Sacred Effort
"Neither
party expected for the war the magnitude or the duration which it has already
attained. Neither anticipated that the cause of the conflict might cease with
or even before the conflict itself should cease. Each looked for an easier
triumph, and a result less fundamental and astounding. Both read the same Bible
and pray to the same God, and each invokes His aid against the other. It may
seem strange that any men should dare to ask a just God's assistance in
wringing their bread from the sweat of other men's faces, but let us judge not,
that we be not judged. The prayers of both could not be answered. That of
neither has been answered fully."
"The
Almighty has His own purposes. 'Woe unto the world because of offenses;
for it must needs be that offenses come, but woe to that man by whom the
offense cometh.' If we shall suppose that American slavery is one of those
offenses which, in the providence of God, must needs come, but which, having
continued through His appointed time, He now wills to remove, and that He gives
to both North and South this terrible war as the woe due to those by whom the
offense came, shall we discern therein any departure from those divine
attributes which the believers in a living God always ascribe to Him? Fondly do
we hope, fervently do we pray, that this mighty scourge of war may speedily
pass away. Yet, if God wills that it continue until all the wealth piled by the
bondsman's two hundred and fifty years of unrequited toil shall be sunk, and
until every drop of blood drawn with the lash shall be paid by another drawn
with the sword, as was said three thousand years ago, so still it must be said 'the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.'"
"With
malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God
gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to
bind up the nation's wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle
and for his widow and his orphan, to do all which may achieve and cherish a
just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations." [i]
Those
were the words of Abraham Lincoln given at his second inauguration in March
1865.
Lincoln
was often considered as a non-religious person, mainly because he never
officially joined a church. During his
campaigns for public office, this fact was often used by his opponents, calling
him unchristian and worse. But Lincoln was a very spiritual person and had a strong
belief in God and the Grace provided by Jesus.
As a
youth and young adult who studied logic and reason, Lincoln was turned off by
the emotionalism of the pioneer pastors and evangelists that were popping up
all over the area of Kentucky and Illinois where Lincoln called home.
As he
grew older, he did attend church. As
president, he regularly attended the First Presbyterian Church in Washington.
To say
that Lincoln was not religious or had no faith is to ignore his writings and
speeches. The second inaugural address,
perhaps his best speech, if not the one he is best known for, is filled with
biblical imagery. In fact, Lincoln
became the first president since John Quincy Adams to quote scripture in his
inauguration speech.
That
evening, at a reception at the White House, President Lincoln asked Fredrick
Douglass, who the President had noticed was in the crowd to witness the
inauguration, what he thought of the speech.
Douglass at first declined to comment, saying the opinion of others
would be more important than his.
Lincoln pressed Douglass tell him that it was his opinion that he valued
the most. Douglass replied, “Mister
President, it was a sacred effort.”
A
sacred effort! That is a strange comment
to our 21st century ears. We
don’t talk that way anymore, but maybe we should.
In First Corinthians, Paul
talks about running the race to win. "You've all been to the
stadium and seen the athletes race. Everyone runs; one wins. Run to win. All
good athletes train hard. They do it for a gold medal that tarnishes and fades.
You're after one that's gold eternally. I don't know about you, but I'm running
hard for the finish line. I'm giving it everything I've got. No sloppy living
for me! I'm staying alert and in top condition. I'm not going to get caught
napping, telling everyone else all about it and then missing out myself."(1Co 9:24-27 MSG)
That is what we are talking about when we talk about a sacred effort.
First,
we need a definition. What is a sacred effort?
A sacred effort begins with a dream or vision of how something should or
could be. As people of scripture, we are
aware of the importance of visions and dreams.
Without a vision we parish, and visions and dreams are a sign of the
spirit of God at work in our life.
A
sacred effort is any attempt to follow
the highest precepts of God as defined in the life and teaching of Christ,
although it doesn't necessarily have to be identified as Christian by the
actors. If it is pleasing to God, then
it is sacred.
Our
working definition also must include the effort brings aid, comfort, or other
assistance to someone other than the person or persons carrying out the
effort. Again this may or may not be the
defined purpose of the effort in the beginning.
Now
that we have a working definition there are a couple aspects of the sacred
effort that I want to examine this morning.
First, a sacred effort is the culmination of
learning and growth. That is not to say
that a sacred effort cannot an instantaneous event, but even when it appears be
so, there has been a process of growth and learning that enabled the effort.
Although
Abraham Lincoln disliked slavery from a very young age, even as president he
was willing to live with it where it already existed if that would save the Union. As he entered the presidency in 1861 he no
plans to emancipate the slaves. It was
only after months of dealing with the war, discussing the issue with his
cabinet and others like Fredrick Douglass did he come to the conclusion to make
a proclamation and then it was only to effect those slaves within the states
that were in open rebellion to the government.
It did not include all slaves.
After deciding to make a presidential proclamation, he waited another
six months till the time was right, January 1, 1863, 150 years ago.
In the
end, his proclamation was made to assist in the war effort. Ending the war and restoring the Union that
was his original goal, not simply the freeing of the slaves.
Four
years later, Lincoln worked on an amendment to end slavery in the United States
forever. He wrote the amendment and
worked on its passage before the inauguration in March.
But
that was only a portion of this sacred effort.
Lincoln was also beginning to work on reconstruction of the south and
was very liberal with the terms for letting those states that had rebelled back
into the Union.
From
early on in his career as a lawyer, Lincoln saw himself as a mediator. He wrote that a lawyer should do everything
to keep a client from going to court. He
saw his task as finding ways to bring parties together and solving problems
instead of fighting it out it court.
It is with
this idea of a mediator that Lincoln takes on the task of bringing the North
and South back together. He leads with
an open hand ready to assist those who have been beaten. And it is that conciliatory attitude that we
hear in this speech. It is a sacred
effort that took time to work out.
As we
look at our work in the name of Christ, and we all have something that we are
to be doing in the name of Christ, we need to understand that our sacred effort
will take time. It probably won’t be a
one and done task, but a life time of dedication, growth, setbacks and
victories that will together culminate in a sacred effort that will touch lives.
Sacred
efforts are a culmination of learning and growth.
Sacred
efforts are not always immediately appreciated by all.
I have
to think that Lincoln felt a great joy to hear Douglass’ response to his
speech, to his plans for the future of the country.
We hear
the Lincoln second inaugural speech and we are amazed at the graciousness and
grandeur of it, even 150 years later.
But at the time, it was not lauded as a sacred effort by everyone. As you can imagine, those on the other side
of the political aisle saw it as lackluster, unworthy of reprinting, and nonsense
babbling.
But
throughout Lincoln’s presidency, he was under pressure from both political
opponents and friends. Even Douglass in
his newspaper publicly bashes Lincoln "as timid as a sheep… [he] has not
been able yet to muster courage and honesty enough to obey and execute… his
antislavery testimonies."[ii]
There will always be those who will look at
your efforts and not be impressed or willing to engage. Some will even be downright scornful.
This is
perhaps is what is most difficult about sacred efforts. It takes perseverance, stamina, and a belief
in what you are doing. Today we have so
many voices telling us to take the easy way, to stay with the group, and to not
rock the boat.
We need
people young and old to make a sacred effort to be a model of Christ in our
communities. We need believers,
followers, and not just fans.
We need
people who don’t wilt under pressure or difficulties or lack of response.
Lincoln
had his advisors, but Lincoln was a leader.
He studied the issue and made decisions based on his understanding of
the problem. And once he made a
decision, he stuck to it.
I will
confess that this is a real issue for me.
I have to fight the thought to give up and quit when I hit a difficult
spot or some people don’t appreciate the effort I am making. Sometimes I am successful, but too often I
take the easier path and stop the effort altogether.
Don’t
miss understand me, this is not meant as an indictment of others, but of
myself.
I
appreciate every opinion and idea shared with me. I encourage people to be honest and let me
know what they are thinking. And admittedly, those ideas and opinions have
saved me from some big blunders in the past.
But I
need to be more forceful at times and not allow a lack of enthusiasm or the
weight of public opinion from stopping something that might end up to one of my
sacred efforts.
Everyone
needs a little help. We can’t do it
alone and that is what the church is for.
- To encourage us in our sacred efforts.
- To provide opportunities for growth and learning.
- To be supportive and respectful of each other’s sacred efforts.
- And to pick each other up when we fail.
The
sacred effort is a culmination of growth and learning.
The
sacred effort is not always understood or appreciated.
The
sacred effort may cost you everything.
Making
a sacred effort means paying a price. It
may be something as little as taking a stand that is unpopular. It may mean more, that taking that stand will
cost a friendship. It might mean your
life.
For
Abraham Lincoln, it would cost him his life.
One month after giving his second inaugural address, Lincoln would be
dead and so would his vision for reconstruction.
Lincoln
knew is life was in danger, but was willing to take the chance to complete the
work he felt called to do.
Finally,
a sacred effort does not fit into the worlds view of success. We may or may not see vision or dream come to
full maturity. Abraham Lincoln never got
to see his vision of reconstruction of the Union.
For
people of faith, our victory is in the effort.
The completion is in God’s hands.
That is why it is called a sacred effort and not a sacred achievement. God calls us to action. Some of us will be planters. Some are called
to water and provide care. And still others will reap the harvest. When we do our part, we fulfill the plan of
God for our lives, and that is a victory beyond the understanding of the world.
I
propose to come back to this theme of the sacred effort in the weeks and months
to come. You can call it a series; it
just won’t be on consecutive Sundays. I
want to look at the lives and sacred efforts of other people, some biblical,
others not. It is my hope that these
messages will teach, inspire each of us in our sacred efforts.
Together,
I hope that we as a congregation can set our collective sights on one new
initiative and devote our time and talent to making it happen; a church-wide
sacred effort. In order for that to
happen, we need ideas, we need to come to an agreement, we need to understand
the cost and dedicate ourselves to carrying it out to its completion.
I ask
you to start sharing your wildest dreams for the church, share them with each
other, pray about them, let God guide us to consensus on which one to work on
first, and make the sacred effort.
With
God and working together, there is nothing that we cannot do; if we will but
make a sacred effort.
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