Funeral - Darrell

Funeral – Darrell Altman

February 24, 2008

Perhaps I ought to offer a few words of introduction. I am Chris Heavner, the Lutheran campus pastor at Clemson University. I was Chris Altman’s pastor during the years he was a student there - at least the years after he started spending hanging out time with Laura Fisher, now Laura Altman, his wife. The Altman family being who they are, it didn’t take long to become friends with Margaret and Darrell. During the most recent visit of the Gamecock Football team to Clemson, Darrell brought a pig to town and we cooked in on the front lawn of the church.

My involvement in this afternoon’s service is also a testimony to the ability of this man, and his wife, to reach across the miles and invite into relationship God’s children living in distant lands. I am honored to be here, as I am sure are all those gathered this afternoon.

I would like to read from Romans, Chapter 8:

¹⁸ I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory about to be revealed to us. ¹⁹ For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the children of God; ²⁰ for the creation was subjected to futility, not of its own will but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope ²¹ that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage…..

²⁶ Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words….

³¹ What then are we to say about these things? If God is for us, who is against us? ³² He who did not withhold his own Son, but gave him up for all of us, will he not with him also give us everything else? ³³ Who will bring any charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. ³⁴ Who is to condemn? It is Christ Jesus, who died, yes, who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who indeed intercedes for us. ³⁵ Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will hardship, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? ^…..
37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. ³⁸ For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, ³⁹ nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

It is not a “good thing,” it is not even an “acceptable thing,” that Darrell has died. I hope it is okay to admit this. The man who taught our course on preaching at the seminary instructed us that as preachers, we “Shouldn’t take God’s side too quickly.” By that he meant that sometimes the role of a preacher is to stand with those besieged by suffering and ask of God, “Why?” When I think of all that this man had given, of all that he had left to share, I have to ask of God, “Why?”

My preferred answer to that question is found in the Book of Job. There, the voice in the whirlwind reminds us that God is God and we am not. God doesn’t tell us this, as a way of saying that we have no right to ask. God tells us this so that when we are slammed up against the limits of human existence we can hold on to the hope that such limits do not exist for God. God is able to do, what we are not able to do.

The songs we learn as children are probably the most helpful. When we sing, “Jesus loves me,” we always come to the concluding line which reminds us, “They are weak, but he is strong.”

St. Paul says it differently, but he says the same thing: Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words.

We stand over against God, asking “Why?” God comes back to us and says to us, “It will be okay. Nothing will separate you from me, nothing. And to help you through this time, I am going to allow my spirit to speak the words that you might find it difficult to speak. I am going allow my spirit to help you make sense out of that which by any human standard is senseless.”

When we cooked that pig, back in November of 2006, about half way through the process Darrell whispered to me, “I’m not completely sure how to do this.” I told him he was doing a good job faking it. That none of those impressionable college students, looking admiringly up to him, could tell.

None of us knows what we are doing when gather for a service like this. We don’t know how to do this? What we do know, is that God’s spirit is interceding for us. We don’t have to “fake it,” not even for the sake of those looking to us, or looking up to us. We can openly admit, and proudly proclaim, “I don’t know.” And then we can be quick to add that our God does know. We may not understand, but we pray to a God whose understanding is not bound by the same limits. Nothing, in our whole life has ever separated us from the love of this God - - and we speak with confidence when we say that this won’t, either.”

Amen.

Devotions - Thursday, Feb 21

Our Tuesday Bible Study has been focusing on the Gospel of Matthew. This is the year of Matthew, in our Sunday readings. One of the things interesting about Matthew is to note that it alone speaks of "church." While others assume a collection of followers, Matthew is the one who acknowledges that in order to carry out and continue the ministry of Jesus, we are going to have to organize.

Some "churches" have a formal statement of what it means to "be the Church." These would typically include sections which explain why this particular church is The Church. We don't have such a statement, in our church. We view the organization which brings followers of Jesus together as essential structure, but never as a divine one. The church to which we belong is a human creation, with human weaknesses.

I get frustrated with the church. I get irritated when the church makes stupid statements or fails to move in the direction I believe it should be moving. But I am grateful for the ability to separate the church of which I am a member from The Church. The Church is that collection of individuals, known only to God, in which all the faithful from any number of differing traditions, is bound into what is truly the Only Holy catholic Church. I hope that my participation in a particular church will better prepare me for my membership in that Church. When I no longer feel it does, I will make some changes. But I remain involved in my church because it is my best hope of being in regular contact with fellow members of The Church.

Pastor Chris

Devotions - Wednesday, Feb 20

Ezekiel 36:22-32 acknowledges God's disappointment in His people. They have allowed his name to become "profaned among the nations." God says he will act, in order to "sanctify my great name."

The nations (the people of the world) know what they know of God as a result of the way the people who follow God live their lives. The nations (your classmates and friends) form impressions of what God must be like based on the things that you say, and do. God's name, on this campus, is interpreted by what it is that we, God's followers, do.

What do those who watch you come to believe about God?

Ezekiel 36 says that God has grown weary of the impression left by the way ancient Israel was living. Ezekiel 36 says that God is going to act in a new and decisive way. God is going to "sprinkle water upon you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. A new heart I will give you, and a new spirit I will put within you."

Would that God would give us this new heart now. Would that we were already in possession of this promised spirit. Perhaps that our words and our actions would more accurately reflect our desire to love and serve God.

There is an often repeated prayer, in our worship booklets, which goes something like this: "You, O Lord, are always more ready to give than we are to receive." Might this be coupled with Ezekiel 36 to suggest that God is ever ready to give us this new heart/spirit, but that we are unprepared to receive it?

Consider this day how it is that those around you see God. Is God's name honored by your words, by your actions. Make it an expressed petition in your prayers that God would continue to offer to you a renewed heart, a renewed spirit. One which would allow you to more faithfully reflect your love and devotion. Then we can rejoice together, at the expressed desire of our God: "You shall be my people, and I shall be your God." (Ezekiel 36:28b)

Pastor Chris

Devotions - Tuesday, Feb 19

A few years ago I read a book titled Unfettered Hope. The author spoke of what it means to hope - to hope that God's will will be accomplished, that God's will might be done on earth. She said that we have "fettered" our hope. That we have chained it to the stake of reality and that we are in danger of losing the ability to hope in the way that God (through the scriptures) speaks of hope. God hopes for BIG things. God hopes for ALL things.

This morning I read from Isaiah 65:24-25. It called to mind the first time I ever preached in my life. It was during my years as a 4-H club member, in North Carolina. I preached on 4-H Sunday, using Isaiah 11:6-9. Each of these passages speak of a time when "the lion shall graze with the lamb," a time when there will be no killing and no blood shed.

I download the world news on my PalmPilot and read stories from the BBC in those in-between moments of my day. On Sunday there was a bombing in Kandahar City, the deadliest attack in Afghanistan since 2001. 100 persons died. There are reports of Sudanese bombers targeting refugee camps in Darfur. It is estimated that 200,000 have died in that conflict, millions have been displaced. I don't even know where to start, with regard to Iraq. President Bush is in Africa. Visiting Tanzania, just south of troubled Kenya, he also raised concerns about the polling process in Zimbabwe.

As I prayed this morning, I continued to remember the things I typically remember - prayers for my little girl living in Germany and working with the churches in Eisleben; my ailing mother and my sister who loving cares for her; for the fathers of Chris and Jenny and Ashley; for the work of Lutheran Campus Ministry, at Clemson but also these days I remember Diane Dardon and LCM at Northern Illinois University. This morning I also spent considerable time praying for peace - for the peace of God. Praying that it might come to this world, praying that it might come to this world as a gift from God's people. Praying that I might have the ability to hope and to expect that such peace is possible.

I invite you to join me in praying for this peace.

Pastor Chris

Devotions - Monday, Feb 18

They came to worship once or twice a few years ago. I sent them an email, noting that it was good to see them, and offering to meet for a cup of coffee and conversation. I think I remember getting a polite "No thanks" in return. Something about not being Lutheran and that they were just visiting around.

They came back, last week. And yesterday they were there again. Trying to remember whether enough years had passed for graduations to have occurred, I came up with names but no dates for that earlier exchange. Stationed at the exit door, I was looking for them when worship ended. I wasn't expecting to be handed a note, with an email address, asking for a copy of my sermon.

I don't want to read too much into this exchange. But as I lay down to sleep I found myself thinking of the casualness with which Sunday worship is approached. It is a gathering time for many. A time to be with long-established friends. I have often said that one of the traits of our style of worship is that we expect everyone to be back next week. We don't push for this particular Sunday to be a watershed event, to be the day on which a decision is made.

But anytime we gather around God's Word and God's sacraments, there is the very real possibility that God will act. There is the very real possibility that God's promises will change lives. Sunday is an encounter with that which has the ability to make all things new. Why does it surprise us when it does?

Regular habits of praying, reading our bibles, attending worship are highly encouraged. Being part of an on-going community of faith is a desired way of life. But let us not forget that each individual encounter is itself an opportunity for God's will to be accomplished. In each encounter, we are being changed, altered, reborn. Sometimes, some of us are just more aware of it.

Pastor Chris

Second Sunday in Lent - Year A

Second Sunday in Lent - Year A
February 17, 2008
John 3:1-17, Romans 4:1-5, 13-17

Being Born Again

One of the things I miss about living in Salisbury, NC, is the Saturday listing of sermon titles. The newspaper would publish, free of charge, your congregation’s Sunday worship times so long as your announcement included a title for the pastor’s sermon. (I am sure I have talked about this before. Mentioning that I often didn’t have a title in time for the Thursday 1 pm deadline, so my secretary would make one up for me. It was interesting to preach a sermon which someone else had titled.) That’s not the part I miss. What I miss was reading the titles and trying to figure out where my Lutheran colleagues were going with the appointed lessons. We were all preaching from the same texts – but often you wouldn’t know it, based on those titles.

I wonder what the offerings would be like for today. Second Sunday in Lent, and the appointed Gospel text is Jesus’ encounter with Nicodemus. John Chapter 3, the half-chapter with what might arguably be the most quoted of all Bible verses – at least the most quoted here in the south. I wonder where my colleagues are going, in the sermons they are preaching, as I am trying to make my way into this one.

Our position on the liturgical calendar might influence some. It is the Second Sunday in Lent. With this in mind, some may look upon Jesus’ words as a call to action. Will they hear his “Verily, verily, I say unto thee, ‘Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God’, as a warning to be headed? Does verse 16’s clause, ‘whosoever believeth in him’ become a pre-condition to the assurance of verse 17 – Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him?

I wonder.
I wonder.

Somewhere, I am sure, there is a long explanation for why John, chapter 3 was selected as the appointed lesson for the Second Sunday in Lent, of Year A. Somewhere. And I am sure it makes perfect sense to ….. someone. However, I would have to say that its placement here has the potential to cause more than a little bit of confusion.

Lent is all about making things right. Lent is a time to examine our commitments and our dedication. It is a period of time when we pay particular attention to our expressions of piety – to our acts of sacrifice and service. It is a time to take a good, hard look at the outward signs of our inward thoughts and consider whether they are in accord with one another. This is what Lent is about – and I am a big fan of Lent. I think we need to devote, at least 40 days each year, to such self-examination.

But just don’t give me John, Chapter 3. At least don’t give it to me without explaining why you are giving it to me. Because the all-too-popular interpretation of John 3 makes it way too easy to fall into predictable (and potentially disastrous) ways of thinking.

It goes back to that reading of John 3:3 – the one I chose to share from the King James translation. It goes back to a misinterpretation of these words in which they become a warning (almost a threat) that UNLESS we be BORN AGAIN we will not even be allowed to see the kingdom of God. It is that fixation with any verb which might seem to be in the imperative sense, as opposed to reading them as declarative. “Unless you be born again,” as opposed to the invitation of the New Revised Standard Version, “no one can see … with being born from above.”

The primary purpose of Lent is to get us ready for Easter. And the clear message of Easter is God’s eagerness to do for us that which we cannot do for ourselves. Nicodemus is right, we can’t enter a second time into our mother’s womb. How then are we to be born again? But, our Father in Heaven, our Father from above, may pour out upon us a spirit of renewal, a spirit of hope, a spirit of re-birth. Jesus, who does for us what we cannot do for ourselves, makes it possible for us to be re-born. It is made possible by the God who so loves the world that he will give his only Son. All this he does so that everyone may not perish, but have eternal life. It is that simple. It is that wonderful.

And yes, news this wonderful can be hard to believe. So hard that some will find it difficult (maybe even impossible) to believe. And that is a real pity. This is what really breaks God’s heart. Because God did not send the Son into the world to bring condemnation on anyone. God sent the Son, in order that the world might be saved through him.

I think the reason John, Chapter 3 is read on this Second Sunday of Lent is so we will be reminded of how easy it is to get it almost right but not right. Nicodemus is a leader of the Council. He is a well-respected man among the religious folks of his day. He obviously has a great interest in Jesus, because he comes to Jesus in order to ask questions. He displays a deep respect for Jesus, but he isn’t quite ready to accept Jesus’ words. He gets it partially right, but in the end he doesn’t get it all.

I think we have this reading at this time of the year so that we might be encouraged to avoid this same pitfall. So that we might not get close, then miss the mark. And we do miss the mark, when we allow those few misinterpreted words to dictate how it is that we understand the whole of Jesus’ encounter with Nicodemus.

I was re-listening to a lecture this past week on the conflict between Martin Luther and the Anabaptist. The Anabaptist were a group who split off, more technically form the Reformed wing of the Reformation. They believed and taught that baptism is an outward sign of an inward conviction and therefore one can only rightly be baptized after a confession of faith. Luther would have none of this. He insisted that Baptism is itself the regenerative event through which it is possible for us to have faith. Luther’s insistence (always) was that if we have to do anything, even if we claim it is only to believe there will forever be this doubt in our lives that we have not truly been saved. Our only hope out of the endless circle of self-examination and self-doubt is to throw ourselves on God’s mercy and depend upon God to do for us what we cannot do for ourselves. Which is exactly what the scriptures tell God has done.

Read with me the 16^th verse from Romans 4: For this reason it depends on faith, in order that the promise may rest on grace. It is on God’s grace that we depend; not on our own effort or merit.

No doubt, many will be reading John 3 today and warning frightened congregants that unless they believe, they are going to hell. What a mistake. The words Jesus speaks to Nicodemus are not a threat, they are an invitation. An invitation to live in the assurance that all the transgressions we so carefully identify during these forty days of Lent will not separate us from the love of God, nor from the salvation of our Christ. An invitation to receive the birth from above, the birth which comes from our Father above, the birth which occurred on the day we were baptized.

Amen.

Devotions - St. Valentine's Day

Valentine's Day is an interesting day. For many, it is a "must do" occasion to include gifts, dinner, and thoughtful cards. For others, it is a time to buy a box of Valentine cards and distribute them to as many as possible. For others, it is a reminder of love lost or love rejected. It is an interesting day.

I also think it is the perfect day to address Sacraments. Sacraments are those expressions of God's grace which remove the need for us to imagine. Sacraments are those expressions of God's love for us which become tangible. We don't have to wonder whether God loves us - we can feel the water on our heads and know that God accepts us as daughters/sons. We can taste the wine and know that God feeds us. We don't have to wonder whether we are saved, God has saved us and there might even be some photographs lying around the house.

Most of us will spend some portion of this day wondering if. If we will be honored with a card; if we will be remembered by a classmate; if someone will single us out and say to us, "You are my Valentine." But we do not need to wonder if we are loved. We are. We are loved with a love which can never be doubted. We are loved with a love clearly demonstrated by the gifts of water and bread.

If we allow ourselves, we will remember that this day's full name is Saint Valentine's Day. This is no secular holiday - it is a day in which all the world longs for and attempts to mimic the actions of one who experienced the love of God and set out to share that love. Let us help the world in accomplishing what it so desperately wants to accomplish. Let's teach the world what it means to love. Let's share with the world how wonderful it is to be loved with a love which can never be doubted and to be nourished by the One whose love stands behind all other love.

Pastor Chris