“Don't Give Up”
A sermon by Sid Burgess for Edgewood PC, Birmingham, AL
Third Sunday of Easter, April 22, 2007
Lectionary Texts: Acts 9:1-20, Psalm 30, Revelation 5:11-14, John 21:1-19
“Meanwhile Saul, still breathing threats and murder . . . . “
What a coincidence that the common lectionary would have us reading this story on the Sunday after the murderous rampage on the campus of VA Tech! Who would have ever imagined that college students sitting in class on a Monday morning would be confronted by a deranged fellow student “breathing threats and murder.” Baghdad, yes; Blacksburg, no. In war-torn Baghdad, just another day at the market. But in quiet, peaceful Blacksburg, Virginia? How can God allow such a thing to happen? God stops Saul in his tracks. Why does God not stop a 23-year old senior English major?
Of course, a closer reading of today’s story shows that God does not stop Saul. Yes, God flashes a bight light. Yes, God speaks in a commanding voice. Yes, Saul is temporarily blinded, but God does not prevent Saul from picking up right where he left off, persecuting Christians. The divine power that triumphs in the life of St. Paul is not the power of restraint or control, but the overwhelming power of God’s love—God’s love and mercy made known to the future apostle through the ministry of Ananias. In this famous story, the role of the kindly Ananias is often lost. Few remember the name of this man who overcomes his fear to open his home to the notorious persecutor of the faithful.
But think about this. Paul’s dramatic but brief vision on the Damascus road had to raise more questions than it answered. Without Ananias to interpret . . . . Without Ananias to demonstrate divine hospitality, one wonders if Paul would have ever come to understand God’s willingness to forgive. One wonders if Paul would have ever come to understand God’s power to turn a person’s life from destruction of self and others, to a life devoted to building up the Church, the very body of Christ who Saul had been persecuting.
I suspect the assignment God gives to Ananias seemed not only dangerous, but impossible. But this story from the Acts of the Apostles illustrates God’s power to bring life and hope out of any seemingly hopeless situation—even Damascus, even Blacksburg, even Baghdad.
Today, as the Church’s power and influence continue to fade, we face many dangerous, seemingly impossible challenges. On this Earth Sunday, our Presbyterian Church “Declaration of Faith” reminds us that like Ananias we have a monumental task. God has charged us to care for the earth and all that lives in it. “The Lord forbids us to plunder, foul, and destroy the earth,” because we “hold it in trust for future generations.”
Given all that we have learned in recent years about the harmful effects of industrialization, the population explosion, and our culture’s conspicuous consumption this challenge seems hopeless.
Where is Ananias when we need him? Where are those who will respond with Ananias, “Here I am, Lord.”
I believe that Ananias does have many friends, many colleagues in ministry here in this congregation. Perhaps it will help us to know that God has a long history of helping people who find themselves confronted by daunting challenges. Hear again, these verses from today’s psalm:
2 O Lord my God, I cried to you for help,
and you have healed me.
3 O Lord, you brought up my soul from Sheol,
restored me to life from among those gone down to the Pit.
As God has done in the past, so the Church believes God will act in our own time and place. It may be too early to think about this now, our grief from events of this week too recent and raw, but according to Psalm 30, here is where God is leading us:
11 You have turned my mourning into dancing;
you have taken off my sackcloth
and clothed me with joy,
12 so that my soul may praise you and not be silent.
“Declaration of Faith” reminds us, “There is no event from which God is absent, and God’s ultimate purpose in all events is just and loving.”
Even so, in the face of all the hostility in the world—the domestic violence, the crime in the streets, the terrorism, the war in Iraq. In the face of all the threats that confront the earth—global warming, the extinction of valuable species, pollution of rivers and streams . . . . it is tempting for people of faith to give up. I mean, what can we do? What can one little ol’ church do? With power vested in huge multinational corporations . . ., with government dominated by powerful lobbying groups, with the violence-driven, flesh pedaling media aiming at the young and the impressionable, what can we do?
Today, in our Gospel lesson, the Risen Jesus says, Feed my lambs,” (v. 15). Then, again he says, “Tend my sheep.” And, just in case we missed it, a third time he says, Feed my sheep.”
“Feed my lambs;” “tend my sheep;” “feed my sheep.” I think Jesus is saying, “Don’t give up!” “Don’t give up.” Whatever you do, sisters and brothers, don’t give up! However small, however humble, however feeble, don’t give up in your efforts to stop the violence, to end the war, to feed the hungry, to heal the sick, to preserve and protect the creation entrusted to our care. Don’t give up.
Why? Why not give up? Why do Christians keep on trying to make a difference in this cold, cruel, unfair world? Why do we throw ourselves into the battles against hunger and homelessness and violence and drug abuse and pollution of God’s good creation?
Listen to the answer provided in our reading from Revelations:
Worthy is the Lamb that was slaughtered
to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might
and honor and glory and blessing!
We may not have all the answers. We may not know who to blame for the violence. We may not agree about who or what is most responsible for global warming. But, for sure, we must know in whose name we seek solutions to all of the problems that plague the earth entrusted to our care:
Worthy is the Lamb that was slaughtered
to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might
and honor and glory and blessing!
Amen