FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, ATLANTA, GEORGIA

 

Sermon by Rev. Craig N. Goodrich

Associate Pastor, Administration/Executive Director

 

June 15, 2008

 

Faith and Courage

 

Scripture: Matthew 9:35 - 10:15, Romans 5:1-5, Exodus 20:12

 

 

            Today is Father’s Day. You might be interested in its history.

            The most commonly accepted account is that it began in Spokane Washington in 1910 when a young woman Sonora Smart Dodd was in church listening to a Mother’s Day sermon. Thinking of her own father, William Smart, who had raised six children by himself after the death of her mother, Sonora approached the Spokane Ministerial Alliance with the request that the churches in Spokane observe a day for fathers on her father’s birthday, June 5. Several churches took up the request; they needed a little more time, but on June 19, 1910 they celebrated the first Father’s Day. (Sonora Smart Dodd, Wikipedia.org).  

            In 1924 Calvin Coolidge made it a national event by a proclamation which read “to establish more intimate relations between fathers and their children and to impress on fathers the full measure of their obligations.”  In 1972 Richard Nixon signed a law passed by congress permanently establishing Father’s Day on the 3rd Sunday of June. All because of one daughter’s love and gratitude for her father.                               

 

Not every country has a day set aside for fathers, this according to the website of the US Embassy in Stockholm Sweden. Listen to this description no doubt written for Swedes thinking of visiting the United States:

            “The United States is one of the few countries in the world that has an official day on which fathers are honored by their children. On the third Sunday of June, fathers all across the Untied States are given presents, treated to dinner or otherwise made to feel special.”

And here’s the part I really like:

            “When children can’t visit their fathers or take them out to dinner, they send a greeting card. Traditionally, fathers prefer greeting cards that are not too sentimental. Most greeting cards are whimsical so fathers laugh when they open them. Some give heartfelt thanks for being there whenever the child needed Dad.” (Stockholm.usembasy.gov/holidays/celebrate/fathers).

Well what are we to think?

            Recently it seems like Father’s Day and Mother’s Day and everything else has become more and more commercialized. “Last - Minute Gifts for Dad” was one of the AJC headlines yesterday. And one source estimates that this year 11 billion dollars will be spent on Father’s Day gifts and activities, 7 million less than Mother’s Day. Moms are still ahead!  

            Do you remember the 5th commandment? “Honor your father and your mother so that your days may be long in the land that the Lord God is giving you.” (Exodus 20:12).

Honoring our parents is part of our faith.

 

But it is not always easy is it?  Sometimes it is complicated:

Gordon MacDonald who was our Focus preacher last fall and also spoke to our men, wrote this:

            “These fathers of ours. Strange men sometimes. Strange and mystifying, too are our relationships with them…..I walk through a crowd of men, and each of them seems faceless to me. I care little about who they are or what they think. Should they disapprove of me, it would have relatively little impact. But if one of the men were my father, his admiration or disapproval would have a profound effect on me. It would be the cause of joy or heartache in my private thoughts. If one of them were my father, I would give almost anything to hear he was proud of me.” (From When Men Think Private Thoughts, p. 61) (1996).

            Is MacDonald right? For those of us who have received such love and approval we likely take it for granted, as always having been there, perhaps not realizing how deeply a father’s love has shaped us.

            In the aftermath of Meet The Press host Tim Russert’s death this past Friday at the age of 58 in Washington, D.C., much mention has been made of his close relationship with his father whom he called “Big Russ.”  In 2004 Tim wrote a book entitled Big Russ and Me” And on the BigRussandMe.com  website, Tim Russert said that the book is “about my father, about the lessons I have learned from him, the way he has influenced my life and my enormous love and respect for this steady, hardworking, and modest man.” One commentator said about the book “In a day in which many grown men are reluctant to embrace their fathers in public, Tim Russert hugs his father for 21 chapters” (NBC Nightly News, Friday June 13, 2008). No doubt it was big Russ who hugged Tim first and encouraged and cheered for his son all his life long.

            We hunger for our father’s approval, which sometimes seems more precarious and more distant than a mother’s love. There comes a time in the Presbyterian wedding ceremony when after the couple has declared their intent to be married, that this question is put to the families. “To the families of the bride and groom, do you give your blessing to them and promise to do everything in your power to uphold them in their marriage.” The answer is “We do.”

 

Parents…fathers…the greatest gift we can give to our children is to give them our blessing, our unconditional love, our encouragement and to give it now.

            And we children? (for all of us have fathers), how are we to honor him, or his memory?

            With gratitude and thanksgiving, if at all possible. Listen to the Heidelberg Catechism, one of our Reformed Confessions from the16th century. This is in response to the question “what is required by the 5th commandment?

            “That I show honor, love and faithfulness to my father and mother…. That I submit myself with respectful obedience to all their careful instruction and discipline; and that I also bear patiently their failures, since it is God’s will to govern us by their hand.” (Book of Confessions, p. 46)

            “That we bear patiently their failures.”  It doesn’t take long, does it, to come to realize that our parents and, we as parents, have not lived perfectly. We fail. We fail because we are human. We are vulnerable and frail human beings. But where there is failure, where there is hurt or pain, remember that God’s mercy is wider still... God’s love is everlasting and, thank God, there is the possibility of forgiveness. Indeed, one writer has said that the best way that we can honor our parents is to forgive them. (Craig Barnes in When God Interrupts at p.112, InterVarsity Press 1996)

            What about you? How will you honor your father or his memory today? After all, he gave you the gift of life.

            But today is not just about fathers and children. We are not here this morning with the primary purpose of recognizing fathers or to learn how to be better parents or to enrich our family life, as important as these things are.  No, we are here to worship God and to seek to be and become “Disciples who proclaim and serve THE LORD JESUS CHRIST in all we say and do.” At least that’s what we say in our Statement of Purpose which has been on the cover of our Bulletin every Sunday for the last ten years.

            And if we look to Jesus, he had some pretty hard things to say about family, when it got in the way of discipleship. When told his mother and brothers were looking for him he responded “who are my mothers and my brothers?” James and John when called by Jesus, left their father Zebedee in the boat holding the net.

            So yes, we live in families, and we often sit together for worship but in the deepest reality we are one family of faith for we are all brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ.

            As the family, we are here to be disciples of Jesus Christ. We look to him and follow him.

 

            In today’s gospel lesson Matthew writes that Jesus “went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom, and curing every disease and every sickness. When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.”

            So what does Jesus do? He calls the twelve disciples and gives them authority. He sends them out to the lost sheep of Israel, to heal, to cast out demons, to raise the dead and as Eugene Peterson translates in The Message “to tenderly care for the bruised and hurt lives.” (The Message, Matthew 10:1)

            And do you know what; he calls us to do the same today. We are just ordinary people, just like them, but this is what we are called to, individually and together. We profess that we are all ministers here.

            Discipleship, following Jesus, with his compassion, for healing and for hope.

            Seems like a tall order doesn’t it? We are not sure we are up to it. We don’t hear from Matthew how the disciples felt going out. He is giving us the narrative. Both he and we are on the outside looking into the story. But we can be sure that their following of Jesus required both faith and courage.

            Jesus did not help them get their lives together, he sent them into mission. 

            But we do find a compelling view from the inside in the letters of Paul, documents that actually predate the gospel. Paul writes to actual people, believers, followers of Jesus who are trying to actually live the Christian life -- people therefore like you and me and all those who have gone before us.

            The letter to the Romans is regarded as Paul’s most theological letter and in it many have found the basis for doctrines which undergird our Reformed faith. He describes in the fifth chapter how in Jesus Christ, through his death and resurrection, we have obtained reconciliation and peace with God and that we now stand in grace (Isn’t that a wonderful phrase and image!?). And then he speaks of boasting or rejoicing in our hope of sharing the glory of God. But then, did you notice, Paul seems to stop and reflect on his own experience and perhaps that of those Christians in Rome to whom he is writing, for he speaks of suffering.

            And not only that, Paul says but we also boast in our suffering, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope and hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.”

            Suffering, (troubles, difficulties) to endurance (or fortitude or courage) to character, to hope, to love. A simple but profound progression ending in the love of God.

            Let me ask you, How do you deal with suffering, with your troubles?

            And are their places in your live where you need faith and courage?

            Someone once said that “courage is fear that has said its prayers” (Karl Barth) and John Wayne said, “Courage is when you are afraid and you saddle up anyway.” (www.courageinstitute.org/articles/quotes)

            Paul is saying in Romans that by God’s grace something good can come out of hard times.

            Do you believe that?

 

            The late John Claypool himself no stranger to sorrow having lost his 10 year old young daughter, Laura Lue to leukemia, wrote a little book entitled God The Ingenious Alchemist, Transforming Tragedy into Blessing (Morehouse 2005). His thesis is that like the alchemists who sought to turn lead into gold, so God is always at work to bring good out of difficulty. Claypool says:

            “The loveliest truth I know is that God lives at the end of our ropes. The medieval mystics were fond of saying our situation of extremities are often God’s opportunities.” (p.17) … and “the great good news is that God is capable of doing something redemptive with absolutely everything.”(p.18).

            So Claypool encourages us, that instead of asking “Why me?” the better question is “What can I do now?” (p.51-52).

            What about you this morning? What are the difficulties you are facing or running from? Places where you need faith and courage? Places where God may just be working creatively and redemptively, producing character and hope.

            What can you do now?

            Perhaps in your own family, there is need for faith and courage, maybe looking back over the years, over past hurts and brokenness, with your own parents, siblings or children.

            Maybe it is the time for faith and courage to speak the truth in love.

            Or faith and courage to ask for help or forgiveness or to extend forgiveness.

            Maybe in your place of work, an ethical or moral issue has presented itself and you need faith and courage.

            Or in your finances?

 

            Or maybe it is in your relationship to God or this community of grace?

            Perhaps God is calling you to serve in a new way, or calling you to speak on behalf of those who have no voice, to work for justice and for peace.

            Following Jesus is not easy.  But don’t let fear paralyze you.

            Remember, you are not alone. But even more importantly, remember that in the hands of God, troubles can produce endurance, endurance can produce character, character can produce hope and hope does not disappoint. Why?? Because of the love of God poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit.

            The love of God in Jesus Christ. poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit.

            Old John Calvin, the father of Presbyterianism put it this way,
            “And certain it is…that the true fountain of all love is when the faithful are convinced that they are loved by God, and that they are not slightly touched with this conviction, but have their souls thoroughly imbued with it.” (Calvin’s Commentary on Romans, p.194, Eerdmans 1959)

            I hope you know this love. I hope your soul is thoroughly imbued with it.

            For you see, you are not just the child of your parents, you are a beloved child of God.

            That love is the source of all comfort. It is the source of all courage, and it is the assurance that no matter what happens, all will be well.

            Thanks be to God. Alleluia!!

            Amen.