FAITHFULNESS: LOVE AS LOYALTY
Rev. Dr. Dennis Winkleblack
Prospect United Methodist Church
Bristol, Connecticut
August 2, 2009
Lamentations 3: 22-24
Matthew 21: 28-32
It was raining in Edinburgh the day of John's funeral. A small band of mourners clustered around the gravesite as the village minister recited the familiar 'ashes to ashes, dust to dust' committal service. But most of the people were not looking at the clergyman. No, their eyes were locked on Bob. After all, he and John had been inseparable. They shared the same house, ate from the same table, slept in the same room. Theirs had been a constant companionship shared by few people on earth: few brothers; few husbands and wives. And now it was over.
John Gray was buried in Greyfriars churchyard on a dismal spring morning in 1858. His friend, Bob, stood a brave vigil through the entire service, then remained at the grave, measuring his quiet grief long after the minister and attendants left the church yard. Friends invited him to their homes, but always he went back to the grave.
As days turned into weeks, weeks into months, and months into years, the townspeople rallied to the cause. Often they would bring food. When the weather was inclement, someone would take him a shawl. Once, impressed by such unprecedented allegiance, a baroness commissioned a bronze medal for Bob to wear and, even as she placed it around his neck encouraged him to conclude the vigil and accept her hospitality.
But Bob stayed... for 14 years. Then, on a bitter January morning in 1872, Bob was found at the graveside -- still, lifeless, his face filled with a strange contentment. Bob, a little ruffle-coated Skye Terrier dog, was buried nearby, keeping company in death the man he would not abandon in life.
This story, forever preserved in the history of Scotland, is a story of dedication, devotion, love, loyalty, faithfulness.
Today we focus on the 7th fruit in my series of sermons on the fruits of the Spirit, faithfulness. This story about Bob epitomizes for me faithfulness as defined as loyalty. The experts in preaching say pastors shouldn't attempt more than one shaggy dog story a year. Too much smooshy sentimentalism, I guess. So now I've used up my quota -- for last year.
Given our topic of faithfulness, though, is there any better universal earthly example of faithfulness than that dog we've all had or have who absolutely, positively, loves with such a wide-eyed eagerness, no matter what?! Haven’t you had that dog? Jeanne and I have!
But here the dog story must end and we turn our attention to humans. To you and me as Christians in God's world.
According to the Bible, human faithfulness is modeled after the example par excellence of faithfulness: that of God’s faithfulness to us. Earlier we read from that book of the Bible we hardly ever quote, Lamentations: “The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.”
Can you imagine what it would be like if God wasn’t faithful? If God didn’t do what God promised to do? If God sometimes slept while you prayed? Or skipped church every now and then? But God is faithful and has decreed that faithfulness is an essential component of life – of living life God’s way.
Many words are synonymous with faithfulness. However, since I get to be the preacher today, I’ve decided to honor Bob the dog and focus on faithfulness as loyalty.
Of course, loyalty is another word we don’t really use all that much. I think of the Boy Scout pledge to be loyal. Probably the Girl Scouts promise the same thing.
When we think of loyalty we think of a person who is devoted, stands by through thick and thin, is steadfast, reliable, dependable, constant, who endures to the end.
So, to whom are we called to be loyal? Well, for starters there is loyalty due to spouse, to parents, to children, friends, job, community, nation, church, to God. In fact, any person or institution to which we explicitly or implicitly relate in a covenant kind of relationship is dependent for its welfare upon ours and every else’s faithfulness, our loyalty.
But why else should a Christian be faithful, be loyal? Let’s try these 3 reasons:
One, our self respect demands it. Our own sense of being a person of worth and honor.
Have you ever, upon observing or hearing about someone who, say, scammed an older person, said to yourself: "I don't know how that person can sleep at night."? Well, maybe they can or maybe they can’t.
Truth is, a lot of our bodily and emotional ailments, even our sleeplessness, are due to this business of not keeping faith with our spouse, our parents, our children, our friends, our job, our church, our God.
Indeed, except for a few pathologically evil or unstable people, for the rest of us, our hearts – our bodies – know when we're being disloyal, not doing what others have a right to expect we will do. And, down deep at least, we don't like ourselves for it. Don’t respect ourselves for it.
Fact is, no matter how many excuses, no matter how we may rationalize our behavior, we don't respect ourselves when we are being unfaithful. And when we don’t respect ourselves all kinds of negative things can transpire.
So, one reason we need to be faithfully loyal is in order to maintain self-respect.
Another reason is that other people deserve our faithfulness, our loyalty.
All we have to do to underscore this point is to recall a time when someone failed to come through for us. Not only were we deprived of the promised service or whatever we expected, counted on, -- but, remember how you felt? Remember the mix of disappointment, anger, even self-pity, maybe self-loathing? We may have even thought, “There must be something wrong with me for them to have let me down this way."
I think of the wife of a minister colleague who took her own life because her very successful pastor-husband paid attention to everyone but her. I think of parents whose adult children never visit or write or phone. I think of a man forced to take early retirement whose old friends from work no longer include him in their get-togethers. As we would have others do to us, so we need to do to others. As we would have others be faithful, loyal to us, let us be so to them.
To maintain our self-respect is one reason for being faithful. For the sake of other people with whom we make covenant is another reason. A third reason for being faithful has to do with our loyalty to God. Has to do with promises made in our vows of baptism and church membership. Has to do with promises God counts on in God’s on-going building of the Kingdom.
Even as life now would be a chaotic mess without what we call the laws of gravity, so too does God’s design for heaven on earth depend on what might be called the laws of human faithfulness in order to carry out God’s purposes. Depends on faithful people, who will do what they say they’ll do, so that everyone can trust each other.
This is what Jesus was getting at in the little parable we heard earlier. The son who pleased his father wasn't the one who so at first agreeably said "Yes, I'll do what you want," but then had other things come up and didn't. Rather it was the son, who, for whatever reasons, at first said no, but, thought about it, and in the end came through!
Clearly, it's not what we say, but what we do that counts!
The Kingdom needs "Count on me" people. People who say "Count on me" to do what needs to be done and to do what I've said I will do. Every time. All the time.
Any of us could point to heroic examples of faithfulness as loyalty as lived out in our nation and community. But the loyalty God calls us in the church to live out is almost always unspectacular.
Thomas Langford, former Dean of Duke Divinity School, who has since died, told of once visiting a fine home with an expensive, beautiful chandelier in the bright entrance hall. Later, touring the house, he was shown the basement whose stairs were illumined by only a single unadorned light bulb.
He pointed out that you can be sure that that single ugly bulb prevented more stumbles and falls and hurts than the handsome chandelier.
This is how it is with faithfulness. It's usually not ostentatious. It usually doesn't call attention to itself.
Take Florry Millington, for example. Florry was 90 something when I went as pastor to the Methodist Church in Kensington, Connecticut 34 years ago. Florry had recently gone into a nursing home. She had no money save for a pittance from social security, no family, but she did have many friends in the church where she attended faithfully every Sunday.
Florry never took a leadership role in the church. Yet, I was told, she was there to support whatever the church did. If the church doors were open, Florry was there. You could count on Florry, everyone said.
That year on Christmas day I visited the half dozen or so church shut-ins. Florry enjoyed my visit to her in the nursing home.
Just as I was getting ready to pray and leave, she said, “By the way, where are my offering envelopes? I told you the last time you came to bring me my offering envelopes.”
I said, “O, Florry, you don’t have to worry about that. You’ve supported the church all these years. You don’t need to worry about that.”
“Listen, young man, I love that church. I’d sooner die than not be able to do my part, to give to it. The next time you come you bring me those envelopes.”
Yes, m’aam.
Of such faithfulness, of such loyalty, is born the kingdom of God.
