“Two Constants”
Judges 10:10-16 Matthew 28:18-20
Today I want to talk about some history and how
we must use it to shape the future out of the news of this month.
You have heard it more than once…probably heard
it from your grandparents…and they probably heard it from theirs. There are only two sure things in this
life…death and taxes. Sure…we’ve all
heard it.
Today…I want to suggest to you that
there are indeed two sure things…but they aren’t death and taxes.
You only have to turn to the gospels to learn
that death is not a sure thing for those who believe. John said it best in that verse that everyone
knows…the New Living Translation puts it this way…”For God loved the world so
much that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him
will not perish but have eternal life.”
Those are the words of Jesus. If you cannot believe him who can you
believe? When we attend a funeral or
memorial service…the final celebration of a person’s earthly life…it’s the
celebration of that part of their life we have known on earth…and a sendoff to
the next leg on their life journey…their eternal life journey.
Death is not a sure thing.
There is reference to taxes in the
Bible…but nothing that says taxes are or are not a sure thing. In fact every tax is created by a group of
people who have the ability to change their minds…and repeal those taxes…each
and every one of them. Now…I’m not going
to bet the farm that I will see a day when there are no taxes…but I will say
that taxes are not a sure thing.
History tells us there are two sure
things in our lives on earth…God’s presence always and everywhere…and the
other is change. Our Old Testament
lesson from Judges should make that clear.
The entire book is about a time of change in the lives of God’s
people. It also tells us that God was
always there.
Judges is the story of God’s people
and those men and women whom God sent to lead them because the people asked for
human guidance. The people said they
weren’t certain they could live the old way…following God’s guidance without an
earthly leader. The words we heard from the
book of Judges this morning came at a time that the Bronze Age was ending in
the Middle East…a time of significant change in the way that people lived and
worked.
Throughout the book of Judges there are stories
of God’s people being conquered and made captive by a number of foreign
peoples. God listed some of them in his
conversation with the distressed Israelites…Egyptians…Amorites…
Ammonites…Philistines…Sidonians…Amalekites… and Maonites. You can bet that under each of them the rules
of the game changed for the Israelites…and if you accept God’s word…you know
that he was there with them.
Stop and think for a moment…throughout
your life there has been change…some gradual…some minor…some rapid and some
radical. And…God has been there with
you. If he hadn’t been there with you
would you even consider being here today?
For some…there’s logic in what I just said.
For me…there’s more than logic…there’s
proof…proof through God’s revelation to me.
If it hadn’t been for God’s revelation and his presence I wouldn’t be
here today. Now, it wasn’t a burning
bush experience like that of Moses…or a Damascus Road experience like
Paul’s….or a conversation on the road to Emmaus like Cleopas and his
companion. It was people that God placed
in my path.
I was an only and lonely child in a
single-parent household… lived with my
dad…who had very little education and worked two jobs just to be able to pay
the rent and put food on the table and clothes on our backs. I seldom saw him and in that part of my life
I knew of God in only two ways…as the first word of a two word curse…or as a vengeful
creature who would get me if I did something wrong.
I was 14 when I met God in a different
way. I worked part time at a restaurant
with a man whose name was Richard O’Brien.
Richard had been raised in a Roman Catholic family…and told stories of a
loving God. Richard and his life partner…
Patrick… also taught me how to love Shakespeare and his works. They also told me how they had been made
outcasts by the people in their church.
I started to question how a God whom they told me loved all of His
creation could tolerate people who didn’t love all of God’s creation.
A couple years later…working in a
different restaurant…I met a man who was known to me only as Ace. He was a Black man…who had learned to read at
his mother’s side as she read Scripture to him from their family Bible. He…too…spoke of a God of love. He…too…spoke of being an outcast from the
large church not far from his home…this time because of his race. My questioning continued. People who called themselves God’s people while demonstrating something other than love…helped my skepticism grow through my years in college to the point that I became a practicing agnostic…even though I attended a church affiliated university. If someone had told me when I graduated from
college that I’d be attending a church worship service…much less leading one…I
would have laughed loudly at them.
For a number of years I went my
merry…somewhat devilish way…through marriage and divorce…work that was
glamorous but unrewarding…financial challenges…and some drunken Saturday
nights…showing up in a place of worship only for a friend’s wedding or for a
funeral…never considering that God was real…much less there with me.
At a birthday party for the husband of
a co-worker I met Bob Miller. I was 30
years old. Bob and I talked about many
things including our mutual love for racquetball. We ended up playing racquetball at the local
YMCA two or three times a week…then going to a pizza place for food, beer and
more conversation. After about six months
of talking about many things except our work I asked Bob what his profession
was. He was the minister at the downtown
Congregational church. He invited me to
visit.
I didn’t take Bob up on his invitation
until the next Christmas Eve. One of
Bob’s parishioners had also invited me to the Christmas Eve service. She was one of the three women I knew
attended that church that I wanted to date.
I went to the service…and sat alone in a pew in the back of the church…my
real hope was that one of the three women would show up and sit next to me.
The lights went down until it was entirely
dark. I heard a beautiful baritone voice
singing “O Holy Night”…then a single candle appeared moving at the front of the
sanctuary…toward the pulpit. It was Bob
who was holding the candle and singing.
As John Wesley put it in his journal…”My heart was strangely
warmed.” I began to attend Bob’s church regularly. By the way…I never dated any one of the three
women.
When it came time to leave that community in
Iowa to move to Greenville…Bob suggested I check out a United Methodist
Church. I did…three months later…on the
first Easter morning I was in Greenville.
I found a sign that pointed me to Aldersgate United Methodist. I attended and was mesmerized by the preacher…
Sinclair Lewis. He was one of the finest
orators I had ever heard.
I attended his church for several months…when
one Sunday he announced that lay speaking classes would be held. At the end of the worship service…as we were
all leaving the sanctuary…I asked Sinclair to tell me more…four times I asked
him. Each time he would say only two
words…”Just go.” I finally realized I
was holding up the line of those waiting to leave the church…and moved on…never
knowing whether Sinclair was sure the classes were the right thing for me…or he
wanted to let others leave the church in order to get to lunch.
I attended that training session and many
more. For fifteen years I served as a
lay speaker…when in the spring of 2002 I was invited to speak to the men’s
group at Buncombe Street United Methodist Church. After speaking…the senior minister at the
church…Doug Bowling…said “We’ve got to get you a church.” After much protest…Doug convinced me to
follow the process for becoming a local pastor…and here I am today.
Like the Israelites…I didn’t know it then…but
God was with me on that rather circuitous path to where I am today…and there
may have been moments when I even denied that possibility But…now the truth is known…has been
revealed
Look at your life. I’m sure that you will also
be able to say that God was with you…even when it seemed he might not have
been…when the changes were rough.
Today marks another change in our collective
lives. You have a new minister in your
pulpit. I am beginning the process of
learning many new names and hearing many new life stories. I’ve been given the opportunity to serve you
and your families…and the opportunity to make new friendships. Know this…though there may be stumbles along
the way… God will be with us all the way…through times of joy and the times of
sorrow. I thank God for the opportunity
and thank you for allowing me into your lives.
If history and experience alone are
not enough…hear once again the words of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ…as
Matthew has reported them…”I am with you always…to the end of the age.”
When Jesus gave the disciples that
reassurance he also gave them instructions… instructions that are so important
today. “Go…make disciples.”
It is by following those instructions
that you will assure God’s kingdom becomes reality…in this church…in our
community…in our state…and in our nation.
You see…there are those who for their own misguided reasons…will attempt
to thwart God.
In South Carolina today…there are ten
families whose lives have been forever torn asunder…nine by death at the hands
of a hate-filled young man…and the family of that young man who had been lost
and is now in the custody of the criminal justice system. Some may ask where God was the evening of
Wednesday June 17th…may even say that God had left his own house. Just recall the name of the
church…Emanuel…”God with us.”
And…I do know that God was in the arms
of those who held strangers and wept with them…God was in the hearts of those
who lost loved ones yet forgave the person believed responsible…God was in the
hearts of those community leaders who said they would not let hate tear us
apart. God continues to be there as we
all mourn…as we work toward healing…and toward ending the hate that is so
strong in some hearts. God has been with
each of us throughout all time. Check his history. Check your history.
God will be with us as together we
take Jackson Grove United Methodist Church forward…and as we…each of us… play our
part in healing our community…state and nation…as we…each of us…do all of that
by actively making disciples…by sharing your story of God working in your life…by following God’s
command to love all of his creation and all in his creation…by asking whether
there is something you think, do or say that might show something other than
love…by reaching out to the less fortunate…the unseen…and loving them as you
love our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
The pundits and the politicians are
already making hay by asking the simple…surface…easily answered questions. Should the Confederate flag come
down?….YES! Should we have some reasonable
form of access to firearms? YES. Should
we be better at providing mental health care?
YES. Should those in church be
encouraged to carry weapons into worship or study? OF COURSE NOT.
They aren’t yet asking…much less
answering…the meaningful questions. How
does someone learn so much hate? How do
we assure that someone else doesn’t learn so much hate?
Martin Luther King, Jr. said it so
well when he said, “Hate doesn’t overcome hate.
Only love can do that.”
Jesus showed us how to love. It’s up to each of us to GO! Make disciples every day as you walk with
God…as He walks with you every day… through all that changes.