St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church
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| Death and Dying – Living in Darkness Genesis 15:1-12 March 4, 2007 (Click the date to see the bulletin)
1. How old were you when you lost your fear of the dark? Or maybe you never lost it! Maybe you’re still afraid! There are times when I’m still a bit fearful when it’s really dark. It’s hard to know where to go when it’s too dark to see. Although it’s difficult to endure those times when the lights go out in our houses, but it’s even harder when the light goes out inside us – in our souls. We all have "dark nights of the soul." Even those of you who have not yet lived into adulthood have still known bad days . . . days when it seemed like all around you was darkness . . . days when there was no light at all in your hearts. 2. Abram knew that darkness. Verse 12 says "a terrifying darkness descended upon him." This "terrifying darkness" most likely refers back to his complaint in verse 3: "You have given me no offspring!" Three chapters earlier (12:7 and 16), God had promised Abram so many descendants that he could never count them all. Time had passed, though, and the only child born in his house was a servant’s child. It seemed like God was never going to make good on his promise. Abram lived for a while in darkness. He felt defeated. 3. How often have you felt defeated? Has failure ever descend on you like the "terrifying darkness" Abram knew? It certainly has for me. But, after some time passed, and after the "lights came back on", did you realize you needed that darkness to prepare you for the light? Did you know God was with you, even then? We must not be in a big hurry to define the significance of any segment of our lives. That’s not easy, is it? We are not a patient people, generally speaking, and we tend to want an instant analysis of every event. But every time we sit down to read a novel, we know we have to read through the whole book to get to the end. No writer puts the climax of the story in the first chapter. We must look farther, and we must look deeper, when darkness descends on us. The value of any experience cannot be found in what is obvious. The value appears only after reflection. If you don’t believe me, just ask Richard and me – we’ll tell you our story. 4. In a few minutes, we’ll celebrate The Lord’s Supper. In one sense, this meal represents the dark night of Jesus’ own soul. That was the night he was betrayed and arrested. The next day he was executed and buried. Talk about failure and defeat! Even Jesus cried out what the Psalmist’s had felt centuries earlier: "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" The disciples scattered in fear. A terrifying darkness overcame them, too. It seemed that this story was over. However, if Paul Harvey had been telling it, he would have said, "Stay tuned for the rest of the story." 5. In another sense, this meal celebrates "the rest of the story"! This "Sacrament of Communion" reminds us of the post-resurrection meal Jesus had with the two disciples who didn’t recognize him. They didn’t know him until he took the bread and blessed it and broke it, just like he had done three nights before. Over the days and weeks and months and years that followed, it would become obvious to the disciples that God had another ending for the story of Jesus. 6. God has another ending for our stories, too. The times we find ourselves in darkness will not last forever. There is a way out! I’ll always remember the story told by the pastor of the church where I grew up in Bartlesville. He was in the Army during World War II, and assigned as a jeep driver in Germany. One night their convoy was to move through a dense forest, just behind enemy lines. His was the lead vehicle. Because they were in enemy territory, they could not turn on the headlights. They had to inch their way forward in the total and complete darkness of that forest, along a road that he could not see, bumping first into one three and then another. He bowed his head in prayer, and felt God say, "Look up, Will." When he looked up, he could see the stars twinkling overhead. Not like a dome that stretched from horizon to horizon, from right to left and front to back; he saw only a narrow ribbon of twinkling lights the darkness above him. Then he realized the only way he could see that ribbon of stars was because of the road that had been cut through the trees. He almost cried out loud as it dawned on him that as long as he looked UP, he could see the path cut through the trees by fixing his gaze over the tops of the trees, not along their bases. He steadily lead his convoy through that forest to safety, returned home alive and well, organized Good Shepherd Presbyterian Church, and preaches the Gospel every Sunday at the age of 80-something. 7. When it seems as if you are dying, whether in body or in soul, when all around you is cloaked in darkness, remember to look up. The God who created you can be trusted to keep you close and find a way for you, even when it seems there is no way, all the way to the end. |
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