Sermon: "Forasmuch as Without Thee"
The Right Reverend Charles G. vonRosenberg
Third Bishop of East Tennessee

We will forever associate certain momentous occasions in our lives with a particular place. In that regard, I imagine that you - like I - will always remember where we were when we began to hear the news of last Tuesday, September 11, 2001. Even as we continue to try to understand and to make some sense of the tragedies of that day, the memory of that moment in time burns in our consciousness and in our profound sadness … and it will for years to come.

As we stand - with difficulty and unsteadily - over against events of last week, we do well to pray words like those of our collect today: "O God, because without you we are not able to please you, mercifully grant that your Holy Spirit may in all things direct and rule our hearts." Or, in the traditional language that I prefer in this case: "O God, forasmuch as without thee we are not able to please thee, mercifully grant that thy Holy Spirit may in all things direct and rule our hearts."

I spoke with someone on Tuesday who made an interesting observation - an observation that has been repeated often since then. He said that this series of events is something that happens "over there" … somewhere else … not in the United States of America. He pointed out that we have been spared the physical destruction of wars in the last century and most acts of international terrorism as well. But now, suddenly, we are the focus of global attention, about a matter with which we are unfamiliar at close range.

Responses to us are unfamiliar, too. In fact, one of the first e-mails I received on Tuesday originated from South Africa - that land of so much civil and religious unrest for so long. The message was a copy of one from a bishop there … copies sent to all American bishops … a message to his people, calling for prayers on behalf of the American people. This is indeed not a position that is familiar to us.

"O God, forasmuch as without thee we are unable to please thee." The good news - the best news - is that we are not without God, even in times of tragedy and of desperate circumstances and of agonizing uncertainty. God is indeed very much with us, in the person of the Holy Spirit, embodied in our fellow men and women, brothers and sisters of Jesus Christ. The bishop from South Africa knows that. People present in Knoxville for the Churchwomen Convention knew it, too, for we upheld each other last Tuesday. Indeed, I suspect that the last five days have provided us each with wonderful examples of God's presence that we have known in our fellow men and women. Surely, we are not without God, ever.

Our Bible readings today remind us that God is ever with us, even in times and circumstances that we do not look for God … or cannot see God … or do not realize the reality of the presence of God. When the people of God deserted Him and created a golden calf to worship instead, still God did not desert or destroy the people. God continued to direct and preserve His people. God remained with them.

St. Paul could write to Timothy, "I was formerly a blasphemer, a persecutor, and a man of violence. But I received mercy…The saying is sure and worthy of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners - of whom I am the foremost"(I Tim 1:13, 15). St. Paul was not without God, even if St. Paul did not know it.

Finally, St. Luke's Gospel reminds us that the Good Shepherd does not desert the lost sheep. Rather, the Good Shepherd searches for that lost sheep until he is found - and then rejoices greatly over the one who had been lost but now, is restored to the community.

"O God, forasmuch as without thee we are not able to please thee, mercifully grant that thy Holy Spirit may in all things direct and rule our hearts."

Today we celebrate that the community of the people of God - that fellowship in which we know the Holy Spirit of God - that community is enriched by the confirmation, reception, and reaffirmation of several of our members. The folks who will be presented today come forward to affirm that God's presence and grace are active in their lives. They affirm - and we confirm - that they, and we, are not without God, ever.

Thus, in good times and in bad ones, we proceed through this life, sure of God's presence with us. We may stray from God's way for us - like the people in the wilderness, or St. Paul the persecutor of Christians, or the lost sheep - but God continues to be with us. God is tenacious in His being with us. And that surely is good news! The Holy Spirit of God is ever-present, to "direct and rule our hearts" - now and always.

In conclusion, may we remember familiar words of assurance from the Letter of Paul to the Romans … a passage often read in the Burial Office: "I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord" (8:38-39). Thanks be to God!

Copyright © 2001 The Episcopal Diocese of East Tennessee