THE GREATEST THING WE CAN DO FOR ANOTHER. So Brenda and I were on vacation for two weeks. Did you miss us? Did you notice

Transcription

1 THE GREATEST THING WE CAN DO FOR ANOTHER TEXT: Psalm 146; Luke 7:11-17 So Brenda and I were on vacation for two weeks. Did you miss us? Did you notice we were gone? I still remember coming back from a trip and encountering a little boy here at church, he was so warm and friendly, and I was warm and friendly, we were like two long-lost friends. But when I turned to leave, out of the corner of my eye I saw him turn to his mother and say, Who was that? So we never like to be gone too long. This one preacher I knew used to mention Harry, who was gone for a while to Atlantic City. And Harry got home and ran into a friend who said, We missed you Harry. Where ve you been? And Harry said Atlantic City. And his friend said, Did you eat at Hackney s Restaurant? And Harry said no, he didn t eat at Hackney s Restaurant. And his friend said, But everybody who goes to Atlantic City eats at Hackney s Restaurant. And Harry ran into another friend, We missed you Harry. Where ve you been? And Harry said Atlantic City. And his friend said, Did you eat salt water taffy? And Harry said no, he didn t eat salt water taffy. But everyone who goes to Atlantic City eats salt water taffy. He ran into a third friend, Did you get driven along the boardwalk in one of those bicycle chairs? And Harry says no, he didn t get driven along the boardwalk. But everyone who goes to Atlantic City gets driven along the boardwalk in one of those bicycle chairs. Well, Harry meets a fourth friend who says, We missed you Harry. Where ve you been? And Harry says, I ain t been nowhere, and I ain t seen nothing. We may have pre-conceived notions about what a trip should be, but often it s the surprise, the unanticipated, that is most meaningful and memorable. We were in London and other parts of England. And one day in London, Brenda was at the Chelsea Flower

2 Show with her step-mother (she went with us), and I walked around London. I put 25,000 steps on my pedometer. I love walking around a big city, you re never sure what s around the next corner. And near St. Paul s Cathedral, and near where John Wesley had his conversion experience, there is a little park, called Postmans Park, a quiet little space in the midst of a teeming, noisy city. This park is kind of famous because a few critical scenes from the movie Closer, ten or twelve years ago, with Julia Roberts and Natalie Portman and Jude Law, were filmed here. And the distinctive feature of the park is a memorial built in 1900 by a famous artist of the day, George Frederic Watts, called A Commemoration of Heroic Self-Sacrifice. The heroic efforts of men, women and children, mostly during the late Victorian era, who lost their lives saving someone else, in many cases people they didn t even know, are commemorated on tiles displayed on this wall in this park. They saved others from drowning or fire or from accidents of all kinds. One minute, these were ordinary, everyday people, minding their own business, and the next they are diving heroically into dangerous waters or running into burning buildings or throwing themselves in front of horses that are out of control. A Commemoration of Heroic Self-Sacrifice. We honor our heroes today, men and women in the military, those who, in whatever situation they find themselves, save a life, sacrifice themselves. One minute they are just living their lives and the next, they re doing something heroic. And what you almost always hear them say is, I m no hero. I was just doing what needed to be done. I was just doing what anybody would do. Ordinary, everyday people, doing what needed to be done. We may never be put in a situation like that. Do you ever wonder: could I do that? I don t know if I could do that. Could I sacrifice myself like that? Not everyone is called on to make that kind of sacrifice. But I believe that every one of us is called on to be a kind of 2

3 hero in a different way, to make a sacrifice of ourselves for another person in another way. It may be a sacrifice that is very small on our part, it may take very little effort, but it may have a profound effect on another. To offer a word of encouragement, for example, we may not even realize how desperate that other person is, how much he or she may need just a word, it will make all the difference. To say a prayer for another, to let them know you re there, you re with them, they can count on you. To believe in someone, to build them up, to help get them on their feet or turn them around. There s a wonderful story about the great pianist Paderewski. He was giving a concert and the mother of a little boy who was taking piano lessons wanted to encourage her son, so she took him to this concert by the great Paderewski. And their seats were near the front, and the little boy just sat there before the concert in wide-eyed amazement at this majestic grand piano on stage. And while the mother was distracted talking to someone, the little boy slipped away and got up on stage. So as the lights dimmed and the spotlight lit the piano, there he was, her little boy, picking out the tune Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star. Others began pointing and saying, What s he doing? and Get him off the stage. But before the mother could get up there and retrieve her son, Paderewski heard the commotion and came out and moved over to the piano. He leaned over the boy and whispered, Keep playing, don t quit, and then he reached with his left hand and right around the boy and began playing something in perfect harmony with Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star. And all the while he whispered in the little boy s ear, Keep going, don t stop, you re doing great, don t quit. And together they mesmerized the crowd. To fill your life and your language for another with words of hope and promise and potential. These words in Psalm 146 are full of hope and promise and potential: The Lord 3

4 sets the prisoner free and opens the eyes of the blind and lifts up those who are bowed down. When this was written, the people of Israel were quite literally prisoners of a foreign power, their vision of the future was absolutely limited and uncertain, they had no idea what would happen to them, and they were bowed down before their enemies. But they spoke and sang words of confidence that the Lord will set you free and give you a future and lift you up. As we think about those words today, we might think that to set the prisoner free is to help someone overcome an addiction maybe, or help them face up to a life that is the result of so many bad decisions and so many unhealthy habits. To feel trapped or confined or imprisoned, with no way out. How did my life end up like this? To open the eyes of the blind may be to help give someone a vision of what is possible for their life, to help reveal a future that might yet be. To lift someone up out of the gloom and despair and hopelessness and death of a life that is going nowhere. To be set free, to be given a future, to be lifted up. Someone has said that every human being you know, including us ourselves, is making a request of those around them, though it usually goes unspoken, and that request goes something like this: Motivate me. Call out the best in me. Believe in me. Encourage me when I m tempted to quit. Speak truth to me and remind me of my deepest values. Help me achieve my greatest potential. Tell me again what God called me to be, what I might yet be. God s greatest gift to us is to lift us up to new life. And the greatest thing we can do for another is to share that gift, to do everything we can to help lift others into new life. As I was thinking about the end of the school year and graduations and all that, I remembered a story about a fifth grade teacher by the name of Miss Thompson (no 4

5 relation) who had a student whose name was Teddy Stollard. Teddy was troubled and a poor student. His mother had died when he was young, and now he lived with his aunt who didn t really want him. At Christmas, all the other students brought in gifts for Miss Thompson beautifully wrapped by their parents. Teddy s was in a brown paper bag, sloppily taped together; he obviously wrapped it himself. In it was a rhinestone bracelet with most of the stones missing, and an almost empty bottle of perfume. The other children laughed, and Miss Thompson almost laughed, but caught herself and said ass she snapped the bracelet on, Isn t it lovely class? And doesn t the perfume smell good? After school, Teddy approached her shyly and said, I m glad you liked my gifts, Miss Thompson. All day long you smelled like my mother. And her bracelet looked nice on you, too. After he left, Miss Thompson sat there and thought about this. It weighed on her more than ever as a teacher, this awesome responsibility she had for her students, for Teddy. She prayed that God would help her to see the potential that God sees in each of her students. She renewed her efforts with her students. She tutored those who needed extra help, especially Teddy. By the end of the year, he had caught up with most of his classmates and was ahead of some. After that year, she didn t hear from him for a while. Then one day, she received a note: Dear Miss Thompson, I wanted you to be the first to know I am graduating from high school, and I am second in my class. Love, Teddy Stollard. Four years later came another note: Dear Miss Thompson, I wanted you to be the first to know I am graduating first in my class. The university has not been easy, but I liked it. Love, Teddy Stollard. Four years after that, there was another note: Dear Miss Thompson, I wanted you to be the first to know that as of today I am Theodore J. Stollard, 5

6 M.D. How about that? I want you to come sit where my mother would have sat, because you re the nearest thing to family that I ve had. Love, Teddy Stollard. To speak a word of encouragement, to whisper a prayer, to believe in someone, to plant a seed of hope deep in the life of another person, it s the greatest thing we can do for another, with God s help, to set a prisoner free, to give sight to the blind, to lift up someone s life. A sermon by R. Duane Thompson Christ United Methodist Church Bethel Park, Pennsylvania June 4-5,