"Removing the Obstacles to Love"
A new dawn, a new day, a new life
Sermon Preached by
The Rev. Dr. Andrew Stirling
Sunday, April 19, 2009
Text: 1 Peter 1:3-9
It was Monday, and I was exhausted after the magnificence of Easter, the great music and wonderful service. I thought I would turn on the radio and maybe hear the news or listen to some music. To my absolute amazement, the first song that came on the radio was Michael Buble doing a rendition of Feeling Good. In it, there is this incredible phrase, and I thought, “This is prophetic!” It says, “It's a new dawn, it's a new day, it's a new life for me and I am feeling good.” I couldn't think of anything that would sum up Easter morning and the day after quite like those words.
As I was reading the text from 1 Peter, getting ready for the sermon and humming “It's a new dawn, it's a new day, it's a new life for me,” I thought, “Isn't that the theme song for St. Peter in a week like this?” In this text, we encounter an amazing transformation. Last week, we left Peter at the tomb wondering what had happened, hearing from the Marys that Jesus was risen, and being overwhelmed, full of shock and awe. Even the text in Luke says that he wonders what was happening. But some 30-odd years later, when Peter wrote this epistle to early Christians, he said, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who in his great mercy has born us again to a new life through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.”
Something profound had happened to Peter for him to have been wondering at the tomb and then, thirty-odd years later, to be writing a letter to people who faced imminent and increasing persecution under the Emperor Nero. Peter wrote words of hope, encouragement and exhortation all on the basis of the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. Clearly, Peter had been overwhelmed by what happened after the first Easter Sunday. For a man who had denied Jesus three times to become a man who wrote that hope, strength and source of life are based on the resurrection suggests that Peter went through a profound change. It was a needed change, for the early Christians - those who believed in Jesus, those who had formed an early Christian community - were being heavily persecuted by the Romans. Many of them were starting to pull away from the faith, wondering whether or not they should hold on to this belief in Jesus of Nazareth.
In the midst of all this, Peter gave a word of encouragement, a word of exhortation, that they had no need to fear; they had “a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.” He also knew that this fledgling faith could easily crumble and dissipate at the hands of persecution, and that these early Christians could easily decide to walk away from their baptismal covenant. Many believe that this passage from 1 Peter was, in fact, a liturgy for those who were new Christians, newly baptized into the faith. Peter, in saying these words and establishing this liturgy for the Church was saying, “No, hold firm to your faith even in the face of persecution, because we have a living Lord and a risen Christ.”
It is even more important than simply a sign of the transformation of Peter, or just a word of encouragement to those who were gathered in Rome and being persecuted. It goes beyond that. According to the scriptures, there are three ways in which Jesus can be apprehended and understood. The first was by those who were eye-witnesses and gave an historic account of his life, death and resurrection. Those were the apostles, the first generation of Christians, the people who met Jesus and lived with him through the events. The second group includes those who had beatific visions, like the Apostle Paul on the road to Damascus, where the risen Christ appeared to him, changed him and transformed his life. The third group includes those who apprehend Christ by faith. Jesus even says to Thomas, “It's better that you believe without seeing.” Those in this generation who believe without seeing, who do not have the first hand experience and have not necessarily had a beatific vision, but through faith believe in the power of the risen Christ, are the people to whom Peter is writing.
Because he is writing for them, he is also writing for us. We have not seen Jesus, but still we believe in him. So here were are, 2,000 years later in this great period where we bask in the resurrection, coming to church to worship, adore and honour the resurrected Christ. What words could be more fitting than “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who in his great mercy has born us again unto a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.” It is a new dawn, it is a new day, it is a new life and we should be feeling good! Why? First, because this is a new love that has been given to us, a new understanding, a new conception of divine grace, beauty and peace. Peter writes the following words: “Though you have not seen him, you still believe him.” There is power, is there not, in actually following Christ even though we have not seen him, loving him even though we have not been with him.
No one summed this up better than Napoleon Bonaparte, and even though what I am going to quote sounds a little egotistical on Napoleon's part, there is a deep truth to what he once said: “An extraordinary power of influencing and commanding men has been given to Alexander, Charlemagne and myself.”
That is heavy company! But their presence was necessary, whereas Jesus Christ has influenced and commanded his subjects without his visible bodily presence for 1,800 years. You see, Napoleon understood the power of the love that people have for Christ, of those who believed in him even though they had not seen him. Though you believe but have not seen, you still love. What is this love? Why is the resurrection so tied to the love of God? It is a love that survives. Here we are 2,000 years later and we believe in the love of God as we find it in Jesus Christ. Why? It is because of his resurrection.
I hate to quote Ann Landers as an authority from the pulpit, but there is something I think I read from her that is absolutely true and we need to grasp. Ann Landers suggests that one needs to make a distinction between infatuation and real love. She argues that we can become infatuated with somebody - and that infatuation can be exciting, it can be very sensuous, it can drive you to a great passion - but it doesn't necessarily last. You can have an infatuation that makes you want to be with somebody all the time and be intimate and affectionate with them, but when they are not there you actually feel somewhat stressed wondering whether or not that person will return and love you again. That infatuation will ebb and flow with emotions; it might not last. It might dissipate and fall away.
You see, love is based on something that lasts. Even if you are not with the person, you still want to be with them, and you know that they want to be with you. You can trust completely in their love and fidelity. While it has passion and results in a great and sense of affection, it is not timid; it is not something that will ebb and flow. She says that love is like a rock - you know it is always going to be there and even when everything around it is failing, it is solid. Infatuation is like pebbles and sand - it moves around, blows with the wind and might go away.
So it is with the love of God and our love of Christ. It is not an infatuation. It is not just dependent on emotions and feelings; it is something that lasts. The early disciples, and Peter in particular, understood that the love of Jesus Christ lasts, and the resurrection proves it. It is not something that just comes and goes, it is not there just in high moments and in low moments. There is something powerfully transcendent about the love of God, and the resurrection of Jesus makes it abundantly clear: It is a love that will survive. To those who were being persecuted by Nero, Peter was saying, “Don't worry. The love of Christ as the Risen One will always be with you, even beyond the grave.”
It is also a love that saves. By a love that saves, I mean it is one that changes everything and transforms the whole conception of human life and thought. I have been reading recently some biographical works on William Penn, who was of course the founder of Pennsylvania. William Penn grew up in Britain in a strict home. His father was an admiral. He had a lot of privilege in his life. But, William Penn's life went a bit off kilter at times, and there was a degree of uncertainty as his family travelled. At times, his father was exiled. The 17th century was sort of a boiling pot in Britain, a time of ferment, and William Penn was brought up in the midst of this. During it, he had a conversion - he became a Quaker and followed George Fox. Now, I don't believe in everything the Quakers believe in, certainly not in terms of the Trinity, but I do share a lot of their beliefs, for they take Christ's teachings, prayer, meditation and devotion to Christ seriously.
When Penn came over into the New World, he brought that Quaker faith with him. He brought the love of God that he had experienced when God loved him. There is a lot of controversy, I know, about how William Penn was able to secure the land rights of the Lenape native peoples, and there will always be debate about those kinds of things. But when I look at what he actually said to them, there is much that reveals that the love of Christ made a profound impact on his life. So I go by his words more than anything, and this is what he wrote that he said to the Lenape people:
There is one great God and power that has made the world and all things therein to whom you and I and all people owe their being and wellbeing, and to whom you and I must one day give an account for all that we have done in the world. Now, this great God has been pleased to make me concerned in your part of the world, but I desire to enjoy it with your love and consent, that we may always live together as neighbours and friends. I have great love and regard for you, and desire to win and gain your love and friendship by a kind, just and peaceable life, and the people that I send you are of the same mind and shall in all things behave themselves accordingly.
This was from William Penn's letter in 1681 to the Lenape nation. It is no wonder that Pennsylvania was really the centre of human rights and a civil society predicated on that kind of thinking - the City of Brotherly Love is rightly manifested. I don't want to over-glorify this, but I do want to make the point that having been seized by the love and living power of God, through prayer and devotion, William Penn was profoundly changed. He wanted that love to go into all his dealings with other people. It was a rough, rocky road, but it was born nevertheless through a sense of love.
That is what the power of the resurrection of Jesus Christ does, and that is exactly what Peter knew. He didn't want those who were being persecuted to turn away from the faith, because it was for the salvation of their souls, the total transformation of their being. At the same time, he wanted them to live a life of love, of brotherly and sisterly love in the world that they might rejoice greatly in that love, a love that saves.
It is also a love that serves. Booker T. Washington, himself also a subject of some debate in recent years, a great man nevertheless, wrote a book entitled Up from Slavery. In it, he gives an account of the love he experienced from his brother. As a young boy having to work in the fields, his masters would force him every now and again to wear a new shirt, and the new shirts were made out of flax fibre that was very tough and strong with strands that would rub your back raw. If you worked in the fields picking cotton or nuts or whatever it was, you could become almost blood red from wearing these shirts. His brother, feeling that Booker as a younger boy was soft of skin and felt the pain more, his brother would wear Booker's shirt for him for two or three days to wear the fibre down and make it smooth so his brother never had to bleed and suffer. Booker compared this to the Book of Galatians in Chapter 6, verse 20, and the sense in which the serving of others is the essence of our faith because of Christ.
Isn't that what the resurrection is all about? Isn't it not about one willing to bear the stripes, bear the pain, bear the suffering of the world in order that something that is beautiful and smooth and good could be found and experienced? Is the resurrection not a testimony to Christ bearing those stripes and bearing the wounds of the world in order for the world to be a better place? I think it is. I think that the love Peter found in the risen Christ was a love that serves.
All of this produced one last newness - the newness of joy. He says, “I rejoice greatly in this, and I want you to rejoice greatly in this risen Christ. Even though you haven't seen him you love him and you have a new life, and you have the salvation of your souls, you have something that is eternal and undefiled. Trust this; you can bank on this for the rest of your life, and into eternal life.”
Philip Yancey, one of my favourite authors, tells a lovely story in the book, The Jesus I Never Knew. It was the Easter in a year when he had just lost three of his closest friends. One of them had dropped dead of a heart attack. The other one had been in a collision the day after Easter, and the car had gone up in flames. The third one had gone diving in Lake Michigan, and was never to return.
As he had to speak for now the third time at Bob's funeral, the one who died in the lake, Philip Yancey said,
“I had no idea what to say. I was overwhelmed by this sense of irreversibility, that natural laws had taken over, that good people had died, and despite my Christian faith, I was demoralized. So, I took up a book by Rollo May entitled, My Quest for Beauty. In it, Rollo May explains the moment in which he was converted and became a Christian and overwhelmed by God. It was on a Sunday when he had gone to an Eastern Orthodox service, and there had been a knock at the door early in the morning, and the priest along with everyone else walks into a dark church with candles.
On Easter Sunday morning, what was a dark building was turned into a massive light as all the candles streamed in, and they all sang Christos Anesti, ”Christ is risen.“ Roller May says that when he went into this church and saw the transformation of darkness into light, the breaking of the Easter eggs and this great billowing sound, ”Christ is risen, Christ is risen indeed!“ he had this feeling that things can actually be reversed. He felt that not everything is irreversible, but that out of death there can be life, out of darkness there can be light.
As Yancey was reading this he thought, “That is the image I need, the image of a dark church turning into one full of light, singing 'Christ is risen, Christ is risen indeed!'” So, when he got up to speak at Bob's funeral, he said,
“I believe there will be one day when we are all raised, and I will see Bob coming down through the parking lot with his air tanks on his back saying, 'I am here. I am here because of Christ.' Let us wait and enjoy this day. Christos Anesti Christ is risen.”
For the Apostle Peter this was everything. For us, it is everything. There is a new day. There is a new dawn. There is a new life for you. Doesn't it make you feel good? Amen.