FROM MEMORIAL TO FREEDOM DAY

On Memorial Day, a few weeks ago, we remembered fallen heroes. In a few short weeks we have gone from Memorial Day to Freedom Day. But even now, as July 4th is upon us, the nightly news keeps us painfully aware of our fallen heroes. There may be one or more that each of us knew personally, either from as far back as World War Two or from more current conflicts. I'm sure that we all agree that the fallen heroes deserve to be remembered.

In 1915, Moina Michael, inspired by the poem, "In Flanders Field," contributed a short poem that led to wearing poppies in honor of those who died:

We cherish too the Poppy red

That grows on fields where valor led.

It seems to signal to the skies

That blood of heroes never dies.

It is appropriate that we connect Memorial Day, with its remembrance of fallen heroes, to Independence Day and its celebration of freedom, primarily because there is a direct connection between fallen heroes and our freedom. The PBS Memorial Day broadcast from the Capital steps was all about fallen heroes. Tomorrow's broadcast on the 4th, also from the Capital steps, will be all about celebration, freedom, and victory, capped off with brilliant fireworks.

For us who call ourselves Christians, it is particularly appropriate that we gather at the communion table today and focus on a fallen hero whose life was given in the greatest battle ever fought, and whose blood, as the poem says, "never dies." Every human war ever fought is simply a microcosm of the deeper, greater spiritual war that goes on behind the scenes. As Paul says in Ephesians 6:12, "Our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the ... spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places." We are still engaged in this struggle and we come today to remember and to celebrate the fallen hero who won the decisive battle.

It's been said that every war has a decisive battle. In the Second World War the decisive battle came on D Day and the successful invasion of France. While many battles were yet to be fought, the war was essentially won at that time. There were many fallen heroes on the beach whose sacrifice ultimately led to victory.

Crucifixion day, with its decisive battle, and Resurrection day, with its ultimate victory, go together. Our hero fell, but rose again, enabling Paul to say in Romans 5:10, "If while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled shall we be saved by his life." Reconciled by his death ... saved by his life! Death and all of this world's sin and evil met its match on Calvary when Jesus Christ became our fallen and then our risen hero. Now, at this table, we celebrate the freedom that was won for us by Him.

Out of Sight, Out of Mind

After her hip surgery and during the nearly three weeks that Frances was in the hospital and the rehabilitation facility I was home alone. There were several things that I had to remember. Turn off the stove, turn down the heat at night, lock the doors and, when I left the house, take the cell phone. I often forget to take it. To help me remember I moved it from its usual place to one where I would be sure to see it. With me the old cliche is true: out of sight, out of mind.

All too often a great natural disaster occurs, like hurricane Katrina, the Haiti earthquake, or the Japan earthquake and tsunami. For a time our national media keeps it before us. Right now our attention is focused on Joplin. But, as time goes by, the media turn to other events. Not everyone forgets, but with many of us it is true: out of sight, out of mind.

If you come to church from West 11th as I do, you turn at the corner on Bertleson where a drunken driver killed several people a few years ago. It was a terrible tragedy and for a long time flower memorials were placed there to remind us. Some are still there but not as many and not as obvious. Usually I don't see them and consequently I don't remember. Out of sight, out of mind.

In 1984 Frances and I had the privilege of visiting St Michael's Cathedral in Coventry, England. The Cathedral is a magnificent, modern building. On the front is a sculpture of St Michael defeating the devil. As you walk into the building from either side you cannot help but see the ruins of the original building that was destroyed by bombs in World War Two. They have left the shell of the original building for all to see. Also, once inside the Cathedral a glass wall with inscribed figures of historical Christians allows you to see the ruins.

As you stand in the ruins your eye is drawn to the charred, ugly cross behind the altar. Someone picked through the rubble of the bombed out ruins and used some blackened pieces of wood to form a crude cross. The bombing occurred on Nov 14, 1943. Only six months later, on Christmas day, the BBC invited Provost Howard to lead a Christmas broadcast from the ruins of the Cathedral. In his message he said, "With Christ born in our hearts today, we are trying, hard as it may be, to banish all thoughts of revenge ... We are going to try to make a kinder, simpler, a more Christ-child-like sort of world in the days beyond this strife."

After the war, as an act of reconciliation the German people collected offerings and paid for the windows in the new Cathedral. Also, a reconciliation statue, titled "Forgiveness", was placed within the ruins. All of these, the new Cathedral, the ruins, the statue and the cross, are visible reminders of the reconciliation found in Christ. We need such visual reminders because it is certainly true -- if it's out of sight, its out of mind.

And so it is with these simple elements, a table that says, "do this in remembrance of me," a piece of bread, a cup of grape juice, the words, "this is my body," and "this is my blood of the covenant." All of this, so simple and yet so important, keep alive and fresh our memory of the sacrifice of Christ on our behalf.

AND THEY SANG A HYMN

Matthew says, "And they sang a hymn and went out to the Mount of Olives."

We are singing creatures. We have songs for everything; songs about life and death, hopes and dreams, tragedies, failures -- you name it and there is a song for it.

Near the beginning of the bible, back thousands of years ago in Israel's early history, they experienced God's mighty power when the Red Sea parted and they walked to safety on dry land. Exodus 14:31 says, "When the people of Israel saw the mighty power that the Lord had unleashed against the Egyptians, they were filled with awe before Him." So how did they respond? They broke into song: "I will sing to the Lord for he has triumphed gloriously; ... the Lord is my strength and my song; he has given me the victory." It was called "The Song of Moses."

Near the end of the Bible, through the eyes of John in Revelation 15, as we look toward the end of time, we see with him all of the people who had been victorious over the beast. They too, says John, are singing The Song of Moses and the Song of the Lamb.

In the middle of the Bible is a Psalm that links the Songs of Moses and of the Lamb with our lives. In our Bibles Psalm 66 has this simple inscription: "A Psalm. A Song." In its early verses it refers to Israel's crossing through the Red Sea and goes on to say, "we went through fire and blood, but you brought us to a place of great abundance." One scholar translates it: "you have brought us back to life." This Psalm was well known in Jesus' day because it was used by the Jews at various times during Passover week.

The early Christians continued to use it. Because it talks about passing from defeat to victory, from death to life, the early church added a word it its inscription in the Greek version, the word anastasis, which means "resurrection." They called it "A Song of Resurrection" and applied it to the victory we have in Christ who was raised from the dead.

I say all of this to raise a question. In Matthew's description of the Passover meal, what we call the Lord's Supper, after Jesus spoke of the bread as His body and the cup as the new covenant in His blood, Matthew concludes: "They sang a hymn and went out to the Mount of Olives." (26:30). What hymn did they sing? Since Psalm 66 was often used during Passover week, could that be what they sang? We don't know, of course, but I like to think that Jesus led them in singing about the mighty power of God and His victory through Jesus Christ over sin and death, which we celebrate at the Lord's Table.

About Being Solvent

May I ask a rather impertinent question? Are you solvent? A lot of businesses, families, and even governments today are not solvent, although I am sure that all want to be. The first meaning of the term is that one is able to pay all legal debts, and we all want that.

I began thinking about this word when I read a meditation on Psalm 38 and was struck by the author's statement: "sin is the great solvent of our relationships" (Reardon, Christ in the Psalms). My use if the term just now and his are quite different. My curiosity about the differences led me to the dictionary where I discovered two meanings which appear to be unrelated. One is the ability to pay debts. The other says that a solvent is a substance that dissolves another substance. I wondered, how can those two definitions be related? They appear to be very different.

This question brought me back to Psalm 38 where David is sadly confessing that his sin had separated him from his family and from his God. Sin, like a great solvent, dissolves and destroys relationships. One time Frances had one of the old mercury filled thermometers break in her hand. The mercury rolled out across her fingers, contacted her gold wedding ring, and dissolved much of it. That's what sin does to our relationships. It destroys that which is valuable and precious -- our relationship with spouse, children, friend, or God. And much more.

But there is a positive side to a solvent. In many cases, it cleanses in the act of dissolving. Whether it is paint in a brush or tar on your car, a good solvent will remove it. And so it is with our sin -- a good solvent will dissolve the sin and cleanse us. Thus, we read in 1 John 1:7, "If we walk in the light as he is in the light ... the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin." And we hear Jesus at the last supper say, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood, shed for the remission of sins."

Now I know the connection between the two definitions of the word "solvent" -- at least in a spiritual sense. Our debts have been covered and our sins removed through the sacrifice of Christ. We are right with God again. In His eyes we are solvent, all because of the sin-cleansing blood of Christ.

Perfection Required and Made Possible

People with perfect pitch flinch when they hear something just a little off key.

A perfectionist about appearance will let every stray hair or a single wrinkle make him or her feel uncomfortable.

A skilled wood worker, creating an intricate inlaid pattern on a table top, will not tolerate even one mis-aligned piece.

The crew of a NASA flight to the moon would be very put out if there were the slightest mis-calculation in their trajectory. It would mean sending them into outer space with no hope of return.

If I were preparing a three egg omelet for dinner I might think that one rotten egg out of three is OK. After all, two out of three is not bad, is it? I'm afraid my wife would not find it acceptable.

And yet that's what we do with God. We bring him a life that is only a little bit out of tune, only slightly off course, only a little rotten, and we expect Him to accept it. We humans tend to tolerate imperfection in the lives of others because that's all we ever get. We don't expect people to be perfect. we would have no fellowship at all if we insisted that everyone qualify by a life of perfection.

But when it comes to being right with God perfection is required. Revelation 21 describes heaven and verse 7 says clearly, "nothing unclean will be there." Perfection is required. So what are we to do?

If anyone faced this problem the Christians in Corinth did. Of all the churches seen in the New Testament the Corinthian church seemed to have more than it's share of serious sinners. In chapter 6 Paul acknowledges this. He lists some serious, deadly sins that they were guilty of, saying that those who do these things would not inherit the kingdom of God. But then he adds in verse 11, "and such were some of you. But you were washed, you were made holy, you were made right with God in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God."

Here at this table, we stand as imperfect, unclean people made perfect and clean in Christ. Paul put it this way in 2 Corinthians 5:21, "For God made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him."

For this reason we remember Him who, in the upper room, said, "this is my body given for you," and "this is my blood" shed for you. In Him is our righteousness.

THE LORD'S SUPPER AND BAPTISM

I want to discuss the connection between the Lord's Supper and baptism but let me begin with a story. When I was a student at Northwest Christian College there was an informal, unofficial theological debating society that we called simply the "radiator club." Just inside the front door of the main building is a radiator and students would gather there, especially on cold days. Whoever showed up had a good time discussing and answering all of the big biblical and theological problems of the day. One of the questions sometimes debated was, "when is the cleansing blood of Christ applied to a sinner's life?"

First John 1:7 says: "If we are living in the light, as God is in the light, then we have fellowship with each other, and the blood of Jesus His Son, cleanses us from all sin." John seems to be saying that when we live in accordance with God's revelation, his light, we are brought into fellowship with each other and it is within this fellowship that we experience the cleansing power of the blood of Christ. But, is there a specific time or action in which this happens? What is it, precisely, that brings us into this fellowship and at the same time cleanses us from sin?

Before he became the Apostle Paul, Saul learned the answer to this question in a most dramatic fashion. On the road to Damascus to find and persecute Christians he was suddenly blinded by a powerful light and heard Jesus ask him, "why are you persecuting me?" They led him into the city and Ananias, one of the Christians he had come to persecute, was sent by the Lord to explain things to him. Ananias concluded by saying, "Now why do you delay? Get up and be baptized and wash away your sins, calling on his name." Ananias was saying to him, in baptism you can experience the cleansing power of Jesus' blood. In doing so he also entered the fellowship of those people called Christians.

Later, he reflected on the meaning of baptism in Romans 6:2-3 when he wrote: "How shall we who died to sin still live in it? Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into his death?"

But baptism is only the beginning. In First John, John is writing to people who have been Christians for a long time. He recognizes that sin is powerful. It can smear and pollute the best of us and all need cleansing, more than once. If we claim that we do not sin, he says, we are liars. How is it then that being within the fellowship of those who walk in the light provides the opportunity to experience the cleansing power of Jesus' blood?

Again, Paul can help us. In 1 Corinthians 10:16 he says, "Is not the cup of blessing which we bless a sharing in the blood of Christ? Is not the bread which we break a sharing in the body of Christ?"

Baptism and the Lord's Supper are connected by the blood of Jesus. The initial cleansing of sin and entering into the fellowship takes place in baptism, an act of faith. The continued fellowship and cleansing occurs at the communion table. To be sure, there may well be other times and actions in which we experience the cleansing of Christ, but at the very least we can experience it both in baptism and in the Lord's Supper.

ADVENT: A TIME TO PREPARE

A promise was made by ancient prophets: the Lord's anointed, the one who would save his people, would be born as a child. And so Israel waited and hoped and lived "in the meantime." Finally, the time came but they were not as prepared to recognize him. As John said, "he came to his own, but his own did not receive him."

On this first Sunday of Advent we too are living "in the meantime." The word "advent" is from the Latin and means 'coming to.' Advent is that time when we focus on the promise of Christ coming to the world. Or perhaps it would be more accurate to say it is that time when we prepare to celebrate the birth of Christ. It is not a passive waiting. It is time to prepare.

A lot of preparation is needed when a baby is expected. Equipment and supplies must be purchased, perhaps a room redecorated, and other physical preparations made. More importantly, Mom and Dad need to prepare mentally and emotionally. Then, when the time is right, the baby comes.

It seems that even God had to prepare for the birth of His son. Galatians 4:4-5 says: "When the right time came, God sent His son, born of a woman ... to buy freedom for us ... so that he could adopt us as his very own children." Notice the first words: "when the right time came." It implies a time of preparation.

God worked in history so that it was the right time in many ways for Christ to come. Politically, the Mediterranean world was united and at peace, thanks to the Roman Empire. One language, Greek, was spoken everywhere making it possible to preach the Gospel to many people groups. The Romans built roads for their armies which made it easy for missionaries to travel. Also, the old gods had lost their power and attraction leaving people hungry for a savior. It was the right time -- the world was ready.

I wonder if God, the Father, also had to prepare himself? He knew what would happen. He knew how badly this sin-sick, Satan-enslaved world needed his son. And he knew what it would cost to buy our freedom. Perhaps God was always ready, but I can't help feeling that the Father not only prepared the world but also prepared Himself so that "when the time was right, God sent his Son, born of a woman ... to buy freedom for us ... so that he could adopt us as his very own children."

In this Advent season we can prepare for the coming of the Christ child by remembering why he came -- to buy our freedom -- and how much it cost. It is why we come to this table and remember how the Lord Himself took the bread, broke it and said, 'this is my body, given for you.' And the cup also, saying, 'this cup is the new covenant in my blood poured out for the forgiveness of sins.'