Community Church Sermons

The Fifteenth Sunday After Pentecost – September 1, 2002

"Fly By The Tail Of The Spirit”

Isaiah 32:  15-17

Galatians 5:  22-25

 

 

Dr. Sarah L. Hallstrand

 

I am the sister to two brothers.  I am their “kid” sister.  John, my husband, and I owe it to these two for persuading us to move to Tellico Village.  Unfortunately brother Brooks died suddenly before we made the move.  The other brother, Doug Laymon, is well known to you.  In fact, some of you already know that he is my brother.  Several Sundays ago I was told that there is a family resemblance except that I have more hair!  Knowing Doug, would you believe that they were great “teasers?”  I was told over and over again that I was adopted.  I was abandoned at the fishing pond at age 6 when our parents ordered them to take me along to the Ohio State Fair.  But they were also great fun!  When they wrestled, I would be asked by the one on top to tickle the poor brother who was on the bottom.  I loved every moment of it!

 

My brothers liked to build things.  One day they constructed a kite.  I was so excited because they promised me that at some point I could hold on to the string while it sailed in the air.  But first I had to run an errand for them.  I had to bring a bed sheet so they could make a “tail” for the kite from the strips of sheet tied together.  So, I ran inside the house and pulled the first bed sheet I spotted in the bathroom linen closet.  Unfortunately they were a little short on the details about what kind of sheet.  I brought them one of mom’s good sheets which quickly became tattered strips for this wondrous creation…the kite.  I caught the wrath of mom later.  My brothers laughed.  But it was worth it to me when I held the taught string as the kite soared higher and higher!  But I was puzzled by the fact that the kite needed this tail.  Wouldn’t it fly higher if it were lighter?  No, I learned from Doug and Brooks that it takes weight to make it fly high.  The tail gives it stability as the air currents give it loft.

 

“Life is full of paradoxes,” as the saying goes.  Here is another. The Apostle Paul wrote to the church in Galatia that the Spirit replaced the “jots and tittles” of the Law.  Jesus had set them free to make choices based on Christ’s Love.  It is the work of the Spirit to create community.  Ironic as it may seem; Paul tells this congregation and us today that we are set free to make commitments to others.  This freedom in Christ is “weighted” by the Spirit that is Love.  Paul writes, “If you are guided by the Spirit, you won’t obey your selfish desires.”   Simply said, “We need each other’s help and we help each other’s need.”  

 

Doesn’t this sound like something Robert Fulghum, the author of the popular book,   All I Really Need To Know I Learned In Kindergarten would say?  He offers us a list of actions that are characteristic of persons who care about others.  They include:  share everything, play fair, don’t hit people, put things back where you found them, clean up your own mess, say you’re sorry when you hurt somebody, flush, and his most “classic” admonition, when you go out into the world, watch out for traffic, hold hands, and stick together.  Paul has his own list of what living by the Spirit enables a person of faith to be and do:   “God’s Spirit makes us loving, peaceful, patient, kind, good, faithful, gentle, and self-controlled.” (Galatians 5:22-23).  It is this same Spirit that helps us move past our own ego.  Persons of faith who have made significant contributions to the improvement of our world are those, who being empowered by the Spirit, have lived for the sake of others.  Mother Teresa prayed, “I ask, God, that I do not get in the way.”

 

As the cliché goes, “You got to walk the talk!”  I want to share with you a real drama that is being played in the every day life of a community.  It is such a provocative story of following the Spirit that it made front page of a widely circulated newspaper this year, The Wall Street Journal. The title given to the story is, Keeping the Faith, Congregation’s Vow to Help Dying Man Presents Moral Test.  Here is a synopsis of it. 

 

A member of the congregation was diagnosed with muscular dystrophy at the age of eight and confined to the wheelchair at twelve.  Mark had an emergency visit to the hospital at age twenty-three when he could not catch his breath.  It was discovered that without the help of a ventilator, he would never breathe again.  The grim prediction was that he would die within a year.  After four months, he was released from the hospital.  He wanted to go home rather than to a rehabilitation center.  He could not bathe, eat or go to the toilet by himself.  His only movement was in his right thumb.  His needs required constant nursing care.  Government assistance and private insurance would pay most but not all of his bills.  When the word of this was passed around the members, the response of the congregation was that since he and his parents were a part of their “extended family” they vowed to supplement the support as long as he lived.

 

Well, that was twenty-four years ago and he is still alive.  The faithful financial and spiritual support of the congregation has been enriching but also impoverishing.  They face a moral question now.  The membership has more than doubled since the aid began but recent events in the economy have made it increasingly difficult to maintain the level of support needed.  What once cost $25,000 beyond government benefits and private insurance is now a whopping $60,000 a year!  It is the largest charitable expense of their ministry.

 

As you would expect, there have been leadership changes and at least a quarter of the community never knew Mark as a child.  There isn’t any formal, written agreement as nobody thought he would live so long.

 

A major contribution to Mark’s survival is that he is able with the constant help of nurses and aides to live in his home.  His yard is given over to his garden—a riot of asters, pansies, marigolds and more—which he spends many hours a week caring for with the help of family, neighbors and friends.  He says, speaking softly through a tracheal tube, “I don’t get the opportunity to nurture many things.  This is a chance to create and watch something grow.”  From the start of his illness, he has struggled not to let it define him.  He participated in family camping trips, his father carrying him on his back as they hiked.  A few years ago he was honored by his town with the CITIZEN OF THE YEAR AWARD IN RECOGNITION OF HIS VOLUNTEER WORK ON THE TOWN’S CONSERVATION COMMITTEE.  Mark knows the local regulations in detail and spends hours each week researching permit applications that come before the committee from developers.  He attends hearings and town meetings.  Getting up, dressed and out of the house can be a five hour ordeal.

 

When asked to comment on the reasons the congregation continues to make the sacrifices and efforts to help him, Mark responds, “I DON’T THINK THE CONGREGATION IS OBLIGED TO HELP ME.  I THINK THEY ARE DRIVEN TO DO IT BY THEIR SENSE OF RESPONSIBILITY AND CARING.  IF I HAD TO GO INTO A REHABILITATION CENTER THEN IT WILL BE THE END OF MY LIFE AS I KNOW IT.”  He has spoken about how deep his appreciation is for their help.  Indeed it has been inspiring to many.

 

 In looking ahead, some have said, “There is no higher calling than sustaining life, but a religious community has the right and responsibility to prioritize.  There are so many others that need help here and around the world.  What to do?”  In searching for the answer someone offered a parable that might provide guidance at this juncture as the members ponder their next steps.  “Two men in a desert who have only one canteen of water between them must make a choice.  Do they share the water, even if there isn’t enough for both?  Or does one drink it all so that at least one life is saved?  The answer is you share, even if that means that both will die.”  Somehow, the support continues.  God is with them.

 

Isaiah speaks of the blessings that come when people of faith follow God’s Spirit.  He describes it as …”the deserts will become orchards thick as fertile forests.  Honesty and justice will prosper there, and justice will produce lasting peace and security.”  The Spirit working in our lives makes all the difference between being hopeful or despairing, succeeding or failing, healing or wounding.  Walking by the Spirit is following God’s footprints planted upon the faithful souls throughout all time who have put the well-being of others before their own desires.   

 

The truth is that people of faith rise to a higher moral plane when their decisions and actions are “weighted” by God’s Spirit of Love.

 

My brothers and sisters in Christ let us fly by the tail of the spirit!