Trinity Lutheran Church [ELCA]
Stephens City, Virginia
SUNDAY’S SERMON
Pentecost 4A
July 6, 2014
The Rev. Mr. Cameron P. Keyser
A while back, 2 beautiful Rembrandts were given to
an art museum in Detroit. Everybody “Oooohed”
and “Ah-h-d” and thought they were wonderful.
Then a couple of nay-sayers showed up and,
immediately declared them fakes.
The press had a hey-day with the hullabaloo
that ensued – and a couple of “experts” were calledin. They tromped-in from New York, studied and
tested the paintings: chips of paint under the
microscope, carbon dating dust brushed on, infrared inspection millimeter by millimeter – the whole
9 yards…It took weeks.
When they emerged from their makeshift lab
on the day they were to render a decision – sure
enough: they declared them “fakes” - not based on
the science of carbon-dating or the microscopic chip
analysis, but on mistakes.
“They’re fakes, all right,” they declared,
“because whoever copied them forgot to make the
mistakes that Rembrandt always made."
Whatcha’ know about that? Even with a style
identified by mistakes, the only way we ever really
know any of the masters – the real geniuses - is by
knowing their “style:” the way they do whatever
they do - because nobody else does it quite the same
way. That’s especially true of Jesus:.
His ‘style’ was like no one elses’ – “To know
me,” he once said, “is to know God:” gentle – but
with high expectations of us…understanding – but
challenging…loving in a way that encourages
us…and honest: looking you in the eye, calling “a
spade a spade” – yet never doing for us what we –
with his help – can do for ourselves. His invitation
today reflects that: “If you feel tired and worn out –
I can help. If life gets you down from time-to-time,
and you just can’t handle the pressure or the
demands or the expectations: “come to me, and I
will give you rest” - not a “vacation” like we just had:
temporary - and with 2 toddler grand kids, frankly
not all that “restful…”
Christ’s invitation is long-term: you don’t
have to schedule it with your Church Council; you
don’t have to do three weeks of work in the one
before you leave; you don’t even have to find a place
to go – to “get away” – you can stay right where you
are “and I will give you rest,” he says.
And I gotta’ tell you: I’ve taken him up on
that offer many times because sometimes life feels
like nothing more than a grueling endurance test…a
survival game…a competition to see who can cope
with it the best. You ever feel like that – like you
can’t win for losing? - like Jesus evidently did this
morning?: “John came neither eating nor drinking”
– remember his rather sparse locusts and wild honey
diet?” and Jesus says: “The people said, ‘he has a
demon’….“I came both eating and drinking, and
what’d they say about me?: “Look! A glutton and a
drunkard – a friend of tax-collectors and sinners!”
Sometimes, yes, even Jesus seemed not to be to win
for losing.
That happens when you find yourself so
"knee-deep in the alligators” life sometimes tosses
us – that we forget that our job was to clean out the
swamp…" those times when we get so emotionally
drained by life: discouraged, frustrated – just
downright worn out…
But, Jesus has an “app” for that: “Come to
me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy
burdens, and I will give you rest–“anytime you need
it - because God didn’t blow the breath of his lifegiving Spirit into us just so we could endure, or cope
with, or slog-thru life: he gave it as a gift: a blessing,
a miracle – it’s an invitation to “Come join God’s
dance!”
On this Independence Day weekend, we
recall and give thanks for our blessings as a nation:
of “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness…”
blessings of freedom and human dignity and faith
“from sea to shining sea…” But, it’s a good time to
give thanks to the One who made all that possible as
well - who sustains it, and encourages it.
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We have so many doxologies to sing: so
much to be grateful for, so many blessings to count–
both as a nation and as individuals: It’d be so great
if we could be like this guy in a story I read who early one morning – was driving through the
Rockies right about dawn – just as the mountains
quietly greeted the new day. The first touch of Fall
was in the air- and the soft, early morning light
splashed and shimmered on the leaves: decked-out
in their Autumn splendor.
The driver was all but overcome by the sheer
awesomeness of it – and was really set on end when
he looked to his left and saw: right there at the very
edge of a great peak and facing the misty valley
below: he saw a kid – maybe in his early 20’s –
playing a trumpet with all he seemed to have in
him…and, guess what this kid was playing? It was
the Doxology echoing
off
mountainside
to
mountainside, valley and stream and tree trunk and
cloud: “Praise God from whom all blessings flow!
Praise God all creatures here below! Praise God above ye
heavenly host! Praise, Father, Son and Holy Ghost!”
What an awesome prayer that was! What an
awesome set of gifts all rolled into one: the
trumpeter’s gift to God and to the guy who just
happened to pass by; and God’s gift to them – and to
us: God dancing in the life of that early dawn!
As we observe our Independence Day
weekend, you might find it interesting that the
words – now so famous – that grace the pedestal of
the Statue of Liberty – almost never got there.
They’re from a poem entitled “The New Colossus”–
written by the Jewish poet, Emma Lazarus as a
donation to an art and literary auction to raise funds
to erect the statue – given us by the people of France.
The poem actually was the only entry read at
the auction, but was forgotten, and played no role at
the dedication of the statue in 1886. It wasn’t rediscovered until 1903 when it became the inscription
on the statue’s inner wall – and this is how it reads:
Video: “give me your tired, your poor…”
The Statue of Liberty: 305 feet tall, weighing
256 tons - with a torch covered in 24 carat gold, and
chains and a broken shackle at her feet: what a
massive invitation to American freedom…and a
striking reflection of words spoken a couple of
thousand years before by another Jewish poet – not
as an entry in a contest, but as an eternal invitation
to peace: ‘Come to me: all you that are weary and
heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke
upon you, and learn from me – for I am gentle and
humble in heart, and you will find rest for your
souls…’
Some day, even the Statue of Liberty – as
massive and impressive as it is - will be no more.
But, that invitation from Christ to each of us this
morning will be, because it has no expiration date
like a coupon; it isn’t chiseled into stone that
eventually gets worn away by wind and rain and
storm. It’s an invitation chiseled into God’s heart with no pre-existing conditions, because they’ve all
been met…by Christ on the cross. Amen.
Sources Consulted
Achieving An All-In Victory, Kent Moorehead, CSS Publishing Company
ChristianGlobe Illustrations, James W. Moore, ChristianGlobe Networks, Inc.
The Power of Faith, John Catoir, ChristianGlobe Networks, Inc.
ChristianGlobe Illustrations, Bill Bouknight, ChristianGlobe Networks, Inc.
ChristianGlobe Illustrations, Steven Molin, ChristianGlobe Networks, Inc.
ChristianGlobe Illustrations, Johnny Dean, ChristianGlobe Networks, Inc.
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