FOR YOUR INFORMATION
A sermon by George R. Pasley
1 Thessalonians 4:13-18; Matthew 25:1-13
Friday morning I went for a hike at
I went in the back way, and parked at Frog pond, making for a longer hike.
I’ve hiked that way so many times I practically know it by heart, but I haven’t been there in nearly a month. Little did I know.
Little did I know that something wonderful, something out-of-the-ordinary wonderful, was going to happen.
When I approached the small footbridge near the shelter where we hold Jacob’s Altar, three birds were startled by my steps and flew away- two ravens and one immature eagle. At the end of the bridge I saw what they had been doing- picking the bones of a dead salmon, which lay on the ground beside the bridge.
I looked up, and saw the eagle perched on a picnic table not 12 feet away.
I took a few steps, and closed the gap to eight feet.
The eagle remained for a few seconds and we eyed each other, eyeball-to-eyeball, before she flew away.
It was Serendipity, the accidental discovery of something fortunate.
I’m a believer in Serendipity. I remind myself daily that I cannot imagine the possibility for Serendipity that could happen at any moment, even though the news is bad, the weather gloomy, and prospects bleak.
But Serendipity is not Hope, and believing in Serendipity should not be confused with Christian faith.
Serendipity is accidental, unplanned, and surprising. But there is nothing accidental about what God did in Jesus Christ:
“Brothers & Sisters, we do not want you to be ignorant about those who fall asleep, or to grieve like the rest of humanity, who have no hope. We believe that Jesus died and rose again and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him.”
Jesus died and was raised from the dead. It was marvelous and wonderful beyond any adjective or superlative that we can name, yet it was not accidental. It was a gift to us from God, and because of it we dare to live differently than those who do not understand.
We live hopefully, even if we are cynics. In the words of a prayer that I often read at funerals, we “Live as those who are prepared to die, and we die as those who go forth to live.”
Let me tell you another story about Jim and Tammy. It is a true story, though not necessarily a unique story. In fact, the story’s normalcy is the reason I want to share it with you.
Jim was a college professor and he and Tammy participated in a Bible Study that I was part of more than twenty years ago. They were bright and smart and sociable, and everyone in the Bible Study appreciated their friendship. Once, or maybe twice, we met at their house. We met their four year old son David, a lively boy who kept us laughing and who kept Jim and Tammy busy.
For me, Jim and Tammy were evidence that life is sweet. Their friendship was sweet and they lived a good life. They were blessed by God and were a blessing to others. They had worked for everything they had, but they were grateful to God. Because we were in Bible Study together I knew theirs was not a charmed life-I know their life had its own hardships and challenges. Those things are facts of life, Christian-or -not.
Then I moved to a far corner of our state.
Then I moved again, to another state.
I lost touch with Jim and Tammy, but through a church newsletter I learned that Jim had died. In shock, I called another friend and asked what happened. The answer was cancer.
But the next newsletter had a thank you note from Tammy. It mentioned a prayer vigil that had been held for Jim in his waning days, and how he had been lifted up emotionally and spiritually by those prayers. It also mentioned the funeral service, which had been strong and vibrant and filled with hope. I knew that Tammy did not grieve as those who have no hope. Instead, I knew that she and Jim believed in the resurrection.
I knew that Jim was with Jesus, and I knew that Tammy knew.
I knew that Jim and Tammy had lived their lives as wise virgins, keeping their hearts filled with hope, certain that when the very worst that could happen in life happened, Jesus would come.
So death came, and they did not despair because Jesus died and was raised.
For your information, it will happen to you.
It will happen to me.
DEATH IS AN UNAVOIDABLE FACT.
Death is a fact of life, a fact even more certain than taxes.
But for your information, Jesus was raised from the dead and that is the most important fact of the Christian life.
In our manual for worship, our directory that guides us as we plan all the various services we conduct in the life of the church, the funeral has a special name. It is called, A SERVICE OF WITNESS TO THE RESURRECTION.
Nearly all Christians attend worship on a Sunday, most of them on Sunday morning, in celebration of the resurrection from the dead. Every Sunday is a little Easter. Every Sunday we proclaim, in some way, JESUS IS LORD, because he was raised from the dead.
But the news does not stop there, so be informed:
Because Jesus has taken the worst thing that can happen to us- death- and changed it into eternal life with God, everything on this side of death is changed as well.
Why? Because we do not live as those who do not hope.
So we believe that God hears and answers our prayers.
Why? Because we do not live as those who have no hope!
We believe that Jesus is with us in our sufferings.
Why? Because we do not live as those who have no hope!
We believe that by the strength of Jesus we can persevere.
Why? Because we do not live as those who have no hope!
We believe that our faith in Jesus is a guiding light through the valley of the shadow of death and through the very strange places that life sometimes takes us.
Why? Because we do not live as those who have no hope!
We believe in love and we know its power and we share that love in tangible ways.
Why? Because we do not live as those who have no hope!
But I know it’s hard. Last week, at the church I attended, we sang, “For All the Saints.” There’s a line in the song that goes, “We feebly struggle, they in glory shine,” and every time I sing that line I feel all the feebleness of my own struggles in life and in faith.
The message of that song, and of our faith, is that our struggles are made successful by the accomplishments of God in Jesus Christ. But I have some practical suggestions to help us live as those who hope.
First of all, remember.
Every Christian practice is based on memory. We remember the mighty acts that God has done for us, and we celebrate. On the first day of the week we remember that God created the universe, and we celebrate. We remember that God raised Jesus from the dead and we celebrate.
Read the Psalms and you will see that hundreds of them remember something that God has done, something so wonderful it exceeds Serendipity.
So remember. Then repeat what you remember. Say it out loud.
Shout it out
Sing it if you can.
If you can’t sing, then hum.
On most Sundays, we do them all. We repeat the Good News in a number of ways because repeating helps us remember, and because remembering what God has done helps us to look forward to what God WILL do.
Why? Because we do not live as those who have no hope!
Shout, JESUS IS LORD!
Every time we shout it, every time we say it, every time we whisper it, we thumb our nose at the bad facts of life and reinforce our belief in the good facts of life.
Then anticipate. Pray for Godly things to happen, and make a habit of looking for them. We can’t define what they will look like, but we will know them when we see them, just like I recognized Serendipity when I met the eagle at
So for your information, remember this: Hope is the oil in your lamp, the lamp that will let you see Jesus whenever God sends him your way.
Remember that, no matter what happens, and you’ll be ready for anything. Even resurrection.
In the name of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost. Amen.
