Preached at Canadochly Lutheran Church on November 22, 2015
Scripture texts: Daniel 7:9-10, 13-14
I’ve frequently made the point that interpreting Apocalyptic texts in the Bible is quite easy. They all sum up to one simple phrase: God wins. All the crazy imagery, all the fantastical visions of beasts and monsters with horns and eyes, all of it leads to one very basic and very simple conclusion: God wins.
Understanding it is one thing. Believing it however is something else. Why would anyone believe that God is winning when the world is what they see everyday? With terrorism and war and crime and bigotry and poverty and all other sorts of evil rampant in our midst? Go figure.
Last Sunday, in our congregational meeting, we heard the ugly truth: the elephant in the room. We’ve got something like 4 years of financial reserves left. That’s a frighteningly familiar story. My home congregation in WV folded four or so years ago because of lack of money and people. In fact, I’d say upwards of 90% of all mainline congregations are facing what we’re facing. For them, the only difference is how long it will take. The church, as it exists in America, is dying. Why is that?
Because no one believes what we have to say. They might come in here for one hour and hear about how God loves them and cares for them and wants to be with them. And then they go out into the world and for the other 167 hours in the week they’re told how worthless they are and how much of a drag on society they are. They hear about how they’re a liability, that their lives have no meaning and no worth.
You want to know why young men take guns into movie theatres and shoot the place up? They’re told that if they just get an education and life will be easy street. And then they do that, thinking they’re going to get the wonderful house and the beautiful wife. When they get out, they’re handed a bill for more money than they can imagine and the jobs that are available offer minimal salary and demand 20 years experience. They’re told to work hard and they do and they get nowhere. Time and time again, they find their efforts don’t matter. Time and time again they are told they don’t matter. So, they make their mark on the world in the most violent way possible.
You want to know why suicide bombers exist? These were ordinary people once, just like you and me. And then they were bombed and attacked and brutalized by tyrants. And after that they were bombed and attacked and brutalized by their liberators. They try to run away and then they find everywhere they go says “No, you might be one of them. So you’re not welcome.” No matter what they do, they’re trapped in a nightmare. Time and again, they find their efforts don’t matter. Time and again they find their lives don’t matter. And along comes a charlatan in ISIS that tells him how they can matter and they make their mark on the world in the most violent way possible.
I get it. It scares me sometimes how much I do. I remember thinking as I watched the nightmare of Columbine flash across my TV screen years ago, “there but for the grace of God...” That very much so could have been me. The anger and the frustration of being told time and again by peers and teachers and family that my life wasn’t worth anything, that I didn’t measure up, that I didn’t matter. What stopped me from becoming a headline was being in a place like this every Sunday and learning how I do matter to the one who created all things from people like you.
That voice came through for me, but for so many others it doesn’t. Talk is cheap and it’s going to take more than talk to give hope to people who have none. It’s going to take commitment and it’s going to take risk. We have to step past our fears. We have to be loud and bold. We have to be out there, in the world, living the truths that we embrace in here.
If we believe that Christ is King and that God does win in the end, then we need to live like it everyday and in every circumstance. Our every action, our every word, as much as we are able, should tell people how much they do matter. Because they do. God did not send his son into this world for only a part of it. He came to save them all. He came because he loves all people, especially those beat down by the world’s lies and cruelty.
Perhaps one of the most interesting mental exercises we can do with ourselves is to ask why we ended up the way we did instead of something else. Why are we the person we are? Why didn’t we become a criminal or a terrorist or something other horrific thing? The answer, I suspect, for each one of us is that we had someone or someones in our lives that showed us how much we mattered to them: a parent, a friend, a teacher, a pastor, or any and all of the above.
When Jesus reaches down to heal the sick, the underlying message in that miracle is that you matter. When he eats at table with the sinners and prostitutes, the underlying message in that act is that you matter. When he hangs on the cross, the message he is shouting by his deeds is that we all matter, that everyone of us is worth dying for.
We may not be able to do precisely those things, but we certainly can show people their worth. We can show people their value. We can show people that despite all the abuse and neglect the world tries to heap upon them that they do matter. That they are loved. That they are precious. That is, ultimately, our mission as Christians. As Christ reigns on high, we are called to show the world what that means. That is our job. Amen.
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