Community Church Sermons

Last Sunday After The Epiphany – February 10, 2002

"The Beloved Future”

2 Peter 1:16-21

 

We’ve been describing the Christian life these past several weeks as the most extraordinary experience of love that you can imagine. I like to call it the beloved life ­– a reference to the word used by God to describe Jesus at his baptism – “This is my son, the Beloved.” And when we take Jesus’ name as our own, we are also receiving this description. We are God’s beloved people!

 

And that begins with the conviction that when God looks at humanity, he looks at us not in terms of our flaws, but in terms of our beauty. God looks at us like a mother looks at her child, no matter how homely, or destructive, or misdirected we may look to ourselves or others. And as you enter into a new self-understanding – convinced that God loves you completely and relentlessly – then you are released to begin a process of self-examination that will lead to change and growth. You cannot become the person God knows you can become, until you first accept without doubt the fact that you are God’s beloved.

 

A second part of the beloved life is re-learning the relationship between yourself, God and others. You may remember the illustration drawn by the 13^th century monk Dorotheos of Gaza who pictured life as a big circle. It its center is a dot representing God. And all around the circumference of the circle are lines drawn from the outside to the point in the center. These represent our lives. And you’ll note that the closer one moves to the center – to God – the closer one becomes to your neighbor. So the more you love God, the more you love your neighbor. And the more you love your neighbor, the more you love God. And the converse is true too. As you move away from God, you move away from your neighbor. And as you move away from your neighbor, you move away from God. I remember in the early days of my faith being so very zealous. I was so in love with God. But I was so offended by my neighbors. I mean, I saw them for all they were not. They were sinners needing saving, and I let them know about it as often as I could! Do you know what I’m saying? Well, if right now you are living a life in which you feel you love God, but are always distrustful of, at odds with, standing in judgment over your neighbor, then your faith is defective. It may be faith of some kind, but it is not Christian faith. The relationship between loving God and loving neighbor is intertwined so deeply that you cannot separate the two. This is the beloved life.

 

Now today, we look at a passage in Second Peter that reminds about the transfiguration of Jesus just before his death. Once again, Jesus is referred to as the Beloved. And so this beloved life to which we are invited has another important element. It has a beloved future!

 

Roberta Bondi tells the story about turning eleven years old, and starting Confirmation classes at Christ the King Lutheran Church in New York City. There were eight kids in the class – six girls and two boys – and the teacher was Pastor Schmidt. Roberta remembers how boring the first two weeks of classes were, filled as they were with memorizing things like the Ten Commandments, and the Nicene Creed, and the catechism. She and the other kids had a hard time getting excited about all that!

 

But then, in the third week, something happened that captured Roberta’s attention. Pastor Schmidt, in an obvious attempt to perk up the interest of his young students, announced a psalm memorizing contest. Whoever came back first with their psalm memorized would win an as yet unspecified special grand prize. Roberta Bondi says she was instantly electrified. An exotic and mysterious prize! Her greed was mobilized. And she was determined to win it.

 

And she did! Roberta memorized Psalm 1 which she chose because it seemed to be short enough to handle. And the following week, Pastor Schmidt brought her the prize.

 

At the end of roll call, Pastor Schmidt made a big ceremonious speech about the word of God and its importance in the lives of Christians. Then he reached into a bag and pulled out a little brown wrapped box and handed it to Roberta. Her hands trembled as she unwrapped the prize.

 

The gift was a tiny little bottle of perfume. It was round, like a ball, with little dimples in the glass that gave it the texture of an orange. The cap was brown like a twig, and tied around its long neck with a white ribbon were two little paper orange blossoms that had printed on them the words “Souvenir of Florida”.

 

Roberta Bondi says that now she understands the prize was probably an afterthought. Pastor Schmidt probably forgot all about it until just before class time and probably said to his wife, “Honey, do we have anything laying around that we can give Roberta as a prize?” Even so, Roberta loved the gift as soon as she laid her eyes on it. But that love was nothing compared to what came over her when she unscrewed the little cap, and lifted the bottle to her eleven-year-old nose, and smelled the fragrance. To her, it was the aroma of heaven – the very smell of God.

 

Bondi writes, “How can I describe to you what was in that box when I opened it at last? Never before or after, as a child or as an adult, have I received a present that so far outran my hopes for it. His gift exceeded my powers to describe it then, and it exceeds them still.”

 

Have you ever received a gift like that? One that defied your ability to even imagine it’s beauty, and that when you received it, gave off a fragrance that you knew was the scent of God?

 

This is what it’s like to live the beloved life – the life Jesus came to give us. Often we think of it as following the commandments, or preaching the Gospel, or serving the needy, or purifying our lives. But none of these things really captures the heart and soul of this beloved life we’ve been talking about lately. No, to follow Christ is to enter an experience of receiving unimaginable gifts that give off the fragrance of God in the present! And these gifts assure us of a beautiful future!

 

Today’s reading from Second Peter sits upon an interesting context. Many years have passed since Jesus went to heaven. The promise of his return is growing old and dim.  The early Christians are experiencing all the hardships of life that you can imagine. They are under severe persecution. And under the weight of all this difficulty, people are starting to give up hope in the future.

 

And so the author of Second Peter calls his readers to look for something important in their present circumstances. He encourages them to look for those little bottles of perfume – the things of life that remind us that God is still involved in every situation, and that God is working his purposes out..

 

And he reminds them about the experience of Peter and James and John who went up one night with Jesus into the mountains. From all that Jesus had said and done, they had become aware that his death was imminent. And it was the worst thing they could ever imagine! I mean, what could be worse than death?

 

But there on the mountaintop, Jesus was transfigured before them. Moses and Elijah appeared. God spoke. And Peter, James and John discovered there was a God-part to the impending death of Jesus. His death was not about an end, but about a future! And it was glorious, and smelled of heaven!

 

Many of you know that Sandy and I right now are very concerned about our son and daughter-in-law who are expecting their first child – our first grandchild. There are some medical complications that have come along, and Melissa has been hospitalized. It appears that the baby may need to be delivered pretty prematurely. So, of course, we worry. After all, that’s the job of parents and grandparents, isn’t it? Some of you have similar worries in your families, and many of you have been through times far more trying than the one we’re in right now.

 

But I think you’ll agree with me that, as we walk through dark valleys like these, little gifts often come our way. Sometimes they arrive in the form of a friend’s words, or a card that arrives in the mail, or the sight of a beautiful sunrise, or a scripture verse that we turn to, or a hymn that’s sung in church reminding us of God’s care in all the seasons of our lives. In fact, we’re going to sing a hymn about promise at the end of today’s service because it speaks to me in this moment. You see, there are countless little bottles of perfume that drop into our lap every day which, when they are opened and raised to the nose, fill us with the scent of God. God uses all sorts of people, and circumstances, and avenues to get through to us – to assure us – to convey to us that he is involved – that he cares – and that there is a God-part to the present circumstance that will lead to a beautiful future.

 

Even facing the death of Jesus, God revealed a hope-filled future to his closest friends.

 

Last Tuesday, a memorial service was held here for Martha Douty who passed away on January 28^th. Marti, you know, suffered from Multiple Sclerosis for over 40-years, and was confined to a wheelchair during all the time we knew her here. But what was so remarkable about the service we had for Marti was that our conversation was not about her limitations, but the way she lived through them. It was not about her confinement, but about her freedom! Her life was full of glory! She lived more fully than many do who are not confined to wheelchairs. In fact, someone said that Marti made her wheelchair invisible. I think it would be fair to say that Marti found all sorts of little perfume bottles in life, and opened them up, and their fragrance gave her strength to squeeze all the meaning out of life she possibly could. And she saw the God-part of dying, too. She was not sure what dying would be like, but she was convinced that it would lead to good because God made a promise to her.

 

This is the beloved life to which God invites us through Christ. It is a life filled with daily gifts that give off the fragrance of heaven – reminders that God is at work within our lives and within our circumstances to bring about glorious things. And it is a life that calls us to always be looking higher, to always be looking ahead to the ultimate goals of God – to the beloved future!

 

And here the author of Second Peter gives us some good advice.

 

To catch a glimpse of the beloved future, read the scriptures. Read about the promises. Read the prophets.

 

And believe!

 

Believe what?

 

Believe that God will bring you into a beloved future, just like he said.

 

First, he will bring you and your family safely through life. There’s no question about it. In every situation, he will be there for you, and strengthen you to live well, and to find purpose and meaning. No matter how dark or grim the circumstances appear to be, God will be there in love, and the day will come when it’s revealed to us that the outcome was never in doubt.

 

Second, believe that God will restore those parts of our lives that are broken. Wheelchair bound people like Marti Douty will leap for joy! The blind will see. The last will be first! The weak will become strong. The oppressed will be set free. Enemies will find reconciliation. Families will be reunited with those who have died, and we will wonder what in the world there was to worry about after all. The Bible says that tears will be wiped away from every eye in the beloved future God is building for you and me.

 

And third, believe that God will bring into reality a new world – the world you’ve always wanted to live in – the world you want for your children and grandchildren. It will be a world where justice flows like a river, where poverty is vanquished, where children grow fully into their potential, where swords are beaten into plowshares and no one learns war – or terrorism – anymore.

 

This is what it means to believe in God! To believe that God will do what he promised – for you – for me – for the human race – for the world!

 

And armed with this faith, you and I can leave this place today and go and love our families, and our neighbors, and our enemies, and even ourselves. We can go and give ourselves to the building of the kingdom of God because we know what the future holds!.

 

Dear friends, there is nothing that will happen in your life today that God will not make beautiful and whole in His tomorrow.

 

So go and find those little bottles of heaven’s fragrance that fall into your life every day. And safe in the love of God, go and squeeze life for all it’s worth!!