About the Author: Sunday Sermons from Sell Chapel are written by Rev. Preston Van Deursen, Director of Pastoral Care at the Masonic Village at Elizabethtown.
It was 1994 on Palm Sunday and the the congregation of the Goshen United Methodist Church was preparing for festive worship services that day. However, seemingly out of nowhere, a tornado came upon the town of Piedmont, Alabama. It is generally known in the insurance industry that a church is the safest place to be. There are fewer fatal accidents per thousand there than in any other location. However, not this day. The harsh and violent winds came upon the church and claimed the lives of 20 people. Included in the count was the 4-year-old daughter of the husband and wife ministerial couple. They had every reason to be bitter. The circumstances of life had dealt a tough hand for them to play and handle.
I start with this today because I saw a story recently that the ministerial couple and the church did not focus in on the despair, death, destruction or disappointment of that day. It talked about a people whose strength and witness were not about the anger of life”s breaking its promises but a people who CHOSE to draw nearer to God–about a God who was stronger than their pain and greater than their darkness. The article stated:
Three-year-old Sarah Clem, holding the hand of her dad, the Rev. Dale Clem, carried her small cup of red clay dirt to the wooden cross that served as an altar and slowly poured the earth onto the ground. Watching were her mother, the Rev. Kelly Clem, pastor of Goshen United Methodist Church, and congregation members who survived the 1994 Palm Sunday tornado that claimed the lives of 20 members including four-year-old Hannah, the Clems” older daughter.
On this day, they met not just to remember the friends and loved ones who died March 27, 1994, but to look toward the future of their congregation and the long process of rebuilding their lives. “Surely the presence of the Lord is in this place . . . ,” Bishop
Fannin said. “We stand here today because we have that which cannot be shaken.”
Following the Bishop”s message, congregation members poured cups of dirt from the old church site at the site of the new altar. Then in succession from young to old, they brought their shovels–some tied with ribbons in memory of the dead–and broke ground, burying the old dirt under the new.
At the end of the emotional service, Mrs. Clem asked the children of the congregation to release balloons which were addressed to friends and loved ones who were not there to celebrate the new building. Standing in front of the future church and looking into the sky, Mrs. Clem said in a shaky voice, “send them a message . . . all the way to heaven.”
Of all the people on the pages of sacred scriptures who knew what it was to face the harshness of life–it was the Apostle Paul. The lines that best describe Paul”s life of adversity came from the 4th Chapter of II Corinthians. The Revised Standard Version reads: “We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed.” But, my favorite translation of that passage is the J. B. Phillips translation. It reads: “We are handicapped on all sides, but we are never frustrated; we are puzzled but never in despair; we are persecuted, but never have to stand it alone; we are knocked down, but we are never knocked out.”
It was the distinguished Pastor John Claypool who shared with us the insight that “every exit –is also an entrance.” There are no dead-end experiences for us We live by faith in God for the future–not the power of fatalism. Yes, we can be puzzled–perplexed, but we do not postpone life. We”ve gone on to fight and live for another day.
One time a cowboy decided he should have some insurance, so he contacted an insurance agent. The agent came out to the cowboy”s ranch to ask him a few questions for the application form. “Have you ever had any accidents?” the agent asked. “No,” the cowboy answered. “Are you saying you have never been hurt here on the ranch?” the agent continued. The cowboy thought a minute and then said, “Well, a bronco kicked me in the ribs last summer, and a couple of years ago a rattlesnake bit me on the ankle.” “You wouldn”t call those accidents?” the agent inquired. The cowboy then answered in all seriousness, “No, they did it on purpose.”
You see, life does terrible things to some people. As a matter of fact, life does harsh things to each and every one of us. Somewhere along the road we have to learn how to deal with the harsh facts. Somewhere along the road we are going to have to learn how to handle the rough spots and detours. We must face disappointments, disrupted plans and unrealized dreams.
Life is unpredictable. Sometimes you have to settle for a “maybe.” Now the Bible understands that. Paul, writing in his Corinthians letters, reminded his readers that their vision was limited. He said it was like looking through a dark glass. All you have is partial vision. The time would come when everything would be clear, and we would know, as even God now knows us. But the time was not yet.
Today, I want to share two considerations as you seek God”s guiding presence for the harshness of life.
First, believe deeply in the sovereignty of God in all circumstances. The story is told of a group of American tourists who were visiting a famous monastery. During the tour, one of the women in the group noticed that “The Watchful Eye of God” had been painted on the ceiling of a certain room by one of the monks. She felt that something was watching her. She said, “It gives me the willies.” Then it dawned on her that even in the darkness, “God is in control.” That should not give us the “willies” but inspire us to focus in on God in every circumstance. For God”s focus is always on us.
The famous preacher Dr. Leslie Weatherhead told how he handled the harshness of life when during World War II his church location was changed 20 times because it was bombed and destroyed 20 times. He told how during this time a quote from the poet Browning sustained him:
If I stoop into a dark tremendous
sea of cloud–it is but for a time.
I hold God”s lamp close to my breast,
its splendor sooner or later will pierce the gloom.
I SHALL EMERGE ONE DAY.”
Believe deeply in the sovereignty of God.
Second, remember–your attitude will determine your action! I like the spirit of the college student who wrote the following letter: “Dear Admissions Officer: I am in receipt of your rejection of my application. As much as I would like to accommodate you, I find I cannot accept it. I have already received four rejections from other colleges and this number is, in fact, over my limit . . . Therefore, I must reject your rejection, and as much as this might inconvenience you, I expect to appear for classes on August 30th.” She was knocked down–but not knocked out for the final count!
The historian Robert K. Mossie said of William of Orange, who was later to become the King of England, that he was possessed of a great skill of surviving every defeat. It seems that once the French army appeared ready to defeat him and his army at Amsterdam. As he saw the enemy approaching, he used a unique strategy. He ordered the protective dikes to be smashed. As a result, Amsterdam became an island, at which the powerful French army could only look in frustration, for they had no boats with which to achieve the victory that was almost within reach. William did not win the battle, but he saved Amsterdam, and he lived to fight another day. He was struck down–but he did not strike-out.
Years ago, Reinhold Niebuhr wrote an oral prayer that hangs today in almost every household in the land. It is spoken at AA meetings. It simply states:
God, grant me the serenity
To accept the things I cannot change;
The courage to change the things I can,
and the wisdom to know the difference.
Yes, mobilize the resources you have–do not focus in on what you have lost. No defeat is final–unless you believe it to be. Is this not the great message that pulsates from the surprisingly popular movie Forrest Gump? He did not allow anyone or anything to smother or suffocate his dreams and hopes. That is why the Spirit of Jesus Christ continues to live in the congregation and pastors at Piedmont, Alabama.
Some of you might remember from history class what Colonel William Barrett Travis wrote to the people of Texas while he was under siege in the Alamo, “The enemy has demanded a surrender . . . I have answered the demand with a cannon shot, and our flag still waves proudly from the walls. I shall never surrender–nor retreat.”
There is a poem by Robert Service titled, “Carry On!” A part of it goes like this:
It’s easy to fight when everything’s right,
And you’re mad with the thrill and the glory . . .
It’s a different song when everything”s wrong,
When you’re feeling infernally mortal;
when it’s ten against one, and hope there is none,
Buck up, little soldier, and chortle:
CARRY ON! CARRY ON!
And so in the strife of the battle of life,
It’s easy to fight when you’re winning;
It’s easy to slave, and starve, and be brave,
When the dawn of success is beginning.
But the man who can meet despair and defeat
With a cheer, there’s the man of God’s choosing;
The man who can fight to Heaven’s own height,
Is the man who can fight when he’s losing.
CARRY ON! CARRY ON!
Fight the good fight and true;
Believing in your mission, greet life with a cheer;
There’s big work to do, and that”s why you are here.
CARRY ON! CARRY ON!
May God give us grace to do so! Amen and Amen.
