Yesterday, Today and Forever
Passage: Matthew 25:31-45
[Jesus said,] "When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his throne in heavenly glory. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.
"Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.'
"Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?'
"The King will reply, '
I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.'
"Then he will say to those on his left, 'Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.'
"They also will answer, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?'
"He will reply,
'I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.'
In the faces of men and women I see God. -Walt Whitman
Today is All Saint's Day. As a result, I will post two separate sermons which aren't interrelated though they will be posted under the same title. The first comes off my Bible passage inspiration, and the second is in honour of today.
Analogy time.
I mentioned before I have a nephew. He is my brother's son, and this brother is married. He was married before the child happened, the child was planned, he was/is an adult (though sometimes I wonder), yadda yadda ya... The important topic to this is that my brother is married, because right now I'm going to take you back to August 18th, many years ago: my brother's wedding.
My brother and his wife met in high school in the school choir. As my mother eloquently put it, they would make "googly eyes" at each other until the girl was allowed to date with her parent's knowledge. Their wedding, when it eventually came, was carefully planned over a two-year interval. I remember very little of the planning as I was too young to really know what "stress" was or to care about who was "catering" and how much it "cost". The wedding went seamlessly, and we all travelled off to a famous tourist destination in the city, a Canadian historical landmark, for the reception. We were all having a fantastic time, one which I remember only as music, good food and dancing. My mom later told me the rest of this story.
My mom left the ballroom for some reason which was irrelevant. I imagine it to be something along the lines of needing fresh air, relieving emotions which were built after seeing her eldest son get married... or perhaps she needed a break from the crowd. Regardless of the reason, she found herself at the front door of the building, where entrance was usually public. Two people, a man and a woman she presumed were a couple, walked in the front door. They looked completely out of place, and my mom knew that they hadn't been invited to the wedding. Without thinking about it, she asked them to leave as it was a private gathering. They left immediately and my mom rejoined the festivities.
She later told me about the event late one night. "What if," she began with a troubled look on her face, "they had no other place to go? What if they hadn't eaten in days?" She sighed at this point, looking away from me. "I should have invited them inside at the very least, asked them if they needed a drink of water. Asked them why they were there."
A couple years later she was looking through the wedding photo album. Her eyes fell upon a picture of the wedding party greeting the guests (my younger brother and I were both in the wedding party, so both of my parents are present in these photos). Her smile faltered, slightly, and she looked at me and asked if she had ever told me the story of the couple who had wandered into my brother's wedding. I nodded, and she sighed again. "I still wish I had invited them in," she told me. "I feel so guilty."
Jesus told us that when we help someone, we help Him. As well, when we leave someone to suffer, we have left Him to suffer. He who gave his very life for us deserves better than to be cast aside... and He gave His life for others on Earth. If the very Son of God died for these people, who are we to deny them the help they need? At the very least, we can give them food when they are hungry, water when they are thirsty, shelter when they are homeless, clothing when they are naked, medicine and care when they are sick and ailing, a friend when they are lonely. There is the joke on the story of the good Samaritan, the one with the two psychologists who walk past an injured man on the side of the road and say to each other, "We must find the man who did this; he needs help." We laugh because of the ludicrousness of the situation: those psychiatrists would have helped the man, not left him in the ditch... right?
Wouldn't they?
...would you?
How many times have you seen the man standing on the side of the road with the sign "Homeless, need food or money" and driven right past him? I know I have, saying that someone else will help him. But if everyone has that attitude, who's going to help the man?
Why are we pleasantly surprised when someone stops and hands the man a cup of fresh coffee and some soup from Tim Hortons? Why isn't that common place?
What is happening to our world?
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Now.
Today is All Saint's Day. Today is the day that Halloween refers to: Halloween used to be spelt Hallowe'en, which used to be Hallowed Eve. Holy Eve. The night before a holy day.
The night before All Saint's Day.
My church takes this day as one to honour all the recently deceased. The service is quite sobering, and today even my pastor was crying since he lost a brother-in-law this year. During his sermon, Pastor told a story which I would like to share in honour of this Hallowed day.
Martin Luther's daughter was sitting under a tree when she suddenly felt very weak and sick. Her parents brought her inside and put her in her bed, not knowing what was wrong with her. When instead of recovering she instead became even more ill, they called a doctor who was able to do nothing, as the medical knowledge was very limited in this time period. Magdalena faired worse and worse, and Martin Luther prayed to God that her suffering could be done, that Magdalena would get better. He knew God would answer... so he asked his daughter if she was ready to see her Father in Heaven. And in 1542, at the age of thirteen, Martin Luther's little girl died, sparking a period of depression in Luther's life. An interesting note, however, was that he told the people during his daughter's funeral that his pain was of the flesh. Magdalena no longer suffered, and for that he was pleased.
(By the way, Martin Luther is the founder of the branch of my religion)
Death is so difficult. We cry and grieve and scream "Why? Why them?" when really, we are really crying "Why not me?" We, as human beings, are selfish and don't ever want to feel pain. No, we think, we are far better than that. We shouldn't have to feel pain at all, we tell ourselves in a self-righteous tone. There is a beautiful song by Tim McGraw called
Don't Take the Girl [that's a link, by the way], which I would like to quote the final verse of:
Same old boy
Same sweet girl
Five years down the road
There's going to be a little one and she says it's time to go.
Doctor says the baby's fine but you'll have to leave
'Cause his momma's fading fast and Johnny hit his knees and there he prayed:
"Take the very breath you gave me
Take the heart from my chest
I'll gladly take her place if you'll let me
Make this my last request
Take me out of this world
God, please don't take the girl"
I adore this song, but I always have one comment which I make quietly... isn't this a little selfish? Johnny deems that he can't live his life without his girl, so he prays to take her place... so that she can live without him?
This is how we humans seem to work. Bad things happen, they just shouldn't happen to us. But if we live our lives like this, we will never be able to accept life. When your loved one dies, don't ask why it happened... instead look at what good they had done in the world, and think that they are now in the best place one can be, with their heavenly Father.
~Godspede
Passage: lyrics to hymn The Advent of Our God
each candle being lit to represent a Sunday of Advent and the centre candle lit on Christmas day, white for Lord Jesus' purity.
decked out in gold and white and the Chrismons: special decorations that are symbolic to the church, from the Alpha and Omega to the Holy Triune: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
Advent and occasionally Christmas.
Everyone eagerly awaits the Christmas Eve and Christmas day services, two of the most beautiful ones in the whole year. Christmas Eve is often a candlelight service, where the only lighting in the building is from the flickering flames.