Hartcourt Companies (fka HRCT)

[1moodyblue]

!!! THIS MESSAGE OF FAITH TELLS IT ALL FOR NEIL ARMSTRONG.

Persistence in Faith
8/18/2002

Click to Print

Twentieth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Deacon Rick Lapierre

There was once a fifteen-year old boy growing up in Ohio. His dream was always to become an airplane pilot and he was taking flying lessons at the little airport near his home. One day as he and his father were driving by the airport, he spotted a plane having difficulty practicing takeoffs and landings when suddenly the plane spun out of control, went into a nosedive and crashed into the ground. The boy and his father raced to the crash site and pulled the young pilot from the plane. He died as the boy and his father waited for help. It was especially traumatic for the boy because he knew the student pilot who died.

The boy spend the next two days in his room pondering this event, asking God why, why did this young man whom he knew have to die at such an early age. His mother brought him his meals, but his parents left him alone, wrestling with the trauma of growing from an adolescent into an adult. They wondered if he would continue his flying lessons, upon which he had spent all of his hard-earned money.

On the third day, his mother brought him some cookies and she noticed his opened notebook. Across the top of the page was written, "The Character of Jesus" and below that he had written, "Jesus was sinless, he championed for the poor, he was unselfish, he was close to God." The mother was proud that in this dark hour her son had heeded the lessons of childhood and turned to Jesus for the answers to the questions he had. She asked her son what he had decided about whether or not to continue his flying lessons. The boy looked into his mother's eyes and said, "Mom, I hope you and Dad will understand, but with God's help, I must continue to fly."

On July 20th, 1969, we watched Neil Armstrong become the first human being to walk on the moon. What most of us didn't know as we watched was that it was Neil Armstrong's faith in Jesus and the power of God, that gave him the strength to make such a crucial decision as a teenager, and that enabled him to make such an historical feat.

I would love to stand here this morning and tell you that living the life of a follower of Jesus Christ is without risk, without pain. But it's not. All of us here are struggling with the issues of relationships, health, suffering, death. It doesn't go away. When my Dad died in March, I told myself that now that my two parents had died I wouldn't have to face that trauma again, but life continues and I watch as others I know go into the end of the earthly lives. And my pain is renewed as I relive my own experiences, as I share with my friends whose parents are reaching the end of their time here on earth.

The journey, my brothers and sisters, is not without its costs. But we are all here this morning because we seek help in this journey. We recognize, as Neil Armstrong did, that God walks the journey with us, that He has sent his Son Jesus to pay the price for our sins and show us the Way to Him. We want to follow Him, even to the cross. And it's because we recognize that it is Jesus who is the Way, and the Truth, and the Life.

It is this truth about Jesus that the Canaanite woman in the gospel recognized as well. It is obvious that by the tone of her pleading that she had tried everything to have her daughter rid of the demon, but without success. The stories of Jesus and His power had spread well beyond the boundaries of Galilee where Jesus was ministering. She knew that only God could bring about the healing she sought for her daughter and was not shy about asking Jesus, who preached the coming of God into the world, to intercede for her. Her persistence in the face of Jesus' initially ignoring her and then even insulting her is a testimony to her incredible faith. Do you hear the weariness in her voice as when she is being sent away by Jesus she says, "Lord, help me"? It is clear that Jesus is expecting her to pack it in, when she finds the strength to spar with Jesus. And Jesus is clear that the outcome for her daughter is really due to her faith in the recognition of God's Way.

And we too continue to seek out the power of God in our own lives. The journey is sometimes long and strewn with potholes. The anti-God culture of the world ridicules the commandments God has laid down for us. This worldliness mocks our religion as old fashioned and rejoices at the failures of some of our members. It publicizes with large headlines the sins of the few and ignores the good works of the majority. We cannot help but despair and come into the house of our Father and cry out, "Lord, help me."

And in the quiet, away from the turmoil caused by sin and evil, we hear once again Jesus tell us, "How great is your faith. Let it be done for you as you wish."

I would like to end here, but the reality is that there is one further truth to face. Knowing that God is present often does not make life easier, only full of meaning. I would like to close with the story of two prophets. Robert Mansfield was a white school headmaster in South Africa quite a few years ago. He would take his white students to play athletics with the black school until finally ordered not to do so by the government. And so he resigned in protest of apartheid. Shortly thereafter Emmanuel Nene, a leader of the black community, visited him. When asked by the black man why he had done such a noble thing, Mansfield said, "I resigned because I think it is time to go out and fight everything that separates people from one another." Nene pointed out to him that this decision would make him unpopular. He told him, "You are going to get wounded, do you know that?" Mansfield shook his ahead affirmatively. Nene volunteered to go the journey with him and Mansfield pointed out to him that he would probably be wounded as well. Nene said, "I don't worry about the wounds. When I get up there, which is my intention, the Big Judge will say to me 'Where are your wounds?'. If I say, 'I don't have any', he will say 'Was there nothing to fight for?'. I couldn't face that question."

I have to ask myself, can I face that question? Can you?