High Noon- Do Not Forsake Me

 

Day 8) Psalm 22:1,2; Matthew 27:45 “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?” 
My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?  Why are you so far from saving me, so far from the words of my groaning?  O my God, I cry out by day, but you do not answer, by night and am not silent.

Thoughts: Jesus quoted much from the Old Testament in the midst of His trail and crucifixion.  Christ quoted from David who was crying out to God for help, but there was no answer.  There are times when the “Dark Night of the Soul” comes upon us.  It appears God has deserted us.  Some at this point, desert God.  But as in David’s case and Jesus’ case, God did not truly leave.  Instead He came at the proper time and lifted David back up, and raised Christ from the dead.  He is able to lift us up as well. 
    Yet this time of God-forsakenness is like going through the valley of the shadow of death.  There is hopelessness all around.  Even God seems to have left.
     One of my favorite movies of all time is a black and white western called “High Noon.”  The theme song is “Do not forsake me O My Darlin.”  The story is of a sheriff who gets married and finds out his sworn enemy has been released from prison and his gang is coming to kill him and take back over the town.  His wife leaves.  The whole town leaves.  His assistants leave.  He has to face this terrible gang by himself.  In the end people come back in time to help him.  But he has to get the courage to “wait alone.”  We too must have courage to face our isolation and trials. 
     Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton and Dwight Eisenhower saw this as one of their favorite films because of his Will Kane's (played by Gary Cooper) willingness as a marshal to stand up for what is right even if he were all alone.   The old saying goes God +1 makes the greatest majority.  If you feel you are the only one left standing up for what is right and that all have seemingly deserted you, take courage.  

High Noon- with Gary Cooper all alone and seemingly deserted (1952)

Homily from 10-4-20 on 1 Thess 2:17-20 "Longing to See You"

 

“Longing to See You”  1 Thess. 2:17-20  LMPC Dr. Ben Sloan 10-4-20 (Communion Homily)

     Paul, in talking about the Lord’s Supper said, “When you come together”…(1 Cor. 11:20).   The supper is meant to be together.  But we are like soldiers on station far away from home.   We are not fully together.  We are like a puzzle that is half way done.  It is nice that we can begin to see the picture coming together, but we are not there yet.  We ache to be complete.
      There is a classic movie called “Dances with Wolves” starring Kevin Costner as “John Dunbar” about a soldier who is stationed all alone in a remote outpost by an officer who died and told no one he was stationed there.  He became so lonely after years of being isolated with no human contact that he befriended a wolf.  Interestingly this parallels the life of a real John Dunbar who was a Christian missionary to the Native Americans in Nebraska- also isolated from all who spoke his language for a greater good.   John Dunbar teaches us about social isolation. 
     The Bible says, “It is not good for people to be alone.”  We are not meant to live isolated lives.  Yet sometimes we must.  In our passage, Paul says that he had an intense longing to go to church with the Thessalonians.  But he could not. 
      Interestingly he describes not being able to gather in morally evil terms.  He was orphaned from them.  Like he was torn away or cut off by a type of death.  He says he tried over and over again to see them but “Satan blocked our way.”  Many do not see our isolation as an evil thing- but Paul saw it that way.  Blaine last week rightly described our time as a period of grief- teachers have not been with their students, some grandparents have been separated from their grandkids, friends have been separated from friends.  Perhaps Paul was thinking “it is not good for people to be alone.”  Sometimes it is something we have to do- but loneliness, being away from everyone is not the goal. 
        One of the four orders of monks is the order of hermit- whose monks live in basic isolation.  Luther, who was a monk himself, criticized monasticism and especially hermits as making it very hard to love your neighbor and thus serve God when you are in isolation.  While there is a time to be alone, it is limited with a goal to come together.  Jesus often withdrew to solitary places- where he prayed.  But his goal was to come back and serve the people. 
        There are many examples of people being alone.  US Admiral Richard Byrd who was in isolation in Antarctica for five months in 1934 with no phone, internet, or way of communicating but morse code. He pointed out that he felt there was a great power in the universe that never left him alone.  
       Al Worden has won the title of “the most isolated human being in history” by the Guiness Book of World Records.  As a pilot of Apollo XV he was further away from any other human being ever- all alone, 2,235 miles from his companions on the surface of the moon and 250,000 miles from home.  When he went behind the moon he could not communicate with anyone at all for 47 minutes.  Wordon orbited the moon 74 times.  Every time he came into communication he would say, “Greetings earth from the Endeavor.”  Why did he greet us?  Greetings are not only a sign of peace but a sign of hope and joy.  A common saying among the older men at LMPC when Then  are told, “It’s great to see you” is “It is better to be seen and not viewed.”  It is a sadness in life to miss someone you know and love.  It is a joy in life to reconnect.  Maybe you are missing that relationship with God.  Maybe you are missing being a part of a church family.  Now may be the time to get that straight and ask Christ to come into your life and for the people in the church to be your supporting family of brothers and sisters in Christ. 
      The word we often use for the Lord’s Supper is “communion.”  “Communion” means fellowship with God and with each other.  When we have communion we remember that one day we will eat and drink with Him and with each other in heaven.  That fellowship will never be taken away.  The isolation on the cross means God can offer us eternal fellowship with Him- that can never be taken away. 

Alone in a Crowd

 

Day 7) Matthew 27:46-49- “Leave him alone and let us see if God can rescue him.” 

Jesus said, “Eloi, Eloi, Lama sabachthani- which means “My God, My God why have you forsaken me?”  One of them ran to get a sponge.  He filled it with wine vinegar, put it on a stick, and offered it to Jesus to drink.  But the rest said, “Leave him alone. Let’s see if Elijah comes to save him.” 

 Thoughts: One of the tough things about being alone is the crowd nearby.  What are they saying?  Have they heard you are sick and are they blaming you?  Are they being torturous?  The crowds who came to see Jesus be crucified were there to be entertained by torture.  There are mean people out there, and being quarantined you may hear their voices that lead even into more sadness.  Jesus did not react to the crow around him.  He didn’t argue with them. He didn’t say (though I think he would be justified to say) in this instance- “Don’t you understand Aramaic?  I am not asking for Elijah but for God.”  In the end, they were hoping maybe Elijah would show up and rescue him and they could say that they were there and saw the spectacle.  Instead they were the unsuspecting witnesses to one of the greatest events in the world, the death of the Son of God.  We should practice Jesus’ example of silence toward those who like to rub in the pain of someone else.  But also in our aloneness- we are waiting on a rescue.  The ultimate promise of God is that He will rescue us.  Sometimes it is in this life.  For all who believe the best, greatest, and most permanent rescue is when He takes us to Himself and there are no more tears, sickness, pain, loneliness, and death anymore.
     The best leaders do not always take a poll of what the people think.  Yet, it is important to have some idea.  But again, the best leaders, after weighing all the facts do what is right before God- even if there are political consequences. 
    You can have a crowd of people around you and be alone.  We are not here to worry about what others think of us.  We only have to please One- and that is our Maker.  Other people will gossip- expect that.  Other people will misunderstand- expect that.  Other people will misinterpret the scene- expect that too.  Some will be downright mean.  Our call is always to live like Jesus- and that includes turning the other cheek.  

Prayer: Lord, give me grace to not let the snearing crowd get to my soul. 

Wait on the Lord

 

Day 6) Psalm 27:13; Isaiah 40:30-31 - “Wait on the Lord” 
“Do you not know? Have you not heard?  The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth.  He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom.  He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak.  Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall.  But those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength.  They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.” 

 Thoughts: Waiting is one of the hardest things to do.  But we do not learn patience without it.  There is no such thing as patience for someone who is always gratified immediately.  Patience comes when God’s “Yes” turns into a “No” or a “Wait.”  Isolation and quarantine are a definite period of waiting.
    This week a famous violinist who had been in isolation since the pandemic began, played in a concert in Taiwan.  He said coming back to play was like he was “resuscitated.”  To be in isolation is in a sense waiting to be resuscitated- for God to bring us back from paralysis into action.   

     “Waiting on the Lord” implies that there is a Lord to wait on, trust in, hope in.  Waiting on God develops faith and trust in Him.  I remember once at a hotel by a pool, hearing the father tell his three children to stay by the chairs and not get in the water while he went to the canteen to get something to drink.  The oldest girl waited patiently.  The younger boys got more and more restless.  One of them finally broke for it and ran to the pool, put his toe in and came back.  After two times of this, he finally just jumped in.  The father got back, and three voices began competing for his ear.  But the father came back,  as he promised, to help them get in the water fully supervised.  The oldest knew he would come back, she had learned to listen and trust.  Part of waiting is to learn to listen and trust in the love of God for us. 
    Seven astronauts know what it is like to go on the dark side of the moon where no one can see you or communicate with you.  They were super isolated.  I can remember the relief when each command module would suddenly and scratchily appear coming into communication.  It seemed as if we held our breath.  We do not want others to be isolated.  Yet many are, out of safety concerns, today.  It is a very sad time of waiting.  But let us wait that our orbit will bring us back around.  The dark side of the moon does not last forever.  But more than that- we have a God of light who brings hope who is described as "love."  As the God of love, He ends isolation.  Only hell is isolation.  Heaven is fellowship.  The Christian hope is not solely in this life- though this life is important.  Our ultimate home and citizenship is in heaven.  
     Today we found out that President Donald John Trump and his wife Melania Trump have Covid-19.  We should pray for them like we should pray for anyone with this dreadful disease- but especially because he is a ruler (1 Tim. 2:2).  Like everyone else, they will have to wait to see if they get severe symptoms or whether they will recover fully or not.  No matter who we are- rich/poor; powerful/helpless; educated/non-educated; no matter what our race, beauty, popularity- we all must wait on the Lord- our Maker and Sustainer.   

 

Prayer: Lord, teach me, help me, strengthen my heart to wait on you.  We do pray for President Trump and his wife.  We pray for those who have been in contact with them.  We look and wait on you for healing for them, and also healing for our whole nation.  We need you, Lord.  Have mercy on us.  

(Waiting Room symbol)