“Standing at the Crossroads”

Lamentations 1:1-4

2 Timothy 1:1-14

October 3, 2004

Everyday we have a choice to make. Everyday, as soon as our eyes open from night’s sleep and before our feet even hit the floor, we have a choice to make about how we are going to live today. Sometimes that choice is easier to make than other days. The future is not always so clear. Sometimes we know what the day will bring. Other times, we are caught completely off guard and blindsided by the unexpected. But our choice still remains; a decision must be made about how we are going to live each day whether we want to make a decision or not.

How we chose to live each day matters. The choice we make from day to day as we stand at the crossroads of life has eternal implications. Just as any decision we make in life has long reaching consequences, so does the decision we make about how we live life day to day. Each morning presents us with new opportunities as well as new challenges, and how we face those new opportunities and new challenges speaks volumes not only about what we believe but also about why we believe.

All of us know that at times life can be a tough road to hoe. All of us know that at times life can present us with challenges that are nearly unbearable. For some people, each day is a struggle just to get out of bed, and they wonder how they if they can even make it through the day. Prayer seems to fall on deaf ears. Hope becomes a fleeting reality. Nothing seems to be right, and everything seems to be wrong.

For some people, each day brings another day of worry and insecurity; an endless cycle of anxiety about the future that at times can be nearly debilitating. Thoughts are hijacked by the “what ifs.” Emotions are too often quickly derailed by the slightest aggravation. Life becomes a rut with walls too high to climb. Nothing that is done seems to work right. Options start running out. Each day seems to be another day of wondering whether or not life can get any worse.

None of us are exempt from the challenges and struggles of life. Even if we do not have to face our own personal challenges and struggles, we are well aware of the challenges and struggles we face together as a people, as a nation, and as a world. One only has to pick up the paper or watch the news to learn about the challenges and struggles we face each and every day. We know that there are people really hurting in this world. We see the destruction of war, the devastation of pollution, the inhumanity of oppression, and the injustice of poverty. Our hearts ache for those who suffer, for those who long for a better day, for those who have to face the odds that are not in their favor.

The reality of life and all its heartaches, challenges, and struggles makes our spirit groan for divine intervention. We mourn and grieve and lament for those who suffer from one day to the next, and at times we even do these things for ourselves. We wonder if God really cares at all. We wonder if God is even for us. We wonder if God is even there.

The writer of Lamentations knows full well how hard it can be to face day to day life when hope seems lost and God seems so far away. Jerusalem lay in ruins, destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar’s troops following a long, bloody siege. Those who had survived were taken into exile along with their king and the royal heirs. Their nation was no more. All their majesty was lost. Their princes had become like stags with no place to find pasture, condemned to a life of running from their pursuers. They were a shattered people. The temple had been destroyed, the Promised Land lost, and the city known as God’s dwelling place had been decimated. How could any of them still sing praises to God? How could any of them have any faith at all in a time when God’s presence is in question?

Even Timothy struggled with day-to-day living, with his own exile of a different sort. He struggled to find a reason to continue his calling as a pastor. He struggled against those who wanted to turn faith into a way of thinking rather than a way of living. He struggled in a time when faith seemed questionable at best because Jesus had not yet returned as so many had clearly expected. He struggled against those in his own church who continued to criticize himself and others. He struggled against trying to meet everyone’s expectations as a pastor and against those who were clearly hostile against the faithful. How could he continue to still sing praises to God? How could he continue to have faith at all, when there were more signs of God’s absence than God’s presence in his life?

All of us at one time or another has had to stand at the crossroad of life, and we will again. All of us at one time or another has had to decide whether or not we will make that turn and keep on living or turn the other way that leads to the downward spiral, and we will again. How do we make the right choice and continue to still sing praises to God? How do we continue to have faith at all as we live in a world where God’s presence seems a distant reality? Paul gives us the answer. We rekindle the gift of God that is within us, as we remember that this gift is not ours alone.

For Paul, the gift of God is none other than the gift of the Spirit; the Spirit of God’s living self. This gift of the Spirit is the internal power and internal love and internal self-disciple that gives us what we need to face the new opportunities and new challenges of each day. This gift given by the grace of God is the proof of God’s abiding presence within all of us and the promise that we will not have to face the day alone. This is the promise of God that the Spirit within us is not a spirit of cowardice or fearfulness, but the very presence of the divine-self that has the power to overcome even the hardest struggles and scariest times in our life. God has given us what we need to keep going when life gets tough and to make the right choice that forever changes our lives. God has given us God’s very self.

Every time we witness to the power of the cross and resurrection we rekindle the Spirit within us. Every time we raise our voices in a song of praise to God, we rekindle the Spirit within us. Every time we get on our knees and pray for God’s intervention, we rekindle the Spirit with us. Every time we stand for justice, freedom, and peace, we rekindle the Spirit within us. Every time we celebrate the sacraments and remember the acts of Jesus Christ for us and for this world, we rekindle the Spirit within us. Every time we shout glory to God, even in the midst of the moans and groans of the misery around us, we rekindle the Spirit. Every time we engage ourselves in the mission and ministry of the church, we rekindle the Spirit within us.

The rekindling of the Spirit within us is none other than the very act of faith. Why do we need to rekindle this gift we have been given, because it is not ours alone. It is the same gift given to all those who have come before us, who have passed down the faith from generation to generation. It is the same gift given to all those around the world who confess faith in Jesus Christ, and trust that he is able to guard it until the day when he returns.

Everyday we must make a choice about how we will face today. Everyday we stand at the crossroad and have to decide which way we will turn. Everyday we are called to guard the good treasure that has been entrusted to us. This is why the choice we make is so important, because it is made on behalf of all those who cannot make this choice themselves.

By rekindling the gift within us, we make a statement to all those around the world who suffer that we will not let them go, that we will not let them fall by the wayside, that we will not let them be forgotten. By rekindling the gift of the Spirit within us, we make a promise to them that we will carry on the faith even when they themselves struggle to do so. When we rekindle the gift of the Spirit, we show the world that God is not absent but very much present and at work to make all things new. When we rekindle the spirit of the living Christ, we demonstrate for all to see that we are not ashamed of the gospel and its power to reconcile, redeem, and save.

Yes, there are days when we face daunting, nearly unbearable challenges and struggles. There are also days when we face the goodness that life has to offer and the opportunities to make a real difference in the life of someone else. Sometimes those days are foreseeable; sometimes the circumstances of life surprise us and bewilder us.

But no matter what day is before us, it is day given by God, another day to worship him with all that we are, with all that we can be, and with all that we have, another day to make the gospel known to a world in desperate need to hear and experience the good news of the dignity, compassion, care, and love of Jesus Christ.

I invite you to come to the table today to have your faith rekindled through the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper. Through him, we are given what we need to take on the day with all the strength, with all the encouragement, and with all the power of his living Spirit within us. Only through him are we restored, refreshed, and made ready to face whatever comes our way as we stand at the crossroads of life. Amen.