markpowellwired’s blog

capitalism separated from an ethical base is nothing more than rapacious economics

A RECENT FUNERAL MESSAGE

I have chosen to base my remarks this evening upon an important TEXT from St. John’s Gospel, the 14th Chapter. It is a TEXT that inhales comfort, and exhales hope. For, what we find here are Jesus’ last, and most intimate words with his disciples, prior to his own state execution and the calamity of his death.

This passage is sometimes properly called, the farewell discourse, and it is intended to give consolation and assurance to Jesus’ friends, as they face the world without his earthly presence.

future path

I have decided to briefly bring focus on three of Jesus’ statements, finding in these ancient words of encouragement some comfort for ourselves as well…

FIRST, JESUS SAYS: “I will not abandon you as orphans”

With the plunging weight of loss -- both theirs and ours -- it might be an easy step to think that God has abandoned us. But Jesus says, nothing could be farther from the truth. As we know, an orphan is a person bereft of protection, being left without guidance or guardian, But, the promise here is that, even in the midst of all this sorrow and loss, we are not orphaned! WE ARE NOT WITHOU GUIDANCE or GUARDIAN. 

Of course, none of us knew what we would face Monday morning, but God -- who did not cause this death -- knew what was happening, and he as our guardian was the first to cry. It was only then that he moved to us with his compassion and rescue.

Thus, it is true, perhaps, that even now you have felt a strength you did not know you possessed. Jesus describes this strength as coming from the Comforter -- the one who is present to us now, the one who stands beside us, the one who is our constant companion. The TEXT, names this Comforter -- He is the Holy Spirit, and it is he who is at hand, and is as close as the air we breathe. And, if we will but engage God in the prayer-moment, if we will but speak with honesty about our grief, focusing on God’s surrounding presence, then suddenly we find ourselves lifted and carried along.

Another way to say this is to say we are given daily grace -- we are given God’s presence each day to face the struggles of that day...

SECOND, JESUS SAYS: But when the Father sends the Counselor as my representative – and by the Counselor I mean the Holy Spirit – he will teach you everything and will remind you of everything I myself have told you.  "I am leaving you with a gift – peace of mind and heart. And the peace I give isn't like the peace the world gives. So don't be troubled or afraid.

Here we see that in middle of these moments of chaos, with the wounds of loss so fresh, it may be easy to forget the comforting words of the LORD. Or, in the months of mourning ahead of us, when something reminds you of Spouse our Pop, or friend, it may be that we forget the depth of God’s love for us. Well, don’t worry, for here we are told that the LORD has promised that the Comforter would remind us of every comforting word the Savior ever spoke to his little flock. 

And notice what type of comfort is here offered?

Why, the TEXT proclaims that he offers peace of mind and heart, and in our present circumstances, how important is that! Especially when we consider how swiftly he left us -- with what-if’s and how-comes hanging in the air. Of course, these bring us a troubled heart, and perhaps a brooding mind, but the TEXT tells us we that right in the middle of this chaos we are also given peace, true peace, a peace that passes understanding.

Said another way, the world offers us a momentary peace based upon things and circumstances. But what happens when our things rust and the circumstances turn dire? What happens when we feel the heavy breath of death’s voice in our ear? WHAT HAPPENS THEN?

It is then that the the still, small voice of comfort whispers to us. It is then that the subtle promise of Jesus to his followers takes a powerful turn toward us. PEACE of mind and heart? Yes, LORD, we’ll take that! But, in point of fact, you who have genuinely offered yourself to the living Christ, you are in the midst of that peace right now. You may not feel this peace that passes understanding, carrying you, making you steady, but you need only ask where your heart and mind would be if not for the present power of the Spirit resting on you.

So rest in this peace for it is the LORD’S everlasting arms that hold you, and his great gift of rest that sustains you...

FINALLY, JESUS SAYS:  "Don't be troubled. You trust God, now trust in me.  There are many rooms in my Father's home, and I am going to prepare a place for you. If this were not so, I would tell you plainly.  When everything is ready, I will come and get you, so that you will always be with me where I am. 

In frankness, Jesus levels with his followers -- I’m leaving. This, of course, is the way of all flesh. That is, we all have an appointment with a funeral director. But stoutly pushing against this death-appointment is the precious promise given by Jesus to His followers, and by extension to us: 

I have a place for you…

That is, I am leaving, but one day you will be with me, and we will hang out like this, forever. I say this so you have before you the important reminder that there is a future beyond hospital beds and grave yards! Death may be the way of all flesh, but death does NOT end the story!. Death does NOT have the final word! 

For those who have offered allegiance to the living Christ, this is the promise, this our blessed hope. A promise and hope coming from the lips of Jesus himself. And here we find his most comforting words of all -- If this were not true, I would have told you…

So, let me remind you that the deceased is not here. He is in that placed prepared by the LORD for his people, and so shall he ever be with the LORD, until that day of glad reunion!

For the Word of the LORD tell us:

51 But let me tell you a wonderful secret God has revealed to us. Not all of us will die, but we will all be transformed. 52 It will happen in a moment, in the blinking of an eye, when the last trumpet is blown. For when the trumpet sounds, the Christians who have died will be raised with transformed bodies. And then we who are living will be transformed so that we will never die.  53 For our perishable earthly bodies must be transformed into heavenly bodies that will never die. 54 When this happens – when our perishable earthly bodies have been transformed into heavenly bodies that will never die – then at last the Scriptures will come true: "Death is swallowed up in victory. 55 O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?" 56 For sin is the sting that results in death, and the law gives sin its power.  57 How we thank God, who gives us victory over sin and death through Jesus Christ our Lord! 58 So, my dear brothers and sisters, be strong and steady, always enthusiastic about the Lord's work, for you know that nothing you do for the Lord is ever useless. (1 Corinthians 15:51-58)

[all scripture quotations are take from The New Living Translation]

new life

I weary of the seeming constant yammer of the creation/evolution debate. I weary of the evangelical requirement to check my brain at the door of the church. I weary of the fear and distain many of the churched have for those in the sciences. I weary of science’s fear of the church, built on the puny shoulders of Hitchens and Dawkins, who build arguments against straw men and state and restate the threadbare mantra that religion does bad things, when everyone know the greatest bloodletting of the 20th century were done by confirmed secularists and atheists! I weary of the lack of conversation between science and religion. I long for an openness and understanding, a dialogue based upon mutual respect and adherence to the notion, on the side of religion that all truth is God’s truth -- so science must be given freedom to explore and explore, and on the side of science that they (and their technological cousins) do not have all the answers -- so that religion can come to the table not with the how of things (say of origins) but perhaps the why...

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MARK RANDALL POWELL had surgery on April 23rd, and hopes to be able to begin updating the website again by mid-June

Continuing with book recommendations, I would like to offer the work of sociologist, Peter L. Berger. There hasn't been an author who has influenced my thinking more than Dr. Berger.  (go here for more info http://www.bu.edu/sth/faculty/staff/berger.html )

I am recommending three of his books that our related to religion. 

I can say that his, The Sacred Canopy, changed my understanding of the practices of the church and challenged me as to their veracity and efficacy. Dr. Berger, in no uncertain terms -- using sociologist's tool the Sociology of Knowledge -- manages in a few hundred pages to call into question and explain sociologically everything we do on a Sunday morning. If it weren't for the little second appendix in the book, I might have given up the entire enterprise of church and church work.  

I recommend A Far Glory because no other book I have read so explains and locates the culture wars more clearly than his explanation of the bifurcation of the middle-class.

And I recommend Questions of Faith because one senses Dr. Berger, at one time a Lutheran churchman, may have turned a corner and is here offering us his final considered reflection on how to have faith in the postmodern/postchristian context.

Berger1

The Sacred Canopy: Elements of a Sociological Theory of Religion (A658S145)

A FAR GLORY

Questions of Faith: A Skeptical Affirmation of Christianity (Religion and Spirituality in the Modern