Text 1 Peter 3:13-22; Acts 17:22-31; Psalm 66:8-20; John 14:15-21
Theme God Cheers for Y’all
Subject Suffering for Doing Right
Occasion Easter 6 – 4/27/08 – Zion – Iowa City (Days of Prayer and Action for Colombia)
Grace to you and peace from our living Lord and
Savior, Jesus Christ.
Earlier this year Presiding
Bishop Mark Hanson was the preacher at First English Lutheran Church in
Victoria Texas.
As worship was about to begin, the senior pastor said to Bp
Hanson,
“We’ll
saunter down the aisle and pause at the base of the chancel”
Bp Hanson said,
“In Chicago
we process”
Pastor Bill said,
“Well, you’re
in Texas so we’ll saunter”
Pastor Bill was raised on a
farm near Ringsted, Iowa
He adapts quickly to the language around him
When he first got to Dubuque,
he started using the word “yous”
Are yous going to the class?
Did yous see the movie?
Yous-guys wanna pray?
He and Rene we’re overcoming
one of the weaknesses of the English language
The plural for “you” (the 2nd person) is
understood rather than spelled or spoken
In Dubuque, however, the plural form of you
exists: they say, “yous”
When Bill and Rene got to
Texas, they were much relived
People who speak Texas-English do have a word for the
plural of the 2nd person
They say “Y’all”
The English translation of
today’s text doesn’t use the word “y’all”
But it could – 6 times or more in the first 3 verses
Now who will harm y’all if y’all
are eager to do what is good? But even
if y’all do suffer for doing what is right, y’all are blessed. Do not fear what
they fear, and do not be intimidated, but in your hearts sanctify Christ as
Lord. Always be ready to make your defense to anyone who demands from y’all an
accounting for the hope that is in y’all (1 Peter 3:13-15)
“Y’all are blessed” (1 Pt 3:14b)
It’s great to be blessed – but what is that?
It’s the same word as in the
beatitudes from the Sermon on the Mount
Remember: "Blessed
are the poor in spirit, ….
"Blessed are
those who mourn, …
"Blessed are
the meek, …
Years ago Bob Schuller
translated it “happy” for his book Be
Happy Attitudes
But “Happy” just
doesn’t cut it
From our
passage
even if y’all do
suffer for doing what is right, y’all are happy
That’s not true:
suffering for doing the right
thing would not make us happy
and if it does, there’s something
wrong
To be blessed is to have someone or many people
invest in you
“Blessed”
is what we are because Jesus Christ has been raised
God has invested Jesus in us
As if God we’re to
say “Hurray for y’all”
“Y’all are the crown of my creation:
Hurray!”
“Y’all
are worth dying for”
God cheers for y’all
Yes, cheers for us
Then it makes sense to say
even if y’all do suffer for doing what is right, hurray for y’all
Jesus, familiar
with suffering, is invested in us
Cheering
us on the way
Many
years ago I was at a cross-country meet
Our son, Matt, was running so I was
invested
I had no experience as a
spectator at a cross-country meet
as it happened I was standing
alongside the course heading to the finish
there
the course was up a long grade
Matt
was about 25 yards behind a kid in front of him
I
shouted, “Get him.”
Later Matt told me of the boost
my shout gave him
He
didn’t catch the guy – but we both learned that day
I
learned the value of cheering for people running uphill
Matt
learned again how important supportive people are
God cheers for y’all
“Y’all are blessed” (1 Pt 3:14b)
Remember,
this teaching was inspired and written about 60 CE (common era)
The readers were peasants and laborers
Likely young and hopeful
But also persecuted
and familiar with suffering
So there are some imperatives – orders
Don’t fear …, don’t
be intimidated … in your hearts sanctify Christ as Lord. (1 Pt 3:14c-15a)
They
could do this (be fearless) because God had invested in them
“Y’all are blessed” (14b)
God cheers for y’all
In
your hearts sanctify Christ as Lord (15a)
In the
center of your life,
Invest your life in Jesus Christ
That’s
what it is to be blessed – remember?
God’s cheering for
us
Well, we’re cheering for Jesus
This
would all seem foolishness if there wasn’t something else
Always be ready to
make your defense to anyone who demands from you an accounting for the hope
that is in you
(15b)
People
are going to be able to tell there is hope
within you
Not
flighty stuff like hoping that flooded trout streams return to their banks so
Pastor Pries can go fishing
Or
that there will be apple pie with cheddar cheese for dessert
Christian hope is the delayed certainty
of salvation
We
teach and believe in the resurrection to eternal life: our “sure and certain
hope”
People recognize that we live
as if we’ve got fans cheering for us
It is so – God cheers for y’all
There’s turbulence in New
York City
The death of Sean
Bell in 2006 isn’t about race-relations
This is about a judicial system and use of force
by police
No simple answers
But the people of God must be in the dialog
Brothers and sisters are going up hill
God cheers
for y’all
There’s rioting over food
prices and food shortages
The crisis is mingled in with fuel costs and America’s Farm
Bill and ethanol
No simple answers
But the people of God must be in the
dialog
Brothers and sisters are going
up hill
God cheers
for y’all
There’s economic &
military violence in Colombia – American foreign policy is complicit No simple answers
But the people of God must be in the
dialog
Brothers and sisters are going
up hill
God cheers
for y’all
But let’s be sure to push
this hard – very hard
We need to press this because of our privilege
Affluent, educated, white
If not citizens of the City of Iowa City
Certainly residents in its
proximity
Some suppose the City of Iowa City is Athens of the
Mid-west
Let it be so
And consider hi-lights from St. Paul’s presentation from
the first reading
(He) stood in front of the Areopagus and said, "Athenians, I see how
extremely religious you are … I went through the city and … I found … an altar
… 'To an unknown god.' … The God who made … everything … does not live in
shrines made by human hands … indeed (God) is not far
from each one of us. For 'In him we live
and move and have our being'; … we ought not to think that (God) is like gold, or silver, or stone … formed
by the art and imagination of mortals (Acts 17:22-29)
(God) is not far from each one of us
Not far at all
We’re sanctifying Christ in
our hearts
cheering for God’s victory over
sin and death
But we could suppose God is an intellectual exercise
Make an idol of the mind
Or we could suppose God is an ancient athlete or sport
Make an idol of the body
Or we could suppose God is a mystery
Make an idol of the soul
(God) is not far from each one of us – not
an idol but within us
Jesus promised the disciples, as in
today’s gospel reading
"I am coming
to y’all. In a little while … y’all will
see me; because I live, y’all also will live ... y’all will know that I am in my Father, and y’all
in me, and I in y’all. (Jn 14:18,19, 20 – selected)
God in Christ invested in each one of us
Blessing us
Cheering for us – God
cheers for y’all
This is not idolatry or
blasphemy
This is about life this side of the grave and the other
side
God
commands all people to repent (Acts 17:30b)
We each repent of our self-investment
We
each repent of our hesitation or refusal to invest in others
The absolution, the word of
forgiveness, is this
God
blesses us to follow the path of Christ – to invest in others
God cheers for y’all