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A message by
Rev. F. David Throop, Pastor
June 1, 2008
Communion Sunday
Scripture: Colossians 1:24-2:5
Please pray with me: Loving and gracious God, in the midst of a world doing its very best to bounce us around in every direction conceivable, in the midst of a world in which growing numbers of people are increasingly simply existing without any defined purpose, give to each one of us a great purpose as Your people, so that those who see us may see also the difference Your presence can truly make in one’s life. In Christ’s name we pray. Amen.
Not too very long ago, each of you was sound asleep in bed. Remember? And then, you woke up. When you woke up, did any of you consciously think of your purpose for today? I want each of us to take only a very brief moment to think about the typical morning in our lives, and in particular that moment when we wake up from a night’s sleep and we begin to think about the day in front of us. Just what is that moment like for you?
We know, of course, that every day is different, and so our purposes will certainly vary depending on the day of the week. For example, when I wake up, let me assure you that my Sunday mornings are a whole lot different from my Monday mornings. Sunday, you see, is the most important day of my life and for lots of reasons. Not only is it the Lord’s day, but a great deal of the purposes of how I spent the preceding six days are now very much in front of me. But, when I wake up on a typical Monday morning, it’s a whole lot different! It’s so much more relaxed, almost the very opposite of a Sunday morning! My Monday mornings are like most of your Saturday mornings. You see, in terms of restful, restorative sleep, Saturday night is the worst night for me. But Sunday night — ah, Sunday night is the very best. It’s like this because Monday, you see, is my Sabbath, so to speak. Monday is my day of rest, my day to do whatever I want, for the most part. The rest of my life from Tuesday through Sunday is fairly well-defined.
So, what is it like in your own life on a Sunday, or on a Monday, or on a Wednesday or on a Saturday morning, when you wake up from a night’s sleep and you begin to think about the day immediately in front of you? Do you have a purpose for that day, either well-defined or even loosely conceived? Or, is the typical day for you one which is absolutely wide open to whatever it is the world wants to throw in your direction? Regardless of the day, and whether you are working or retired, I hope you have a well-intentioned purpose. Living with purpose.
As most of you know, Mary and I were in Pennsylvania a couple of weeks ago, as I was attending the annual meetings of the Board of Directors of Pittsburgh Theological Seminary. And as long as I had bought plane tickets for the two of us and had rented a car, I wanted to get my monies worth, and so we stayed a few more days out at the family farm. As most of you know, it is becoming increasingly expensive to travel these days, and one might as well make the most of it. (By the way, while I hope the following is not necessary, I feel that I do need to say something here about these twice annual trip to Pittsburgh, and this is because I have recently learned that there is a perception among some in our midst who think that I am being paid rather handsomely for being a member of the Board of Directors of Pittsburgh Theological Seminary. Let me set the record straight: Not only are none of the board members paid, but I personally pay for all expenses, travel or otherwise, which are related to my board responsibilities, and all in addition to a rather significant financial contribution required from each board member on top of travel expenses. And while the great majority of board members live close by the seminary in Pittsburgh, I happen to live the furthest away among all the board members which makes my trips the most expensive of anyone’s. In terms of finances, the same was also true when I served on the Board of Directors of the Logos Program for twenty-five years. I paid for all of my travel expenses, and never once received any remuneration for my being a national board member. So, please do me a favor and dispel rumors to the contrary!)
Anyway, Mary and I were back in Pennsylvania just three weeks ago, and if you don’t know much about that part of the nation in early May, especially following an unusually wet spring, well, it’s mushroom season out in the rural areas — morel mushroom season, to be specific. Let me tell you about morel mushrooms: you can’t buy them at your local grocery store, I’ve been told that they cannot be grown commercially, and basically the only way you can find them is by walking the north facing slope of hills in deeply wooded areas during the first week or two of May, and looking very carefully. But when you find morel mushrooms and then cook them, let me simply say that the taste will open up a whole new galaxy of enjoyment for your taste buds! And so, while Mary and I were there in southwestern Pennsylvania during the second week of May, where it rained every day while we were there, yes, we walked the north facing sides of the hills deep in the woods of the old family farm looking for morel mushrooms. On one of those mornings, Mary had gotten up early to do her daily walk. Something Mary truly enjoys doing is walking the three-mile round trip on the old mostly gravel township road from where we stay over to her brother’s house and then back. In addition to walking the road, Mary also walked through a part of the woods once again where we had found some morels a few days earlier, but this time she came up empty. When her brother was driving slowly along the dirt road, he saw her and asked how she was, and so forth. And Mary told him that she had gotten up early to enjoy her morning walk and was now looking for morel mushrooms, but hadn’t been able to find any, at least just yet. And her brother responded, “Well, as long as you have a purpose, everything’s a whole lot better.” I like what he said, “As long as you have a purpose, everything’s a whole lot better.”
I feel sorry for those who wake up each day, but who wake up with no purpose in mind. When you wake up from a night’s sleep and when you begin to think about the day immediately in front of you, do you have a purpose for that day, either well-defined or even loosely conceived? Or, is the typical day for you one which is absolutely wide open to whatever it is the world wants to throw in your direction? If your average days begins with little or no purpose, the scripture in front of us is absolutely spilling over with a message of purpose. And even if your typical day begins with a rather lengthy list of purposes, then I would encourage each of us to allow our own purposes to be surrounded by what we have read in these few verses of Colossians.
In the verses we have just read, Paul shares a part of his purpose as a follower of Christ. His purpose is threefold: first, to rejoice in Christ’s sacrifice for all of Christ’s people; second, to proclaim Christ in all his fullness; and third, to provide others with encouragement and unity in love that they might also know Christ. To rejoice in Christ’s sacrifice, to proclaim Christ in all his fullness; and to provide others with encouragement that they also might know Christ. I’m not going to detail these three purposes — you can do that on your own — but let me simply ask one question related to each of these three purposes. First, as followers of Christ, do you and I ever really think of the sacrifice of Christ on our behalf? Second, as followers of Christ, do we ever include in our own daily purposes that of saying or doing something, anything, so that others might know God in all His fullness? And third, as followers of Christ, do you and I ever encourage others that they, too, might know Christ more fully?
Let me suggest something — let me suggest that as we wake up each day, you and I commit to say something or do something which in some manner or other will work to advance and name and love of our Lord Jesus Christ, so that others who are right now being thrown about by the forces of the world around us might be given a right sense of purpose. Can we do this? And for those among us who want to claim an exemption from such a simple “assignment,” for those who want to offer an excuse because of age or disability or anything else, before you do so, please consider the following, as we prepare ourselves to receive the elements of Holy Communion.
I read this week of a woman who, despite age and disability, maintained in her walk with Christ an absolutely amazing purpose. Her purpose was to do something for her Lord and the Kingdom of God each day. The problem was, this woman was blind. And the problem was, this woman was seventy years old. And the problem was, this woman was uneducated. She lived in a part of the world where the French language was one of several languages spoken. And so, one day, this blind woman got hold of a French version of the Bible, and she went to visit a French-speaking mission worker in her part of town. With her Bible in hand, she asked the mission worker if he would carefully underline the words of John 3:16. She not only wanted the words underlined, but she wanted the words underlined in red. He did so and then returned the Bible to her. With her Bible in hand, the women then left and sat on a bench in front of a private boy’s school not very far away. When classes were dismissed and as the young boys were leaving school campus, upon hearing them walk close by she would call one or two of them over. “Excuse me, but do you know French?” she would ask them. And they, of course, would very proudly acknowledge that they did. And then she would say, “I am blind, but in my Bible here, there is a passage underlined in red. Would you be kind enough to read it to me.” And they would. And then she would ask, “Do you know what that means?” More often than not would come the response, “No, I don’t.” And then, she would tell them the story of Jesus. Did her purpose as a follower of Christ really make any difference? You decide for yourself, for we are told that over the years of doing this, twenty-four of those young men went on to become pastors, due in large part to this blind, elderly, uneducated woman’s simple action of simply visiting with these young men about her Lord Jesus.*
Do you have a purpose in your own Christian walk anything like this woman’s? Do you have a purpose of helping to enable others somehow to learn of Christ? Do you have a purpose to become a better conduit of Christ’s presence among others? Do you have a purpose which goes well beyond your own life? Come tomorrow morning, as you and I wake up, will we have at least a partial purpose in our lives to take something of what we are celebrating today and somehow live it out so that somewhere else at least one more life can become transformed?
* The Communicator’s Commentary, Word Books, Waco, TX Pub., Lloyd Ogilvie, General Editor, Vol. 8, Maxie Dunnam, p. 363-364. Copyright © 2008 by Rev. F. David Throop. All rights reserved. No part of this sermon may be reproduced in any manner whatsoever without the prior written permission of the copyright owner, except in the case of a very brief quotation, which will acknowledge the source. |
