A Note From Pastor Laura
Sermon preached on Sunday, June 21, 2020
The year was 1983. It was June. She was young, only 37 years old, a wife and a mother to 3 daughters. One was 7 years old, another was 14, and her oldest was 17. She’d just been told she had metastatic colon cancer. It had already spread to several of her lymph nodes and so her life expectancy was 5 years or less. The best hope for survival was aggressive surgery and a year of chemotherapy – 1 treatment every week for 52 weeks. On the way to one of her chemotherapy treatments, she said, “I love you and your sisters, Laura. No matter what happens, remember, God always has a plan.”
Recently, a man nearing retirement was told his job – his position – was eliminated. When I asked if he was afraid, he responded: “Laura, God has always been faithful. This moment is no different. I know God has a plan.”
In a conversation with a family member over their loved one’s death from COVID-19 complications, I asked if she was angry, she said, “I’m so sad, Laura. But, I believe God has a plan.”
In a phone conversation just yesterday, about what appears to be the unraveling of an social order – in light of George Floyd’s murder, the peaceful protests, the rioting and looting and burning of cities by opportunists, the unprovoked attacks and killing of police officers, and the daily public lynchings of people of color these past several days, I asked her to share her thoughts. She said, “We are a sinful people. Even so, God promises to bring new life to places of death and devastation. I hope that is true and God has a plan.”
It’s easy to say ’God has a plan’ when there is something to celebrate. “God is good – all the time and all the time – God is good” is the popular call and response between Christians. To say it while watching a loved one die a slow painful death from cancer, when your dream job has been eliminated, when you’ve lost your source of income, to watch in emotional numbness as your marriage is being dissolved by divorce, to lose a child to addiction or suicide, to fear your loved one will not return after they walk out the door… does it work then, to say, “No matter what happens, God has a plan”?
The problem with needing to have a plan is that when we don’t have a plan or can’t see one, we feel untethered, lost, out of control. For Christians, “FAITH” by definition is a commitment to, a trust in, that which we can neither see nor prove. Hebrews 11:1 defines faith as “…assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not yet seen.” There is only one alternate belief system to having faith and hope and that is this: God DOESN’T always have a plan and we are simply left on our own, left to fend for ourselves, left to figure everything out thing out, all on our own, and that is a frightening scenario.
One of the core beliefs or doctrines we hold in the United Church of Christ is the sovereignty of God, a belief that ultimately God rules over everything, but nothing is outside God's sight and care, and that what my mother, my friend, my family member, and fellow church member articulated in their words to me, in their time of suffering is trustworthy and true: “No matter what happens, God always has a plan.”
In the book of Jeremiah, we are told exactly what God’s plan is. Chapter 29, verse 11 reads, “I know the plans I have for you declares the Lord, plans for good and not for evil; to give you a future and a hope.”
The Apostle Paul reminds us again and again, as did Jesus with his disciples, that suffering, and trails and tribulation are a part of the human condition. Yet we are gently reminded to “Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, and be constant in prayer.”
My sisters and brothers in Christ, I know there is pain. I know there is hurt. I know there is fear. I know there is suffering. But what is even more important is that God KNOWS. God knows and God has a plan – and it is NOT for evil and suffering. God has a plan – and it is for good, a plan for a future. Our God IS sovereign and God rules over everything, there is nothing is outside the scope of God’s gaze and care.
May you believe in God’s sovereignty and God’s “good” plan for a future and may it serve as a source of hope and peace and even joy. Amen. Let us pray…
PASTORAL PRAYER[1] & THE LORD'S PRAYER
Pastor: God of infinite compassion and grace, expand our capacity to love and to pray in the midst of all we do not understand and cannot comprehend. Walk with us through our fear, our outrage, and our pain, and enable us, as we are confronted with the fragility of life, to put our trust in your, our Rock and our Refuge. We pray through Christ who taught us to pray:
All: Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name. Thy kingdom come; Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors; and lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil for thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.
[1] Bryan, Rev. Harriet. Internet Image. The people of the United Methodist Church. 15 June 2020
The year was 1983. It was June. She was young, only 37 years old, a wife and a mother to 3 daughters. One was 7 years old, another was 14, and her oldest was 17. She’d just been told she had metastatic colon cancer. It had already spread to several of her lymph nodes and so her life expectancy was 5 years or less. The best hope for survival was aggressive surgery and a year of chemotherapy – 1 treatment every week for 52 weeks. On the way to one of her chemotherapy treatments, she said, “I love you and your sisters, Laura. No matter what happens, remember, God always has a plan.”
Recently, a man nearing retirement was told his job – his position – was eliminated. When I asked if he was afraid, he responded: “Laura, God has always been faithful. This moment is no different. I know God has a plan.”
In a conversation with a family member over their loved one’s death from COVID-19 complications, I asked if she was angry, she said, “I’m so sad, Laura. But, I believe God has a plan.”
In a phone conversation just yesterday, about what appears to be the unraveling of an social order – in light of George Floyd’s murder, the peaceful protests, the rioting and looting and burning of cities by opportunists, the unprovoked attacks and killing of police officers, and the daily public lynchings of people of color these past several days, I asked her to share her thoughts. She said, “We are a sinful people. Even so, God promises to bring new life to places of death and devastation. I hope that is true and God has a plan.”
It’s easy to say ’God has a plan’ when there is something to celebrate. “God is good – all the time and all the time – God is good” is the popular call and response between Christians. To say it while watching a loved one die a slow painful death from cancer, when your dream job has been eliminated, when you’ve lost your source of income, to watch in emotional numbness as your marriage is being dissolved by divorce, to lose a child to addiction or suicide, to fear your loved one will not return after they walk out the door… does it work then, to say, “No matter what happens, God has a plan”?
The problem with needing to have a plan is that when we don’t have a plan or can’t see one, we feel untethered, lost, out of control. For Christians, “FAITH” by definition is a commitment to, a trust in, that which we can neither see nor prove. Hebrews 11:1 defines faith as “…assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not yet seen.” There is only one alternate belief system to having faith and hope and that is this: God DOESN’T always have a plan and we are simply left on our own, left to fend for ourselves, left to figure everything out thing out, all on our own, and that is a frightening scenario.
One of the core beliefs or doctrines we hold in the United Church of Christ is the sovereignty of God, a belief that ultimately God rules over everything, but nothing is outside God's sight and care, and that what my mother, my friend, my family member, and fellow church member articulated in their words to me, in their time of suffering is trustworthy and true: “No matter what happens, God always has a plan.”
In the book of Jeremiah, we are told exactly what God’s plan is. Chapter 29, verse 11 reads, “I know the plans I have for you declares the Lord, plans for good and not for evil; to give you a future and a hope.”
The Apostle Paul reminds us again and again, as did Jesus with his disciples, that suffering, and trails and tribulation are a part of the human condition. Yet we are gently reminded to “Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, and be constant in prayer.”
My sisters and brothers in Christ, I know there is pain. I know there is hurt. I know there is fear. I know there is suffering. But what is even more important is that God KNOWS. God knows and God has a plan – and it is NOT for evil and suffering. God has a plan – and it is for good, a plan for a future. Our God IS sovereign and God rules over everything, there is nothing is outside the scope of God’s gaze and care.
May you believe in God’s sovereignty and God’s “good” plan for a future and may it serve as a source of hope and peace and even joy. Amen. Let us pray…
PASTORAL PRAYER[1] & THE LORD'S PRAYER
Pastor: God of infinite compassion and grace, expand our capacity to love and to pray in the midst of all we do not understand and cannot comprehend. Walk with us through our fear, our outrage, and our pain, and enable us, as we are confronted with the fragility of life, to put our trust in your, our Rock and our Refuge. We pray through Christ who taught us to pray:
All: Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name. Thy kingdom come; Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors; and lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil for thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.
[1] Bryan, Rev. Harriet. Internet Image. The people of the United Methodist Church. 15 June 2020
