Advent Midweek, Renewal of Strength 2011

Advent Midweek December 14, 2011

Text: Isaiah 40:30-31

Why do you say, O Jacob, and speak, O Israel, “My way is hidden from the LORD, and my right is disregarded by my God”? Have you not known? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable. He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might he increases strength. Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted; but they who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.

Max Cleland was in his early twenties when he volunteered for duty in Viet Nam. One month from the end of his tour, he found himself in the battle of Khe Sanh. Once he had to jump out of a helicopter and saw a grenade at his feet. Thinking it had fallen off his own gear, he reached to pick it up. There was a blinding explosion. He was taken by chopper to a surgical hospital forty miles away. He should have been dead. His right arm and both legs were gone. He had shrapnel wound in his windpipe. He clung to life by sheer will power. For the next eighteen months he was in and out of hospitals. He was assured that he would never walk again. He was glad to be alive but glad of little else. And you thought you were having a bad day.

Max Cleland recalls the worst moment for him. It was when a former girlfriend had come to see him and have lunch. Approaching a crossing, Max pitched forward out of his wheelchair and into the gutter:

I flailed helplessly like a fish out of water, lying in the dirt and cigarette butts. Two men rushed up and lifted me back into the wheelchair. My companion was almost hysterical, crying over and over, “I'm sorry, Max! I'm sorry!” The shame and embarrassment of the spill seared me like a burn that continued to throb. I couldn't forget the first time I met her. I was twenty-four, and I stood six-feet two inches tall. Now I was in a wheelchair. I thought, “Is this all that's left for me—to be hauled around like a sack of potatoes for the rest of my life? No! I'm not always going to be helpless. I will need a lot of help from God, family and friends, but I'm going to make a difference in this world.

Max Cleland returned to his hometown of Lithonia, Georgia, learned to walk with artificial limbs, learned to drive by adapting his car and set up his own apartment to live independently. In 1970 he ran successfully for the Georgia state senate, in 1977 he was named head of the Veterans' Administration and in 1996 became a United States senator from Georgia.

It has been said that each one of us is handicapped in some way. For some of us the handicaps are obvious—Max Cleland without legs, arm, in a wheelchair. We can readily see those handicapped with deformities, with debilitating illnesses. We cannot so readily see those who are wracked by worry, who cover their pain, who look good on the outside but are nevertheless disabled within. Many of us have disabilities that others cannot see.

Every human society considers weakness a bad thing. We admire the talented, the wealthy, and the successful, as the world defines success. We reward the strong. We all want to be on the winning team.

But what about you? Are you weary? Are you tired?

If you are under pressure, if you face obstacles that look too tall to climb, then the prophet Isaiah has words of encouragement for you this evening. He writes: “God is the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary. He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might he increases strength.”

In this world, even those who are winning today, will be losers tomorrow. One day, you’re on the top. The next day, you’re at the bottom. Even the best of the best know that you can’t win always. No matter how skilled your are, no matter how good you are at what you do, you can hit a homerun every time at bat. Some days you strike out. So to really succeed, you have to find strength somewhere besides your talents, skills, money and accomplishment.

Like Isaiah says: “Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted; but they who wait for the Lord will renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be wear; they shall walk and not faint.”

The Bible does not give us answers as to why it was that Max Cleland landed on that grenade. I cannot tell you why one person gets cancer, another loses his business, and someone else fights clinical depression. But we can say that our troubles can be opportunities for us to come closer to God.

We can even learn to be thankful for our weaknesses because it is often God’s way to do great things through humble people. Remember that when the Son of God came to save us, He didn’t come on a white stallion. He came as an infant, nursing at his mother’s breast. And it was through the humiliation of the cross, naked and beaten, that He gave His life as the payment for our sins.

Our weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions and calamities are opportunities for God to reveal His grace and His glory. As we are weak, we come to know that Christ is strong. As we triumph over our adversities, we are empowered by God working in us. St. Paul could also say, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” We may all be handicapped or weak in some way, but we also have a mighty and powerful and loving God. We are strong in Christ. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Advent Midweek, Renewal of Strength 2011

Advent Midweek

December 14, 2011

Text: Isaiah 40:30-31

Why do you say, O Jacob, and speak, O Israel, “My way is hidden from the LORD, and my right is disregarded by my God”? Have you not known? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable. He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might he increases strength. Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted; but they who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.

Max Cleland was in his early twenties when he volunteered for duty in Viet Nam. One month from the end of his tour, he found himself in the battle of Khe Sanh. Once he had to jump out of a helicopter and saw a grenade at his feet. Thinking it had fallen off his own gear, he reached to pick it up. There was a blinding explosion. He was taken by chopper to a surgical hospital forty miles away. He should have been dead. His right arm and both legs were gone. He had shrapnel wound in his windpipe. He clung to life by sheer will power. For the next eighteen months he was in and out of hospitals. He was assured that he would never walk again. He was glad to be alive but glad of little else. And you thought you were having a bad day.

Max Cleland recalls the worst moment for him. It was when a former girlfriend had come to see him and have lunch. Approaching a crossing, Max pitched forward out of his wheelchair and into the gutter:

I flailed helplessly like a fish out of water, lying in the dirt and cigarette butts. Two men rushed up and lifted me back into the wheelchair. My companion was almost hysterical, crying over and over, “I'm sorry, Max! I'm sorry!” The shame and embarrassment of the spill seared me like a burn that continued to throb. I couldn't forget the first time I met her. I was twenty-four, and I stood six-feet two inches tall. Now I was in a wheelchair. I thought, “Is this all that's left for me—to be hauled around like a sack of potatoes for the rest of my life? No! I'm not always going to be helpless. I will need a lot of help from God, family and friends, but I'm going to make a difference in this world.

Read more: Advent Midweek, Renewal of Strength 2011

Advent Midweek, Renewal 2011

Last Updated on Sunday, 01 January 2012 01:48

Advent Midweek
December 21, 2011
Romans 12:1-2

Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

We are continuing our midweek series on the theme of renewal.

St. Paul says to be transformed by the renewing of your mind. The Greek word he uses for transformation there is meta-morph-o-o. It literally means to change into another form. And it’s where we get our English word, “metamorphosis.” It’s what happens when a caterpillar changes into a butterfly. Your metamorphosis through Christ is equally dramatic. We who are caterpillars are to become butterflies. Are there any caterpillars out there tonight?

I want you to notice that St. Paul uses the passive voice when he says, be transformed. Your metamorphosis is something that happens to you. It comes about by the power of God, not by human efforts at self-improvement. We cannot change ourselves by our own strengths or meritorious works. Oh, sure, we can make superficial cosmetic changes to ourselves, giving the appearance of change, but not at the deep level that matters.

God is in the process of meta-morphosing every part of you, body, mind and soul. Our transformation will not be complete until our resurrection on the Last Day, but the seed of rebirth and renewal was implanted in you when you were baptized.

Read more: Advent Midweek, Renewal 2011

Sermon: Festival of St. Michael and All Angels (transferred) 2011

September 25, 2011
Text: Luke 10:17-20

One time each year, I preach a sermon about angels.  This week, on the Church calendar, there occurs the minor festival devoted to St. Michael and All Angels, which we celebrate today.

For many people believing in angels is like believing in the Tooth Fairy or the Easter Bunny – cute stuff for little kids, but not for grownups.  But the angels we are going to talk about today are not cuddly.  They are not cute.  They don’t have feathers.  The popular view of angels tends to be informed more by Hallmark greeting cards than the Scriptures.

In one poll, 55% of American adults say they have been protected from harm by their guardian angel.  That’s more than half.  Not just that they believe in the existence of angels, but that they have been individually and really helped by one or more actual angels.

But why is this important?  What does it matter what we think about angels?  Our doctrine of angels is not our most central teaching, but it is nonetheless important for several reasons.

Reason #1:  It informs us that there is more to our existence than what meets the eye.
We live in an age that is highly rationalistic.  Rationalists are people who consider human reason the final judge of what is true or not true.  If we can't see it or touch it, if scientists at leading universities have not conclusively studied it, then it isn't real, or at least it isn't worth bothering much about.  And so it tends to go with the angels.  You cannot ordinarily subject them to scientific studies.  You usually don't notice the work of the angels.  The doctrine of angels reminds us that there are spiritual forces at work in the world, for good and for ill, whether we recognize their presence or not.

Belief in angels is good for us because it helps us remember the limitations of human reason.  The Christian Church is not anti-science.  We just don’t think that science is the ultimate source of all knowledge.  Scientists don’t have all the answers.

I don’t know if you follow developments in science and technology, but there was a remarkable report from the Switzerland this week.  Physicists believe they have witnessed a tiny subatomic particle travel faster than the speed of light.  Ever since 1905 when Albert Einstein published his special theory of relativity, it has been accepted in the scientific community that faster-than-light travel is impossible.  Now facts that physicists have held as true for more than a hundred years may need to be completely rewritten.  Modern science is capable of many marvels and we have achieved amazing feats, but we need to understand that scientific theories come and go.  What the most brilliant minds believed to be incontrovertible truth fifty years ago, is not rejected.  And some things that scientists believe in wholeheartedly today, will be shown false tomorrow.  Don’t put your faith for ultimate truth in human reason.  There are many things in this world that are beyond the capacity of our five sense to comprehend.  Angels remind us of that.

Reason #2:  We need to dispel certain myths about angels that are in our culture.

Read more: Sermon: Festival of St. Michael and All Angels (transferred) 2011