After Virginia Tech, where will Jesus meet us? -- FPC sermon excerpt

As many of you know, I went to Duke, and I’m proud of my Blue Devils.

But today I’m a Hokie. Today we’re all Hokies.

What happened at Virginia Tech on Monday was a horror. The worst mass-murder shooting in American history. We can thankful that FPC's seven students at Tech escaped physical injury, but we know that the emotional and spiritual wounds go very deep. Healing will take years, for current students and alumni.

And it is not just Hokies who are hurting today. The students and faculty of Westfield High School are feeling pain, since the shooter and two of his victims came out of that school. All of us who are residents of this area are struggling to make sense of this tragedy, and figure out how to respond.

The day after the shootings, a friend told me about a scene from the recent film “Blood Diamond.” The movie is set in 1999 Sierra Leone, where a civil war rages — a war fueled by conflict diamonds. People are kidnapped, raped, and shot, and at one point a character says, “Sometimes I wonder — will God ever forgive us for what we’ve done to each other? Then I look around and I realize: God left this place a long time ago.”

That’s how some of you may be feeling after the massacre at Tech. Maybe you felt the same thing after Columbine eight years ago, and after the killing of the Amish schoolgirls last fall. Such carnage shatters our peace, wakes us from sleep, interrupts and irritates and saddens and shocks. We end up wondering, like the character in “Blood Diamond,” if indeed God hasn’t left this place a long time ago.

But I want to assure you that God has not abandoned us. His Son Jesus is meeting us. The Risen Lord is showing himself to us, in our time of loss and grief, and he will continue to meet us. Even after Virginia Tech.

So, where is he?

First, Jesus is meeting us right here, in this service of worship. The Bible promises us that whenever two or three are gathered, Jesus is in the midst of us. It is so important for us to respond to these events as a community, and to look for where Jesus is at work in the aftermath of violence and death.

Second, Jesus comes to us and treats us like family. The response of people to the Virginia Tech killings has been amazing. Blacksburg churches have opened their doors to students wanting to sleep in a house of God, instead of a dorm. Memorials have popped up on campus, covered with notes and flowers … and on the internet. Prayer services and memorial services have been held in schools and churches across the state. A tragedy like this reminds us that we are, in fact, one big family.

Jesus treats us like family as well. When Jesus first appears to the disciples in John 21, he calls out to them across the water. They are fishing, and catching nothing. Jesus says, “Children, you have no fish, have you?” He seems to be teasing them, like a father would tease a child. They answer him, “No.” He says, “Cast the net to the right side of the boat, and you will find some.” They follow his instructions — reluctantly, I’ll bet — but when they do as he says they discover that their nets are filled to the breaking point (vv. 4-6).

When we follow the instructions of Jesus, we discover that we are given a surprising abundance of gifts. When we love one another, as Christ has loved us, we discover a richness in life that we never dreamed possible. When we pray for those who persecute us, we find a peace that passes all understanding. When we accept that we are a part of Christ’s family, we find ourselves accepted, embraced and supported for all eternity.

Third, and finally, Jesus speaks to us and shows us how to live. In John 21, he reaches out to Simon Peter, and makes a connection with him. He says, “Feed my lambs. Tend my sheep. Feed my sheep.” That’s the way that Jesus wants us to live, in relationship with him … and with each other.

Jesus is not asking us to figure out the motive of the Virginia Tech killer. He’s not challenging us to pick apart the flaws in campus security. He’s certainly not asking us to remain glued to our televisions, watching every sensational development that comes out of Blacksburg.

No, Jesus wants us to feed his lambs by caring for everyone who is hurting in the aftermath of this violence. He is asking us to tend his sheep by being good parents, so that no other young person will fall into insanity and isolation. He is asking us to feed his sheep — through worship and fellowship and education that gives us strength and inspiration.

Wonders of the World -- FPC sermon excerpt

The Seven Wonders of the World.

A man named Antipater compiled a list of truly amazing creations back in the second century, B.C. They included the hanging gardens of Babylon and the temple of Artemis, seven wonders that are now all gone — except for the Great Pyramid in Egypt.

With only one ancient wonder still standing, it’s time for a new list.

A Swiss adventurer named Bernard Weber has accepted this challenge, launching the New 7 Wonders Foundation. He has a website — of course — which allows people from around the world to vote on a fresh list of landmarks.

“The old seven wonders were decided by one single man,” he tells Newsweek magazine (July 31, 2006). “I think today we would like to see a more democratic world where people are allowed to participate.”

So, what would you like to support on the website new7wonders.com? The Great Wall of China? The Taj Mahal? Stonehenge? The Statue of Liberty, Eiffel Tower, or Sydney Opera House?

Enthusiasm for the competition has been high, especially in developing countries. In China, as many as 10,000 people per day have been casting ballots. Schools have used the foundation’s website for history and geography classes. Some Egyptians have been offended by the contest, calling it “absurd” and saying that the pyramids certainly “don’t need a vote to be among the world’s wonders.”

Other people have made light-hearted nominations, suggesting that the Wonders of the World should definitely include German chocolate cake. Another man reported that he has been lying on his lawn for three weeks without moving. He hopes that satellites will take pictures of him, and everyone will vote him to be one of the Seven Wonders.

Yeah, I would certainly wonder about that guy.

Twenty-eight million people have voted so far, and the winning sites will be announced in a live worldwide broadcast on July 7, 2007 — a date abbreviated as 7/7/07.

A good day to announce the new Seven Wonders.

Easter Sunday is the day each year we are confronted by the greatest wonder of the Christian faith: The empty tomb. On the first day of the week, at early dawn, a group of women come to the tomb of Jesus, taking the spices they had prepared to anoint his body. Luke tells us that they find the stone rolled away from the tomb, and when they go inside, they do not find the body (Luke 24:1-3). The tomb is empty.

The women are perplexed — of course. Who has shifted the stone and removed the body? Grave-robbers? Roman soldiers? Jewish leaders? Disciples of Jesus? They are surprised not by what they see, but by what they don’t see. This great Wonder of the World is a big nothing. An empty hole.

Suddenly two men in dazzling clothes stand beside them. Luke doesn’t tell us that they are angels, but they certainly come across as supernatural — their clothes are radiant and gleaming, like lightning! The women are terrified and bow their faces to the ground, and the men say to them, “Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen” (vv. 4-5).

The dazzling visitors ask an important question here — “Why do you look for the living among the dead?” So often our focus is misplaced, and we look in the wrong locations for evidence of God’s activity in human life.

Maybe we have been looking for signs of life among the dead, and missing the places where God is really at work among us.