Living Water: Sermons for All Seasons

By Ronald E. Ramsey

For centuries, Christians have gathered to hear messages of forgiveness and redemption, hope and abundant life. They have come from far and near to drink from the waters of everlasting life. Living Water is a collection of sermons conceived to reveal the love of God poured out in Jesus Christ as the true living water. These sermons address those particular ideas and beliefs necessary to sustain faith in the rough and tumble world of 21st Century living. Preached first at St. John's Episcopal Church, Arlington, MA, they originate out of the author's concerns as pastor and prophet for the spiritual well?being of a particular people in a particular place. Nevertheless, the themes contained in each sermon are universal, having relevance for all spiritual seekers throughout the world and across denominational and interfaith boundaries.

Ronald Ramsey shows how the gift of faith, animated by the grace of God, can transform and enliven the human soul. Living Water is a treasure of pastoral insights and unique biblical perspectives which explores the challenges of human living and offers hope for spiritual seekers and prophetic light for the spiritual journey.

Author Website-www.newdirections-future.com

• Language: English
• Publisher: iUniverse
• Release date: May 17, 2007
• ISBN: 9780595890880

Ronald E. Ramsey

Dr. Ronald E. Ramsey is an Episcopal priest in the Diocese of Massachusetts and Rector of St. John?s Episcopal Church, Arlington, MA. He holds a Doctor of Ministry degree from Trinity Lutheran Seminary, Columbus, Ohio and has served the church as an ordained minister for 25 years. He currently resides in Arlington, MA.

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Copyright © 2007 by Ronald E. Ramsey

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The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Biblical quotations are taken from the New Revised Standard Version, the Revised Standard Version, the King James Version and the Modern Language Version of the Bible, except when the author has made his own translation or paraphrase.

ISBN: 978-0-5954-4769-5 (sc)

ISBN: 978-0-5958-9088-0 (ebk)

Contents

Acknowledgements

Foreword

The Hope Of Glory

Angels And Shepherds

Eyes On The Prize1

Three Temptations

Living Water

Once Blind

But You Will Receive Power

A Sound From Heaven

Teach Them To Obey

Guideposts For The Postmodern Church

Everything The Lord Has Spoken

The One Who Endures

Take Up The Cross

Hold On To Hope

A Perfect Offering

The Parable Of The Good Son

You Are Cordially Invited

On These Two Commandments

Put Out Into The Deep

In The Day Of Trouble

The One Who Is More Powerful

Are You The One?

Rejoice, Be Patient, Persevere

A Time To Speak

In This Difficult Hour: Reflections On September 11, 2001

On The Road To Baghdad: The War In Iraq

Notes

Acknowledgements

The work of sermon preparation requires the availability of the preacher and the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Much insight, omitted on paper, often finds its way into the pulpit and therefore into the hearts of the hearers before the final Amen. In this collection, I have tried to present the work of the Holy Spirit in the preaching moment, with as much vitality as was given in the meeting of pulpit and pew. I am deeply indebted to a host of witnesses, too numerous to number, for the ideas and godly exhortations contained in this book. I am especially grateful for the contribution of the following people, with apologies for the omissions of the many saints who have prayed for me, encouraged me and helped me develop the gift of preaching I offer each Sunday.

To my wife Jean, for her willingness to listen to those sermons preached in the pulpit and at the dinner table. For her patience with the many and varied sacrifices that accompany the work of preaching, I am indeed, most thankful.

I am deeply grateful for Al Coleman, an exemplary Christian layman and friend, who through his constant support and ceaseless encouragement, has given me more than enough reason to believe that preaching matters.

I am thankful for Dr. Patrick Seyon, whose godly insistence that I publish a collection of sermons for distribution to the wider global community, gave me the encouragement and confidence to complete this project.

I am also pleased to express my appreciation to the Rev. Jacqueline McGrady, my colleague and friend and to Linda Simson, a truly gifted soul (and my sister-in-law), for their careful reading of this manuscript for errors and omissions.

Many thanks to Dr. Eve Laubner for her editing and proofreading skills. Her belief in my gifts as a writer and her encouragement continue to be sources of inspiration for me.

Finally, I offer my heartfelt thanks to the members of St. John’s Episcopal Church who have expressed their appreciation for my preaching and gratitude for my commitment to the proclamation of the gospel as a moment of grace.

I heard the voice of Jesus say,

"Behold, I freely give

The living water; thirsty one,

Stoop down and drink and live."

I came to Jesus and I drank

Of that life-giving stream;

My thirst was quenched, my soul revived,

And now I live in Him.

I Heard the Voice of Jesus Say

Horatius Bonar

Foreword

The conventional wisdom is that sermons are intended to be heard and not read. By their very nature, sermons have their greatest impact when spoken. Some go so far as to say that sermons are intended to serve the moment only and not the purposes of recorded history. Sermons are theological snapshots the preacher takes and shares with others as he or she travels the path to larger and more expansive worlds. They capture the workings of the preacher’s mind at a certain point in history. Given the fundamental nature of sermons, the preacher invariably runs the risk of losing something in the translation from the spoken word to the written word. It is for this reason that I have postponed the publication of this collection of sermons. It has been only after the constant encouragement of parishioners and further reflection on my part that I have chosen to ignore the obvious pitfalls of such an endeavor, preferring to see only the potential benefits of this undertaking. It is my hope and prayer that the Holy Spirit, the one who gave life to these words when they were preached, will give life to them in their new written form as well.

The first part of this collection is devoted to those particular ideas, concepts and beliefs necessary to sustain faith in the rough and tumble world of 21st Century living. In the final pages of this book, I have included two sermons that address specific historical events which have greatly impacted the course of American history, and indeed the future of our international community.

Throughout the process of my weekly responsibility for preaching and in the preparation of this collection, it has been my intention to speak what I understand to be the truth, with the hope that the words heard, and now written, would shape both the thought and action of those who hunger for a word from the Lord in the living of these days.

THE HOPE OF GLORY

In hope he believed against hope, that he should become the father of many nations (vs. 18).

Romans 4:18-20, RSV

Duke Ellington is without question, one of the great musical composers of the American experience. His body of work includes many songs that are referred to as Sacred Jazz. In his song entitled Heaven, he expresses in verse and musical composition his feelings about life beyond the stars-feelings which reflected the mood of his time and generation.

When I was just a young boy, I began to notice as I sat in church that the preacher spent a lot of time talking about heaven. Heaven was this magical, magnificent, mystical place. Its streets were paved with gold. An angel sang on every corner. Everybody wore long white robes. St. Peter stood at the gate welcoming those who finally made it in. Gabriel blew his horn.

As I grew older, I began to think that the preacher spent too much time talking about heaven and not enough time talking about earth;

too much time talking about the future and not enough time talking about the present; too much time talking about tomorrow and not enough time talking about today; too much time talking about the promise of a great life after this life ends, and not enough time talking about how to make this life a great life; too much time talking about justice for the dead, in the sweet by-and-by, and not enough time talking about justice for the living. I grew more and more angry, more and more disturbed by what I thought was a fundamentally irrelevant message. And then it happened. One day I woke up and realized what I had not realized before. I could see what I could not see before. I could see that heaven is really all about hope. We can live without many things, but we cannot live without hope. Without hope, we wander, wither and waste away. Every sermon about heaven was a sermon about hope.

When Duke Ellington wrote about heaven, he wrote about the divine promise of a celestial experience, but he was also writing about hope. When the Bible speaks about heaven, it is speaking not only about a life with God in the hereafter, but also about the hope we can claim for the future. It is speaking about the blessings that shall be ours tomorrow as the dawn approaches, scattering the night away.

Whatever name we give it, hope is what keeps us alive. It gives us the strength to make the uphill journey, the strength to climb the rugged mountain. It gives us the power to march against the winds of adversity. Hope gives us the courage to face every adversary, no matter how formidable and no matter how terrifying. Hope gives us the feeling that things are going to get better. Hope gives us the feeling that our dreams will come true. Hope gives us the feeling that everything will be all right. Hope makes it possible for us to go forward when others tell us it is far better to quit. Oliver Wendell Holmes once wrote: The great thing in this world is not so much where we stand, but rather what direction we are moving. To reach the great port of heaven, we must sail, sometimes with the wind and sometimes against it—but we must sail, and not drift, nor lie at anchor. Hope makes it

The Hope of Glory 3

possible for us to continue our journey, whether we are sailing with the wind or against it.

Hope is what drives us. It shapes our ambitions. It structures our expectations. It paints our dreams with all the colors and light, shades and shadows we long to see fleshed out in daily living. Because of its power, it cannot be ignored. Throughout the world and throughout the course of human history, governments have understood the power of hope. Those who wanted to rally the people would inspire them with hope—hope for a better day, hope for a better tomorrow, hope for a better future. Those who wanted to crush rebellions and put down uprisings would do so by ruthlessly dismantling the hope of the people and by carefully constructing despair. Humanity has known only too well that a hopeless people can be easily controlled, easily dominated—and if desired, easily driven to extinction.

Hope has power. The Bible is full of passages about hope. In thinking about the goodness of God, David chastises himself when he says, Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you disquieted within me? I should continue to hope in God, for he is my help and my God.¹ Of Abraham, Paul says, "In hope he believed against hope,

that he should become the father of many nations No distrust made

him waiver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised."² Again Paul says:

Through him we have obtained access to this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in our hope of sharing the glory of God. More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit which has been given to us.³

In the letter to the Hebrews we are encouraged to seize the hope set before us. It reads, So that through two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible that God would prove false, we who have taken refuge might be strongly encouraged to seize the hope set before us.⁴ Hope is God’s great gift to us.

Someone has come here today in search of hope. You need not leave disappointed. God stands ready at this very moment to give you hope. Simply open your heart to receive it. Your question marks will then become exclamation points. You need not leave disappointed. The hope you came in search of is here.

And so I raise the question, Why are you cast down? And why is your soul disquieted within you? Continue to hope in God.

God is still able to answer prayer.

God is still able to wipe away your tears.

God is still able to keep you strong.

God is still able to give you courage.

God is still "able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence