Shrines, Pilgrimages and
Crusades
Isaiah 40:1-11, Luke 1:26-38
December 7, 2014
Grace Presbyterian Church
Rev. Dr. Richard E. Miller
Pearl
Harbor On a Sunday morning in December,
seventy-three years ago today, Pearl Harbor was attacked and thousands died.
The next day, our President, Franklin D. Roosevelt, called it the “date which will live in infamy.”
As a result, the United States entered World War Two. That same December came
the song, “Remember Pearl
Harbor.” [by Don Reid and music by Reid and Sammy Kaye].
The
lyrics went like this. “Let's
remember Pearl Harbor - as we go to meet the foe - Let's remember Pearl Harbor,
as we did the Alamo. We will always remember - how they died for liberty, Let's
remember Pearl Harbor and go on to victory.”
Later,
in 1962, the USS Arizona
Memorial was dedicated in memory of the men and women who lost their
lives that fateful day. Through the years, thousands of people have taken
pilgrimages to visit the Pearl Harbor memorial. Many went because their son or
daughter was killed that day.
Jimmy
Stewart Jimmy Stewart often went to Washington, D.C.
to visit the Vietnam Memorial. Why? Listen to what he says: “We lost our oldest boy in Vietnam. I
was in on the Vietnam Memorial from the very start of it, and every time I go
to Washington, I go to it. There are 58,000 names, but I can pick out my son’s
name with my eyes closed.” To Jimmy Stewart, the Vietnam
Memorial had become a shrine. And one of the compelling needs in his life was
to make repeated pilgrimages to the shrine to feel close to his son.
The
Moon Pilgrimage In July of 1969, Apollo 11 took off
with Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin on a pilgrimage to the moon. On July 20th ,
Neil Armstrong set the first human foot on lunar soil and said, "That's one small step for man; one
giant leap for mankind." Our nation’s pilgrimage to the
moon was complete.
Of
course many people go on pilgrimages to the birthplaces, shrines or monuments
of famous people, such as the Lincoln Memorial, the Washington Monument, and
the Statue of Liberty. And I’ve even heard that people still travel thousands
of miles to visit Graceland where, I believe, some singer used to live.
The
Holy Land Many of you have taken trips to the
Holy Land. While there, you most likely visited the birth place of Jesus in
Bethlehem, or went to Nazareth where he grew up, or to the Sea of Galilee where
he called his first disciples. You may have climbed the steps to the Upper Room
or visited the place where Jesus preached the Sermon on the Mount. And you may
have walked the path to Golgotha where our Lord was crucified. These places
have been sacred Christian shrines for centuries.
Crusades In
fact, they became so important that when the Turks captured Palestine in 1071 and
closed Jerusalem to all Christians, followers of Jesus all over the world were
devastated. So in 1095, in order to free these shrines for future pilgrimages, Pope Urban II
called for volunteers to go on a holy crusade to free Jerusalem from the rule
of the Turks. As a result, 60,000 men, women and children joined in the first
crusade. Although they temporarily succeeded in freeing Jerusalem, the Turks
soon regained control. Eight more crusades were launched in the years to follow
with great loss of life on both sides. However, crusades and pilgrimages have
been going on long before this.
Old
Testament For instance, in the Old Testament,
Abraham was called by God to go on a pilgrimage to an unknown land. Moses was
called by God to embark on a pilgrimage to free the Israelites from slavery to
Pharaoh. And once the Israelites successfully crossed the Jordan River into the
Promised Land, they took twelve stones and erected a memorial as a sign to
future generations of what the Lord had done for them.
‘When your children ask their parents in time to come, “What do
these stones mean?” 22then you shall let your children know, “Israel crossed over the
Jordan here on dry ground.” 23For the Lord your God dried up the waters of the Jordan for you
until you crossed over, as the Lord your God did to the Red Sea, which he dried
up for us until we crossed over, 24so that all the peoples of the earth may know that the hand of
the Lord is mighty, and so that you may fear the Lord your God for ever.’
In
the years to come, they were to take their children and their children’s
children to this memorial and remind them of how God enabled them to enter the
Land of Milk and Honey.
Mary’s
Pilgrimage of Faith In our morning scripture, we read of
Mary’s nine month pilgrimage of faith as she gave birth to the Savior of the
world. And when the baby Jesus was born, her pilgrimage of birth was finished
and she and Joseph embarked on a pilgrimage of raising their son. As Luke
reports, “And the child
grew and became strong; he was filled with wisdom, and the grace of God was
upon him.” [Luke 2:40]
The
Advent Pilgrimage One could rightly say that the first
Christmas pilgrimages were those taken by the shepherds and wise men to the
village of Bethlehem. These men, hearing that the Savior had been born,
traveled to see the newborn child. Why? Because the birth of Jesus was a holy
event. And the place that Jesus was born
was a holy place. The shepherds and wisemen wanted to be a part of the mystery
and wonder of this great event.
Our
Pilgrimages In many ways, all of us go on
pilgrimages. Not as far as the moon, but it could be to visit the grave site of
a loved one. Or it might be a trip back to our hometown in order to get in
touch with our roots. Sometimes such pilgrimages take place when we go to our
grandparent’s house for Sunday dinner. In all such cases, it is a way of
uniting with people that are important to us, both past and present.
Why
Visit Shrines? Why do we feel the need to go on
pilgrimages to special places? One is for religious reasons such as just noted.
We seek a spiritual experience that we could have no where else. People who
have visited the great religious shrines of Jerusalem and Bethlehem have told
me that they felt closer to Jesus when they were there. Through the years, I
have seen strangers walk into the church sanctuary to kneel, meditate and pray.
They told me that they needed to feel closer to departed loved ones and to God.
Or
we go for sentimental reasons. Years ago, my father was the pastor of the
Robins Church of the Brethren. Robins is a suburb of Cedar Rapids, Iowa. A few
years ago, on a beautiful Sunday morning in August, I preached a sermon from
the same pulpit my father had preached from over seventy years before. It was a
very meaningful experience for me and helped me honor and connect with my
father.
A
Pilgrimage of Time Over the years, during the Advent
season, we embark upon several Christmas pilgrimages. That is to say, we begin
focusing upon that special celebration where we feel close to God - the birth
of Jesus. This pilgrimage culminates on Christmas Eve. As we decorate our
trees, and put presents underneath, we are drawn back to our childhood - a
pilgrimage of time.
A
Pilgrimage of the Spirit As we participate in the
Christmas Eve Communion service at church, we are drawn closer to God. As we
sing “Silent Night” and partake of Holy Communion, our hearts are lifted. We
have re-connected with our past, present and future all at once - a pilgrimage
of the Spirit.
A
Pilgrimage of Reconciliation Jesus also calls us to embark upon a
Pilgrimage of Reconciliation. Through the years, we sometimes become estranged
from one another - parents from children, husbands from wives, friends from
friends. The pilgrimage we are called to travel is that difficult distance
across the abyss to repair damaged relationships and to achieve
reconciliations. This pilgrimage is sometimes difficult, but always necessary.
Paul
wrote to the Corinthians, “Therefore,
if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has
come! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and
gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to
himself in Christ, not counting men's sins against them.”
God has called us to be ambassadors of reconciliation.”
Pilgrimage
of the Heart We can also embark on a Pilgrimage of
the Heart. With this pilgrimage, we do not even have to travel. All we need to
do is open our hearts and allow our Savior to enter. When we do this, our need
for closeness with God is met as in no other way. Our desire to connect with
him is fulfilled completely. In other words, as helpful as shrines, pilgrimages
and crusades are, they never take the place of Christ living in our hearts. We
do not have to travel thousands of miles to feel close to Jesus, for he is with
us now. That’s what Christmas is all about - God with us - Emanuel.’
Final
Thoughts All of us are on an individual pilgrimage from birth to
death and to life beyond. But we don’t travel on that
pilgrimage alone. Instead, we
walk together, hand in hand, heart with heart. And God’s great Spirit walks with us, day by
day. Paul writes in Galatians, “Carry
each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.”
[6:2] Walking with one another in life is illustrated by the following story:
“Mr. Alter's
fifth-grade class at Lake Elementary School in Oceanside, California, included fourteen boys who had no hair. Only one,
however, had no choice in the matter. Ian O'Gorman, undergoing chemotherapy for
lymphoma, faced the prospect of having his hair fall out in clumps. So he had
his head shaved. But then 13 of his classmates shaved their heads, so Ian
wouldn't feel out of place. "If everybody
has his head shaved, sometimes people don't know who's who," said
11-year-old Scott Sebelius in an Associated Press story (March 1994).
"They don't know who has cancer, and who just shaved their head."
Ten-year-old Kyle Hanslik started it all. He talked to some other boys, and
before long they all trekked to the barber shop. "The last thing he would
want is to not fit in," said Kyle. "We just wanted to make him feel
better."
Ian's
father, Shawn, choked back tears as he talked about what the boys had done. He
said simply, "It's hard to put words to." "Carry each other's
burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ" (Galatians
6:2).
Final
Thoughts Because of Christmas, we can fulfill
spiritual pilgrimages of reconciliation, love and forgiveness with God and one
another. As we leave here this morning, let us make every step we take be a
pilgrimage along the path of deeper fellowship and freely given forgiveness
with each other, for such pilgrimages as these are far more important than all
of the holy places on earth. Amen.
Isaiah 40:1-11 NRSV
Comfort, O comfort my
people, says your God. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and cry to her that she has
served her term, that her penalty is paid, that she has received from the
Lord’s hand double for all her sins. A voice cries out: ‘In the wilderness
prepare the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God.
Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low; the
uneven ground shall become level, and the rough places a plain. Then the glory
of the Lord shall be revealed, and all people shall see it together, for
the mouth of the Lord has spoken.’ A voice says, ‘Cry out!‘ And I said, ‘What
shall I cry?’ All people are grass, their constancy is like the flower of the
field. The grass withers, the flower fades, when the breath of the Lord blows
upon it; surely the people are grass. The grass withers, the flower fades; but
the word of our God will stand for ever. Get you up to a high mountain,
O Zion, herald of good tidings; lift up your voice with
strength, O Jerusalem, herald of good tidings, lift it up, do not fear;
say to the cities of Judah, ‘Here is your God!’ See, the Lord God comes with
might, and his arm rules for him; his reward is with him, and his recompense
before him. He will feed his flock like a shepherd; he will gather the lambs in
his arms, and carry them in his bosom, and gently lead the mother sheep.
Luke 1:26-38 NRSV
In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town
in Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph,
of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. And he came to her and said,
‘Greetings, favoured one! The Lord is with you.’ But she was much perplexed by
his words and pondered what sort of greeting this might be. The angel said to
her, ‘Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favour with God. And now, you
will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you will name him Jesus. He will
be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will
give to him the throne of his ancestor David. He will reign over the house of
Jacob for ever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.’ Mary said to the
angel, ‘How can this be, since I am a virgin?’ The angel said to her, ‘The Holy
Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you;
therefore the child to be born will be holy; he will be called Son of God. And
now, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son; and this
is the sixth month for her who was said to be barren. For nothing will be
impossible with God.’ Then Mary said, ‘Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let
it be with me according to your word.’ Then the angel departed from her.
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