Lent 4 B 2009
Psalm 107
O give thanks to the Lord, for he is good;
for his steadfast love endures for ever.
Let the redeemed of the Lord say so,
those he redeemed from trouble
and gathered in from the lands,
from the east and from the west,
from the north and from the south.*
How did you find your way to the foot of the Cross? In modern American Christianity we sometimes give the impression that there is only one way to the cross. The basic story goes like this: I was a horrible sinner, I realized the error of my ways, I sought Jesus, He found me and saved me. This is a real and authentic story, and many people have come to the foot of the cross in this way, but as you know this is not the only story.
Some people come to the cross because of their loneliness and isolation as though they are wandering in a desert alone and lost. Some come to the cross because they sit in dark cells of captivity literally and some figuratively. Some come to the cross because of sickness and a need for healing. Some come to the cross because the raging torrents on the sea of life have become too much to bear. Each story is authentic, each story is real.
Some wandered in desert wastes,
finding no way to an inhabited town;
5hungry and thirsty,
their soul fainted within them.
6Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble,
and he delivered them from their distress;
7he led them by a straight way,
until they reached an inhabited town.
8Let them thank the Lord for his steadfast love,
for his wonderful works to humankind.
9For he satisfies the thirsty,
and the hungry he fills with good things.
I went partridge hunting out on Jarvey Rd. in the township this fall. It was an overcast day and a little too windy for hunting, but I enjoyed the opportunity to get out into the wilderness. I found a nice stand of young poplars got out of the truck and went on foot for a while. I went into the woods on what I thought was an easterly direction away from the road, but there was no telling because it was cloudy and just weeks before I gave my compass away to a couple as a wedding sermon illustration to look to God for direction.
I got turned around and was completely lost. I started to panic realizing that there was no cell phone service and no way of telling what direction I was heading. All the moss seemed to grow evenly on the base of the trees. I had completely lost my bearings and started to panic.
There are many ways to lose your bearings in life. If you have ever moved away from family or friends you know this feeling. If you have ever lost the person closest to you, you know what it is like to wander aimlessly and the panic and fear that can arise in your heart as you realize that the person who died, or left, or went away isn’t the one who is lost, but it is you, the one who was left behind who is missing and alone.
What a relief and comfort it is to find that we are not alone. It is like stumbling back upon a little logging road after wandering lost in the woods for a couple of hours, but much more of a relief than that. What a relief and comfort it is to stumble upon the foot of the cross to find that God will not abandon you, even in your time of quiet desperation.
Some sat in darkness and in gloom,
prisoners in misery and in irons,
11for they had rebelled against the words of God,
and spurned the counsel of the Most High.
12Their hearts were bowed down with hard labour;
they fell down, with no one to help.
13Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble,
and he saved them from their distress;
14he brought them out of darkness and gloom,
and broke their bonds asunder.
15Let them thank the Lord for his steadfast love,
for his wonderful works to humankind.
16For he shatters the doors of bronze,
and cuts in two the bars of iron.
Off the cost of South Africa there is a little Island at the tip of the continent called Robin Island. It once served the country as a leper colony, but during apartheid was converted into a prison for political prisoners. This is where Nelson Mandella was held captive for decades. I toured the island now serves as a museum with members of a class from Luther Seminary. The fact of the reality was brought home by the fact that the tour guides of the museum are former inmates.
Before 1994 the walls, bars, and chains of the prison were actual instruments of violent captivity, but now the island signifies the broken walls, bars, and chains of a whole system of injustice that kept people in bondage to a racist society. The razor wire and metal bars weren’t only experienced by the prisoners, but by a whole society. All people, black and white, in South Africa, were in a prison called Apartheid that divided and held a whole society captive. The whole country was a kind prison and even the guards were locked in.
How many lives in our community are held captive in prisons of physical, emotional, sexual and substance abuse? Just about every family I know is touched in some way by this kind of captivity. Remember, it is not just the abuser who is held captive, it is the abused. Whole families are held captive to cycles of violence, misuse, and abuse and it seems the cycle cannot be broken because the pattern has been established and the shame of it keeps people locked away from getting the help they need.
What a relief to find that God’s light shines through that darkness and gloom! What freedom God grants when He breaks the evil bonds that hold you captive to patterns of abuse. What love He shows when he shatters the doors of bronze and breaks the bars of iron that have kept you locked away in that dark place. What a comfort it is to break free of the life that has kept you in darkness and find yourself liberated at the foot of the cross.
Some were sick* through their sinful ways,
and because of their iniquities endured affliction;
18they loathed any kind of food,
and they drew near to the gates of death.
19Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble,
and he saved them from their distress;
20he sent out his word and healed them,
and delivered them from destruction.
21Let them thank the Lord for his steadfast love,
for his wonderful works to humankind.
22And let them offer thanksgiving sacrifices,
and tell of his deeds with songs of joy.
Pastor Fran and I find ourselves at the hospital a couple of times a week to visit the sick. We also find ourselves sitting at the bedsides of residents at nursing homes. And we too encounter sickness, as do you, among our own families and friends. We have prayed countless times for healing and we have seen miraculous things. We have seen cancer go into remission, we have seen people on the brink of death go home from the hospital, we have seen life saving treatments administered and take effect and bring people back from the edge of the grave.
We have also seen where the doctors and nurses work to the best of their knowledge and abilities, and not be able to save someone. We have seen it when a family or individual mercifully and faithfully decide to decline resuscitation or intubation and to remove all the wires and tubes and in sure and certain hope of the resurrection courageously face inevitable death. In both cases there are healing and deliverance. In both cases God delivers a person from suffering and restores their life. What a comfort in the face of sickness and death to find yourself at the foot of the cross—the gate to eternal life.
Some went down to the sea in ships,
doing business on the mighty waters;
24they saw the deeds of the Lord,
his wondrous works in the deep.
25For he commanded and raised the stormy wind,
which lifted up the waves of the sea.
26They mounted up to heaven, they went down to the depths;
their courage melted away in their calamity;
27they reeled and staggered like drunkards,
and were at their wits’ end.
28Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble,
and he brought them out from their distress;
29he made the storm be still,
and the waves of the sea were hushed.
30Then they were glad because they had quiet,
and he brought them to their desired haven.
31Let them thank the Lord for his steadfast love,
for his wonderful works to humankind.
32Let them extol him in the congregation of the people,
and praise him in the assembly of the elders.
Sometimes life looks like Lake Superior when the gales of November come early, then it feels like we are being tossed about and we loose courage. When the pink slip finds it’s way across our desk. When we are fired from our jobs, or know that the company won’t be able to hold out much longer and the temporary layoff becomes permanent. But it is not just employment that suffers when the economy goes bad. The schools suffer, the state and county government suffers the municipalities suffer when their tax base is gone. The church suffers and servants of the church must make difficult decisions.
But the economy is not the only stormy sea. Those who suffer from depression also know the ups and downs of the tumultuous sea of life. Things seem to be going along just fine and then the bottom falls out and leaves you staggering for a foothold. People with social anxiety disorders, attention deficit disorders, and other emotional and behavioral disorders find themselves walking around on what seems like the deck of a ship being tossed about in stormy seas while others around them seem to be experiencing calm sailing.
But what a comfort it is when you finally make landfall and find yourself at the foot of the cross. When he stills the storm and calms the raging sea, when the dark clouds are behind you, it is possible to see a sign of promise and hope. By grace you have been saved through faith, not because of what you do. It is the will of God. Something brought you to the foot of that cross so that you could be lifted up by him, be seated with in heavenly places. You might have had to come through lonely desert wasteland, prisons of darkness and gloom, sickness and death, and stormy seas to get there, but we each have a different path to the foot of the cross.
When they are diminished and brought low
through oppression, trouble, and sorrow,
40he pours contempt on princes
and makes them wander in trackless wastes;
41but he raises up the needy out of distress,
and makes their families like flocks.
42The upright see it and are glad;
and all wickedness stops its mouth.
43Let those who are wise give heed to these things,
and consider the steadfast love of the Lord.
