The Thick

"The Thick"

A sermon delivered by Rev. Peter T. Atkinson

November 19, 2017

at Bethany Presbyterian Church, Zuni, Virginia

Romans 12:12b

Job 1: 13-22

1 Peter 4: 12-19

Let us pray,

Help us to see despite our eyes

Help us to think outside our minds

Help us to be more than our lives

           For your eyes show us the way

           Your mind knows the truth

           Your being is the life.

Amen.

God does interesting things, especially when you don’t plan, like for instance I started this sermon series, what two months ago, at least, and I didn’t really look at how any of the dates were going to line up. I just week to week, would wrestle with each phrase as it came up, but what we have for today, the Sunday before Thanksgiving of all days, is “be patient in suffering.” Interesting right. . . and God has a sense of humor I’m sure. Here on the day where everyone is expecting you to talk about gratitude and giving thanks, why don’t you take a stab at patient suffering? Yeah wind up this Marks of a Christian series on that one Pete, go for it. . . and we do wrap up today, having merely scratched the surface, because next week we begin the Advent Season, and we need that time to prepare for Christmas, so we’ll end with the Marks today, and we’ll come back to it at some point in the future, I’m not sure yet when because I have other, plans for after the Christmas season is over. I’m planning to step through the life of Christ from Christmas to Easter, so it might be next summer before we get back to it. So for the last time in a while here is the Marks of a Christian, that we know so well, Romans 12: 9-21

⁹ Let love be genuine; hate what is evil, hold fast to what is good; ¹⁰ love one another with mutual affection; outdo one another in showing honor. ¹¹ Do not lag in zeal, be ardent in spirit, serve the Lord. ¹² Rejoice in hope, be patient in suffering, persevere in prayer. ¹³ Contribute to the needs of the saints; extend hospitality to strangers.

¹⁴ Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them. ¹⁵ Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. ¹⁶ Live in harmony with one another; do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly; do not claim to be wiser than you are. ¹⁷ Do not repay anyone evil for evil, but take thought for what is noble in the sight of all. ¹⁸ If it is possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. ¹⁹ Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave room for the wrath of God; for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.” ²⁰ No, “if your enemies are hungry, feed them; if they are thirsty, give them something to drink; for by doing this you will heap burning coals on their heads.” ²¹ Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

So this morning where the bulletin has all the decoration of our annual celebration of thanks, where the communion table has been so beautifully decorated with a harvest cornucopia, where all the hymns, and the choir’s rousing anthem are about Giving Thanks, we turn our eyes on suffering. I know right. . . we’ll just see, now won’t we. . . I mean last week we got to talk about hope, and hope would have been perfect to match with gratitude, but suffering? And if we take a look back at the journey we have been on this fall with The Marks of a True Christian. So far we have looked at: Love being genuine; hating evil, clinging to the Good; Brotherly Love; Competing with each other in showing honor. We’ve talked about zeal, having that ceaseless energy that is needed, especially when we are trying to serve the Lord. Then rejoicing in hope," all of them would have been great to match with Thanksgiving, but now this week instead "be patient in suffering." Well, so to do this I want to look at the Old Testament and New Testament lessons first, rather than waiting like I have done in recent weeks. . . first the Old Testament. . . and what better reading on suffering than the description of Job’s afflictions, from Job 1, here are the final verses of Job 1, namely 13-22

³ One day when Job’s sons and daughters were feasting and drinking wine at the oldest brother’s house, ¹⁴ a messenger came to Job and said, “The oxen were plowing and the donkeys were grazing nearby, ¹⁵ and the Sabeans attacked and made off with them. They put the servants to the sword, and I am the only one who has escaped to tell you!”

¹⁶ While he was still speaking, another messenger came and said, “The fire of God fell from the heavens and burned up the sheep and the servants, and I am the only one who has escaped to tell you!”

¹⁷ While he was still speaking, another messenger came and said, “The Chaldeans formed three raiding parties and swept down on your camels and made off with them. They put the servants to the sword, and I am the only one who has escaped to tell you!”

¹⁸ While he was still speaking, yet another messenger came and said, “Your sons and daughters were feasting and drinking wine at the oldest brother’s house, ¹⁹ when suddenly a mighty wind swept in from the desert and struck the four corners of the house. It collapsed on them and they are dead, and I am the only one who has escaped to tell you!”

²⁰ At this, Job got up and tore his robe and shaved his head. Then he fell to the ground in worship ²¹ and said:

“Naked I came from my mother’s womb,
    and naked I will depart.
The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away;
    may the name of the Lord be praised.”

²² In all this, Job did not sin by charging God with wrongdoing.

How about that for a picture of suffering, and Job accepted it, did not charge God with any wrongdoing. And if that wasn’t enough let’s look at the New Testament, here 1 Peter 4: 12-19, which my Bible labels, “Suffering as a Christian” yes I know right, give thanks. . .

¹² Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal that is taking place among you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. ¹³ But rejoice insofar as you are sharing Christ’s sufferings, so that you may also be glad and shout for joy when his glory is revealed. ¹⁴ If you are reviled for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the spirit of glory, which is the Spirit of God, is resting on you. ¹⁵ But let none of you suffer as a murderer, a thief, a criminal, or even as a mischief maker. ¹⁶ Yet if any of you suffers as a Christian, do not consider it a disgrace, but glorify God because you bear this name. ¹⁷ For the time has come for judgment to begin with the household of God; if it begins with us, what will be the end for those who do not obey the gospel of God? ¹⁸ And

“If it is hard for the righteous to be saved,

what will become of the ungodly and the sinners?”

¹⁹ Therefore, let those suffering in accordance with God’s will entrust themselves to a faithful creator, while continuing to do good.

Now I know that tradition dictates that I should proclaim this the word of the Lord, and you all would respond with Thanks be to God. . . but do you want to? I’ll leave it up to you. . . This is the Word of the Lord. . .

The reason I asked that question is that there is one truth that I have found in this our American world and culture, and that is that suffering does not sell. It is not a great lead. You never see advertisements offering up suffering. All State doesn't promise to provide mayhem, it tells you that mayhem is all around you, and if you get their insurance you will be safe in their "Good Hands." MacDonald's doesn't advertise that their food is bad for your health, could cause suffering a heart attack, not your hating it, but instead, "I'm loving it." Pepsi is the choice of a new generation, a cooler generation, not one suffering from diabetes. Suffering just doesn't sell, and here I am today saying that one of the true marks of a Christian is being patient in suffering. I’m not sure they are hearing this up the street. . . Suffering doesn’t sell, but it is reality.

But the other word in this phrase is no cupcake either, we are not a fan of suffering sure, but we also are not a fan of patience. In our world where we want things, now, where everything is available at our fingertips instantaneously, where if we have to wait even for a moment we try something else.  . . no patience is not a popular idea either. . . and if we were to pair them together there is nothing that would make us more impatient than suffering. . . but how true is it that they are often paired in life. I had a woman at my former church in Gordonsville. Early in my tenure there she was very active, she was in charge of getting the mail and bringing it to the church, she was in charge of setting up communion, she was the first person that anyone called to let them know what was going on, and she was always the first to be helping other people with whatever they had going on. I instantly loved her, such a sweet lady, but I remember clear as day, she came into my office and asked me, Pete what I really need to learn is patience, is there anything you can teach me about it. . . I told her we’d work together on it, and be careful what you wish for. . . her trials piled up right after that, her husband’s parkinsons steadily got worse, she fell and broke her pelvis, she also hurt her shoulder, and over the span of the next three years, she went from being active as anyone to being homebound, and a full time caregiver, even in the face of all her pain, as her pelvis took forever to heal. . . we joked many times when I’d visit her, that she was learning patience the hard way. . .

Patience is a funny word for me because it is tied to a memory. It was one of the first words that Coralee learned, though the concept still seems to escape her, as it does us all. I remember one time she wanted mommy really bad, and DeAnna needed a nap, she'd been dealing with her for long hours and needed a break. I just happened to come home from work, and could give her such a break. So I'm holding Coralee and she is freaking out, and I say to her you need to be patient, and she says back to me, "patient, patient" repeating it trying to convince herself. "Mommy needs a break sweatheart, and  you need to be patient." "Patient," she meekly squeaks out again.

Too often I think we think of patience as patience IN the midst of suffering. As Americans we do not know real suffering, and our entire life is built around protecting ourselves from suffering, and I wonder what that does to us. What does it do to us, to try to block ourselves from suffering? Because this mark of a true Christian doesn't say, avoid suffering at all costs, but when it eventually catches up to you, as it always seems to do, be patient and it will end at some point really soon. For Coralee and her suffering she just needed to chill for 15 minutes or so, so that DeAnna could get some peace, is that being patient in suffering? Is our suffering, suffering, and are we patient when it occurs? I'm not sure about y'all, but you can look at me and you know that I have never wondered about where my next meal would come from. I've also never really known real persecution for my beliefs, real oppression, real restriction on my life and my choices. So what this passage, "Be patient in suffering" means to me is, don't worry things won't be bad so long. Hard rain, don’t last. You'll get over it. All things come and go. Pain is temporary, but glory lasts. Football season including the post season for private schools in Virginia ended yesterday, and for the first time in a long time, I wasn’t a part of it, and yesterday was cool because I got to see my mentor win his second state championship, but football season was probably for the last 6 years at least was the hardest time of the year for our family. It would all start in August, DeAnna and the girls would go to the beach, and I’d be "suffering" all day practices in that hot August humid heat. And when I say all day I mean all day, 6 a.m. to about 10 p.m. for two week’s straight, followed then by a week of long boring beginning of the year faculty meetings. Then the scholl year would start and I’d work 7 day weeks for 3 straight months. . . it was long, and we would “suffer through it”  Starting with Hot temperatures, long hours, me being a little bit lonely, missing my girls, being a little bit bored. Then working a bunch of days straight, that was the extent of my “Suffering.” So let me be patient in it. Yeah I know I can get through. Just a little bit more, then I can go home and take a nap. It was bad, but that is not real suffering, it doesn’t compare to Job, and it doesn’t match what St. Peter is referring to in his letter.

Even Paul's audience is different, and his meaning of suffering is different, and his meaning of patience is different. For Christians in the beginning, there was real suffering going on. We know in our world that when trouble happens on a national scale, you know like an economic crisis, that people tend to lose their civility and their sense of humanity, and things get divided, and people get blamed, and often groups of people get blamed. On July 19, 64, the city of Rome burned, the great fire of Rome for which the emperor Nero is famous for playing his violin while the city burned. The problem was he was a little less negligent once the fires were out and the blame needed to be assigned. Like most politicians at this point they looked around and, to quote Mel Brooks, as the governor in Blazing Saddles, "We've got to protect our phony baloney jobs, Gentleman." The spin must begin, and so it did. The strange small, new sect of Christianity seemed to be a good scapegoat. The Roman historian Tacitus wrote it this way:

As a consequence, to get rid of the report, Nero fastened the guilt and inflicted the most exquisite tortures on a class hated for their abominations, called Christians [or Chrestians] by the populace. Christus, from whom the name had its origin, suffered the extreme penalty during the reign of Tiberius at the hands of one of our procurators, Pontius Pilatus, and a most mischievous superstition, thus checked for the moment, again broke out not only in Judaea, the first source of the evil, but, even in Rome, where all things hideous and shameful from every part of the world find their centre and become popular. In accordance, an arrest was first made of all who pleaded guilty; then, upon their information, an immense multitude was convicted, not as much of the crime of firing the city as of hatred against mankind. Mockery of every sort was added to their deaths. Covered with the skins of beasts, they were torn by dogs and perished, or were nailed to crosses, or were doomed to the flames and burnt, to serve as a nightly illumination, when daylight had expired. 

Now here is the big question. . . Could you have patience in that kind of suffering? Would you still claim to be a Christian when the Roman Centurions came knocking at your house? I have to be honest that I'm not sure what I would do, but this is what Paul is talking about when he mentions suffering, being patient in persecution.

English translations always seem to down play it, both in the choosing of the word suffering, and the choosing of the word patient as translations. The Greek word here used for suffering has more to do with oppression and persecution than, mere bodily pain. It has more to do with finding yourself in the face of hatred, in the face of those who want you dead because of who you are and what you believe. Can we wrap our minds around that 1950 years later in the safety of America, here safe in Zuni? Can we even imagine what it would be like to live under such a hostile government, rather than the ambivalent one we complain often about? Can you imagine living in that world. It's a world foreign to us, yet it exists all around us. I don’t know how often I’ve heard people today, completely sure that the end times are near because it is so bad, but it you look at history and you look at many parts of this world you see it much, much worse, much more corrupt, much more divided, much more violent, than anything experience here. . . there is real suffering in the world. . . and there is real oppression and hatred, like this word seems to suggest for us.

So that's suffering, but what about patience. It is interesting that the NRSV committee chose "patience" as the word here because there are many other words for patience used in the New Testament. And this Greek word is also translated in other instances as "resist, standing firm, holding one's ground." That takes on a much more active role than simply being patient, especially when paired with oppression rather than merely suffering. It also can be translated as "abide." Now abide is a word I love, though typically it is a word that is only used in church. How often do you hear about abiding in our world? Abiding means being there in the midst of it all. Being there, with, through thick, through thin, in the heart of it. Going through, seemingly by choice, just to be with and provide comfort. You could leave, but you have chosen to stay, that's abiding. In my church growing up, the church's mission statement was, "We could care less, but we have decided to care more." It seems to me that that is a statement that gets close to the idea of abiding. You could leave, but you have decided to stay. The emperor has literally thrown your neighbor to the dogs, and you could leave, but you have decided to abide with him, through it.

Again that is what Christ does with us. God sees us, sees our plight, and becomes us, becomes one of us, to show us simply, hey I'm here. Don't forget, I'm here. I'll be with you in your suffering, no matter what, no matter how hard. I'm there. When the storm winds blow, I'm there, when persecution falls I'm there, when disease strips you bare, I'm there. Awesome, truly amazing, but yet we run from suffering. We run from suffering avoiding by any means necessary. Why? Oh yeah it doesn't sell. Perhaps it's just that we are not buying. We are not buying the fact that God's purpose could include suffering for us, what if it does, what if it does simply because we need to be reminded that God is there, that God is there, abiding, and has us in the palm of his hand, right there beside us in all things. This passage is not saying, hey avoid suffering at all costs, but once in bear it, instead it is saying go find suffering, be there in the midst of it, be strengthened by it, and find God in it.

I know it doesn’t sell, but there is much to suffering that changes the world. How many times do we see that in the midst of the worst things that happen, terrorist attacks, flooding, earthquakes, hurricanes, mass shootings, that the best of people comes out. I know it sounds weird, but I often in some ways yearn for suffering, because it is real, and you’d know that you were in it. There is real strength in a situation like that where there is no way of avoiding it any more, where there is no exit, no escape hatch, no reset button, there is nothing to do but be in it, in someways we yearn for such in life because it is life, and it is in such times where we feel the most alive, but we have an aversion to life like that often, we grow comfortable in our status quo, and what we have attained, what we have accumulated, and we fear losing it, we hold onto all of these things, and we become trapped by them, kept away from life. . .

So here I am on the Sunday before Thanksgiving saying, we need to embrace suffering, seek it out, and therefore of course be grateful for it. I know that, that is a tough sell, but I am giving it a shot this morning because there is life in it, and all life demands that we give thanks for it, get down on our knees and thank the Lord, that we suffer, for in suffering we find that life that he gave us, and the strength that we need to forget about all the small concerns of our daily lives, and remember again, what it is that truly matters. That God loves us, sent his son to suffer with us, and that we then can love like our lives depend on it. Praise be to God, Amen.