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Sermon April 19, 2020
The Rev. Rebecca S. Myers,
The Church of the Nativity and St. Stephen’s
Second Sunday of Easter, Year A
http://lectionarypage.net/YearA_RCL/Easter/AEaster2_RCL.html
Although you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and rejoice with an indescribable and glorious joy…. 1 Peter 1:8
Recently, I was listening to a video by Presiding Bishop Michael Curry. Towards the end of his message, he quoted a line from the poem, “Once to Every Man and Nation,” by James Russell Lowell.
One Sunday during a winter storm, probably in the early 1970s, my father conducted church at home. The text of his sermon was this poem written in 1845, which was then a hymn in our hymnal. The first verse of the hymn goes:
1 Once to ev'ry man and nation
Comes the moment to decide,
In the strife of truth and falsehood,
For the good or evil side;
Some great cause, some great decision,
Off'ring each the bloom or blight,
And the choice goes by forever
'Twixt that darkness and that light.
We all face the challenge of choosing truth and good over falsehood and evil.
Sometimes siding with truth is easy and sometimes it is brave to side with truth.
2 Then to side with truth is noble,
When we share her wretched crust,
Ere her cause bring fame and profit,
And 'tis prosperous to be just;
Then it is the brave man chooses
While the coward stands aside,
Till the multitude make virtue
Of the faith they had denied.
And living our lives in truth challenges us
3 By the light of burning martyrs,
Christ, Thy bleeding feet we track,
Toiling up new Calv'ries ever
With the cross that turns not back;
New occasions teach new duties,
Ancient values test our youth;
They must upward still and onward,
Who would keep abreast of truth.
Finally the hymn concludes:
4 Tho' the cause of evil prosper,
Yet the truth alone is strong;
Tho' her portion be the scaffold,
And upon the throne be wrong;
Yet that scaffold sways the future,
And, behind the dim unknown,
Standeth God within the shadow,
Keeping watch above His own.
No matter what, God is always watching. My father’s message to our family that day, has stayed with me my whole life. The message, to stand for the truth, even when it is unpopular. The message that while things may seem tough, truth and justice always win.
What are the messages you continue to carry from loved ones you no longer see? Have you been told you talk like a loved one? Is there a saying that stays with you and you repeat often?
In today’s reading from 1 Peter, the writer acknowledges that even when we cannot see Jesus, Jesus is still with us. Even when we do not see him, we believe in him.
If I asked you to finish this sentence, what would you say, “Love your neighbor _________.
I imagine all of you finished that sentence perfectly, Love your neighbor as yourself. Have any of you seen Jesus? Yet, you have most likely taken in Jesus’ teachings and guidance. Jesus guides your life, even though he is not physically present to you.
We no longer see Jesus in the flesh, but just like we know and embody our loved ones who have died, we know Jesus and believe in living life as he taught. Our lives are better. We are strengthened to live in this world with all of its challenges. And therefore, we rejoice with an indescribable and glorious joy.
Amen
