Church of the Redeemer

15th Sunday after Pentecost

September 1, 2002 

    Monday morning, I had one of those rare, unexpected, spiritually provocative moments while working out.  Now the gym is not a place I expect to have a spiritual moment, especially since I cannot multi-task while working out.  But last Monday was different, as I bobbed up and down on the cross-trainer, an aerobics machine that is a cross between a stair stepper and cross-country skier, someone I did not know attempted to workout on the machine next to mine and looked to me for assistance. This I provided to help get him started and the instruction led to the usual conversation.  You know, the usual polite exchange of basic information, name, job, and family status.  In this case, the person who was next to me, was named Daniel, he is a pediatrician and father of one and was trying to get back into shape so he could take his church’s youth group hiking in a few weeks time.  After we completed our conversation, Daniel asked me what I found to be a most provocative question, “ Do I celebrate Christ?”  After being ordained two years, I have become use to the usual monologues people get into after they learn I am ordained.  Usually, I hear all their reasons for not going to church, or if they are especially evangelical, I get the do you know Jesus question.  However,  Daniel’s question was different, it assumes a relationship with Christ, but asks that we evaluate to what level we realize this relationship in our lives.  As I pondered his question, I had to admit that while I try to celebrate Christ, there are many times when celebrating is a struggle.  To this Daniel agreed, and then he shared with me his morning prayer asking God to help him celebrate Jesus in all he did physically, spiritually and mentally.  At this point, our conversation waned as we both began huffing and puffing on our respective machines trying to get our heart rates up to the optimal cardiovascular level, and I believe Daniel’s question would have floated off without further thought had he not disclosed to someone else that he had been diagnosed with ALS or Lou Gehrig’s Disease three months ago.  When I heard that all I could think was, wow, here is someone entering living with what is perhaps the most horrific terminal illness and his first thought each day is how he can celebrate Christ.

    My conversation with Daniel will remain with me for quite some time because Daniel like St. Paul, Job and Dietrich Bonhoeffer, is one of those unique individual’s who has a mature and genuine relationship with God and can celebrate Christ in all situations.  And, like Mitch Ablom’s teacher and mentor Morrie Schwartz, Daniel will most likely become a spiritual guide to those who know him as his battle with ALS intensifies in the months and years to come.  But what about the rest of us, how do we fit into the big picture of Christianity? We, who are not as steadfast in our faith as a Job or a St. Paul, who find it hard to celebrate Christ in the crux of adversity:  we, whose faith ebbs and flows: who when compared with people like Daniel, or St. Paul feel as if we are spiritual failures, weak in our faith.  The answer is two-fold.  First, we have to accept the fact the people like St. Paul, Job, and perhaps even Daniel are individuals who know God and understand the Gospel in a way that few others can or do.  They are the superlatives of the faithful.  We on the other hand are the average of the faithful; we are Christians in the form of St. Peter.

    If you think about it, St. Peter is not often held up as a Christian role model even though he is perhaps the most discussed disciple in the Gospels.  What we know about St. Peter is that he earned his living as a fisherman prior to becoming an Apostle.  As a disciple he was sincere, loyal, enthusiastic, and is often mentioned as part of Jesus’ innermost circle.  Peter was one of the two that witnessed the transfiguration on top of the mountain.  It was Peter, whom Christ took with him to pray in the Garden of Gethsemane.   But when it came to his ability to be steadfast in his faith, to celebrate Christ at all times, Peter was like the most of us, solid in the good times, but shaky at best when challenged.  And, as we read through the Gospels, we see this part of Peter’s personality and faith played out over and over again.  Just over this past summer, we heard how Peter in a moment of impulsiveness stepped out of the boat and walked on water, until he realized he was doing the impossible and sank along with his faith in Christ.  Only last week we heard Peter proclaim Jesus to be the Christ, the anointed one of God and then within the same conversation, deny Christ his plan to enter Jerusalem.  During the last supper, it was Peter who refused to allow Jesus to wash his feet and then, after the significance is explained, asks him to wash his hands as well and then in the course of that same night denies Christ three times while in the temple courtyard. 

    Yes, it is St. Peter who we seem to emulate the most, able to celebrate Christ by proclaiming his divinity when it is safe, and then denying him when challenged.  And one would think that Peter would be Christ’s last choice to lead his fledgling church in his absence. And yet, it is Peter, and not a more reliable Apostle that Christ chooses, leaving us to wonder why.    As we examine Peter’s life, the answer becomes evident because his one redeeming quality was no matter how hard Peter may have struggled to be faithful to Jesus, or how many times he may have failed, Peter never gave up on Jesus.  With every tumble and fall Peter took in faith, he was always willing to get up, brush himself off, and continued trying to get it right.  It is the struggles of St. Peter that we all encounter when we enter into relationship with God, and it is this struggle that the likes of St. Paul, Job and my friend Daniel have had to grapple with and embrace in order to accept their crosses in life and celebrate Christ in their times of victory and times of adversity because they have come to celebrate not only the victory of Christ, but his cross as well.

    This week, I invite each of us to take a moment to embrace the struggles we feel in regards to our faith and journey with God and to rest assured that each and every individual who proclaims Jesus as Lord and Savior shares our struggle.  Finally, I ask us to accept that when we are willing to take on these struggles of faith, we will find growth in the Spirit and little by little we will find we too can pick up our crosses and celebrate Christ fully with our bodies, minds and spirits.  Amen.

The Rev. Craig R. Swan

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