Introduction
Whenever I lead the liturgy for a funeral or memorial
service – whenever I am asked or
Behold I saw a new heaven and a new
earth; for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away… And I heard a
loud voice from the throne saying, ‘See, the home of God is among the people. God will
dwell with them; they will be his people and God himself will be with them –
and he will wipe every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more; mourning
and crying and pain will be over, for the first things have passed away.
These words shape, guide and inform what
I think and feel about death and they are always just below the surface for me
when death is near– especially the words:
“… he will wipe away every tear from their eyes.” Isn’t that a stunning promise?
· That
there will come a time when God’s love will be so real for us that mourning and
crying and pain will be over? That there
will be such deep intimacy with the Lord that God will tenderly wipe away every
tear from our eyes and suffering and fear shall be gone forever?
· I
think that this experience is part of what the apostle John was getting at, too
when he wrote that just before Christ went to the Cross, the Master knelt down,
washed his disciples feet like a servant and told them:
Little children, I’m
giving you a new commandment: love one
another. Just as I have
loved you, you also should love one another. For by this everyone will know that you
are my disciples, if you have love for one another.
In my understanding,
Jesus is talking about God’s promises here:
your love for one another can be like the love I have known with God, and, it can be like the love I
have shared with all of you, too. This
is a love that is gracious and kind, slow to anger and filled with affection; a
love, in other words, that can wipe away every tear from your eyes. There are two places in the Bible where St.
Paul describes this love with such penetrating clarity that I want to share
them both with you before going any further.
· In
Romans 12 he writes: Let love be genuine; hate what is evil, hold
fast to what is good; love
one another with mutual affection; outdo one another in showing honor… Rejoice
in hope, be patient in suffering, persevere in prayer. Contribute to the needs of the saints; extend hospitality to
strangers. Bless those who persecute you; bless and do
not curse them. Rejoice
with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. Live in harmony with one another; do not be haughty, but
associate with the lowly; do not claim to be wiser than you are. Do not repay anyone evil for evil, but take thought for what is
noble in the sight of all. And If it is possible, so far as it depends on
you, live peaceably with all.
· And
then in I Corinthians 13: Love never gives up. Love cares more for others than for
self. Love doesn’t want what it doesn’t have. Love doesn’t strut. Love doesn’t have a swelled head, doesn’t force
itself on others, isn’t always “me first,” doesn’t fly off the handle, doesn’t keep
score of the sins of others, doesn’t revel when others
grovel, takes pleasure in the flowering of truth,
puts up with anything, trusts God
always, looks for the best, never
looks back and keeps on going to the end.
Too many times people of
faith try to fake this or take it easy saying, “Well, these passages from the
Bible are just the ideal – not something we can really achieve in our daily
lives – after all, this talk of love is like Jesus and the Sermon on the
Mount. Good and inspirational words, but
come on, not really something we can actually do.”
But that is all wrong – this
call to welcome and share God’s radical love is the most real blessing in the
world – and from time to time I’ve actually seen and experienced something of
God’s tender love from ordinary, everyday, walking around, run of the mill
women and men like you and me, who have tasted a little bit of God’s grace and
want to share its sweetness with others.
I bet you have, too – I bet you have felt and been nourished by this
love that will not let you go – this love that seeks to wipe away every tear
from your eyes, right?
Insights
And do you know where I’ve
tasted this love mostly profoundly? When
cherished loved ones are moving towards death. Time and again, I’ve seen sins
forgiven and put to rest, the wounds of fear and hatred healed and God’s
sacrificial love made flesh all around a death bed. And more often than you might imagine, it
seems that God’s abundant love and grace gets unlocked at these times with even
the most stubborn and mean-spirited souls through singing. The music and hymns of our faith – what some
call our memory bank tunes – resonate so deeply in some of us that God’s love
rises to the surface like Christ on Easter morning.
· I can’t tell you
how many times this has happened: we’re
standing around the death bed of someone watching and waiting –aching for our
friend or loved one to let go and rest into God’s grace forever - and all human
words feel inadequate and cheap.
· So we stand
together for a while in awkward silence until someone is inspired to sing: Amazing grace how sweet the sound that saved
a wretch like me. I once was lost but
now I’m found, t’was blind but now I see.
Or maybe it goes like this:
Precious Lord, take my hand, lead me on, help me stand, I am tired, I
am weak I am worn; through the storm, through the night, lead me on to the
light: take my hand, Precious Lord, lead
me home.
· In those moments
– when song becomes our best and only prayer – not only are the hopes and fears
of the living unlocked in a way that can only be called gracious, but those who
are dying also seem to sense the blessing, too.
In fact, over and again in those moments, people who haven’t spoken in
days often join in the singing. They may
not be able to make much of a sound, but they move their lips and as the music
ripens and it seems to set everybody free to start loving one another just as
Jesus commanded.
I’ve encountered much the same thing with the Lord’s
Prayer, too: people who have had a
stroke, for example, and can’t speak suddenly find a way to join in the sharing
of the Lord’s Prayer when it is started.
Do you know what I’m talking about?
It unlocks something deep within them and I think unites heaven with
earth. In certain memory bank hymns and
prayers we are empowered to cross over our divisions and become as intimate
with God as Christ Jesus was one with the Father.
About 25 years ago, I remember hearing a Vietnam vet
talk about what kept him sane and human during the weeks he was locked inside a
tiger cage: the 23rd
Psalm. He had learned it by heart in
Sunday School – the Lord is my shepherd I shall not want… yea though I walk through the
valley of the shadow of death I shall not fear because Thou art with me
– and he kept saying it over and over again in the worst of times: The Lord is my shepherd… Thou setteth a
table before me in the presence of mine enemies… Those memory bank
words helped him stay connected to heaven when earth had become a living hell
for him – and it saved his life.
Behold:
I will make all things new and God will dwell within them; they will be
his people and God himself will be with them – and will wipe away every tear
from their eyes.
But there’s a problem: not only are many children and grandchildren never
learning some of the great old memory bank hymns and prayers, but because our culture
and tastes are changing so rapidly there are huge portions of the American
church today where even our memory banks songs have become disposable. New ones are being written all the time –
some of which are lovely and we use some of them here – but none of which are
sung over and over and over until they are deeply embedded in our souls. Contemporary American culture – even in the
church – has become addicted to new products, new songs, new and fresh ways of
doing everything.
· So
as much as I am all for keeping it fresh, without some grounding in tradition
and memory bank songs and prayers, it is going to be hard to keep the faith
alive in such a disposable environment.
· Let’s
be real: should WE ever find ourselves
in desperate conditions like that tiger cage in Vietnam, we’re not going to be
able to turn to our Smart Phones and dial up the 23rd Psalm or
Lord’s Prayer. If we don’t have it in
here… we’re in trouble.
Over the next year we are going to be
sharing both some new and some time-tested songs and prayers to help you
embrace their blessings more deeply in your heart. And this should matter to you old timers as
much as folk new to the tradition because we ALL need help in unlocking God’s
love within and among us. Again the apostle Paul is instructive when he reminds
us that ALL of us – every single one – have sinned and fallen short of the
glory of God. All of us need help with
unlocking God’s grace and love – those who know the old songs and the old words
– just as much as those who want to sing them in new and more inclusive ways.
So what I’d like you to try with me this morning
involves singing two musical prayers:
one
· This
setting of the Lord’s Prayer is like a breathing prayer – it ebbs and flows in
a gentle rhythm – that asks you simply to follow the leader. Just sing back what the music leader sings
first.
· You
don’t have to look at any words – you don’t have to even keep your eyes open –
just quietly follow the leader in trust and faith like breathing in and out,
ok?
Share and sing “Our
Creator” here
Now what was your experience of the Lord’s
Prayer shared in this manner? What did it feel like – what was going
on for you during the call and response – what did you like and what was
uncomfortable? Did you experience anything different by singing this prayer rather than simply reciting or reading
it? Anything else…?
Well, that’s one way to reclaim the
Lord’s Prayer – it isn’t better or worse – it is just another resource. Another important memory bank prayer/song is
something some of us know as the Doxology: almost always this is sung by the people
standing up for it is a way of returning thanks to God as Father, Son and Holy
Spirit. People in our Reformed church tradition
usually sing it to a 16th century tune called “Old One Hundredth” which
comes from Louis Bourgeois’ musical setting of Psalm 100 in the Geneva Prayer
Book. It has been around for 500 years
and maybe those who know and love it in this form might stand and sing it now…?
Share and sing the Old
Doxology here
Now what does singing that song and those
words in that way evoke in you? Did you
know that originally those words were the chorus
to another song – a tune written to help young boys and men learn to pray every
morning, noon and night – a teaching prayer in song about the value and
importance of grounding our whole day in prayer? Nobody sings the old words anymore – nobody
uses this song as teaching device either – because as yet another hymn puts
it: time makes ancient truth
uncouth. Times change and so do the
needs of the church.
So try singing the old words to a very
different setting – in a gospel style – that builds and grows ever more
powerfully each time the chorus is repeated.
· In
this take on the Doxology, the whole thing is repeated three times: any thoughts about why three times?
· And
the closing verse repeats the Amen three times as well, ok?
Share
and sing the Gospel Doxology here
Now how did
that grab you: what was different about
this style of singing the Doxology?
· How
is it different from the old way? What
did it feel like as you were singing?
· And
what does it say about a congregation’s commitment to loving one another as
Christ loved us when we know how to sing and pray in different styles and even
different languages?
Conclusion
There is an old story about St. John the
Evangelist, the apostle whose gospel we read earlier, that says at the end of
his life he was constantly saying to his friends: Love one another, for the sake of Jesus,
love one another. And when they
got a little overwhelmed by his constant repeating of these words they asked
him, “Father, why do you keep going on and on about loving one another?” To which the old saint simply said, “The Lord
Jesus told me that this is the more important thing – to love one another as I
have loved you – and everything else is commentary.”
I believe we learn about God’s love best
not simply by watching Jesus share love in the gospel stories, but by loving
one another ourselves. In this we learn
how to become servants like Christ – how to listen and forgive – how to go the
extra mile and honor those who have been wounded and broken.
By practicing we also learn how to pick
up our Cross and follow in obedience when we’d really rather take an easier
road. And we learn how to die and let
God’s grace raise us up to new and everlasting life.
Every one of us needs help – and
training – and encouragement. Our songs
and prayers can be great allies, beloved, as they link heaven to earth and the
living to the dead. And the more we
practice and trust, the more we are able to experience that blessing that wipes
away every tear from our eyes. This is the good news for today for
those who have ears to hear.
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