the best actor and actress, the best movie, and a number of other bests in other categories. Among the prestigious awards given out are those for the best male and best female actor in a supporting role.
I have always been intrigued by the supporting role category, mainly because of the feeling of most of us that we all play supporting roles in other people’s movies.
Few of us will be the President or the Chairman of the Board, and even when you are, you wonder about your shortsighted desire to ever pursue it. Most of us are not in the spotlight but are back stage in a supporting role, making important things happen in other’s lives. And this is especially true of females.
We received a Christmas card from a friend this past year which read: “Three Wise Women would have: Asked directions, arrived on time, helped deliver the baby, cleaned the stable, made a casserole, brought practical gifts, and there would be Peace on Earth.”
A few years ago, Jan Love, who is President of the Women’s Division of the UMW preached here. She has just been named Dean of Emory University’s Candler School of Theology, a role which has from day one been held by men. It is truly a new day in the professions for women, as there are many a mother who is now a Dean or President or a CEO, but for the most part, individuals called mothers have chosen to sacrifice careers and positions in order to place themselves in a subservient or supporting role of mother, housekeeper, taking up the mantle of servant.
Interestingly enough, Jesus elevated the supporting role to the top position of goals for God’s people, which is exactly what Kushner did in suggesting that we all, male and female alike, pursue the award of, “Best Supporting Actor.”
So I suggest to you our young graduates, find some creative ways to be Christ’s Servant. Mow the lawn. Visit the sick. Help a neighbor. If the truth be known, your parents do not owe you entertainment. The state doesn’t owe you an education. But you owe your parents and the state: you owe your time, your respect, your energy, so that no one will be in need in our community. You have now reached a new phase of your journey, but you owe your parents and the rest of us. We have nursed you, protected and excused you, and tolerated you. We have denied ourselves comforts so that you could have luxuries. This we have done gladly, for you are our greatest treasure, but it is now time for you to stand on your two feet. Remember who you are and make us proud, don’t embarrass us.
Jesus, in the last night of his life, became the servant and washed the feet of the disciples. He said very clearly to them, “I am among you as one who serves.”
Philippians 2 is perhaps the oldest of creedal statements in the history of Christianity, probably written less than 30 years after the death of Jesus while Paul was in prison in Caesarea. Remember how we required that you memorize the Apostle’s Creed when you were in the sixth grade and confirmed in the church? That creed was written about 300 years after the birth of Christ in the city of Rome. The Creed in Philippians was written so that people might remember the essence of who Jesus was: 2:3-11.
There is a down side to this supporting role, however, and that being very little prestige or little recognition. Some people treat servants like trash. How many actors or actresses in the last ten years can you recall who won the, “Best Supporting Actor Awards?” For that matter, how many Vice Presidents of the United States can you name? There are times when those who have the supporting role wonder about their significance. And yet, I submit to you that the supporting role is what keeps the trains running, the children on track. You want to live a life that matters, so pursue the role of “Best Actor or Actress In a Supporting Role.”
I met him for the first and only time, so in good southern fashion, I greeted him asking, “How you doing?” But, instead of responding in the traditional way of saying, “Fine, thank you.” He said: “Blessed, thank you, very blessed."
I recalled his response as I begin to put in words, how I feel about the last two decades of our ministry together. “Blessed, thank you, very blessed.”
As Christian believers, we are blessed, very blessed.
This year we are celebrating the 2006th year since the resurrection of Jesus, the 228th year since the founding of American Methodism, and the 185th year of the ministry of this church. Really, the past two decades are but a drop in the bucket of that long and blessed and venerable history, and yet they have been very important to us. When I review 40 years of ministry and the five Churches which I have been privileged to serve in the United Methodist Church, my work here has involved more than half of the total number of years of my professional life. Jane and I have been married and have been a team in life and ministry over all of those years and all of the years and places have been definitive for us, these last 22 years have been the joy years.
After seminary I have served five churches: Union Springs, Dauphin Way, Clanton, and Marianna, and in 1984 we moved to Pensacola.
Thought there have
been blessed events and trends over the years of our ministry together, the true
blessings at least for me were the unique people along the way:
Frank Horne used to play the bass fiddle, rush over to
welcome the children to Sunday School, and then back to the entrance of the
church to welcome those who were coming for worship at the 11 hour. The Music,
the people like Ike Terry. The music in this old building, Blessed, thank you,
very blessed Don’t you think?
There was Johnny Hoefflin, Max de la Rua and Jimmy Driskell, the unholy trinity. Max, who gave me money for our ministry to the poor.
There was Ralph Dellinger, who would shake my hand and enfolded in his palm would be a $100 bill. That’s why I have been so friendly to greet you on Sunday mornings. And you thought I was being nice.
Ruth Braden, who ran The Wright Place, and even turned a profit on her own daughter’s wedding reception.
Sunday after Sunday, in those early years, I never met a visitor who had not been invited to the church by Opal Humphries or Betty Olliff, or Russ and Vernice Hudson.
And there was J. B. and Eleanor Nichols. J. B. was my first District Superintendent, appointing me when I was a student at Huntingdon College. He said when I responded reluctantly saying, “I just don’t know if I can do this. I am only 20 years old.” J. B. said, “Well they don’t want much anyway.” Consequently, over the years, moving to new appointments, I have been reminded that I can probably do the job, knowing “they don’t want much anyway.” It was primarily Eleanor who took an interest in me as a young minister in county seat towns. She would write and encourage me, and suggest I read certain books. Little did she know she was grooming me for this congregation, or maybe she did. J. B. got to the point he would tell all of these old stories that we had heard a dozen times before about when he and Noah built the Ark, or when David and he were building the Temple. Or maybe it was not David and he, it was “he and David”. I often wondered if I would get that old and tell old stories and before you knew it, it just happened. Have I told you about???
Many of the people I talk about you don’t even know as six out of every ten of our current members have joined the church in the last ten years. Many of the people I often talk about are in heaven and not in the pews anymore. And there were the kids who are gone. I guess all kids grow up and go away, but some really go away. There was Lauren, Bruce, Kelly, Becky and Garon, so filled with life and died before their time. You know, I’ve have had 750 funerals in my time. I’ve had too many funerals of too many friends. I just don’t think I can do this much longer.
Oh, but don’t get me wrong. Sure there are deaths, but there have been all the rosebuds announcing the births, lately of about 30 new babies each year. Life is filled with darkness, but also light. It is not just sadness that makes for memories, there are the joy filled moments. There have been the fun times as well, It was a joy to baptize the babies, confirm them in the faith, congratulate them when they graduated from high school, and marry them, and baptize their children. I have baptized 462 babies here at the altar, confirmed 455, and married 378 since 1984. Some that I’ve married like the Hermanns', the Mitchells', the Olliffs', the Varnsons' and others then brought their children back to the altar for Baptism. Long term ministry is such a joy as you see the changes in people. Yes, you see some failures, drop outs, but you usually see them come to themselves and come home to the Lord. Not always but most of the time.
And there were the marvelous colleagues who have worked with me in ministry, some who are here today. And haven’t we been blessed by the professionals that God has sent our way! Many of them have stayed the course—Ginger, Dixon, Myra, Rick, Heidi and Karen. All of our staff we were glad to see them come. Some I was glad to see them go. None however who would come to help us celebrate on this kind of day. Today is a day of true celebration as I have always wanted to be a caring pastor and please our people. I know that half of you were pleased when I first came and the other half are pleased to see me go, so today, we are all happy.
But our people go back far beyond the last two brief decades. There has been John and Charles Wesley. Charles the poet who wrote, O For A Thousand Tongues to Sing, Blow ye the trumpet, Blow and Love Divine. And there was Martin Luther who gave us the great hymn A Mighty Fortress Is Our God which I am reminded of every time I pull up in front of our massive towers A Mighty Fortress Is Our God, A Bulwark Never Failing.
And there are the persons who have written the scriptures.
Paul: “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” John, who identifies himself in the Gospel of John as “the one whom the Lord Loved.” And the one in the scripture in I John who encouraged the church to “Love one another, for love is of God and Love is born of God.” Says he, when we love one another, God abides in us.
We are so blessed for we have been given our hymns and the Holy Scripture and the Biblical truths have been passed on to us through human vessels whom we have been privileged to love and enjoy.
So when I think about the past, I think to myself: “Blessed, Thank you, Very Blessed.” So, How you doing?
I have grown so pensive of late, with the deaths of my parents and brother, and this past week, Jane’s mother. Life is a constant mixture of light and darkness, joy and sadness, And although there have been blessings, I have had four major disappointments over the last 40 years of my ministry:
The world is still at war and there are yet divisions among us.
The whole world is not yet Christian.
The entire nation is not yet Methodist.
The entire community are yet not members of our church.
I am leaving you with work to be done. It is an unfinished product. I am leaving you with a marvelous staff of professionals and you are going to be so pleased with the new Senior Minister, Wesley Wachob, who was my choice from day one. But each of you will have to fulfill your ministry. After all, “You are a priesthood of believers. By virtue of your Baptism, you are commissioned to carry on the ministry of Jesus Christ. After all you are a holy priesthood, God’s own people.”
Yes, I am leaving you, but not really. I am still in the ministry. You are baptized for life. I will be in the pew with you on Sunday, so move over, and don’t think you own your pew. And I will be inviting others to church. You have got to get serious about tithing and volunteer service and inviting people into a living relationship with Jesus Christ, and together we will continue in ministry.
I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love towards all the saints, and for this reason I do not cease to give thanks for you as I remember you in my prayers. I pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation as you come to know him, so that, with the eyes of your heart enlightened, you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance among the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power for us who believe, according to the working of his great power. God put this power to work in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the age to come. And he has put all things under his feet and has made him the head over all things for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.
Secrets—shh—secrets. Let me let you in on a secret: you may think now and after the sermon is over that I am preaching on a popular book, but the truth is the message lies deeper. Secrets. I hate secrets. You know what I mean, when you walk up to two people talking in the hall about something and they immediately quit talking and look at you funny. Or maybe they start talking about how beautiful a day it is, all the while you know that it is overcast. Being on the outside of a secret, makes us feel like we are on the outside of life. Maybe the secret is something about us. Even if it is not it excludes us, it leaves us dangling on the outside. Psychologists and therapists say that there are few things that are as bad for relationships or marriages than secrets. Secrets have a way of making communities of insiders that define themselves against the outsiders. They divide relationships and communities. That is why I hate secrets. That being said________
I love secrets. You know what I mean, when you meet someone in the hall and they pass secret information on to you. It makes you feel like you are important. You have been made part of the community that is the keeper of the secrets. You are not left out as an outsider, but made an insider. Doesn’t it feel good? “Knowledge is power”, they say. Knowing the secret gives us power. The secret does not even need to be true to give us power. That is why we love secrets.
Not so long ago I read a book that was filled with secrets. For reasons that some what allude me, the book and now movie have been quite controversial for Christians. For me it was similar to Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, JFK the movie, or the Left Behind Series. This book the DaVinci Code was filled with fun secrets. In the first few chapters, Dan Brown drops us inside information about all sorts of various topics and tangents. He gives us inside information about how the glass pyramid was built to house the Louvre by a French president that was called “the Sphinx”. And how the French people are split about whether it is a masterpiece or monstrosity. He gives us inside information about a variety of topics. Secret symbols. Hidden Codes. He drops little facts—not all factual by the way—but they bring us in as insiders. All of this we find very entertaining. Knowledge is power. I think that for the most part, this is not harmful. Particularly when we read it as fiction. Some people believe this is dangerous. Maybe it is. But I am not too concerned about a mass exodus from the church to go join mystery religions to worship Isis, Venus, or Mary Magdalene. And that is what we would do if we were truly to take the book seriously.
The book's most controversial themes are based on Gnostic philosophy. Dan Brown describes the Gnostic movement at great length. These are the communities that wrote the Gospel of Thomas, Phillip, and Mary Magdalene.
Just for the sake of truthfulness I must state that he gets some fundamental things wrong about the Gnostics and the theology of their gospels. For instance, in order to make his story work he says that the Gnostics proclaimed Jesus’ humanity, and the Biblical Gospels, tried to make Jesus Divine. And that is why the early church tried to eliminate the Gnostic scriptures. Historically, it is the exact opposite. The Gnostics had no trouble with Jesus’ super divinity, but had trouble swallowing that Jesus was fully human. In the Church’s gospels we have a very human Jesus. Jesus eats, cries, and is fully embodied. For whatever reason Dan Brown felt this history did not make as good of a story—so he made up new imaginative facts about the Nicene Council and the canonization of scripture. I think the church should not be upset about his fictional writing, but more upset at ourselves for failing to teach church history. If we aren’t careful our Nicene faith slips away.
However, one thing that Dan Brown gets right about the Gnostics is their love for secrets. The fictitious Priory of Sion, that is the center of the book is a classic Gnostic mystery cult, keeping secrets that give them power over the outsiders. I don’t want to spoil the story for those that have not read the book or seen the movie and intend to, but I will tell you that in the end of the story we find out that the secret of the Priory is never intended to be revealed to the world. The secret is only for the in-group. It is for this tendency that Gnosticism attained it name. The term Gnosticism was a pejorative term applied to religious groups that held “secret knowledge”. The Greek word for knowledge is “gnosis”. This secret knowledge was reserved only for a select few. Like all secrets it helped create a community of insiders that made sure outsiders had no place at the table. A secret that gives a small community knowledge that common everyday people are unaware of. The secrets of gnosticism like the secrets of the fictional Priory of Sion are not meant for everyone.
The Greek Gnostic societies began to infiltrate the Church as Christianity spread throughout the Greco-Roman world. The church in Ephesus apparently had Gnostic groups trying to divide them with their secret “Gnosis”—knowledge. It is in this context that the author of Ephesians writes a letter to the church. In the text read this morning, the author lifts up a prayer. That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation as you come to know him, so that, with the eyes of your heart enlightened, you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance among the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power for us who believe, according to the working of his great power. In this long run-on sentence there are many words the author is using intentionally. Like “know”—gnosis, and wisdom, and revelation, and enlightened. These are the favorite words of Gnostic sects. But the book of Ephesians is not willing to surrender these terms to Gnostic groups, but instead uses them as vehicles to proclaim the Christian gospel—Christ has died, Christ is risen, Christ will come again.
His prayer is that we come to know the Christ who fills all in all.
You see the Gnostics have their secrets, but the church has it’s secret too. Our secret is not hidden away in a vault in the Vatican Library, or encrypted in renaissance art work, nor does our secret require a Harvard degree in symbology. Yes, the church has a secret—it is the true nature of the Risen Lord that we worship.
Today is a special day in the church calendar. This past Thursday was the 40th day of Easter in which the church celebrates Jesus’ Ascension into heaven. Much of Christendom chooses to celebrate this on the following Sunday. Hearing about the Ascension is kind of strange in our modern world. Some of the gospels like the one read this morning seem to indicate that Jesus floated like a balloon up to the sky to sit at the right hand of God in Heaven. The story of Jesus’ Ascension is hard to understand in NASA’s scientific terms, but stories as true as the Ascension require no degree in rocket science or symbology to understand. That is why the church has chosen the Ephesians text on this High and Holy Sunday of the Church year. It speaks of the Risen Christ being seated at God’s Right hand—seated as the very power of God. There Jesus is Lord above every name that can be named. Above all rule, power, and authority, above all governments, terrorist states, and democracies. Jesus is Lord over all. This is what the Ascension is really about. Ephesians goes on to say that all things are under his feet. And the church is his body. We are the fullness of him who fills all in all. We are the body of the one that fills up the Universe to overflowing. In the words of my 19 month old son, “Wow wee—daddy”.
This is a dynamic and powerful secret indeed. This is the power that we have been give as Christians. We have the victory. The Christ that we worship, that we live move and have our being in, is Lord of the Universe. Talk about a secret that gives power.…it is amazing. Our lives like grass fade away into the past, but through the risen Lord we are incorporated into a story that is so much greater than ourselves. We are involved in the salvation and recreation of the universe.
We do have a powerful secret code. But our secret is fundamentally different from that of the Gnostic groups. It is a secret that we are called to tell. Leslie Newbigin the famous Bishop in India and Missiologist has called our proclamation an open secret. We have a secret like the Gnostics that gives us power to go about our daily lives—Our secret is transformational. But we also believe that it is and will be transformational of the entire cosmos, not a secret that we hold just for us. Our secret is an open one. One that we pass on. A secret that we live out in our lives, and tell our friends, neighbors, and enemies. We do tell our secret in symbolism. Here we are gathered in a cruciform sanctuary—like the great cathedrals of Europe. As we worship here our lives through our baptisms are also made cruciform—in the shape of the cross—in the pattern of Jesus. With our secret there is no need to whisper it. No need to keep it encrypted. We can let all the world know with our words and with the way we live our lives that “Jesus is Lord”.
The world and quite often the church do not know this secret. We tend to live defeated in fear of whatever the next secret or conspiracy theory that comes along. I am a lot less upset about the DaVinci Code, than Christianity’s response to it. I can’t figure out what we are so worried about. This past week I was talking about the book and movie with our very own Phil Barnhart (retired minister associated with our church). And Dr. Phil said something that I loved. He said “You don’t defend a lion, you just let it loose.” I think he hit the nail on the head. Our Christian story needs no defense; the unchanged world and the status quo needs no defense from it. If we are not careful we may find ourselves devoured by the greatest story ever told. And we will find that through our baptisms this story is the story of our lives too. It is time we let the lion loose. In C.S. Lewis’ The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe, the character comments on the Lion Aslan, who is a Christ figure in the book. One character asks if the lion is safe. Another character responds "Safe? Who said anything about safe? Of course he isn't safe! But he's good, I tell you!". Our Lord and the story we tell about him is not safe, but it is good.
There is an old aphorism that says, “The secret of making another person feel important is to tell him a secret. He will feel important when he shares it with someone else.” We have a secret—we know that Jesus is Lord. It is time that we break the code in our lives. Are we doing our best to live under the Lordship of Jesus? Brian McLaren, a new theologian, asked in his latest book, If Jesus is our Master or our Mascot? I find this quite convicting. So often we live with a mascot Jesus that cheers us on, that provides a needed playful distraction from our hectic lives. But, Jesus did not rise into the heavens to be our mascot—He is our master. Not peripheral to our lives, but central. Church membership is not like gym membership, or membership in scouting or the yacht club, it is central to who we are. It is also time that we break the code in our church. We should feel utmost secure in this time of transition, that the Lord of the Universe is guiding our church. We are in good hands. If God is for us who can be against us?
It is time that we break the code in the world. We should not be threatened by fantastic stories, because we tell the greatest story ever told.
You may remember from the Iliad and the Odyssey the islands of Sirens that played irresistibly beautiful songs. Sailors would be drawn to them. The only way that Ulysses got through alive is that he tied himself to the ship's mast. He lost his sailors and barely scraped by because the lure of the Sirens was too strong. But that is not the end of the story. In Greek legend there was another man that conquered the allure of the Sirens in an even greater way name Orpheus. When he heard the beautiful voices. Orpheus pulled out his lyre. The other sailors wondered what he was going to do. Then he began to play. A song came forth from his lyre that was more beautiful than that of the Sirens. Their deadly song was drowned out, by the most beautiful of music.
We need not give into the alluring voices of our world, or tie ourselves to the mast to just scrape by. We have a more beautiful, more alluring song. Let us break the code of our faith and tell our open secret. Let the melody “Jesus is Lord” ring to the highest of heavens.