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Labor Pains **sermon worksheet and recommended reading below** Help us lord to be so connected to you that we might become the servants of others… Take our lips and speak through them, And take our hearts, and set them on fire. The story is told of a policeman standing on the side of the road with his radar gun aimed at oncoming traffic. The cars zoom by, with one major exception. There’s one car, creeping down the road, at the clocked speed of 22 miles an hour. Realizing that a car going that slow is as much a hazard as a speeding car, he pulls them over. As he peers in, he notices 5 elderly ladies, 2 in the front, and 3 in the rear. The passengers look white as ghosts, wide eyed and scared out of their minds. The driver says “Officer, what’s the problem? I was going exactly the speed limit!” “Ma’am,” says the officer, “you were actually driving under the speed limit, which can be equally dangerous to other drivers.” “Slower than the speed limit? No sir, I was doing 22 miles an hour, just like the sign says!” The policeman puts 2 & 2 together and says, “Ma’am, 22 is the route number and not the speed limit.” A bit embarrassed, the woman grins and thanks the officer for pointing out her error. “Well, no harm done I guess,” he says. “But before i go is everyone okay? I mean your passengers look awfully shaken up!” “Oh,” says the woman, “they’ll be okay in a minute. We just got off route 119!” In a nutshell, many of us feel after this week, we’ve been on route 119. Up and down, around curves and back again. For those who have been on vacation from all saints over the past week, I’ll try to bring you up to speed. It was 11am on Wednesday that I received the call from our visiting Archbishop in Residence, Lord Carey. He called with that shocking news that he would be canceling his trip to the US due to sensitive talks between the leadership of the Episcopal Church and the current Archbishop of Canterbury. Now, I’m not sure if you’ve ever had that experience of talking to someone where while you were talking you felt as if you were in another corner of the room, looking from the outside in. All I could think of was the nearly 360 people registered. “Are you kidding, how will we tell them all? What about those who didn’t leave phone numbers?” And the details spin in my head After getting off the phone with Lord Carey, I sat dazed in my office, thinking logistics. But more than anything my friends, incredible discouragement, as if I was looking back in battle, only to see the generals leaving the field. And then it all came down like a ton of bricks: the emotion of the church since general convention, the exhaustion of it all, the planning, the excitement, and the let down. I turned my swivel chair toward the wall and began to just weep, not so much for myself, but weeping for all coming to All Saints’ to find encouragement. Men and women tired of the church squabbles, tired of not being able to trust their own leadership; just plain tired. I wept for those coming to All Saints’ for refreshment, strength and nurture. One of the guys I wept for was a dear brother coming from Oklahoma; a little man with a huge faith, thick glasses, tired old skin. But when he talked he had the voice of a 30 year old. This was Bishop William Cox, retired faithful Bishop of Oklahoma, who 5 years ago, at a conference prayed for strength for my pregnant wife, who at the time had our son Christian in her tummy, and now was coming here for strength. It was a discouraging week, a week where much of the hair on my head went right to my chest! Now there are many of you here this morning who really haven’t been following the cataclysmic happenings in the Anglican Communion. But one thing in life we all share, no matter who we are, is discouragement. Have you ever been there my friends? Something happened that sealed the deal for you. “That’s it, it’s over! As of now, I’m finished!” Maybe it’s looking at the daily headlines, the situation in Israel, Lebanon and Gaza. Or perhaps a relationship, a job, something you put your life into. Maybe you’re there now, feeling battered, shattered, down right discouraged. Sometimes we all just need a big cry; church is a great place for that. That theological heavyweight John Stott said it best. “The Christian’s chief occupational hazards are depression and discouragement.” I’m reminded of that wonderful line, “When you’ve reached the end of your rope, tie a knot and hang on!” But there are better ways of defeating discouragement. In fact, because we are in the sultry days of July, I have handed out a sermon worksheet, to help you follow this morning. Here’s how. The first we find through a story: the legend of a man who found the barn where Satan kept his seeds ready to be sown in the human heart. On finding the seeds of discouragement more numerous than the others, he learned that those seeds could be made to grow almost anywhere. When Satan was questioned, he reluctantly admitted there is one place he could never get them to thrive. “And where is that?” asked the man. Satan replied sadly, “In the heart of the grateful man.” The first way of attacking discouragement my friends is through - believe it or not – gratitude. Try this, later today: write down everything you’re grateful for. Try it, it works every time. Even in the worst of times! I think of the rabbi in “Fiddler on the Roof.” The rabbi chants about his nemesis, the czar. “Lord God, thank you for the czar. Bless him and keep him…far away from us!” The second way to deal with discouragement comes from our Gospel reading, that wonderful story of Jesus sending out the disciples 2 by 2. Now, this passage is the poster child for potential discouragement! These disciples have little idea where they are being sent, no idea of their destination! This wouldn’t work for Washingtonians. “Lord I’ll go for you, but I must know exactly what I’m getting myself into! Give me a PowerPoint presentation please.” The only clarity Jesus gives is this: “Take a stick.” A stick! You can’t eat a stick! A stick can’t keep you warm! A stick won’t buy you lunch! But Jesus then does something very wise; Jesus sends them out two by two. This is so they could encourage each other when they would invariably face rejection. Yes my friends, being in fellowship with others who share your heart-felt mission is so important! 2 by 2: these would have been people who share a common vision, like-minded folks who could lift up one another out of discouragement. You see, you and I, like these disciples, weren’t wired to experience life alone! We’re not wired to go through discouragement alone! Coming in the fall, we have a plan to engage the entire parish in the alpha course, followed by the initiation of small group ministries! We want to begin to look at this church not just as a Sunday obligation but as a day by day way of life! Being in a small group, or att least 2 by 2, defeats discouragement! The third way of defeating discouragement is to ask yourself, “Lord, is there anything in my life I need to confess? Have I done anything that has put an obstruction in the way of my relationship with you, or another?” Repentance is that third key to fighting discouragement! “Lord, where have I, how have I contributed to this resulting problem?” Repentance: not just saying sorry, but being willing to change your will, your behavior. And on a personal note, I admit to each of you that in my own discouragement of the condition of the national church, seeing it stray from its mission in profound ways…out of that discouragement I have probably said things and done things out of my own pain that have caused you hurt. For that I am so deeply sorry. It is a painful time. In the south transept, we have a window of George Whitefield, that Anglican who preached to thousands at his revivals in Georgia. You know, every single great revival in this country got started out of a people convicted to get on their knees in repentance! As Fleming Rutledge said in this pulpit, “The line of good and evil runs not just through culture and the bad guys, but through each one of our hearts.” We must repent. My friends, discouragement and rejection are such a part of ministry, such a part of life: we need not be surprised them! Why? Because being a Christian involves (dare I say it?) spiritual warfare. This is the final way of defeating discouragement. We must realize that for people trying to live Christ-centered lives, there will be daily combat. I think of our reading from Revelation this morning, an amazing reading. It is a vision given by John who paints for us a picture of a radiant woman, bathing in the power of the sun. The woman is in labor to bear a child who is undoubtedly the Messiah. But as the woman is in the pains of labor, another vision appears to John: the presence of evil. My friends, this vision tells us there are forces of evil, spiritual and human, which are set on the destruction of the community of God, the Church. That battle of Michael and Satan is the epicenter of spiritual warfare. And in this vision we find that Satan isn’t killed. No, more alarmingly, he is hurled down to earth. My friends, I come to you this morning to remind you that living a Christian life is a matter of daily combat. Have we forgotten in our day and age that living the Christian life means spiritual warfare? Think about it! Picture the woman in that Revelation passage as representing today’s church. She’s grand, and beautiful, but she is most certainly under attack! I also believe, my friends, that the church of our day is also like the woman crying out in pain. Do you know, for instance, there were more Christians martyred, killed for their faith, in the 20th century, than in all other centuries combined? There is spiritual warfare! Spiritual warfare, if gone un-checked can not only discourage us, it can kill! This leads us to our final way of defeating discouragement: Put on the full armor of God! Every morning, read Ephesians 6:10-18. Get to know that passage. Realize Paul’s words that spiritual warfare doesn’t involve flesh and blood, but spiritual forces that can’t be seen. We find the whole armor described in Ephesians: Put on the belt of truth, realizing that Jesus is our truth, our very source of life. Then, the breastplate of righteousness; make sure your living in right and reconciled relationships. Your feet fitted ready to go and serve the Lord. There is the shield of faith, with which you can quench the arrows that come your way; the helmet of salvation; the sword of the spirit that is the word of God. And then prayer. Don’t leave home without putting your armor on! And this leads us to the good news! Remember this truth: Success is often closest when discouragement is greatest. My friends listen to the good news! While that woman in our Revelation reading is under attack, we also know she’s in labor, ready to give birth at any time! I believe our Anglican Communion is in the same position: under attack, about to give birth in an amazing way. And I believe that here at All Saints’ we are on the cusp of something amazing: a new birth! Be encouraged! It’s coming! But we are in a time of labor pain. The closest thing I’ve been to being in labor has been watching my wife birth our 3 children. I can’t pretend to know the pain of labor. But like the birth of anything--a new idea, a new invention, a new way of life--there can be great and discouraging pain. The cancellation of this conference due to sensitive talks elsewhere: labor pain. Bishops who have taken their churches out of the Episcopal Church: labor pain. I think of my 3 and a half years worth of talks with the Bishop of Washington: labor pain. In a sense what we have is a church on its knees crying out, a church in an out of bed rest. And no matter where we stand on things facing the church, I think we can all agree that the labor pains are palpable. Realize my friends that we have got to go through the labor pains to get to the joy of hearing a baby’s laughter! Do you see? Isn’t this what we learn from Jesus Christ himself? We think of Jesus Christ suffering on the cross for your sins and mine, so that we could be birthed and free! My friends, when you are in the valley, remember this: we must go through it to get to the mountaintop. To defeat discouragement we must:
Remember, success is often closest when discouragement is the greatest! My friends, don’t give up! I beg you, in your tears and in your sorrow, know this, the Lord loves you and will not abandon you! Hold on for the birth, and you and I will never be the same again. In the name of Jesus, Amen. Labor Pains:
Sermon Notes
Recommended reading:
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