September 8, 2002
Sixteenth Sunday After Pentecost
A Day Of Remembrance
PRAYER FOR ILLUMINATION:
Lord, open our hearts and minds by the power of Your Holy Spirit, that, as the Scriptures are read and Your Word proclaimed, we may hear with joy what You say to us, today. Amen.
[8] Owe no one anything, except to love one another; for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law.
[9] The commandments, "You shall not commit adultery; You shall not murder; You shall not steal; You shall not covet"; and any other commandment, are summed up in this word, "Love your neighbor as yourself."
[10] Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore, love is the fulfilling of the law.
[11] Besides this, you know what time it is, how it is now the moment for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we became believers;
[12] the night is far gone, the day is near. Let us then lay aside the works of darkness and put on the armor of light;
[13] let us live honorably as in the day, not in reveling and drunkenness, not in debauchery and licentiousness, not in quarreling and jealousy.
[14] Instead, put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.
[NRSV]
"A Time To Remember"
(Exodus 12:1-14; Romans 13:8-14)
Rev. Billy D. Strayhorn
[1] The Lord said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt:
[2] This month shall mark for you the beginning of months; it shall be the first month of the year for you.
[3] Tell the whole congregation of Israel that on the tenth of this month they are to take a lamb for each family, a lamb for each household.
[4] If a household is too small for a whole lamb, it shall join its closest neighbor in obtaining one; the lamb shall be divided in proportion to the number of people who eat of it.
[5] Your lamb shall be without blemish, a year-old male; you may take it from the sheep or from the goats.
[6] You shall keep it until the fourteenth day of this month; then the whole assembled congregation of Israel shall slaughter it at twilight.
[7] They shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and the lintel of the houses in which they eat it.
[8] They shall eat the lamb that same night; they shall eat it roasted over the fire with unleavened bread and bitter herbs.
[9] Do not eat any of it raw or boiled in water, but roasted over the fire, with its head, legs, and inner organs.
[10] You shall let none of it remain until the morning; anything that remains until the morning you shall burn.
[11] This is how you shall eat it: your loins girded, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and you shall eat it hurriedly. It is the passover of the Lord.
[12] For I will pass through the land of Egypt that night, and I will strike down every firstborn in the land of Egypt, both human beings and animals; on all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments: I am the Lord.
[13] The blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you live: when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and no plague shall destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt.
[14] This day shall be a day of remembrance for you. You shall celebrate it as a festival to the Lord; throughout your generations you shall observe it as a perpetual ordinance.
LET US PRAY:
At a certain point in every Passover celebration, the youngest child stops and asks: "Why is this night different from all other nights?" And then proceeds asking The Four Questions:
1) On all other nights we may eat either leavened or unleavened bread, but on this night, only the unleavened bread?
2) On all other nights we eat all kinds of herbs, but on this night we eat especially bitter herbs?
3) On all other nights, we need not even once dip our herbs in any condiment but on this night we dip herbs twice: one herb in salt water, and the bitter herbs in Haroset?
4) On all other nights we eat either sitting or reclining, but on this night we recline.
No one is surprised by the questions. Everyone knows they are coming. The youngest has been schooled and rehearsed in just how to ask them. It's one of those dreaded but anticipated moments of the family gathering. It is a night filled with smiles of pride from the parents, giggles of relief from the older kids who no longer have to ask and the nervous hesitation of the youngest.
The questions are asked and then the leader begins to answer the questions and to tell one of the most beautiful freedom stories ever written. The leader says:
Before we tell the whole story in detail, let's answer your questions one by one:
1) On all other nights we eat bread with leaven, but on Passover we eat matzah because, when our ancestors were told by Pharaoh that they could leave Egypt, they had no time to bake bread with leaven, so they baked it without leaven.
2) At the Seder, we eat the "Maror," the bitter herbs to remind us of the bitterness our ancestors experienced when they were oppressed by the Egyptian taskmaster.
3) At the Seder, we dip food twice; the parsley in salt water to remind us of the tears of slavery and the bitter herbs in Haroset. The bitter herbs are a reminder of the bitterness of slavery in Egypt. The Haroset into which the bitter herbs are dipped, symbolizes the mortar and bricks which the Israelites were forced to make. Life is bitter-sweet. Both remind us that, through faith and hope in God, even the most bitter circumstances in life can be sweetened by God.
4) As a sign of freedom, we lean to the left when we partake of wine and symbolic food. In Moses time, slaves ate hurriedly, standing or squatting on the ground, while royalty, nobility, and the wealthy in Egypt, Persia, Rome and other empires, dined on couches. To indicate that the ancient Israelites were now free, they too reclined while eating.
And then the leader will return to the ritual of the Passover celebration and say: "The story of Passover is a story of miracles, a story of redemption, and the story of the mighty power of God to overcome evil."
Just like Passover, today is a Day of Remembrance. While intended for evil and tragic, "the story of 9/11 is a story of miracles, a story of redemption, and the story of the mighty power of God to overcome evil."
We will never be able to place an emergency call again without thinking of the Twin Towers, the Pentagon, and the Airline hijackings. We don't need a montage of images to remind us, we all have those images running through our heads and through our hearts. They will be with us from that moment on. It's a day we will never forget. It will be a day we remember, like the Alamo, Pearl Harbor, the day Kennedy was assasinated, the Tet Offensive and Passover.
And on this Day of Remembrance I believe that we are called to remember more. We're called to REMEMBER THEM, REMEMBER GOD, REMEMBER THE CROSS AND REMEMBER WHO.
A. FIRST, WE'RE CALLED TO REMEMBER THEM. HOLD THEM IN YOUR HANDS AND IN YOUR HEART.
You've probably already figured out that if you open your bulletin, you will find a list of all of the victims. If you look close, most have their age and where they are from. I found all this information at a website: www.september11victims.com. There is a full list of all the victims and for most, there is a link from that name to a photo.
Everyone of the victims is a precious child of God. And we should never forget them or their families. As you hold that list in your hand, remember them.
In Isaiah 49:16 God tells Israel: "See, I have inscribed you on the palms of my hands." [NRSV]
Write that down and look it up. Isaiah 49:16. God has written the names of these victims in the palm of God's hand. Just like we've seen other people do, or maybe have done ourselves when we didn't have paper God has written our name and the name of every victim on the palm of God's Hand.
I didn't put this list together to be morbid. Or to bring back all the pain. I put it together like this so that like God, we could hold these folks in our hands and in our hearts. For most of us, apart from Todd Beamer and a few others whose stories have been told by the media, most of the victims have remained nameless to us. But not to their families and friends. Not to their loved ones. Not to their colleagues. And certainly not to God.
I simply want us to remember them and their families. Don't try and use the sheet as a prayer list but remember them and their families in prayer.
B. But they're not the only ones we need to remember. They're not the only ones whose names are inscribed on God's Hand. We also need to remember all of those who reached out in help and concern. The entire NY Fire Departments and Police Departments, Richard Weir and the rescue crew from Texas, the people who supplied food, the Churches, synagogues and Mosques that opened their doors and their hearts to the workers, the Red Cross volunteers. Every person who helped or prayed.
We need to hold THEM in our hearts as well. We need to continue to honor the countless and nameless heroes who arose that day.
REMEMBER THEM. HOLD THEM IN YOUR HANDS AND IN YOUR HEART.
A. SECOND, WE'RE CALLED TO REMEMBER GOD. AND TO REMEMBER GOD IS IN CONTROL.
We don't like to be out of control. Some of us are even control freaks and when things are out of our control we nearly have a nervous breakdown. It puts us under great strain and stress. Even for those of us who aren't control freaks, we don't like for life to be out of control. And the events of September 11th made us painfully aware that we really aren't in control.
It shocked all of us, how easily the little control that we do have could suddenly be taken away. That really shocked some people. It shocked some of the people in the God business and the Faith business so badly that they've begun to question the very existence of God. They can't understand how a God of love could let something like that happen. Or how people who believe in God could do something like that in God's name.
The only answer I have, the only answer I can find is what Paul writes in Romans 3:23 "all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." [NRSV]
Sometimes, lives collide. One person chooses to ignore God's call or God's claim on their lives or even to filter and interpret it in a way foreign to most people. And that life collides with another. Sometimes nothing happens except a moment of uncomfortableness. Other times, tragedy occurs.
B. And in the midst of tragedy we need to remember that this is God's world. God created it. Just as God created us. And God's own Son in John 16:33 said: "I have said this to you, so that in me you may find peace. In the world you face persecution. But take courage: I have conquered the world."
And in Psalm 9:9-10 the Psalmist writes: "The Lord is a stronghold for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble. And those who know your name put their trust in you, for you, O Lord, have not forsaken those who seek you."
God will never forsake us. WE'RE CALLED TO REMEMBER GOD. TO REMEMBER GOD IS IN CONTROL.
THIRD, WE'RE CALLED TO REMEMBER THE CROSS. TO REMEMBER THAT THE CROSS OF CHRIST IS CENTRAL TO OUR FAITH.
The bulletin cover contains a photo of one of the most beautiful crosses I've ever seen. Those first few hours of rescue were horrendous, especially for the rescue workers. It didn't take long before the workers were physically, emotionally and spiritually exhausted, yet most of them couldn't or wouldn't quit to rest. They pushed themselves. Frank Silecchia was one of those.
He'd been hard at it for 12 hours. They had only recovered 3 bodies. As he moved into the lobby atrium of building six of the World Trade Center, illumined by the early dawn light, he saw shapes, crosses. There in the center was a 20 foot high cross.
He said: "In that little grotto I felt a strange sense of peace and stillness. I could almost hear God saying, "The terrible thing done at this site was meant for evil. But I will turn it to good. Have faith. I am here."
He fell to his knees in prayer and began crying. After getting himself together, he grabbed his gear and went back to the search-and-rescue work. But first he spray painted the words "God's House" on the atrium ruins.
Day after day in the ruins of the building was exhausting but every time he felt he couldn't go on, he would go back to that cross and be strengthened. Word began to spread and pretty soon others were experiencing the healing effect of the cross. Everyone who came to that cross left changed.
It's effects were so powerful that when it came time to clean up that area Father Brian Jordan, a chaplain at Ground Zero persuade officials to save the cross. It was removed and iron workers fixed it to a concrete base. It was then hoisted up and mounted atop a 40 foot foundation where rescue workers down in the pit, could see it whenever they lifted their heads.
He writes: "the cross was a sign, a promise from God that he is with us even in the face of terrible evil and untold suffering." (1)
Frank Silecchia's story just proves what the Apostle Paul says in 1 Corinthians. 1:18 "For the message about the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God." [NRSV]
WE'RE CALLED TO REMEMBER THE CROSS. TO REMEMBER THAT THE CROSS OF CHRIST IS CENTRAL TO OUR FAITH. IT IS THE POWER OF GOD.
A. AND FINALLY WE'RE CALLED TO REMEMBER WHO WE ARE AND WHO WE BELONG TO.
We belong to God. Christ died on the cross for us and was raised from the dead to give us life eternal. Because of that great love for us, we've given our lives to Christ. And now we are God's representatives in the world today. And that's important stuff.
As a consequence, we are emissaries of God's love and God's grace in the world. Paul, in his letter to the church in Rome reminds us that life is short, we don't know when God will call us home or when Christ is going to return. It could be tomorrow or a month from now, another hundred years or in five minutes. We don't know. And because we don't know we need to be ready. We need to live faithfully and be prepared.
B. Eugene Peterson's The Message puts it this way: Romans 13:8-14
"Don't run up debts, except for the huge debt of love you owe each other. When you love others, you complete what the law has been after all along. The law code - don't sleep with another person's spouse, don't take someone's life, don't take what isn't yours, don't always be wanting what you don't have, and any other "don't" you can think of - finally adds up to this: Love other people as well as you do yourself. You can't go wrong when you love others. When you add up everything in the law code, the sum total is love.
But make sure that you don't get so absorbed and exhausted in taking care of all your day-by-day obligations that you lose track of the time and doze off, oblivious to God. The night is about over, dawn is about to break. Be up and awake to what God is doing! God is putting the finishing touches on the salvation work he began when we first believed. We can't afford to waste a minute, must not squander these precious daylight hours in frivolity and indulgence, in sleeping around and dissipation, in bickering and grabbing everything in sight. Get out of bed and get dressed! Don't loiter and linger, waiting until the very last minute. Dress yourselves in Christ, and be up and about!" [Msg]
Basically what Paul is saying is simply this: WE'RE CALLED TO REMEMBER WHO WE ARE AND WHO WE BELONG TO AND THEN LIVE IT.
On September 11, 2001, Alfred Braca was among the thousands of people who died in the attacks on the World Trade Center. Braca's widow, Jean, and their four children were lost in grief. A month after the attack, Jean Braca received a call from an MCI phone operator. The woman had an important message for Jean: she knew Alfred Braca's last words.
Before the final collapse of the twin towers, Alfred Braca had gotten through to an MCI telephone operator and asked her to relay a final message to his family. He told them that he loved them. He knew the magnitude of the situation he was in. He also shared with his family that he and fifty other men were gathered in prayer at that very moment. It was their last act before death. (2)
Alfred Braca and those 50 other men REMEMBERED WHO THEY WERE AND WHO THEY BELONGED TO AND THEY LIVED IT. We're called to do the same.
REMEMBER THE VICTIMS, HEROES AND WORKERS. HOLD THEM IN YOUR HANDS AND IN YOUR HEART.
REMEMBER GOD IS IN CONTROL.
REMEMBER THE CROSS OF CHRIST IS CENTRAL TO OUR FAITH.
AND MOST IMPORTANT OF ALL: REMEMBER WHO YOU ARE AND WHO YOU BELONG TO AND THEN LIVE IT.
Make THAT an ongoing tradition, like the Passover, in your family.
1. Adapted from a story in Guideposts Magazine, September 2002, pp 31-33
2. Judy Bachrach, "The Price of Grief," ROSIE MAGAZINE, Jan. 2002, p. 62
3.
4.
www.SermonWriter.com (Copyright, Richard Niell Donovan, 2000)
www.SermonMall.com
www.deaconsil.com
www.rockies.net/~spirit/sermon.html (Richard Fairchild Lectionary Resources)
Homiletics, (Communications Resources, Inc., Canton, OH)
Lectionary Homiletics, (Lectionary Homiletics, Inc. Midlothian, VA)
Dynamic Preaching, (Seven Worlds Publishing, Knoxville, TN)
The Clergy Journal, (Logos Productions, Inc., Inver Grove Heights, MN)
Preaching Magazine (Preaching Resources, Jackson, TN)
Circuit Rider, (The United Methodist Publishing House, Nashville, TN)
The Interpreter's Bible, (Abingdon Press, Nashville, 1953)
The New Interpreter's Bible, (Abingdon Press, Nashville, 1995)
Lectionary Preaching Workbook, Cycle A, (CSS Publishing, Lima, OH, 2002) SermonPrep Version.
Preaching the Miracles, (CSS Publishing, Lima, OH, 1998) SermonPrep Version.
Preaching the Parables, Cycle A, (CSS Publishing, Lima, OH, 1997) SermonPrep Version.