Romans 12:15: Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with
those who mourn. It has been interesting in the news lately. I saw one survey
published the other day in the National Post that said that we are, as a
society, becoming angrier. This makes sense intuitively if we read all the
social media memes and comments. Alongside this in Canada there is also the
reality that more people feel less free to share their opinion at all. This has
been evidenced by election polling. Polls which once used to be accurate within
3 percentage points 19 times out of 20 now seem to be way off. The Conservative
election victory on PEI recently proved that again. The day before the election
they were calling for the first Green party government in Canada. All of this
is of course a symptom of a sense of powerlessness. And this powerlessness can
lead to a feeling of loss and despair.
There are many desperate tragedies and other sad events in
our world. On and since Easter there have been those horrible attacks on the
churches and other locations in Sri Lanka. Just before Good Friday the new IRA
tried to undo the Good Friday accord by bringing violence back in the place of
peace in Northern Ireland. Floods and fires sweep across this country every
year and the season for that is starting right now. Romans 12:15 says that we
should Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn.
On my own social media feed, I was reminded that this past
week we marked the one year anniversary of the bus crash on the prairies that
took the lives of all those young
hockey players. Remember the Humbolt Broncos bus crash? The Broncos play in the
equivalent league to the one the Bulldogs play in here. Hockey is in the blood
in Saskatchewan. People all support their local teams by driving for hours
across the prairies to go to practices, games, and tournaments. As you know
Susan, the Girls and I spent many years on the prairies. Heather was born in
Swift Current Saskatchewan and before that we were posted in Nipawin and
Tisdale Saskatchewan.
The Humbolt Broncos: their hockey players, coach, and
trainer perished in Saskatchewan just one year ago. When I first found I about
this I was reading Romans and I read this verse, Romans 12:15, "rejoice
with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn". Now, even though, we
lived on the prairies for almost a decade, we had been living in Toronto for a
number of years when we heard of this tragedy and I honestly did not expect to
feel the amount of grief and sadness that I did. But friends of mine lost
friends and family members in the crash. My heart breaks for them. My heart
breaks for the young people and their families.
As I led prayer time in our services in Toronto the Sunday
after the accident, I had to stop more than once to regain my composure. Songs
at the Sunday service would remind me of people whom I knew would be grieving.
Images would flash before my mind. I used to live near where that bus crash
happened: I used to live in Nipawin and pastor churches in both Tisdale and
Nipawin. I would drive that same stretch of highway where the accident occurred
every week, many times a week, in all kinds of weather. I new that road well. I
knew that intersection well.
One Spring afternoon, at about the same time of day, at
about the same time of year, I was driving that same stretch of highway with my
two (at that time) young daughters in the car. Our car crashed and rolled over
and we were left dangling in the air. We were okay. I, disoriented, even
wandered out into the middle of the highway at one point. We were in shock but
we were okay.
I can't imagine the family members, friends and others
standing later on that same stretch of road - and their loved ones weren't
okay.
As I was reflecting on
sadness and my time there, My mind raced like our all do sometimes. I
recalled a house fire in Nipawin that killed two very young children who were
classmates of my daughters and my having to speak to the press. I thought of
those families then in Nipawin and the families in Humbolt. My heart hurt. I
also recalled an explosion and fire in Nipawin, right behind my office, that
engulfed the downtown. I recall standing next to people dying on the sidewalk.
I recall walking the streets talking and praying with everyone I saw. I recall
organizing food for those who needed it and providing comfort when I could.
Those were difficult times but at least in the midsts of all that I felt like I
could help like I was doing something. I knew if I was still in that area when
the crash happened I would be very busy - but I wasn't. I was thousands of
miles away and could not help at all. I felt powerless.
I then recalled my friends in Swift Current. Their hockey
team, ironically also called the Broncos, had their own fatal bus crash in 1986
and it is still in people's memories and their hearts. I have one friend who was
a first responder and has told me many of times about that incident. When I saw
my friends grieving half a continent away. I could do nothing from a distance
but pray and pray I did for peace and comfort for all who were grieving even as
I, though separated by thousands of miles, mourned with those who mourn.
#HumboltStrong. Sad things happen and sometimes we simply mourn with those who
mourn just as in times of triumph we can rejoice with those who rejoice.
But also on my social media feed this week I was reminded
that very shortly afterward this bus crash, while we were still coming to terms
with it, their was another horrific van crash much closer to my home at the
time, in Toronto. A fellow ran down and killed all of those unsuspecting people
on Yonge Street; we lived on Millwood near Yonge Street; this killing was just
a few subway stops North of there.
I was absent from Saskatchewan but I was present in Toronto.
Almost exactly one year ago today I joined the Toronto community in supporting
those impacted by this tragedy at the #TorontoStrong Vigil. The event was
hosted in collaboration with the community groups Faith in the City and
the Toronto Area Interfaith Council. I was part of those groups. I
represented The Salvation Army. Maybe especially in light of my feeling of
powerlessness around the other tragedy, it was a real blessing to be a part of
that remembrance, that vigil. We filled the public square to overflowing and
many people shared prayers, songs, words of encouragement and comfort.
One of the things that really resonated with me as I was
standing with community members and then clergy from other denominations and
even other faiths was a spirit of gratefulness. 1 Thessalonians 5:18: Give
thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.
Victims, victims families, friends, people were grateful for the support of
others. People were grateful for their community. People were grateful for the
response, the love, the giving, and the forgiving of others. We were thankful.
We were grateful.
This gratefulness, this thankfulness to God is one thing we
can always offer as a community to our community when it is in need. We can
offer comfort and support to those of us who are healing through giving thanks
in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.
And this is the case for all of us. Even here. Even now.
None of us, I don’t think, leads a life free of mourning or tragedy. None of
us, I don’t think, leads a life free of trials and tribulations. None of us, I
don’t think, leads a life free of troubles and struggles.
John 16:33: “I have told you these things, so that in me you
may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have
overcome the world.”
This, I think is the message of hope for us today even as
there is trouble in the world. There has always been trouble in the world and
there will probably for many years to come still be trouble in the world. Sad
things happen. We know it is true. Jesus told us so; the Bible tells us so; and
we all have lived through and will live through difficult times but, you know
what? Tomorrow the sun will come up and the day will continue and we can take
heart in all that because Jesus has already overcome the world; so we can turn
to him and experience comfort in our sorrows of yesterday, peace in our
struggles today, and a very real hope for tomorrow.
Years ago, after my own accident on that same stretch of
highway in Saskatchewan that the Broncos bus was travelling, I had quite a
revelation. It was a Sunday, coming back from Church, that I hit black ice and
rolled over and over and wrote off my car as I said earlier. During the next
week after this happened, as I travelled that same road, in a different car, I
pulled over one day at that same spot. I stood there a moment or two and looked
at the land and the road. I noticed the sun was out and their was no sign of
accidents, no sign of black ice, no sign of even snow left only a couple of
days later, no sign of anything of the sort. As dark and slippery and scary as
it was days ago. Now there were no signs of that trouble - just a shining sun
on a beautiful day.
So it is or so it will be with all of us and our very real
troubles today whatever they may be. Just like with us on that road, like with
the Broncos tragedy and #HumboltStrong, and like with the Yonge Street crash
and #Torontostrong, so with all of us: God promises that He will be with us in
the very midst of our struggles and our suffering. And if there are any of us
here who have never prayed to him for our salvation and comfort in the thick of
everything we experience in this life, I invite you to chat with me after the
service here or at any time and we can pray with you. For God promises that He
will never leave us nor forsake us. He can get us through anything and He gives
us, like we said, comfort for yesterday, peace for today and a true, real,
solid hope for the tomorrow.
Let us pray.
Benediction from the Bible: May the God of hope fill you
with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope
by the power of the Holy Spirit.
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[1] Based on Michael Ramsay, 'Romans 12:15, 1 Thessalonians 5:18:, John 16:33: Comfort for yesterday, peace for today and hope for tomorrow' (The Salvation Army Maxwell Meighen Centre: 02 May 2018) Available on-line: https://sheepspeaks.blogspot.com/2018/05/romans-1215-1-thessalonians-518-john.html
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