On Sunday - Past Sermon

Sermon Title: "Rejoice In the Lord Always "
Date: October 9, 2005
Minister: Rev. Charles E. Ensley, Jr.

Lesson:  Philippians 4:1-9

I interviewed a candidate for church secretary in another church a couple of decades ago.  She sat in my office on a quiet afternoon and declared to me, “A church must be a very holy place to work.”  Maybe here in the sanctuary if you’re praying, but not in the church office.  Just ask our secretary, Maureen, whose hard drive on the church’s main computer crashed two weeks ago.  It wasn’t very holy, or peaceful, in the office for a few days!

Do you think all is always at peace in the church—not just this church, but every church?  That’s not true.  A congregation, or a church office, is just like any other business.  It’s made up of people, and all people do not always agree on all things.  Over the years, in churches I’ve served and in dozens of others, I’ve heard of conflicts about who is in charge of the church kitchen; between the pastor and the music staff about who selects music; between the Women’s Fellowship and the Trustees over what color a room is being painted; whether too much or too little is being sent to missions; about the pastor, the organist, a Sunday School teacher, a youth leader; whether the pastor spends too much time working in the office or too much time calling outside of the office; about salaries being too high or too low; the pastor’s scuffed shoes (not mine); and remodeling the sanctuary.  In fact, Maureen tells me when they rearranged the pews in her church and removed one which a particular gentlemen sat in, he stopped attending church.  Take my pew away, and I’m gone too!!

At the Board of Stewards meeting last month, Linda Sumpter mentioned that she and her daughter Kirsten attended a daylong women’s conference at Pilgrim Pines in September.  She said all the women, representing a variety of Southern California United Church of Christ congregations, said their churches argue over the same things we argue about too.

It is evident from Paul’s letter to the church at Philippi that such conflict was inherent from the church’s beginning.  He writes to one of the most successful new church starts at Philippi in Macedonia, the first church he began on European soil, a church where women were active and influential from the beginning.  It is 20-to-30 years after Christ’s resurrection.  After spending three chapters lauding the church for its success, Paul makes an abrupt turn and counsels two women who are in conflict.  Some scholars feel this is perhaps a fragment of another letter, but the point is the same:  two women in particular are at odds.

We know not whether Euodia’s and Syntyche’s conflict was of a personal nature or a doctrinal one.  Did Euodia believe the new church addition should be one style and Syntyche another?  Did Euodia believe communion should be served only to church members and Syntyche believe the sacrament should be available to visitors as well?  Did Syntyche become president of the women’s guild before Euodia was able to serve her two terms?

We do not know the source of the conflict, nor do we know whether it was ever settled.  Philippians chapter 4 verse 2 is the only place these two women are mentioned in the entire Bible.  While Paul takes the side of neither woman, he praises them both for their work alongside him in spreading the gospel, and he urges the others in Philippi who will hear his letter to work with them in resolving their conflict.

All of us have conflicts we must deal with in life.  All of us have issues, not necessarily conflicts, that trouble us.  Maybe it’s a health issue—our own or others.  Maybe it’s a problem at home, or at work, or at school.  Paul urges his readers not to “worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.”  Paul is not urging those to whom he writes to adopt a “don’t worry; be happy!” attitude.  Rather, he is saying when you have problems, when you have concerns, turn them over to God in prayer.  And I can tell you from personal experience that the peace of God, which Paul promises, will come as a result.

My mother lives in a residential care community for those with dementia.  She has a tendency toward developing pneumonia, and was hospitalized twice last year.  Whenever she is, she becomes more disoriented than usual, tends to hallucinate as a result of the fever, and forgets how to eat.  It is troubling to her family, and to her.

During her first hospitalization, I was feeling very helpless about what we could do about her condition.  I earnestly prayed one night and turned it over to God.  During that night, I had a dream about my father’s last hospitalization.  Shortly before his death 27 years ago, we hired private duty nurses to be with him overnight when we could not be there.

The morning after I had that dream, I remembered it when I awoke and I thought to myself, ‘if they have private duty nurses, maybe they have private duty aides.’  I made a call to Quaker Gardens where she lives and asked.  Sure enough, there is an agency which employees some of the same caregivers who work with my mother where she lives.  We hired them to stay with her, both in the hospital and when she was moved to skilled nursing and needed to learn again how to eat.  The next time she was hospitalized, I called the agency from the emergency room at 10:30 p.m. and they had an aide there by midnight, even before she was admitted to a room.

Now I could say that story illustrates how God answers prayers through dreams, which I believe is possible.  But I prefer to think the answer came to me only after by prayer and supplication I let my requests be made known to God.  I might even say I rejoice—just a little bit—knowing that if my mother is hospitalized again, we have the support network already in place she and her family needs to successfully move through those troubling times.

What we need to be about as Christians is to undergird ourselves with all the faith and assurance of Christ’s presence with us to help us through life’s challenging times.  They will come, no matter how blest you believe your life to be.  Paul reminds us that the Lord is near.  And supremely planted in the very middle of today’s text is his admonition:  “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice.”  We may not be happy about life’s troubles, and they are painful to endure at the time, but we can rejoice that we are never alone.  “The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding,” and which comes as a direct result of our faith and prayers, is a peace that transcends the cycle of any human conflicts, troubles, family problems and health issues we may face in our lives.

“Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice.”