Christ Church Uniting
Disciples and Presbyterians
1300 Kailua Rd.
Kailua, HI 96734
262-6911

2 Timothy 3:14 – 4:5

The pocket sized Christian Worker’s New Testament. You ever see one?

I was eighteen when my great aunt gave me the gift.

The index has headings like --- Are you saved? Feeling tempted? Need to pray? For just about any concern you could imagine, there is a bible verse. It was The American Bible Society’s response to 2 Timothy 3:16.

Auntie Mac was Clerk of Session at 1^st Presbyterian of Cuero, Texas. She was there when Dr. McLeod baptized her niece’s firstborn. We attended plenty of memorial services together: her husband’s, our mothers’, my brother’s. She has followed the course of my life. She shared her faith with me.

In longhand King James English in the front cover of the pocket New Testament she had written Paul’s words to young Timothy: "Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season…." I wasn’t sure what "be instant" meant but I think she saw me as her Timothy.

Like the Apostle Paul in prison, Auntie Mac must be about to finish the race. She’s beyond ninety now and no longer active in most of the ways I remember her. But remember her I do when this passage comes around, as it has this morning, for reflection.

"As for you," says Paul. Enough about me, as for you. As for you, do the work. Proclaim the message. Be persistent whether the time is favorable or unfavorable. Convince, rebuke and encourage the saints. Do this with patient teaching.

Before we talk about the work, whether we can do it and what it might mean if we did, we need to think about the times. Are these favorable times or unfavorable?

Of course, you might be right to ask---

· Would it ever not be a good time to tell the old old story of Jesus and his love?

· Would it ever not be a good time to invite people into a deeper alliance with Jesus for the sake of God’s reign on to earth?

· Would it ever not be a good time to teach Godsways convincing others, rebuking, encouraging as needed?

 

Well you would be right in the sense that with respect to Goodnews and Godsways, it’s always a good time to tell, it’s always a good time to invite, it’s always a good time to teach. You would be right, but if you thought that all times were alike, you would be mistaken. If you thought it irrelevant whether the times were favorable or unfavorable, you would be mistaken. If you failed to recognize how fundamentally the times influence in the manner in which the work may be undertaken, you would be mistaken..

Soren Kierkegaard, mid-nineteenth century existentialist Danish Christian philosopher, lived in a time deemed by many to be extremely favorable. To be Danish was to be Christian. Everyone was baptized. Surely the best of times for Christian work.

Kierkegaard saw the times differently. In his estimation, Christianity had become soft and reasonable: synonymous with citizenship, civility, and conformity. The true gospel, he believed, was sharp edged, unbelievable, passionate, eternally unsettling.

People acted as though Denmark was a state of grace. The truth was somewhat different. The illusion was so powerful that Kierkegaard decided he would have to employ paradox, contradiction, derision, even self abasement. He would have to use an indirect method to communicate the gospel even to the point of making of himself a fool in the eyes of the public in order to reach whomever had ears.

Like Kierkegaard, the Apostle Paul paid attention to his times. In his first letter to Corinth he observed that his message of a crucified Messiah, of a Son of God who really lived and who really died, was a horror to Jewish spiritual leaders on the one hand and a stupid joke to thoughtful Greeks on the other hand. His times determined what people could hear. Accordingly, the times influenced how he would have to go about the work of telling, being and doing good news.

You and I would be well advised, like Paul, to seek to understand our times. What are they? How do they impact the work to which we are called?

In a Washington Post article Friday, Don Oldenburg in the wake of the plane hijackings, anthrax infections, and the bombing in Afghanistan depicted our nation as being on the verge of public hysteria. He explored what a "contagion of panic spread by rumor and false alarms" has looked like in the past, what it might mean for us today, and how best to respond.

After the 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor, Californians were convinced that a Japanese invasion was imminent. Rumors and false alarms had Japanese bombers in the skies and enemy subs off the coast of Santa Barbara.

In 1962, a North Carolina textile factory worker reported being bitten by a poisonous insect. Within a week, 62 others claimed they too had been bitten, and exhibited symptoms of rashes and nausea. The bug didn't exist.

Some remember 1938. There were radio listeners who missed the disclaimer when Orson Welles dramatized H.G. Wells's fictional novel "The War of the Worlds." Fleeing homes with wet towels over their faces, cogging streets and trampling each other, thousands truly believed invading Martians were gassing New Jersey and New York.

"Perfect love casts out fear." This from 1 John 4:18. Most of us have experienced the truth of this affirmation, if only in some way. If not, we at least are not puzzled when someone runs back into a burning house to rescue a loved one trapped inside. If love drives out fear, public hysteria then may be expected to diminish our social capacity for moral conduct, compassion and lots of other things as well.

"CIA Told to Do ‘Whatever Necessary’ To Kill Bin Laden." Washington Post headline this morning. Last night: "War effort pushes ‘Green Issues’ aside." Senior government official: "I don't think there has been such risk to the country since the Cuban missile crisis." Vice President Cheney: "It is different than the Gulf War was, in the sense that it may never end. At least, not in our lifetime."

Such are the times in which we live. Not only is our sense of personal safety and well being affected but our ability as a people to care for one another is impeded as well. Here in Hawaii, much has been made of Japanese American empathy for our Arab American and Islamic neighbors. It wasn’t that long ago that fear paralyzed our national ability to protect our Japanese American neighbors, friends and coworkers from an unjust and

imprudent internment.

University of Minnesota psychology professor Gloria Leon who specializes in the study of people in disasters says that the key to avoiding public panic is not only reliable information but the manner in which it's delivered. She cites as one example the news this week that some 600 terrorism suspects had been detained. This was helpful she said. The further and gratuitous announcement, however, that 200 others were still at large did not help. This sort of news presentation added to our national fear quotient.

Christians have trustworthy information, good news. It is our work to share it. "Sharing good news" is the meaning of the often unappreciated word "evangelism." How we share it is as important that we do so.

Paul’s advice to Timothy that he proceed patiently, that he teach, is useful today. We do not need demagoguery. It’s too easy to find ourselves stampeded into disaster. I propose we return to the old old story, that we tell it simply, that we reflect upon it, let it work in us a spirit of confidence and thoughtfulness.

Now I want to read from the PCUSA 1983 Brief Statement of Faith. It is biblical. As such, it does not differ from the teachings of The Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) It reminds us of the story which Paul shared with Timothy, of the story I learned from Auntie Mac and other women and men of faith, of the story which we are invited to tell others, live in and through. It is poetry: life giving words evoking faith, hope and love.

We trust in Jesus Christ

And who is this person?
  Jesus proclaimed the reign of God:
      preaching good news to the poor
        and release to the captives,
      teaching by word and deed
        and blessing the children,
      healing the sick
        and binding up the brokenhearted,
      eating with outcasts, 

forgiving sinners,
      and calling all to repent

and believe the gospel.

We trust in God,

     In sovereign love

God created the world good
      and makes everyone equally

in God's image
        male and female,

of every race and people,
      to live as one community.

OK, so what happened?
   But we rebel against God;

we hide from our Creator.
      Ignoring God's commandments,
      we violate the image of God

in others and ourselves,
      accept lies as truth,
      exploit neighbor and nature,
      and threaten death to the planet

entrusted to our care.
      We deserve God's condemnation.

Guess that about does it then?
   Yet God acts with justice and mercy

to redeem creation.

The Who, The What?
      everywhere the giver and renewer of life.

   In a broken and fearful world

`````the Spirit gives us courage
      to pray without ceasing,
      to witness among all peoples to

`````Christ as Lord and Savior,
      to unmask idolatries in church and culture,
      to hear the voices of peoples long silenced,
      and to work with others for

justice, freedom, and peace.

With believers in every time and place,
   we rejoice that nothing in life or in death
   can separate us from the love of God

```in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Perhaps not every phrase is equally clear or speaks as powerfully to you as it may to me or to your neighbor. We are after all, different in countless ways. We may want to toss some of the story back and forth. We may have something to add, something to explore.

Still, it is good news. It is the poetry of life. It is reliable in perspective, promise and gift of life. In this anxious age it is time begin again to share it with others. As Kierkegaard understood, this story is unbelievable and yet it is the hope of life. As Paul advised Timothy the times requiring teaching and patience.

Sharing our faith, we may contribute to a public recovery. Here is love that casts away fear. Sharing faith, we become part of the recovery of public compassion for one another. Sharing our faith we will learn as well as teach. Sharing faith we can hope to recover our own depth and perspective as we make a difference in the world and in the times before us.

I must stop now. By Monday, webmaster Paul Belanger will have this sermon on our CCU web site. At the end of the sermon text on the web is a talk back button which will enable you to enter into a conversation with me about this or any of the other posted sermons.

Grace to you and peace from God our Creator and our Lord Jesus Christ.

The Rev. Buddy Summers, Pastor
Delivered October 21, 2001
Christ Church Uniting Disciples and Presbyterian
Kailua, HI 96734

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