October
27, 2019 2 Timothy 4.6-8, 16-18 “The
Winner’s Circle” Pastor Jacqueline Hines
The more we read about the apostle Paul, the
more we see that he weathered many storms. We all have storms, some of us may,
like Paul, have gone through lots of storms. What storms have you weathered
lately? Is it a medical storm as your body recovers from an injury? Is it the storm of
hard work as you try to maintain whatever health you have? Are you undergoing
those aggravating blood tests, scans, and grams while doctors give it their
best shot to figure out what is going on in your body? Perhaps you are
suffering a relationship that is just not working, or a child who is just not
listening, or a job that is just not helping, or a blessing that is just not
blossoming. What storms are you enduring today?
Paul’s life was stormy because his life was
one of great sacrifice. He describes his life as being poured out as a libation.
A libation is an offering to God. Libations are an ancient cultural gesture
found around the world, more often in Asia, Greece, and Africa. When I
participated in a healing ceremony among African Americans, there was a
libation ceremony to acknowledge that we came from ancestors who, like all of
humanity, depended upon water that God provides; water was poured back onto the
earth as a gesture of gratitude. for surviving many stormy seas and
uncertain winds. Thai couples may give a libation offering in their Buddhist
tradition. ingratitude for the hope of a good future.
Some of us pour out our whole lives as an
offering to our spouses, our children, or our job. Paul says in verse 6 that he
gave his life as an offering to God If we put God
first, blessings will overflow onto everyone and everything else in our circle.
In addition to describing his life as a
sacrifice, Paul describes it in verse 7 as a battlefield. as
well as the race track. Battlefields, literal or figurative, can bring dust
clouds from bombs and grenades. While running a race one often kicks up a storm
of dust. He fought the good fight that brings peace and
justice. He was not talking about a bad fight – like those jailed recently for
cock fighting and dog fighting or the teenagers who fought a fellow student by putting
urine in a fellow students drinking water, or those high school students urinated
on an 8th grader while beating her down with hate speech. Paul says he fought the good fight.
Paul endured the storm of sacrificing his life
to God, fighting the good fight, and running the race of right living – making
it to the finish line and receiving a crown. It does not get better than having
one’s place in the winner’s circle. In spite of all he went through, he was
greatly rewarded. He went through each storm and he made it to the other side.
He fought the battle bruised and broken but he defeated the enemy. He ran the
race and could barely keep up but he made it to the finish line without being
disqualified and he won the crown of victory. All his life, he offered himself
as a sacrifice. He said in his heart like the elders of old would say. “I think
I will run on and see what the end is going to be.” He said in his heart like
the songwriter said “Trust and obey for there’s no other way to be happy in
Jesus but to trust and obey.”
Offerings are a very, very important part of
our Judeo-Christian heritage. In this holiday season of Thanksgiving and
Christmas, culturally and communally and congregationally we have already begun
preparing to make special sacrifices, to give to those in need, to offer
corporate words of thanksgiving and praise to our God that prompt us to share
our bounty. We know that we are blessed so that we can be a blessing to others.
Interestingly enough, research* suggests that
those more apt to make sacrifices that are beneficial for others are also those
who have the most self-control. One
of the core values and spiritual fruit of the Holy Spirit is self-control.
Those with less ability to self-regulate often
simply revert to keeping the limited habits that they learned at a young age. Instead
of cultivating a mind open to fresh thinking or a mind open to the thoughts of
God that come through prayer, humans often do the only thing we know to do,
which is the easy way and the lazy way out, rather than changing for the
better.
Nevertheless, as Christians, we long to give
of ourselves like Paul did and like the song reminds us: “All to Jesus, I surrender. All to him I freely give. I will ever
love and trust him. In his presence daily live.”
A few
weeks ago our Jewish brothers and sisters around the world submitted themselves
to a 25 hour time of fasting and prayers of repentance for the forgiveness of
their sins. The time was called Yom Kippur. “Yom” means “day.” “Kippur” means “atonement.” Yom Kippur is a day of atonement. A day of atonement is a day to
reflect on the idea that we make mistakes on a regular basis. It is a day to
think about ways God is calling us to make reparations for damages, injuries,
and harm we have done to individual persons or to communities.
Getting off
track and wrongdoing is a part of being human. We are especially aware of this
as Christians. We set aside songs and prayers and services to remember our need
to come to God and be cleansed from our unrighteousness, to get back on track,
to repent, to make good what has gone awry and to make whole those we have
wronged.
Atoning
for our sins shows our compassionate care for others. Repentance keeps us
humble. Repentance inspires us to pour our lives out for whatever purpose God
has in mind, to move at the impulse of God’s love.
God knows
that we are not so quick to embarrass ourselves by confessing our sins individually,
so the there are plenty of biblical and historical models to hide under each
other’s protective and loving wings as re repent corporately as a one congregation
rather than individual sinners. After all, whatever we are in, we are in it together.
When we sacrifice,
we do so in community such as working together on community Thanksgiving
dinners and Christmas baskets for families. When we say prayers of confession
or songs of repentance, we often do so with one voice together in unison rather
than singled out in embarrassment. Together we offer an acceptable offering to
our kind God who is sensitive to our needs.
One of my
daily prayers is that we would praise God every hour and repent every day. As
individuals there is plenty of room to privately repent, to change our minds,
to put our lives in order with God’s perspective. We can do so every day; at
the very least, we can do so every time we have communion together.
Corporate
confession and seeking God’s will for acts of atonement are what we do during
communion to keep us from thinking too highly of ourselves or seeing our
leaders as equal to or as higher than God. Including confession and atonement
as we worship on a daily basis keeps us from seeing our leaders as equal to or higher
than God. Confession and atonement give us enough light to see the truth, and
truth builds trust. Trust brings unity and justice for all. May it be so today
and each time we come to the table and commune together with Jesus. Amen.
*Psychology Today posted -July 23, 2013
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