Sermon Tone Analysis

Overall tone of the sermon

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! Introduction
            What an amazing week we have had!
Some of you will remember the feelings of fear that occurred when World War II broke out.
I remember the fear that came when the air raid sirens sounded in Winnipeg when the Cuban crisis occurred in 1961.
Anyone my age or a little younger will remember exactly where they were when President Kennedy was assassinated.
The FLQ crisis was quite unsettling.
A great sadness came over us during the Gulf war.
But I do not think that any of these events are as horrible or as frightening as what happened this week.
The bold attack on innocent citizens, the sheer number of people killed or injured, the massive destruction and the world wide disruption that occurred are unlike anything most of us have experienced in our lifetime.
Furthermore, it hits much closer to home than anything we have experienced before.
When these kinds of tragedies occur in far away countries, it is one thing, but when it is our neighbours and when Canada itself is impacted and when I personally think that I was in Washington this summer, it really does hit close to home.
At a time like this many feelings arise within us and many thoughts are expressed.
At a time like this, we need a word from God which helps us to know what to think and how to react to what has happened.
God has spoken in His Word and has something to say to us today and I would like to point to several passages of Scripture which I believe are His word to us today.
!
I. Handling Our Feelings
            There are a lot of feelings which surface at this time.
We feel grief and horror at what has happened.
We sorrow for those who have lost loved ones.
We have already heard heart wrenching stories coming out of these events.
We have heard of people calling home on their cell phone telling their spouse or parents that they were about to die.
We have heard from the policemen and firemen who are looking for their friends in the rubble.
We have felt the fear at recognizing that all the defence systems of the United States are not impregnable.
We have sympathized with the feelings of hatred towards those who have done these things.
How do we deal with all of these feelings?
The Psalms are wonderful at this time.
One of the most encouraging things I have discovered as I have studied the psalms is the open way in which the writers of the Psalms express the things that they are feeling.
Whether it is my race, my upbringing or my personality, I am more comfortable hiding the things that I feel but there is nothing wrong with expressing the things which we feel and acknowledging that those feelings are there.
Whether we do that by crying, talking, meditating or whatever method we use, it is appropriate to give expression.
This morning, I would like to look at a few passages of Scripture that will, I hope, help us direct those feelings appropriately.
!! A. Allow the Grief
            First of all, it is alright for us to feel and acknowledge the sorrow and grief that we feel.
Psalm 31:9,10 is one of many expressions of such feelings.
We read, “Be merciful to me, O LORD, for I am in distress; my eyes grow weak with sorrow, my soul and my body with grief.
My life is consumed by anguish and my years by groaning; my strength fails because of my affliction, and my bones grow weak.”
Notice the expressive language which is very open about the sorrow which the Psalmist experiences.
He uses the words distress, sorrow, grief, anguish, groaning and affliction.
All of these words describe what many people, including ourselves have been experiencing this week.
MCC sent out a call for prayer in our churches and included in that call was a recognition of all the grief that we are feeling.
They write, “We grieve for individuals killed or wounded in the attacks, for people who have lost family members, friends, co-workers, neighbours, for those whose loved ones are as yet unaccounted for, for those who will live with ongoing emotional trauma and for emergency workers and all others whose energies will have been taxed to the extreme.”
I spoke with two people this week who work in Winnipeg and they told me that it had been impossible for them to work on Tuesday.
That is an expression of the line in verse 10 “my strength fails.”
How much more that must be true for those who are in the midst of these things.
As we read Psalm 31, however, there is an important thing that we need to take note of and that is the direction of the expression of grief.
The Psalmist expresses these feelings to God.
He prays for mercy.
He addresses his concerns to the Lord.
I think that this is a wise word for us.
At this time, I would like to invite us to take a moment of silence to express our grief and sorrow and to pray to God about the grief and sorrow of all those who are closest to the situation.
Let us take a moment of silent prayer as we express our grief to God.
!! B. Recognize the Fear
            Another emotion that will have been present with us at this time is fear.
The same MCC letter that I mentioned earlier gave a list of things that we might fear.
They wrote, “We are fearful that there may be further violence and counter-violence that whole groups of people may be scapegoated for the actions of a few and that suddenly the world seems a much less safe place.”
Psalm 55:4-8 expresses these feelings of fear.
“My heart is in anguish within me; the terrors of death assail me.
Fear and trembling have beset me; horror has overwhelmed me.
I said, “Oh, that I had the wings of a dove!
I would fly away and be at rest— I would flee far away and stay in the desert; I would hurry to my place of shelter, far from the tempest and storm.”
Once again, we can see that it is alright to express and recognize that these events are not comfortable events.
There are things that have happened which destroy all the confidence and security which we might have in this world and in the structure of this world.
Although we recognize that the peace and safety we live with are in some ways an exception in this world, we have gotten used to it and to have it shaken is a terrifying experience.
We can express these feelings of fear.
But I have to tell you something about what happened when I was looking for these verses on fear.
I had to look for a while.
Most of the verses on fear in the Bible give us another direction, a direction which we have every reason to take.
We need to take note of verses like Psalm 3:5,6, “because the LORD sustains me.
I will not fear the tens of thousands drawn up against me on every side.”
Psalm 27:1, “The LORD is my light and my salvation— whom shall I fear?
The LORD is the stronghold of my life— of whom shall I be afraid?”
and John 14:27, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you.
I do not give to you as the world gives.
Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.”
So as we acknowledge and even express our fears to the Lord, I know that what we will find is that God sustains us in those fears and we can cling to Him and find peace in Him.
!! C. Reject the Hatred 
            A third thing that we may feel is anger.
In the MCC document they wrote, “We are angered by those who planned and carried out these devastating attacks and by those who hold such low regard for the human life that you have created.”
Such anger is appropriate because what was done is very wrong.
It is one thing to attack a military installation, but to use innocent people on an airplane as a weapon to attack innocent people working in a building is completely evil.
As we feel this anger, however, we need to be very careful.
We need to be careful that we do not broadcast our anger against innocent people.
To hate Muslims or people of Arab descent just because it may have been Muslims or Arab people who planned and carried out the attack is wrong.
The fear that Muslim families even in Winnipeg are feeling at this time is not right.
We should not in any way allow our anger to turn into hatred of those who are innocent.
However, even more challenging, this is a time for us to really learn what Jesus meant when he said in Matthew 5:44, “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you…” The wounds may be a little fresh yet and it may be hard for us to really grasp how we can do that, but I think that we should recognize that this is the direction that our thinking should take us as Christians as we continue to process the feelings which we are dealing with.
Some of the ways in which we can express these things is to follow the thoughts sent to us by MCC.
They encourage us to pray “that U.S. leaders may exercise restraint and caution in any response, that all groups who resort to violent means may turn from their ways and that we ourselves may witness more faithfully and boldly” to the good news of Jesus.
!
II.
God’s Is Sovereign
            As we deal with these feelings, there is an underlying truth that we need to be reminded of that will help us do these things.
Finding hope in the midst of grief, finding peace in the midst of fears and being able to respond with the radical act of loving our enemies is possible only because of the underlying truth that God is Lord.
At times like this, we may wonder where God is and although we may never understand why these things happened and why God permitted them, it is only as we come to the place where we trust God no matter what that we will find that peace and hope.
Psalm 27:1-14 helps us to think in that direction and I would invite you to listen as I read it.
The circumstances which give rise to this Psalm have many parallel thoughts to what we have experienced.
In verse 2 he speaks about “evil men advance against me” and “enemies and foes attack me.”
Verse 3 gives other images, “an army besiege me” and “war break out against me.”
Perhaps it would not be wrong to say that what the Psalmist writes about is even worse and certainly much more personally experienced than what we have experienced, yet there are similarities.
How does the Psalmist write about his faith in God in the midst of his enemies?
He says with confidence, “The Lord is my light and my salvation...the Lord is the stronghold of my life…” One writer indicates that this speaks about “the absolute certainty that banishes fear, regardless of the dimensions of the threat.”
Has God lost control?
Not at all.
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