Sermon Preached by
The Rev. David McMaster
Sunday, June 30, 2013
Text: 1 Peter 1:3-9; Exodus 15:1, 2, 7-11
Over the past week, the world has had its eye on a hospital in Pretoria and the person of Nelson Mandela. It is watching because in Mandela we have witnessed one of the great moments in history. President Obama has called him an inspiration. South African broadcaster, Ashraf Garda perhaps spoke too soon, but his thought was quite right, when he tweeted on Tuesday: @AshrafGarda “Embrace the final hours of #Mandela #Madiba with a deep satisfaction that we have lived through one of the greatest innings ever played.”
The cricket allusion is apt for when Mandela assumed presidential power, his actions were nothing short of incredible. He could have been forgiven for retaliation against an apartheid regime; a regime that had punished him, imprisoned him for twenty-five long years. Instead, he offered a constructive process to transform South Africa. Rather than seek vengeance, he offered inclusion in government. Instead of what might have been seen as justice, he set up a Truth and Reconciliation process (a forgiveness through confession process) under Bishop Desmond Tutu. And even when others around him called for retribution, he embraced the white, Afrikaner community and earned its appreciation as South Africa began its transformation. Nelson Mandela’s words from the dock in face of the death penalty at the famous Rivona trial in 1964 sum up his quest, “I have fought against white domination, and I have fought against black domination. I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons live together in harmony and with equal opportunities. It is an ideal which I hope to live for and to achieve. But if needs be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die.” As his life seemingly ebbs, one cannot help but think that in Nelson Mandela we have witnessed a great moment in history.
Here in Canada we also have had our great moments. A couple of generations ago, Dr. John Dow, professor of New Testament at EmmanuelCollege, wrote of what he could see out his office window. From his office, he could see a college triangle with a lawn, trees and the VictoriaCollege building. His mind drifted back to an older structure and he imagined the pioneers who had come to this land, toiling and struggling to clear forests, casting in the seed, and eking out a living. Their successors, Dow said, dug deep into the earth and discovered mineral wealth. From the Atlantic to the Pacific, northwards to the Arctic, and downwards into the earth, the story of human endeavour and personal venture to make this land what it has become, is surely a great story and a great moment in the life of this nation.
On this Canada Day weekend, Confederation is perhaps another of the great moments we think of as a nation. It was foresight that drove the Maritime Colonies’ leaders to Charlottetown in the 1860s to seek political union. Premiers Tilley, Tupper, and Gray were petitioned by John A. Macdonald of the then “Province of Canada,” which later became Ontario and Quebec, to be included in the negotiations. That inclusion set the stage for the coming together of a greater land mass and people than originally envisioned. On July 1st, 1867, after much negotiation, the British North America Act came into effect – 146 years ago tomorrow.
It was a fine moment and since then there have been many other fine moments. Perhaps it was at Vimy-Ridge that the young nation got its first sense of truly being “Canadian” in its own right. Indeed, Canadians have accomplished much in defence of freedom and peace in world wars, in Korea, as peace-keepers, and most recently in helping to establish the rule of law in Afghanistan. Some people have questioned, however, whether Canadians have any sense of nationhood. I’ve heard that for years and was struck by it even more the other day when Katherine quite innocently asked, at staff meeting, “what is it that is central to being Canadian? Is there any saying like “life, liberty, and the American way,” that is indubitably Canadian?” We all looked at each other, and thought and thought, and as the embarrassment level rose, I volunteered, that maybe it’s “God save the Queen.” We all laughed. Yet, regardless of whether we can describe what it is to be Canadian, there is a great deal of pride in this nation. The Tim Horton’s chain tapped into something when they began projecting themselves as “the Canadian coffee shop.” And there are many young Canadians who when they stray from home, the first thing they want to do when they get back to native soil is drop in for “a Timmy’s.” Molson later tapped into the same with their “I am Joe, and I am Canadian” advertisement. Maybe even Tim and Joe are great moments in Canadian history. Their words certainly resonated with many, leaving a nation talking and smiling and perhaps drinking a certain brand of coffee or beer. J
But during our lifetimes, we all have witnessed many great moments in Canada and in the world. One of the greatest for me marked the end of the Cold War; the fall of the Berlin wall. When that wall fell, I knew within my heart that there is nothing in this world that cannot change. In the ensuing months, President Reagan was claiming that his policies had ended the Cold War and brought down the wall. While he was talking, I attended a Ministers’ Conference at Asbury Seminary. Dennis Kinlaw, the former president of AsburyUniversity was the keynote speaker and in one of his addresses he made what I thought was a staggering claim. In his message he was talking about how God was still active in the world and he intimated that whereas Reagan thought he had done it, in reality, God had brought down the Berlin Wall. Let me make that clear, what he said was that the fall of the Berlin wall was a direct intervention by God into nations, and policies, and the lives of people.
Whether or not you agree with Kinlaw on that point, that assertion reminds us that, beyond this earthly story that we live in, with its troubles and walls, perhaps a greater story is unfolding; one that includes God at the core of it. We sang the hymn earlier, “I Vow To Thee, My Country.” And if you follow the words, verse one pledges love to our nation. Verse two leads us into the greater story. I read the words on Tuesday, they warmed my heart, “And there’s another country, I’ve heard of long ago, most dear to them that love her, most great to them that know…” It’s a place of faithfulness, gentleness, and peace; it is the kingdom of God. Christians know that there is something else going on out there, a greater story, and that God breaks into our story to reveal himself and what is going on in this bigger picture of things. And so, as I pondered the great moments in history this week, I wondered if, perhaps, the greatest moments of all are those that occur when shafts of light pierce the veil between the invisible and visible worlds?
According to The United Church of Canada’s Statement of Faith many of these great moments are recorded and interpreted in Scripture. We can think, for instance, of God coming to Abram, recorded for us in Genesis 12, 15, 17. It was c.1900 B.C. when God asked Abram to leave what had been the great city of Ur and go up to a land he would show him. He promised to make him into a great nation, to bless him, and make his name great in order that he would be a blessing to others. Abram was so moved by this appearance and revelation of the Lord that he left the land of his birth and walked out into the unknown. The “immortal, invisible” had made contact and he was so moved that he acted. It was a great moment of revelation that became the birth of a people.
That same promise was made to Abraham’s descendants, to his son, Isaac, and his son, Jacob, and his twelve sons including Joseph. The Bible probably does not record for us every generation, but Abraham’s descendants wound up in Egypt because of famine, and there they were placed in bondage and made to work in Pharaoh’s building ventures, perhaps the City of Ramses. It was there that the Hebrew people cried out and the Lord raised up Moses to lead them out of Egypt. But Pharaoh did not wish to let the people go. There were plagues, eventually he let them leave, but then chased them as far as a body of water known in Hebrew as Yam Suph. It was at Yam Suph that one of the greatest moments of God’s breaking into the world occurred. He saved his people at the Sea of Suph and that story of God’s intervention, the Exodus story has lived on in the memories of the Hebrew people down to this day. We read a song written about it this morning in Exodus 15. It was another great moment in the history of a people.
We could go on talking about other great moments when God’s people finally crossed into the Promised Land under Joshua. There were great moments during the time of the Judges 1250-1020 B.C. And then came King David c.1,000 B.C., and his son Solomon after him and the building of the temple. There were great moments associated with the prophets. There were moments of faithfulness when God blessed the people, and moments of sin where God judged the people. Sin was said to lead to the fall of the northern kingdom of Israel in 721 B.C., and later the fall of the Southern kingdom of Judah in 586 B.C. There was the Exile in Babylon and then a great moment of the return to the hallowed but ruined city of Jerusalem. And through all of these moments, God was seeking to reveal himself and his ways and draw people to himself so that they could be “a blessing to others.”
And then came perhaps the greatest of moments of God’s breaking in to our story. It began with a humble birth. It continued as the child became a man who taught great things. There was something significant in his death. And evidence that he rose again that gave many great hope.
Former CNN anchor, Larry King, was once asked “If you could select any one person across all of history to interview, who would it be?” King, who is Jewish, responded, “Jesus Christ.” “What would you ask him?” asked the interviewer. “I would like to ask him if he was indeed virgin-born,” answered King, “because the answer to that question would define history for me.”
What King wanted to know was whether or not the unseen world had really impinged on the visible world, whether the great story had entered into our earthly story; and he is right, such an invasion would redefine history for anyone.
Those around Jesus, as they watched him, had a growing sense that he was something far greater, the messiah, and they connected him with God. One wrote, “though he was in the form of God...he emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness.” Paul was aware that in Jesus something greater was going on and he would affirm with the hymn writer, “There is another country, I’ve heard of long ago;” another story, and that it broke into our story.
Moving beyond his being, when it came to Jesus’ teaching, there was something about it. The American writer, Bernard Ramm once wrote that his words are;
read more, quoted more, loved more, believed more, and translated more because they are the greatest words ever spoken …. Their greatness lies in the pure lucid spirituality in dealing clearly, definitively, and authoritatively with the greatest problems that throb in the human breast … no other man’s words have the appeal of Jesus’ words because no other man can answer these fundamental human questions as Jesus answered them. They are the kind of words and the kind of answers we would expect God to give.
Wow. “There is another country…”
When it comes to thinking about his death, I don’t think that I have ever been as transfixed by a movie screen as I was when I saw Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ. Some people did not like the violence that was a part of that film and I am sure that it was overdone. But when you strip that away, and even if you strip away any theological meaning about a grand salvation, there was something incredible in what Jesus did on the cross. I was transfixed and although the words were never uttered in the film, the words, “Greater love hath no man than this than that he lay down his life for his friends,” kept bobbing around in my head.” What Jesus did is not easy for a human being to do. Humans want to save their lives, not give them up. “But there’s another country, I heard of long ago…”
And then there was this resurrection thing. There’s an old play by Thornton Wilder entitled, Our Town. In it, one of the characters says,
“I don’t care what they say with their mouths, everybody knows that something is eternal. And it ain’t houses and it ain’t names, and it ain’t earth, and it ain’t even stars … everybody knows in their bones that something is eternal, and that something has to do with human beings. All the greatest people ever lived have been telling us that for five thousand years and yet you’d be surprised how people are always losing hold of it. There’s something way down deep that’s eternal about every human being.
People around Jesus, and some that weren’t even his followers, got a glimpse of something greater, something eternal, when they saw a transformed Jesus after his death. It was a huge moment, perhaps the greatest moment of all. They did not understand at first. They were filled with fear, they were filled with incredulity and disbelief, they were excited all at the same time. Slowly, however, it began to sink in … maybe there is more to life than this. And as they became convinced, one of them, Peter, praised God … “by his great mercy he has given us a “new birth, a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.” Wow! And there’s another country, I heard of long ago…and soul by soul and silently, her shining bounds increase…”
But maybe God is not just limited to great moments in the distant past. Dennis Kinlaw alluded to a God who is active in the world today, and perhaps one of the most significant parts of God’s activity is in the lives of ordinary human beings.
God acts in people’s lives and it is a little bit like human relationships. We all have relationships with others and we classify them in different ways. We have people we just know of, we have acquaintances, we have friendships, and then we have a few deep friendships. The deep friendships seem to develop when, for a few moments, someone lets down the barriers, lets go of the reserve, and speaks from the depth of the heart. Perhaps it was during a time of trial or sorrow. Maybe it was some need of comfort, or an episode in life that had left a scar and they need to talk about it. Words are said. The other person is drawn into that person’s very life and being. The friendship moves to a different level. It is enriched. That moment of deep revelation of a person’s heart is something that can linger in the memory for ever.
It is like this with God. When the greater story actually breaks into our personal stories, when the barriers or reserve drop and God enters our earthly lives, it is a revelation that strikes something deep down in our souls. There’s enlightenment. It is as though a switch were thrown and makes all of the history and the facts and the knowledge we have of God real. We can truly sing, “Yes, and there’s another country, I heard of long ago, most dear to them that love her, most great to them that know.”
In one of my former church’s there was an English woman named Judy. Judy came to church about once every four to six weeks. She was pleasant enough. We chatted from time to time as ex-pat Brits tend to do. Her church attendance was something that came from her childhood, something she felt that she ought do, but she would have said herself that she wasn’t that serious about it, she just wanted to do enough to keep in with God.
Well, one weekend, Judy went on a Christian retreat with some friends. She hadn’t been on anything like it before and because she had grown up in the church, there wasn’t that much said there that was any different than things she had heard before. But something happened to Judy that weekend. Something that set up months of questioning and searching and finding. I noticed that Judy started to come to church every week. She wore a smile that was vibrant. Then she came to me and wanted to know what she could do to help in ministry. We started to talk and she told me that it was as if God had broken in, as if God had encountered her. He had been there all along, at a distance, “but now,” she said, “I get it and its changing my life.”
It’s like what happens when a friendship becomes a deep friendship. The barriers are set aside and God reveals himself to us. It’s transformative, life-altering, gives assurance that there is another country … it provides us with “a living hope” deep down in our souls that alters our whole view of life. Maybe that is our finest moment – the greatest moment in life for us … when God comes. For, there is another country … and that’s the one I want to be a citizen of.