Triggering Inner Resources in Tough Times

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Psalm 147: 1-7, 10, 11
Ephesians 5:15-20

“Make the most of the time, for the days are evil…sing Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs…giving thanks to= God the Father all the time…”

When Paul talks about time, he is talking about God’s time; the time graciously given to us, to do the truly important thing, and to be in the right places, when the days are evil. To sing Psalm= s, hymns and spiritual songs and to give thanks to God continually is to fill ourselves with the Spirit, when the days are evil.

It is sad when we as the people of God do not have t= ime for God’s time, especially when the days are evil. It is just as sad = to claim we do not have time to be in the right places, indicated by God’= ;s time, when the days are evil. I have heard a lot of excuses through the yea= rs from members of the faith community, and I have made a lot of excuses about ignoring God’s time.

Perhaps this sounds too easy and simplistic for livi= ng in the 21st century and for living in the tough days of the 21st century! Sure= ly we can come up with something more complex and expensive. Surely we can find something to throw some money at so we are not required to pay attention to God’s time!

Paul took his own words seriously. If you go to the = 16th chapter of Acts, you find the story of Paul and Silas traveling to Philippi, where there was an important Christian community. There he encountered a woman, out of her mind. As deranged as she was, she almost made sense, and when she pronounced her oracles about peoples’ future, she made sense enough that they were willing to pay = for her predictions. But she was at the same time under the power of greedy men= who were using her for their own gain. Paul restores the woman to wholeness and sanity, and this angered these Roman men who were losing a source of financ= ial gain.

So Paul and Silas were dragged before a magistrate and locked in = the inner part of the prison with their feet in stocks, as though they were dangerous criminals. Paul was a Roman citizen and was being unjustly treate= d on that account. What inner resources would Paul call upon in this situation?<= span style=3D'mso-spacerun:yes'> He did not pull rank and privilege= to gain release. Somehow he knew= this was God’s time, and it called for unusual response. He allowed life to hand him its worst. And he did what would seem strange if not ludicrous to = 21st century Americans.

Paul and Silas prayed and sang hymns! Well, how quai= nt that was! We think it about as effective as the little boy who was afraid of the dark. One night his mother told him to go out to the back porch and bri= ng her the broom. He said, “Mama, I don’t want to go out there. It’s dark out there.” = The mother smiled reassuringly and said: “You don’t have to be afra= id of the dark. Jesus is out there. He will look after you.” The boy tho= ught about that for a few minutes and went to the door, cracked it open just a b= it, and peering out in the darkness and he called: “Jesus, if you’re out there, would you please hand me the broom.” Well, there is much darkness in today’s world. How many people have called out in the darkness, “Jesus, if you’re out there would you please deliver us from darkness and tragic and senseless loss?”

Paul tells us to trust what we already have; because= it puts us in touch with a whole bunch of other stuff. To pray and sing hymns = puts us in touch with the most common value of being human, and that is that we desire life more than death, and light more than darkness. We want to live.= And that value moves us through pain and crisis. Simple acts of faith and ritual remind us that life is indeed stronger than death. Simple acts of ritual he= lp us to move forward when we experience tough times. Shouting, screaming and pulling rank never did that for anyone.

Simple acts of ritual and faith also release the cou= rage that is already within us. Surely you have noticed the great courage in the midst of suffering in people whose lives are literally filled with heartache and pain. Releasing courage reminds us that life is good enough for us to g= rasp the courage that is ours and fight for what is good and just. We fight in o= ur own lives, and in legislative halls of the nation for the dignity of all people, when the days are evil.

Another experience we see in Paul’s experience= is that simple liturgy, singing and prayer, create community. Paul and Silas became community; they became church in the midst of that prison population. When we do rituals of faith with others, we are reminded that we are not al= one in our desire for goodness in life. And not only does the “other̵= 7; make life possible for us, they rely upon us to make life possible for them= ! A friend of ours was kept in a concentration camp in Germany for two years during = the II World War. There were twenty men thrown together. They were rough and tough guys as was our friend Cas. Cas had been in charge of some pretty tough wor= kers at Ford’s Rouge plant. But Cas also had been raised in a good Welsh family.

As despair began to set in, Cas taught the men some = old Welsh hymns. And then he taught them prayers in had learned in his childhoo= d. And he said that dark place of confinement became a different place; a plac= e of hope and a place of light! Th= ese men began to care for one another, and talk of how life would be different = when they got home. And how relationships would change, and how they would conti= nue to show gratefulness to God for one another. And they did. Each summer these men would gather in Dearborn, Michigan, from all over the country, to keep that community they had created.

What is the spiritual dynamic here? I think it is th= is. Praying, singing hymns, finding community in worshiping together involves t= he rhythm of inhaling and exhaling; taking something in and giving something b= ack. Just taking something home from God as a consumer on Sunday morning, and not giving anything back, as one of my colleagues has put it, “leaves the sanctuary gasping for breath!” Breath and Spirit – we find in o= ur inner resources what we need through breath and Sprit. We have taken it in through the years receiving the sacraments and worshiping in community. Now= we pull it out of our inner being and give it back through the needs of others= . We take God’s time seriously!

Well, look at the end of Paul’s story. There w= as some kind of disturbance, an earthquake, if you will, and the prison doors were opened w= ide. And Paul and the others could have walked right out of that darkness. But he didn’t, for the jailor would have lost his life if the prisoners were missing. Paul, sensing this was God’s time, not his, could not be responsible for death coming even to his enemy. Indeed, life is stronger than deat= h!

In tough times, we need not go anyplace else. There = is within and around us the ringing hope of the Christian faith. We need only = to pay attention to God’s time, and simple acts of faithful ritual to release the courage that gives dignity to all. Amen.