Sermon for
January 2, 2005
Epiphany of the Lord Sunday
“Covenant Renewal Sunday”
Isaiah 60:1-6, Matthew 2:1-12
Note:
For the children’s message the children
discussed the recent tsunami tragedy in South Asia and East Africa. The
United Methodist Church is already there assisting in the relief effort
through our United Methodist Committee on Relief and partner agencies.
Our church will also publish a full page ad in the January 3 edition of
USA Today featuring praying hands with the words:
In eleven countries, hands folded in prayer are already
at work.
and encouraging donations for this effort. The children prayed
together:
Dear God, we pray for those who were hurt by the
water and for any who lost those they love. May your people everywhere
help them as best we can through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
William Robins vowed Monday to
change his life forever after the professional golfer from California and
his new bride, Amanda, narrowly escaped death in the grip of a tsunami.
The newlyweds were
honeymooning on Phi Phi Island—made famous by the film “The Beach”
starring Leonardo DiCaprio—when a giant tsumani wave slammed into it
Sunday.
“I honestly
thought this is the worst way to die. I though I’m not meant to die like
this,” Robins, 26, told Reuters as he lay in a hospital bed in Phuket,
his collar bone broken and most of his right ear cut off.
Robins and Amanda,
who lay next to him with a fractured pelvis, were among hundreds of
tourists stranded on Phi Phi after the massive wave washed onto the
island.
The couple (was)
strolling near the beach Sunday when they heard people screaming and saw
tourists jumping off boats.
“We thought it was
a terrorist bomb, so we jumped over a hotel fence and hid in a storage
room,” Robins said.
“We held hands and
crouched in the corner. Then we heard a rumbling explosion that didn’t
end.”
Moments later,
their hiding place collapsed around them, Amanda said.
“We were pushed
through two layers of concrete and forced to let go of each other’s
hands,” said the 27-year-old teacher.
They were pulled
underwater and swept 150 yards out to sea.
“There were broken
pieces of wood and bits of metal everywhere. It smelled of gasoline,”
Robins said.
Suddenly, they saw
a hotel employee in a boat searching for lost family members.
“We were
screaming. We said if we don’t get on this boat, we’re dead,” Robins
said.
The man tossed
them a line and pulled them into the boat. By nightfall, they were in a
hospital in Phuket.
“We both came
within a tenth of (a second) of not seeing each other. There are going to
be changes in our life from now on. We’re going to take a lot of the
(bull) out,” Robins said.
Copyright Reuters 2004, December 27, 2004, article by Karishma
Vyas
This story from last
Monday, published on the Reuters news service with the headline: “U.S.
Honeymooners Survive Tsunami on Thai Island,”focuses our attention on this
first Sunday of the new year. As we come to worship today we are under a
heavy burden of concern, sorrow, and grieve in light of the devastating
tragedy in Southeast Asia. As the nations of the world unite to respond
to the great need there, our church is already there through our United
Methodist Committee on Relief and partner organizations in the region.
In light of such
devastation, what on earth do you do? Surely the fate of others in the
human community half-way across the globe affects us. But what do you
do?
This morning the
church provides three ways for us to do something in the wake of this
paralyzing tragedy. The children demonstrated the first in their prayer
to God for the victims of this disaster. The second is in direct response
to the need. The third is an act of personal commitment already designed
to be shared this morning but finding particular focus and perhaps deeper
spiritual meaning as the human family finds itself considering life’s
priorities in the face of evidence that life can indeed be so short.
The first thing you
can do is pray, as our children have already shared with us this morning.
The second thing you
can do is to generously support the immediate and effective relief work of
your church. During this month of January South Roanoke Church can help
in significant ways by providing financial contributions to the relief
effort led by U.M.C.O.R. Beginning this morning you can designate
contributions to “South Asia Emergency.” As you know every dollar donated
will go directly to the need, since administrative costs for the agency
are already otherwise provided for. You will want to mark a pew envelope
“South Asia Emergency” or simply leave your contribution at the communion
rail this morning.
The third response
was already prepared for us as we came to worship on this first Sunday of
the New Year. William Robins vowed to change his life in response to his
experience. If the experience of so many others in the human family
affect us at all as we come to renew our covenant relationship with God
today, let us take even more seriously this opportunity of spiritual
commitment and the right ordering of life’s priorities this morning.
This “Covenant
Renewal Service,” adapted by the founder of our church, John Wesley, in
the mid 1700’s from a Puritan service published 100 years earlier, has led
many in our tradition to meaningful renewal of faith on numerous
occasions, as Wesley recorded in his journal:
Many mourned before God, and many were comforted.
It was…a time of remarkable blessing.
It was an occasion for a variety of
spiritual experiences…I do not know if we ever had a greater blessing.
Afterward, many
desired….for…healing (of) all
their backslidings.
The United Methodist Book of Worship,
1992, p. 288
I belieI believe we come to worship today
needing to do something in response to deep human
need. There are at least three things you can do today t help. First is
to pray. Second is to give. Third is to recommit your life to Christ in
response to his love for you. Through this service this morning, renew
your own promise, your own covenant, to follow God in response to God’s
faithful promise, God’s faithful covenant, to be your God and to be the
Savior of all who suffer.
