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Sermon – July 11, 2010 July 29, 2010

Posted by Teresa Charlton in News.
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Dare to be a Daniel

Based on Daniel 6

 

While on my holidays, I was able to take the children back to my Grandmother’s farm.  The kids played in the barn, petted the kittens and combed the horses.  And then we went for a walk in the woods, back to the ‘old fort’ from my childhood.  There is not much left of the fort these days, but the walk brought back warm memories of Sunday afternoons with my cousins.  When I was kid, Grandma’s house was the Sunday retreat; the men would go golfing, the sisters would drink coffee and eat sticky buns, and the grandchildren would go to the fort in the woods.  As I reminisced in my mind, I remembered how we were always the last ones to arrive at Grandma’s, because we went to church first.  No one else in the family but my parents cared much about going to church, and there was a fair amount of family pressure to skip church once in a while so that the family could be together, ‘proper like’, on these Sunday visits. “It’s summer after all”, I remember hearing once in a while, “God won’t mind”.  And as a kid, I remember thinking, “What’s the big deal?  Can’t we miss church once in a while like everyone else?” But for Mom and Dad, this was their ‘line in the sand’ so to speak.  Family was and is very important to them.  But their Christian walk, and their Christian family have always been just as important.  And for them, going to church was one of the ways that they reminded themselves, and those around them, about living in God’s way, while still enjoying family, friends, and activities.  The answer then, as it continues to be today, is always polite but firm: “We would love to join you; we’ll see you right after church”.  Their ‘line in the sand’; their version of ‘walking the talk’.  It’s a lesson I have never forgotten.

 

The story of Daniel is too long for us to read in its entirety today.  But from what I can gather by skimming through the whole book this week, Daniel must have been an old man by the time he spent that night with the lions.  Daniel, amongst thousands of others had been captured as part of the spoils of war against the Babylonians.  The famous King Nebuchadnezzar was clever; once he sorted out the various precious goods and slaves he had won, he took some of the most promising young Hebrew men and courted them for three years; gave them access to the palace, the good food, the fine clothes; education and status.  Why, you ask?  Well, probably in the hopes that these leaders, would grease the wheels so to speak, between the demands of the King and the use of Hebrew slaves to accomplish these goals.  One must assume that it was a tried and true method of securing tacit support from the slaves, and hopefully preventing uprisings or complaints.

 

Daniel was a wise man, and said to be the interpreter of dreams.  He and a few of his companions, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego as we remember them, quickly rose to the top of the heap for their sound management of resources and people.  More and more power was given to them, along with more and more privileges within the palace.  But somewhere along the way, Daniel and his companions made it clear: while they enjoyed many of the privileges of palace life, it was not their desire or aspiration to become lost in them, and lose focus on what was important to them: living in God’s way.  Daniel predicted King Nebuchadnezzar’s downfall in a dream, and a year later, the King was gone.  He predicted the next king, Nebuchadnezzar’s son, would fall in a similar fashion, and Belshazzar was murdered in his own palace.  Each time, the king of the day had been haunted by dreams, and each time Daniel had predicted a horrific outcome if the king did not changes his ways, live a more God’ like life, and treat his people with justice and humility.  Each time, the king, relieved to no longer be haunted by nightmares, gave praise to the God of Daniel.  And each time, the kings had reverted back to their old ways.  Every generation, Daniel’s wisdom grew, his name more infamous, and his rank in the palace higher.  King Darius rose to the throne, and the cycle began again.  Darius respected the reputation of Daniel, but his advisors could take it no longer; they had to get rid of Daniel to gain full access to the King.  So, stroking the ego of the King’s own need for power, they trapped Daniel in political intrigue to which there was only one way out.  Darius was trapped.  Daniel was trapped.  The advisors gloated…and waited. 

 

But, as the story goes, the outcome was not as predicted.  Daniel’s ‘line in the sand’, praying three times a day to his God did not waver.  The King had no choice but to keep his political face.  And the lions, well, it seems that the lions were not hungry that night.  God’s power and ability had superceded political intrigue, and “catch 22’s”.  The message of the story is clear, even to a child: living God’s way is the best way.

 

We have just been part of the sacrament of baptism, a time to reflect on the promise and possibilities that children bring to our lives today and the generation of tomorrow.  We live in a world  that is not terribly unlike Daniel’s world of ancient days.  While we don’t live in a palace, we all have a home we consider to be our ‘little palace’.  And while we don’t enjoy the food and fare like that of our Queen who recently visited us, we have all enjoyed fine dining from time to time to celebrate great events in our life.  Our world is full of many distractions, options, and choices, just as was Daniel’s, just as every generation from his time to ours.  There are so many things to do out there, to entertain, to socialize, to educate and to enjoy.  And I think that indeed, our God has helped us create a life with many things to give pleasure and contentment to our days.  But somewhere along that stream of choices and pleasures there comes another question: “What things will I chose to do, and what will I pass on?”  And somewhere in those choices is another pretty important one, if you consider how long eternity is: “What choices will I make in my Christian walk?” In other words, “Where is your line in the sand?”  Where and when do you say to yourself, or decide as a couple or a family, that this event or this activity must be attended, or this opportunity must be grabbed because you feel that God is leading you to do so, and you believe that your Christian experience will be enriched because of it?  Where and when do you say to yourself, or decide as a couple or a family, that this event or this activity must be passed by this time, or this opportunity must be avoided because you do not believe that it is part of what you represent to the world as a member of the Christian community?  What message do you want your children or grandchildren or nieces or nephews or neighbours or coworkers to understand is your ‘line in the sand’, where the spiritual and the secular part company?

 

Am I trying to say that everyone should give up Sunday morning activities so they can attend church first?  Of course not…well, maybe I am, and just don’t realize it!  What I am suggesting, is that you consider where your ‘line in the sand’ for Christ sits, and make decisions here and there, as to how you will choose to express your Christian walk in a busy and distracting world.  How do you ‘Dare to be a Daniel’ and say to the world, ‘hey, my faith is important to me.  I’ll catch up with you later’?  It may be that you join an organization striving for justice.  It may be a new routine for your family that incorporates prayer time.  It may be reading the Bible, or reading it again.  It may be volunteering time to the elderly, or yes, deciding that you will join the crowd for brunch after church.

 

When King Darius saw that Daniel was alive, Daniel declared, “my God kept the lions from biting me.  They didn’t hurt me at all.  I love my God very much, and I try hard to live in God’s way.  God is with me when hard things happen to me.”   Where is your line in the sand? Amen.



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