Albert D. Mosley - "An Unfavorable Time" (October 21, 2001)
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| - | The Gospel lesson is taken from Luke, | 0:05 |
| Chapter 18 verses one | 0:08 | |
| through eight. | 0:10 | |
| Then Jesus told them a parable | 0:13 | |
| about their need to pray always, | 0:15 | |
| and not to lose heart. | 0:17 | |
| He said, "In a certain city, there was a judge | 0:19 | |
| who neither feared God nor had respect for people. | 0:23 | |
| In that city, there was a widow who kept coming to him | 0:27 | |
| and saying, "Grant me justice against my opponent." | 0:31 | |
| For a while, he refused, but later he said to himself, | 0:36 | |
| "Though I have no fear of God and no respect for anyone, | 0:41 | |
| yet because this widow keeps bothering me | 0:46 | |
| I will grant her justice, so that she will not wear | 0:49 | |
| me out by continually coming." | 0:54 | |
| And the Lord said, | 0:56 | |
| "Listen to what the unjust judge says." | 0:59 | |
| And will not God grant justice to his chosen ones | 1:04 | |
| who cry to him day and night? | 1:08 | |
| Will he delay long in helping them? | 1:11 | |
| I tell you, he will quickly grant justice to them, | 1:15 | |
| and yet, when the son of man comes | 1:19 | |
| will he find faith on Earth?" | 1:22 | |
| This is the world of the Lord. | 1:26 | |
| Congregation | Peace be to God. | 1:28 |
| - | I solemnly urge you, | 1:39 |
| proclaim the message. | 1:42 | |
| Be persistent, | 1:46 | |
| whether the time is favorable or unfavorable. | 1:48 | |
| Let us pray. | 1:54 | |
| Lord open our ears that we might hear. | 1:59 | |
| Open our minds that we might understand. | 2:03 | |
| And most of all, open our hearts. | 2:09 | |
| That we might receive your message to us. | 2:11 | |
| On this day, | 2:15 | |
| amen. | 2:17 | |
| Have you ever known a person who always seems | 2:21 | |
| to say the wrong thing at the wrong time. | 2:24 | |
| You're probably saying to yourself, | 2:29 | |
| "Yeah, and I'm sitting right next to them now." | 2:30 | |
| (congregation laughing) | 2:32 | |
| There are those individuals who seem to have | 2:35 | |
| very little sense of timing | 2:38 | |
| when it comes to saying certain things. | 2:41 | |
| They are crass, insensitive, | 2:44 | |
| and tactless. | 2:47 | |
| I have an uncle who fits this category perfectly. | 2:50 | |
| He displayed his amazing ability to offend | 2:52 | |
| and to speak the unspeakable at a recent holiday gathering. | 2:55 | |
| A distant cousin brought along her two month old baby, | 2:59 | |
| and open seeing the baby, my Uncle Jimmy exclaimed, | 3:02 | |
| "Gee, that baby has the biggest head I've ever seen before." | 3:05 | |
| We were all thinking the same thing, | 3:11 | |
| but none of us would dare say anything like that. | 3:12 | |
| (congregation laughing) | 3:15 | |
| Particularly in the face of the baby's mother. | 3:15 | |
| That's my Uncle Jimmy. | 3:19 | |
| Regardless of the setting, | 3:22 | |
| regardless of whether or not what he says will | 3:24 | |
| hurt the feelings of those listening, | 3:26 | |
| Uncle Jimmy has no problem letting | 3:29 | |
| everyone know what's on his mind. | 3:30 | |
| Unfortunately for some and fortunately for others, | 3:35 | |
| there are a lot of Uncle Jimmys in this world. | 3:38 | |
| But there are those people who | 3:42 | |
| seem to always know the right thing to say, | 3:43 | |
| and the right way to say it. | 3:46 | |
| These are the kind of people who in the midst of | 3:48 | |
| trials and tribulations offer words | 3:51 | |
| of hope and comfort. | 3:53 | |
| They are the type of people who with great ease | 3:56 | |
| and sense of naturalness, | 3:59 | |
| are able to speak peace in the midst of a storm. | 4:01 | |
| Their words satisfy our longing to feel better, | 4:06 | |
| to feel whole. | 4:09 | |
| To feel complete. | 4:10 | |
| My dearest friend Darrel is just this kind of person, | 4:13 | |
| he's the sort of guys you want around | 4:16 | |
| when and if something goes wrong. | 4:18 | |
| His words of comfort can bring peace | 4:21 | |
| in the midst of life's strongest, raging storms. | 4:22 | |
| We need people like that in our world. | 4:27 | |
| People who know what to say, | 4:30 | |
| when to say it, | 4:33 | |
| and how to say it. | 4:34 | |
| Greco-Roman Philosophers taught the importance | 4:37 | |
| of knowing when the time was right for a | 4:39 | |
| particular speech or action. | 4:42 | |
| It was extremely important that the person | 4:45 | |
| giving the speech was acutely aware | 4:47 | |
| of when or what was the proper time to say something, | 4:49 | |
| even the simplest of things. | 4:52 | |
| Polemic against the Cynics of this time carried | 4:55 | |
| accused them of being indiscriminate in their speech. | 4:57 | |
| The Cynics would say the most inappropriate thing | 5:01 | |
| at the most inappropriate time. | 5:04 | |
| Diogenes, of the leaders of the Cynic school of thought, | 5:07 | |
| was once visited by Alexander the Great. | 5:09 | |
| Alexander asked the Cynic leader to request anything | 5:12 | |
| of him that he desired. | 5:16 | |
| Diogenes was sunbathing at the time | 5:18 | |
| and he asked Alexander the Great, | 5:20 | |
| the most powerful man in the world, | 5:22 | |
| to step aside, so he would stop blocking the sun. | 5:24 | |
| Paul, much like the Cynics, | 5:29 | |
| and a flagrant disregard for conventional wisdom, | 5:32 | |
| urges Timothy | 5:35 | |
| his son in the ministry | 5:37 | |
| to forgo the rules of Greco-Roman | 5:39 | |
| philosophical culture. | 5:41 | |
| Paul says to Timothy, | 5:44 | |
| "I solemnly urge you, proclaim the message. | 5:46 | |
| Be persistent whether the time is favorable or unfavorable. | 5:51 | |
| Convince, | 5:56 | |
| rebuke, | 5:57 | |
| and encourage with | 5:59 | |
| the utmost patience. | 6:00 | |
| For the time is coming when people | 6:03 | |
| will not put up with sound doctrine, | 6:04 | |
| but having itching ears, | 6:07 | |
| they will accumulate for themselves | 6:10 | |
| teachers to suit their own desires. | 6:12 | |
| And will turn away from listening to the truth, | 6:15 | |
| and wander away to myths. | 6:18 | |
| As for you Timothy, always be sober. | 6:21 | |
| Endure suffering. | 6:25 | |
| Do the work of an evangelist. | 6:27 | |
| Carry out your ministry fully." | 6:30 | |
| Paul is urging Timothy to just say it. | 6:34 | |
| To proclaim the message of Jesus Christ, | 6:38 | |
| whether they will listen or not. | 6:41 | |
| Whether the time is favorable or unfavorable. | 6:43 | |
| There is a formal charge issued to Timothy | 6:48 | |
| to stay the course. | 6:51 | |
| To hold to that which is true and right, | 6:53 | |
| regardless of the setting. | 6:56 | |
| Regardless of what is going on around you, | 6:58 | |
| even regardless of whether or not | 7:00 | |
| those to whom you're proclaiming the gospel | 7:02 | |
| are taking heed. | 7:05 | |
| In Paul's mind, | 7:08 | |
| preaching the message of Christ depends not | 7:10 | |
| on the readiness of the hearers to respond, | 7:14 | |
| but on the decision of God. | 7:17 | |
| Even though Paul issued this charge to Timothy | 7:21 | |
| at a specific time for a specific setting, | 7:23 | |
| I am able to hear in this, a personal charge. | 7:26 | |
| It's almost as if Paul were speaking | 7:31 | |
| directly to me. | 7:34 | |
| Albert, whether the time is favorable or unfavorable, | 7:36 | |
| you proclaim the message with persistency. | 7:40 | |
| How do you hear this charge today? | 7:46 | |
| Do you hear this as a personal responsibility? | 7:49 | |
| You don't have to be a preacher like Timothy or Paul | 7:53 | |
| to proclaim the message. | 7:55 | |
| You proclaim it by the way you live. | 7:57 | |
| Your actions. | 8:00 | |
| Your words. | 8:01 | |
| Your behavior. | 8:03 | |
| Not only that, you proclaim it even if | 8:05 | |
| it might be unpopular to do so. | 8:08 | |
| Even if the time is not right. | 8:11 | |
| While sitting in his Birmingham jail cell in 1963, | 8:16 | |
| Martin Luther King Jr. responded to complaint | 8:21 | |
| from some of the cities white religious leaders. | 8:23 | |
| They'd written King and said to him | 8:26 | |
| that the timing of the boycotts, marches, | 8:28 | |
| and other activities was simply not right. | 8:30 | |
| In response to the white clergymen's notion | 8:34 | |
| that this an unfavorable time, | 8:36 | |
| King wrote, | 8:38 | |
| "Frankly, I have never yet engaged | 8:39 | |
| in a direct action movement that was well timed, | 8:42 | |
| according to the timetable of those | 8:46 | |
| who have not suffered unduly | 8:49 | |
| from the disease of segregation. | 8:51 | |
| For years now, I've heard the words, wait. | 8:53 | |
| It rings in the ear of every negro | 8:56 | |
| with a piercing familiarity. | 8:58 | |
| This wait has almost always meant never." | 9:01 | |
| Who knows where our society would be today | 9:06 | |
| had King yielded to his fellow clergymen's belief | 9:08 | |
| that it was an unfavorable time | 9:12 | |
| to proclaim the message. | 9:14 | |
| Unfortunately, many pastors and other religious leaders | 9:18 | |
| have been influenced by the belief | 9:23 | |
| that there is a right time | 9:25 | |
| and a wrong time to proclaim the message. | 9:27 | |
| This has become particularly true | 9:32 | |
| over the course of the past few weeks, | 9:33 | |
| as many religious people, | 9:35 | |
| both lay and clergy, | 9:36 | |
| seem to have forsaken the message of | 9:38 | |
| Christ for some other message. | 9:40 | |
| I must admit, | 9:44 | |
| it does seem to be an unfavorable | 9:46 | |
| time to proclaim the message. | 9:48 | |
| Our nation is in the midst of a revival | 9:51 | |
| of civil religion. | 9:53 | |
| Sociologist of Religion Nancy Ammerman, | 9:56 | |
| the late C.R Glinken of our own faculty, | 9:59 | |
| and others who study civil religion | 10:01 | |
| note that in times of national crisis, | 10:03 | |
| it is difficult to proclaim | 10:06 | |
| a Biblical message of Christ. | 10:07 | |
| It is difficult because of the fact | 10:11 | |
| that the American psyche adopts non-religious symbols, | 10:12 | |
| which then replace or supplant the actual | 10:16 | |
| symbols of our faith. | 10:19 | |
| The flag replaces the cross. | 10:21 | |
| The political leaders and political figures | 10:23 | |
| replace the preachers. | 10:25 | |
| The museums and other national shrines | 10:28 | |
| replace church buildings. | 10:30 | |
| And editorials and written news commentaries | 10:32 | |
| replace the written word of God. | 10:34 | |
| So it would seem an unfavorable time | 10:38 | |
| to proclaim the message, | 10:40 | |
| but Paul urges us all to be persistent. | 10:42 | |
| "Proclaim it," he says. | 10:45 | |
| Whether time time is favorable or unfavorable. | 10:48 | |
| "A time is coming," says Paul, | 10:52 | |
| "When people will have itching ears." | 10:54 | |
| Itchy ears was a common expression | 10:58 | |
| that meant people liked to hear interesting, | 11:00 | |
| maybe even spicy stuff. | 11:02 | |
| As long as it had no effect of their lives. | 11:05 | |
| Paul warns us that people will tend | 11:09 | |
| to higher religious teachers, | 11:12 | |
| who are willing and capable ear scratchers. | 11:14 | |
| The two requirements for the job are, | 11:18 | |
| keep it interesting and keep it away from my life. | 11:20 | |
| In his, "How to Become a Bishop Without Being Religious," | 11:25 | |
| the late religious humorist, Charles Merrill Smith, | 11:28 | |
| offers quite a bit of advice on how | 11:31 | |
| one can avoid proclaiming the message. | 11:32 | |
| Particularly, in unfavorable times. | 11:35 | |
| Smith says, "The most important rule in avoiding | 11:38 | |
| a true proclamation of the message of Christ, | 11:40 | |
| is to bear in mind that style is | 11:43 | |
| of enormous importance, | 11:46 | |
| while content makes little ultimate difference. | 11:49 | |
| About 1000 parts style | 11:52 | |
| to one part content is a good proportion." | 11:55 | |
| Smith goes on the say that, "If you're able to make | 11:59 | |
| them laugh, if you're able to make them cry, | 12:02 | |
| if you're able to make them feel religious. | 12:06 | |
| If you can do these three things without saying | 12:09 | |
| anything radically controversial or disturbing, | 12:11 | |
| then you're bound to become a great preacher. | 12:14 | |
| And you're bound to feel that you've done your duty | 12:18 | |
| in proclaiming the message. | 12:21 | |
| The fact of the matter is that unless you | 12:23 | |
| proclaim the true message of Jesus Christ, | 12:24 | |
| and unless you proclaim it with persistency, | 12:27 | |
| then your job is less than done." | 12:30 | |
| What does this mean for us? | 12:35 | |
| It means that even though it is considered unpopular, | 12:38 | |
| and even unpatriotic by some, | 12:42 | |
| we must in this present time and situation | 12:46 | |
| proclaim the message of Jesus Christ. | 12:49 | |
| Several weeks ago, I attended a banquet | 12:53 | |
| honoring individuals who had made substantial | 12:55 | |
| donations to the university. | 12:58 | |
| One of the people sitting at my table | 13:00 | |
| shared with me her frustration | 13:02 | |
| and her feelings of an inner conflict. | 13:04 | |
| She said she knew that some of our policies | 13:08 | |
| toward other nations are unjust, | 13:10 | |
| and that our response to this current | 13:12 | |
| national crisis simply does not seem to be right either. | 13:14 | |
| But she also shared with me that she's very particular | 13:19 | |
| about when and where she feels comfortable | 13:22 | |
| expressing those sentiments. | 13:24 | |
| She said, "Even though I feel this way, | 13:27 | |
| it just doesn't seem to be the right thing | 13:30 | |
| to say at this time." | 13:32 | |
| A lot of people feel the same way she does. | 13:35 | |
| Regardless of the timing, | 13:39 | |
| regardless of the setting, | 13:42 | |
| we have a duty, | 13:44 | |
| we have a charge, | 13:46 | |
| we have an obligation | 13:48 | |
| to proclaim the message of Christ. | 13:50 | |
| This duty, this charge, this obligation | 13:53 | |
| is even more significant during this particular time | 13:56 | |
| in the life of our nation. | 13:59 | |
| For just as Paul predicted, | 14:01 | |
| many people are turning away from the truth | 14:04 | |
| and are wandering after myths and other | 14:07 | |
| grossly inaccurate interpretations | 14:09 | |
| of the message of the gospel. | 14:12 | |
| War and hatred are being preached from many pulpits | 14:14 | |
| throughout this nation, | 14:17 | |
| and people are filling the pews | 14:19 | |
| of churches to receive those messages. | 14:21 | |
| So our task must be done, | 14:25 | |
| our charge must be fulfilled. | 14:27 | |
| We must answer the call to duty, | 14:30 | |
| to proclaim the message | 14:32 | |
| even in these unfavorable times. | 14:35 | |
| For those of you who are willing to accept your charge, | 14:39 | |
| please note that this is a message of peace and not of war. | 14:42 | |
| Jesus on many occasions | 14:48 | |
| with direct words and action | 14:50 | |
| reveals to us and to the world | 14:52 | |
| that the way of the cross is a way of peace. | 14:55 | |
| Were it not so, he had many occasions | 15:00 | |
| where he could have responded to the sword with a sword. | 15:01 | |
| This is a message of love and not of hate. | 15:06 | |
| Numerous times throughout his ministry, | 15:11 | |
| Jesus taught his followers that they were to respond | 15:14 | |
| with love in the face of hate. | 15:19 | |
| He said on several occasions that we | 15:22 | |
| are to love those who hate us | 15:24 | |
| and who spitefully misuse us. | 15:26 | |
| This is a message of forgiveness and not of grudgery | 15:30 | |
| While hanging there on the cross, on the brink of death, | 15:34 | |
| Jesus turned to his Father in Heaven and asked for | 15:39 | |
| the forgiveness of those who were about to take | 15:42 | |
| his very life. | 15:44 | |
| This is the nature of the message we are to proclaim. | 15:47 | |
| We've all be issued a solemn charge. | 15:51 | |
| To proclaim the true message of Jesus Christ, | 15:54 | |
| even in these unfavorable times. | 15:57 | |
| Even if the world refuses to listen, | 16:01 | |
| we are still to proclaim it. | 16:04 | |
| Even if it seems like the time is not right, | 16:07 | |
| we are still to proclaim it. | 16:11 | |
| Will you accept your charge? | 16:14 | |
| Will you by your words and your actions, | 16:16 | |
| proclaim the true message of Jesus Christ | 16:20 | |
| in these unfavorable times. | 16:24 | |
| Amen. | 16:27 | |
| (gentle organ music) | 16:33 |