Click to hear this sermon  sermon100404

A lot of people are seeing a half empty glass these days.

Half-Empty / Half-Full / Overflowing - Acts 10: 35-43 - April 4, 2010 - Cicero United Methodist Church - Everett J. Bassett

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

            A lot of people are seeing a half empty glass these days. This would be true most any time our nation was fighting two wars at once. But, in truth, it's not so much the wars that are discouraging us - in fact, the news from both wars has improved over the last year. It's the economy that makes the glass look half empty - so many people out of work, so many people struggling to get by. It has required expensive and far-reaching measures by our current administration in Washington, and the one before, putting us in deep debt. It touches our state, and our local government, and our schools, and the many companies large and small that keep our Central New York economy strong. And on most levels of government, we see leaders either overwhelmed or gridlocked as they try to tackle the problems before them.

            Add to this the devastation of natural disasters, like earthquakes and floods, and then
the personal and emotional crises that hit households and families, and this seems like a tough, tough stretch we're living through. It's kind of like the little boy who saw fireflies for the first time - which most of us see as one of the delights of summer. But this little boy had had enough, and he said to his friend, "Oh great. Now the mosquitoes are coming after us with flashlights." That's seeing the glass half-empty.

            Ray Waddle, from Yale University, wrote about this dark climate in an article for
Interpreter magazine called 'Do Not Be Afraid.' He analyzed television and movies to see how they reflect or affect the growing picture of darkness. Waddle, quoting a recently published report, points out that between 1990 and 1998 our nation's murder rate declined by 20%. Yet, during those same years the number of murders reported on network newscasts increased by 600%. No wonder the glass seems half empty...

            And not just on that big screen in the living room. If you went to the movies this past
year, you could have seen movies like The Road, about a father and son running from cannibals after the world we know it has ended; or 2012, which is also about the end of the world, with scenes like the entire state of California sliding into the ocean, and I don't mean just an ocean of debt. And 2012 claimed to be based on actual Mayan prophecies about how the world will end.

            So... happy Easter, everybody. Gloom and doom movies and TV are just two of the
manifestations of a glass that seems half empty. That is one of three ways that we can
look at the world today.

            But there is a second way. It's the way of the little girl playing Little League baseball.

Her father came to the game a little late, and he asked her what the score was. "We're behind 14-0." "Oh my, I'm sorry," was his first response, thinking of words to say next to soften her disappointment. "Don't worry," she said cheerfully. "We haven't been up yet." That little girl has mastered the second way to look at life, and that is to see the glass half-full. So let me lift up just a couple reasons to be more optimistic today.

First of all, there are so many good people in this world. The Bible establishes on a theological level that we all sin and fall short of the glory of God. And I know that's true; I haven't yet met a perfect person. But I've sure met a lot of good ones. And that's the part of life that doesn't make the news I'm convinced that for every stinker out there who will cut you off in traffic, there are a dozen thoughtful drivers who will let you in. For every act of dishonesty we hear about, there are a dozen daily acts of integrity. The local newspaper tested that about a year or "So ago. They ran a test by leaving a pretty good sum of money around, and watched what happened when people off the street found it by accident. And overwhelmingly, people did the right thing. They found a
nearby merchant, or a police officer, or figured out some other way to deliver the money where it might be claimed. There is a great deal of honesty and integrity in this world. It was nice to see it reported in the newspaper.

            There is also a lot of kindness. We've witnessed it over and over in this church, in what people across this room are doing all the time - serving others through community projects, or through the many caring and outreaching ministries here at church. There is a lot of goodness in people. Time and time again, when people have been struck by calamity, as so many experienced devastating flooding this week, it won't be long before we will hear the stories of human heroism and caring, as people pour out their love in response to neighbors in need.

            That human heroism is there if we look for it. I loved the little devotional article I saw
by a woman who had a flat tire after dark in a rough-looking neighborhood; and four young men approached her car. Her impulse was to lock the doors and call 9-1-1. But in the next ten minutes they changed her tire, cheered her up, and got her a cup of tea. She said it lifted up what had been a tough day. The glass is half-full- sometimes more than half. No matter how dismal the score may be, goodness always will get its turn at bat. And that's the second way to look at life in our world.

            But there is a third way of seeing things, and that way has everything to do with why
we're here today. In fact, if all there was to talk about was whether we see the glass as half-empty or half-full, then churches wouldn't be filled to the rafters this Easter Sunday. There are plenty of self-help books and motivational programs out there to help us keep a better outlook on life. But churches are full today. And there may be many reasons for that - family traditions and social images and so on. But I believe it goes deeper than that. I believe that there is a hope in people that there is something more going on in life as we know it than what's on the surface. It's got to be something more than just a struggle between half-empty and half-full that can go either way at any given time. And Easter makes an audacious claim that in fact, the cup is overflowing. And there is a grace and a power behind human existence that go way beyond the struggle of everyday living.

            I'd like to talk about what that means by looking at an encounter between two men. The first was a man named Cornelius, and for anything we can see in the Bible, Cornelius was living a half-full life. He was a man with power and advantages - he was a Roman centurion in one of the major Roman outposts, the city of Caesarea. And he was a spiritual man, devout, generous, and a person of prayer. No doubt there were half-empty times. But, it turns out, God had something more to show Cornelius.

            The second man in the story is Simon Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ. Peter had been on an amazing journey. He, too, had been absorbed in everyday things - a fisherman in Galilee - half-empty, half-full. But those days must now seem like a distant memory to Peter. Peter had witnessed the grace and power of Easter, and his life was transformed way past half-empty, half-full, all the way to overflowing joy and hope. But, it turns out, God wasn't finished with Peter yet either.

            The first part of Acts, chapter 10, is the story of how God orchestrated a meeting between Cornelius and Peter so that both men could be lifted to overflowing Easter grace. It was not a natural meeting at all. There were strong walls to overcome. For every ethnic, cultural, political and personal reason, these two men would more likely avoid each other. But now they stood face to face, and Peter simply told Cornelius what he knew, and what he knew is what brings us here this morning. Because it's no accident that you're here. God has invited you, and maybe overcome a few obstacles to get you here. And it's the same message; the story hasn't changed. The question is, what is God saying to you in these words? How is God longing to speak: to your heart about a grace that is overflowing, and a power that you have not yet realized? Here's what Peter said:

            "You know the message (God) sent to the people of Israel, preaching peace by Jesus
Christ - he is Lord of all. That message spread throughout Judea, beginning in Galilee ... how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power: how he went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him. We are witnesses to all he did both in Judea and in Jerusalem. They put him to death by hanging him on a tree, but God raised him on the third day, and allowed him to appear ... He commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one ordained by God as judge of the living and the dead. All the prophets testify about him that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name."

            And Acts 10 tells that while Peter was saying these things the Holy Spirit flowed to all
who heard, and Cornelius found his spiritual search answered, and Peter realized that the Easter message he proclaimed was now for the salvation of everyone, not just a chosen or isolated few. And suddenly there was a third way of looking at life - the Easter way, about a grace that overflowed to embrace all of God's people, and a power over even the forces of death and evil. And you and I are invited into that Easter story, to live not as people who are defeated by life, but as people who are empowered for victorious living, forgiven and free in the overflowing grace of God. That's the new vision we can take from this service today.

            It's the vision behind a story from Guidepost, about a special Easter that took place
during World War II when Singapore fell to Japanese occupation. Ethel Rogers Mulvaney, a Canadian working for the Red Cross, was one of 4,000 civilians who were imprisoned in Changi jail. As their first Easter in prison approached, Mrs. Mulvaney asked the Japanese prison commandant if they might sing in the courtyard on Easter morning. "Why?" he asked. "Because Christ rose from the dead on Easter morning," she replied. He barked his reply: "Request denied. Return to the compound." This drama of request and refusal was repeated twelve times. Then to their astonishment came the order, "Women prisoners may sing for five minutes in courtyard number one, Changi jail, at dawn on Easter morning.

            "In the presence of one guard they sang for five precious minutes in which they praised God for the resurrection of Jesus Christ, the only hope to which they could cling as a living hope in the midst of their seemingly hopeless imprisonment. Silently they marched back. As Mrs. Mulvaney entered the passageway, the guard stepped up to her, reached under his brown shirt, and drew out a tiny orchid. Placing it in her hand, he spoke so softly that she had to bend close to hear. "Christ did rise!" said the guard. Then with a smart military about-face, he was gone down the passageway. Mrs. Mulvaney, her eyes brimming with tears, knew that she and the others need never again feel forsaken in Changi jail. Christ had not only risen; he had been (seen)."

            That story is about something beyond half-empty; half-full. It's about an Easter grace
that is overflowing in unexpected and beautiful ways. There is much in today's world that would try to hide it. But if we look, we will see it. It will be like a beautiful blossom pressed into our hand at an unbelievable time. In the midst of discouragement, Easter sings hope. In the darkness and crudeness of life, Easter shines a light of possibility, and dares us to still believe. In a life that plays out in the shadow of death, with reminders of cruelty and mortality all around us, Easter announces that the stone is rolled away from the tomb, and life is abundant and eternal with Jesus.

            Haven't the voices of hate and fear dominated for long enough? Don't listen to them.

There is a new voice - a chorus of victory over evil, of beauty over hardness of heart. And isn't that why we are here? For the possibility that we can go out and be part of that chorus that lives a different way, and sings the victory over sin and death, and declares new life and new hope wherever we can - and doesn't give up the song just because life gets disheartened? We are Easter people, and Christ has risen. Goodness has won; and it's time to let people know.