Sermon by Dr. George Bryant Wirth

Reformation Sunday

October 28, 2001

Scripture: Psalm 90

David McCullough, the historian and author of the best selling book, "John Adams," is not only a brilliant writer – he is also a fascinating lecturer. I have heard him speak a number of times at Chautauqua where we vacation in the summer, and ten years ago he told a story which I will never forget.

McCullough was invited to address the U.S. Congress during their bi-centennial celebration in 1987. In research and preparation for that talk, he found a clock above the north door into the old House of Representatives which is now called Statuary Hall. The clock was made in 1837 by Simon Willard from Roxbury, Massachusetts and it was mounted in a statue of Clio, the Goddess of History, riding in a chariot.

McCullough told the members of Congress that he believed the reason Simon Willard’s clock had been put there above the door was to remind all of our elected leaders, going in and going out, that they would ultimately be judged by history. Moreover, the clock, said McCullough, was a symbol of the way we once observed time – the hour and the minute hand showed what time it used to be in the past, what time it was in the present and what time it would be in the future.

Sad to say, observed McCullough, our chronological symbol today seems to be the digital watch, which only tells us what time it is right now and even beeps to mark the moment. And when the batteries run down, we simply throw our digital watches away and get new ones. But the hands of time on Simon Willard’s old clock in Statuary Hall have been ticking consistently and steadfastly over the last 164 years.

I.

On this Reformation Sunday, October 28, 2001, which is also the end of Daylight Saving time, I tell you that story about Simon Willard’s clock with this thought in mind.

Many, perhaps even most of us, can get so caught up in and anxious about the present moment that we forget to look back and remember God’s faithfulness to us in the past. The "digital watch syndrome" focuses on the here and now, beeping signals to us by the second. But the biblical perspective, like Simon Willard’s old clock, shows us a very different way to mark time.

At the close of this worship service, we will sing one of the great hymns of the church, "Our God Our Help in Ages Past." The words were written by Isaac Watts during the tumultuous beginning of the 18^th century in England. It was a time of political and religious upheaval, with England, France and Spain vying for power and Roman Catholics, Presbyterians and Anglicans struggling to maintain and advance the cause of their ecclesiastical traditions.

Surrounded by all of that crossfire, and suffering from poor health in his own life, Isaac Watts opened the Bible and found the 90^th Psalm, which helped him look back and remember God’s faithfulness in days gone by and God’s sovereign grace and love down through the ages of time:

(Psalm 90, Selected Verses)

Taking those verses as his text, Isaac Watts wrote some of the greatest and most inspiring words that have ever been set to music:

"Our God our help in ages past,

Our hope for years to come,

Our shelter from the stormy blast

And our eternal home.

Time like an ever rolling stream,

Soon bears us all away,

We fly forgotten, as a dream,

Dies at the opening day.

Our God, our help in ages past,

Our hope for years to come,

Be Thou our guard while life shall last,

And our eternal home."

You see, in the midst of the pain in his personal life and the storms that threatened the security of his country, Isaac Watts was able to look back and remember God’s faithfulness in the past and to look forward with a sense of hope in the future and for all of eternity.

And so it can be for all of us today. Since the terrorist attacks on September 11, described by some as a "911 wake up call to America," we have been caught in the crossfire of fear and anger, grief and pain, wondering how and when our nation will ever regain a sense of equilibrium. The Anthrax scare has touched a nerve in the psyche of this country and no one can say for certain what the final result will be as we go after our enemies in Afghanistan and reach out to find allies in the Middle East.

So we know that this moment in time is full of danger and apprehension. That is what we see right here and right now. But what we need to remember and never forget is that God watches over time like an ever rolling stream and He has always worked behind the scenes to bring even the worst things together for Good. That is what we Christians have believed ever since God raised His Son our Savior Jesus from the dead.

Over and over and over again, He has been our help in ages past and our source of strength down through the generations. And in all of human history, God has never allowed the forces of evil and darkness to prevail for long among the nations of this world.

So take heart and have courage, my friends, for this moment in time is not the beginning, neither is it the end of the story. God has been our help in ages past, He has promised to be our hope for years to come, and His faithful love, grace and goodness will have the final word as we put our trust in Him.

II.

That is what our Protestant forbears discovered during their moment in time which we call the Reformation. Martin Luther in Germany, John Calvin and Ulrich Zwinglii in Switzerland and John Knox in Scotland are the ones who are most familiar to us because they were the leaders who seized the moment to challenge the church to change.

The crisis they faced was not a terrorist threat coming from outside their religious boundaries but rather decay and division which was gnawing away at the inside of their ecclesiastical traditions. So what the reformers envisioned and risked their lives to secure was a church that returned to its New Testament origins, reaffirming the sovereignty of God, the lordship of Jesus Christ, the centrality of the scriptures and the priesthood of all believers.

That’s what happened 450 years ago, and today, in America, many of our Protestant Denominations, including the Presbyterian Church (USA), are struggling with some of the same theological and biblical issues which were prevalent during the Reformation.

What is different now is the controversy over human sexuality – Christians weren’t fighting about that in the 16^th century, perhaps because King Henry VIII, after playing fast and loose with six wives, had finally died and people were simply tired of talking about it. But the issue of sexual behavior is on the front burner today, and we Presbyterians have yet to find a way to resolve it.

So I’m wondering this morning as we close this sermon, if Simon Willard’s old clock might be a symbol for our church as well as our nation. At this moment in time – digital watch time – we are agitated and frustrated by controversies that are threatening to tear us apart. But looking back over the long haul of Christian history, the hands of time remind us that God has intervened over and over again to help us heal our wounds, forgive our sins, reconcile our divisions and bring us together as the body of Christ on earth.

That is His will for the Christian Church, and as we pray for that to happen in our Presbyterian Denomination, this local congregation at the corner of 16^th and Peachtree Streets in the heart of Atlanta will continue to worship God, to grow in faith, to follow Jesus Christ, and to raise the resources which are needed to advance the ministry and mission of His kingdom and to care about people who are poor and struggling.

William Barclay, the great Scottish Bible commentator of a generation ago, told a legend once about what happened when Jesus ascended into heaven and was met there by the angel Gabriel. Gabriel said, "Lord, now that you are here, what provisions have you made so that your work on earth can continue?" The legend says that Jesus looked back at earth and replied, "I have left behind my disciples and I have entrusted the work to them."

Gabriel shook his head and was very troubled. He said, "Lord, they are just human beings, imperfect in every way. What if they aren’t up to the task? The legend says that Jesus looked back once more and replied, "I have given to them the power of the Holy Spirit to help them go on and to never give up."

Then Gabriel frowned and said, "But Lord, what if they let you down and fail?" And the legend says that Jesus looked back wistfully one last time at earth and said to Gabriel, "They cannot fail - they must not fail, for there is no other plan."

Listen: ever since the 16^th century, God has had a purpose and a plan for the Presbyterian Church. Even though we are struggling right now, the plan has not changed, and God’s power to pull us together and lead us forward is greater than all those things that would tear us apart and hold us down. Do you believe that today? Isaac Watts believed it, and he wrote these words to proclaim it: "Our God our help in ages past, our hope for years to come. Be Thou our guard while life shall last, and our eternal home."

In the name of the Father, and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.