From beginning to end, God is with us: an affirmation as old as faith itself. From beginning to end, God is with us.

Transcription

1 From Beginning to End Jeremiah 23:1-6; Luke 1:68-79; Luke 23:33-43 The Reign of Christ Sunday, November 20, 2016 Mary Taylor Memorial United Methodist Church, Milford, Connecticut The Rev. Dr. Brian R. Bodt, Pastor From beginning to end, God is with us: an affirmation as old as faith itself. From beginning to end, God is with us. Simple? Yes. Simplistic? You decide. I ll tell you this: it s a life-saver when we re on the roller-coaster of life. Ah, rollercoasters. I used to love them. But I knew I d crossed a threshold when my eldest son became a teenager and we rode Alpen Geist Alpine Spirit in Busch Gardens, Virginia. I m not a huge fan of theme parks but it was my concession to subjecting my sons to two days of American history at Colonial Williamsburg. By whatever twisted logic, I thought Dan should not ride on this roller coaster alone. Dan came off exhilarated and I was sick to my stomach the rest of the day! The roller coaster of life exhilarates some of us and nauseates others. So it s important to remember the constancy of God in the ups and downs of our lives. Today s scriptures bear witness to this. I was, at first, troubled by these texts. It s one thing to preach Jesus crucifixion on Good Friday but quite another on Thanksgiving Sunday. Yet the text is here for a reason. Today is also the last Sunday of the Christian year, the Reign of Christ Sunday. This story reminds us that Christ s victory and reign are different from our assumptions and also weathered a roller-coaster ride. The kind of victory God promises is told found in the Benedictus, the traditional name (from the Latin) for Zechariah s hymn of praise that we read a few moments ago. It is in response to the birth of his son, John the Baptist.

2 To understand this outburst we have to understand Zechariah s story. If you want to follow it with me, it s in the earlier part of Luke 1, page 931 in your pew bibles. Zechariah was a priest in the temple. He was visited by the angel Gabriel and told his wife would bear a son, to be named John, who would have the spirit and power of Elijah. Elijah was the greatest Old Testament prophet. With understandable uncertainty Zechariah, replies, How will I know that this is so? For I am an old man, and my wife is getting on in years. He s obviously wise because he s old but his wife is only getting on in years! So Gabriel replies: I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God, and I have been sent to speak to you and to bring you this good news. But now, because you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled in their time, you will become mute, unable to speak, until the day these things occur. So it was. Elizabeth bore a son, they brought him to the temple on the 8 th day for circumcision and naming and the family think, My Big Fat Greek Wedding said he had to be named Zechariah after his father. Somehow Zechariah had told Elizabeth that the child would be named John because that s what she said. When the family objected, they motioned to Zechariah who wrote His name is John. Immediately Zechariah s mouth is opened that THAT S when he pours out the Benedictus: God will send a mighty Savior who will forgive sins (1:77) and give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death (1:79). If this sounds familiar it s because he s quoting Isaiah 9:2. Zechariah and Elizabeth certainly came to know the roller coaster of faith. Their son John the Baptist became a mighty prophet of God, and many including Jesus came to him to

3 receive baptism and blessing. The sacred texts do not tell us if they were alive when John was beheaded by Herod, to suffer the excruciating pain of the death of a child. Or whether they were present at the cross when Jesus fulfilled John s prophecy declaring Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do (23:34) and Today you shall be with me in Paradise. (23:43) Whether Zachariah was there, we have been there. We have been at the place where our hopes have run out, only to hear the words of blessing that tell us God is in charge and we are not alone. Mel White knows such a blessing. His autobiography, Stranger at the Gate, is the surprising story of his life as a Christian evangelical, growing up in a traditional conservative Christian household. He became a successful filmmaker, clergyman, husband and father. He wrote speeches and books for Billy Graham, Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson and Jim and Tammy Bakker. Within the limits of that world he created a happy life. But Mel White knew that from his earliest awareness he was attracted to men, not women. He did not choose that attraction any more than you or I choose the color of our eyes or skin. He was taught that attraction was a sin in God s eyes. So he tried everything therapy, electro-therapy, self-denial to get straight. On several occasions he nearly took his own life. Only when he was able to accept himself as God created him a gay man worthy of being in a loving relationship with another man was he able to receive the blessing God intended for his life. I commend his book to you.

4 Janet Wolf knows the place where hope runs out. She worked as a farm laborer and cleaned houses to earn her way through seminary. She was finally ordained a United Methodist minister and sent to a rural four-point charge in Lawrence County, Tennessee. Even before she arrived in town she was denounced by other churches because she was a women cleric. Her sons were bullied by classmates who called them children of the devil. Several people left her churches. Finally, a turning point came at the funeral of a member held at a neighboring church. Although she was not allowed in the pulpit of the church, she was allowed to give the eulogy at graveside. Despite her anger and hurt, she spoke the words of life in the face of death, and could see the beginnings of acceptance in the faces of the people, clergy and lay. From beginning to end, God is with us. This does not change the reality of the cross, which is that life is not always easy or fair. Nor does it change the deeper reality of the cross, which is the self-giving, life-giving character of God in Jesus Christ. Jesus words and actions draw us to the way we hope to be when we fully entrust our lives to God. In our most excruciating, painful, seemingly irredeemable hours contain seeds of resurrection hope and transformation. With these seeds, God stands ready to reap a harvest of love in a relationship with God that will last forever. The Rev. Dr. Alyce McKenzie tells of the funeral of Derek, a teen-age boy who died of leukemia. Derek had been a very thoughtful young man with a beautiful voice who loved the hymns of the church. So Derek s clergyman father, John, made sure the service included the hymns Derek asked to be sung. The day of the funeral, the church was filled with somber, dark-clad mourners, friends of Derek s and clergy colleagues of

5 John s. The singing on the first hymn was weak and the sound of crying competed with the organ. After the first stanza, John signaled to the organist to stop playing and turned to address the congregation. With all due respect for your grief, he said with the slightest of smiles, your singing on that first stanza was pathetic. Derek chose those hymns for you to sing, and you are United Methodists so I know you can sing; maybe not on key, but loudly and with gusto. And I know that you are Christians, which means that even today you can sing loudly and with gusto. So I would ask you to sing the verse once more, not fueled by feeling alone, but by faith, for this was Derek s favorite hymn. And so they sang: O for a thousand tongues to sing my great Redeemer s praise, The glories of my God and King, the triumphs of his grace. From beginning to end, God is with us. We are not alone. Thanks be to God!