[Propertalk] Fwd: New Life (Luke 7:11-17; 1 Kings 17:17-24)

[Joe Parrish]

Forwarded:


-----Original Message-----
From: LKraft <LKraft at ecunet.org>
To: SERMONSHOP_SERMONS.topic <SERMONSHOP_SERMONS.topic at ecunet.org>
Sent: Wed, Jun 9, 2010 3:48 pm
Subject: New Life (Luke 7:11-17; 1 Kings 17:17-24)



PENTECOST 2c                                          June 7, 2010
Luke 7:11-17                                                 Holy Trinity ELCA
1 Kings 17:17-24                                          Trumbull, CT
                                    New Life
            Years ago, it is said, a strange ad appeared in a newspaper’s classified section. It was an ad for a USED TOMBSTONE. The ad read like this: “Used tombstone for sale. Real bargain to someone named Homer Jones. For more information please call . . .” and a number was listed. A used tombstone? I guess the deceased no longer needed it. A resurrection, perhaps?
            Dr. E. Stanley Jones, a famous missionary, once told about a layman who was called upon to conduct a funeral service. Being an exact man, he wanted to do it right. So he turned to the Gospels to see how Jesus conducted a funeral. And he found that Jesus didn’t conduct funerals at all. He only performed resurrections. Not one person died in his presence. He came upon those who were already dead and resurrected them and gave them new life. (1) 
            Some of you may remember a motion picture from the early 1990s titled, “Awakenings”. The film starred Robin Williams and Robert De Niro, and was directed by Penny Marshall. It was nominated for three Academy Awards. 
            “Awakenings” was based on the real life experiences of Dr. Oliver Sacks, a neurologist who sought to treat a mysterious illness that swept across Europe and the U. S. after World War I. This illness was sometimes referred to as “sleeping sickness,” but was more properly known as encephalitis lethargica. The main symptom of this sleeping sickness was that its victims fell into a comatose state that could last for months or even years. 
            A few of these patients did awake from these comas, but when they did, their bodies would twist and tremor with symptoms very much like extreme cases of Parkinson’s. Because the vast majority of the patients remained comatose, they were often warehoused, and generally forgotten, in long-term care clinics. 
            Oliver Sacks focused his attention on these sad and almost forgotten people. There was a new wonder drug called L-Dopa that had been shown to help victims of Parkinson’s. Since some of those suffering from the “sleeping sickness’ showed symptoms similar to Parkinson’s, Dr. Sacks began treating his patients with the drug. When he did, the results were astounding. 
            Many of them “came back to life,” so to speak. “They regained the ability to move, speak, interact, and live a normal life. Each patient reacted to this new life differently. One patient became fearful and disoriented. Another patient developed an insatiable desire for new experiences. He wanted to read great books, study the detail in a flower, write his autobiography, dance all night. This particular patient announced, ‘I feel saved, resurrected, reborn.’ Sadly, the L-Dopa lost its potency over the next few months, and all the patients slipped back into their vegetative states.” (2) 
            There is no source of new life that is permanent except new life in Christ. (3)  So, what are you doing with your new life?  
 
            Last weekend I was away on vacation.  No matter whether I’m working, at home, nearby or far away, I’m a people watcher.  I’m an eavesdropper, too; I listen in on others’ conversations without meaning any harm.  People talk loudly, even when there’s no one about to hear them – well, maybe that little thing stuck to their ear hears their words, but there’s no other body present!
            This past week I was eating lunch at a fast food place.  Wearing casual clothes, there was no way those four twenty-something men could know I was a pastor.  Two of them were trying to convince the others that their own random acts of sexual conquest were the norm for manly males of their age.  The third remained quiet, keeping an embarrassed eye on the crowded dining room; the fourth wasn’t easily convinced by the braggarts’ loud bravado.  Much to the protestations of the first two, the fourth continually encouraged them to consider a more considerate and thoughtful way of relating to others.  The first two loudly maintained their own way of ‘accepting the bounty of nature’ was the more realistic approach.  Finally, the quiet guy convinced the group to move their conversation outside to a less public place.
            What do we do with our new lives in Christ?  The loud-mouthed young men in that fast-food place treated life as if it were cheap, easy come easy go.  Maybe people or life experience had convinced them to grab what they wanted and never sweat the consequences.  Can you and I do that when we know our lives have value?
            The person of God who reaches out to another human being, who includes that other - no matter what the OTHER’s situation may be - shows that each one has value; each one has worth.  Elijah reached out that day when he brought back to life the son of the foreign woman who had reluctantly offered him hospitality.  Jesus reached out that day when he brought back to life the only son of the widow.  
            Elijah demonstrated God’s own regard for human value and worth.  Although the household where he lodged was not that of a true believer, he did not withhold God’s power from the stranger.  In his compassion, he demonstrated God’s own care and concern for all humanity, and the name of the One True God was honored and trusted in a strange land.
            Our Gospel story for today follows Luke’s account of Jesus raising from the dead the son of a Roman Centurion. Luke puts together two shocking stories of Jesus’ inclusive embrace.  What is it about this Jesus?  Doesn’t he know God’s love is only for those within the accepted definition we’ve always held?
            Last Sunday I attended church in my husband’s home town.  That Lutheran congregation was founded a hundred years ago by his grandparents.  Our children were baptized there, his sisters and our youngest daughter’s godparents are pillars of the congregation.  It is the only Lutheran church within a 40 mile radius.
            The pastor’s wife warmly welcomed me.  There were lots of hugs and across-the-room nods of acknowledgment from old friends.  The pastor’s message was instructional and uplifting and I knew most of the hymns.  I registered for communion because the card said, “Holy Communion is offered to the baptized who confess the Triune God, who believe Jesus Christ is their Lord and Savior and who freely acknowledge the real presence of Christ’s body and blood in the Sacrament.”
            No problem there!  I signed my name, put my address and went to the rail to receive the bread and wine.  I was served without challenge and returned to my seat to pray and sing.  Worship concluded and we moved into the fellowship hall for coffee.  See, some things are the same wherever you go!  I stepped up to visit with the pastor as he was filling his cup.  I thanked him for the warm welcome and the Word of God and said if he was ever in Connecticut he should stop by and worship here, where I serve as pastor.
            I thought he was going to drop his cup on the floor.  He looked at me and said in a stage whisper, “You’re a pastor? What kind?”  I told him I’d been called to serve an ELCA congregation.  He then told me I should not have taken communion there since I couldn’t honestly sign the registration card.  He told me I didn’t believe or teach according to the registration card’s requirements.  I quietly assured him I DID.  I do confess Jesus Christ as my savior, the redeemer of all creation, and I believe in the real presence of Christ in the Sacrament.  
            His attention was drawn away by one of the church members about then and he moved away a bit.  Then he overheard me talking to Kathryn’s godmother and showing her the ultrasound picture of our granddaughter due in August.  He walked over and interjected himself into our conversation, then, with words that were most UN-welcoming and exclusionary.  I began to say his position can be very difficult for some people to hear, when my sister-in-law called “time out,” and said we needed to leave for the family reunion we were already late for.  Nice save, Susan!
 
            What is this new life you and I have been offered?  Is it only for us?  The examples in our Bible of Elijah and Jesus seem to say otherwise.  God’s gift of new life seems to be for all people, for those who value life and for those who find it worthless.  God’s gift of new life seems to be for all people, for those who set rules and for those who break them.  God’s gift of new life seems to be for all people, for those who are born within the circle and those born outside its borders.
            The new life you and I have been offered is the one Christ chose to give us.  It is the life he paid for with his own.  It is precious and inclusive and worthwhile and generous, kind and loving and caring and compassionate.  But it is not ours to keep to ourselves.  God’s gift of new life in Christ is a life to be shared and not hoarded.  It is a life to be valued and protected.  It is truly new life for today and for always – for you and me and everyone.  Yes, everyone.  Amen
 
 
1. Royce Hendry, http://www.sermoncentral.com/sermon.asp?SermonID=34943.
 
2. Philip Yancey, Rumors of Another World (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Zondervan, 2003), pp. 55-56.
 
3. Dynamic Preaching Sermons Second Quarter 2010, King Duncan, ChristianGlobe Networks, Inc., 2010, 0-000-0000-20
 
Rev. Linda J. Kraft
Holy Trinity Lutheran Church
Trumbull  CT   06611
office p/f 203-372-8844
www.htlctrumbull.org
 

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://stsams.org/pipermail/propertalk_stsams.org/attachments/20100611/49e7a0ef/attachment.htm>