Proper 28 -- Year C -- November 17, 2013
Text: Psalm 98; Isaiah 65:17-25; 2 Thessalonians 3:6-13; Luke 21:5-19 Tinh Huynh+
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In the Name of God: the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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Have you ever asked yourself why you go to church on Sunday?
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When I asked the youth in the confirmation class the same question,
one of them said he came to church because he wanted to worship God,
another said because she believed in God.
Then one said it was because their parents brought her to church.
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Do you agree with me that going to church is a habit?
It is in church that we learned to sing hymns.
It is in church that we learned the Bible stories,
the creeds, the confession of sins and the prayers.
It is in church that we learned to know how a wedding is celebrated,
how a funeral is conducted,
how a person baptized and confirmed.
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It is in the Church that we learn to give,
to care for others,
and to have compassion on the needy.
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But, still, the question remains:
Why do we go to church on Sunday?
Could it be that church attending is a "culture" thing?
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The early Christian met in the synagogue in Jerusalem.
Their community started with the Jews and gentiles who believed in Jesus.
They held true that Jesus had risen from the dead,
and they claimed the experience of the coming of the Holy Spirit.
They were persecuted.
Dispersed into the different regions beyond the boundaries of Palestine,
they were persecuted by the Romans.
Many of them were killed, by humans and by the beasts in the arena.
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But then in the fourth century
Emperor Constantine became Christian.
As a result, everyone in the Roman Empire was baptized
to be part of the Christian Church.
Christianity is part of the culture of the West.
Missionaries from the West traveled eastward to preach the Gospel.
Many people in Asia and Africa were converted,
to accept Christ as their Savior.
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Why do we go to church?
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Jorden Benjamin and Tinh+, 11.17.2013
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When I was growing up,
being born into a Christian family,
and my father was a pastor,
I thought that my Vietnamese non-Christian friends were better off:
They did not have to pray at bedtime and meal time.
They did not have to pray when they woke up in the morning.
They did not have to go to church on Sunday,
never mind the nightly devotion time of the family.
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What is so good about church?
Many people of our time think church is not so relevant.
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When Paul wrote to the church in Thessalonica,
he was in a city far away from the friends he loved.
Thessalonica was once the capital of the Roman province of Macedonia. Paul visited the city and stayed there for a while in his second mission trip. The church in that city was among the early Christian communities that Paul established.
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In the letter, Paul worried about a heresy that had begun to spread among the early believers.
It taught that Jesus had already come back,
and that the last day would come in no time.
Did that heresy cause some Thessalonican Christians to stop working?
We don't know.
In the letter, Paul was frustrated with those in that church who did not work to support themselves.
We don't know how the people in the Thessalonian church lived together.
Did the haves share food and shelter the have-nots?
We don't know.
But Paul's words are quite harsh against those remaining being burdens to their brothers and sisters in Christ.
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Perhaps, in his letter, Paul wants to emphasize order in the life of the Christian.
If it were true that the people in that church supported each other and shared with each other,
then the presence of those "living in idleness, mere busybodies, not doing any work" should have been a
disorder in Paul's mind.
If it were so, we may say that what we can learn from today's Second Reading is order.
The life of the believer is about order.
Church life is about order.
In church we are reminded about order.
In church we learn to put things in our lives in order.
Indeed, in church we are constantly reminded about doing the right things.
Paul says, "Brothers and sisters, do not be weary about doing what is right."
Don't we often hear the saying,
"Couples that pray together stay together?"
In that case, the Church teaches that the right thing to do in all times is prayer. (*)
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There is an issue that is most challenging for us.
That issue is mortality.
This past month I had to deal with the losses of four people.
One of them is the death of a cousin of my wife.
The other are the deaths of the three members of Saint Patrick's.
All of those who died were dear to me.
Their deaths reminded me of my own.
Oftentimes I don't want to face the question of death.
I'd rather run away from it.
The fear of death is the worst fear of all.
Oftentimes such fear stays in the back of our minds
and takes control of our behavior, words and actions.
What help do we find in the Church
to deal with the question of mortality?
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The Church proclaims that Christ resurrected victorious from death.
The Church teaches us that whether we live or die
we are the Lord's.
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Some of us may be doubtful about the mystery of faith that the Church proclaims.
I, for one, don't really want to push aside the teaching,
even when I cannot prove it.
Yet, along with the many other believers, I say that
Christ has died.
Christ has risen.
Christ will come again.
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One of the bad things in life is mistrust.
It is awful if you cannot trust someone anymore.
If you cannot trust someone,
perhaps you can still believe that there may be someone else in the world who is trustworthy.
What about finding it impossible to perceive a God in whom you may put your trust?
What about not being able to trust in God's forgiveness?
What about being unable to imagine the existence of a God of loving-kindness?
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In church we constantly hear the message:
"Trust in God, who calls you beloved."
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Why do we go to church on Sunday?
Listen to the psalmist, who says,
"Shout with joy to the LORD,
all you lands;
Lift up your voice,
rejoice and sing!"
Do we hear those words from Monday to Saturday?
Yes, we can hear them,
if we practice reading scripture daily.
Read, mark, learn and inwardly digest the Word of God,
as the Church teaches us to do so.
This could also be what Paul meant as "the right thing."
This could also be what Paul meant as he spoke about "work."
Read, mark, learn and inwardly digest the Word of God is
the "work" of the soul.
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In church, we say the "Collect of the Day" on every Sunday.
As we say it, we hear the truths that it speaks to.
The collect that we said today
speaks about the study of scripture as Christian practice.
What it says may have caught our attention.
It reads, "... that we may embrace and ever hold fast
the blessed hope of everlasting life."
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It is because of the hope of everlasting life
that we come to church on Sunday.
Amen.
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(*) Marriage, for instance, demands work, and the teaching of the Church on such matter is beneficial to those heeding. The Book of Common Prayer, on page 423, speaks to the sacredness of the relationship, and states that "marriage is not to be entered into unadvisedly or lightly."
For those who happen to find their spouses difficult and painful, the church provides words that come handy in a prayer, which reads, "Give them wisdom and devotion in the ordering of their common life, that each of them may be to the other a strength in need, a counselor in perplexity, a comfort in sorrow, and a companion in joy." (BCP, 429)