What
better shirt to have on as I write this piece than my 50th
anniversary T-shirt (Selma bridge crossing), bought in the Birmingham, AL,
airport as my husband Jim and I waited to fly back to St. Louis. We had visited our son and his wife who were
living in Montgomery in 2015.
Thankfully, Jim and I visited Selma during our visit a few days before all the
commemorative events were to be held, allowing us to easily drive around the quaint
town, stop at a central location to do some exploring and then finally get back into the car and put our feet
on that famous bridge. The movie “Selma”
had come to the theaters not long before this trip, and we had seen and been moved by it,
continuing our “education” on the struggles for civil rights.
Since
John Lewis’s recent death, I have watched some of the television coverage of his
life-long, very passionate and devoted work for equality for all. I think he was jailed over 40 times for
getting into what he called “good trouble,” like being part of peaceful
protesting. He surely gave his all for
what he believed in and thought he should be finding ways to put his beliefs
into purposeful activity, eventually being elected to the House of
Representatives for 34 years.
I
have been thinking for some time about writing on a sermon I heard more than 40
years ago and how applicable it is for these tumultuous times in which we are
living. The scripture for the sermon can be found in Luke 5, when Jesus
was teaching the multitudes gathered along the shore from Simon's boat. When He stopped speaking, He said to Simon,
“Launch out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch” (Luke 5:4). Simon responded somewhat unenthusiastically
since they had “toiled all night and caught nothing.” However, referring to Jesus as Master, he
said he would let down the net “at Your word.”
The catch filled up two boats and powerfully affected the fishermen,
especially Simon. Jesus, seeking out
disciples, told them that they would now be catching men; their response was
dramatic and wholehearted. “They forsook all and followed
Him” (vs 11).
Jesus
has been calling to us throughout the ages to commit to the cause of
Christ, to spread the gospel and do so with such fervency and dedication that “signs and wonders” just
like in the gospels and the Acts of the Apostles would demonstrate the power and compassion of God. Recently, I was struck by the full name of
that record of the first church; usually I think of it as Acts. But it is more compelling to be reminded the
miracles, the persecution for getting into “good trouble,” like healing a lame
man begging for alms (Acts 3), all came together after the day of Pentecost,
the pouring out of the Holy Spirit as prophesied by Joel. In Acts 1, Jesus had told the apostles and
others to tarry, to pray and to wait for a fresh outpouring of the Holy Spirit before beginning to spread the gospel.
At
the time I heard this sermon many years ago, I felt like God was prodding me to
seek out the deeper waters of faith and trust Him to give our family a healthy son
preceded by a healthy pregnancy. Our
second child and first son had been born two months early after a very
difficult pregnancy. He lived just 17
days, never making it home from the hospital, but we had seen miraculous
answers to prayer all along the way, including his tremendous comeback from
near death the night he was born. My
need for God’s comfort, wisdom and strength after his death was great. I was not brave or willing to “hope” for a
better experience should we try for another child.
However,
in the months that followed as I searched the scriptures and prayed, God did a
work in me. I read about “miracle”
babies, like Abraham and Sarah’s son Isaac, promised to them but a long time
coming. Hannah, Samuel’s mother, had
prayed and prayed for a child, and then after a particularly strong experience
in prayer, she “knew” her prayer had been heard, and baby Samuel came along
after that. In time, an assurance from
God had grown in my heart, that I could have a healthy son (my request) and
normal pregnancy if I would step out in faith and trust this faithful God. It was about this time that I heard the sermon
about launching out into the deep. Nudged
and supported by faith in Christ and the encouragement of the scriptures, I
took that step with my husband’s supportive faith, too. About 14 months later, we welcomed David
Daniel, a full term, eight pound healthy son.
Now
that charge to launch out into the deep waters of faith seems much more broadly
applied—to Christians worldwide. The
ministry, the sermons, the gifts of healing and miracles, the fellowship among
believers were so strong and so central to the lives of those “beginners” in
Christian evangelism. They knew the
scriptures available to them and advised those listening to search the
scriptures for themselves to see if what they shared was consistent and
true. They had real joy even in hardship;
life was not about the next thing they wanted to buy or do but was in their service
to Jesus Christ.
Long
before hundreds of years brought innovations and much more complicated and busy
living, Paul issued a concern to the Corinthian church. “But I am afraid, lest as the serpent
deceived Eve by his craftiness, your minds should be led astray from the
simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ” (11 Corinthians 11:3 KJV). Apparently, the devil’s wiles have long included
deceiving Christian people from keeping centered and devoted to what really
matters about our faith in Christ and serving Him, loving Him “with all your
heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind,” Jesus’s words in Mathew
22:37 NKJV.
We
cannot change yesterday, and we cannot make other people’s choices for them (if
only), but we can decide to ask God to help us love Him more devotedly and sacrificially, reading the scriptures for ourselves trusting in the Holy Spirit
to reveal God’s truth to us, praying and living out a life of service to
others, not the self-service we can be so attuned to and centered on. God has given us free will, but so hopes we
will make this choice by His grace and with His constant presence.
An
old Christian hymn comes to mind: “Stand up, Stand up for Jesus.”
Lord
Jesus, please guide us, show us, and enable us to follow You
more fervently
than ever, even willing
to get
into “good trouble” for Your name’s sake.
Amen.
