Hidden In Disappointments
Sermon
The Christ Who Is Hidden
Sermons For The Lord's Supper
One February several years ago, I spent a great deal of time staring out the Plexi-glas window of a hospital room. The window in my room faced the front of the hospital. One afternoon, very near visiting hour, I remember looking out the window to see what was going on in the 'real world.' I was lonely and depressed, because I knew that no one was supposed to visit me that afternoon. Suddenly, my mood changed, and I became excited. There in my view was a couple from my church crossing the street on their way to the front of the hospital. I just knew in my heart that they were coming to see me. (Before I went into the hospital, I had visited the man of the couple in the hospital after his surgery.) I reasoned that they had to be coming to see me.
I felt excited because someone was coming to see me after all. I would not be lonely any more. Anxiously, I waited. The longer I waited, the more anxious I became. I kept going to the door to see if the couple was coming to visit with me. Each time I went to the door they were not there. I even asked the nurse to call the information desk to see if anyone had been asking about me.
I waited… and waited… and waited. But to my great disappointment, no one came to visit me. I found out later that the couple had come to visit with someone else.
Disappointments are part of our everyday lives, aren't they? Not one of us can say that he or she has not had his or her share of disappointing experiences. They happen to all of us. Sometimes they are small, and they do not give much trouble. At other times, they are larger than life itself, and we have a difficult time dealing with them. Most of the time we can cope with our disappointments. At other times, we simply allow them to break us into pieces. But one fact is recognized. Life forces us to deal with disappointment in one way or another.
In the Scripture lesson in 1 Corinthians, we find a situation of disappointment. Paul's word speak to each of us. Paul planned to go to Bithynia to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ. But instead of Bithynia, he ended up in Troas. The writer of Acts says that 'the Spirit of Jesus did not allow' Paul to go to Bithynia (Acts 16:8). As a result, Paul did not go where he wanted to go -- Bithynia. Rather, he had to settle for Troas. Troas was not his first choice, nor his second or third. Troas was not part of Paul's plan. It was a disappointing, frustrating turn of events.
The plot of this story is a familiar one to all of us. We have all been there many times in our lives. Wanting Bithynia, we have gotten Troas. Our plans, dreams, hopes, and ambitions have not worked out. We have had to live with something other than our first choice. It is not always easy to accept. Most of us want what we want, and we want it now. But we do not always get what we want. And the pain of disappointment takes hold of us.
Life has a way of confronting us with disappointment. Such experiences, as we all know, can eat away at the very quality of our lives. For instance, I had a friend who had been the vice president of a bank in which he had worked for nearly twenty years. He had worked his way up through the ranks. He had started as a teller, and now he was a vice president. Everyone assumed that when the president of the bank retired this man would be the new president. My friend's dream -- and ambition -- was to be the president. Yet another man with less than five years with the bank was named as the new president. My friend's dream was in shambles. He may have deserved the position, but he received only disappointment.
Disappointment has a way of possessing us. It lives in every thought. We try not to think about it, but it is there, eating away at our peace of mind and heart. We would like to forget it, yet it is the first thing we think about when we wake, and it is the last thing in our consciousness when we go to sleep --
if it allows us to sleep. Disappointment takes over everything about our lives.
The story has been told many times. A person meets 'Mr. Right' or 'Ms. Right,' and love is created between the two. A wedding date is set. They cannot wait until they are married. The wedding date does come, and the couple looks forward to living 'happily ever after.' Later, children come, bills pile up, and there is a growing silence between 'Mr. Right' and 'Ms. Right.' The togetherness of the dating days is gone. Unlike their dating days, they no longer care about putting their 'best foot foward.' In efforts to save the marriage, they go on 'second-honeymoons' and even try counseling. But nothing helps. Finally, they walk out of a lawyer's office with a piece of paper. Alimony, custody, and visitation rights become new words in their vocabulary.
It was a disappointment. It was not what they wanted. They wanted a happy and fulfilling married life, but they got a divorce instead. They wanted Bithynia, but they ended up in Troas.
Or, it could be that week after week we have prepared a Sunday school lesson. We pour our very heart into the lesson each week. It is true that we have been teaching the same class for years. But we cannot see that we have done any good, made any difference. We grow angry. Finally, we quit -- resign! We lay a letter of resignation on the pastor's desk. We feel unloved and unappreciated. Disappointment begins to stir and fill our heart up.
What do we do with our disappointments? Do we allow them to grow until we become bitter? In our Scripture lesson, there is a clue to how we can deal with our disappointments. The clue is in how Paul responded to his disappointment. Paul wanted Bithynia, but he had to deal with the disappointment of Troas. What did Paul do? How did he deal with his disappointment?
Again, the Scripture tells the story: 'And when he (Paul) had seen the vision, immediately we sought to go on into Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them (Acts 16:10).' Paul was a person who believed in what the old time preachers called the providence of God. He believed that his life was being guided and directed by God. But he was no fatalist, believing that everything was arranged and planned beforehand. Nor did Paul believe that his life was an accident. Paul had a conviction that God had a purpose for his life -- even in Troas. He knew in his heart that, even in Troas, God was working out his plan. Troas was just as much a part of God's plan as Bithynia. Paul knew that God would never lead him to a place that was not part of a divine plan.
Whatever else was shaken by the disappointment of Troas, one thing was for sure. Paul believed that he was being guided by God, and that God was caring for him, even in Troas. That is why Paul did not give up in his disappointment over Troas. Paul knew that God could use the disappointment of Troas. Paul concluded that Troas was part of God's purpose for his life.
Often on Sunday mornings, we recite a familiar creed: 'I believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth.' Or we are overheard singing:
He leadeth me: O blessed thought!
O
words with heavenly comfort fraught!
Whatever I do, wherever I be
Still 'tis God's hand that leadeth me.
But do such words make any difference when we are confronted by disappointments? How sincere are these words when we end up in Troas? Do we really believe that God has an all-embracing plan for what we experience? Do we believe that God is guiding and directing us, even in Troas?
In our century, one of the greatest Old Testament scholars was the late Jewish thinker Martin Buber. For years Buber had studied that wonderful scene in the Old Testament where Moses asked God, 'What is your name?' God answers in those mysterious words, 'I am that I am.' Near the end of his life, Buber argued that we have mistranslated that verse. Instead of reading, 'I am that I am,' Buber believed that it should be translated, 'I shall be there!' I think Paul would agree with that understanding. God is there in the midst of our disappointments.
What does all this mean in the handling of our disappointments? Often I hear people say that they believe in God. That statement does not impress me as it once did. Rabbi Harold Kushner, in a recent book, Who Needs God?, makes some interesting observations. He writes, 'For the religious mind and soul, the issue has never been the existence of God but the importance of God, the difference that God makes in the way we live… A God who exists but does not matter, who does not make a difference in the way we live, might as well not exist… The issue is what kind of people we become when we attach ourselves to God (p. 23).'
If we believe in God, that belief changes us as persons. It changes the way we look at things and the way we deal with life itself. If we believe in God, then we can trust God even in and with our disappointments. We know that God can be trusted. We know that God is both the creator and the recreator of our lives. God can take the broken pieces of our dreams and reshape them in a way in which we can live and grow.
As we receive holy communion, we must remember that our disappointments are not defeats. With our trust in God, they could become open doors, new beginnings.
I felt excited because someone was coming to see me after all. I would not be lonely any more. Anxiously, I waited. The longer I waited, the more anxious I became. I kept going to the door to see if the couple was coming to visit with me. Each time I went to the door they were not there. I even asked the nurse to call the information desk to see if anyone had been asking about me.
I waited… and waited… and waited. But to my great disappointment, no one came to visit me. I found out later that the couple had come to visit with someone else.
Disappointments are part of our everyday lives, aren't they? Not one of us can say that he or she has not had his or her share of disappointing experiences. They happen to all of us. Sometimes they are small, and they do not give much trouble. At other times, they are larger than life itself, and we have a difficult time dealing with them. Most of the time we can cope with our disappointments. At other times, we simply allow them to break us into pieces. But one fact is recognized. Life forces us to deal with disappointment in one way or another.
In the Scripture lesson in 1 Corinthians, we find a situation of disappointment. Paul's word speak to each of us. Paul planned to go to Bithynia to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ. But instead of Bithynia, he ended up in Troas. The writer of Acts says that 'the Spirit of Jesus did not allow' Paul to go to Bithynia (Acts 16:8). As a result, Paul did not go where he wanted to go -- Bithynia. Rather, he had to settle for Troas. Troas was not his first choice, nor his second or third. Troas was not part of Paul's plan. It was a disappointing, frustrating turn of events.
The plot of this story is a familiar one to all of us. We have all been there many times in our lives. Wanting Bithynia, we have gotten Troas. Our plans, dreams, hopes, and ambitions have not worked out. We have had to live with something other than our first choice. It is not always easy to accept. Most of us want what we want, and we want it now. But we do not always get what we want. And the pain of disappointment takes hold of us.
Life has a way of confronting us with disappointment. Such experiences, as we all know, can eat away at the very quality of our lives. For instance, I had a friend who had been the vice president of a bank in which he had worked for nearly twenty years. He had worked his way up through the ranks. He had started as a teller, and now he was a vice president. Everyone assumed that when the president of the bank retired this man would be the new president. My friend's dream -- and ambition -- was to be the president. Yet another man with less than five years with the bank was named as the new president. My friend's dream was in shambles. He may have deserved the position, but he received only disappointment.
Disappointment has a way of possessing us. It lives in every thought. We try not to think about it, but it is there, eating away at our peace of mind and heart. We would like to forget it, yet it is the first thing we think about when we wake, and it is the last thing in our consciousness when we go to sleep --
if it allows us to sleep. Disappointment takes over everything about our lives.
The story has been told many times. A person meets 'Mr. Right' or 'Ms. Right,' and love is created between the two. A wedding date is set. They cannot wait until they are married. The wedding date does come, and the couple looks forward to living 'happily ever after.' Later, children come, bills pile up, and there is a growing silence between 'Mr. Right' and 'Ms. Right.' The togetherness of the dating days is gone. Unlike their dating days, they no longer care about putting their 'best foot foward.' In efforts to save the marriage, they go on 'second-honeymoons' and even try counseling. But nothing helps. Finally, they walk out of a lawyer's office with a piece of paper. Alimony, custody, and visitation rights become new words in their vocabulary.
It was a disappointment. It was not what they wanted. They wanted a happy and fulfilling married life, but they got a divorce instead. They wanted Bithynia, but they ended up in Troas.
Or, it could be that week after week we have prepared a Sunday school lesson. We pour our very heart into the lesson each week. It is true that we have been teaching the same class for years. But we cannot see that we have done any good, made any difference. We grow angry. Finally, we quit -- resign! We lay a letter of resignation on the pastor's desk. We feel unloved and unappreciated. Disappointment begins to stir and fill our heart up.
What do we do with our disappointments? Do we allow them to grow until we become bitter? In our Scripture lesson, there is a clue to how we can deal with our disappointments. The clue is in how Paul responded to his disappointment. Paul wanted Bithynia, but he had to deal with the disappointment of Troas. What did Paul do? How did he deal with his disappointment?
Again, the Scripture tells the story: 'And when he (Paul) had seen the vision, immediately we sought to go on into Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them (Acts 16:10).' Paul was a person who believed in what the old time preachers called the providence of God. He believed that his life was being guided and directed by God. But he was no fatalist, believing that everything was arranged and planned beforehand. Nor did Paul believe that his life was an accident. Paul had a conviction that God had a purpose for his life -- even in Troas. He knew in his heart that, even in Troas, God was working out his plan. Troas was just as much a part of God's plan as Bithynia. Paul knew that God would never lead him to a place that was not part of a divine plan.
Whatever else was shaken by the disappointment of Troas, one thing was for sure. Paul believed that he was being guided by God, and that God was caring for him, even in Troas. That is why Paul did not give up in his disappointment over Troas. Paul knew that God could use the disappointment of Troas. Paul concluded that Troas was part of God's purpose for his life.
Often on Sunday mornings, we recite a familiar creed: 'I believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth.' Or we are overheard singing:
He leadeth me: O blessed thought!
O
words with heavenly comfort fraught!
Whatever I do, wherever I be
Still 'tis God's hand that leadeth me.
But do such words make any difference when we are confronted by disappointments? How sincere are these words when we end up in Troas? Do we really believe that God has an all-embracing plan for what we experience? Do we believe that God is guiding and directing us, even in Troas?
In our century, one of the greatest Old Testament scholars was the late Jewish thinker Martin Buber. For years Buber had studied that wonderful scene in the Old Testament where Moses asked God, 'What is your name?' God answers in those mysterious words, 'I am that I am.' Near the end of his life, Buber argued that we have mistranslated that verse. Instead of reading, 'I am that I am,' Buber believed that it should be translated, 'I shall be there!' I think Paul would agree with that understanding. God is there in the midst of our disappointments.
What does all this mean in the handling of our disappointments? Often I hear people say that they believe in God. That statement does not impress me as it once did. Rabbi Harold Kushner, in a recent book, Who Needs God?, makes some interesting observations. He writes, 'For the religious mind and soul, the issue has never been the existence of God but the importance of God, the difference that God makes in the way we live… A God who exists but does not matter, who does not make a difference in the way we live, might as well not exist… The issue is what kind of people we become when we attach ourselves to God (p. 23).'
If we believe in God, that belief changes us as persons. It changes the way we look at things and the way we deal with life itself. If we believe in God, then we can trust God even in and with our disappointments. We know that God can be trusted. We know that God is both the creator and the recreator of our lives. God can take the broken pieces of our dreams and reshape them in a way in which we can live and grow.
As we receive holy communion, we must remember that our disappointments are not defeats. With our trust in God, they could become open doors, new beginnings.
