Sermons In Time

"I Saw An Angel In The Sun"

Fifth Sunday of Easter

Gospel: John 15:1-8

Epistle: I John 4:7-12

Revelation 10:1

When I was a very young pastor in this Annual Conference, our Bishop, Dana Dawson had a severe heart attack just before the Conference was to begin. A year later, he had recovered from the attack, and preached the Conference Sermon. His text for that homecoming Sunday was "I saw and Angel in the Sun!" I have never forgotten that Sunday, nor have I forgotten the impact of that message on that young pastor.

For the good Bishop, it had been a near death experience. In Revelation, the scene is different. The writer wants the attention of his readers to tell the Message of God about the battle about to begin. Today, I want you to hear those words as a hope for life: "I saw an angel in the sun!"

There is an ancient story that tells of Michelangelo carving on a piece of stone. Someone asked him what he was doing. He replied, "There is an angel inside the marble and my task is to release the angel, to give it life, to give it beauty for all the world to see.

How long has it been since you saw an angel in the Sun? Have you seen an angel caught inside a piece of stone, and with a firm or gentle hand, released it "for all the world to see?"

If you were to ask me this morning what the task of the Church is, one of the central answers would be, "To see the angels."

As we experience our children, as we experience life around us, one of the central tasks of home, church and school is to release the angels in our midst. The task is to make it possible for children, young people, and adults to experience the fullness of their lives. Every person ought to have the chance to become the person God wants them to be.

When I think of Michelangelo's angel, I think of those ads for decongestants on Television. All stopped up, the person becomes a blockhead. When the medicine takes effect, the blocks crumble, and the real person appears, whole and refreshed again.

"I saw an angel in the sun." During the next few weeks we will have special events each week in worship. One Sunday will honor women, another graduates, another the Confirmation of youth as full members of the Church. The Church wants to say to each of these "Go for it!"

1. Children are "Angels in the Sun!" Late last fall a little boy grabbed his daddy's leg and held on tight. Daddy just stood still and grasped his son's arm with loving affection. Daddy was going off to Arabia and the war. It was more than a prize winning picture. Deep within each of us the longing to hold close to our hearts those we love was expressed in that moment.

The picture I will never forget from childhood was from Shanghai during the second world war. A child, not more than a year old was sitting, wounded, crying in the streets. A bomb had killed all the people around that child. It was the only survivor. I could not have been more than 13 years old, but I still remember hating the war and the destruction it was causing to humanity.

Children laughing and playing together in a classroom still remind me of the joy of learning. When my own grandchildren said, "Grandpa, I can count to 100," I remembered the night when I realized I could count forever and never, never stop. An angel was released in my brain that night many years ago.

Every child, every youth needs the opportunity to let the angel of learning loose in their heads. Every area of possibility for learning should be available to every child, regardless of who they are or where they are from.

Recently the President has spoken of the importance of education. Socrates and Meno learned with Socrates on one end of the log, and Meno on the other. Education is drawing forth from within the soul of another the capacity for studying and solving. How to think of relationships in people or geometry in unfamiliar terms is the educational climate.

When a teacher, whether in the classroom or in the home or in the church says, "You can," the marble hiding the angel falls from the soul of the student. "I'll try," is the best word one can hear from the eager lips of the student. I don't know of anything more important than knowing how to read well. When the mind is opened by the world of books, the adventures of discovery are just beginning to open. Translating the words of writing to the acts of doing and becoming are imperative for the soul to develop to its fullest.

If you were to take one thing away from me that would diminish my soul, it would be the world of words. Angels emerge from the expression of the soul in the language of reading, writing, and speaking. Great Books, from the Bible to Aristotle, Dickens, Twain, and Dr. Seuss teach the mind to stretch to its fullest. Read the lesson, read the instructions, read the novel, read the signs, read the language. There is an angel in the sun.

2. The angel trapped in the stone today is often a youth from an ethnic culture, wanting to be a man or a woman, with no adequate model for behavior to show the way. The world is hungry for those who will spend time with emerging adulthood.

There is the story of a group of hikers in strange country. They only had a guide. No map, no trails, no previous history of how to move through strange territory. Panic began to grow in the group, because of the lack of inner security. The question was asked, "How are we going to find our way?" The guide responded, "I am the way." The only source of direction was to follow the one who was showing the way. Jesus answered his disciples when asked, "How do we know the way?" He said, "I am the way."

When I think back across the years, there is a realization that often someone has "shown the way." I remember the first funeral I had as a young pastor in seminary. I was in charge, but a friendly Baptist pastor was helping. Clearly unsure of myself, he noted the anxiety and said, "Watch where I go, where I stand, and stay with me. If you make an error, don't worry, I'll help you do it well." It was an important lesson in confidence.

How much better to show the way than to tell someone to go out and find it for themselves. The angel emerges when there is a guardian close by. Working and playing, studying and visiting with someone who "knows" is the heart of learning. Many a time the cry of the ancient sage, "Eureka" has poured out of the mouth when a new understanding or insight has come. The angel is born!

3. How often we are entertaining "Angels unaware!" Life is often tedious, monotonous, repetitious when you are with someone whom you are reaching out to touch. Being a helping person has about it a lot of scary moments. What if we don't do it right? What if we don't really know? I don't know anything more encouraging to an emerging angel than to have the instructor have to say, "I don't know." The other night we were playing bells, and I play next to Don Buhler. He always does so well. I have such a hard time keeping on the beat. But once - just once, I knew where we were, and he was lost. Imagine my elation when I showed him the place! There was no gloating, just the simple realization that all of us have to risk a bit if the angel is going to live.

There may not be many angels in the sun. At least, not in the Biblical expression of that term. On the other hand, there may be a goodly number. I suspect that our problem is not with the absence of angels nearly so much as it is not being able to see them. Even more, our problem may be that we can't see them in the rough blocks of marble, or the dirty faced kids on the block, or the rough languaged teenager trying to become an adult. We may not even be able to see them in the sophisticated adults around us who are as hungry for soul food as anyone.

The point is, there are angels in the sun. There are those in our world who can sing cacophonies of praise to almighty God out of simple gratitude that you stopped long enough to pay attention, to be with, and to enjoy them as persons. And, after all, what else is more important in this old world anyway? There is an angel peeking over your shoulder. Don't scare it away. amen.

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