At St. Philip’s we believe that responding to
questions of this kind is an integral part of being more effective in our
mission. We trust that as we share and
reflect upon such things in our life together, it draws us closer to God and to
one another, and enhances our opportunities for growth in the Holy Spirit. It witnesses to an active God whose life
intersects with ours.
We’re not saying that this is easy to do or that we
do it well, but only that we see it as an essential part of our life together
as a community and that we wish to grow into this. We see it as a part of growing the church and
growing in mission.
In yesterday morning’s Gospel we heard St. Matthew’s
account of the Christmas story. It began
with these words: “Now the birth of
Jesus the messiah took place in this way”.
We heard about how an angel of God appeared to Joseph in a dream and
told him that Mary, his wife-to-be would give birth to a son, Jesus who would
save his people from their sins.
Again in tonight’s Gospel we find an angel of the
Lord and an angelic host appearing to shepherds near
If you were lucky enough to see our Christmas
pageant, which immediately preceded this service, you saw our own angelic host
giving glory to God and telling the age-old story of the birth of Jesus. And I give thanks for all who participated in
that pageant and all who made it possible.
THANKS, young people and adults.
It is an over simplication to say that the word angel
means messenger of God … but I’ll do it anyhow.
And I give thanks to all who share the messages of
God with me and with this congregation.
As many of you know my mother is gravely ill. During our Eucharist yesterday morning my
sister left a message on the church answering system saying that mom’s death
would probably occur in a matter of hours or perhaps days rather than days or
perhaps weeks.
I’m very close to my mother. She has influenced my life for good more than
any one else. She is 95. On the day before Thanksgiving she was
admitted to the hospital with congestive heart failure. The family does not remember her ever
being in the hospital before except when her four children were born.
Last Wednesday after having visited her …and hardly
recognizing her, I was in a grumpy mood when I got home. I told Beverly Ann that I doubted that she’d
make it until Christmas. Beverly Ann
asked how I would feel if she died on Christmas Day? My knee jerk reaction was more-than-a-little
sarcastic. I said, “Well, I guess it
would be a great way to ruin the next twenty or so Christmases”.
God spoke to me through Beverly Ann’s response. She reminded me of what I already knew very
well, but had not been thinking about … and that is, how wonderful an
experience it was for her that her father died in her arms on Father’s Day 1995
… how it has blessed each successive Father’s Days with wonderful memories for
her … how important it is to her that her father went to be with his heavenly
father on Father’s Day. … that a
special day like Father’s Day (or Christmas) could be a most appropriate time
to associate with a very special person coming to share eternity with their
Lord and Savior.
She won me over quickly and, thanks be to God, I
believe that I am ready for my mom’s death whenever it might come.
I am grateful to Beverly Ann for allowing me to see
things from a different perspective, and for being for me an angel of God, a
messenger of the Holy One. Thank you, my
beloved wife.
Another angel, to a lesser extent, but still in a
very powerful way, spoke to me through a note she gave me immediately before
yesterday’s 8 am service. I had
mentioned to her the previous day that my mother’s death expected very soon. This time it was from God, via Jessie
Cole. Jessie, like my mother is 95. The two have met at least twice and hit it
off very well together.
God’s message through Jessie’s note again helps me
to see things from a more helpful, healthy and spiritual perspective.
Her note reads as follows:
Dear Ray,
I was
just thinking about your mother. I only
saw her a couple of times, but I loved her the first time we sat talking
together in the Parish Hall. You said she has made her leaving you easier. I hope when my time comes I shall be able to
do this for my family.
My
father died in December and we had our Christmas lights in the window. My sister turned the lights off, and my
mother told her to put them back on. She
said we have to go on living and your dad would not want to have you do
this.
Bless you and your family,
Love, Jessie
So God has been working in my life through
angels. But God is not restricted to
angels as he brings messages to us. He
enters into the struggles of our lives and shares his life and love with us in
other ways as well.
This morning, a few minutes after Beverly Ann left
me a message that the hospital had called and said that mom would probably not
make it through the day, I turned on the tape cassette of the Bible in my car
and immediately heard the following words from I Cor 15:
‘Death has been swallowed up in victory.’
‘Where, O death, is your victory?
Where, O death, is your sting?’
The sting of death is sin, and the
power of sin is the law. But thanks be
to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Therefore,
my beloved, be steadfast, immovable, always excelling in
the work of the Lord, because you know that in the Lord your labour is not in
vain.
I take these
to be words straight from God, and directly for me.
Tonight’s
sermon began with three questions:
Next Sundays
sermon will be begin with the same questions:
But this time I’ll offer people in the congregation an opportunity to
respond to them.
And I’m hoping that it won’t be a really, really short
sermon.
Copies of the
questions are on the table at the rear of the church on blue sheets.
[Note: Mom died about twenty minutes after the Christmas Eve Eucharist]