Words from the Rector.

TRINITY SUNDAY June 3, 2012 (Sermon Short version)

The Rev. Canon Wayne F. Sanders+
Interim-Rector
+In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Some of you might have heard the true story about a couple that went to their local police department wanting to dispose of some ammunition. They handed the wooden box to the Officer and explained that it contained two bullets an Uncle had given them as souvenirs from WW II. "We didn't know what to do with these," the woman explained. "So all these years, we have kept them in the top drawer of the china cabinet, away from the children." The Officer assured them that he would dispose of the bullets safely. But when he took one of them out of the box the top came off, revealing a strange black substance. That was very suspicious he thought, then he removed the top of the other bullet and found a hard white substance. The officer was amused. The so-called bullets were in reality souvenir salt and pepper shakers. I am sure we have all seen similar looking objects in little tourist shops on our vacations. This couple had been afraid all those years of a harmless pair of salt and pepper shakers. Of course, they didn't know they were harmless. In their minds, they had imagined them to be much more dangerous. They thought they might explode at any time. It's funny how our minds can cause us so much discomfort, so much distress. Sometimes the results can be very disastrous. Almost 100 years ago, a French doctor named Emile Coue' said something quite profound: "When the will comes in conflict with the imagination, the imagination invariably carries the day." In other words, when your will---your rational, logical self---comes in conflict with your imagination--your creative, right brained self--your imagination always wins. Put simply, your imagination is the key. Case in point: A child is told there are no monsters under the bed---really--but when the lights go off, the childlike imagination runs wild.

Now lets apply this to our lives, by way of St. Paul's lesson from today's Scriptures. Are not most of our fears products of our imagination? There is no monster threatening us at the moment, but our imaginations are running wild, all the time. "What if I get sick?" "What if my child falls in with the wrong crowd?" "What if real estate values fall again or the stock markets crash again?" And on and on we go imagining one disaster after another. No wonder Christ counseled us to live one day at a time. Hey, today's a good day, Let's rejoice and be glad in it. Paul tells us in today's lesson from the epistle: "...those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons (daughters) of God. For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, "Abba, Father.' The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God's Children. Now if we are God's children, then we are heirs--heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory."

Paul is asking us to imagine ourselves as children of God. Of course, this isn't just our imagination. In Christ, we are indeed children of God. But in our minds, in our imagination, many of us have not accepted that truth. How would we walk if we thought of ourselves as God's own child? Wouldn't we walk with our shoulders thrown back and our chest sticking out, not out of pride, but out of confidence and assurance that we can handle whatever life may throw at us? This is so important. Many people live defeated lives, and it has to be because they do not know who they really are--God's own elect. And this truth complicates their life. In his book "Creative Suffering" the Swiss physician and counselor Paul Tournier recalls his surprise upon reading an article titled "Orphans Lead the World." The article, which appeared in a respected medical journal, surveyed for some common thread, the author discovered that all these leaders had grown up as orphans--either actually, through the death of or separation from parent, or emotionally, as result of severe childhood deprivation. His list included such names as Alexander the Great, Julius Caesar, Robespierre, George Washington, Napoleon, Queen Victoria, Golda Meir and many, many, more.

He himself was an orphan. "So there we are,"writes Tournier, "giving lectures on how important it is for a child's development to have a father and a mother performing harmoniously together their respective roles towards him. And all at once we find that this is the very thing that those who have been most influential in world history HAVE NOT HAD!"

Now, imagine that you are a child of the King of the universe. Nothing, therefore, in this world can defeat you. The events that occur each day, regardless of how painful they may be, are opportunities for you not only to build your fortune, perhaps, but also to build your character and your spiritual stature. Can you see how this could cause you to approach your difficulties differently? Stan tall. Be victorious. This is who you are. Of course, knowing that we are children of the King should make us more aware of our relationships with others. Paul writes, "Now if we are children we are heirs--heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory." How do we share in Christ's sufferings? We do so in love and compassion for our fellow co-heirs. We understand we are very special people. We are followers of the humble Galilean. And we live our lives as he would. In love and service to others. We are all God's children and we can handle anything by God's grace. Why? Because God is with us always.

+ In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Always in Christ,
Father Sanders+