10/2/66

Scripture: Mark 14: 22-32; 66-72.

A couple of generations ago, there was a song, sung in many a Sunday School, which began: “True-hearted, whole-hearted, faithful and loyal.” It was a lusty affirmation of one’s hope to be king of his life, in these matters, by God’s grace. The verses were not great poetry - far from it. The music was “catchy” to the ear of that time, but it was not of any permanent quality. But those words, “faithful and loyal,” are good words, packed with significant meaning. I suggest that we probe them for meaning on this communion Sunday [before our Church dedication.]

Those who lavish their affection upon a pet dog are particularly appreciative of his nature, if he proves himself faithful to his master and dependable to his charge.

My mother, in her younger days, was an artist with the paint brush. A favorite, among her pictures, is that of a dog, well-trained to care for his master’s sheep. The dog has searched out and found a stray lamb that is worn out, lying weary and helpless in a snow storm. The dog, in the picture, sits there on his haunches by the lamb, lifting his head toward the snow-choked sky, his mouth open in a howl which he seems determined to continue until the master (probably also searching for the lamb) may hear and come to the rescue. It is not only a good “dog picture.” It is an impressive reminder of the faithfulness of a well trained dog.

If we admire that trait in a beast, is it not because we admire it more in a person? Those who have visited a municipal art gallery in Glasgow may have seen there an impressive painting of the destruction of Pompeii. The color tone is all red -- the color of a blast furnace. Molten hot lava falls in masses through the roof of the house; partitions are giving way; men and women in the distant parts of the building are running hither and thither in a vain attempt to escape the fiery, volcanic destruction. In the foreground there stands one motionless figure, still at his post to protect the luxurious home. It is the Roman guard, tightly clasping his spear, remaining at his post come what may, “faithful unto death.”

Probably we do not see much of that kind of faithfulness in others, much less portray it ourselves. A Wisdom writer describes the matter pointedly when he observes that “Most men will proclaim everyone his own kindness, but a faithful man, who can find?” It is all too true that mankind is fitful and unstable, and the popular mind is fickle. One speaks, as if proverbially, of “the faithful few.”

Recognizing that man is variable, one turns in his religious questioning toward God. Is God as variable as man, or is He faithful; dependable? Is He, as James wrote, “the Father of lights, in whom is no shadow of turning?” [James 1: 17]. Does His faithfulness endure to all generations?

The importance of the question is apparent when we see how large a place in religion has been occupied with attempts to persuade God to change his mind. Primitive religion appears to take for granted that the deity is a god of moods and whims, to be moved by effective persuasion. But the Psalmist speaks of God as “The Rock of my salvation.” [Psalm 89: 26]. If we are in a tossing boat, we do not expect to pull the rock to us. We want a firm anchorage to which we may draw ourselves. If the “Rock of Ages” is a fitting symbol of the Eternal, it would show that the purposes of the Lord are not for us to command, but to understand. For God is fixed and faithful.

This is what every scientist assumes in his research. The scientist believes that this is a world of dependable law, where experiment can lead to the discovery of what is true. We do not have to placate angry spirits; we have to understand dependable processes.

There is a vast difference between superstition and understanding. It is said that certain head-hunting tribes of the Pacific Islands have believed that they must go head-hunting in the spring because if they can just put a human skull in a field, the soil will be fertile. We know that productivity depends upon fertile seeds, upon nitrates, upon moisture and sunlight. And no incantations can avail if these be absent. It is a tremendous relief to mankind to learn, and relearn, that visitations come not from evil spirits but from reliable and discernible causes in nature and from the mis-directed imaginations of man himself. Whenever cause follows effect, there is some hope of control in a law-abiding universe.

For our religion, this means that our prayers should not descend to the level of magical efforts to get God to do our will. It means that we recognize God as faithful. His faithfulness is the theme that runs throughout the Bible from Genesis to Revelation. “Covenant” and “promise” are two words that run throughout the Old Testament. In the New Testament, the key word seems to be “faith.” And it is used there, not in the sense of blind trust, but rather in the sense of trust that is a gift from God. We can trust the rightness of God. And God should be able to trust our own response to His rightness. This last is the continuing tragedy which was typified in Jesus’ passion.

The Master was headed toward betrayal and crucifixion. He was faithful unto death! As for his disciples, that was different. They thought they could stand with him. But he knew they wouldn’t. It was after they had taken that last supper with him, and had gone out from that upper room, that Jesus told them he expected them to scatter like scared and lost sheep when the crisis should come. They all said, with Peter, that they would be faithful to him even if they must die with him. Peter was especially, vehement about it. And Jesus said to him: “Peter, this very night, you will have denied me three times before the cock crows twice in the morning.” [Mark 14: 30]. And it was the crowing of the cock that later reminded Peter that though he tried to stay near, he nevertheless had denied his Lord in the crisis.

We have [The church that I served in Wisconsin] elected to put, on the steeple of this church, a weathervane on which stands a cock. There have been those writers of modern times who, having misunderstood its significance, have ridiculed the use of a weathervane as a symbol, fickle as the breezes. Let us keep the symbolism straight. If God gives the wind in this ordered world, then it behooves us to learn where it comes from! This was understood when uncounted colonial churches were built in the New England states and elsewhere, upon which were mounted weather vanes that still swing toward the wind. On most of them stands a cock, [not unlike the one which we see atop our church steeple]. The cock has long been used as a religious symbol of watchfulness and vigilance. Referring, as it does, to Peter’s painful reminder that he had actually denied his Lord, it is a reminder to all of us “Peters” in the succession of Christian people, that loyalty, dependability, faithfulness is no small matter. It took that kind of reminder, and some bitter remorse, to transform Peter’s character into the rock upon whom the Lord could depend to “feed the sheep” of his flock.

The cock as a reminder was commended to the churches long before the Protestant Reformation. It was a 9th century bishop who decreed that the cock be put upon the churches of his time and realm, as a reminder to faithfulness. Let what the cock stands for be a reminder to us of this church and community to be faithful to that which we discern to be right. It ought to be a reminder to be loyal to the church -- to the church of our choice and to the church universal.

When I think of what the church, with all of its lacks and failures, has done for me --- its nurture of my understanding of God’s righteousness, of His mercy, of His spiritual resource for me; when I think of the service rendered in Christ’s name by countless disciples of his way, I profess my own positive belief in the church. The church has nurtured me from childhood through youth and the years of maturity, and has been better to me than I could have expected. Its Christ has helped and blessed me so that I could never repay a tiniest part of the debt I owe to him. This is my confession and profession --- I hope it may be yours.

In our modern time, much of our literature is adversely critical. We do not lack people who know what is wrong with the church. But since we have so much more to be grateful for, we should confess our faith in the church throughout the world! If you have faith, let the world know it! If you have been helped, confess it! For, in its darkness, the world needs that light of hope and trust.

Whenever you find human kindness; whenever you find anybody who is sacrificial; whenever you find anybody who is forgiving, pick up that fact and emphasize it. We live darkly enough in pessimism, adverse criticism, constant fault finding. If we confess our faith, then somebody else begins to live by the light that we have.

Let us spend no time this morning brooding over the occasions when we have broken our good resolutions, when we have proved disloyal to the best we knew, unfaithful to those who trusted us. Let us rather approach tomorrow with hope and high resolve.

Let us receive the cup at the Lord’s table as an emblem of God’s faithfulness to man. And let us partake together in pledge of our faithfulness to Him and to one another.

Amen.

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Delivered in Wisconsin Rapids, October 2, 1966 (World-Wide Communion Sunday).

Also at Imiola Church, October 5, 1969.

Also at Waioli Hui’ia Church, January 2, 1972.