Rev. Dr. Bary R. Fleet - Pastor
April 22, 2007 – 3rd Sunday of Easter
ACTS 9:1-6
Revelation 5:11-14
John 21:1-19

Questions and Answers: Part 2

In the aftermath of the tragedy at Virginia Tech, there are lots of questions: How do we make ourselves safe? What do we do now? Where is / was God?

For those who live in Kennesaw, GA – as of 1982 – the answer to the first question has already been answered. There is a law mandating that all heads of households own a firearm and have ammunition. That is one answer – and certainly, an argument can be made that by arming ourselves, we become safer. There are political arguments for and against gun ownership … and this really isn’t the forum to do that. All I can say is that I certainly would not feel safer if I knew that every one of my students at Bryant came to class, carrying their own school-issued hand gun!

But what I would like to do is to refer back to a sermon some of you heard me preach on Good Friday in which I pointed out that the last words Jesus spoke to his disciples before his arrest, the last words before they deserted him and fled into the night were: “Put your sword back in its place; for all who take the sword will perish by the sword.” (Matt. 26:52)

What is important to understand today is that there are actually two sets of answers to some of life’s difficult questions: there are the world’s answers, culture’s answers … and there are scriptural answers. The scriptural answer is – no swords!

As to the question about “where is / was God?” we each have to find our own answers, but I am convinced that God is everywhere that love is present … and God is everywhere that God’s children are hurting! God was present on the cross, and God was present with those who were standing by feeling helpless. So is God present with those who, this morning, are hurting and angry and afraid.

And, as to the question regarding what we are to do now, the answer isn’t locking ourselves safely away from the world. Immediately after the crucifixion and resurrection, the disciples locked themselves in the upper room – “for fear of the Jews.” Their lives were governed by fear – fear for their own lives.
That is a natural temptation … any time something bad happens, we are tempted to close ourselves up and let fear take over. The list of things we stop doing because we are afraid grows … and in the midst of this natural fear of self-preservation, Jesus calls us to live!

When I was in seminary, my first year there I lived in the home of a widow whose husband had been an official at Duke. The deal was that in exchange for paying rent, from Sunday through Thursday I was to be in the house from sundown to sun up. She had a daughter who lived in another city that was home on weekends, and I was free to have my own life then. But Mrs. Markham had 5 locks on her bedroom door. Barrel bolts, hooks, dead bolts, passage door locks … If anything had happened, I could not have gotten to her to help her … Yes, she was safely locked in, but she had also locked out those who could help.

God invites us to choose life – even in the midst of fear. And to those of us who have locked ourselves behind closed doors, Christ still comes with the invitation to be at peace … and to be alive. Equally important, Christ invites us to go out into the world … and embody love. Christ invites us to go out into the world – and be present in the ways that he himself would be present.

SERMON IN A SACK: An eraser. Talk about how we can make mistakes, but God’s forgiveness is like a giant eraser – allowing us to create a new picture – like Paul did with his life.