11.5.23 "Worthy" - Westminster Presbyterian Church, Pasadena, CA

Joshua 3.7-17; 1 Thessalonians 2.9-13

On the Damascus Road, a flash of light, a voice … Saul falls to the ground … bewildered, confused … blinded by the light.

In that moment, Saul learns one of the greatest lessons of life - he had it all wrong.

It’s not the first time religious people have been wrong …

Some years back, I was involved in labor organizing, to help LAX hotel workers to unionize - for better wages, more benefits, job security, job safety.

We met with a hotel representative, along with several attorneys from management … the representative spoke of her faith in Christ, and made it clear that we had no right to be there, to disrupt the work of the hotel - that everything was good … and again, she made it clear, she was a Christian, she went to church, she believed … and made it abundantly clear that we needed to get outta there.

I said: “It’s not the first time people of faith have been on the wrong side of history.”

People of faith defended the enslavement of millions.

People of faith participated in the genocide of Indigenous Peoples.

People of faith stood with Hitler and Mussolini.

People of faith told little Ruby Bridges “You don’t belong here!”

People of faith told Rosa Parks, “Sit in the back of the bus!”

People of faith breathed a sign of relief when Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was murdered.

On the Damascus Road, Saul learned how to put things back together again, in new arrangement … all the materials were there - Saul’s intelligence, faith, energy, wisdom - but sometimes the room and its furniture need to be rearranged - a new configuration, a new alignment, some fresh paint and new curtains.

Over the years, I’ve learned, too … and you have, as well … the Christian journey is one of discovery and growth … God welcomes us as we are, and then begins to reshape us.

Let’s get back to Saul … now known as Paul.

Once again in Paul’s letter, he defends himself:

We didn’t put a burden on you … says Paul.

We are pure in our motives … upright and blameless in our conduct … like parents with a child, we loved you … we encouraged you to live a life worthy of God.

A life worthy of God … maybe you’re thinking right now, “What’s a life worthy of God? How can I get a handle on it?”

I remember Burt, my Sunday School teacher … I was 5 or six years old - our Sunday School class met in the church kitchen … there we were, among the pots and pans, cupboards and stoves … I asked a question, and the class laughed … I have no idea what the question was … and I don’t recall what Burt said to me, but the impression left upon me - I remember, to this very day … he didn’t laugh at my question … he treated me with care, my question, with dignity … a little moment in time for a little boy … but in that moment, Burt lived a life worthy of God.

I remember Mr. Goetzloff … his greenhouse behind his home … I can see it in my mind’s eye, and smell it - that rich, moist, smell of green … I remember walking along the sidewalk one day, I was likely no more than three … my mother was with me, and when I saw Mr. Goetzloff, I ran off to greet him, and I remember - hugging his leg … my mother said, “Be careful” … as a small boy’s enthusiasm might cause a tumble.

I think Mr. Goetzloff lived a life worthy of God - you can’t fool a child.

Over the years, teachers, professors, ministers; friends along the way - I’ve been fortunate … 

Were they perfect human beings?

I’m sure each of them, at the end of the day, had regret and sorrow, like we all do.

Not even the best baseball player gets a hit every time … the best bowlers roll a 300-game only a few times, if ever … the world’s finest musicians still miss a note … the best writers can publish a lousy novel.

We will not always be loving, wise, compassionate, or kind … we will not always be at our best … but the Holy Spirit continues to work within us … instilling virtue and vitality … nudging us along the way, and sometimes kicking us in the pants.

Years ago, the Ecumenical Institute, had a little ritual before we ate the evening Sunday supper: the host at the table would ask: “Were you faithful to the LORD this week?”

Only two answers were allowed: 

“Yes and No!” or “No and Yes!” 

No one is every totally faithful … and no one is ever totally faithless … though one or the other prevails for a time … oscillating backing and forth, jockeying for the lead in the race we’re all running.

We’re always saints and we’re always sinners throughout the week, sometimes a bit more saintly … and sometimes the other way around …  

Yet, I dare say, we manage to live a life worthy of God … just like Burt the Sunday School teacher, and Mr. Goetzloff, with his greenhouse …

Who was your Burt? … or your Mr. Goetzloff? 

All the good people we don’t even know … strangers - who simply do life, as best they can …  

The cashier who smiles at us … the neighbor who greets us … the co-worker who asks how we’re doing and actually takes the time to listen. 

Millions and millions of people - all around the world.

It’s does us good to remember them, to give thanks for them … learn from them … pattern our lives after them …  

In a world where the bad things make it into the headlines - because bad news sells, it does us well to remember how many good and decent people there are … all in their own way, all around the world, living lives worthy of God.

They reach for the heavens …

pursue justice …

speak the truth …

They practice forgiveness …

look on the bright side of things …

walk on the sunny side of the street …

They support science and learning …

they read books rather than ban and burn them …

they weep with those who weep; and rejoice with those who rejoice …

they pay attention … they share, care, and dare … they live life large.

And woven into all of it:

God at work, in all things for good - 

what we leave undone will be finished … 

what needs to be undone will be rearranged and repaired … 

what good we’ve done will be blessed and multiplied many times over.

Time and eternity in partnership … to bring about the good day of God’s delight.

We go to bed at night … with two prayers: 

LORD, thank you for all the good I did today … give me the eyes to see that good … the mind to know it - to know I’m moving right along, and your hand, dear God, is upon me.

And then a second prayer:

LORD, have mercy for what I’ve failed to do well, or didn’t do at all, and all the times I didn’t care, and did lousy with friend and family …  forgive me … and all will be well.

A life - worthy of God …  

Amen and Amen!

May 24, 2009 - "Eternal Life"

Check HERE for audio.

John 7:6-19; I John 5:9-13

After a long illness, a woman died and arrived at the Gates of Heaven. While she was waiting for Saint Peter to greet her, she peeked through the Gates and saw that it was very beautiful.
Saint Peter came by and nodded.
The woman said to him "This is such a wonderful place! How do I get in?"

"You have to spell a word", Saint Peter told her.
"Which word?" the woman asked.
"Love."

The woman correctly spelled "Love" and Saint Peter welcomed her into Heaven.

A year later, Saint Peter came to the woman and asked her to watch the Gates of Heaven for him that day. While the woman was guarding the Gates of Heaven, her husband arrived.

"I'm surprised to see you," the woman said. "How have you been?"

"Oh, I've been doing pretty well since you died," her husband told her. "I married the beautiful young nurse who took care of you while you were ill. And then I won the lottery. I sold the little house you and I lived in and bought a big mansion. And my wife and I traveled all around the world. We were on vacation and I went water skiing today. I fell, the ski hit my head, and here I am. How do I get in?"

"You have to spell a word", the woman told him.
"Which word?" her husband asked.
"Czechoslovakia."

**************

An 85-year-old couple, married 60 years, died in a car crash. They had been in good health over the years, mainly due to her interest in health food and exercise.

When they reached the pearly gates, St. Peter took them to their mansion, which was decked out with a beautiful kitchen and master bath suite and Jacuzzi. As they "ooohed and aaahed" the old man asked Peter how much all this was going to cost.

"It's free," Peter replied, "this is Heaven."

Next they went out back to see the championship golf course that the home backed up to. They would have golfing privileges everyday and each week the course changed to a new one representing the great golf courses on earth.

The old man asked, "What are the green fees?"

Peter's reply, "This is heaven, you play for free."

Next they went to the clubhouse and saw the lavish buffet lunch with the cuisines of the world laid out.

"How much to eat?" asked the old man.

"Don't you understand yet? This is heaven, it’s free!" Peter replied.

"Well, where are the low fat and low cholesterol foods?" the old man asked timidly. "That's the best part,” said St. Peter ...you can eat as much as you like of whatever you like and you never get fat and you never get sick. This is Heaven."

The old man looked at his wife and said, "You and your bran muffins - I could have been here ten years ago!

*********

Eternal life … life after death … life beyond the grave; the better place and the home in the sky …
Egyptians built pyramids and mummified their kings and queens … and stocked the burial chamber with food and drink.
Greek philosophers envisioned a perfect world, and when we shed the weakness of the flesh, our soul flies off to everlasting peace.
Revival preachers warn their audiences about hell with lurid descriptions of fire and brimstone, so you better get right with Jesus.
Islam and Buddhism, all have some version of life after death.
Not that everyone has been so happy with the idea – Karl Marx rightly described the doctrine of eternal life as an opiate for the people – just tell the poor and the oppressed, the enslaved and the imprisoned, that a better life awaits them in eternity, with mansions and pearly gates and golden streets – until then, obey the king, accept your place in the world, and do and believe what the priest tells you to do.
No wonder Marx reacted so bitterly to the doctrine of eternal life.

Some have said: when you’re dead, you’re dead! That’s all folks!
Nothing more.
Dust to dust, earth to earth, ashes to ashes.
A friend of mine says, “When you die, you rot!”
My friend as least gets an A for bluntness!

Yet the human spirit longs for something more than just the span of years we have here …

In song and story, art and drama, even jokes … life after death … something more, something greater than the span of our years here, something beyond the grave.

Wishful thinking?
Are we fooling ourselves?
Is death the final reality?
The final word?
The end of it all?

John Donne, the 16th Century poet, wrote powerfully about death …

Death be not proud, though some have called thee
Mighty and dreadful, for, thou art not so,
For, those, whom thou think’st, thou dost overthrow,
Die not, poor death, nor yet canst thou kill me;
From rest and sleep, which but thy pictures be,
Much pleasure, then from thee, much more must flow,
And soonest our best men with thee do go,
Rest of their bones, and soul’s delivery.
Thou art slave to fate, chance, kings, and desperate men,
And dost with poison, war, and sickness dwell,
And poppy, or charms can make us sleep as well,
And better than thy stroke; why swell’st thou then?
One short sleep past, we wake eternally,
And death shall be no more, Death thou shalt die.

Paul the Apostle writes [1 Corinthians 15]:

Christ has been raised from the dead,
The first fruits of those who have died.

When this perishable body puts on imperishability,
And this mortal body puts on immortality,
Then the saying that is written will be fulfilled:
‘Death has been swallowed up in victory.’
‘Where, O death, is your victory?
Where, O death, is your sting?’

Thanks be to God, who gives us the victory
Through our LORD Jesus Christ.

Therefore my beloved,
Be steadfast, immovable, always excelling
In the work of the LORD,
Because you know that in the LORD
Your labor is not vain.

The gift of eternal life.
A gift from the heart of God.
For all of God’s creation.
The promise of something new …
A new heaven and a new earth …
No one lost …
No one left behind …
For God so loved the world.

Eternal life - does it make a difference?

Paul writes to his friends: if for this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied.

If with merely human hopes I fought with wild animals at Ephesus, what would I have gained by it?
If the dead are not raised.
‘Let us eat and drink,
for tomorrow we die.’

Without a sense of eternity,
Something goes very wrong inside of us.

Life becomes a desperate run … to eat and drink our fill, because it’s all going to go away.
If we don’t have it now, we’ll never have it.

We become consumers … mindless consumers of everything.
The latest this and the biggest that.
Seize life by the throat –
Buy it, own it, drive it, see it – do it now before you hit the ground!

Without eternity,
We come to expect too much of life.
More than life can deliver.

This is not heaven on earth.
This is earth, and it’s wonderful.
And God said, ‘It is good.’
But there are limits for all of us …
Severe limits for millions …
Death and disease, war and famine …

For us here, in the land of the free, we’ve come close to creating heaven on earth … it’s marvelous to behold what we have fashioned, but it’s done hard things to our soul …

We have come to expect way too much of life.
Preachers of health, wealth and happiness promise us the moon, if we would only buy their book and attend their seminar!
The gurus of finance and prosperity beguile us with images of wealth …
Teachers of “be all you can be” and “you’re number 1” …
Five steps to success … three secrets of happiness … how to lose weight and live longer … cosmetics to take the years off … surgery to fix the nose … science and medicine to cure our diseases and prolong our lives …
We expect so much of life, because we fear that life is all there is.

And Christianity hasn’t helped us …
If there was a time when Medieval Christianity was all ABOUT eternity, much of Christianity these days is mostly warmed over porridge.
Oh sure, we talk about eternal life, but we don’t integrate it into our thinking, our daily prayers, our sense of life and hope, and most importantly, our sense of justice!

If life here is all we have … then the fear of death, the end, the terminal point, becomes a shadow hovering over everything we do and think … we don’t talk about death very well, and, of course, no one dies, they just “pass away,” flitting off to some better place, or maybe they just go away, and with a little luck, we can get on with our busy lives again, and those who linger and cry for the loss of a loved one – we tell them to get on with their life and we hurry away to our next meeting and go out shopping.
If life here is all we have, we have a lot, but we don’t have enough!

Jesus asks us: To what end and for what purpose, you gain the whole world and then forfeit your life? [Matthew 16:26].

Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal; but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven … for where you treasure is, there you will find your heart [Matthew 6:19-21].

The writer to Timothy notes: There is great gain in godliness combined with contentment; for we brought nothing into the world, so that we can take nothing out of it; but if we have food and clothing, we will be content with these. But those who want to be rich fall into temptation and are trapped by many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil, and in their eagerness to be rich, some have wondered away form the faith, and pierced themselves with many pains [2 Timothy 6:6-10].

As for those who in the present age are rich, command them not to be haughty, or to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but rather on God who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. They are to do good, to be rich in good works, generous, and ready to share, thus storing up for themselves the treasure of a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of the life that really is life [2 Timothy 6:17-19].

Paul writes: I have learned to be content with whatever I have. I know what it is to have little, and I know what is to have to plenty. In any and all circumstances I have learned the secret of being well-fed and of going hungry, of having plenty and of being in need. I can do all things through him who strengthens me [Philippians 4:11b-13a].

Life is good, but our hold on life is slim.
The last time I checked, the mortality rate was still 100 per cent – we’re all on a train called time.

Sooner or later, we draw our last breath here on earth, and take our first breath of the clean cool air of eternity.

Eternity on our mind, our minds are not so restless, our lives not so frantic … a little peaceable in our pace, living through each other rather than living against each other.

Eternity in our spirit, we’re a little more relaxed and a bit more thankful … food and drink taste better.
Eternal life embedded in our consciousness, we count our blessings rather than our wants, and we share a little more easily …
Eternity ahead of us, we face the end with a deeper sense of peace …

This is world is our home, that’s for sure; but it’s a temporary home.

We’re all travelers in time.

One short sleep past, we wake eternally,
And death shall be no more, Death thou shalt die.

Amen and Amen!