Back in the dark ages, when I first moved to New York, I lived for a time in the Riverdale section of the Bronx. In searching for a church I could settle in I attended Riverside Church in Manhattan for a while.
Riverside is a very large influential church. One of its founding members and main contributors was John D. Rockefeller. As you might guess, no expense was spared in its construction. This has led to the joke that Riverside is the kind of church that God would build, if only He had the money. It has one of the best pipe organs in the world. While I was there the organist was a man named Frederic Swan, who had just recently replaced the world-famous Virgil Fox.
Time passed. I got older and went other places. Fred Swan got older and went other places. This past summer I was reading a magazine article about how, in observance of his 80th birthday, Mr. Swan had announced a major concert he was going to play at some place out in California I think. He was going to play a bunch of organ pieces that were his personal favorites. It was also intended to be his last professional appearance. He was going to do, you might say - are you ready for it? - his Swan Song.
Well, that got me to thinking that I might do something similar with a future sermon. Not a swan song, please believe, but a sermon that would touch on some of the most profound and meaningful experiences that I have had in my lifetime.
And so as I said, time has passed - and here we are. This is a perfect opportunity. Because of the days on which the Christmas season falls this year, we have just celebrated Christmas but it is not yet Epiphany. It is perfectly appropriate for us today to hang our worship hat on the New Year. And what better time to spend a few moments thinking about one's profound life experiences.
So I want to share with you this morning four times that have been deeply moving to me in my life.
The first of them was the occasion of my ordination way back in 1970. I was then and continue to be a clergy member of the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference which encompasses Philadelphia. You all know that Philadelphia and New York are constantly claiming bragging rights for being the most influential of the early cities in the U.S. Philadelphia had the great privilege of being a frequent stopping place for John Wesley and, in the course of things, the Philadelphia Conference acquired a very precious holy relic - the personal Communion chalice of John Wesley. Francis Asbury, the first Methodist Bishop in the U.S. was also a frequent visitor and Philadelphia owns Bishop Asbury's personal Bible.
In the church world that's something akin to a Beatles fan acquiring a record that was autographed by John Lennon, or to a history buff, something that might have been the personal property of King Henry VIII or one of the czars.
And the exciting thing about this is that, at ordination ceremonies in Philadelphia, I got to place my hands on Bishop Asbury's Bible, and receive Communion from John Wesley's chalice.
Can you imagine how thrilling that is for someone just being initiated into the ministry?
Is there in that some significance for us in the world today? We all are who we are by virtue of the things that have formed us throughout our lives. We are inextricably tied to our personal pasts. Whether it is John Wesley's chalice, or your aunt's special-occasion silverware set, something which grounds you to your past is of inestimable value. At the dawn of another year it is well to remember and honor what made you.
Shortly after that, the senior pastor of my family's church in Allentown invited me to come and preach - you know, the newly-ordained family member of the church. So I did and it was wonderful. I should say the experience was wonderful, the sermon was probably pretty bad, being on of my first and all.
Anyway, it was the custom at that church that at the conclusion of worship the choir and clergy recessed to the back of the church and the pastor gave the benediction from there. So, we're at the back of the church and I'm standing next to the senior pastor and there's about 20 seconds of total silence. And I'm wondering to myself what's going on, or more specifically why nothing's going on. After a bit the pastor turned to me and said "Go ahead David, give them your blessing." And in a micro-second two things hit my mind. First, the reason nothing was happening was that I was supposed to do something - give a blessing. And second, "Hey, I can do that!" I was still learning the ropes. And it hit me - I've been empowered by God and the church to bless people. Wow - what an amazing feeling.
The significance - one of the most satisfying things we can ever do in this world is to help someone. At the moment we are riding on a wave of peace on earth and goodwill to all. We express that in many ways - one of the most fundamental of which is to give to the less fortunate, a tradition that comes, in part, from the gifts the Magi brought to Jesus. Make an effort to hang on to that spirit of generous giving and help to those in need as you begin to live into this new year. It is one of the most wonderful and satisfying feelings in the world.
One of the most profoundly moving experiences of my entire life happened, believe it or not, in a Temple. I was in NYC for a Broadway show. It happened to be a Friday and we had an hour or so to kill before heading to dinner and then the theater. And it occurred to me that we were walking distance from a place I had always admired and wanted to see - Temple Emanu-El on Fifth Avenue. And it was Friday evening and almost time for worship. So we walked over. Temple Emanu-El is the largest Jewish house of worship in the world. We arrived just in time for services and were welcomed with extreme grace and warmth The liturgy and music were beautiful. At some point it was time for the Rabbi to read from the Torah. She walked to the Ark, which is an enclosure that houses the sacred scriptures, is made of bronze and must stand at least fifty feet high. It is magnificent. She slid the doors apart to open the space where the Torahs are stored. They are breath-taking. She reached in and took one out and turned around to face the congregation and - as one - every person in the congregation rose in silence and respect. The clear but wordless message was "here is God"
In retrospect, I know that it was all ritualized and happens every time they gather for worship. But to someone who had never been there before and who was observing with new eyes - it was an overwhelming experience. We Christians do much the same thing, for example, at Communion, when the minister holds up the bread for the people and says "this is the body of Christ" At Emanu-El the exquisite beauty of the building, the impression of awe and majesty, it all comes together and the overwhelming emotion is that you are truly in the presence of God. Descriptive words fail.
The significance? - coming into God's presence, feeling as if God is there, is one of the most amazing things that can happen to you.
You can experience God in the beauty of a spectacular sunset. You can experience God when you look at a new-born baby. You can experience God as we spread a lighted candle and sing Silent Night. Sometimes it is a slow dawning of understanding. Sometimes God comes up and looks you in the face. Whatever, whenever, however, it is a stunning, amazing, breathtaking experience. As we move into a new year, be proactive about looking for places where you can see God in your own life.
Many years earlier, I was vacationing in England and we were touring Canterbury Cathedral. And doing all the things that one does as a tourist when going through an historic site. "Oh Blanche, look at that." "Come here see this." "Stand there so I can take your picture." Just generally bumbling about, looking at stuff and trying to get the maximum experience. And then the most amazing thing happened.
A voice came out of the heavens, like the sound of God. It was of course a public address system. But the voice said something like this - "we want to welcome you to Canterbury Cathedral and extend our hope that you have a very pleasant experience. And we would like to remind you that this building is primarily a house of worship and prayer, a house of God. Therefore, we invite you, wherever you are, whatever you are doing, to stop and focus your attention on the significance of this building. And bow your head in a moment of silent prayer." And suddenly the entire cathedral, with certainly hundreds, maybe more, people, came to a dead stop. People stopped talking and just stood there with heads bowed, or focused on some beautiful stained glass window, or saint, or cross. This morning's scripture lesson comes to mind: "At the name of Jesus every knee should bend." People stood there and prayed. And then the voice came again and said "Please join me in saying the Lord's Prayer." And from wherever they were in the building people who just seconds before had been jostling each other to get the bast camera angle, people everywhere joined together in praying a prayer. It was a deeply moving experience that I have never forgotten.
The significance? - sometimes, especially in a season like we've just been celebrating with all the hustle and bustle of Christmas, sometimes - we need to be reminded that there are important things in life that get lost in the shuffle. We need to be reminded that much of our busy-ness comes out of our enthusiasm of the moment and is really about deep and profound realities.
The unifying significance of it all - each and every one of those moments was a time when I was aware of God's presence in my life. I pray that you have had and will continue to have those moments in your life as well.
Go back to the 2012 Sermons page.Go back to the UMC Red Bank home page.