Some of you may have wondered why I have never posted any of my current writings or musings on here… I have my reasons. But perhaps this sermon, written for and delivered today, will help explain.
My mind is clearer now…at last…all too well…I can see where we all soon shall be.
If you strip away the myth from the man you will see where we all soon shall be.
Jesus, you’ve started to believe the things they say of you…
You really do believe this talk of God is true!
And all the good you’ve done will soon get swept away…
You’ve begun to matter more than the things you say!
With these words I began my very first Sunday morning sermon. In case you don’t recognize them, they are from the rock-opera Jesus Christ Superstar. I was fifteen years old and taking my first turn in the pulpit… and it was this very pulpit right here at what we then called the Church of Christ in Hartford.
After quoting these words, I stated that, while I did not accept the entire opera, I felt that parts of it could be used, and went on to concentrate on some of the teachings of Jesus, the ‘Things that He said!’ I quoted a number of Jesus’ adages and wrapped up with these very words…
“I should be at peace with my fellowman because, if I love him, how can I fight Him?
“I should be at peace with myself because, if I am satisfied with what I’ve got, how can I want anything?
“I should be at peace with God because, if I love Him above all else, I will do as he directs.
How can you get more out of life?
Be at peace with yourself…
Be at peace with your brother…
Be at peace with God… through… LOVE!
Yes, friends, it was the late 60’s and I was standing in a pulpit and preaching about peace and love…can you dig it?
Some of you may remember a short-lived TV series of the mid sixties called, I believe, “The Sons of Will Sonnet”. In each show, it seemed, Walter Brennen would be explaining the ‘facts of life’ to someone and finish it up with saying “No brag – just fact!” I mention that only because I intend to use that phrase this morning and I want you to be aware of where it came from.
A lot of things have changed in the 38 years since I gave that first sermon. I have loved deeply and lost soundly… I have been married three times, but never, it seems, for the right reasons… and I have a 28-year old son who is a computer engineer and is so much like me his mother can hardly stand it sometimes.
The world, itself, has changed! At the time I gave that sermon, the horror of Vietnam was coming into our living rooms every evening, and for the first time many began to question the reasoning of our leaders. Indeed, I would say that the whole culture that I grew up in was based on questioning everything around us. Let me read an excerpt from an application I once wrote when I first was moving into ministry up north.
I grew up in the Church of Christ in Hartford, IL, a small town southeast of Alton. At that time, the Hartford church was considered to be one of the ‘leading’ Churches of Christ. As a youth I attended all three weekly services as well as any special events. I grew up believing fully in God and Jesus and what the Bible said. As a teenager, I would attend Church Camp at High Hill, MO, and a study held over Christmas vacation in a western suburb of St. Louis. But the really big event each year was the Easter study held at Hartford. Kids from all over Illinois and Missouri would come to Hartford for three days and literally pack the small building. They would all be put up in family homes, and everyone would pitch in to take care of feeding and educating them during that time. Many of my memories and much of my Christian growth were influenced by these events.
I then list a few of the things I did to participate in services back then and talk about how I had considered a life of ministry and the reasons why I hadn’t pursued it at that time. I then wrote…
Eventually, as a ‘child of the sixties’ (I graduated high school in 1971) I developed a ‘mistrust’ of any kind of organization. Political, social, it didn’t matter. But that mistrust extended to what I considered to be ‘organized religion’. My reasoning went something like…“I feel closer to God standing in a forest or field made by His hand than in any building built by a man.” As I got older and out on my own, I began attending church less and less until, finally, I quit going at all.
This doesn’t mean that I gave up my beliefs! All of my life I have tried to live by the ideals and ideas that I learned from my Sunday School teachers, Elders, and parents. I may not have always succeeded, but I did try. And I can’t say that my life went smoothly. There were bumps, hills, mountains and cliffs. And every one of them, it seemed, I had to face alone.
That was written in 1999. And time, as they say, marches on.
James tells us to “Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him.”
But what did I know of God’s wisdom? An article I once wrote, and is posted on my website, tells how in spite of my upbringing in the church, I was more prone to believing the words of a popular song than I was to the Bible because I heard it more often and it said what I wanted to believe! And so, when Andrew Lloyd Weber’s Pilate says to Jesus, “But what is truth? Is truth unchanging law? We all have truths… are mine the same as yours?”, I ate it up and adopted it as a motto of sorts. I mean, what IS truth?
Let me read some more of that application, picking up with that last bit…
And I can’t say that my life went smoothly. There were bumps, hills, mountains and cliffs. And every one of them, it seemed, I had to face alone.
Until one Sunday, which chanced to fall on New Year’s Day, when my wife and I attended services next door. Though we had been married in that building, we did not attend any church for some years. But on that day, I would have sworn that the Pastor was talking just to me! Slowly, we both began to ease our way back to God. At first, I would even refuse to partake of communion when it was offered because I knew that my heart was not yet right with God. Eventually, though, I came to grips with my doubts and understanding of God, and soon was asked to participate in Sunday School, then to sing in the choir and so on. And when I came to look back over my life I realized that God had always been there! Just like the poem says, even during the times that my faith and belief were at their lowest, I could see the things that He had done, or tried to do, to protect me.
I then listed a number of things and projects that I had done, and was doing, in the church at that time and added that I had “made a commitment to God to use whatever part of my life He can use best”.
Sounds really good, doesn’t it? And when I said it, I meant it with all of my heart and soul! And still do! But, again, time marches on.
Almost three years ago, that great ‘love-of-my-live’ I mentioned earlier came back into my life. And to be truthful, I didn’t handle it very well. And so, here I am today, living back down here, going to school, and stressing out about the same little blond who gave me ulcers in high-school and college! I was driving through Belleville a few weeks ago on my route and was struck with the feeling that none of the last thirty-five-odd years had even existed… it was all for naught! And I had to really think about all that I had done!
In my years of living in Jacksonville, I become one of the most well-known and sought after Case tractor mechanics in ten counties… no brag… just fact. I recall one four-wheel drive tractor that would lock-up all four wheels whenever it was shifted into anything above 6th gear… another dealer had had three technicians out there for three days and couldn’t figure it out… it took me three hours! Starting from scratch and with no money I built up the largest outdoor-power equipment dealer in the area… no brag, just fact! Whenever I went to the different conventions and dealer meetings the big-dogs of the companies always seemed to know who I was and stop to say a word or two. And when I first started as a lay-speaker at the little Methodist church in Lynnville, they had an average attendance of 4-5 and were discussing the ways and means of closing the doors… When I left there last summer we averaged 20-25/Sunday and were becoming an involved congregation again… no brag… just fact!
And yet, if you go to my website and note my list of expertise, you will see that I include sinning… for that is something that I just can’t seem to get away from!!! Sometimes I truly feel like the man that James is writing about when he says, “he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. That man should not think he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all he does.”
I have always seemed to have a problem remembering names… when I had my shop and a regular customer of mine would come in, I would almost always have to ask their name, and I would apologize by pointing at the name on my shirt and saying, “I have to look here at least once a day to remember mine!” So, as I look out at all of you sitting here this morning, I recognize many faces, but remember very few names… and I, again, apologize for that. But what I do remember is that almost each and every one of you have played some part and hold some memory in my growing up and becoming what I am today. (Whether that’s a good or a bad thing remains to be seen!) But there is one very important one who is not here this morning… she was laid to rest just yesterday. And if ever there was a person who personified what it meant to be a Christian, it was her! Let me read some of these verses from James again as you think about how much it describes Corine…
Blessed is the man (or woman) who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him.
My dear brothers, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, for man’s anger does not bring about the righteous life that God desires.
Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it — he will be blessed in what he does.
If anyone considers himself religious and yet does not keep a tight rein on his tongue, he deceives himself and his religion is worthless. Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.
Would that I could pattern my life after the likes of her! However, I fear, I far more resemble James’ words when he says, “When tempted, no one should say, “God is tempting me.” For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; but each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.”
Each of us are human. Each of us makes mistakes. If we’re lucky, we learn from those mistakes and don’t repeat them. And if we’re really lucky we may even get to help others avoid making the same ones! But sometimes it’s hard to see and/or admit those mistakes… sometimes it’s hard to understand or accept God’s reasoning in allowing them to happen because we have become so absorbed in ourselves and our own wants and wishes that we refuse to accept that we might be wrong! That’s where I am in my life right now… and I thank God for people like Corine and those of you here that I can look at as a shining example of what a true acceptance of God means and how it shows in your own lives and all you touch.
But… if there are any here this morning who feel like they are less than shining… if there are those who feel more akin to me and my struggles… let me just say that there is hope for us! I mean, that’s what we’re here for this morning! That is what Jesus is all about! Jesus came for you and me and all who struggle with life’s issues and problems! Which, when you get right down to it, is… truly… every one of us!
Oh… there is one last thing that I would like to make absolutely clear. As to the words of that song that I opened with… WHO Jesus is… the Son of the Living God… is at least as important as what He taught us!
scluebbert 