A Mighty Fortress
Sermon
Life Everlasting
The Essential Book of Funeral Resources
Object:
For a 51-year-old man who was born in Greece
A Mighty Fortress
1 Corinthians 13
They tell me the reason a safety match is a safety match is because part of the chemicals needed for combustion are in the match, and the rest are in the striking surface of the match book. I compare my encounters with George to the striking of the safety match ... the coming together of two different chemistries to make light and sometimes heat: the Anglo-Saxon/Germans and the Greeks.
We Germans are both blessed and cursed by a narrow view of the world. Blessed because we often enjoy the security of having things neat and buttoned-up. Cursed because security is often boring. We are deprived of mountaintop experiences in life. The Greeks, on the other hand, take a much bigger view of life, but that, too, is a double-edged sword. For the Greek view that lets one exalt on the mountaintop also means one must despair in the valley. And don't we always want what we don't have? I look for the mountaintop and don't want the despair; George looked for the security without the boredom. That is why, perhaps, dissatisfied Germans become neurotics, and Greeks become philosophers and dreamers.
Philosophy is the combination of two Greek words: love and wisdom. A philosopher is a lover of wisdom. As I recall my conversations with George, as I look over the wide range of subjects covered in his books, I can say, "Yes, here was a seeker of truth; here was a lover of wisdom; here was a philosopher!" Just gaze at the range of material he read, from the Dialogues of Plato to the mindbending stories of science fiction, from the horror of war stories to the tenderness of the poetry of love. These reading materials were often "heavy stuff," but George always understood that the voice of angels is laughter. You dare not set foot on the philosopher's path without a sense of humor. George's laughter was priceless; his mind was sharp. And he gave both as gifts to you, to me.
Over 2,000 years ago, there was a Jew who lived and worked in a Greek world. His writings occasionally reveal "Greek-like" thinking. And like George, Saint Paul was a seeker ... a searcher. He, too, delved into some pretty "heavy" subject matter. In 1 Corinthians, he blasted away at a church that was tearing itself apart because of its pride. And in one of the most beautiful pieces of literature the world has ever known, the thirteenth chapter of that letter, he wrote that love is the greatest thing of all. George knew that. He lived it as well. Love radiated from him.
Also, in the same chapter, we read: "But now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face; now I have in part, then I shall understand fully, even as I have been fully understood." Now George is seeing face-to-face; he now understands fully. And what he now fully understands, what he caught a glimpse of -- like seeing in a mirror dimly -- is in the words of this hymn that George told me was one of his favorites ... what he called a fight song written by Martin Luther (sometimes viewed as a neurotic German):
A mighty fortress is our God,
A bulwark never failing;
Our helper he amid the flood
Of mortal ills prevailing.
For still our ancient foe
Doth seek to work us woe;
His craft and power are great,
And armed with cruel hate,
On earth is not his equal.
Did we in our own strength confide,
Our striving would be losing,
Were not the right man on our side,
The man of God's own choosing.
Dost ask who that may be?
Christ Jesus, it is he;
Lord Sabaoth, his name,
From age to age the same,
And he must win the battle.
And though this world, with devils filled,
Should threaten to undo us;
We will not fear, for God hath willed
His truth to triumph through us.
The Prince of Darkness grim,
We tremble not for him;
His rage we can endure,
For lo; his doom is sure;
One little word shall fell him.
That word above all earthly powers,
No thanks to them, abideth;
The Spirit and the gifts are ours
Thru him who with us sideth.
Let goods and kindred go,
This mortal life also;
The body they may kill:
God's truth abideth still,
His kingdom is forever. Amen.
May God bless George and all of his family and friends. Amen.
(Reprinted from "I'll Give You A Daisy A Day," CSS Publishing Company, Inc., Lima, Ohio 45804, © 1978.)
A Mighty Fortress
1 Corinthians 13
They tell me the reason a safety match is a safety match is because part of the chemicals needed for combustion are in the match, and the rest are in the striking surface of the match book. I compare my encounters with George to the striking of the safety match ... the coming together of two different chemistries to make light and sometimes heat: the Anglo-Saxon/Germans and the Greeks.
We Germans are both blessed and cursed by a narrow view of the world. Blessed because we often enjoy the security of having things neat and buttoned-up. Cursed because security is often boring. We are deprived of mountaintop experiences in life. The Greeks, on the other hand, take a much bigger view of life, but that, too, is a double-edged sword. For the Greek view that lets one exalt on the mountaintop also means one must despair in the valley. And don't we always want what we don't have? I look for the mountaintop and don't want the despair; George looked for the security without the boredom. That is why, perhaps, dissatisfied Germans become neurotics, and Greeks become philosophers and dreamers.
Philosophy is the combination of two Greek words: love and wisdom. A philosopher is a lover of wisdom. As I recall my conversations with George, as I look over the wide range of subjects covered in his books, I can say, "Yes, here was a seeker of truth; here was a lover of wisdom; here was a philosopher!" Just gaze at the range of material he read, from the Dialogues of Plato to the mindbending stories of science fiction, from the horror of war stories to the tenderness of the poetry of love. These reading materials were often "heavy stuff," but George always understood that the voice of angels is laughter. You dare not set foot on the philosopher's path without a sense of humor. George's laughter was priceless; his mind was sharp. And he gave both as gifts to you, to me.
Over 2,000 years ago, there was a Jew who lived and worked in a Greek world. His writings occasionally reveal "Greek-like" thinking. And like George, Saint Paul was a seeker ... a searcher. He, too, delved into some pretty "heavy" subject matter. In 1 Corinthians, he blasted away at a church that was tearing itself apart because of its pride. And in one of the most beautiful pieces of literature the world has ever known, the thirteenth chapter of that letter, he wrote that love is the greatest thing of all. George knew that. He lived it as well. Love radiated from him.
Also, in the same chapter, we read: "But now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face; now I have in part, then I shall understand fully, even as I have been fully understood." Now George is seeing face-to-face; he now understands fully. And what he now fully understands, what he caught a glimpse of -- like seeing in a mirror dimly -- is in the words of this hymn that George told me was one of his favorites ... what he called a fight song written by Martin Luther (sometimes viewed as a neurotic German):
A mighty fortress is our God,
A bulwark never failing;
Our helper he amid the flood
Of mortal ills prevailing.
For still our ancient foe
Doth seek to work us woe;
His craft and power are great,
And armed with cruel hate,
On earth is not his equal.
Did we in our own strength confide,
Our striving would be losing,
Were not the right man on our side,
The man of God's own choosing.
Dost ask who that may be?
Christ Jesus, it is he;
Lord Sabaoth, his name,
From age to age the same,
And he must win the battle.
And though this world, with devils filled,
Should threaten to undo us;
We will not fear, for God hath willed
His truth to triumph through us.
The Prince of Darkness grim,
We tremble not for him;
His rage we can endure,
For lo; his doom is sure;
One little word shall fell him.
That word above all earthly powers,
No thanks to them, abideth;
The Spirit and the gifts are ours
Thru him who with us sideth.
Let goods and kindred go,
This mortal life also;
The body they may kill:
God's truth abideth still,
His kingdom is forever. Amen.
May God bless George and all of his family and friends. Amen.
(Reprinted from "I'll Give You A Daisy A Day," CSS Publishing Company, Inc., Lima, Ohio 45804, © 1978.)
