In the message last Sunday
I spoke about the need, the very real need of people,
to have the goodness of life and the presence of God affirmed.
And I introduced the message by speaking about “affirmations,”
the affirmations we read together at the beginning of our services
most Sunday mornings. I said …
“To affirm means ‘to assert strongly’ … ‘to make a formal declaration.’
To affirm is to say ‘yes’ in this instance, to the faith we hold to.
And I said that
“As I have thought about it,
it seems to me that as meaningful as those affirmations are,
and as much as we are able to say, with believing hearts,
that this is true for us,
an affirmation, after all, is only words.
“The greater affirmation isn’t in what we say:
the greater affirmation is in what we do after we say, ‘I believe.’
“The greater affirmation for those whose lives touch ours
isn’t found in what they hear from us
but in what we see in us and experience from us.”
So what are the needs, the very real needs, people have?
In a world where everything changes,
as everything does,
we need something, someone, which is constant ~
like the rising of the sun and the dependability of the seasons.
In a broken world where so much breaks the heart
and where so much breaks the spirit,
we need something, someone, to mend us.
In a desperate world where people long for hope …
in a crying world where people long for comfort …
in a wounded world where people long for healing …
we need something,
someone, to hold us … to lift us.
In a world where people long to be loved
even as they long for all of the gifts that love brings with it,
we need something, someone, to love us.
I think everyone is looking for a song ~ faith’s song ~
sung loud and clear by God’s people.
Robert Benson wrote …
There has to be a song -
There are too many dark nights,
too many troublesome days,
too many wearisome miles,
There has to be a song -
To make our burdens bearable,
To make our hopes believable,
To transform our successes into praise,
To release the chains of past defeats,
Somewhere – deep down in a forgotten corner of each (person’s)
heart –
There has to be a song -
Like a cool, clear drink of water,
Like the gentle warmth of sunshine,
Like the tender love of a child,
There has to be a song.
So let us listen to the songs faith’s people have sung …
let us see the affirmations of their lives, after they have said, “I believe.”
You may not know of a man named Dr. Bob Pierce.
With all that has transpired in Haiti over the past couple of weeks
his song of faith sings volumes to those who might think that
the sea (of a problem) is so big and their boat (the boat of their life) is so small.
With the glad welcoming of little children to Canada by adoptive parents
who want to give these little ones their hearts and their homes and a chance,
their songs and his song of faith sings volumes about hope.
Bob Pierce died of leukemia years ago.
But when he came to the end of his life
he had pride behind him
and love around him
and hope ahead of him.
Why?
It all began in Amoy, China, in 1957,
when a missionary came to Dr. Pierce
with an eleven-year-old child.
“Take her,” she told him.
“I have four adopted children of my own
and I can’t take another one.
You want to be a minister?
You want to be a missionary?
You want to do something?
Here, feed and clothe this little girl.”
And he did.
Welcomed this eleven-year old into his heart … into his home.
But it did something to his heart.
It moved him to do something glorious.
That moment was the beginning of what turned out to be Bob Pierce’s great ministry
his answer to the question ~ “You want to do something?”
He became the founder of World Vision
which today serves and saves millions of needy people all over the world,
including the hurting people of Haiti.
If ever one needed an affirmation
of hope in a hopeless world
and the capacity of the human spirit to care,
and in the caring, to do something wonderful,
all they had to do was look at this man
who took in one little girl
and let his light shine as a beacon of hope.
I have told this sweet story before.
Andrea says she knows all of my stories
because I tell them so many times.
I do, sometimes.
And they are worth the retelling.
I had an uncle, Uncle John Posno, my father’s brother,
who was a minister in the Presbyterian Church.
He had served as a missionary in China with the late Rev. Doug Muir
years before Dr. Bob Pierce was there.
When my Uncle John attended Knox College in Toronto
he was the weekend supply minister
to the little Presbyterian Church in Cookstown.
He related this incident to my mother many years ago
about a time when he was a young minister … and struggling.
One day the youngest of his three daughters,
now attending kindergarten, came home from school.
She was in tears.
Her dad was sitting in an armchair in the living room
and when she came into the house in tears
he gestured for her to come to him,
so she crawled up into his lap and was held close
as he enfolded her in his arms.
He asked her why the tears.
And she told him that some of the kids at school
had called her Raddegy Anne …
had made fun of the clothes she was wearing …
had called her poor …
because she wore hand me-down-clothes
her older sisters had worn:
hems up … hems down …
seams in … seams out.
They had wounded her.
She didn’t understand.
What little five-year-old
would understand such meanness?
He had asked “Why the tears?” … and she told him.
And then she asked what, for a little girl,
would have been the most obvious question:
“Daddy, are we poor?”
And as he looked into her sad little eyes,
he held her even closer, and said,
“No, honey, we’re not poor. We just don’t have a lot of money.”
What is the measure of wealth?
Is it the clothes we wear?
Is it the house we live in?
Is it the car we drive?
Is it the money we have in the bank?
Is it any of these things,
as necessary and as important as they are,
which truly make us wealthy?
At the end of the day, all that is left is love.
It was on the safety of a daddy’s knee
and in the security of a daddy’s embrace
that a little girl discovered how rich she was.
It was love that was remembered.
It is love that heals and helps …
that inspires and encourages …
that gives us a place …
that lets us know we belong …
that, more than anything else,
values us
and gives us value.
If ever one needed an affirmation
of what is really important at the end of the day
and the power of love,
all they had to do was look at this man
with his arms wrapped around his little girl as she sat on his knee
who let his light shine for love of her.
Years ago, when I was young in my ministry,
I visited a woman in the hospital
the night before she was to have major surgery.
She was not a young woman, although she was young in spirit.
She was in her early 80’s
and her surgery was complicated, and risky, but necessary.
The night I visited, after finding my way to her room,
I found her sitting in an armchair by a window
so I walked over, gave her a kiss, and pulled up a chair and sat next to her.
We talked of many things and then I asked her how she was
and if she was ready, in here, for her surgery the next day.
Her answer was simple, straightforward, and breathtaking. This is what she said …
“Dennis, 40 years ago I faced major surgery.
The night before the surgery I knelt down beside my bed
and I prayed to my heavenly Father ~
‘Lord, if I should live
then I thank you for life which is your gift to me.
And if I should die
then I thank you for eternal life which is your promise to me.’”
And then she said …
“Dennis, I’ve prayed that same prayer tonight, more than 40 years later.
I don’t know what will happen, but I am not afraid,
because I know that whether I live or whether I die
my life is in the hands of God and there’s no better place for my life to be.
Well, she came through her surgery
and she lived the abundant life for many years …
and now she has gained eternal life
and lives in the nearer presence of God.
It was Harry Emerson Fosdick who wrote …
Fear imprisons, faith liberates;
fear paralyzes, faith empowers;
fear disheartens, faith encourages;
fear sickens, faith heals;
fear makes useless, fear makes serviceable ~
and most of all,
fear puts hopelessness at the heart of life,
while faith rejoices in its God.
If ever one needed an affirmation
of those words come to life, where
faith has liberated and empowered and encouraged and healed
and transformed hopelessness into rejoicing …
if ever one needed a sign of faith ringing true,
all they had to do was look at this woman
kneeling beside a hospital bed,
and with a thankful heart
letting her light shine
as she entrusted her life and eternity to God.
She knew that in life and in death and in life beyond death
God was with her
and she was not alone.
And a final story about pure joy.
At a baptism meeting a couple of weeks ago
some of the moms and dads brought along their children.
There was a sweet baby there, a little girl named Mallory
who will be baptized in a few weeks.
She was dressed in a pretty dress and propped up against the couch
the first baby of a young Collier couple whose hearts were swelled
with love for her.
And there was a little girl there, Taylor, who is cute as a button ~
a happy, smiling little girl, the big sister of Alexis.
Alexis is her wee sister,
the second child of another Collier couple.
Alexis is not so wee, really.
I baptized her last Sunday as her proud parents stood by
and as she attempted to rearrange my face.
And there was a little boy there named Logan,
the first child of yet another Collier couple.
He’s 2 ½ years old …
cute, funny, outgoing, happy, talkative.
After the meeting, as everyone was leaving,
I noticed that this little guy, held in his mom’s arms,
still chatting and smiling,
was wearing a Toronto maple Leafs toque.
I look at him and asked:
“Logan, are you a Leafs fan?”
He looked at his dad and his dad said, “What do you say, Logan?”
And with his fist raised high, he cheered, “Go Leafs Go. Go Leafs Go.”
It was a gloriously joyful moment … whether you were a Leaf’s fan or not.
You certainly would have been a fan of his little guy.
How did the Psalmist put it?
“From the lips of children and infants you have ordained praise.” (Psalm 8:2a)
Or as Leslie Brant paraphrases it:
“Even the babbling of infants
and the laughter of children
spell out Your name in indefinable syllables.”
If ever one needed an affirmation
of the beautiful possibilities of life
and of pure joy …
if ever one needed an affirmation
of the wonder and sweetness of innocence,
amidst all of the things that can make us cynical about life,
all they had to do was look at this little boy
with his “Go Leafs Go” cheer ~
one little life that lit up the second floor of our church.
It was Jesus, whose own life lit up the world,
who said to people like you and me:
“You are the light of the world …
let your light shine before others
that they may see your good deeds
and praise your Father in heaven.”
You are!
So let your light shine.
Let it become a glorious affirmation of the presence of God.
Let your life shine.
Let it be an affirmation, not in words but in deeds,
of the loving heart that God has for everyone.
Let it shine!
SOLI DEO GLORIA
SCRIPTURE
Matthew 5:13-16 (New International Version)
13"You are the salt of the earth.
But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again?
It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled by men.
14"You are the light of the world.
A city on a hill cannot be hidden.
15Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl.
Instead they put it on its stand,
and it gives light to everyone in the house.
16In the same way, let your light shine before others,
that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.
