Today's sermon

Somehow the topic at church this week surprised me. It shouldn't have. This is the Sunday after a huge presidential election. But it has been a long week here at the Maher house and it seemed like it has been a YEAR since the election. Anyway, the title of the sermon, once I got over the surprise of the topic, did not surprise me. 2008 Election - A teaching moment.

Our Rector looks at most things as teaching moments. And he certainly does them well.

One of the many aspects of the "teaching moment" that especially hit me (and you could click on the above link to go take a listen yourself...well worth it. He has a New Zealand
accent which makes everything sound kindof posh) was this:

If you are either 1) Really happy Obama was elected and think that things are now going to be coming up rainbows; or 2) Really sad that Obama was elected and are worried that things are going to hell in a hand basket, then you need to rethink to whom you are trusting. We, all of us, need to be looking toward God, not to any man (or woman) for our salvation.

The second aspect of the sermon which struck me was the importance of discerning God's voice in the midst of "stuff happening" here on earth. For instance, often if life goes according to MY plan, I think it is God's will. But if something happens that goes against my wishes, I assume that it cannot be God's will. But God is sovereign. And sometimes His plan is inscrutable to me.

One of today's scriptures was Jeremiah 1:10. "See, today I appoint you over nations and kingdoms to uproot and tear down, to destroy and overthrow, to build and to plant."

Our Rector made the point that we all want to "build and to plant" but that God requires, often, that things be uprooted, and torn down, and destroyed and overthrown, before something new can be planted and built.

And then he admonished us to be reconciled to each other as Christian brothers and sisters, some of whom share differing political opinions. And what a witness that will be. "And they will know we are Christians by our love."