St. Paul's On-The-Hill Episcopal Church

The Rev. Stephen C. Holton, Rector

November 29, 2009; Christ the King

2 Samuel 23:1-7

Psalm 132

John 18:33-37

IN DIFFICULT TIMES – STANDING ON THE ROCK

Sometimes it is difficult to understand how we remain upright. In a difficult world we remain upright. When we lose our jobs we still stand. When a relationship goes bad, we still stand. We may get into a fetal position for a while but then, at the end of the day, we stand and do what needs to be done for others.

We stand even though politics are divisive, foreclosures are endemic, banking is uncertain. Still, we stand!

How do we stand? Why? It seems impossible, foolish.

For some reason we stand – even though we do not know it – on the Rock of God, the Rock of Ages, the Rock of Zion.

It is the Rock that holds us up, God who holds us up though we are unaware of His presence, and unappreciative. When we crawl into a fetal position on the floor, or lie down and pull the covers over our heads – it is the Rock of God on which we lie, on which we lie. And it is the Rock of God that holds us up and supports us – until we are ready to get up and go forward again.

Then it is the Rock of God that supports us as we sprint towards our goal.

We give thanks for this Rock, for this faithful God our Father as we sprint forward to our goal, fulfilling his will and our desires.

David gives thanks for the Rock in his oration. “The Spirit of the Lord speaks through me, his word is upon my tongue. The God of Israel has spoken, the Rock of Israel has said to me: One who rules over people justly, ruling in the fear of God, is like the light of the morning, gleaming from the rain on the grassy land. Is not my house like this with God?”

This sounds a little arrogant, but then he says: “For he has made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things and secure.”

David's security is in God. David's confidence is in God. He is confident because of his relationship with God and because he knows God will never let him go.

He has let God go many times, but God has never let him go. He has let God down many times, but God has always picked him up.

He knows how good God is. He knows how trustworthy, how strengthening and enduring. He knows by contrast with himself. For whenever he has let God down, God always picked him up. He knows because of his own unfaithfulness, just how faithful God has always been to him.

There was this unfortunate experience with Bathsheba, the treachery with Uriah. Yet God sought him out, called him out, led him to repentance and then to renewal. He fell down. God picked him up. He was faithless, God was faithful.

A wise man was once asked how he got through life. He said: “I fall down, I get up. I fall down again, I get up again.”

We fall down, we get up. The reason we do not fall down too far is because we fall down upon God our Rock – an unyielding, reliable surface who can never give way. He is faithful. That is his nature. We may give way. He cannot and will not.

So on Him we stand.

There is a South African hymn of the anti-apartheid era: “Stand firm, and see what the Lord can do.”

So we stand firm, and watch, and wait, and embrace the Lord's actions, and follow his words in good times and bad, in foreclosures and political divisions. The storms of the world will pass. The Rock of God will stand firm.

Jesus stood on the Rock. Jesus was the Rock, and all around him the forces of the world swirled, the contempt and power of Pontius Pilate, the abandonment and weakness of the disciples, the cry of the mob for his blood. Still he stood. Pilate flaunts his power. Still Jesus stands. Pilate tempts him to fight. Still, he stands.

Why shouldn't he stand? Why should he fight? His values are eternal. They will not die. He has already taught them to the world. There is nothing Pilate can do. They are loose in the world, spreading among his believers.

Why should he worry? Why should he fear? He will die, but it is too late for Pilate to put a stop to his message.

As Bishop Tutu said to Prime Minister Roelof Botha in the waning days of apartheid: “Why should we worry? We've already won.” Even though the South African secret police were at the door, they'd lost.

Vaclav Havel knew that in Czechoslovakia. Lech Walesa knew it in Poland. Countless martyrs knew it in the Soviet Union long before the fall of the Berlin Wall. Dietrich Bonhoeffer knew it in prison the day before he died.

It took the dictators years before they had to abandon their delusions, but they had to when the delusions fell, long after the martyrs prophesied and died. But they still fell.

Why should we be discouraged. We've read the book, as Tutu said. It says we win in the end.

The Christ who was the Alpha who died, will also be the Omega who lives. He will come on the clouds. Every eye will see him.

So we go forward. We stand on the Rock. It will not give way though the rulers of the earth wring their hands or try to intimidate our souls.

We do not listen to them.

We listen to Christ, to the truth of his words of loving our neighbors as ourselves, and loving God. We do this in season and out of season, in good times and bad – and so we are a part of making the bad times good, instead of the bad times worse.

How wonderful it is to be a force for good. How wonderful it is to be standing on the Rock – and to be seen to be standing, by others who fear being swept away by the storms.

They see us – standing before the gibbering Pilate's of the this world – and think: 'well, then I can stand too.' And as they do, they encounter the solidity of the ground on which they stand, the reliability of the God on whom they stand, with whom they stand.

Well then, they think, maybe I can rely on him too.

Ultimately, our life is our witness – our life of integrity, our life of helpfulness and hopefulness and faithfulness. Seeing us, eventually, people want to be like us. They want to be faithful, hopeful, confident.

It is hard to be scared all the time. It is better to be confident. And it is easy to be confident if the ground on which you stand never gives way, always holds you up, even when you fall.

So when you fall, get up; or ask for help getting up. God will support you, be with you, in good times and bad, spurring you on to better times still – both for you and the world.

Because of God, you will be able to stand, and remain upright and moving forward. Because you are able to stand, you will be able to help other people to get up again, and lead them on the way.