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LENT V: April 1, 2001
“Not that I have already obtained this or have already reached the goal; but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me His own.
Beloved, I do not consider that I have made it own my own; but this one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus.”
Philippians 3:13-14
* * * * *
I identify with the young preacher who suffered from an extreme case of stage-fright. He asked the Old Pastor what he did to get over that, and what he did to get on with his sermon.
The Old Pastor said, I usually tell some kind of a story....to break the ice and to get me relaxed. “Well, what kind of a story?”, the Young Preacher asked.
Well, something you might use, is one I often tell....I would say: “Did you know that I spent a number of years in the arms of a woman who was not my wife?”
“My word,” said the young Preacher. “Well,” the Old Preacher replied:
“It was my mother.” Oh yes, I see said the Young Preacher.
So the next Sunday, the frightened & nervous Young Preacher began with his story:
“Folks, do you know that I spent a number of years in the arms of a woman who was not my Wife?
Then he stuttered and stammered and groping for words he said:
“But for the life of me, I can’t remember who she was.”
* * * * *
The great Carl Jung once said.....the secret of happiness is good health and a poor memory. It is true that memories and ghosts of the past frequently come back to haunt us and to trouble us.....and not to dwell on these helps to keep our spirits up and from recalling crippling experiences.
However, Memories are a mixed bag....containing both good memories and also many regrets.....and we don’t want to forget everything....but indeed how hard it is to completely block out the past.
Yes, we are a product of our past....it is our history....for good or for bad.....and try as we may....it is hard to disown that part of us.
The Scriptures today urge not to forget the past....but also not to let the former things .....things which are over and done with.....to hold us back from embracing the future and what God still has in store for us.
I don’t like to be kept on hold when calling someone.....for I have others things to do, other than tap my foot and wait and wait. So it is true that when we keep letting the past hinder us....when the past is so present, that we are still in the grips of the past and the sorrow it holds.....
....then to be sure....our life is on hold.....it is hard to get on with life as long as we keep looking backward.
Jesus has told us that: “He who puts his hand to plow and looks back.....is not fit for the Kingdom of God.” For to Jesus and His followers.....Life moves forward and not backward.
The Old Black Preachers used to talk about “The Freedom Train and the
Glory Train ,” and those who want to get on the Freedom Train....had better get on board....for Freedom Train is at the station.....for Jesus is on the move and He is ready to move out. So their cry to their people was:
“A l l A b o a r d !”
* * * * *
In the Prophet Isaiah, God says to His people Israel:
“Do not remember the former things, or consider things of old.....for I am about to do a new thing.”
And to that I say: Praise God!
For I am ready to move on from my blunders and past mistakes....I am ready to learn from them and to move on to something better.
.
In spite of my jaded past...
I am ready for God to do a new thing in me, and through me, and for me.....
.....and I Hope that you are ready too.
For God is a God of the future....He is always creating and recreating us, and He is never content to leave us in the past wallowing in our sins and misdeeds.
God has made us for His own and He will not give up on us.....for He loves us with a love that will never let us go.
St. Paul too in his Epistle to the Philippians....sounds the same note:
“.....forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead....
I press on....”
If anyone ever wanted to be rid of his past and those nightmare memories....
it was St. Paul....St. Paul who formerly persecuted with a vengeance the Church before his conversion.
For this reason....St. Paul once and for all claimed the sole distinction.....as being the chief sinner among all sinners.
Though St. Paul speaks these words of trying to forget the past....St. Paul until his death....still bore a great deal of sorrow and regret for his misdeeds as a zealous Pharisee.
True it is that we cannot always sweep the past under the rug....for there is always a bump that one might trip over. However....ours is a God who makes all things new,
He is not a divine scorekeeper and He is not a divine bookkeeper....who meticulously records every dot and title of our misdeeds.
“I will blot your transgressions and I will remember yours sins no more”....
God says to His perennially errant people Israel.
A dear friend of mine Don L, has told his story throughout the Diocese of Texas
.....of how God reclaimed his life. A Texan, Done was a great architect and was quite successful....having designed a number of fine buildings in our Texas Capital, Austin.
However, he became a very serious alcoholic....lost is job....lost his home
....lost his wife and children. After frequent blackouts for days....dejected, broke and at the end of his rope, he decided to take his life.
He had all things ready and was ready to go...but before that.....first he thought that he must take a shower .
While in the shower, in his own words.....Don says:
“Two Angels from A. A. knocked at his door and said: Don, it doesn’t have to be this way....let us help you.”
Don says that was some twenty-five years ago. Since then, Don joined our Church, became a Lay Reader and Chalice bearer, Jr. Warden and then Sr. Warden. After that he became a Staff Lay Chaplain in a large hospital, and a Lay Vicar at one of our Missions
....and then just last June....at age 68, Don was Ordained to the Priesthood under one of the new Canons.
God does and God can make all things new....He is always doing a new thing.
The question is:
Will we allow Him to do a new thing in us?
Will we allow Him to do a new thing at St. Matthew’s Church?
For ours is a God who makes all things new....He is One who can take all our turmoil, all our upheaval, all our disappointment....and all our failures and setbacks.....and do a new thing.
St. Paul reminds us:
“For in all things....even in the worst of things.....
God works together for good, for those who love Him.”
So looking forward.....we have every hope.....we have every assurance....that God is not one who sits on His hands.....but that since He has brought us this far....He certainly will not ever forsake us....
Instead....we know that He has bound Himself to us...to His own Church Family,
His chosen people.....and that when we are open to His will and when we are open to His agenda, (which may not be our agenda),
.....then He will make a way in the wilderness of our struggles, and there will be a
New day of the Lord.....here at St. Matthew’s Church!
We can all say Amen to that!
* * * * *
I am a clock collector....I have a number of all kinds of clocks and watches.
Once I was carrying a large wall clock to be fixed, back to my repairman who is a clown.
I was struggling and struggling with this heavy clock which was over four feet tall.
Trying to carry it through the door, was almost too much for me.
My repairman shouted to me:
“Joe, why don’t you wear a wrist watch like everyone else?”
* * * * *
There is the story of a man who had a very expensive and intricate wrist watch that went on the blink. He thought to himself.....to be fixed and to be repaired .....something this fine and complicated cannot be brought to just anyone.
So he thought to himself, this watch in order to be repaired.....must be brought back to its maker.....it must be brought back to the one who made it.
So it is in our lives....so it is in the life of the Church.....to be renewed....to have our lives set right and to begin anew.....to set our feet on the right path.....
.....We must return to our Maker....to the One who knows everything about us.....who knows what makes us tick.....and how we are made.....what our real problems are.....we must return to the One who made us......
To the One who can make all things new.
The Church doesn’t have an answer to all of our questions....however.....the Church can point us to the One who can.....to the only One who can give our longing souls the comfort, the peace, the courage and the assurance that He will have the last word.....
....the last word in terms of our past our present and our future.
* * * * *
Calvin Miller, is the Author of the book, “The Singer,” in which He portrays Jesus who joyfully sings God’s Word and sings God’s Song.....says that the word “despair,” is not to be found in the Christian Lexicon.....however.....despair is the only word to be found in the Lexicon of Hell.
It is my hope and prayer that here at St. Matthew’s Church that we will have a sense of joy and hope, as we prepare for the next chapter in the life of this Parish.....
which I am convinced will be greater than ever.
We can borrow a word from the Poet, Robert Browning, who is convinced that:
“The Best Is yet to Come!”
This certainly sums up my sentiments and my beliefs.....and I hope it is yours also.
We don’t come to the Altar because we have everything.....but we come because we are in need.....we hold our hands up and out....to receive whatever God has to offer for us.
We hold up both of our hands.....but not because it takes two hands to receive the bread and the wine.
We hold up both of our hands because the gift that God gives to us.....is so precious. ....it is so valuable.....that we use two hands to show that it is no ordinary gift.
Just as someone would hand you an exquisite piece of leaded glass or fine crystal, .....a piece of Stuben or a Laleaque.....you surely would take it with two hands.....thus denoting how valuable it is and how greatly it is cherished.
It is from the knowledge that ours is a God of amazing power and infinite love.....that His concern for us is far beyond what we could ever imagine......it is from these beliefs......
that we place our hope and our trust.....indeed our Faith.....in the One who can supply all our needs, as He did yesterday, as He does today.....and as He surely will do tomorrow and thereafter.
Text:
“.....forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus.”
A M E N & A M E N !
jdp+
