Psalm
46:1-11
1God is our
refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. 2Therefore we
will not fear, though the earth should change, though the mountains shake in
the heart of the sea; 3though its waters roar and foam, though the
mountains tremble with its tumult.
4There is a
river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy habitation of the Most
High. 5God is in the midst of the city; it shall not be moved; God
will help it when the morning dawns.
6The nations
are in an uproar, the kingdoms totter; he utters his voice, the earth melts.
7The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge. 8Come,
behold the works of the Lord; see what desolations he has
brought on the earth. 9He makes wars cease to the end of the earth;
he breaks the bow, and shatters the spear; he burns the shields with fire.
10“Be still,
and know that I am God! I am exalted among the nations, I am exalted in the
earth.” 11The Lord of hosts is with us; the God
of Jacob is our refuge.
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Friday
night we had a really nice movie night here. It was a good reminder for me of
some of Laurelton’s strengths. It was relaxed and comfortable, like Laurelton. Our
challenge is making sure we’re always actively reaching out to include new people
in the intimacy and family feeling that makes this such a fun place to be.
The
reason I mention that now is that I want to bring that relaxed spirit to our
time with scripture right now. Ritual and worship are important in the
Christian life. Sermons help us learn and grow but they aren’t always the best
way to engage with scripture. That’s why I like to spend some of our “sermon
time” outside the box of traditional sermons.
The
church is a community shaped by love, trust and truth. Today we’re talking
about death, about aging, about facing the end of life, both our life and the
lives of those we care about. The end of life can be a scary topic. I suspect
fear of death and questions about the afterlife are some of the most important
reasons people come to church and run away from church.
Because
the topic is already surrounded by anxiety, I think it’s going to be more
helpful for us to have a relaxed conversation about life and death than for me
to just stand up here and preach a sermon. I’ve done some thinking and writing
in preparation for this moment, but I want your questions and thoughts to guide
us too. This is only going to work if we can trust each other. Different people
have different beliefs about death and the afterlife. The point isn’t getting
the right answer to intellectual questions about Christian teaching. We’re here
to listen to each other and to bring our questions and fears to God’s word,
trusting that God speaks through scripture and through us.
It’s OK if someone believes something that we
don’t think is true: we are always learning and growing, so there’s no need to
correct each other right now. And it’s OK if you don’t have the “right” answer.
You can share your thoughts and fears here without worrying what someone else will
think. So I want us to promise here and now that we will listen to each other
without judgment, that we will share honestly and that we will respect each
other. OK?
Great.
So let’s start with a question: What was your first experience with death? Not
everyone has to share, but let’s hear from a few people.
What
emotion do you feel or think of when you think about death?
That’s
the warm up. Here’s the big question: What is your biggest fear about death?
Think about that for a moment then get into groups of three or four and talk
about it for a couple of minutes.
Now
I’d love for you to share your fear in a word or sentence.
Hold
onto that word while we listen to God’s word from Paul’s second letter to the
Corinithians: 2 Corinthians 4:5-18; if you’re reading along, that’s page___.
5For we do
not proclaim ourselves; we proclaim Jesus Christ as Lord and ourselves as your
slaves for Jesus’ sake. 6For it is the God who said, “Let light
shine out of darkness,” who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the
knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. 7But we
have this treasure in clay jars, so that it may be made clear that this
extraordinary power belongs to God and does not come from us.
8We are
afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; 9persecuted,
but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; 10always carrying
in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be made
visible in our bodies. 11For while we live, we are always being
given up to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus may be made
visible in our mortal flesh. 12So death is at work in us, but life
in you.
13But just as
we have the same spirit of faith that is in accordance with scripture—“I believed,
and so I spoke” —we also believe, and so we speak, 14because we know
that the one who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus, and will
bring us with you into his presence. 15Yes, everything is for your
sake, so that grace, as it extends to more and more people, may increase
thanksgiving, to the glory of God.
16So we do not
lose heart. Even though our outer nature is wasting away, our inner nature is
being renewed day by day. 17For this slight momentary affliction is
preparing us for an eternal weight of glory beyond all measure, 18because
we look not at what can be seen but at what cannot be seen; for what can be
seen is temporary, but what cannot be seen is eternal.
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Are
there any ideas or words that jump out at you from that passage?
Any
areas of the passage that spoke to the fears we talked about?
Is
there anything there that touches how you think about life and death?
There’s
a tension in Christian faith between life and death. This is certainly not the
only place we see that dynamic at work, but it’s on full display here. Life and
death are related, not opposites. And life and death are not all or nothing;
there’s a continuum, which I think we know from our own lives, right?
Part
of aging is the power of physical life in us getting weaker. We get achier and
our bodies are less able to do the things they used to be able to do. So in
that process of getting older we see a side of death. That’s part of why we do
things like dye our hair or buy anti-aging creams. Our culture worships youth
and a superficial kind of beauty connected with youth. Along with that, we
worship speed and wealth and other signs of outward power. In popular culture
life is about success, about having it all together. When we don’t feel like we
have it all together, when we don’t feel fast or successful or young we feel
the threat of death creeping up on us. That can be as major as a cancer
diagnosis or as minor as a cold that slows us down and keeps us from doing what
we “have to do.”
Paul
sees it a different way. He looks at the story of Jesus, how the Lord Jesus
Christ gave up the infinite power of divinity to become fragile and human and
weak. He not only faced all the normal challenges of life, he faced the pain of
torture and death to bring us closer to God. The life of God, true life itself,
showed up most clearly in a man willing to die.
In
death and in his resurrection Jesus shows that true life is more than success
and wealth and power. Those things seemed so important in his culture and seem
so important in ours, but they are not what matters most. By rising from the
dead, Jesus shows that death isn’t the end; it’s not the ultimate power. And
when we put our trust in Jesus we find the life beyond death, the endless power
of love shining in our hearts too.
There’s
great power in that faith, the Holy Spirit working in us. When we read about
the early church we see that God gave the apostles power to do miracles. Many
members of those first churches had miraculous powers of healing and prophecy.
It can almost seem like there’s a new ideology of power in Christian faith,
that we replace wealth and social/political power with spiritual power, but
that’s not quite it.
Paul
says we have this treasure, that’s the treasure of the Holy Spirit, the
treasure of Christ’s light, we have this treasure in clay vessels, so that it
will be clear that the power in us comes from God, not from us. In other words,
our weakness is part of our witness to God’s love and power. When we do our
best as a church, when we become more loving and welcoming than we ever thought
we could, our mistakes and our basic human frailty remind us that it’s not
about us; it’s about Christ in us. Our aches and pains, our weariness, our
nervousness and stammering speech are not limitations to the gospel. Our limitations
point people to God instead of to us.
Part
of what Paul talks about when he thinks about the power of Christ in us is that
because Christ has been raised, we will be raised with him. That’s one of the
most important Christians convictions. In faith we are joined with Christ in
his death and so we’ll be joined with him in his resurrection as well. Death is
not the end, and surprisingly, if we loosen our grip on life, we find a life
that’s fuller and more open.
The
other part of that is maybe even more important for us since many of our fears
are really about aging more than about death itself. That is that in our aging,
in our weakness, in all the small ways death creeps into our life now, we are
able to show Christ’s life through our weakness. Paul talks about it especially
in terms of his persecution and abuse, but it’s true in the natural process of
illness and aging too.
The
weaker we are, the more it’s obvious that the strength in us comes from beyond
us. We can learn that lesson when we’re strong and young and healthy and
successful, but often when things are going well we get caught up in ourselves
and in our success. When things aren’t going smoothly, when the tests come back
positive, when the cough won’t go away, when we can’t do it on our own anymore
we’re forced to lean on God.
How
does that fit with your experience? How has your faith changed as you have aged
and faced illness?
That’s
true not only in our own aging and illness; it’s also true in the lives of
those we care for. When we care for aging or dying parents or spouses or
friends we are reminded how fragile we all are. We’re also reminded of what’s
really important: love, tenderness, care, laughter, singing, prayer, time
that’s not counted by a clock. We’re reminded to get off the endless treadmill
of the rat race and focus on something more fleeting and also more eternal.
When
I lift up the holiness of caring for a dying loved one I’m not denying that it
is a hard, sometimes grinding ministry. It’s exhausting for someone to depend
on us. There are so many emotions that come with caring for someone else.
There’s tenderness, but there’s also frustration. There’s love, but also anger
and guilt. There are moments of joy and peace, and sometimes hours of bone-deep
exhaustion. Sometimes we feel guilty about feeling tired or angry or
frustrated, but those feelings are natural and you are allowed to feel them. When
you care for someone else, you also need to care for yourself. You need time
away, time to recover.
You need to continue your life too, but let
it be a changed life. A life marked by compassion and humility in rest as well
as in care. Let it be a life marked by knowing that success isn’t the most
important thing, even as we strive to succeed. Let your life carry the
experience of illness and aging and death within it, and the eternal life of Christ
will shine through you.
It’s
not that God weakens us so we’ll depend on God. Time and trouble and chance do
that all on their own. When we’re weak we can get bitter and depressed or we
can lean on God. We can open our eyes and our hearts to the lessons still to be
learned, the lessons sometimes only failure can teach. We can’t do it alone and
we don’t have to. Even though our outer nature, even though our strength and
health and wealth are wasting away, our inner nature, our Christ Spirit, our
inner light are being renewed day by day.
Thanks
be to God.
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