Dr. David D. Young
April 6, 2008
I Kings 19: 1-8
John 14: 15-24
"Of Sadness and a Certain Sense"
(Sorrow)

"Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted." I don’t know how we got to the first Sunday of April so quickly – but here we are! Spring is here – and nature in this portion of God’s creation is about to pop with beautiful color and growth! And the promise of such renewal brings with it for many – an outward hint of happiness.

Ellen Glasgow was an American novelist who chronicled the mood and mores of the south in the 19th century. In her novel, Barren Ground, she has a character named Dorinda. Listen to these words of musing,

"There was no reason why Dorinda should have been happy yesterday and miserable today; there was no reason except the eternal unreasonableness of love! She had tried to fix her mind on the sermon, which was a little shorter and no duller than usual. Sitting on the hard bench which she called a pew, bending her head over the bare back of the seat in front of her, she had sought to win spiritual peace by driving a bargain with God. ‘Give me happiness, and I will __.’"

Who among us has not tried to make such a bargain, "give me happiness and then I will…"?

Today’s sermon seeks to explore a strange beatitude as a Blessed Way of Being: "Blessed are those who mourn for they shall be comforted." When happiness is our goal – how can there ever be a blessing in sorrow? So much of our life’s energy is spent trying to avoid sorrow – and trying to seek happiness.

In fact, it’s amazing to me how much money is spent trying to find happiness and moments of artificial bliss. So much of the world’s pursuit of happiness is like that of giving people a good, last meal before their execution. It may taste good – but it does not keep them alive. Our culture markets and motivates toward happiness.

A few years ago I was shocked when I saw a billboard with a picture of a new car with the caption, "Now you can buy happiness." Or there was one this past year that said, "It’s good for the soul." What had always been implied is now explicit and it seemed very presumptuous.

Happiness is not having a new car - or if it is – it is only temporary at best. My point is not that one should never buy a new car – it is that for many buying new things is a false route to finding happiness.

The reality is that each of our lives has been, is, and will be touched by sorrow. We know there is darkness and sadness to be dealt in life. And so, even with all our frenetic activity invested in the pursuit of happiness – there lurks in life’s inevitable corners a persistent shadow.

There are tears in things – whether we express them outwardly or inwardly – if we are honest – there are tears. Certainly, there are things about myself – about yourself that are less than admirable. We each struggle with darkness within. Elijah – Elijah himself wanted to die. That was the darkness that encompassed his soul.

We mourn our sin. Yet, "Blessed are those who mourn!" And we also mourn the shortness of human relationships.

Death is at work in the world and it cuts us off at some point from what is precious and deepest in our being. The death of a loved one by disease, by divorce, by distance carries a nighttime for the soul. We grieve, we mourn. But not only do we mourn ourselves, our loved ones and friends, we also mourn our world.

One has to only barely have an ear or an eye turned to the news these days to know that we are surrounded by tragedy. Murders continue – sometimes among close friends and families – and sometimes indiscriminately at malls, schools and college campuses. Third graders planned an assault on their teacher. Thousands die daily from malnutrition and lack of medical care. And so on and so on…

We could go on a long time – just to list all the tragedies of our time. And so we mourn our world. And if we don’t – it’s only because we are numb – trying to escape the pain – or we are indifferent – which by the way is not the way of Christ.

Recall, that Jesus wept over Jerusalem. Yes, as Christians – we mourn ourselves, we mourn our loved ones and close friends, and we mourn our world. "Blessed are those who mourn for they shall be comforted!" – said Jesus. What is at work in this strange beatitude spoken from the sermon on the mount so long ago by Jesus our Lord?

The Greek word for comfort is ∏άΡάΚάλεω (parakaleō) which means both to comfort and to stand by another. The person who knows true comfort in the midst of grief and mourning has known the presence of someone beyond the present reality of struggle and anguish.

"Fear not, for I have redeemed you, I have called you by name – and you are mine," says the Lord through Isaiah.

And that leads to our Gospel lesson from John in which Jesus promises to his disciples that if they love him and keep his commandments God will send a counselor, a comforter who will be with them always – even the Spirit of Truth.

Friends, that is God’s promise this morning in the midst of our mourning. Perhaps you have heard the story of the little girl who was late walking home from school. When she got home her mother asked what had happened. She told her mom that as she was coming down the street toward home she noticed that Sara who was just in pre-school had been out in her driveway playing and that her favorite doll had fallen and broken and she was very sad and upset. "Oh!" said the girl’s mother, "Did you try to help her fix it?" "No!" said the daughter. "Well," said her mother, "did you go get her Mommy so she could fix it?" "No!" said the daughter. "Well, what did you do?" asked the mother. And the little girl said, "Mommy, I just sat down and helped her cry."

The comforter is the spirit of truth. "Blessed are those who mourn for they shall be comforted." "I will not leave you orphaned, (alone), I am coming to you."

I have a ministerial colleague from one of our large UCC churches in the Chicago area who is now retired by the name of Bob Kemper. Bob wrote a book called, The Elephants Ballet, about his experience in mid-life of going legally blind. In that intriguing and existential reflection he writes,

"The final destination of the stages of grief is not to ‘get over it’ or to ‘forget it.’ Rather, it is to readjust to the reality of painful change in one’s life. There is nothing desirable or satisfying about the response to loss. No one would intentionally seek it. But if it is true – and it is – that life presents us with gains and losses, acquisitions and relinquishments, then it is good to know that our Creator has not left us destitute in the pain of loss."

"I will not leave you orphaned," says Jesus, "I am coming to you."

"Those who love me will keep my word and my Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them." John 14: 23

Sometimes it takes the tears of grief to wash clear our eyes to see the love that is present to us in others and Christ Jesus our Lord. This passage is about love – love given and love received.

"Those who love me…my Father will love them."

Sharing in that kind of love is what allows us to see. The 19th century painter, William Turner, once penned these lines,

"The Spring blew trumpets of color;
Her green sang in my brain
I heard a blind man groping
‘Tap-tap’ with his cane;

I pitied him his blindness;
But can I boast, ‘I see?’
Perhaps there walks a spirit
Close by, who pities me.

A spirit who hears me tapping
The five sensed cane of mind
Amid such unguessed glories
That I am worse than blind."

"Blessed are those who mourn for they shall be comforted."

As John Vance Cheney observed,

"The soul would have no rainbow had the eyes no tears."

We mourn ourselves – and struggle with the darkness within. We mourn separation from loved ones and others for a myriad of reasons and it is as though a part of us dies. We mourn the tragedies in the world around us – which at times seem overwhelming in the face of our meager efforts to make a difference.

And in our mourning, Jesus our Lord speaks of the Comforter sent by God who is the Spirit of Truth who makes a home with us to share our pain and sorrow.

"Those who love me…my Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them.

A sense of presence and love – given and received – these are the twin truths of God’s amazing grace to all those who mourn. In closing the words of poet, Edwin Markham,

"I dare not ask your very all,
I only ask a part.
Bring me, when dancers leave the hall,
Your aching heart.

Give other friends your lighted face,
The laughter of the years.
I come to crave a greater grace,
Bring me your tears.

"Seeds of the Kingdom: Beatitudes for Blossoming."

"Of Sadness and a Certain Sense…Blessed are those who mourn this day for they shall be comforted."

Amen.