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Today, our hearts are turned towards the cup of blessings that God has prepared for us and our loved ones. We have a lot to be thankful for.
All of us have something to be thankful for, and all of us have come here today to give thanks to the Lord Almighty. As citizens of this country, we can be thankful that God has blessed us never to have known the horrors of war on our soil and in our lifetime. As members of God's redemptive family, we are thankful that he gave up his Son for our sake, has made for us an eternal abode in paradise, and has defeated the Devil on his home turf. As sons and daugthers, mothers and fathers, sisters and brothers, neighbors and friends we are thankful of being a part of the greater fellowship of mankind and we celebrate the tearing down of walls of separtation and hatedred; the destruction of the barriers cause by ignorance and greed; the loosing of the ties of suffering and dispair. Many of us right about now are thankful for the turkey or ham that is roasting in the oven even as I speak, and can hardly wait until service is over and to show God just HOW thankful we are. But before we run break-neck towards our homes and the dining table, I want you to know that the best way to show our thanks to God is through our service to him. Prayer is good and praise is all right, but some how I believe that our God delights in a contrite and obedient heart. And as we carve the prize turkey or pray over the cornish hen, let us show our thanks by recommitting our lives, our minds and our souls to our Lord Christ Jesus. If you need a prayer of committment, you can use this prayer as a springboard.....
Lord, all that this family possesses, we have because of your grace and your love. The food on our table this day, and every day before this one, you O Lord have provided for us, and we say thank you. Our health, we owe to you, our home and our possessions have come from you. Because of you O Lord, we understand the need for your guidance and power in our life. You have been our strength in time of need, our shield in times of trouble, our shelter in the midst of a storm, and for this we are thankful. Lord, we give our selves to you, our mind our body our spirit is yours O Lord. Take and mold and use us in the your way and by your will. Because of your goodness we will serve you with all of our hearts. Bless us, now and evermore, O Lord of the Ages, Amen.
That's all you have to say. In order to thank God, just give him what he wants most...you. God desires your service to his Son and his Church. Some of you sing beautifully, sing for God. Some have amassed a respectable amount of wealth and possessions, use it for God. Some can preach the word of God with conviction and charisma, preach for God. What ever you can do, do it for the Lord, and he will know that you are thankful. On the way back from the Million Man March in Washington DC this fall, I had been caught up in the emotive forces of the hour, and I was taking inventory of what I could give, what it was that I had to offer to my God. I am not rich, or musically gifted and, although I try hard, I am not the best preacher man in this town, so I was really deep in thought about what I could offer that would make a real difference. In the depth of mental monologue, I vaguely heard a voice on the car radio say, "....and even if it was 1,000,000 black men today, what of it? What can a black man do? What can a million black men do, that will amount to a hill of beans?" These words pierced my heart like a two-edged, and although I realized that they were the backward babblings of a red-necked race mogeral, I found myself asking the question, what can a blackman do for Christ? In this day and age of 50% unemployment, 25% prison records, 85% adultry, and record breaking gangster banging, I deeply was concerned about an answer to this troubling question. What can a black man do for God? I went to my problem solver to find an answer. Everybody needs somebody or something that has all the answers. The President has his cabinet members as his problem solvers. My childern think that I am their problem solver, and I guess I am. The boardrooms of the business world have their technical and economic forecasters to guide their decision making. And I have mine....the Holy Bible. In particular the Kings James translation of the Holy Bible, thats my problem solver, my way maker. I went to my problem solver and I asked the question "what can a black man do for Jesus?", and immediately it gave me an answer. I was lead to the 15th Chapter of Mark's Gospel... to the story of the crucifixsion of our Lord, and there I found the answer to my question. Pilate had condemned Jesus to death on Golgotha's Hill. The chief priests had sought after his death, and was beside themselves with elation at his sentencing. The Roman officials and soldiers held no grudge against Jesus, to them he was just another black Jew; but they had a job to perforned and they were committed to their heartless duty. The children of Abraham had come out on this Sabbath Eve to see an execution and they lined the pathway to Calvary and most were caught up in the emotion of the hour. Our Lord, broken and beaten, struggling beneath the weight of his wooden burden, bloody limbs all but lifeless, straining to be obedient to his calling, spat upon by some mocked by others, scorned by most, lie in the dust of that road and covered by his own sweat blood and tears. And then we find Simon of Cyrene. A man who was not from Jerusalem, who did not participate in the condemning of Jesus, who had no previous part in this mess. But most importantly, Simon was a blackman. A blackman from a county in Africa called Cyrene, and Simon did something for Jesus. And if we examine this story we can find that what Simon did for Jesus, blackmen all over the world can do. What was it that Simon did that was so important?
First of all, Simon
MADE HIMSELF AVAIALBLE FOR JESUS.
WILLING TO BEAR THE BURDEN FOR JESUS.
. Although he was a stranger and didnt have anything to do with any of this mess, Simon bore the cross of Jesus willingly, without giving any lip. I can imagine in my mind's eye that when they pushed Simon down to the cross of Jesus, as he kneelled in the midst of that dusty road, his eyes met the eyes of Jesus and for a second he recognized that this Jesus, this man who was on his way to death row, was nothing but a black man being oppressed by the system. And something within Simon changed and he wanted to carry the cross. And I believed as he lifted up the cross and my Lord too, he must of thought of the words of that old anthem.. "stoney the road we trod, bitter the chastening road, felt in the days when hope unborn had died, yet with a steady beat have not our weary feet come to the place for which our fathers died?" Simon struggled beneath the weight of that cross not because of the fear that the romans instilled, not because of their power or their presence, but because he saw a black man in need and decided to help. And he decided that this man needed what he had, a strong back. He did'nt ask what circumstances had brought Jesus to this end. He did not judge Jesus, or say that he should have pulled himself out of his misery himself. He did not brand Jesus as a "useless nigger" because he couldnot make in the white man's world. He just wanted to be the arms and legs and strength of this man Jesus, as they made it down that road. Jesus is still looking for men to help him bear the burden. The bible says that when Christ set up his church, he didnot set it up where he would have to bear the cross alone. He, [haww] breathed on the disciples and said "all power and authority I give unto you"... I counting on you to run things, boys, what ever you bind or lose, I aint leaving my throne in heaven to fix it... if you bind it here on earth, then I'll have to accept it in heaven, 'cause I aint coming back here till it's time'. And this is true today, because we have bound up the spirit of the true Church, and Jesus has allowed it. We have bound up the gifts of tongues and healing and discerment and righteous living, and Jesus has not spoke against. And we have let a lot of hell lose too. Drugs, crime, gangbanging, broken families, enfantcide, racism, classism, sexism, nationalism... have all been loosed on the earth and the church has stood by. Somehow we have forgotten our strength. We have forgotten that we are the arms and legs of Jesus. We sing the Hymn "Must Jesus Bear the Cross Alone, and All the world go free-NO! there's a Cross for Everyone and there's a Cross for Me". Black men we need to bear the cross for Jesus today, we need to be more like Simon. If we could transverse this morning the expanse of time and space, I believe that we would see this big, black buck, muscles gleeming in the heat of the sun, body straining beneath the weight and the pain, but determined to bear that burden. All thought of the temple had left his mind, the uncertaintly of the hour, passed. Ever fiber of his being was set on helping this man Jesus down that dusty road. And when Simon made it to Calvary and laid that cross on the ground. I can imagine that he looked on in absolute horror as they placed Jesus upon the cross, and nailed his hands and feet to it. I believe he must of watched as they lifted him up, and as he suffered in the heat of the day. He just sat there, as they spat upon him, and mocked him and taunted him. He looked on in disbelief as the priests condemned him and the soldiers fought over his raggedy clothes. And some how I believe that Simon must of felt helpless as Jesus finally gave up the ghost and died. Watched as they took his black, lifeless body off the cross , followed close by as they placed him in a shallow tomb. And some how I believe Simon was worn out. Worn in body, from caring that cross, worn in spirit from seeing evil win once again. And if you will allow this preacher to "pastor-ize" the story a little, I'll tell you how I felt the rest of the story went. You see I believe that Simon was no different than a lot of black men today. And I could imagine that after the death of Jesus, he made it on back to the city and stopped in at the Jerusalem Southside Liqour Store. He got himself a fifth of voka and a quart of orange juice checked in at the Jerusalem Roadside Inn, pulled down the curtains, stripped buck naked and got sloppy drunk. O some of you men know what Iam talking about, he, he could'nt take the pressure, he could'nt handle the load, so he did what a lot of black men do.. he drunk all night friday...woke up red eyed on Saturday drunk all day and all night that day too...woke up Sunday morning, put on his boxers shorts and his shoes, went out to the lobby to get the Jerusalem Post Dispatch Sunday paper, and saw that the headlines read "Country Preacher Killed on Friday.... ROSE UP on Sunday!". And I can imagine that Simon put on his clothes and ran down the streets of that town shouting "HEH! HEH, I'm the one! I'm the one who helped He who is the Savior of the world! Finally, Simon wasWILLING TO MAKE A CHANGE, FOR JESUS
. He must of changed his whole life style. He stopped being a Jew. He got out of his misery, and out of the bottle and gave his life to the Lord. Somehow he learned about Jesus and became a Christian. And not only that, he taught his sons Rufus and Alexander about Jesus and they became powerful preachers for our Lord. We need men who are willing to make a change for Jesus. We need men who are willing to teach their sons, not how to have a wife and a woman, not how to drink more than everybody, not how to grab all the money you can, but how to pray to Jesus, and to depend on him and to trust in him. We need to make a change for Jesus. And if the black men of today are willing to be like Simon and be available to God and bear the cross for Jesus and make a change for Jesus, then I believe that we can turn our churches and our communities around. AMEN!
