What was once considered unimaginable in our world (local and beyond) continues to occur with increasing frequency – acts of gross turpitude and vile horror. Much that has been said in response unites people of all and no faiths. In today’s sermon I attempt to offer a uniquely Christian theological response. This is not meant to be exclusive but rather to offer what we hold dear.

The text of the sermon is below the audio of the sermon.

Sermon Audio

 

Sermon Text

Sermon preached at Trinity Church, Newport. Sunday July 17 2016. The Reverend Alan Neale. “In Him – Where Else?”

The text is surely one of the simplest to remember; it occurs three (well, it could be argued four) times in today’s reading from Colossians. Chapter 1, verses 16,17,22 and 19 “In Him”.
And if you are wondering the identity of “Him”, just remember the classic Sunday School answer to all questions… “Jesus”. “In Him”.

The video is, as they say, viral and I admit to playing a little role in its… “virality”.
The psychologist is teaching stress management to a professional audience. She raises a glass of water, the audience expect the “half empty or half full” question. Smiling, she inquires: “How heavy is this glass of water?” Answers called out range from 8 oz. to 20 oz. She replies, “The absolute weight does not matter. It depends on how long I hold it. If I hold it for a minute, it is not a problem. If I hold it for an hour, I will have an ache in my arm. If I hold it for a day, my arm will feel numb and paralyzed. In each case, the weight of the glass does not change, but the longer I hold it, the heavier it becomes.” She continues, “The stresses and worries in life are like the glass of water. Think about them for a while – nothing happens. Think about them a bit longer – they begin to hurt. Think about them all day long, you will feel paralyzed – incapable of doing anything. It is important to remember to let go of your stresses. As often as possible put the burdens down. Remember to put the glass down!”

All good, all excellent… but how… but where… “to place the glass?”

The writer of Colossians has a simple, but not simplistic, answer – “In Him.”

With bloody revolution in Turkey, with the vilest act perpetrated in Nice – we continue as sentient, rational beings to be pummeled, assailed, battered by the stress of living in this aching world where, as Anne Marie reminded us last week, everyone is our neighbor and we are neighbor to everyone.

There has been enormous common ground in response to yet more horrors, today I tentatively offer a uniquely Christian response.

The writer to the Colossians (if not Paul, definitely of the Pauline school) places creation past, sustenance present and restoration future all… “In Him”.

CREATION PAST v. 16 “Everything, absolutely everything, above and below, visible and invisible… everything got started IN HIM.” This theological statement makes us uncomfortable. Most of us want it to be patently obvious that we are in no way related to the perpetrators of unconscionable abominations, of previously unimaginable turpitude but we are not allowed theologically to make such a divide.

We hope to be of a different kind, rather we find ourselves to be of a different quality. This must rattle us to our very core; our innate possibility to do the most beautifully good or the most ugly horror. But, it seems, theologically we are left with no cordon sanitaire, no chasm between us and those who disturb our deepest being.

PRESERVATION PRESENT v. 17 “IN HIM all things hold together”, “he holds it all together right up to this very moment” (Message Translation). When we cannot “hold it together”, He is holding it together. As we dread the crumbling of foundations and the erosion of fundamentals, as we almost are “losing it” – He is holding it all together. The pickling prayer – Lord, preserve them.

RESTORATION FUTURE v.22 “IN HIM we are reconciled… so as to be presented holy and blameless and irreproachable”, “Christ is putting your lives together, whole and holy” (Message Translation). Elsewhere in the New Testament we read these words “putting everything in subjection to him/Christ, he/God left nothing outside his control. As it is, we do not yet see everything in subjection to him but we do see Jesus.” No military junta, no maniacal butcher ever has the last word… that uniquely and only forever belongs to God. “In the end God…” This is no apocalyptic sop, but rather a vigorous hope that makes possible living today.

But these theological statements are dry and arid without practical spiritual counsel and so…

IN HIM – we enjoy an unrestricted, unconfined panoramic vision and this is granted to us as we commit ourselves to worship. “Yet will I praise Him” is the authentic word of the Psalmist. To worship is not to deny the horrors of our world but to place them in perspective. To worship is not to evade pain but to establish it in the almighty heart of God. Worship.

IN HIM – we are secure; we are safe on an eternal stage. “God’s name is a place of protection— good people can run there and be safe” Proverbs 18:10. Pray as best as you can, as often as you can, wherever you can. Pray for others by name, by place, by country. Pray.

IN HIM – we take courage. Courage of a quality and kind given by the Lord in supernatural ways by the majestic power of the Holy Spirit. Ask for courage, resist self-sufficiency.

IN HIM – we find ourselves in community; as we share our burdens they are eased, as we share the burdens of others we are enabled. Be in community.

Today, in the Name of Christ, Malcolm and Calder are baptized. To a few this may seem as yet another baptism, to a few others a quaint rite of passage but, in divine reality, these boys are being touched at a primal depth, there is a psychic change taking place, a cosmic realignment and all because they are being affirmed as “In Him” in Christ. I yearn for them, for us, to live in the dynamic power of knowing we are “In Christ”. AMEN