Trinity Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)

Sermons 

Title: "Beyond Castles in the Air"

Text: John 11:1-45

As I was preparing to preach again on this morning’s texts, I was struck by what has transpired here at Trinity in the past three years. Many of us have lived through all of these changes. Others have only recently come to Trinity – either as visitors or as new members – and may profit from a reflection on these changes.

Join me now in turning back the clock three years. In March 2002, I had just returned from another visit to the community of Tzintzuntzan, located in the state of Michoacán, Mexico, where I have been doing anthropological research since the late 1960s.

On that Sunday afternoon three years ago, as we were seated at the family dinner table for the afternoon meal, we began to hear fireworks shooting off. I asked what was going on, and my hosts – Lola and Virginia – announced that the local cohetero – that is, the "fireworks-maker" – was sponsoring a fiesta in honor of the patron saint of fireworks-makers, San Lázaro, the one we know as Lazarus.

The fiesta began that afternoon with a marching band passing down our street on its way to the church courtyard. The band was accompanied by three young men, each carrying one of three large bamboo models (a bull, a man, and a woman) – all adorned with diverse fireworks that would be lighted up in the church yard later that evening. Indeed, later that evening, we again began to hear fireworks shooting off in the church yard. The fireworks display culminated with what is known locally as "el castillo." This "castle" is a complicated construction of fireworks attached to a long vertical pole about 30 feet tall. As the ultimate display of the local fireworks-maker’s art, in this instance in honor of St. Lazarus, this "castle" provided the assembled community with a brilliant, noisy, though short-lived set of fireworks.

Always curious about the relationship between particular professions and particular saints in the Roman Catholic pantheon, I asked Lola and Virginia "Why is San Lázaro the patron saint of the fireworks-makers?" They weren’t sure, but they knew that there had to be a reason – just as San José (Joseph) is the patron saint of carpenters.

In this morning’s lectionary reading from John’s Gospel, we encounter the death and raising of Lazarus. This is a very familiar story, one we hear year after year in the week before Palm Sunday. Let me remind you of a few key elements of the story rather than recount all of the details we read earlier.

First, recall that Jesus did not act immediately in response to the message from Martha and Mary regarding their brother Lazarus. He did not rush off to Bethany to see what was wrong with Lazarus. Instead, he saw Lazarus’s illness as an event through which "the Son of God may be glorified" (John 11:4). So, a couple of days later, Jesus finally decided to walk the two miles from Jerusalem to Bethany. Along the way, Jesus encountered Martha, to whom he declared, "Your brother will rise again." Soon thereafter, Jesus and Martha arrived at Bethany, where they were met by Mary. Mary sounds pretty critical of Jesus when she knelt at his feet and said to him, "Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died." Jesus was "greatly disturbed" and "deeply moved" – and he wept. So, Jesus went to the cave where Lazarus’s tomb was located, told them to take away the stone, and, after giving thanks to the Lord, commanded, "Lazarus, come out!" And the dead man came out. Then, the story concludes: "Many of the Jews, therefore, who had come with Mary and had seen what Jesus did, believed in him."

In the post-Easter era in which the Gospel of John was written, those who heard this story had no problem making a connection between the story of Lazarus and the story of Jesus’ own resurrection. So many of the details are similar that it would be very hard even for brand-new converts to Christianity to miss the connections – and the implications for their lives as Christians.

In the story of Lazarus, God’s power to act is evident – even when the situation seems hopeless to us ordinary people. And God’s people learn that even from death can come new life, not just for a few individuals but for all of God’s people. By living out this belief, the people of God can go forward to take the actions necessary to do new things.

Now, perhaps, we are in the position to deal with the puzzle of "el castillo" – the fireworks from Tzintzuntzan. Remember the puzzle: Why is the patron saint of the fireworks-makers St. Lazarus? Here is my idea.

Think about fireworks: a combination of chemical ingredients that, separately, don’t do anything at all. They just lay there inert and useless. . . . just like the body of Lazarus in the tomb. But put them together in just the right way, attach a fuse to bring them a spark at the right moment, and the result is both beautiful and exciting to behold – a real, though short-lived, miracle.

From such unlikely materials, comes joy for an entire community, as everyone from children to old folks stands shoulder to shoulder as they "ooh" and "aah" at the visual effects created by their local fireworks-maker. Where the night was without light, it seems a "miracle" that he can construct such works, especially "el castillo," the "castle in the air."

Three years ago, I posed the question: "What about us, here at Trinity? What are we doing about building new creations?" I wondered aloud if we were like Martha, who said to Jesus, "Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died" (John 11:21). I asked if we were trying to blame God for our own imperfections, for our declining energy, even for the congregation’s declining membership?

Back in March 2002, I proposed that – even more than did the fireworks-maker of Tzintzuntzan – we needed faith that doing the right thing would create the proper interaction at the right time. I reminded all of us that fireworks do not create themselves. Their beauty and their excitement do not arise from chance, but by doing things "decently and in order." The fireworks-maker does not just dream about "el castillo;" he labors long and hard to make it come out just right.

I went on to say that, more than a century ago, the great American writer-philosopher Henry David Thoreau had written:

"If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put the foundations under them."

Then, I ended the sermon by offering a prophecy. I said, "Don’t wait for someone else to make a miracle for us. Instead, believe and trust that the Lord will show us how to find the right combination of ingredients, the right fuse, and the right spark to set it alight." I went on to say, "Don’t be invisible to our neighbors, much less settle for a once-a-year fireworks display. Instead, become the reliable and constant "light on the hill" that our neighbors need to transform their lives. And I concluded my little prophecy by saying, "In sum, build the proper foundations, so that everyday we can offer our neighbors not just impossible dreams, but real miracles; not just fireworks quickly extinguished, but long-lasting castles in the air."

Here we are, three years later – and it seems like a good time for an interim assessment of my prophecy. Consider what has happened here at Trinity in the past thirty six months.

1) We now share our building with Iglesia Presbiteriana Emmanuel, a congregation that joined us unexpectedly in January 2003. As you may have noticed, there are Sundays when our sisters and brothers at the 12:30 p.m. Emmanuel worship service out-number those who are present in our 11:00 a.m. Trinity worship service. Isn’t it wonderful to see their young children in the nurseries, their teenagers in the youth room upstairs, and their young adults in the first-floor computer room?

2) We now have a well-established ESL (English as a Second Language) Program, currently operating two evenings a week to provide English language skills to our Hispanic neighbors. This program, affiliated with LIFT "Literacy Instruction for Texas" (cf. http://www.lift-texas.org), began in early 2002 as part of Phyllis Speck’s seminary internship with us. We are one of 26 LIFT program sites in the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex. Our participation in the LIFT ESL program continues through the efforts of numerous volunteers, several of whom are not even members of Trinity.

3) We now provide our facilities for a program for young children and their parents operated by the Dallas Independent School District. Beginning last August, this combination child-care and ESL-GED program has brought some 200 of our Hispanic neighbors into our facilities on Monday through Thursdays. And we have agreed to continue the program at least through the upcoming school year, i.e., through May 2006.

4) We also have provided a place for training bilingual school teachers – through an arrangement with SMU’s Bilingual Education Program. We have used the fellowship hall and the computer room during the past two summers as a meeting place for about sixty teachers enrolled in a course that I teach on "Research in the Hispanic Community." We look forward to doing this training again in summer 2006.

5) We have opened our building and our lawns to our neighbors in other innovative ways, most notably in our annual Fourth of July Fireworks Watching Parties – that began in a small way with a few of us in 2002 and then grew to fill our front lawns in 2003 and 2004.

6) We have made our commitment to social justice known in the wider community by participating in the Alan Ross Freedom Parade in 2003 and in 2004.

7) We have sustained and expanded Trinity’s wonderful tradition of making financial contributions to worthy causes. We are consistently ranked among the top three congregations in our per capita contributions to Grace Presbytery and the larger church. And we have raised thousands of dollars in contributions to special ministries, including the recent musical extravaganza for Tsunami relief – which raised almost $10,000.

We not only have reached out in ministry to others, we also have made some improvements in caring for ourselves.

a) We are making better use of technology to communicate among our members and potential members. Our website (http://trinitypresdallas.org) offers an up-to-date calendar of events, provides an archive of sermon texts going back to December 2001, and contains photos of most of our fellowship events since Easter 2004.

b) We send out the Trinity e-Caller every two weeks to anyone who would like to subscribe to it. The e-Caller not only offers color graphics, it also saves us labor and mailing costs.

c) We distributed a photo directory of our members last Spring – for the first time since the merger with the Wynnewood congregation in 1991. We plan to distribute an updated photo directory soon after Easter, so if you want a new (and improved) photo taken, let me know soon.

d) We have upgraded our computer room since its original installation, but it is still underused. We need someone to serve as a supervisor so that adults and students might use the computers for emails and Internet research – say, for three or four hours on Sunday afternoons.

e) We now have in place a hearing-assistance system for those who need help in listening during worship services. And for the rest of us, we installed two new speakers on the sanctuary’s side walls.

f) We continue to have a significant ministry among our members and friends at Grace Presbyterian Village. Our pastor, Julie Adkins, leads devotionals on Tuesday mornings every two weeks, while Danny Ray and his co-conspirators make beautiful wonderful music on Fifth Tuesdays at the Village. In the past three years, we have been greatly blessed by the participation of a variety of "Village People" in our worship, in our fellowship events, and in leadership in both the Session and among the Deacons. To some of us, the Village sometimes seems like a branch campus of Trinity – but to others of you, it may seem the other way around.

g) Finally, we have been blessed by the growing number of individuals and couples who have come to see Trinity as a church home, as a safe and friendly place where worship and fellowship are joined with a commitment to social justice. Three years ago, we hardly had any visitors or new members. In recent months, it is not uncommon that a third to one-half of the folks in the pews were not among us three years ago. This is not to say that our concerns about declining membership are behind us. Far from it. But it is true that, in 2004 – for the first time in years – we had more new members than funerals!

This brings us to now. And the moment for another prophecy.

I still believe that we cannot wait for someone else to make a miracle for us. Instead, we should trust that the Lord will show us how to find the right combination of ingredients, the right fuse, and the right spark to set alight even more fireworks than we have in the past three years.

By building the proper foundations, we can offer our neighbors – and ourselves – not just impossible dreams, not just fireworks quickly extinguished. Through God’s help, in the coming three years we can bring even greater transformations to our neighbor’s lives and to our community, we can help to make even greater miracles, and we can go beyond castles in the air. Amen.

© 2005 Robert V. Kemper (e-mail: rkemper@trinitypresdallas.org)