of the church who was returning there after a life-threatening illness. Paul uses his letter to encourage the Philippians, to send news of himself,

Transcription

1 Is It Worth It? In his Letter From Birmingham Jail, a long open letter written in response to a group of white clergymen who had publicly asked for the demonstrations in Birmingham to cease, Martin Luther King Jr. said, Never before have I written a letter this long or should I say a book? I assure you it would have been much shorter if I were writing from a comfortable desk, but what else is there to do when you are alone for days in the dull monotony of a narrow jail cell other than write long letters, think strange thoughts, and pray long prayers? King wasn t the only one to write letters that made a difference from prison. When you are in prison, one of the most precious commodities is the ability to communicate with the outside world: to receive news from beyond the walls, and to speak or write so your voice can be heard beyond your cell. When Mindy Bogue worked at the Prison Society, one of her jobs was to edit Graterfriends, a newsletter made up mostly of letters and articles written by inmates themselves. There were loud complaints if someone didn t get their copy of Graterfriends. They wanted to be part of the conversation. When Nelson Mandela was imprisoned on Robbin Island in South Africa, he was allowed to write three letters a month. He used those precious letters not only to stay in touch with his wife and daughters, but also to build and maintain alliances with unexpected people in the world outside. There s something about a letter received from a person in prison, written from a place where are you are deprived of freedom, deprived of companionship, often deprived of food or exercise, sometimes deprived of life itself, that gives that communication power. Paul s letter to the Philippians is a letter written from prison. Paul was in prison because of his faith. He didn t know what the future held. He had a chance to send a letter to the church at Philippi with Epaphroditus, a member

2 of the church who was returning there after a life-threatening illness. Paul uses his letter to encourage the Philippians, to send news of himself, but also to encourage himself as he reaches out to people he loves and who he knows care about him. One of the surprising features of the letter is the joy that pervades it, given his circumstances, joy in the Philippians, joy in the opportunities for sharing the gospel that he has even in prison, most of all joy in Jesus Christ. At the same time, he writes as someone who is faced with the very real possibility of death, knowing that his life might be demanded of him at any moment. This morning s reading is one of those places where he addresses his possible impending death. The words stop and start, the language twists around itself as Paul tries to describe the struggle he s experiencing. At the heart of the matter is this sentence: For me to live is Christ, to die is gain. That sentence doesn t make much sense to our ears. We live in a culture that is afraid of death. We don t want to face the reality that the life we have now will end and all that we have spent so much time and energy accumulating will pass on to someone else. We don t have funeral homes any more. We have life celebration homes. We are fascinated with and horrified by zombies and vampires, humans who have somehow avoided death. Yet our very horror shows us that something essentially human is lost when death is not part of our self-understanding. For Paul, though, death has no fear. He trusts no, he knows that in Christ death is no longer the final enemy. It has been transformed into a new and glorious life where he will finally see his Lord face to face. That transformation is something to be longed for, not avoided. For someone who is young or even middle-aged, that s hard to understand. But I ve met many faithful older adults who share that same longing. As bodies get older and less able, as pain increases and living gets harder, death isn t as frightening as it once was. It is something to be accepted or, sometimes, even welcomed.

3 What makes all the difference in the world is having faith that death is not the end of our story. Facing death without faith is to stand on the edge of a vast and empty abyss with no bottom and nothing on the other side. It is terrifying and to be avoided at all cost. Facing death with faith does not make the abyss smaller. It is still a vast separation between what we know now and what comes next. But the assurance of Christian faith is that there s something that does come next, and that something is glorious beyond what we have words to describe. The reality of that life beyond death is what Jesus demonstrated once and for all in his resurrection. Paul is the one who first helped Christians understand that. If to die is gain, then, why should we keep on going when the going gets tough? Why shouldn t we just quit, throw in the towel and give up? Paul says for him it s because to live is Christ. If he lives he can keep on serving his Lord. If he lives he can keep on being there for the Philippians and the others he has brought to Christ. If he lives, he can keep on proclaiming the gospel. If he lives, it s not for his own sake, but for Christ s sake and for the sake of Christ s people. I see this in older folks too. As I visit in homes and nursing homes, I ve been asked many times, Why am I still here? A person who was strong and active in mind and in body sits in a wheelchair and wonders what purpose their life has, what meaning there is in their continued existence, what they could possibly give to someone else. Yet I see the other side as well, in people like Isabella Jeffrey and George Jeynes who are kept going by their ability to still bring joy to people and praise God through their gift of music, or in others who know they are still here for their spouse, or in others who have found a ministry of encouragement in a smile, a touch or a kind word offered to a caregiver or a fellow resident. Still others, a rarer lot, find their purpose in prayer for others. All of these folks have learned that to live is Christ. To live for others and for the Lord even in the midst of suffering gives their lives worth and meaning.

4 What about for the rest of us? What does it mean for you to say to live is Christ? This living for Christ and for others is as profoundly countercultural as that Dying is gain. We automatically expect that it s our duty to look after ourselves first, our families next, and the heck with anyone else. What does it mean to let go of that assumption and truly live for Christ, live for others, first and let our own self-interest take second place? This is something for our church to think about as well. What is our purpose? What makes it worth it for us to keep on going? Is it our own self-interest, or we going to live for others? What are we clinging on to that holds us back from living for Christ and like Christ? What are we afraid of, if death has lost its sting? As we enter our congregational conversation over the next few weeks, these are questions we should be asking even more than questions of dollars and cents. Maybe it takes a man in prison, a man who is already on the edge to teach us by his example. In the Message, this is how Paul describes his situation: Alive, I m Christ s messenger; dead, I m his bounty. Life versus even more life! I can t lose As long as I m alive in this body, there is good work for me to do. If I had to choose right now, I hardly know which I d choose. Hard choice! The desire to break camp here and be with Christ is powerful. Some days I can think of nothing better. But most days, because of what you are going through, I am sure that it s better for me to stick it out here. So I plan to be around awhile, companion to you as your growth and joy in this life of trusting God continues. Paul tells the Philippians that they re the ones who keep him going, and the best thing they can do for him is to keep living their lives in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ. By our own lives, by our own manner of living out the gospel, we can encourage one another. I can think of many people who have done that for me, and you can probably think of some in your own life and even in your own congregation who do have done that for you, people who by their quiet example have set a model for you of what living for Christ looks like. When you are about to give up, you look at them and see them go on living their lives in love and service to their Lord and their neighbors, and you think, If

5 they can do it, with all they re carrying, maybe I can too. And so you push on, whatever the obstacle, no matter how hard the struggle, so that you too can live as Christ did, offering yourself in love and service. Then, little by little you learn that to live is Christ, and it is the greatest joy and reward you can have, as you offer yourself for another, as you allow Christ to shape your life in a way you never expected, as you give yourself in love, not fearing the cost, because the worst that can happen is that you will die, and in Christ even death has lost its sting. Thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ! are