Who Is Teaching You to Love Like Jesus?
The Rev. Mark Sherwindt, Pastor
Zion Evangelical Lutheran Church
Easter 6: May 12-13, 2007, Mother's Day
The Sacrament of Baptism: Charles Joseph Campbell
Here's a quotation from Helen Steiner Rice that marks the day with words that have some real staying power. It has a lot to say about some of the things my sermon will address this morning. “Time is not measured by the years that you live, but by the deeds that you do and the joy that you give. And each day as it comes brings a chance to each one to love to the fullest, to leave nothing undone that would brighten the life or lighten the load of some weary traveler lost on life's road. So what does it matter how long we may live, if as long as we live we unselfishly give.”
Last week, in talking about the resurrection, I mentioned in passing how powerful is the drive within us to honor the lives of those whom we love, leading us to find ways to lift up the lasting significance of their presence with us and their affect upon us, while also compelling us to make sure that death will not be the last word, nor have the final say, when it comes to measuring the lives of those whom we love. Monuments are physical reminders that mark the lives of those whom we love. Causes and character are personal reminders and connections that keep the people we love alive in our hearts and present in our lives.
Earlier this week Debbie Fox asked if I would help her announce some of upcoming events sponsored by Team Roman that are intended to help fight cancer through Relay for Life. Doug and Debbie's Mom succumbed to her battle with cancer just about seven years ago; but the love she invested in her family and friends continues to change our world through the dedicated efforts of Team Roman. Their interest in taking up the cause of fighting cancer is a tribute to what this day celebrates. In fact, it is a great example of what one of the poems in our Mother's Day Tribute sought to highlight.
My precious Mom, words can't describe how very much you mean to me.
Your gentle touch, your smiling face, the loving way you look at me.
Your love of life - the little things that make you laugh in spite of pain,
Your words of great encouragement that give me confidence again.
The love you share with everyone, I know is sent from God above,
And I'm so very blessed because I have a portion of that love.
I've told you many times before, 'A better Mom there couldn't be.'
I've told you so, you're my best friend, and so much more than a Mom to me.
That's the sentiment that drives Team Roman to turn their love into a cause that makes a difference with fundraisers like next Wednesday's Pampered Chef event, and then a Sock Hop with the dean of disco, Charlie “Chuck” Danner, spinning 45s on Friday, May 25th. These fundraisers, which are described in greater detail on the handouts in the Narthex, culminate with the Lake Township Relay for Life on the weekend of June 15-16. Here's what Debbie wrote on one of those handouts: “Cancer has touched our lives in some way…. We all have stories of survival and triumph, as well as heartbreak and loss. Our family lost a wife, mother, grandmother, and friend in Nancy Roman, and a great-grandmother in Commella, to cancer.” Cancer has, indeed, touched many lives in many ways. But let us say together that it will not be the death of cancer that has the last word. It will be our tribute of love, our resolve to believe the conviction of our Christian faith, encouraging us to run our race with confidence, and to claim the victory that is ours through supporting such efforts as Relay for Life. God's promise of love and life will have the last word and the final say when it comes to resurrection and life everlasting.
This past week our members who meet on Wednesdays in the Resource Center for their weekly Bible study were asked this question: “Who is teaching you to love like Jesus?” This Bible study follows the gospel lectionary, and their focus was on the texts we've been reading from the Gospel of John. Last week it was John 13, “a new commandment I give you, that you love one another as I have loved you.” That was the prelude for this week, “If you love me you will keep my commandment.” It's a nice sized group, and all agreed that the most natural answer to the question, “Who is teaching you to love like Jesus”, is our mother; and that's what Team Roman seems to be saying, too!
Here's another of our readings that pays tribute to mothers. “A mother's love! What can compare with it! Of all things on earth, it comes nearest to divine love in heaven. A mother's love means a life's devotion - and sometimes a life's sacrifice - with but one thought, one hope, and one feeling, that her children will grow up healthy and strong, free from evil habits and able to stand on their own and provide for themselves, to do their part, and when dark times come, to trust in God to give them strength, patience and courage. Happy is the mother when her heart's wish is answered, and happy are her sons and daughters when they can feel that they have contributed to her noble purpose, and, in some measure, repaid her unceasing, unwavering love and devotion.” Isn't this exactly what Team Roman is saying? Commella, Nancy, Doug and Debbie, Taylor, Brooke, Nathan, and Jeremy - keeping love alive by investing in the next generation of children what it means to grow into the grace that God has given so freely and generously given.
It will occur at only one of the services this weekend, but it is precisely this connection between the human and divine dimensions of love that I have sought to solidify with our celebration of baptism. Baptism is precisely the kind of event that embodies our sharing the story of God's love from one generation to the next, and that is especially true in the case of the great grandson of Pastor Charles Hasselbach, one in a long line of pastors here at Zion, serving alongside of Pastor Ruth back in the mid-60's, before accepting the call to serve at St. Luke's Lutheran Community right up the street here in North Canton. He is the saintly witness after whom Charles Joseph Campbell is named. Pastor Hasselbach lived God's love for daughter Peggy (now Leed), whose own daughter Traci (now Campbell) models God's love for her children. Listen to one of the prayers we offer during the service, and hear for yourselves the answer to that question, Who is teaching you to love like Jesus? “O God, giver of life, look with kindness upon fathers and mothers everywhere. Let us ever rejoice in the gift you have given us and our children. Make us teachers and examples of righteous living for our children. Strengthen us in our own Baptism so that we may share eternally with our children the salvation you have given to all through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.”
The texts from last week and this week reinforce the Good News that learning about love requires more than passing along the words of a commandment, more even than a list of Ten Commandments. Jesus begins with his own example when, with the start of chapter 13, he stoops down to wash his disciples' feet. To understand Jesus' love, you must see it in action, through the example he gives, through the life that he lives, through the death that he offers. “In this is love,” John writes in his First Epistle, not by looking at what we say about our love of God, but by studying what God does in Christ to live His love for us. “In this is love, not our love of God, but God's love for us, who sent His Son that we might find our lives through the sacrifice of his death.” That is a message that is repeated time and again in the writings of John's letters, and in the narrative of John's Gospel.
The key is not found my memorizing the words of a command to love. God's love takes the form of a story, the story of Jesus Christ. That's where we see what it means when God says He loves us. “For God so loved the world that He gave His Son, that whosoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life.” It is not in our love of God but in God's love for us: this is the flesh and blood reality of love's sacrifice. A list of rules and regulations, commandments and ordinances, will not get the job done. Love requires a story, and not just any story, but the story of Jesus Christ - the Lord who became our servant, the Son and heir who sought out the lost, who took our place in death so that we might find our place at the Table, where we are given a foretaste of the feast that will never end. We've been reading about this feast in the Book of Revelation.
We started back in chapter 7, when we asked, who is this host arrayed in white? They honored of the Lord, who have come through the great tribulation, who have washed their robes in the blood of the Lamb and sing God's praises day and night. “They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more; the sun shall not strike them, nor any scorching heat. For the Lamb in the midst of the throne will be their shepherd, and he will guide them to springs of living water; and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.” Here it is again in chapter 22, where the saints are found praising the God who makes of all things new: “I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb. And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine upon it, for the glory of God is its light, and its lamp is the Lamb. And night shall be no more, for the Lord God will be their light, and they shall reign for ever.” That's what we celebrate and that's why we celebrate through the worship we bring and the service that we offer … in Jesus' name. Amen