4/5/64

Scripture: Isaiah 43: 1-13.

A featured song in a light opera of a decade ago was the one titled: “You’ll Never Walk Alone.” Of course the tune was catchy and it appealed to hearers for a time. But the words carried a catchy idea, too. The title is a not-too-profoundly expressed truth. For we need never feel entirely lonely.

It is possible that loneliness seems most insistent when life is particularly dark. The late British author, C. S. Lewis, has spoken of “A Shared Darkness” in his posthumously published “Letters to Malcolm: Chiefly On Prayer.” He speaks of a friend who had written to him when he was in deep trouble. The friend had written: “You know I’m outside. My voice can hardly reach you.” And because of that kind of understanding, Lewis had admitted that this friend’s letter was more like the real grasp of a real hand than any other he got.

He speaks of prayers of petition; the prayer of anguish -- sometimes not granted. But even in anguish, one is not alone. He may be in understanding fellowship with the Master who prayed in anguish, in a garden at Gethsemane, that the cup of agony that was to be his crucifixion might pass from him. And still he felt compelled to accept the cup. Sufferers have a fellow sufferer in Christ.

Some of you, during this past week, have had occasion to stand by a friend in a hospital and to share in the anxiety and suffering of that one. Some of us have tried to stand by, and offer a hand of friendly understanding to those who have been bereaved. The important thing is that neither they, nor we, should feel left alone; but that there are friends and there is a Great Friend, so near at hand that, even in the darkness, the burden is shared. It does not have to be borne alone.

One of the hymns of confidence that we Congregationalists may not formerly have used very often, we may use more frequently now. It is near the beginning of the Pilgrim hymnal and is titled “God Himself Is With Us.” It is a hymn of faith and confidence.

All of this is reminiscent of the assurance given in the book of Isaiah, from which we read the Scripture lesson this morning. The prophet assures the people of Israel that the Lord has this to say to them: “Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you. When you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you. For I am the Lord your God.”

Has someone you know walked through deep waters? Or have you? There is strengthening comfort in the knowledge that we are not alone. There are friends to hold out their hands with understanding and strength. And there is One who above all else is supremely to walk through the valley with each one of His own. The valley of anxiety need not be lonely. “For,” saith the Lord, “I will be with thee, thy trials to bless.”

A week ago there were anxious families here in this parish. All of us knew of the disaster which had befallen the people of Alaska. Enough was said on radio and on TV and in newspaper dispatches, to alert each of us to the fact that many lives had been lost in the crash of buildings and in the wash of great tidal waves. But no word could get through from people in Anchorage or certain other Alaskan cities. For all communication lines were down. Families and friends here could only wait in prayerful anguish until lines were sufficiently restored so that calls could come through. We needed the assurance that we were, none of us, alone.

Little children, watching pictures of the destruction on television, could not but wonder at the awfulness of it. How could God, being good, let it happen? Some of us are hard put to it to explain. It is not easy for us to accept the truth that God does not seem to be the great One who strikes, or withholds in disaster as man would wish. But He is the God of things as they are; to be trusted in the midst of terror, or at the break of a great dawn. Sometimes one is most keenly aware of God’s presence in some moment of great achievement or joyfulness.

I knew once of a boy who tried, in a boy’s way, to describe what he called a “religious experience.” There had been a heavy snowfall, and he was assigned the job of shoveling the snow off the sidewalk in front of their family home. He had nearly finished the job when he remembered that the woman next door, a widow who lived alone, was ill. “She will not be able to shovel her walk today,” thought the boy. “So I guess I’ll shovel it off for her.” And he did! “And do you know,” he said later, “I just felt as though I was not alone. It seemed like God was there, and that He was pleased.”

The main point of our Christian faith, at this juncture, is that God is with us. If it is tragedy or suffering that we must endure, He suffers and endures with us. If it is a time of joy, the fullness of His joy is ours for the remembering. He is with His own in earthquake, fire and flood. He is with His own at some mountain peak of success or joy. We are not alone.

I knew a young couple, years ago, who decided that, for the first time since their marriage, they were going to have a kind of second honeymoon. They would leave their two small children with the wife’s mother and take an automobile trip from New York at least as far west as Yellowstone Park. And they did! Sometimes they stopped for a night, or part of a day, with some friend or relative. Sometimes they just stopped at a hotel or cabin. One thing was wrong, however. The young wife could not forget that she was also a mother. And she worried about the two little children. It may have been when they were 3 or 4 days out, that she came to a wise decision. And she had a little talk with herself in this wise: “Now Thelma, you have done the best you could in arranging for car of Jack and Mary Jane. You know your mother will be concerned for them. You also believe that God is your Father, and Father to your children as well. You just say your prayers at night; give the children to God’s keeping, and quit worrying.” Well, that is what she did. And she and her husband had a wonderful trip, while the kiddies had a wonderful time at Grandmas house.

Two or three of our families have been anxious for members of their families in Alaska. I have a cousin there. I also have a son traveling somewhere in Russia. We are concerned for those whom we love in dangerous or different or difficult places. And there may not be too much that we can do for their safety. But we can be reminded that they are not alone, and we are not alone. We can entrust them to God’s care and go about the tasks which we must perform without giving over to destructive fear.

God is with us in other situations as well. Next Tuesday, all of us who are 21 years of age and citizens, ought to go to the polls, as free people must do if they deserve their freedom. For true liberty is responsibility. We voters will enter a voting booth, draw the curtain behind us, and while there alone, cast our ballot. It is right that we should be alone for a few moments away from the eye or influence of anyone else, casting a citizen’s vote according to the dictates of our own conscience.

And yet we are not alone. For goodness is there; right is there; God is there in the voting booth with us, holding us responsible for what we do. We shall weigh carefully the various referenda on which we may vote our opinion. We shall indicate our choice of those whom we want to see elected to the School Board -- voting not for the person whom we think is the nicest, or most deserving of recognition, but for the ones whom we are convinced will use their influence for the best in education and equipment for the children of the homes in this community.

We shall vote for a justice of the State Supreme Court on the basis of whom we believe has the best experience and qualification to interpret the laws of Wisconsin in equity and justice. God will be with us there expecting us to turn away from little, or biased interest, remembering the good of the people in this state.

We shall vote for those who may seek nomination for the office of President of the United States. We are aware of much of the tactical maneuvering. We know that a so-called “favorite son” candidate, who has little expectation that he will be nominated, will eventually throw the weight of his support to some more widely popular candidate. But let us not be so engrossed with the maneuvering that we forget what is wrong and what is right.

Here in Wisconsin we are presented with a decision on one candidate who lives in a state where hatred and bigotry have been turned loose. He might have used his position in that state for greatness. But he refused that opportunity. God is with every one of us, watching to see whether we join the forces of hatred and bigotry or whether we support some candidate who will try to promote fair opportunity for all people. It is sometimes a sobering experience to remember that we are not alone!

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We are not alone when confronted with some new challenge or venture. I recall a man who had just accepted appointment to a new job. It meant going to a new office in another town. It meant moving his family from the home and friends where they had lived for some years. He was eager, and yet he was apprehensive. What if he did not “have what it takes?” What if it should prove out that he had made a mistake? What if he should fail? After all, failure is a possibility.

He had not been a very consistent churchgoer. And he had not been a church member. But now he started going to church with great regularity, and with intense interest. And I’m not minded to make any wise or sarcastic remarks about it! For I have a feeling that this was his own way of saying to himself and others, “After all, I’m not alone in this venture. God is interested, and God is with me. I want to find out more about how I can be with God in this.” The cynical might be disposed to say, “That guy was running from his fears.” I’m inclined to say, “That fellow was strengthening his faith.” He knew that he could have something great, or someone great, with him. He was not alone.

Our church is not alone. In the first place, we are a community of Christian people. We have each other, to live together in the bonds of Christian fellowship and service. We have a concern for each other, in our distresses and in our hopes. We are a gathered company of believers, differing somewhat each from the other in approach to ultimate truth, but binding ourselves together, as members of a Christian family, in common purpose and trust. As a Christian family, we have a great deal to accomplish with each other, and for others.

We have not only each other, but we have the assurance that God is with us. He is with us more surely, more insistently than we may have thought. Surely He expects great things of us! Does he not expect that every one of us is going to be devoted to His will? Dedicated to His ways? Committed to His service?

We experience His love toward us. We acknowledge His guidance. We know of His insistent stirring of conscience. We look for the visions that will widen our horizons. Most of us have been convinced for some time that the house of God, our church building, must be improved or replaced in order to provide a facility for a better church home. We have been at work for months -- yes, for years -- on ideas and preliminary plans for new housing. We have acquired the necessary property. Close to one hundred members have served on committees working out an understanding of the needs, now and in the future, for our effective work together. We have gathered as a congregation, to receive reports of the Building Committee. We have taken the decision (after hearing from our Survey Committee) to build on this location rather than move. Last month, on March 9th, we took the decision to build a church, complete with sanctuary, chapel, and commodious Christian educational building.

It is now our collective responsibility as a church, and our personal responsibility as individual Christian church members, to implement the decision with our financial support, and not only with that but with our time and effort. This is the time for us to close any gaps as the line of a football team closes for action in contest. Now is the time for every one of us to be together, and to work together.

All members of the church and congregation should be prepared to help as requested. We have, by the direction of our church vote, taken on March 9th, engaged the advice of a fund-raising firm, have engaged a director, and authorized the necessary organization of resources. Two steps are before us to be taken immediately. The various building committee divisions are to go to work on the more immediate details necessary to acquaint the architect with what we want our church building to be. And our whole church must be ready to undergird the effort with adequate financing. During the next eight weeks, through the rest of April and almost all of May, we are to participate in our Finance Campaign. Let us do it with glad expectancy; with real vigor; with the knowledge that we are not alone, for God is with us, expecting great things of us!

All of us should now be prepared to help whenever requested. There will be many duties to be performed, and no mere dozen can perform them. It takes the entire membership. Any one of us can be the person asked to carry a specified responsibility. Let us be good stewards of our time and energy, ready to respond wherever needed.

We of this church have a record for modest generosity in contributing to some kinds of Christian need and enterprise. Now we are launched on an enterprise that is no more than many, many churches have undertaken, but is more than we have attempted in our generation. We shall want, during the next eight weeks, to raise our sights very high, not because we must but because we may! We live not alone for ourselves, but for each other and for those others who will join this fellowship in the future. They are with us; we are with each other; God is with us, expecting greatness in us!

And we might be surprised! The disciples of Christ were surprised soon after the first Easter Day. We read, in John’s Gospel, referred to on the first page of today’s church bulletin, that those disciples were gathered together in a room with closed doors. They were somewhat fearful, and they had been confused. But suddenly they knew that they were not alone. For they knew that Jesus was among them saying, “Peace be with you -- as the Father has sent me, even so I send you.” [John 20: 21].

Our Christ, who is the head of the church, is with us, as he was with those early disciples. He speaks to us with peace and confidence. He sends us forth to do his bidding, to meet and satisfy a great need that is near at hand to us.

We are not alone, for he is with us expecting us to be Christian not only in name but in truth. Let his name be glorified by our lips, by our hearts, by our actions.

Amen.

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Delivered in Wisconsin Rapids, April 5, 1964.