Fourth Sunday after Trinity, Sunday, June 23, 2013
Fr. Todd Bragg
St. Margaret Anglican Church
Indianapolis, Indiana
"I reckon that the suffering of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which will be revealed in us." (Romans 8:18 ff)
Now before I begin my sermon, I would like to answer a question. You know, often I receive questions via email, via letter or via word of mouth. So this question goes to this effect: "Dear Fr. Todd, can you please tell us what is the average life of a priest is like?" Sure, let me tell you what an average day is like. Up at 5:15 AM every morning where I first get stressed by 5:20 AM by three of my bosses, the one with fur and the two with feathers about feeding them. Then I get ready to leave and I stress about me getting out of the house where I get stressed about if I will get to work on time. As a result, I get stressed out by getting stuck behind an accident or construction zones. Then by the time I get downtown I am worried if I will get a parking space. By the time I get to work, here comes my boss clutching a handful of papers stating that I need to get all of these done by the end of the day and then I spend the time worrying if I will get my work done in time or not before the end of the day. Then at the end of the day I am stressing about traffic once again but the opposite direction. Well, you get the general idea. How many of you every get stressed? Do any of you here ever get worried about things in your life.
Listen, most all of us get worried or stressed by things in our life at one point or another. We hear in Psalm 119: "Trouble and anguish have taken hold of me." (Psalm 119:143) and we also hear that there is "tribulation and anguish upon the soul of every man." (Romans 2:9) So, obviously, worry and stress and anxiety come over the soul of every person at one point or another. Whether it be bills or health issues or work related matters or taxes or relationships, etc., etc., etc. Most of us worry at one point or another in our life.
If you want to find a very interesting book in the Bible to read, go ahead and read the Book of Job. The book of Job, as I am sure you may or may not know, boils down to this: It is the story of a righteous man whom the devil is absolutely sure that Job is only faithful because he has it so good in life with his possessions and what he owns, etc. So the devil causes all kinds of bad things to happen to Job because he is convinced that Job will turn on God. Well, guess what? Job lost his children and he lost his house and he lost his flocks of animals but despite all of his losses, he still remained faithful to God. So the devil tried again and took another shot at turning Job against God. He then put sore boils on Job from head to foot and Job sat out in the middle of the field and his three friends saw him and they said to him, "Hey, Job, what in the world did you do that was so bad that God is cursing you with all of these bad things?" But Job remained faithful and did not blame God. He blessed God no matter what. Listen to Job, "Naked came I out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return thither: the Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the Name of the Lord." (Job 1:21)
Hear also, "Behold, thou hast instructed many and Thou hast strengthened the weak hands. Thy words have upholden him that was falling, and thou hast strengthened the feeble knees." (Job 4:3) We are reminded by Job that God gives strength to those who are lacking. God gives strength to us when we are weak. We are called to be faithful to God, no matter what. If there is one lesson that we learn from Job: it is to remain faithful to God, no matter what befalls us. Job was faithful to God in the good times and the bad. Job remained faithful to God when things were good, but he also remained faithful to God when things went sour. This is how it should be for us as well in our lives. We are not assured that everything will always go well in our life, but we are assured that God will always remain faithful to us.
"When thou are in tribulation, and all these things come upon thee, even in the latter days, if thou turn to the Lord Thy God, and shall be obedient unto His voice. For the Lord Thy God is a merciful God; He will not forsake thee, neither destroy thee, nor forget the covenant of thy fathers which He sware unto thee." (Deuteronomy 4:30-31) God is always faithful to us. God is faithful to the part of the Covenant that He signed. He made a covenant to love you, to care for you, to protect you. It is us who do not live up to our end of the covenant because we are imperfect. This is why we heard in today's Gospel that we do not always forgive as we ought or love as we ought to, or forgive as we are called to forgive. We are imperfect but God's love for us is perfect.
"But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope." (I Thessalonians 4:13) We are called to be a hopeful people. We are a people of hope. Our hope is Our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. He is our hope. He is our salvation. He is the One to Whom we turn all of our attention. When our human side gets caught up in stress and worry, look to the one true hope: Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. As we were reminded today, "the sufferings of the present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory, which will be revealed in us." (Romans 8:18). No sort of trial or tribulation. No amount of worry or anxiety will compare to the glory that God has offered to us. All we have to do is accept it. Accept Our Blessed Lord as your Saviour. Accept Him as your hope. Keep Him in your life and remain faithful to Him no matter what. Just like Job, remain constant, remain firm, remain faithful to Our Blessed Saviour, the same Saviour that remains faithful to us.
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