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2330 South Jefferson Street
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2330 South Jefferson Street
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SERMON FOR OCTOBER 26, 2003 October 26, 2003 20th after Pentecost NEVER FAR FROM LOVE REFORMATION SUNDAY Ps 34:1-8; Mk 10:46-52; Heb 7:23-28 It’s a little quieter in the hallway at South Roanoke Church now that we are well into the school year. It’s a little quieter now because
--that long trip from the Preschool room
past my office and up the stairs to the church gymnasium is just not
as scary as it used to be; Peace in the soul—a quiet, confident trust that the world is a safe place to be; deep awareness that I am in very good hands. This experience is elusive for the very young away from home and in a strange place for the very first time. But is it true that in so many ways you and I never really grow out of this? How often have you found yourself in a new or strange or difficult or painful place in your life? How often in the midst of those experiences have you found yourself a bit shaken, under stress, or even overwhelmed? You see, this is very familiar territory for us human beings. You and I are never very far away from that little boy or that little girl who finds it so terrifying to be away from home. This is never more true than in our own spiritual lives. It is no secret to any of us that we were made to be at home only in God. We were created in the very image of God. It is only as we center ourselves more and more on God that our lives find the only peace, security, and solace that can ever sustain us. When we have our priorities straight and keep our spirits focused on the truth, we may find ourselves anywhere in life, we may be caught up in any and every difficult or painful place, but we will never be far from home. We are never separated from the love of God. The world of the 16th century was a scary place. Ravaged by the threats of political instability, the suffering of hunger, and the plague of disease, there have been few moments in human history when humanity felt the least at home in the world than in the time of Martin Luther. It was in this kind of environment that the seeds of the Reformation were planted. It was a time when the human spirit longed for the deep assurance of faith that God was in the midst of even this wretched existence. When in 1517 Father Martin tacked up on the door of the church at the University of Wittenburg in Germany those debating points for the day’s discussion with his fellow faculty members, his “95 theses” formed the basis for the movement in the church which broke open in a new way the truth of the scripture. Martin Luther believed God is indeed in the midst of life, available to all and freely accessible by grace. So he did things like translate the Bible into German and encouraged the leading of worship, the public reading of the Bible, and the singing of hymns in the native language. No wonder the people responded to his teaching so enthusiastically. He was one who made very clear that God relates to us regardless of how good we are or what circumstances of life we find ourselves —God loves us unconditionally. He revealed again the truth of the Gospel that our life in God is restored to us by faith through grace. As he read and understood the scripture, Martin Luther knew that humanity belonged at home in God and that the church ought to open the door of God’s grace to all. He heard God in Jesus Christ calling to humanity to come home. Some 200 years later
in England, John Wesley, the founder of the movement that eventually
became our own United Methodist Church, overheard a reading of one of
Martin Luther’s writings about this grace of God. It was then in May of
1738 on Aldersgate Street that his own heart was strangely warmed as he
was granted this same assurance of God’s love in his own life. Whenever
we United Methodists open our minds, open our hearts, and open our doors
of our congregations, declare God’s love for all persons, and introduce
them to this same grace of God in their own lives, we carry on the legacy
of the Reformation of Martin Luther and the Aldersgate experience of John
Wesley. It is this assurance of God’s love and presence in every
circumstance of life that is always so elusive to the human family. It is
this assurance that God through Jesus Christ so longs to restore to the
human heart. This peace in the spirit, this quietness of soul, this truth
of the Gospel always seems so far away. In God you are never far from
home. In Jesus Christ you are never far from love. This assurance has so eluded us. Martin Luther lost it. John Wesley lost it. They had to get it back again. We lose it as soon as we go away from home. You can just hear it in the cries of these young children who struggle so hard with a new and strange environment of Mother’s Day Out. You and I lose it every day. Whenever we find ourselves shaken, stressed, or overwhelmed by the circumstances of life, this same assurance, confidence, and trust so easily eludes us. What we keep forgetting, and what these young children in our preschool are beginning to learn, is that love is not bound by the proximity of the loved one to the one who loves. Love is not limited to the familiar, the friendly, the accustom places of life. Love engenders assurance, confidence, and trust that nothing can ever take away from you. Love goes with you wherever you go. The real tragedy is that we too often forget how deeply God really does love us. Last April an oncoming car veered into the path of a family’s vehicle, striking it head-on. Once it had finally settled on its top after overturning the driver’s first thought, once he had collected himself, was to check on his father and child who were his passengers. His father seemed hurt but appeared initially to be OK, but he couldn’t find his son. After a number of minutes as the rescue workers began to minister to their needs he looked up and there he was, his son standing before him, shaken, crying, but he was OK. In that moment the driver gave thanks to God saying, “Good, put it all on me! Put it all on me.” When Mark Knopf, a member of our congregation, shared his story with me the other day I somehow knew exactly what he was saying as I consider my love for my own children. There is not a parent or grandparent or any other relative for that matter of any children here who would not rather take on the brunt of any circumstance in life in order to spare them. But then it occurred to me. You know, I thought I had a pretty good understanding of God’s love for us. But if there is that much love in us for our children, how much more love does God have for us. Isn’t that what God did for us in Jesus Christ. God found us in the most wretched of circumstances and with tears in the divine heart said in Jesus Christ “PUT IT ALL ON ME!” What further evidence do we need that God is the midst of any and every new, strange, difficult, and painful experience of life than the life, death, and resurrection of the Son of God? The writer of the letter to the Hebrews states it so clearly when he declares that God in Jesus Christ took it on “once for all when he offered himself.” It really is true, you know: we are never far from God; we are never far from love. When Bartimaeus, that blind beggar at the Jericho roadside, heard that Jesus of Nazareth was passing by him, he claimed that love for himself. Can you think of any more unfamiliar, strange, or scary environment than a life of blindness in the poverty and hardship of 1st century Jericho? But somehow in that hostile place in which he found himself he had heard about Jesus of Nazareth; he had hoped, perhaps sensed, that the Son of David would indeed have mercy on him even in his wretched circumstance. So he cried out to him. Even when others sternly ordered him to be quiet he cried out even more loudly making his desires known. And then he heard those words that always bring such grace to any who are caught up in the worst difficulties of life when Jesus, the Son of God, God Incarnate, said, “Call him here.” When Jesus met his need that day Bartimaeus’ persistent faith in love that would never abandon him even in the most difficult of life’s circumstances made him whole. All he had to do was ask. Brothers and sisters, love never dies. Love lasts forever. Love knows no bounds of time or distance or circumstance. There is no barrier of human tragedy or broken relationship or grave injustice that love cannot fathom. When a young child walks through this new and strange environment on the way to the gym, mother’s love is not confined to her presence way back at home. Though separated from her for a period of time in the morning that young child is never far from love. My own mother’s love for me and my brother did not end in March of 1996. We are never far from love. What the Psalmist says is true: O taste and see that the Lord is good; happy are those who take refuge in God. Place your trust in God again today and let God in Jesus Christ grant you again the grace God so longs to shower upon you every day in every moment of your life. Rest assured deep in your heart in God’s love for you and all of creation. In your moments of greatest need call out to Jesus with the persistent faith of Bartimaeus, “Son of David, have mercy on me!” Call to Jesus because you will surely overhear him say of you, “Call him here…call her to me.” In the presence of Jesus you can handle any and every new, strange, difficult, and painful circumstance of life that would otherwise shake, stress, or overwhelm you. God in Jesus Christ is always right there in the midst of it all. That is the meaning and power of the resurrection active and alive in the world today. By the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ you are never separated from God. In God’s love you are never far from home. By the grace of God in Jesus Christ through faith you are never far from love.
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