Willapa United Methodist Church

Please pray with me. May the words of our mouths, the meditations of our hearts, and the conduct of our lives, be always acceptable to you, O God, our strength and our blessed redeemer. Amen.

Today I want to tell you a couple of stories. They both take place in small towns whose names start with an “E”.

One Sunday morning many years ago, two friends were walking down a dusty road in Palestine toward a small town named Emmaus, about 7 miles west of Jerusalem. For Cleopas and his friend, it was not a nice Sunday walk. They were scared, heartbroken and confused. Their destination in Emmaus was a kind of safe-house where they could hide from Jewish and Roman authorities. You see, they were followers of the prophet and teacher, Jesus of Nazareth.

As they walked along, they talked about the awful events of the weekend: how Jesus had been betrayed, handed over to the Romans and crucified on a cross. Jesus had entered Jerusalem in triumph only a week earlier, hailed as the long-sought Messiah of Israel, the one who would expel the Romans and restore the throne of David. A lot can happen in a week!

And now, as if to rub salt in the open wound, some of the women who had followed Jesus had returned from his tomb that very morning had reported that Jesus’ body was missing and that they had seen him alive. But, Cleopas and his friend knew better, they had watched Jesus die. No one could survive the beating and torture that he had endured. The cross was a cruel and inhumane way to go, but it was effective – no one survived the cross.

Then, about halfway to Emmaus, Cleopas and his friend were joined by a stranger who asked if he could walk with them. They agreed, of course, it would have been impolite not to. Soon the stranger asked them what they were talking about before he joined them. Perhaps it was the pain behind their eyes. Perhaps it was the tear stains on their cheeks. Perhaps it was the listless way they walked, with heads hung down.

Where had this guy been all weekend!? How could anyone not know about the tragic events of the weekend? In halting and sadness-laced detail they once again recounted the story of Jesus’ triumphant entry and ignominious death. All of their hopes and dreams had died on that cross with Jesus.

Much to their surprise, the stranger began to explain to them that the events of the week had all been part of God’s plan as set forth in the Hebrew Scripture. He went all the way back to Moses and revealed how Israel’s prophets had been given visions that forecast the events of the week. He showed that it was Jesus who fulfilled the role of suffering servant in Isaiah’s prophecy. They had always thought that Israel itself was the suffering servant. As he opened the Scriptures to them, their spirits were lifted and they began to have hope again.

Just then they arrived on the outskirts of Emmaus and the stranger continued to walk westward, but they couldn’t just let him go. They were hungry and thirsty for more of his teaching because it restored their weary spirits. They called after him and invited him to spend the night with them and take a meal with them. Now they weren’t just being polite, they were being selfish. They needed to hear more of what this stranger had to say about Jesus.

The stranger agreed to spend the night with them and they eagerly sat down to dinner, expecting more teaching. And, as the stranger broke the bread they knew that they had been walking and talking with the Risen Lord himself.

The second story is a little more recent, in fact it happened in the summer of 2004, in a little town named Elma.

Sue and I served as the pastoral family at the Elma United Methodist Church for only two months, as summer “fill-ins”. We were in Elma for nine weeks, August 29^th was our last Sunday. Even though we were only there for a very short period of time, we had become very attached to the people there. We arrived when the church was going through a very rough patch. Our goal was to do a lot of healing and begin to move the church from an inward focus on self-preservation to an outward focus on making disciples for Christ.

Rather than preach a whole new sermon that last Sunday, I had decided to summarize the previous eight weeks of sermons, and in so doing, try to prepare them for the arrival of their new pastor. Little did we know that the Holy Spirit would take over completely and that the Spirit’s name on that particular Sunday was Sonny.

Sonny is probably in his forties. He and Julie have two children, Mackenzie and Colton, twins who will graduate from Elma High School on June 7^th this year. Sonny has seen a lot of suffering in his life. He was nearly killed in a terrible auto accident and he is still not able to do the type of work that he did before the accident, the work he was trained to do. He has had to learn new ways to make a living and support his young family.

On August 29^th, Sonny came to church with a huge load of anger and guilt on his back.  Since I did not plan to preach and we had decided to celebrate Holy Communion on our last Sunday together, prayer time came about halfway through the service.

Sonny raised his hand and tearfully asked for prayers. In his anger that morning, he had “remodeled” their bedroom wall with his fists. He had walked the railroad tracks near their home, shaking his fist at God for all the pain and suffering that God had allowed to invade his life and perhaps secretly hoping for a train to come down the tracks. But, in spite of all that, something had made him get dressed and come to church. Maybe he just couldn’t let us leave without saying goodbye.

I found myself walking down the aisle to Sonny, putting my arm around his broad shoulders and practically dragging him forward to the altar rail where we knelt together in tears and in prayer.

Sue and I listened to praise songs as we made those long trips between Tacoma and Elma several times a week and the song that had been going through my mind all week was “I Will Sing”. Well, as luck would have it; or rather, as God would have it, that song was on the disc in the CD player (we didn’t have a pianist that Sunday). I asked Carl Edem, the Lay Leader to play that song as Sonny and I prayed. As the song played, Sonny and I began to feel the hands of others on our shoulders, first was Sue’s hand and then many others, until the whole congregation was gathered around us. This song will probably always be known in Elma as Sonny’s song.

I Will Sing

Don Moen

(c) 2000 Integrity's Hosanna! Music/ASCAP

Lord, You seem so far away

A million miles or more it feels today

And though I haven't lost my faith

I must confess right now 

That it's hard for me to pray

But I don't know what to say

And I don't know where to start

But as You give the grace

With all that's in my heart

I will sing, I will praise

Even in my darkest hour

Through the sorrow and the pain

I will sing, I will praise

Lift my hands to honor You

Because Your Word is true

I will sing

Lord, it's hard for me to see

All the thoughts and plans You have for me

But I will put my trust in You

Knowing that You died to set me free

But I don't know what to say

And I don't know where to start

But as You give the grace

With all that's in my heart

Is suffering all a part of God’s plan for us? Jesus says that it is. Paul says that it is. Peter says that it is. Will our faith be tested? Jesus says that it will be. Paul says that it will be. Peter says that it will be.

 

In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said, “Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.” (Matthew 5:11-12 NRSV)

 

In his letter to the Philippians, Paul said, “I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the sharing of his sufferings by becoming like him in his death, if somehow I may attain the resurrection from the dead. Not that I have already obtained this or have already reached the goal; but I press on to make it my own, because Christ has made me his own.” (Philippians 3:10-12 NRSV)

 

Last week, we heard Peter say to the Christians who were being persecuted, “In this you rejoice, even if now for a little while you have had to suffer various trials.” (1 Peter 1:6 NRSV). This week Peter reminds those early Christians, and us as well, “You know that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your ancestors, not with perishable things like silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without defect or blemish. He was destined before the foundation of the world, but revealed at the end of the ages for your sake. Through him you have come to trust in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are set on God.” (1 Peter 1:18-21 NRSV)

 

From generation to generation, from Moses to Zechariah, from Cleopas to Sonny, we are all part of God’s plan of salvation. Will we suffer? Yes! Will our faith be tested? Yes! Will it be worth it? Yes, beyond our wildest dreams! We have God’s Word on that.

 

Amen.