|
|
|
Sunday November 22, 2009 "Alpha and Omega" Revelation 1:4b-8 |
 |
|
Location: Blogs Brad's BlogBrad's Sermons |
 | | Posted by: Brad Miller | 11/23/2009 4:07 PM | Today is Thanksgiving Sunday and one of the things that I am most thankful for is the opportunity to be here at Brookhaven in ministry with each and every one of you. And I want to make that clear: we are in ministry together. That means we face the tough times together and celebrate the good times together. We welcome new babies and new friends into this fellowship together and we say goodbye to old friends together. We join together in prayer to strengthen not only ourselves, but also all those who we know need God’s presence. We learn together. We laugh together. We cry together. We live our lives dedicated to spreading God’s word and doing God’s will, together.
So, together we gather to give thanks. And it starts with a simple question: what are we thankful for? I know some of the things I am thankful for: I am thankful that I grew up with loving parents and an active and vital church and neighborhood family. They have all had a hand in helping to shape who I am, and for that, I am thankful.
I am thankful for the many and varied opportunities I have had over the years. Opportunities to learn, to serve, to prosper.
I am thankful for the blessings that have come from living in this country.
I am thankful for good health, and for the blessings of the many talented physicians and caregivers when my health is threatened.
I am thankful for Christ’s universal church, and the promise of God’s kingdom that the church offers.
I am thankful for my wife, Carol, and the love and support she has unwaveringly given me across the years, and I am thankful that I get to spend the rest of my life loving and supporting her as best I can.
And now it is your turn: What are you thankful for? I know in some families it is tradition to go around the room on thanksgiving and say something you are thankful for…well, we’re all family – what are you thankful for?
There is no right or wrong answer to that question. But there is something that is at the heart of everything we have named here today: the thankfulness we feel for the greatest gift we have ever been given: the life and ministry, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Without Jesus, what would happen to the church? Without Jesus, how would we know about God’s love and grace? Without Jesus, who would we be? Where would we go?
The enduring symbol of Christ’s presence for some is the cross. On this Thanksgiving Sunday, we give thanks for the cross and all it means to us. It means that Jesus gave his all for us so that we might have all these things that we are so thankful for: our relationship with God, our church family, our loved ones, our very lives.
So, this morning, we give thanks for the empty cross, the cross that could not hold him.
This very room is also a symbol of what we give thanks for. In this room we gather as the body of Christ, part and parcel of the movement to make God’s kingdom real in the here and now. It is called a sanctuary for a reason: we come here to remember that with God’s presence, we are loved and we are home. In this room we are reminded that God is always with us, and in this room, God’s people find strength and hope. And for that we give thanks.
Another enduring symbol of Christ’s presence is this table. This table by itself is something special. It came from the West End Christian Church some 40 years ago, where it stood for several years as a symbol for those who gathered there, especially Tommy and Ammarie Wilson. You see, Ammarie’s father was the minister at West End for many years for which many, many people give thanks. (And just so you know, most of the pews we sit on each Sunday also came from the West End church.)
But, it’s not just this particular table. No, we will have a different table in this space soon, but our hope that a new congregation will be able to use this table and it’s usefulness as a symbol of Christ’s presence will continue for years to come.
Whatever table we gather around, one thing is clear: it is Christ’s table. It is the table set for each and every one of us, so that we might be connected to our past and our future and we might give thanks.
Nowhere are the reasons for giving thanks more clearly laid out than in the Revelation passage we heard read this morning. Simply and eloquently, John the evangelist, the author of the revelation lays exactly why should we be thankful for Jesus.
First, John addresses the question, “Just who is this Jesus?” And the answer comes back three fold.
First, his is a faithful witness. He moved about as a mentoring teacher and a model of sacrifical service. He stayed true to his ministry until the very end.
Second, Jesus is presented as “the firstborn of the dead”. His resurrection was not the last. Because he overcame death, we can too.
Third, John calls Jesus the ruler of the kings of the earth. He will bring justice and equity to even the most unjust situations.
Then, John deals with the question, “What has Jesus done for us?” The answer starts, “he loves us and freed us from our sins…” Notice the tenses here: Jesus loves us in the present – and by implication always will. But the actions that freed us from our sins are presented in the past. The gracious act of salvation has already been accomplished, and nothing – nothing - can change that.
Finally, Jesus has called us to be priests serving his God and Father. This notion of the priesthood of all believers is a blessing beyond our wildest imagination. God so loved us that we were sent his only son…and his only son so trusted us that he gave us the authority and the duty to continue his ministry on earth.
For all of this, we give thanks – pure, heartfelt, joyful thanks.
When we pause to consider all the things we are thankful for, we may ask ourselves if our thanks is enough. How are we to show that we are thankful?
This bounty that will be used to help others is a clue. We brought this food here today in thanksgiving for the fact that we have enough, and we want to share what we have with those who do not. This food will be part of what our Tweens use to build Thanksgiving baskets for our brothers and sisters who live at the Interfaith Outreach Home.
This is part and parcel of how we are to live in thanksgiving: we are to live by following Christ’s example as a faithful witness. We are to live always seeking God’s will for us, stepping out in faith to help others, by taking up our crosses and undertaking sacrifical service for others. We are to live always working to bring others into Christ’s reign of love, every day, in every way.
Christ loves us. Christ sacrificed for us. Christ showed us how to live. And he calls us to be the same sort of loving and serving witnesses to others. When we grasp the magnitude of that calling, when we understand how much we have to be thankful for, our lives become witnesses to the truth and cause us to raise our voices in praise to “the alpha and omega…the beginning and the end…the one who is and who was and who is to come.”
Thanks be to God….Amen and Amen.
To mark all of those things we are thankful for, let us pause and pray, and I need your help on this. Every time I say: “BOUNTIFUL God, with humble hearts”, you respond “we give you thanks.”
Let us pray:
For the beauty and wonder of your creation, in earth and sky and sea; for all that is gracious in the lives of people everywhere, revealing the image of Christ in their daily walk: BOUNTIFUL GOD, WITH HUMBLE HEARTS….. we give you thanks.
For our daily food and drink, our homes and families, and our friends; for minds to think and hearts to love, and hands to serve:
BOUNTIFUL GOD, WITH HUMBLE HEARTS….. we give you thanks.
For health and strength to work and leisure to rest and play; for the brave and courageous, who are patient in suffering and faithful in adversity;
BOUNTIFUL GOD, WITH HUMBLE HEARTS…..we give you thanks.
For all the seekers of truth and justice;
For the communion of saints, in all times and places.
BOUNTIFUL GOD, WITH HUMBLE HEARTS…..we give you thanks.
Above all, we give you thanks for the great mercies and promises given to us in Christ Jesus our Lord. To him is all praise and glory, now and always.
BOUNTIFUL GOD, WITH HUMBLE HEARTS…..we give you thanks. AMEN. | | | Permalink | Trackback |
|
|
 | |