“Grounds for confidence”

By Rev. Michael Stonhouse

Meditation – Sunday, April 16, 2023

1 Peter 1:3-9 (Forward, p. 77) CEV p. 1277

Sadly, unfortunately, it has become all too easy to become jaded or sceptical, or even mistrusting, about warranties and guarantees, and even more so, about election promises. I’m sure that all of us can provide examples of this. For instance, several years ago I had a microwave that gave out only 30 something days after its purchase. Expecting some sort of satisfaction, I returned it to the store where I had bought it. But, oh no, we were past the 30-day return policy: it would have to ship it back, at my own expense, to its manufacturer. Or, on another front, I asked a local farmer about his feelings about a recent government decision. He admitted that he was quite frankly disappointed in it. But then I asked, ‘But didn’t that party campaign on that issue? I suppose that you then voted for someone else.” “Oh no,” the farmer said, “I just never expected them to carry it out.” Such is the cynicism today, the mistrust, of much that we are told.

So then, what about us and God? Can we really trust God, actually depend on His word, on His goodness? Yes, indeed, Peter says, for He demonstrated His love, and His power, by raising Jesus from the dead. If He was thus able to overcome, to defeat, even that most impossible of things, death itself, then there is nothing else in all creation that will stand in the way of His carrying out His promises.

And so, we can have the utmost of confidence in Him and what He has said and promised. Among these things are:

-a new life in Jesus Christ and a hope that lives on;

-a place in heaven, something that will never decay or be ruined or disappear;

-God’s power which will protect us until the time when Jesus returns to judge the world;

All this means that we can love Him and have faith in Jesus, even though we have never seen Him. We know that God, Jesus, based on what He has already done, will ‘come through for us.’ We know that we are saved,

And, furthermore, that we can endure the testing of our faith, the enduring of difficulties and trials, in the meantime.

How easy it is to see only the gloominess or the difficulties of life and lose sight of everything else, and therefore lose a wider perspective. Here I think of a particular set of incidents that happened to me as I was about to fly out of Toronto. I had left downtown with more than abundant time, but then there was an incident on the subway line that stopped all westbound trains, and then an airport bus put out of commission. I was glad to finally get to my boarding gate just as they were about to close it. All in all, it was a rather stormy, miserable, overcast day. But then, when we ascended above the clouds, it was bright and sunny and lovely. It gave me a sense that the clouds were only our earthbound, limited perspective, but that far above them God’s perspective—and God’s reign—was glorious. Jesus’ life, death and resurrection can then serve to give us this new and glorious perspective, one that is far removed from the worst of what we sometimes see here on earth. And, so we can have unhindered, unlimited confidence in Him. Amen.

Forward notes: “In this you rejoice, even if now for a little while you have had to suffer various trials” (verse 6).

“So many times in the hospital I would hear people say that this death/accident/trauma was ‘God’s will.’ The book, Everything Happens for a Reason and Other Lies I’ve Loved by Kate Bowler, was very helpful to me as a resident chaplain. I did my best to join people in their hopes: if they asked to pray for a miracle, I did so, but I always gently tried to temper expectations. When grieving loved ones asked me, ‘Why?’ I responded honestly with, ‘I don’t know, but I do know God grieves with you and loves you.’ I did not cry until I was in the car or call room.

“No one gets through life without suffering. When I got COVID-19 and lost my job, I was in the wilderness. I questioned and even cursed God at times out of my feverish state as I struggled to breathe. Then I remembered a prayer for the sanctification of illness. God does not send suffering but can sanctify it. Thanks be to God!”

MOVING FORWARD: “Read the liturgy for Ministration to the Sick, found in the Book of Common Prayer [American], starting on page 453. [The Book of Alternative Services has something similar on pages 554-558 and the

Book of Common Prayer (2019) on pages 225-235]. How can these prayers offer comfort and strength to you and others during difficult days?”