Sermon Tone Analysis

Lord may the words of my mouth and the meditations of all our hearts be acceptable in your sight, Our Strength and Our Redeemer – Amen

 

/Then Peter came and said to him, “Lord, if another member of the church sins against me, how often should I forgive?

As many as seven times?” 22Jesus said to him, “Not seven times, but, I tell you, seventy-seven times.

(Matthew 18:21-22)/

 

I have vivid memories of that tragic September 11 morning ten years ago today.

It was mid-morning and I was at work.

Three of us shared an office and my colleague that often talked with a joke first, interrupted our three-way conversation by answering the phone and having a strange conversation.

He was being told about the attacks that landed on the first tower of the world trade center and when he got off the phone and told us we didn’t believe him.

Quickly he was on the internet searching for news and news seemed like a bad dream.

Sure enough, there it was…

The first plane had blasted its way through the north tower, seemingly a terribly unfortunate failure of the airplane’s radar system that led them off course.

Then the second plane was in sight, crashing into the south tower.

It became clear that this was no accident.

The shock of such a horrible sight had not even set in when we heard the news stories about two other high-jacked planes, one crashing into the Pentagon, another into a field in Pennsylvania… Were there more?

Who was capable of such mean spirited destruction?

Little did I know then what would follow.

Within a very short while internet traffic was so great that it become bogged down.

At the time Kelly and were working together, so we went out to lunch to a restaurant with lots of TVs so we could get some news and try to understand some of what was going on.

And yet it felt so surreal, in our media saturated culture, it didn’t feel like it had happened, it felt like it was something out of a Hollywood disaster movie.

The rest of the day, nothing much productive was done.

And when I got home, I remember going outside… on what was a beautifully sunny September afternoon… going out on the deck to where Madison, who was only two at the time, was… and hugging her and crying for a long time.

…Life felt much more precious in wake of such loss…

 

It has lessened over time, yet still every year on September 11, I feel the emotional disbelief, grief and fear that I experienced that morning.

And maybe the most dramatic thing that I felt was a breakdown in my fragile sense of peace, because this happened on North American soil.

Consider of those powerful emotions, Fear, Grief and Peace

 

*Fear - *Do you remember how afraid you were that day?

No one knew what was going to happen next, we didn’t really even know what had happened at first on that day

We couldn’t believe what we were seeing.

It just seemed like it couldn’t be real.

YET - Do not fear… be not afraid… fear not… worded different ways, it is probably the words Jesus repeated the most.

He said it to his followers the first time they saw him after he rose from death.

He’s not telling us that it’s somehow a sign of weakness or unfaithfulness to feel fear;

He’s assuring us that He is with us no matter what happens.

* *

*Grief *– For many we express grief in tears -* *Tears are the communication of feelings so deep that we don’t have words for them.

Let them come.

Jesus wept when He lost His friend, Lazarus

And He will give us comfort and His nurturing presence in these times, if we open ourselves to Him.

 

*Peace *– people are always saying “remember the good ol’ days...”

Well, conflict has always been with humanity – I remember in Grade 10 history my teacher telling us that in all recorded history, there has only been about 300 days total, cumulative, over all time, where the world has know peace

The world in Jesus’ time was also an unstable and dangerous world.

He didn’t promise to his earliest followers that he would change all that,

And unfortunately we don’t have that promise now.

He did promise then, and His promises endure forever – that in the midst of difficult times, that He gives us something rich and comforting and enduring… the peace of his presence.

Jesus said /“Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you.

I do not give to you as the world gives.

Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid.”

(John 14:27)/

 

We Christians are not immune to Fear, Grief and instability of Peace

            But in the face of those powerful emotions – we have the presence of our Lord Jesus

 

/[Peter asked]How often should I forgive?

As many as seven times?” 22Jesus said to him, “Not seven times, but, I tell you, seventy-seven times.

(Matthew 18:21-22)/

 

Today, this 10th anniversary of the 9~/11 attacks, we are reminded of our Lord’s instruction to be abundant in grace and mercy

 

And one way that we may rationalize that tragic day or any tragedy is to follow the lead of Joseph

            Remember Joseph, from Genesis – that is Joseph and the coat of many colours

                        Who was sold into slavery by his brothers – remember what he said:

/You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.

(Genesis 50:20) /

I want to start by saying that God works in mysterious ways – ways that are beyond our understanding, this side of the life eternal.

And I do believe that in */some/* situations God intends for us to go down a seemingly strange path – in order that a greater good is achieve through the journey – it is a valid theology, sometimes

We could look to the 1000’s of people that were mobilize in the wake of 9~/11

Or consider how people came to ‘greater search internally’ for the priorities of life, post- 9~/11

– But this is also a dangerous line of thinking for most situations

Because fundamentally God is good – when God creates… it is good… and for good

            God does not create evil – evil creeps in – we turn away from God’s good blessings

God’s gift of ‘/free will’/ is often exercised *away* from God

And for some people much of their whole lives are turned away from God, so that they don’t even know the way home anymore

 

Perhaps an alternative way to understand tragedy is to consider our relationship to God like the workings of a GPS device

A Global Position System is a device which can locate you using a database of maps and a connection to satellites - locating you to within 5 feet

It is a cool gadget to have in the car – our trip to Nova Scotia this summer was aided greatly by both the GPS we had in the car on our phones

Now when I want to go to some place and have this little computer tell me the best route – I type in the desired location and it calculates the route from where I am

I am then given turn by turn directions – audibly and graphically

But let’s say that I think I know better – maybe one street has less traffic or there is construction or maybe I just /think/ I know better - and I take a different route

                                    The computer takes a moment - in our case says “recalculating route”

                                                And a revised route is produced

                                                            If we have gone seriously wrong – it will say

                                                            “At the next opportunity, make a legal u-turn”

 

That is how God deals with us

          God, as Joseph rightly declares, doesn’t create the problem

                   God sets out a path

When we stray from it, God adjusts and redeems the situation by giving us another way

And just like my driving example, sometime calls us to make a u-turn in our life

God is good and any evil is not of God – however, God adjusts… and turns the evil into something

                                    However lovingly we act, there will always be people that want to hurt us.

God adjusts to the expressions of free-will with opportunities to love in the midst of suffering

/ /

/[Peter asked]How often should I forgive?

As many as seven times?” 22Jesus said to him, “Not seven times, but, I tell you, seventy-seven times.

(Matthew 18:21-22)/

 

It is important to remember, that forgiving another does not mean absolving them of responsibility.

To forgive another is to confirm that they have done wrong and are in need of forgiveness.

Mercy does not cancel out justice or the need for conversion, but it does open up a path of charity that encourages and promotes conversion and justice.

For the Christian in the world, /we live in mercy and we long for justice/, but we entrust final justice (final conversion) always to God.

As long as we believe in the power and mercy of God, we always hope for this.

Returning to the Gospel with, the Parable of the Unforgiving Servant, we hear the story of the master (representing God) who forgives the servant of his debt (the servant represents us).

A key message is that God forgives us not because we deserve it, but because God is merciful.

Yet, when that servant does not extend the same forgiveness to others, he gets himself into trouble, for he has not acted toward others the way the master acted toward him.

We are called to forgive those who sin against us.

We have probably heard this instruction many times and we can sometimes take it for granted.

It may be easy to apply to everyday situations: I will forgive you for leaving your dishes in the sink, being late to pick me up, forgetting my birthday, etc.

But in fact, these everyday situations are ultimately about developing an attitude of forgiveness that can define our lives.