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"Does Our Immortality Matter" Sermon Delivered By Reverend Richard E. Stetler
– November 10, 2013 Centenary United
Psalm 145:1-10; Luke 20:27-38 Last week we celebrated
All Saints Day and we
sometimes make a reference to the
cloud of witnesses that surrounds us. What does that
cloud mean to us?
Tomorrow we celebrate
Remembrance Day when we bring
to mind those who have lost their lives struggling to preserve the
rights, privileges and freedoms of democratic societies.
All of us have attended funeral services where we experienced the
celebration of personalities that were once part of our lives.
We are constantly being reminded by many different symbols that
life is temporary. For
people who pay attention and trust creation, we know that our lives are
not temporary at all.
In fact, we have been taught
that we are infinite beings of which our present earth-experience is
only one page of an ever expanding, evolutionary process of our
spiritual growth. (John
10:34f) How does this unique orientation toward life impact the spirit
by which we live? In our lesson this morning Jesus mentions one of the great
mysteries of creation. He was
approached by members of the business community most of whom were
Sadducees. This group
typically did not have much respect for the myths regarding what happens
to us when our physical forms die.
Most of them believed that life ended at death. Their lives
reflected this understanding as many of them invested their time and
talents in enjoying the prosperity that the material world provided
them. This group asked a question that gave Jesus an opportunity to
give a thought-provoking answer. The
Hebrews had a unique custom. If a man died leaving his wife without
children, her deceased husband’s brother had to marry her so that family
lineage would continue. The
Sadducees asked Jesus, “Under the Laws of Moses, if a woman married each
time her husband died and there were seven brothers that had each become
her husband, whose wife would she be in the next world?” This was an excellent question because the image people have of
the next phase of life often mirrors what we know in the material world.
We reference such things as pearly gates, streets of gold, or
Jesus sitting at
the right hand of God.
(Revelation 20:21) Even the
earliest cultures in Jesus answered their question with an insight that is most
intriguing. Jesus said,
“Marriage only occurs in this world.
In the next world, marriage has no purpose or function.
When people die, men and women instantly recognize that they are
spirit-beings that cannot die.
They are God’s creations.”
(Luke 20:34) We can hear these words but does our eternal nature really influence how we live? People can say, “I believe in God. I believe that Heaven exists after I die. I believe that Jesus rose from the dead.” We accept eternal life as an extension of God’s love for all of us, but the details of what comes after this life are far beyond our understanding. For example, time will not exist. We will no longer age. We will
no longer have to eat or sleep.
We will no longer have physical bodies.
In fact, our new bodies
may not be those that suggest that we were formerly female and male.
Again, does our infinite
nature with so many out-of-this-world possibilities really matter to the
spirit by which we live? So often our religious beliefs are about
holding on to this world and all that we know and love. We easily forget
that we are spirit-beings that will remain when our bodies become as
dust.
For example, people of faith can become emotionally distraught
when a loved one is struggling to hang on to life.
People may spend years mourning the loss of a spouse even though
they believe unequivocally that their partner is no longer in pain and
remains alive and well in another realm. People that have become
frustrated with their life-experience may commit suicide.
Still others may become so angry by what they interpret as life’s
injustices that they purchase a weapon and destroy the lives of
countless others. Such responses suggest a near total ignorance of who
they are. What we do know about our world is that it was created from the
loving spirit of God. Those
of us that have become spiritually awake know that we have a job to do.
Those of us who have recognized that we are spirit-beings know that we
may represent an understanding about life that few other people have.
We simply do not know the
extent to which God can heal the lives of others because of who we have
become. For years in my last church, I taught a class on Spirituality
every July and August.
These courses attempted to deal with material that was beyond the
boundaries of traditional Christianity. During one session a church
member told the class an episode that she experienced while traveling
abroad. Her husband was a
county judge that had to remain behind. She was driving somewhere in
Europe with her two children when darkness caused her to notice that her
fuel gauge was on empty and the light signaling the same message was
clearly visible on the dashboard.
As she was becoming more apprehensive, to her delight a gasoline
station finally came into view as she crested a hill.
The place was not well lighted and there were a number of men
loitering outside a small building.
She got out of her car and discovered that the pump would not
accept American dollars nor would it accept her credit card.
She got back into the car to begin considering her options. She
was fearful to get out of the car again because the men were now walking
toward her car. They could not speak English but it was obvious from
their body language that they wanted
to play rather than help.
They wanted her to get out of the car.
She refused. They began rocking her car as they continued
laughing and jeering.
Her children were terrified. Her heart began to race as fearful thoughts
darted through her mind.
She quietly asked God for help as she gripped the steering wheel. Just then a motorcyclist came over the hill and came into the
station. When he saw the
men taunting the woman and her two children, he walked over to them and
ordered them to stand down.
They backed away. She
rolled down the window to thank him and discovered that he also spoke
English. She told him her
problem. Together they calculated the amount of American dollars it would
take to fill her tank. She
gave him the money. He
pumped her gas and put the amount on his credit card.
As she was thanking him, she
asked for his name. He
said, “My name is Gabriel.”
Without saying another word he mounted his bike and was gone.
She cried as she thanked God for what had just happened. She
said, “He really was Gabriel!
No one will ever convince me otherwise.” Eventually, she reached
a lovely hotel where she and her children could rest comfortably. Our stories may not be as dramatic as this one, but we live in a
world that needs the presence of those of us who know we are divine,
infinite angels. Each of us
could have been Gabriel in
that instance. We live in a
world where people live in ignorance about spiritual matters.
We cannot be judgmental about such ignorance because if people do
not know any better, life can be terrifying. Jesus said, “My Father is
the God of the living, not of the dead.”
To God everyone
is alive even when they remain ignorant about whom they are under their
skin. Perhaps John
Wesley, the founder of Methodism, provided one of the better frameworks
for following through on our role in the world.
He wrote, “Do all the good you can, by all the means you can, in
all the ways you can, in all the places you can, at all the times you
can, to all the people you can, as long as ever you can.”
Wesley’s verbal portrait
is very busy in its content and it is unlikely that we can make his
picture visible in our lives
all the time. However, we have the power and ability to perform well
when we remember who we are. One morning I was in a crowd of 7,000 delegates at a conference
in Several weeks later, two police officers came to her home to
report that the accused man was dead.
The officers indicated that there was evidence that he had been
kicked to death by other inmates.
Maya suddenly realized the extraordinary power of her words.
She immediately became a mute.
For over six years she never uttered another word.
Her words had caused a man to die.
Even though he had raped her, she felt responsible for his death. Every talent and gift Maya had within her body were held hostage
by her guilt. People with
academic credentials told her mother that Maya was developmentally
falling behind her peers in every respect.
Her mother gave in to the
pressure from knowledgeable people and sent her back to Grandma loved Maya the moment she arrived.
She told Maya to sit on the floor and back up into her as she sat
in a chair. Grandma braided her hair and spoke very gently to her.
She said, “One day, Maya, you are going to be a wonderful, warm,
loving teacher who will inspire many students.”
Maya told our audience that as she sat there allowing her
grandmother to perform wonders with her hair, she kept thinking to
herself, “Girl, what are you saying?
What do you know about me?
We are back on these dusty roads of Her point was that her grandmother became a great shaft of light whose love literally pulled Maya out of the darkness where her thinking had taken her. Her grandmother believed in her and kept telling her that when she was ready to use her words, she would do so. Maya said, “That day came and since then I have not been able to
shut my mouth.” With a
deep spirit of humility Maya said, “I have 55 honorary doctorates.
I can teach in Spanish and French.
I sit on the Board of Harvard University.
I am on the faculty at Two of her many books tell her story in their titles; I Know
Why the Caged Bird Sings and Wouldn’t Take Nothing for My Journey
Now. It was an
unforgettable experience to be in the presence of this remarkable woman
whose life had become inspired by a grandmother who had the patience to
love a young granddaughter who had misplaced her life’s treasure. We live in a world that needs us; we do have a voice and we have something to say. We are infinite beings who have the ability to bring light from our next world into our own. For most of us, all we have to do is show up completely in every relationship, live among others with enthusiasm as we give our spirits away and trust that God will do the rest. Does our immortality matter? You bet it does! We have something everybody needs. This is our time to step up and help them find it. |