The sermon text is below the video. Oh I so very much wanted to preach on the Hebrew Lection for the day (I Samuel 8) but, literally, as I sat yesterday to begin writing the sermon… it was the 2 Corinthians 6:14 text that demanded my attention. There are times when I know that there is a message from the Lord to His people on His day…

Sermon preached at St. Stephen’s, Goldsboro NC
Sunday June 6th 2021
The Reverend Alan Neale
“Do Not Lose Heart”

2 Corinthians 4:16 “So… we do not lose heart”. Let me read an extended passage beginning with our text from the Message Translation: “So we’re not giving up. How could we! Even though on the outside it often looks like things are falling apart on us, on the inside, where God is making new life, not a day goes by without his unfolding grace. These hard times are small potatoes compared to the coming good times, the lavish celebration prepared for us. There’s far more here than meets the eye. The things we see now are here today, gone tomorrow. But the things we can’t see now will last forever.”

Much, oh so much, though I wanted to preach on the Old Testament reading; literally as I sat to work on the sermon yesterday… it was this text that stood out, was underlined, demanded my attention.

2 Corinthians 4:16 “So… we do not lose heart”.

When Wendy and I first came to the United States, we began our journey in Brookings, South Dakota. It was the practice of the Bishop to require all new clergy to participate in a Lakota-Dakota Orientation weekend. Wendy and I both attended. One part of the Orientation was to experiment with pronunciation of Lakota words. Father Martin Two Bulls was our instructor… Wendy’s attempt was almost flawless but mine was hesitant, confused, embarrassing. But… when I finished, Father Martin looked at me and simply said, “There you go…”. Friends that has remained for me the quintessence, the archetype, the model of “encouragement”; of saying to a fellow traveler “So… do not lose heart”.

Each one of us here knows what it is to be tempted to despair, to be discouraged, to lose heart. This dynamic may apply to some enormous goal that we have set for ourselves… personal improvement in body, mind or spirit; or this dynamic may apply to some mundane goal that others would deem unimportant but that we reckon as crucial. Whatever the context, you and I are in need, we require, we crave that person who will afford to us the words, the spirit of encouragement – “so… do not lose heart”.

In the early church, recorded in the Book of Acts, it was blessed Barnabas who was there ready to offer the word of encouragement. His ministry was crucial in the life and vocation of St. Paul. It may even be that his name was a nickname; of Greek and Aramaic origin meaning “son of encouragement”. Every church needs a Barnabas, or many of them!

In John 14:16, in the so-called final discourses, Jesus promises the disciples that they will receive “another Comforter, another Counsellor”. He guarantees that they will have access to the Divine One who will affirm “so… we do not lose heart” and who, by mighty Holy Ghost operation, will make that encouragement real, tangible, experienced.

“So… we do not lose heart.” Why “so” or “therefore”? Why? In the preceding verses Paul affirms that the same Spirit that raised Jesus from death… is alive in our frail and often weary bodies. Our challenge is not to find the source of energy, the supply of confidence; no, our challenge is to connect with that source, that supply. Our challenge is to allow barriers of self-confidence and self-sufficiency to collapse and let that wonder-working power flow into every nook and cranny, every perspective and attitude, every sin and every weakness in our lives. Why will we not do that? Do it today? Do it daily? Do it as often as our daily lives require?

“So… we do not lose heart.” The Greek word for “lose heart” suggests that we have become spiritless, almost disconnected from the heart that beats to supply us with energy, with oxygen. This spiritual work of “encouragement” has to do with re-connecting us to our hearts, our deepest being, our most profound psyche. Oh my friends, there are a wretched number of countless reasons why this connection becomes tenuous, fragile, feeble… maybe, as Paul writes, we become too focused on the “outer nature”, “the slight momentary affliction”… and the Father of Lies snatches from our minds “the sure hope of an eternal weight of glory”.

What we need is AA – an Attitude Adjustment! And such an adjustment requires a commitment to process, a surrender to the program. Such an adjustment requires time spent with the People of God, the Word of God and the Worship of God.

In our Hebrew Scripture this morning (I Samuel 8) (sorry, I just could not resist a few references to this story), the people of God despair of their leader Samuel and, really, at heart despair of their God. And so they plead, whine, they whimper and they wail, “We want to be like the other nations”. In the story Samuel despairs and God relents… they are given what they require, but for that they will suffer. You see, they were “losing heart” but resisted radical cardio-work in place of a superficial Band-Aid.

And poor Samuel – surely he was tempted “to lose heart” but he came to see that their personal attacks were merely a cover, it truly was not “all about him”; surely he was tempted “to lose heart” but found strength in truth and reality; surely he was tempted “to lose heart” but he accepted with grace and without rancor the inevitable.

Please, I beseech you, “do not lose heart”.

On Tuesday June 6th, 1944 The Normandy landings took place; the landing and associated airborne operations on of the Allied invasion of Normandy in Operation Overlord during World War II; the largest seaborne invasion in history.

Oh history tells us there was much to discourage this brave and crucial action: reasonable fear of dramatic loss of life, conflict between those responsible for decision-making, the fickle and capricious weather over land and sea… and yet, the decision was made; the action was taken that led to victory. Though it was not the end, it was at last definitively the beginning of the end.

Friends, our souls, our deepest psyche, long for brave and courageous actions that will bestow upon us a joyful freedom in the living of our lives. And that for which we ache in our personal lives, so we ache also in our lives as a church and as a nation.

Mighty Holy Spirit of God, please “let us not lose heart”. Thank you! AMEN