Our home page
Who we are
What's New
Fellowship
Youth programs
Interesting links
For the visitor
Site Map
|
Sermon Archive - September 16, 2001
Pentecost VI
Pastor Gazzolo
|
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the source
of all mercy and the God of all consolation. He comforts us in all
our sorrows so that we can comfort others in their sorrows with the
consolation we ourselves have received from God.
A week ago we were tapping our toes to a Dixieland beat.
A week ago I planned to fly to Mexico to vacation.
A week ago people downtown walked past a dying woman in their hurry
to catch their train.
A week ago we worried about sharks as our greatest danger, gossiped
about Gary Condit and debated social security policy.
A different time a week ago...a time when we thought we lived in
Fortress America...a time when we assumed we called the shots and
could go our own way. A week ago...a month ago...another time
altogether. Now we are told we are at war. Horrific change has
claimed us all. We may have short attention spans, but Tuesday
got our attention in the most tragic way. We must be steadfast.
Angry, grieving, frightened, many have remembered God...some blaming
God...some seeking comfort, seeking the assurance of something
eternal. It's as though God has become relevant.....as soccer
had claimed Sunday morning, God has reclaimed the Sabbath in our
hearts, and we reach to the Scriptures, God's Word for us for
direction, for consolation and for grounding. And we do need to be
re grounded as persons and as nation in the eternal wisdom of God.
God's Word to humankind has been time-tested, its wisdom and grace
accommodating the moment throughout human history. We need to draw
on the wisdom of God, not on raw emotion, before we act.
And I believe God was waiting for us just as the Old Father awaited
the Prodigal Son...with open arms filling ordinary men and women
with courage and compassion...a courage and compassion they never
knew they had. Courage and compassion untried by our good times
burst forth in the flames of destruction. Firemen have become
national heroes...real heroes in a land hungry for heroism. In
good times movie stars and athletes
have been our heroes. Tragedy has displayed for all what true
heroism is...the businessman named Barnett on the Pennsylvania plane
who fought the hijackers...firemen...doctors and nurses....people in
the building. God filled ordinary people with extraordinary
grace and valor.
Americans, so long lulled by peace and prosperity dropped their
Starbucks and have stepped up to a sudden and horrific challenge.
Americans have not lost their common decency, their love of
neighbor, their courage. In tragedy our people have reclaimed their
native greatness and returned to the values that build this
country...love of America and its gifts, love of neighbor, love of
God....old fashioned values awakened
Tuesday.
A week ago we rallied to Dixieland tunes. Today Americans rally
round their flag and all across the land we gather more thoughtfully
as people of God to console and be consoled...to ready ourselves for
whatever challenges may lay ahead. We come to be consoled, we
come for guidance. We come to ask what does it mean to be a child of
God...a Christian...in
a world like ours?
Through this week news coverage has sobered us, slowed us down. But
even if news gives way to regular programming we cannot deny our
world has changed. We may not forget we need each other.
We may not forget what a blessed land we have been given, and above
all we cannot turn our backs, our busy and diverted backs, on the
One who gave us neighbor, land and
life itself. We live in a stunningly new time...a time when
personal rights may need to give way to the common good.
As an individual I have been numb these days. Many of us have
been. Fortunate are those who can cry for cry we must. I seem
to have taken safe haven in my intellect...safe haven from big
feelings I can't face. I ask myself how this could happen. I
ask why...not why God would do this to America. It has happened in
most countries, But how and why could people who don't even know our
names hate us so much? I ask much as people in Littleton,
Colorado, asked why after Columbine High. Why the
hate?
And we need to ask why...as people, as government we must understand
the hatred and what lies behind it...understand why there is a
network of hate bent on attacking us, bent on destroying western
civilization.. bent on making us afraid, destabilizing our economy,
robbing us of our sense of freedom and well being. We cannot
allow them that satisfaction. We are better stuff than
that....Yet why the hate?
If we don't ask why, we won't be able to read our adversary...nor
perhaps will we take this opportunity to see ourselves as others may
see us. We must first ask why, not simply blame and demonize and
perpetuate the cycle of hate.
I am grateful that our government has slowed its response, that it
understands this is a new kind of war, new kind of adversary. Their
initial instinct to shoot from the hip has been tempered by wisdom.
For this adversary is clever and patient. This foe call for
new ways. This foe is scattered all over the world from Boston
and Florida to Algeria and Germany...a quiet network. How do
we feed its hate? How are they supplied and informed?
Who protects them from discovery? This will be a different
struggle...one that may well be economic and psychological as
well as guns and missiles.
Scripture tells us to Do justice, love mercy and walk humbly by our
God. And we must listen to scripture. Will we seek justice and
not simple vengeance? Will we show mercy where mercy should be
shown? And the big question is this...do we walk humbly by our
God? Good times have taught us arrogance, and good times have
put faith on the shelf. This awful Tuesday dusted off our
Bibles and put God back center stage as people sought sanctuary to
pray, to reflect, to reground themselves. Our nation
has been brought to its knees, and that's where we need to stay.
Unfamiliar vulnerability has cracked us open to the waiting, loving
arms of God...a love that waits and waits. We need God, and God has
been waiting for us. Faith can no longer be an option,
something we try to fit in. It is our sanctuary, and it is our
refuge and strength in this time of trial. Overnight we have
seen as a people and as a nation that security can't be found in
money or military power alone. Ultimately we must find our security
in
the One that first gave us life and sustains it this very moment.
The humble copper penny knows better than to place its hope in cash.
It tells us "In God We Trust." And so we must, for it is the
eternal love of God that spans both life and death It is
in God that America must put her trust.
For though towers may be tumbled...though the Pentagon's walls may
be breached, there is an eternal love that carries us through flames
and falling beams and death itself. It is the love that gives
life. It is the love that in time reclaims life...the love
from which nothing, absolutely nothing whatsoever can separate us.
It was St. Paul who faced every possible threat to his life who
proclaimed that nothing...neither life nor death can separate us
from the love of God in Jesus Christ.
One last word...a word from the cocky young butcher at Whole Foods
in Evanston. "He has an attitude", my friend says, but as the
butcher handed over her organic chicken last Tuesday, he did so
saying, "Be prayerful".
Let us pray for the healing of lives devastated Tuesday morning. May
God sustain and comfort them in their unknowing and in their loss.
Let us pray that our people retain our newfound love for neighbor,
love of country and hope in God when times are once again good and
peace is ours. Let us pray for the Muslim Americans who abhor
violence and love this land. Remind us to surround them with love
and to shield them from abuse. And let us pray that our people
may be one, of one mind, of one voice and
that our leadership be wise....wise as serpents and gentle as doves
And now let's turn to the twenty third Psalm in our green books,
page 225, and read it together.
The Lord is my Shepherd.
I shall not be in want.
He makes me lie down in green pastures and leads me beside still
waters.
He revives my soul and guides me along right pathways for his name's
sake.
Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I shall
fear no evil; for you are with me;
your rod and your staff, they comfort me.
You spread a table before me in the presence of those who trouble
me;
you have anointed my head with oil, and my cup is running over.
Surely your goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my
life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.
|
|
|
|
