Don't Lose Hope

The Sunday night message given in the Gettysburg United Methodist church on December 3, 2023.  The Bible verses used are Isaiah 9:2-7.

            The passage we read from Isaiah is generally regarded as being a prophecy of the coming of the Savior.  Many of the phrases Isaiah uses are ones we use to describe Jesus.  Wonderful Counselor.  Mighty God.  Everlasting Father.  Prince of Peace.  Every Christmas we think of the words, “For unto us a child is born.  Unto us a son is given.”

            Those words have become so familiar to us.  Sometimes they’re so familiar that they lose their impact.  But they would not have been familiar to the people Isaiah was speaking to.  And they would have made quite an impact on those people.

            Israel and Judah were in big trouble at this time.  They had enemies on all sides.  They looked to the nation of Assyria for protection, but that protection was going to come at a cost.  And eventually, Assyria would take over Israel and Judah.  The situation looked hopeless.

            And when you read the book of Isaiah, most of it is dark.  It’s gloom and doom.  It’s despair.  Isaiah knows things look bad, and the reason they look bad is that they are bad.  And they’re going to get worse.  Isaiah what’s going to happen to Israel and Judah, and he knows that it’s going to happen because of their faithlessness.  They abandoned God, so God is going to abandon them.

            But not forever.  Because, you know, one of the greatest things about God is that God never leaves us without hope.  Never.  No matter how bad things may look at the moment, there is always hope for a better future with God.  That was true when Isaiah wrote these words.  And it’s true for us today.

            “The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of deep darkness a light has dawned.”  That’s a powerful image, if you think about it.  Have you ever been walking in the dark?  It’s kind of scary, isn’t it?  Maybe not so much when you’re in your own house, although even then there’s always the chance you could step on something or trip on something.  But have you ever been outside in the dark, so dark that you could not see where you were going?  So dark that you could not see what might be out there?  And then, suddenly, a light shines.  And you can see where you’re going, and you can see what’s out there.  And suddenly things seem a lot safer.

            That’s the literal image.  But have you ever had a dark time in your own life?  Have you ever had a time when everything about your life seemed dark?  I suspect at least some of us have.  Maybe you’re having one now, as you look at the way the world is.  It’s hard.  It’s scary.  It’s depressing.  There seems to be no way out.  You search for some faint flicker of light, but you simply cannot see one.  The situation seems hopeless.

            That’s how Israel and Judah were feeling.  And Isaiah tells them, and tells us when we feel that way, that our situation is not hopeless.  Things may be dark now, but they are not going to be dark forever.  The light is going to come.  And when it does, it will be a great light.  No matter how deep the darkness is right now, that light is going to sweep it away.  A better day is going to come.  

            And in fact, it won’t be just a better day.  It will be a great day!  Listen to what Isaiah says, “You have shattered the yoke that burdens them, the bar across their shoulders, the rod of their oppressor.”  “They rejoice before you as people rejoice at the harvest, as warriors rejoice when dividing the plunder.”

            Those are some pretty powerful images, too.  Have you ever been carrying something really heavy, something you could barely lift, and then finally gotten it to where it needed to be and put it down?  That’s a relief, right?  That feels wonderful.  

            But we all know there are times when we carry other types of burdens.  And those can be the hardest burdens of all.  Times when we have bills to pay and we don’t know where the money’s going to come from.  Times when a loved one is sick, or in trouble, and it seems like there’s nothing we can do to help.  Times when we feel like we’re being pulled in all kinds of directions, needing to be there for our families, needing to be there for our friends, needing to be there for our work, needing to be there for our community and our church, and feeling like there are never enough hours in the day to get everything done.  Times when we just feel exhausted and need to rest, but we feel like we cannot rest, because there are too many things that need to be done.

            Isaiah tells us that it does not have to be that way.  We don’t need to carry all those burdens.  The Lord is going to come, and the Lord is going to take away those burdens.  The Lord is going to give us grace and peace and love.  That day is going to come.  And when it does, we will rejoice.  We will rejoice like people who’ve brought in the greatest harvest they’ve ever had.

            Isaiah says it is going to happen.  It’s going to happen because of a child.  A child who will be a descendant of the great King David.  A child who will establish a kingdom of justice and righteousness.  A child who will establish peace.  A child who will reign forever.  A child whom we now know as Jesus Christ.  Isaiah tells them, and us, that it will happen because “The zeal of the Lord Almighty will accomplish this.

            That gives us hope.  It gave the people of Israel and Judah hope, too.  But think about this.  The book of Isaiah was written, as best we can guess, somewhere in the vicinity of seven hundred B. C.   That means that the people of Israel and Judah had to wait seven hundred years for Isaiah’s prophecy to come true.

            I talked about this last Sunday morning, but we don’t think about how long a time that is.  Seven hundred years ago was 1323.  Not only were there no modern communications like the internet and TV and even radio, the printing press had not even been invented yet.  There was no such thing as indoor plumbing.  Not only were there no planes or cars, there were not even bicycles.  Columbus had not made his voyage to the new world yet.  

            That’s how long seven hundred years is.  And that’s how long the people of Israel and Judah had to wait for the Messiah to come and for Isaiah’s words to come true.  That’s how long it took for God to answer the people’s prayers.

            Do you think they all kept the faith for all those years?  I doubt it.  Some did.  Some held to Isaiah’s promise of the Savior.  But in seven hundred years, there had to be people who gave up.  And there had to be others who at least started doubting.  They had waited, and they had waited, and they had waited.  And nothing happened.  And they kept waiting, and nothing kept happening.  It had to be disappointing for them.  It had to be discouraging, too.

            Is there something you’ve been praying about for a while?  I suspect there is.  Maybe something that’s going on in our own life.  Maybe something that’s going on in the life of a loved one.  Maybe something that’s going on in our community, or in the country, or in the world.  But I know a lot of us have been praying for something.  And we’ve been praying for a while.  And nothing seems to be happening.

            I think what Isaiah would tell us is to not lose faith.  Sometimes it takes time for God to answer prayers.  Sometimes it takes a long time.  Sometimes it takes a very long time.  But don’t get discouraged.  Don’t give up hope.  Don’t doubt.  God has heard our prayers.  God knows exactly what’s going on.  

            At the right time, a light is going to shine through the darkness.  No matter how deep your darkness may seem, at the right time a light will dawn.  God will shatter the burdens that are holding you down.  We will rejoice like we’d rejoice at the greatest harvest the world has ever known.

            God’s promise to Israel and Judah was fulfilled.  The Savior came.  He was and is called wonderful counselor, mighty God, everlasting father, prince of peace.  He is reigning on the throne.  Not everybody knows it now, but they will.  At the right time, everyone will know.  He will establish justice and righteousness forever.

            God’s promises to Israel and Judah were fulfilled.  And God’s promises to us will be fulfilled, too.  The day will come when our burdens will be lifted and there will be nothing but happiness and joy and peace.

God promises it.  And when God promises it, we can count on it.  The zeal of the Lord Almighty will accomplish this.

 

Amazing Faith

The Sunday morning message in the United Methodist churches of the Wheatland Parish on December 3, 2023.  The Bible verses used are Luke 1:26-38.

            What we read today is one of the most-loved Bible passages of the Christmas season.  It’s one of my favorites, too.  It’s a story of a miracle, of course.  It’s a story of an ordinary woman being called to do something extraordinary.  But at its heart, this is a story of great faith and of great trust.

            Let’s look at Mary.  Now, you will read in some places the unequivocal statement that Mary was a young woman, really still a girl, barely into her teens.  And that’s possible.  It would not have been uncommon for a young, teenage girl to be engaged to be married at that time.  But we have no real way to know that.  She certainly was not elderly, because she was still alive more than thirty years later when Jesus died on the cross.  But there’s nothing that says Mary could not have been in her twenties or even in her thirties.  We simply do not know.

            But regardless of her age, here she is.  For all that we can tell, she was an ordinary person.  We’re not given any indication that her family was wealthy or important or special in any way.  The one thing we’re told is that she was a relative of Elizabeth, who was about to become the mother of John the Baptist.  But that’s it.  Again, as far as we can tell, Mary was simply an ordinary person, with nothing at all remarkable about her.

            So she’s going about her daily business, and suddenly an angel appears in front of her.  And the angel says, “Greetings, you who are highly favored!  The Lord is with you.”

            We’re told that Mary was greatly troubled at his words, and wondered what kind of greeting that might be.  I would think she was all that and then some.  Can you imagine how you’d feel?  You’re doing whatever you do every day, and all of a sudden an angel appears?  And apparently there was no doubt in Mary’s mind that this was an angel.  We don’t know how she knew, but she clearly knew.  Her mind must have been spinning.  What in the world is going on?  What does an angel want with me?  Why would I be highly favored?  What does that even mean, that I’m highly favored?  What’s this all about?

            The angel apparently knows what Mary’s feeling, because the angel goes on to tell Mary not to be afraid because she’s found favor with God.  And the angel then says the words we hear every year around this time.  “You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus.  He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High.  The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end.”

            Mary’s head must have still been spinning.  Can you imagine how you’d feel?  An angel comes along, out of the blue, and tells you that you’re going to have a son.  And not only that, but your son is going to be incredible.  He will be called great and the Son of the Most High.  He’ll have the throne of David.  He will reign forever.

            Now, if Mary believed this--and since she apparently knew she was talking to an angel she probably did believe it--this had to be incredible news.  But still, imagine it.  How would you feel if you were told that your son, who was not even born yet, was going to be called great, the Son of the Most High?  That he’ll have a throne and will reign forever?  Angel or not, you’d have to wonder how in the world this was all going to happen.

            And Mary wonders about all that.  But she goes a step before that.  She says, hey, wait a minute.  You’re talking about me having a son, and I’m a virgin.  How is this going to happen?

            The angel, of course, answers with some more familiar words.  “The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you.  So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God.”

            And then comes the part that always amazes me.  Mary answers, “I am the Lord’s servant.  May it be to me according to your word.”

            To me, this is more amazing than the virgin birth.  I mean, the virgin birth is a miracle, and it is amazing.  But as Christians, we know that God can do amazing things.  God can do miracles.  I don’t mean to take anything away from God, but God’s in the miracle business.  It’s what God does.  It’s who God is.

            But Mary.  Mary was an ordinary person.  And she is told all these incredible, unbelievable things by an angel.  And I don’t know that she really understood any of it.  She almost certainly did not understand how all this stuff could possibly happen.  I don’t imagine she knew all the hardships that awaited her, either.  And yet, she goes along with it.  And she does so willingly, obediently, with no complaint whatsoever.  She says, “I am the Lord’s servant.  May it be to me according to your word.”  That’s pretty amazing.  That’s an amazing faith.

            What if Mary had said no?  Have you ever thought about that?  Because I assume she could have.  There’s nothing in the Bible reading that indicates God was going to force Mary to do this even if she did not want to.  What if she’d said no?  Would the angel have done more to try to convince her?  Would the angel have crossed Mary’s name off the list and gone on to a second choice?  What would’ve happened?

            Well, we’ll never know.  And while I do believe Mary could’ve said no, I also believe she was chosen by God because God knew she was not going to say no.  God knew that Mary was the right choice.  And while I’m sure Mary had all kinds of good qualities that made her the right choice, one of the main one was the amazing faith Mary had.  Mary, this ordinary person with extraordinary faith, would be willing to say yes to something she did not understand.  And she would never regret her choice.  No matter what happened to her, no matter how hard the road was, no matter what other people thought or did, she would still do what God wanted her to do.  She would trust God enough to follow God down any road God wanted her to go, no matter where that road might lead.

            And it was probably not an easy road.  We know the story of Jesus’ birth in a stable, but there’d have been a lot of tough things before that.  How’s Joseph going to react to this story?  Is he going to believe it?  Would you?  If you were a guy engaged to a woman, and she tells you she’s pregnant, and you know the child cannot be yours, would you believe that she had never been unfaithful to you, that this was a child that was being born of the Holy Spirit?  

            And what about the rest of your family?  What about your friends?  What about all the people in town?  Every time you walk down the street, hearing the whispers, being shunned by all the so-called “respectable” people.  Maybe even telling some of them your story, and having none of them ever believe you.  Basically being an outcast among people you’d known all your life.  That would be an incredibly hard thing.

            But Mary did it.  She put up with all of it.  And as far as we can tell, she never regretted her decision to do it.  She had put her complete faith and trust in God.  She knew that this was all happening because she was following God’s will.  And she knew that God would take care of her, and make everything work out the way it was supposed to, no matter how hard things might get.  Through it all, Mary continued to put her complete faith and trust in God.  She continued to have her amazing faith.

            But when you think about it, what Mary did is what each of us is called to do.  We may not have a conversation with an angel.  But we are called to follow God’s will.  We are called to put our complete faith and trust in God.  You and I are called to have amazing faith, too.

            And we’re called to do that no matter what God’s will is.  We’re called to do that even if God’s will is something incredible, something that seems impossible.  We’re called to do that even if we don’t really understand what God’s will is.  We’re called to do that even if we don’t understand how hard things are going to be.  We’re called to do that even if things get really, really hard.  We’re still called to follow God’s will.  We’re still called to go down whatever road God leads us down.  And we’re still called to trust that, if God is leading us down a road, then it must be the right one.  We’re called to continue down that road as long as God wants us to, no matter where that road takes us.  We’re called to put our complete faith and trust in God.  You and I are called to have amazing faith.

            It’s not an easy thing to do.  Because God sometimes does call us to do some hard things.  God never promises that our lives will be easy if we follow God.  Mary’s life was not easy.  Jesus’ life was not easy.  Most of the greatest heroes of the Bible led lives that were not easy.  But no matter how hard it got, they continued to follow God’s will.  They continued to put their complete faith and trust in God.

            Mary was an ordinary person.  But she had an amazing faith.  She put her complete faith and trust in God.  She followed the road God led her down, no matter how hard it got.  And she did so willingly, never regretting her choice to say yes to God.

            You and I are ordinary people.  But we can put our complete faith and trust in God, too.  We can follow the road God leads us down, no matter how hard it gets.  And we can do so willingly, too, never regretting our choice to say yes to God.  You and I can have what Mary had.  We can have amazing faith.

 

Jesus Is Coming Soon

The message given in the Sunday night worship service in the Gettysburg United Methodist church on November 26, 2023.  The Bible verses used are Revelation 22:12-21.

            There’s one thing about me that really frustrates Wanda.  Well, actually, there are a lot of things about me that frustrate Wanda, but there’s one in particular that I’m going to talk about right now.  Wanda will ask me to do something.  And I’ll say “Yes, of course, dear, I’ll do it.  I’ll do it soon.”  And then some time passes--a few hours, a few days, a week, a year, whatever--and I have not done it yet.  And she’ll say, “You said you were going to do that.”  And I say, “I know.  I am going to do it.”  And she’ll say, “Well, when?”  And I’ll say, “Soon.”

            It seems to frustrate Wanda when this happens.  She gets kind of impatient when “soon” does not mean within a short period of time.  I’ve tried to explain to her that “soon” is a flexible concept, that it does not necessarily mean right away, but for some reason that explanation does not seem to satisfy her.  Does this sound familiar to anybody else, or am I the only one?

            The thing is, I think I’ve got some pretty solid backing on this one.  Look at our reading for today from Revelation.  At the start of it, Jesus says, “Look, I am coming soon!”  And near the end, he says it again.  “Yes, I am coming soon.”

            Well, it’s been nearly two thousand years.  And he has not come yet.  We say, “Jesus, you said you were going to come back.”  And Jesus says, I know.  I’m going to.  And we say, “Well, when?”  And Jesus says, “Soon.”

            Sometimes we get impatient with that.  In fact, it’s one of the ways non-Christians will mock Christianity.  “Well, your Bible said Jesus was coming soon.  Where is he?  Did he fall asleep?  Did he get stuck in traffic?  What’s taking him so long?”

            We wonder, too, why Jesus seems to be taking so long.  We look at the world.  Yes, I’ve said many times that there’s a lot of good in the world, and a lot of beauty, and I believe that to be true.  But there’s a lot of bad in the world, too.  And you know that–you don’t need me to go through the list for you. 

With all the trouble in the world, we may feel like maybe it’s time for Jesus to come.  And yet, he has not come.  So, if we assume that Jesus was telling the truth, what did He mean when He said He would be coming “soon”?

            Well, there are a few different explanations that people give.  One is that the word translated as “soon” does not refer to a specific period of time, but simply means “without unnecessary delay”.  In other words, Jesus will come when the time is right, and that any delay, if we want to call it that from our perspective, is necessary, even if you and I may not understand why.  

And I think that’s true.  Jesus will come when the time is right.  After all, he’s Jesus.  Whatever time he chooses will be, pretty much by definition, the right time.  If he delays, it’s for a good reason.  But while that may be true, it’s also pretty much Jesus saying, “I’ll come when I come.”  It may be true, but it does not really tell us anything.

            Another explanation is that the word translated as “soon”, again does not refer to a specific period of time, but instead means “suddenly”.  When Jesus returns, we’re not going to get any advance warning.  God is not going to give us a countdown.  It’s not going to be “Jesus will come in five months, so you’d better get ready.”  When Jesus comes, he’s going to come now, and we’d better already be ready, because we’re not going to get any more time.

            I think that’s true, too.  God has given us prophets, He’s given us the Bible, He’s given us theologians and preachers and teachers and scholars.  God gave us Jesus himself, the first time Jesus came to earth.  I suspect that’s all the warnings we’re going to get.  It’s up to us to be ready when the time comes, no matter when that time is.

            But I think there’s another aspect to this, too.  We’ve talked before about how God is a long-term God.  After all, God exists in eternity.  

Here are a couple of ways to think of this.  We think of someone who’s lived a hundred years as having lived a long time.  A hundred years is nothing to God.  The Bible tells us that a thousand years are like a day to God.  So while we’ve been waiting two thousand years, for God it’s only been a couple of days.  

Another way to think of this is to think of the Old Testament prophecies.  How long did it take some of them to come true?  Quite often, it was hundreds of years.  That includes the prophecies of the coming of the Messiah.  People waited and waited.  And some of them gave up.  But eventually it happened, because as the angel said to Mary in the first chapter of Luke, no word from God will ever fail.

Or, think of it this way:  our best scientific guesses are that the universe is about fourteen billion years old.  Our best scientific guesses are that the earth is about four and a half billion years old.  And of course, God existed before the beginning of the universe.  So what’s two thousand years compared to billions?  Almost nothing.  It’s like less than a second out of a day.  So when Jesus says He is coming “soon”, it may be “soon” to Him.  It just may not be soon to us.

But here’s the thing.  I think all these things are true.  Jesus will come when the time is right.  Whether that’s in the next week or in the next billion years, Jesus will come when the time is right.  He says, “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End.”  Just as the first chapter of the gospel of John tells us that Jesus was involved in the creation of the world, this passage tells us that Jesus will be involved in the end of the world and in the creation of the new heaven and new earth.  We might live to see it, or we might be gone for many years.  But even if we’re not around to see Jesus come again, there will be a day when it’s time for us to leave this world.  Jesus will come for us, one way or another.  And you and I had better be ready.

Because this passage makes clear that not everyone is going to go to that new heaven and new earth.  It says, “Blessed are those who wash their robes, that they may have the right to the tree of life and may go through the gates into the city.  Outside are the dogs, those who practice magic arts, the sexually immoral, the murderers, the idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices falsehood.”  And later, it says, “I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this scroll:  If anyone adds anything to them, God will add to that person the plagues described in this scroll.  And if anyone takes words away from this scroll of prophecy, God will take away from that person any share in the tree of life and in the Holy City, which are described in this scroll.”

That phrase “wash their robes”--just to make sure we understand, the full phrase is to wash your garments in the blood of Jesus Christ.  It’s symbolism.  It means to accept the sacrifice that Jesus made on the cross.  It means to accept Jesus as the Savior.  To allow the blood of Jesus Christ to wash away our sins and allow us to come into the presence of God.  If we have accepted that sacrifice and accepted Jesus as the Savior, our sins are forgiven and we have salvation and everlasting life.

But some will not accept that sacrifice.  And while it might be nice to think they’ll go to heaven anyway, that’s not what the Bible tells us.  That’s not what the words of Jesus are.  We don’t have to like that.  In fact, as I’ve said before, there’s a part of me that does not like it, because there are people I know who have not accepted Jesus as the Savior, and there does not seem to be anything I can do about that.  I don’t like to think that they may miss out on salvation and eternal life.  And of course, it’s not up to me to decide whether they will.  But the Bible does make pretty clear that not everyone goes to heaven.  Whether I like that or not is irrelevant.  It’s just the way it is.

And if you and I ignore that, we just get ourselves into more trouble.  Again, if we add anything to this prophecy, God will add to us the plagues described in it, and they are some pretty awful plagues.  And if we take words away from it, God will take away our share in the tree of life and the Holy City.

So these are words we need to take seriously.  Jesus is coming soon.  We may not know what “soon” means to God, but we know what Jesus coming means.  If we’re ready, if we have faith, if we believe in and trust Jesus as the Savior, it means salvation and eternal life.  If we’re not ready, then it’s going to be too late.  Our fate will be set, and we won’t get another chance.  Not because that’s how I want it to be, but because that’s how the Bible tells us God said it is.

I can make an excuse to Wanda when I don’t get things done when I should.  But I don’t think our excuses are going to work with God.  So let’s be ready.  And let’s do what we can to help others be ready.  Because this is not just a matter of life and death.  It’s a matter of eternal life and death.

 

Waiting for God

The Sunday morning message in the United Methodist churches of the Wheatland Parish on November 26, 2024.  The Bible verses used are John 1:1-18.

            This is kind of an unusual year.  Most of the time, the Sunday after Thanksgiving is also the first Sunday of Advent.  But this year, just because of the way the calendar falls, we have a Sunday in between Thanksgiving and Advent.  It’s kind of strange.  Thanksgiving is over, but Advent is not here yet.  So, while we might like to start celebrating the coming of the Savior, we have to wait.

            As I thought about that, I thought about how long the people of Israel waited for the Savior to come.  Old Testament prophecies about the coming of the Messiah go back at least to seven hundred B. C., maybe earlier.  That means the people of Israel had been waiting for the Savior to come for at least seven hundred years.

            And we’ve talked about this before, but sometimes, when we look back this far into history, we lose sight of how long a time seven hundred years is.  In our minds, it all kinds of falls into the category of “a long time ago”.  We don’t think about how long it was between seven hundred B. C. and the coming of Christ.

            Think of it this way.  Seven hundred years ago was 1323.  Seven hundred years ago most people thought the world was flat.  Seven hundred years ago there were no gasoline-powered engines, no steam engines, no power of any kind, really, other than human power and horse power.  And I mean actual power from horses, or donkeys, or oxen, or whatever animal you might have.  Seven hundred years ago there was no such thing as the printing press.  Anything that was written was written by hand.  Seven hundred years ago Europeans had no idea that there was such a thing as the Americas.  That’s how long seven hundred years is.

            And that’s how long the people of Israel had been waiting for the Savior to come.  And of course, during that time, there were lots of false Saviors.  There were lots of people who claimed to be the Savior who were not.  There were lots of people in whom the people of Israel invested their hope, only to be disappointed.

            I’m sure some people probably gave up.  I mean, seven hundred years is a very long time to wait for something.  We think seven years is a long time to wait.  In fact, sometimes we think seven months or seven weeks or even seven days is a long time to wait.  Waiting for seven hundred years--I don’t think you and I can even imagine what that’s like, to wait that long for the promise of God to be fulfilled.

            And even after Jesus came, a lot of people had a hard time believing it.  And if we think about it, we can understand why.  I mean, have you ever really, really wanted something to happen, and you kept waiting and hoping for it to happen, and then it finally did, and you had trouble believing it?  You had to pinch yourself.  You had to keep reminding yourself.  You just could not believe that this thing you had wanted for so long was actually real.

            That’s the position some of the people of Israel were in.  They wanted to believe Jesus was the Savior, but--could it really be true?  After all this time--seven hundred years--could he really be the one we’ve been waiting for?  After all the disappointments, all the false Saviors we put our hope in only to find out it was not true--could Jesus really be the one we’ve been waiting for at last?

            That’s the context the apostle John was dealing with when he wrote his gospel.  Yes, there were some who already believed, but there were a lot who did not.  They could not believe that, after seven hundred years, the one they had waited for had finally come.

            And so, John starts his gospel by trying to explain to people who Jesus was.  And what does he say?  Well, we’ll get to it in a minute, but first, we need to deal with how John refers to Jesus.  He calls Jesus “the Word” and later calls him “the Word made flesh”.  In other words, Jesus was sent to earth as God’s message, God’s truth, God’s word to us.  So in that Bible reading, when you hear the phrase “the Word”, know that he’s referring to Jesus.

So what does John say?  “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  He was with God in the beginning.  Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.  In him was life, and that life was the light of all people.  The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”

Jesus existed from the beginning.  In other words, when Genesis says “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth”, Jesus was there.  And it’s not that Jesus was there with God, it’s that Jesus is God, God the Son.  Jesus is not some guy who was born two thousand years ago.  Jesus is eternal, because God is eternal.  Jesus existed before this world was ever created.  Jesus will exist after this world is gone.  Jesus always was, always is, and always will be.  That’s who Jesus is.

And the reason that’s important, or at least one of the reasons why it’s important, is to explain why they had to wait seven hundred years for the Savior to come.  As we said, seven hundred years is an incredibly long time for us.  When your life span is, at best, a hundred years or so, seven hundred years seems like a really long time.  But when you’re eternal, seven hundred years is nothing.  It’s the blink of an eye.  Psalm Ninety tells us that a thousand years are like a day that has just gone by to God.  So seven hundred years, to God, is really no big deal.

There are a lot of other things John said in our Bible reading today.  Jesus is the true light.  As John puts it, “the true light that gives light to everything was coming into the world.”  “To all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God--children...born of God.”  There are a lot of good sermons in that passage we read this morning.

But I want to keep the focus on that time of waiting.  Seven hundred years, at least, from the time of the first prophecy of the Savior to the time Jesus came.  And let me tell you why.

The Bible tells us some things about the second coming of Jesus.  Not as much as we’d like to know, but some things.  And one of the things it tells us is that, in its own words, Jesus second coming will be “soon”.

Now, it does not define “soon”.  But most of us would have thought that it meant sometime before two thousand years had gone by.  And so, people wonder about that statement.  If Jesus was supposed to come again “soon”, where is he?  Why has he not come yet?

And when we look around at the world right now, we see a lot of things that make us think maybe it’s about time.  Look at all the things going on in the world right now.  Look at all the wars and threats of war.  Look at all the hate aimed at specific groups of people.  And not even because of anything they’ve done, just because of who they are.  Look at all the crime in our major cities, and sometimes outside of our major cities as well.  Look at all the natural disasters and diseases and everything we deal with.  Look at all the accusations of corruption and immorality about our elected leaders.  We see all that, and sometimes we think “If Jesus is going to come again and set things right, maybe it’s about time he did it.”  We wonder why God has, for so long, allowed so many things to happen that just do not seem right.  We wonder why God does not step in and do something about it.  We wonder what God could be waiting for.

But the thing to remember is that we have no idea what “soon” may mean to God.  Two thousand years?  Two thousand years is nothing to God.  Two thousand years is the day before yesterday, or the day after tomorrow.  Two thousand years is an incredibly long time on a human scale, but it’s nothing on God’s eternal scale.

We don’t know how much longer it will be.  It could be another two thousand years.  It could be another two hundred thousand years.  Or it could be two hours.  We don’t know.

And so, we wait.  We don’t know how long we’ll be waiting, just like the people waiting for the first coming did not know how long they’d be waiting.  We wonder if it’ll come in our lifetime, just like the people waiting for the first coming wondered if it would happen in their lifetime.  And sometimes we’re tempted to give up, just like people waiting for the first coming were tempted to give up.

But don’t give up.  Because Jesus is coming again.  And we need to be ready.  Even if Jesus does not come in our lifetimes, we still need to be ready.  Because if Jesus does not come to earth in our lifetimes, we will go to meet him.  And we need to be ready for that, too.  Because we don’t know when that day is going to come, either.  But we know it is going to come.

            In human terms, it took a long time for the Savior to come.  Seven hundred years or more after the first prophecy.  People did not understand why it took so long.  Some of them gave up.  But the Savior did come, and the world changed forever because of it.

            In human terms, it’s taking a long time for Jesus to come again.  Two thousand years since the first mention of it.  Some people don’t understand why it’s taking so long.  Some people are tempted to give up.  But the Savior will come again, and again the world will change forever.

            May we all be ready for that day when it comes.

 

The Greatest Gift

The Sunday night message given in the Gettysburg United Methodist church on November 19, 2023.  The Bible verses used are Ephesians 2:1-10/

            What’s the greatest gift you’ve ever received?

            There are all kinds of answers we could give to that, right?  When we’re kids, we probably think more of material things--a favorite toy or game, or maybe a pet.  When we get older, we might think about the love of a spouse.  We might think of someone who gave us a boost in our career.  A lot of people would say their children or grandchildren are the greatest gift they ever received.  We might even say the gift of life is the greatest gift we ever received.  

            But if we really think about it, we know what the greatest gift we’ve ever received truly is.  The greatest gift we’ve ever received is the chance for salvation and eternal life through our faith in Jesus Christ as the Savior.

            As I said, we know that if we really think about it.  But why do we have to think about it to realize it?  I mean, it seems like this should be something that we should constantly be thanking God for.  We should thank God every day for the chance for salvation and eternal life.  And instead, too often, we take it for granted.  We don’t even think about it.

            Now having said that, I understand that I run the risk of painting with too broad of a brush here.  I don’t know how often you thank God for the chance for salvation and eternal life.  Maybe you do it all the time.  If you do, then know that I’m not talking about you.  But I know I don’t do it as often as I should.  And I doubt that I’m the only one.

            And so for those of us who don’t thank God for this as much as we should, I want us to think about what an incredible gift this really is, and how undeserving we are of it.  Think about what salvation and eternal life really mean.  It means going to heaven.  It means going to be in the presence of the awesome, holy, righteous, perfect, all-knowing, all-seeing, all-wise God.  I mean, that’s something we really cannot even imagine.  Think of how excited people get at just meeting a human celebrity.  Now, take that reaction times about a thousand and you still don’t really get anywhere close to how awestruck we’re going to be in the presence of God.  

Or look at it this way--think of the times in the Bible when people see an angel.  The first words out of the angel’s mouth are “Do not be afraid” because people are so amazed and fearful at the sight of an angel.  If that’s the human reaction to an angel, think of what our reaction is going to be to God.

I mentioned fearful as one of the reactions people have to an angel.  There may be some fear when we enter into God’s presence, too.  After all, the Bible does talk, many times, about the fear of the Lord.  Why?  Well, there could be a lot of reasons, but I think one of them is that we realize how unworthy we are to be in God’s presence.

Think of all those words I used to describe God.  Awesome.  Holy.  Righteous.  Perfect.  All-knowing.  All-seeing.  All-wise.  And of course there are lots of other words I could use to describe God, too.  But think about those words.  Those words describe God.  Do any of them describe you?

Probably not.  They sure don’t describe me.  None of them come close to describing me.  They don’t come close to describing any of us.  We don’t deserve to be in God’s presence.  We don’t deserve to be anywhere close to God’s presence.  

What did the Apostle Paul say in our reading for today?  We “gratify the cravings of our sinful nature”.  We follow its thoughts and desires.  And what does Paul say we deserve because of that?  Not salvation and eternal life, that’s for sure.  We deserve God’s wrath.  We deserve God’s anger.  We deserve punishment.  

And you’d think it would be tempting for God to get angry and to give us that punishment.  But God does not do that.  And in fact, I don’t think it ever crosses God’s mind to do that.  I mean, here we are, all sinners from the beginning.  From Adam and Eve to the present day, every human being that ever was has been, as Paul says in Romans Chapter Three, a sinner who has fallen short of the glory of God.  We all deserve condemnation and death.  We deserve God’s anger.  And yet, what’s God’s reaction?

God’s reaction is not to get angry.  God’s reaction is not to condemn us.  God’s reaction is to think, what can I do to save these people?  What can I do so they won’t be condemned?  What can I do to give them the chance for salvation and eternal life?  What gift can I give them that will make them want to turn away from what they’re doing and accept the chance for salvation and eternal life?

And of course, that gift was the divine Son.  Jesus Christ.  In a little over a month, we’ll celebrate his birth.  Jesus Christ, the divine Son, born to ordinary people.  Giving up his life in heaven.  Coming to earth to live as a human being among human beings.  Coming here to teach us, to heal us, to be an example for us.  And coming here, eventually, to die for us.  Coming here to take the punishment that we deserve.  Coming here to give us the greatest gift we could ever be given--the chance for salvation and eternal life.

            Listen again to how Paul describes that gift:

We were by nature deserving of wrath.  But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions--it is by grace you have been saved.  And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus...For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith--and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God.

What an incredible gift.  What an indescribable gift.  We don’t have words in our language that describe how incredible this gift is.  God is so great and God is so good.  Because of our sins we were deserving of wrath.  We were dead in transgressions.  And what does God do?  God does not just forgive us for all that.  God does forgive us, and that’s incredible in and of itself.  But God does not stop there.  God goes on make us alive with Christ.  God raises us up with Christ and seats us with Christ in heaven.  In Romans Chapter Eight, Paul describes this as God making us God’s adopted sons and daughters.  And he goes on to say that God makes us co-heirs with Christ.

Think about that.  As sinful as you and I and all other human beings are, God does not just forgive us.  God puts us on a level equal with Jesus Christ.  What a gift that is!  I keep using these words like “awesome” and “incredible”, and yet even those words fall short of describing this gift that God has given us.  I mean, we know who we are.  We know how often we mess up.  And yet, if we accept Jesus Christ as the Savior, God puts us on the same level as Jesus, the divine Son of God.  It’s hard to even imagine that.  But it’s true.

Thanksgiving is this Thursday.  And we know we should thank God for this incredible gift.  But when you think about it, the words “Thank you” seem really insufficient.  We say them because, really, there’s not much else we can say.  But there is something we can do.

[What we can do is follow God.  What we can do is have faith in Jesus.  What we can do is open our hearts and our souls to the Holy Spirit.  If we truly want to show God how much we appreciate this incredible gift God has given us, that’s the best way we can do it.  We can dedicate our lives to listening to God, to following God, to loving God, to trusting God.

Now, if you’re like me, you hear that, and you hesitate.  Because the fact is that completely following God will change our lives.  And I don’t really know that I want my life to be changed right now.  I’m pretty happy with my life as it is.  

Maybe you think the same thing.  If you do, I understand.  I’m pretty sure God understands, too.  But if we really want to thank God for this incredible gift, this is the best way to do it.  If we want to show that we don’t take God’s awesome gift of salvation and eternal life for granted, if we want to show that we really do appreciate it, we will follow God’s will.  And we’ll do that wherever it takes us, because we’ll trust that a God who loves us so much that He offers salvation and eternal life will surely take care of us any time we do what God wants us to do.

God’s gift of salvation and eternal life is the greatest gift there could ever be.  Let’s accept it.  And let’s show our thanks to God by listening to God, by following God, by loving God, and by trusting God.  Because a God who would give us that greatest gift is more than worthy of our love and our trust.

 

Trust and Be Thankful

The Sunday morning message given in the United Methodist churches of the Wheatland Parish on November 19, 2023.  The Bible verses used are Matthew 6:25-34.

            If I asked you what you’re thankful for, what would you say?

            Well, there might be a lot of answers.  Family.  Friends.  Health, if we have it.  Some of us might say we’re thankful for our freedom.  Some of us might mention material possessions, and there’s nothing wrong with that.  We should be thankful to God for the material possessions we have, as long as we’re not arrogant or selfish about it.  Some of us might say the church.  Some of us might even mention our salvation that comes from Jesus Christ.

            But how many of us would mention that we’re thankful for our lives on earth?  We should be, you know.  I mean, in the church we talk about looking forward to the eternal life that’s coming through our faith in Jesus Christ.  And we should talk about that.  It’s very important.  But our lives on earth are important, too.  We should be thankful for them.  And on some level, we probably are.  But how often do we actually stop and give thanks to God for them?  How often do we actually say, “Thank you, God, for the life you’ve given me on earth?”

            Maybe you do, I don’t know.  I do, sometimes.  But not nearly as often as I should.  I mean, when I stop and think about it, I have a pretty great life.  I have a wonderful wife.  I have work that I love and find great satisfaction in.  I’ve got great people to work with.  I live in a beautiful area of the country.  I’ve been able to live out childhood dreams in a small way:  singing, being a sports announcer.  I’ve got plenty to eat and decent clothes to wear and a nice place to live.  Why am I not more thankful to God for that?  Why are a lot of us not more thankful to God for the life we have here on earth?

            Well, I think there are at least two things going on here.  Well, actually, I think it’s one thing, but it shows itself in at least two ways.  One of them is that we take the good things in life for granted.  After all, we say that God is good and that God loves us.  Jesus said that God knows how to give good gifts to those who ask.  So, when we get good things from God, well, that’s what God’s supposed to do, right?  If things are going well, God’s just doing God’s job.  We accept it.  But let something go wrong and, well, what’s the matter with God?  Why is God doing this?  Why is God allowing this to happen?  And of course, a lot of times what we mean when we ask those questions is, why is God doing this to me?  Why is God allowing this to happen to me?  What’s wrong with God?  Why is God not doing God’s job?

            What are we doing when we saying when we ask those questions?  Basically, we’re saying that we don’t trust God.  When things happen that we don’t understand, when things don’t go the way we think they should, and we start criticizing God for that, we’re really saying that we don’t trust God to do God’s job properly.  We think God needs us to tell God what to do.  Because God obviously does not know what to do on His own, right?  If God did, God would get on the stick and straighten things out.  God would be doing things our way.  Because, obviously, we know what God should do.  All God needs to do is listen to us.

            Now, put it that way and it sounds kind of silly, but how many of us have done some variation of that at some point?  And it’s understandable, in a way.  There truly are things happening that we don’t understand.  And some of them are no fault of ours.  Hurricanes.  Floods.  Fires.  Diseases.  When those things happen, it can be hard to trust God.  It can be hard to trust that God has a plan.  God understands why we struggle with that.  And I don’t think God gets mad at us for asking questions, as long as we ask those questions sincerely and not arrogantly.

            But God would like us to trust God.  Not because God will be upset if we don’t, but because we will be better off if we do.  And that, finally, brings us to our Bible reading for today.  

            This is part of Jesus’ famous Sermon on the Mount.  It’s a fairly long sermon, one that covers three chapters of the gospel of Matthew.  Jesus has covered a lot of things already.  He’s given the beatitudes, giving blessings to certain people.  He has taught people what we now know as the Lord’s Prayer.  Right before this, Jesus has made the famous statement that no one can serve two masters, that we cannot serve both God and money.  

            Then, Jesus says this:  “Therefore, I tell you, do not worry about your life.”  He tells us we don’t need to worry about what we’re going to eat.  We don’t need to worry about what we’re going to wear.  He tells us we don’t even need to worry about tomorrow.  He says if we seek God’s kingdom, if we love God and trust God, God will take care of things.  You and I don’t need to worry about them.

            So now, how many of us live our lives without ever worrying about anything?  Yeah, me neither.  We may or may not worry about what we’re going to eat or what we’re going to wear.  But I’ll guarantee that there are plenty of us here who worry about tomorrow.  And by that, I don’t just mean the next twenty-four hour period.  I mean the future.  There are a lot of us here who worry about the future.

            And again, it’s understandable.  The future is, by definition, uncertain.  We don’t know for sure what’s going to happen.  There’s no way we can know.  And what do we tend to do when we don’t know what’s going to happen?  That’s right, we worry.  It seems like the most natural thing in the world to do.

            But when we worry about the future, what are we doing?  Again, we’re saying that we don’t trust God.  We’re saying that we don’t trust what Jesus said, that God knows how to give good gifts to those who ask.  We’re saying that we don’t trust what the Apostle Paul said, that God can work all things for the good of those who love him.  We’re saying that we need to worry about what’s going to happen, because we cannot trust God to do things right.

            Again, God does not get mad at us when we do that.  Jesus does not say that if we worry about the future we’re committing a sin.  God understands our doubts and our fears, just like God understands everything else about us.  God is not mad, but I think God is sad.  God is sad that we don’t trust God more.  I think God says to us, why don’t you trust me?  Your life would be so much easier, so much happier, if you just trusted me.  I did not give you this life as a punishment.  I did not give it to you so you could be consumed with worry and fear.  I gave you this life to enjoy.  

Jesus said in John Chapter Ten, Verse Ten, “I have come that they may have life, and have it abundantly.”  God wants us to have an abundant life.  God wants us to live lives that are full.  When we lose that with worry and doubt and fear, we’re not really sinning against God.  What we’re doing is cheating ourselves.  We’re robbing ourselves of those good gifts that God wants to give us.

Now, understand, when Jesus said not to worry about the future, he was not saying that we should not prepare for the future.  In fact, preparing for the future is the exact opposite of worrying about the future.  When we’re prepared for the future, we don’t need to worry about it.  We’ll be ready for it.  But part of preparing for the future is being able to trust God.  Part of preparing for the future is having confidence in God.  Part of preparing for the future is having faith that, if we’ve done the best we can, God will take it from there.  And that does not just apply to preparing for the future.  That applies to every aspect of our lives.  In fact, that’s what trusting God really means--doing our best, in every circumstance and every situation, and trusting God to bless our efforts and take it from there.

If we trust God, we can stop worrying about our lives.  If we trust God, we can enjoy our lives.  If we trust God, we can stop cheating ourselves and robbing ourselves of the good gifts God wants to give us.  If we trust God, we can have that abundant life that Jesus came to give us.

As we approach Thanksgiving Day, let’s stop doubting, and let’s stop worrying.  Let’s put our fears away.  Let’s do our best in every circumstance, and trust God to take care of the rest.  If we do that, we can be thankful to God for every day of life on earth that God gives us.

 

What Happens Next?

The Sunday night message given in the Gettysburg United Methodist church.  November 12, 2023.  The Bible verses used are Matthew 14:13-21.

Imagine you’re one of the crowd on that day described in Matthew.  You know who Jesus is, of course; you don’t know everything about him, but you know a lot of things.  He’s pretty famous, after all, this Jesus.  He’s done a lot of things.  He’s preached a lot of sermons, and there’s a lot of difference of opinion about him.  The people who are for him say he’s the Savior, the King who was promised by scripture.  They even say he has the power to forgive sins.  The people in charge, though, the Pharisees and the Sadducees and the scribes, all say he’s a dangerous man and needs to be stopped.  The Roman authorities say that, too, although that does not mean much to you—after all, who trusts them?

You’ve heard some other things, too, some stories.  Supposedly, he’s got some sort of special power to heal people.  You’ve even heard a story about him having raised someone from the dead, although you’re not real sure about that one.  That’s not possible, is it?

At any rate, he’s in the area, and there are a lot of people going out to see him, so you decide you’re going to go out there, too.  If nothing else, this guy’s a celebrity, so it should be interesting to go see him.  

Apparently, he’s out on a boat somewhere.  The word is that his famous cousin, John the Baptist, was killed, and Jesus decided he wanted to get away for a while.  You think, well, maybe we should just leave him alone, then.  No one else seems to think so, though.  There’s a pretty big crowd gathered, and they seem to know where Jesus was headed, and they’re going to follow him.  So, you figure you might as well follow him, too.  After all, one person more or less is not going to make any difference.

You see that a lot of these people have brought sick people along with them, relatives or friends.  They must have heard those stories about Jesus healing people, too.  You keep moving with the crowd, keep going, and eventually there he is!  There’s Jesus, big as life, still in the boat, but not very far from shore/

Jesus turns and sees the crowd.  Well, how could he not, really.  People are calling to him, wanting him to come and provide healing.  It’s interesting, the different ways they ask. Some of them don’t ask.  They demand.  They act like Jesus has some sort of obligation to heal them, like he owes it to them or something.  Others, though, are more polite, asking calmly. Some of them are begging.  You can see that they’re desperate.  They look like they’ve been sick a long time, and that there’s nothing any other doctor can do for them.  Jesus is probably their last chance.

Now Jesus is bringing the boat to shore.  He gets out of the boat and looks at the crowd.  You can see in his face that he feels for those people.  So, he starts healing them.  At first, the scene seems chaotic, totally disorganized, and yet, Jesus does not seem at all rattled or bothered by it.  In fact, he seems to be in total control.  There’s no visible organization to anything, yet everything seems to make sense.  Somehow, it all seems to be going just like it’s supposed to go.

Jesus continues to heal people.  It’s an amazing thing to see.  When you heard these stories of healing, you thought it was probably some big, theatrical production.  You expected to see flashes of light, puffs of smoke, maybe even hear a loud, almost unearthly voice or something.  There’s none of that.  Jesus simply talks to people.  You cannot quite hear what he’s saying, but he seems to be quite calm.  As he talks to them, the people who’ve come to him calm down, too.  There are a lot of people in front of you, so you really cannot see what happens next, but all of a sudden, the person is healed.  Whatever was wrong with them is gone.  It’s more than a cure; it’s like they were never sick in the first place.  They instantly seem to be totally healed, perfectly normal.  Then, Jesus goes on to the next person, and the same thing happens, over and over again.  It’s the most incredible thing you’ve ever seen.  This Jesus guy is better than a doctor.

Then, all at once, you do hear a loud, almost unearthly noise.  You look around, and then you realize it’s coming from your stomach.  You look up, and you notice the sun is getting pretty low in the sky.  It’s getting late, and you’ve not eaten since breakfast.  You realize that you’re getting pretty hungry.  You also realize that you did not think to bring any food with you, and this place you’re in is pretty desolate.  It’s a long way home, and it’s also a long way to any town.  You ask around, thinking maybe you can buy some food from someone else, but no one else seems to have thought to bring any food with them, either.

You’re not the only one who’s starting to get hungry.  You hear some murmuring through the crowd.  Even the people who’ve been healed are starting to get a little upset.  No one has the guts to actually talk to Jesus about it, but they talk to a few of his friends, asking them to relay the message.  Sure enough, a little while later, you see Jesus’ friends talking to him.  You don’t really hear what they’re saying, but you know it’s got to be about the food situation.  Then, the crowd suddenly quiets down, and you hear Jesus tell his friends, “You give them something to eat.”

You think, just for a minute, that maybe his friends have brought a bunch of food with them, but the looks on their faces tell you that’s not true.  They obviously have no idea what Jesus is talking about.  They don’t have any food to give anyone.  They huddle for a minute, then scatter.  Are they going somewhere to get some food?  But where would they go?  Are they just leaving, taking off so they don’t have to deal with the situation?  No one knows.  The crowd is getting restless, and so are you.  Meanwhile, Jesus just sits there calmly, as if he’s completely unaffected by what’s going on.

His friends come back, and one of them is holding a basket.  It looks like it has a few loaves of bread and a couple of fish.  Whoop ti do.  That’s not even going to be enough to feed Jesus and his friends, much less this huge crowd.  People are starting to get upset.

Jesus takes the food, and he tells everyone to sit down.  Surprisingly, they do.  You do, too.  Jesus says grace.  What’s going on?  They’re not going to eat while we just sit here and watch are they?  That does not make sense, but no one seems to be able to make any sense out of what’s going on.

Jesus breaks the bread into pieces and tells his friends to start passing the pieces out to the crowd.  There’ll never be enough, of course, but at least a few people will get to eat something.  You start pushing your way to the front, trying to be one of those few, but everyone else has the same idea.  You give up, knowing you’ll never be able to get anything.

You sit down again.  Some time passes.  It sure is taking a long time for them to hand out that little bit of food.  Then, there’s a shadow over you.  You look up, and there’s one of Jesus’ friends, holding out some bread.  He says, “Do you want something to eat?”

You reach out for it, amazed.  How can there still be some bread available?  You look around, and everyone has bread.  In fact, they have more than they can eat.  There seems to be plenty left over.  Where’d all this bread come from?

You look at Jesus, and he’s got this big smile on his face.  He looks back at you, and you know he knows exactly what you’ve been thinking this whole time.  Jesus had planned this out from the beginning!  That’s why he had not been worried about anything.  Jesus knew exactly what was going to happen and how it was going to happen.

You suddenly realize that the stories you’ve heard are true.  This Jesus really is who his supporters say he is.  He really is the King.  He really does have the power to forgive sins.  He really is the Savior.

Jesus tells everyone to leave, so everyone gets up to go home.  And you know what? That’s where the Bible leaves the story.  So, if we’ve really imagined ourselves as part of the crowd that day, each of us is going to have to write what happens next.

What do you do?  What do I do?  Do we try to stay with Jesus, or do we go back home? If we go back home, what do we do?  Has this meeting with Jesus, this realization of who he is, made a difference in your life?  Has it made a difference in my life?  Or are we going to just go back and go about our business, with a story to tell and a memory to keep, but no more?  If we are changed, is it going to be a permanent change, something that makes our lives different from now on, or is it like so many other things, something that gets us excited for a while but that eventually fades away.

We’ve heard the story.  The ending is up to each one of us.