Father John McGinn, Rector

Saint John’s Episcopal Church

Sandwich, Massachusetts

 

January 28, 2007                                    Epiphany 4

 

 

I am not going to preach about the Patriots this morning.  I think enough has been said, but I do want to recall a story that was written in the paper a couple of years ago out of Atlanta, Georgia. 

 

It was 2am and a twenty-six year old single mother Ashley Smith needed a smoke, but she was out of cigarettes.  She decided to go to a nearby market and feed her addiction.  As she was leaving her apartment she noticed that there was a blue truck in the parking lot with a man in it.  She didn’t think too much about it, she had only moved into the apartment two days prior and she just figured he was a neighbor coming home.  She got into her car and went to the store.

 

When she arrived back a few minutes later, the truck was still there and the man was still in it.   Ashley got out of her car and rushed to her apartment.  As she started to put the key in her apartment door, a man stuck a gun in her ribs.  She began to scream, but he told her if she did what she asked he wouldn’t hurt her.

 

At first she didn’t know who her assailant was.  But when he took off his hat, she recognized him from a news report.  Brian Nichols.  Brian was a prisoner brought to court for the retrial of a rape conviction.  When he arrived at the court, he overtook his guards, and in the melee that followed he took a gun and shot and killed the presiding judge, the court reporter, a deputy and a federal agent.  Then he escaped.

 

This man, who had earlier in the day killed four people in cold blood, was in Ashley Smith’s apartment.  He tied her up with masking tape and an extension cord.  Ashley pleaded with him not to hurt her.  She told him that she had a five year old daughter she had to pick up at 10am the next day, and that her daughter would be very upset if her mother didn’t show up.  She also told him that her husband was murdered four years ago, and if she were murdered her little girl wouldn’t have a Mom or a Dad.

 

Ashley spent hours talking to Brian and listening to him.   He told her he deserved to have a bullet in his back.  She told him no one deserves that.  He said that he felt like he was already dead, and it didn’t matter what happened.  She told him he wasn’t dead and that he was standing there in front of her very much alive.  What she pointed out to him was a miracle. 

 

They talked about what he had done, and they watched television coverage of the man hunt.  It made him sad to see what he had done to four other people.  Sometime during the night, Brian untied Ashley. She asked him if she could read him something before he left, and he asked her what she wanted to read.   She pulled out her bible and a copy of the book A Purpose Driven Life.

 

That night she opened the book to chapter thirty-three and she read aloud the first paragraph.  Brian Nichols interrupted, and asked her to read a passage again. The paragraph raises the question: What is your purpose in life?  And the two had a deep discussion about purpose and failure and hope.

 

 Brian said he didn’t have any purpose and that his life was over.  She told him that his life wasn’t over.  He might get caught and that his purpose from now on might be to spread the word of Jesus in prison.  Finally she told Brian that it take more of a man to surrender and answer for what he has done, than to kill others.

 

In the morning, Brian put the gun he had stolen under the bed, and Ashley made pancakes for his breakfast.  She asked him again if she could go meet her daughter, and he told her she could.  When the police arrived, Brian held up a white towel in surrender, and went peacefully. 

 

This man who had burst into Ashley Smith’s apartment claiming to be a soldier on a mission, now walked out as gentle as a lamb.  Thanks to Ashley smith and her humble courage.  Smith herself had struggled with methamphetamine addiction later commented to reporters that she wanted his mother to be able to say ‘Thank You’  and that no one else needed to die, including her son.

 

What a story of faith and courage right out of the headlines. 

 

Everyone needs a purpose.  No matter what your age or your circumstance, everybody needs a purpose in life.  Maybe that is why Rick Warren’s book has been so amazingly successful.  You and I need purpose for living. 

 

A number of years ago, when I left the military, I began to wonder what I was going to do with the rest of my life.  I found myself going to an Episcopal church, and going to bible studies and trying to learn as much as I could about the bible.  I was trying to figure out what God had in store for me.

 

I was working for a major corporation; I took Graduate courses in public administration and education.  I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do.  Then I was involved in a bible study that the rector was leading, and I decided to go see him.  When I went to see him I told him that I was thinking about the ordained ministry.  He sat quietly and told me to pray on it and talk to Marion, and also to read the Gospel of John.  Together he and I would talk about what we found in that Gospel.

 

I remember John: 17 verse 4 “At the end of his life Jesus declared ‘I have finished my work that I was sent to do.’  For some reason, that meant something very profound to me.  I went to talk to Marion and after she initially cried and asked how it was all to be done, we began together to work on me leaving my job and going to seminary.

 

Suddenly in my life, out of nowhere, I discovered what real success is.  Success in life isn’t defined by the accomplishments and experiences of others.  Success in life isn’t measured in comparison to standards of great wealth or even fame.  Rather I found that success in life is found by fulfilling a unique purpose and having an impact on the lives of other people. 

 

“Jesus declared, ‘I have finished my work that I was sent to do’” Today at Saint John’s, I stood as you rector, and I believe I am exactly where I am supposed to be.  Sharing my gifts and talents and trying to serve others.  I love being your priest.  I am filled with new exuberance. 

 

Now this is a profound insight which I think you and I need to remember.  Success is not measured in comparison to the accomplishments of others.  Success is fulfilling the purpose that God has assigned to us.  That night in Ashley Smith’s apartment, Brian Nichols wrestled with this question:  What is your purpose in life?  We need to wrestle with that question, regardless of our age.  We will never be happy until we do. 

 

In this morning’s Old Testament lesson, the prophet Jeremiah knew without a shadow of a doubt what his purpose was.   He writes, “Now the word of the Lord came to me and said, ‘Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you.  And before you were born I consecrated you and made you a prophet.”  You can’t be any clearer in your understanding of your mission than that.

 

No wonder Jeremiah has had such an impact on the Judeo-Christian community.  It is hard to stop a person who knows exactly what he was sent here to do.  Jeremiah knew what he was about at an early age.  Jeremiah had some Idea of his mission from the very beginning and some people are like that.  Maybe you were.  Even today you can ask some 12 or 13year old what they want to be and they will tell you, firefighter, doctor, lawyer, teacher, and in their life they never veer from that.  They go to their grave knowing what they are supposed to do. 

 

Most of us are not like that.  Most of us wander and drift and we try this and dabble in that.  It is a terrible feeling.  We all want, no matter what our age, to find direction.  It is easier in earlier generations when people knew they would spend their lives on the family farm.  Now there are so many choices.  Young or old, there are so many choices.  The most important thing we can do is look to Jesus.

 

I don’t mean we all should wander around the countryside preaching, teaching and healing, that could be our calling, but it probably is not.  What we want to do is look to Jesus’ example of selfless service.  Jesus did not spend his life looking out for number one.  That is the most tragic thing happening in our society.  We are becoming a mean centered society.  All that matters is that we get what is ours. An extension of that is that we are becoming a materialistic society.  We think that having nice things is the reason we are here on earth.  How sad.

 

No there is much more to life than that.  Let me give you an example of a successful man.  Many of you know the name Henry Nowin.  Unfortunately he died in the 1990’s at 63.  What you may not know about this famous priest and lecturer is that in his theological views, he was no very orthodox.  Today he would be regarded as suspicious, and dare I say it, liberal.  I need for you to understand this so you will appreciate a story about the man.

 

Henry wrote over 30 books, and two stand out in my mind The Wounded Healer and With Open Hands.  The second has powerful photographs, not a lot of words, it talks to us in a profound ways about prayer and how important it can be in ones life.  Also how important discerning ones purpose in life is.  He also taught at Notre Dame, Yale and Harvard, but toward the end of his career he decided to do something different.  He went to a community in Canada, a community of adults with handicaps.  He began to minister to them and that became his job.  He talked with them and became a part of their lives.

 

In my first year of Seminary, actually in my second year, we came home to Connecticut for Christmas Break, staying at Marion’s house.  I read in one of the magazines that Henry Nowin was coming to Saint Joseph’s in Connecticut.  He was going to preach, read from his book and open the floor to questions.  I had read his books and I thought it would be great to hear him speak.  I had a seat up front, and I was amazed that he was as good a speaker as he was a writer.  I had a lot of questions I wanted to ask him, and I was ready to ask them.  At the end of the talk he said something that I will never forget: “If anyone here in this room has the love of Jesus, would you be prompted by that love to go with me to Canada and help me in my ministry?”

 

I sat there, I had a lot of questions, I even had them written down, but I realized they were stupid.  I learned again what it means to be a Christian.  I hoped I could be like this man someday.  I realized that in listening to Henry Nowin, I was in the presence of a man who knew his purpose in life.  He didn’t need the fame of Notre Dame, Harvard, or Yale.  He knew his purpose in life was to serve Jesus by serving others.

 

What is the purpose of your life?

 

I can tell you this.  If you are living only for yourself, you have missed it.  All the toys in the world won’t change a thing.  When the day of reckoning comes, when you stare death in the face, everyone needs a purpose in life.  Success is not measured against the accomplishments of others; success is knowing the purpose that God has assigned to each of us. 

 

“Jesus declared, ‘I have finished the work I was sent here to do.’” Look to Jesus.  See what a life dedicated to God looks like and go and do likewise.  Amen

 

 

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