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Farewell and
Welcome
By
the Rev. Lee Woofenden
Bridgewater,
Massachusetts, October 29, 2000
A Confirmation Sermon
Readings
1 Kings
8:56-61 Committed to the Lord
Blessed be
the Lord, who has given rest to his people Israel just as he
promised. Not one word has failed of all the good promises he
gave through his servant Moses. May the Lord our God be with us
as he was with our ancestors; may he never leave us nor forsake
us. May he turn our hearts to him, to walk in all his ways and
to keep the commandments, decrees, and ordinances he gave our
ancestors. And may these words of mine, which I have prayed
before the Lord, be near to the Lord our God day and night, that
he may uphold the cause of his servant and the cause of his
people Israel according to each day's need, so that all the
peoples of the earth may know that the Lord is God and that
there is no other. But your hearts must be fully committed to
the Lord our God, to live by his decrees and obey his
commandments, just as they are at this time.
John 6:35-40 Eternal life
Jesus said,
"I am the bread of life. Anyone who comes to me will never
go hungry, and anyone who believes in me will never be thirsty.
But as I told you, you have seen me and still you do not
believe. All that the Father gives me will come to me, and
whoever comes to me I will never drive away. For I have come
down from heaven not to do my will, but to do the will of the
one who sent me. And this is the will of the one who sent me:
that I shall lose none of the ones that he has given me, but
raise them up at the last day. For my Father's will is that all
who look to the Son and believe in him shall have eternal life,
and I will raise them up at the last day."
True Christian Religion #694.7 Everlasting rest
Everlasting
rest does not mean idleness, since that reduces the mind, and
therefore the whole body, to a state of feebleness, lethargy,
stupidity, and drowsiness. This is not life, but death--much
less is it the everlasting life that the angels in heaven have.
Everlasting
rest is a rest that banishes that condition and makes people
alive. This must be something that uplifts the mind. So it is
some interest or task that excites, enlivens, and delights the
mind. This depends upon the purpose for which, in which, and
towards which it aims.
This is why
the whole of heaven is seen by the Lord as a coherent purpose.
And it is the purpose which angels serve that make them angels.
The pleasure of service carries them along, just as a favorable
current does a ship, and gives them everlasting peace, and the
rest that peace brings with it. This is what everlasting rest
from labors means. And angels are just as alive as is their
minds' commitment to service.
Sermon
Your
hearts must be fully committed to the Lord our God, to live by
his decrees and obey his commandments. (1 Kings 8:61)
Last week one
of you commented that things seem to happen all at once. That
certainly is true of our church's life this month! Three weeks
ago today, we celebrated the confirmation of Lorena Costello
into our church. A week ago today, our dear friend Irva Miller,
a long time active member of this church family, left us for her
heavenly home. And though we rejoice that she is in a happier
place, we also miss her, and continue to grieve her passing.
Now, just one week later, we again celebrate the confirmation of
two people into our church: Sheri Rienstra and Anne Mitchell.
It's hard to
grieve and celebrate at the same time! It is hard to say welcome
to new friends at the same time we are saying farewell to the
old. It stretches our minds and hearts in uncomfortable, even
painful ways to try to encompass both the sorrow of parting and
the joy of new life together.
And yet, as I
have contemplated this week both the loss to our church in
Irva's death and the gain to our church of welcoming three new
members, I have come to think of it as providential that we
should be stretching our minds and hearts to accommodate both of
these events together. We are saying farewell to our old and
dear friend; at the same time, as we are welcoming new members
into our church, the angels are welcoming Irva into the new and
fuller life for which she has been preparing throughout
eighty-six years here on earth.
Meanwhile,
contemplating the heavenly home to which Irva is now finding her
way helps us to think more deeply about just what it means to
make a commitment to our church--to our faith--as Sheri and Anne
are doing today, as Lorena did three weeks ago, and as so many
of us here in this church have done, whether it was a few years
ago or many decades ago.
Make no
mistake about it: joining the church represents a commitment
on our part. Solomon expressed this commitment powerfully and
beautifully in his speech to the people at the dedication of the
temple. He said, "Your hearts must be fully committed to
the Lord our God, to live by his decrees and obey his
commandments." Your hearts must be fully
committed to the Lord our God, to live by his decrees
and obey his commandments. This is a total life
commitment, from our inner heart right through to our outward
actions. The Lord is calling each one of us to dedicate our
entire life to the higher work of building God's kingdom both in
our own heart and in the world around us.
Sometimes
this may seem like a burden. Sometimes it may seem like too much
for God to ask of us when we have enough trouble keeping up with
our worldly commitments. Sometimes, it may simply seem
too otherworldly, too distant from the concerns of
family, friends, work, and home life that are right in front of
us.
And then,
just as we begin to get comfortable with the routine of our
lives, the death of someone close to us confronts us once again
with those big, ultimate questions: Why are we are here? Where
we are going? What are we doing in this life? It reminds us that
no matter what we may accomplish on this earth, we are all going
to the same place. And we are faced once again with the
challenging statement of Jesus that the kingdom of heaven is not
out here or over there, but is forming both within
us and among us. We realize once again that the important
thing is not the treasure that we build up for ourselves on
earth, but the treasure that we build in heaven even while we
are living on earth.
The great
power of Jesus was that he continually pursued this higher goal,
even as we fallible humans continually forget it. He said, in
our reading from John:
I have come
down from heaven not to do my will, but to do the will of the
one who sent me. And this is the will of the one who sent me:
that I shall lose none of the ones he has given me, but raise
them up at the last day. For my Father's will is that all who
look to the Son and believe in him shall have eternal life,
and I will raise them up at the last day. (John 6:38, 39)
Our Lord
Jesus was continually aspiring to lift up not only his own soul,
but the souls of all the people he encountered each day--and
even of all the people in the entire world. He was continually
seeking to elevate people's hearts, minds, and souls up to
heaven.
As our minds
follow our departed friend up to heaven, we are reminded that
the commitment these two people are making today, and the
commitment so many of us have made in the past--and that others
of us may make in the future--is a commitment to raise not just
our minds to heaven, but our hearts and our whole
lives. We are reminded once again that whatever we may
accomplish here, our only true and lasting accomplishments are
the ones we make within our own souls. Our only true and lasting
accomplishments are in the ways we can grow in love and
understanding for one another, in following the way of the Lord,
in expressing both our faith and our love through an active life
of service to our fellow human beings.
These are the
elements of genuine human life. These are the things we remember
with love and thankfulness in those who have passed on before
us. These are the things we commit ourselves to when we come
before the altar and express our faith--and our intention to live
by our faith--before God and before the congregation of our
church family.
Remembering
where we are going at this time of commitment helps us to keep
our priorities straight. Paul expressed this beautifully in his
letter to the Colossians:
If you have
been lifted up with Christ, seek the things that are above,
where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your
minds on things that are above, not on things that are on
earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ
in God. When Christ, who is your life, is revealed, then you
also will be revealed with him in glory. (Colossians 3:1-4)
Now this is
fascinating. Paul is speaking to people who are very much alive,
and who have committed their lives to Christ. And yet he says,
"You have died"! Is there a death in committing our
lives to the Lord? Yes, there is--and Paul goes on to explain
it:
Put to
death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature:
sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires, and greed,
which is idolatry. (Colossians 3:5)
Jesus also
expressed it this way:
I tell you
the truth, unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and
dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it
produces many seeds. (John 12:24)
The more
deeply we consider the farewells and the welcomes that we are
saying in our church right now, the more we realize that the two
are inextricably bound together: that every time we say
farewell, there is also a welcome taking place. As we say
farewell to Irva, the angels--especially the angels of her
family members and friends who have gone before her--are
welcoming her with open arms.
At the same
time, whenever we say welcome, there is also a farewell taking
place. When we come to this church and make a commitment to its
faith and life, we are saying goodbye to some of our old
connections and associations. We may be leaving behind another
church or another faith and belief--saying farewell to the faith
and the spiritual family that used to sustain us, or that we
used to struggle with. Both of these can be difficult.
And even if
we have grown up in the Swedenborgian Church, we are saying
farewell to an uncommitted spiritual life. We are saying
farewell to the old freedom of having a wide open field of
choices about the primary faith and the primary spiritual family
in which we will pursue our spiritual life and growth. This,
too, can be a difficult step to take. It can be scary. It can
feel constricting. We may feel that we are closing paths to
ourselves--paths that we have looked at with curiosity and
longing. Whenever we say welcome to the new, we are always
saying farewell to what is old and dear to us.
And yet, if
we are following the path that the Lord has laid out for us, the
new welcome is always leading us on to something greater than
what we are saying farewell to. The heavenly life that Irva is
now entering is so much greater, more beautiful, more joyful
than the increasingly constricted life she is leaving behind!
And though it is hard for those of us who love her to realize it
now, her departure into the spiritual world also lifts our own
souls a little closer to the spiritual world, and to the Lord
who reigns there. As our hearts and minds follow her with
longing, we are inwardly raised to a new level of understanding,
compassion, and commitment on our own spiritual path.
Making our
commitment to the Swedenborgian Church--to its faith and to the
Lord whom we worship--is also a welcome that leads us on to
something greater than what we are saying farewell to. We may be
saying farewell to former church associations; yet we are saying
welcome to a new, deeper, and more satisfying faith--to a faith
which I continue to believe will one day bless the entire earth
with its inspiring and comforting message.
And while we
may be saying farewell to some of our former ways of thinking,
feeling, and relating to others, we are saying welcome to new
and deeper ways of being and of living. We are opening up whole
new fields of deeper understanding of God and of the world in
which we live. We are opening up new fields of understanding and
compassion for the people around us. We are opening up new parts
of ourselves to the light and warmth of the Lord's radiant
presence. We are making a commitment to let the light and warmth
that God is pouring down upon us also flow out to those around
us, warming them with our love and compassion, enlightening them
with our insights and understanding, serving their needs
willingly, with an inner joy and peace that is the true rest of
our souls.
Yes, farewell
and welcome are inextricably bound together. We cannot say
farewell without saying welcome, and we cannot say welcome
without saying farewell.
The beautiful
thing is that God has arranged our lives so that each farewell
will bring us to a new and deeper welcome; so that every time we
leave behind the old, there is a new path laid out in front of
us that will lead us to new heights and new depths of spiritual
life. With the pain and sorrow of every farewell, there is the
joy and new life of welcoming the Lord's renewed presence into
our hearts, minds, and lives.
What is this
new life and new presence in our lives? Paul sums it up for us a
few verses later in his message to the Colossians:
As God's
chosen ones, holy and beloved, clothe yourselves with
compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience. Bear
with one another and, if anyone has a complaint against
another, forgive each other; just as the Lord has forgiven
you, so you also must forgive. Above all, clothe yourselves
with love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.
And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which,
indeed, you were called as members of one body. (Colossians
3:12-15)
Amen.
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