Alone
Baccalaureate Service - June 6, 2010
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Please note: The following sermon is provided as a resource for the thought, prayer, and meditation of the members and friends of St. Mark's. It is the residue of a verbal event, and thus it does not have academic footnotes and other details that would be expected in a written document. The writer gladly acknowledges the prior thought and work of many Christians before him. |
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Alone
Not alone
Well, which is it?
We're here together as a group this evening. But we'll soon scatter in every direction.
We have so many different interests, and abilities, and opportunities and backgrounds.... and hopes and fears.
Alone, or not alone?
We have families which come in all varieties: two parent, one parent, grandparent, blended, foster, and more; some are tight-knit and talkative, others are distant and not so helpful.
Alone, or not alone?
We can't decide it on this basis; it is only getting more and more tangled.
Then we should look to scripture. What did we hear in that first reading?
I heard about “good plans” and “a future with hope.” But they didn't just appear; and neither did we make it ourselves.
“Plans, future, and hope” come because of the determination of God to be God for us, to establish and maintain a relationship with us, his creation.
We've heard that before! It is the introduction to the 10 commandments: “I am the Lord your God...” The Lord is saying: “I am determined to be God; I make it happen for you and with you.” That is what he is saying.
Alone?
Not alone! Because God... creates, sustains, gives good gifts continuously, loves, saves.....
It is all about relationships, isn't it?
First of all, God's relationship with us... and then our relationship with each other because of God's good gifts.
But what kind of relationship is it? What did we hear in the Psalm today? “He is bound to me in love,” says the oracle as the voice of God. It is said very carefully so that it can be understood in two ways: (1) the love of God for human-kind, (2) our love for each other modeled on the self-giving love of God.
So the relationships that really matter are not casual things that we make up ourselves, but are gifts of God that we discover, receive, and unwrap What an intense and humbling thought that is!
Alone? Not alone?
Does the 2nd lesson give us any clues about alone-ness, relationships, and God's gifts?
Solomon could have asked for anything.
Wow, what an opportunity! He could have asked for the downfall of his enemies, wealth, empire, and yet more wives and dancing girls, and he asks for wisdom. Boring! Not so! Without wisdom, of what use are all of those other things? These days we have piles of information, not only books and bibliographies, but also bits and bytes by the billion. More information is available to us than has ever before been collected in the history of humanity. And still we have wars ...around the world, and within families, disasters both natural and man-made, and as much distress as ever. So information by itself is not the answer.
Wisdom is crucial. In wisdom, we take what information is available and work to comprehend it within that first relationship we mentioned earlier. Wisdom is understanding all that exists to be God's gifts, to be managed and used well,. The wise person has a profound humility, neither thinking more highly of himself than he should, nor belittling himself.
A good example is Johann Sebastian Bach, one of the giants of western music and religious culture, who wrote at the top of each of his compositions Soli Deo gloria, (To God alone the glory).
Another is Martin Luther, one of the most widely-known persons of his century, whose collected writings number over 100 volumes, and whose effect upon history has been very prominent, but whose final words on his deathbed were We are beggars before God; this is true.
Alone? Not alone?
Will a wise person still have dark times?
Of course, but we trust we'll not be overcome by them.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a Lutheran pastor executed by the Nazis only days before the end of the war on Hitler's personal order, faced that ultimate crisis with a calmness of spirit that deeply affected even his jailers. He knew that he was not alone; and that the promise of the Lord Jesus was with him even in that extreme situation, and would not abandon him. That relationship is secure, by God's good gift.
Solomon asked for wisdom, and got lots more as well. But he had trouble hanging onto those things. Why?
He fell into the ever-present trap of claiming it as all his own accomplishment and possession. Without wisdom, much slipped through his fingers. He made provision for the worship of other gods. He thought of himself alone as the King of all he surveyed, instead of recognizing that he was a caretaker on behalf of God, that he was his steward, his servant. He trampled on the relationship.
Alone? That is a disaster! Our only hope is not to go it alone.
So graduates soon will be stepping out of the relatively structured environment of high school into the work-force, to the military, to college, or some other activity. How many will be thinking that they can make it alone? They are the ones who will have the hardest times.
The Antarctic explorer Robert Byrd entitled his autobiographical account of spending a winter in that harsh dark world “Alone”. His solitude dropped him into mental illness that nearly took his life. An extreme situation, certainly, but quite real.
So the Christian may have little food or much, a few friends or many, piles of graduation gifts or a congratulatory handshake, but the Christian also has the most important thing...Jesus' promise, the presence of the Holy Spirit with us wherever we go and whatever we do.
The majestic words of the beginning of John's Gospel nail it. In the beginning...the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
Christ Jesus is the light, the wisdom, the relationship that matters.
Do we depart from this place alone?
Never alone. Amen.
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