THE MIDDLETOWN REFORMED CHURCH
3rd SUNDAY OF EASTER April 19, 2010, 10:30 AM
GREETINGS
Today I begin by sharing a poem. It is titled, “Invictus” and was written by William Ernest Henley in 1905.
Out
of the night that covers me,
Black as the pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.
In
the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.
Beyond
this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds and shall find me unafraid.
It
matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.
These words gained popularity over the years, partly, I suspect, because there was great sympathy for the poet. William Henley had suffered much. As a young child he contracted tuberculosis of the bone. One of his legs was amputated at the age of 25, and he wrote the poem from his hospital bed. He survived the amputation and lived for many more years. Now the words have greater import.
In
the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.
I
am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.
I think that many who have endured and conquered hardship and suffering can identify with the person who claims control of their circumstances and overcomes the handicap.
But I have trouble with the words. Even though we have some controls about the journey of our lives, I don’t for one minute believe that we are masters of our fate or captains of our souls. No, I am here to proclaim that God is the master of our fate and God is the captain of our souls. If we live as if there is no God we may not believe it. But when God greets us, when God comes calling we know that God is in charge. God is in control.
It is my great privilege to greet you in the name of Jesus with God’s grace, God’s mercy, and God’s peace.
SCRIPTURE READINGS
Acts 9:1-20
Revelation 5:11-14
John 21:1-19
SERMON “When God Comes Calling”
Text: Acts 9:2-4
Now as Saul was going along and approaching Damascus, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. He fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, "Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?" Saul asked, "Who are you, Lord?" The reply came, "I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.
Prayer: from Psalm 19:14
May the words of my mouth, and the meditation of our hearts, be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen.
I chose, therefore I am. That’s pretty much sums up the philosophy of personality development by which most of us guide our lives. I chose, therefore I am. There are those, of course, who see themselves as hapless victims of the circumstances of life. But even they, in their good moments, say, “O, if I weren’t so weak or beat up, I could make decisions and turn my life around.”
We live as if the choices we make pretty much determine the course of our lives. I choose to do my homework faithfully, therefore I got good grades. I choose to go to such and such a college, and took such and such courses, therefore I got a good job doing such and such. I fell in love and I choose to say, “I do,” before a minister, priest, or justice of the peace, and therefore I am married and have children, and grand-children. It is the choices that I have made that make me who I am.
Sometimes we hear people say, “I need to find myself,” They say it as if somehow “ourselves”, our personality, is something that we go out and get, and pick out, like an apple from a tree and stuff it inside our heads.
It ain’t necessarily so!
There are all kinds of influences that make us who we are, and most of them are beyond our choosing or finding. We say we fall in love and chose to get married. Falling in love isn’t necessarily something we choose to do. We meet someone and we fall unwittingly, uncontrollably in love. We have no choice in the matter. We are surprised by love. At least that’s how it was for me when I met Mary.
There are lots of surprises in life, both joyful ones and unwelcome ones, over which we have no control, that help to make us who we are. We get married, but there are no children. We are upset, we see doctors. And we find out that it’s got nothing to do with our intentions, our decisions, our will-power. It’s got to do with genetics handed down to us. We get older and have chest pains and the doctor tells us we’ve got a blockage in an artery and we say, “How can that be. I live well. I eat well. I exercise regularly. I have made good choices for my own health.” And the doctor says to you, “It’s not your choices, it’s your genes.”
You’ve raised your children. There are just the two of you now. You downsize to a pretty little house, gotten new furniture, and organized a settled and predictable routine. Lo and behold a grandchild comes into your life. And you had nothing to do with it. It was beyond your control. You love your grandchild and your orderly life has turned upside down. Your neat orderly house is now filled with bundles of pampers, boxes of formula, shelves of baby books, and stuffed animals everywhere. This was not your choice.
You see, much of who we are, our identities and personalities are shaped by forces outside our control.
The Bible has a completely different view of how our personalities are developed and our lives take their shape. We say, “I choose, therefore I am.” When we think of ourselves we think we are the result of what we have managed to make of our lives. Myself is what I have worked, decided and strived to be. The Bible, on the other hand, says that we are not what we have put together for us, but what God puts together in us. Scripture knows nothing of our earnest agonized search for identity and self-determination. Rather, more typically, the Bible tells of God’s search for us. The Bible tells us how God finds us and shapes our destiny.
This morning we read of the Apostle Paul’s conversion on the road to Damascus. Paul, or Saul as he was known before his conversion, was doing his own thing. He was not under any stress or doubt. He was not frantically looking for God, or even looking for a change in his life. He had no yen to find himself. He, undoubtedly thought he was doing very well, thank you. He was confident and assured about his place and position in life.
He was proud of his Jewish heritage and faith. He was a Pharisee and pleased with his piety. He had had an excellent education, as a matter of fact, he was a student of the famed Rabbi Gamaliel. Paul had a mission and purpose in life. It was his purpose to keep the faith pure and he was going to root out and eliminate those who opposed the true faith. He was busy searching for the followers of Jesus to put them in prison. He was on his way to Damascus to search for Christians.
Then suddenly, out of the blue, in the middle of the road, God comes calling. Through Jesus Christ, God picks Saul up by the scruff of his neck and says, “Wait a minute. What are you doing? Where are you going? Why are you persecuting me? In the middle of the day God strikes him blind. Saul is helpless and has to be guided to Damascus. We know the rest of the story. Annanais restores sight to Saul, whose name is changed to Paul. Paul becomes a follower of Jesus and an Apostle to the Gentiles, and is largely responsible for the church of Christ not being just a Jewish sect but a world-wide religion.
God catches Paul in the middle of his life’s journey and says, “I’m in charge. I’m the master of your soul. I’m the captain of your fate.”
This morning’s gospel reading tells a similar story. It’s about Peter, the fisherman. After all that he’s been through, Peter says, “I’m going fishing.”
The one who Jesus named ‘the rock on which I will build my church’ turns his back on his whole experience with Jesus and returns to the familiar earlier life of being a fisherman. The one of whom Jesus said, “I will make you a fisher of men,” says, “No! I’m going to fish for fish.”
But God comes calling. Through Christ, God finds Peter and says, “O no you’re not.” While fishing with his companions and not catching anything, Jesus stands on the shore and taunts him, “Children, you have no fish do you?” You know the result of the encounter. Jesus tells Peter in no uncertain terms that he is going to tend the sheep. Peter is going to be the shepherd of the flock. God, through Jesus, tells Peter, “I’m the master of your soul. I’m the captain of your fate.”
Sensitive religious souls have reported similar experiences. Martin Luther struggled relentlessly to find salvation by being a good person. He confessed his unworthiness and sinfulness over and over again till his father confessor told him to put a lid on it. Then suddenly out of nowhere a light dawned on him while studying scripture, “The just shall live by faith alone.” The scales fell off his eyes and he saw as clear as day that he was not in charge of his salvation, but that God was the captain of his soul and had already saved him. C. S. Lewis the great British writer in his book, “Surprised By Joy” tells of how God came calling, and gave him faith and direction as a sudden and unexpected gift.
Not all, not even many of us perhaps have such wonderful revelations of God’s presence and love. But many of us can look back in retrospect and see that God has been in charge, and we can sing with joy:
Amazing grace, how sweet the sound
That saved a wretch like me.
I once was lost but now am found,
Was blind but now I see.
I don’t know where I first read this. It might have been on a bumper sticker, but I don’t think so. It might have been on a poster in a church somewhere. A short saying it was: IF GOD IS YOUR CO-PILOT, SWITCH SEATS.
There are many choices we need to make in life. We need to select one from among many turns and twists in life, and each selection impacts our journey and our identity, but God is present in the midst of all those choices, and ultimately God is in charge, and that’s a good thing.
If God is your co-pilot, switch seats and know that God is master of your souls. God is the captain of your fate. And that’s a good thing. Amen.