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Worship - Sermons - 2009

Making Comforters

II Corinthians 1:3-7

William F. Schnell

August 16, 2009

Finding myself unemployed during the recession of 1981 I had a lot of time on my hands.  At a used book store I came across a children’s book on how to knit.  Following the instructions in the book I made my first pair of knitting needles by cutting a quarter inch dowel into 12" sections, bringing the ends to a point in a pencil sharpener, rubbing them with a candle to slick them up, and winding rubber bands around the opposite ends to act as stops for the yarn.

My first project was this scarf (display scarf).  You may be able to see how I inadvertently added and dropped stitches at the beginning that made the edges expand and contract.  But by the time I finished this scarf, you can see that my knitting was pretty consistent.  Here is a nice woolen hat I knit last year (show hat).  I told Nancy that it needed to be hand washed in Woolite but, nooooo, she had to wash it in hot water.  Now it fits a chipmunk and I have to knit a new one for this winter.

This is a baby blanket (display) that I began knitting when Nancy was pregnant for Mary Beth, but I did not finish it until she was pregnant for Jim Bob.  Most recently I used it as a mat for my Lenten meditations.  You can see that it is made of 4" squares sewn together.  4" squares also make a nice coaster when knit out of absorbent cotton yarn like this (display).  I used to knit these while on hospital calls because the time it took to complete one was perfect for a visit.

I called them "Prayer Squares" and would leave them with the patients I visited.  David Brizius, the Director of our Church Camp, was in the hospital for a heart procedure when I made one for him years ago.  Since then he has had occasion to return to the hospital for other health concerns, and healways tells his wife to pack his "Prayer Square."  When stuck in an impersonal environment like a hospital, laying upon a strange bed and wearing a strange gown instead of your pajamas and having all sorts of strange people doing all sorts of strange things to you, I think there is a small measure of comfort in any personal touch you can bring in with you.

The title of our message for this morning is, "Making Comforters."  Today we will find in our text that God is making comforters out of you and me.  We are going to learn how he fashions us into comforters and how he can use us to fashion comforters out of others.  In the process we should also learn how significant the comfort we extend is regarded by those who benefit from it in times of deep distress.  What may seem like a small gesture for those on the giving end, is a very big deal to those on the receiving end.

Paul writes: Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort… (Verse 3).  Our Father in heaven is a God of compassion and comfort.  He is not a cosmic child abuser looking for a chance to hurt or harm his children.  Even when he does have cause to discipline his children, it is always reluctantly and for their good.  And once his prodigal children return to him, he is all open arms ready to forgive and embrace and comfort.

Paul spoke from the voice of experience in this regard.  After being, in his own words, the worst of sinners (I Timothy 1:16), he repented and found an open embrace from Jesus.  That did not end his troubles, however.  Indeed, that is when troubles really began for him.  In the verses immediately following our text Paul writes: We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about the hardships we suffered in the province of Asia.  We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired even of life.  Indeed, in our hearts we felt the sentence of death (1:8-9).

Elsewhere in this letter Paul testifies to having been pelted with rocks, beaten with rods, flogged, lashed, shipwrecked, imprisoned and so forth (11:25-27).  Many times he had close brushes with death, all because of his faithfulness to the calling he had received from the Lord.  But in all of these desperate circumstances Paul had also experienced a divine and surpassing comfort extended through God’s chosen instruments among the family of faith.

Again, in this letter from which our text comes Paul writes: For when we came into Macedonia, this body of ours had no rest, but we were harassed at every turn--conflicts on the outside, fears within.  But God, who comforts the downcast, comforted us by the coming of Titus, and not only by his coming but also by the comfort you had given him.  He told us about your longing for me, your deep sorrow, your ardent concern for me, so that my joy was greater than ever (7:5-7).

Beyond transforming Paul’s distress into joy, this experience being comforted transformed Paul into an instrument of divine comfort.  God was making a comforter out of Paul.  In his first letter to the Corinthians Paul addressed a concern that had been brought to his attention regarding a brother in the faith who had been sexually immoral in a flagrant manner.  In that letter Paul counseled the church to shun the immoral brother, not because he was being excessively judgmental or self-righteous, but with the intent of leading the erring brother to repentance.

As it happened, the result of this shunning was for the immoral brother to repent of his erring ways.   Therefore Paul counsels in this, his second letter to the Corinthians, The punishment inflicted on him by the majority is sufficient for him. Now instead, you ought to forgive and comfort him, so that he will not be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow. I urge you, therefore, to reaffirm your love for him (11:6-8). Because Paul, the self-confessed worst of sinners, was comforted by a second chance from Jesus, he was able to comfort a fellow erring brother with a second chance.

And because Paul, the persecuted apostle, was comforted by God’s chosen instruments such as Titus, he was able to be a comforter to fellow believers who were likewise suffering for righteousness’ sake. Therefore he praises God… who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God. For just as the sufferings of Christ flow over into our lives, so also through Christ our comfort overflows (Verses 3-7).

God uses our sufferings to fashion us into comforters. Sometimes I will link people who share a common affliction. Recently I suggested to a colon cancer survivor that a call might be appreciated by someone else who had recently received the same diagnosis. Having shared that difficult diagnosis, and especially having survived it, gives one a unique power to bring comfort to another who is now facing the great uncertainty and fear. God uses our sufferings to fashion us into comforters.

We don’t even have to have personally experienced what someone is going through, or know the right words to say, to bring comfort. Simply having suffered in our own way and having known the consolation of divine comfort expressed through God’s c hosen instruments can give us a willing compassion for others who may be suffering in their own way. In the final analysis, pain is pain and hurt is hurt, whether it is localized in our lower back or deep inside our hearts and minds.

Displayed in front of you, on and about the altar, are a variety of garments called prayer shawls. Some are knit and some are crocheted but all are made by hand--mostly by women in our congregation, although I have made one myself with them during an evening that combined Bible reflection with Christian fellowship while each of us worked away with needles and yarn. So, like my prayer squares, these prayer shawls are infused with the prayers of God’s people.

Indeed, the shawls themselves may be prayed over like this: "May God’s grace be upon this shawl… warming, comforting, enfolding and embracing. May this mantle be a safe haven… a sacred place of security and well-being…sustaining and embracing in good times as well as difficult ones. May the one who receives this shawl be cradled in hope, kept in joy, graced with peace, and wrapped in love" (Prayer of Blessing, by Janet Bristow). This is one reason while these garments are called "Prayer Shawls."

Another is because they are used for prayer by those who receive them, and who are comforted by them and who find healing in them. Indeed, they are sometimes referred to as "Healing Shawls" as reflected in the following poem: "I woke as the dark began to fade * A ray of light played on the shade * I’m surrounded by a warm, soft glow * It is love… that I know. * It’s not the love of my youthful days * But the love of a stranger far away. * She knitted for me a healing shawl * And prays for strength if I should fall. * These silky strands which embrace my soul * Surround me with love and make me whole. * Below this warm fabric lay the depth of it’s meaning * Healing and love is what it is bringing. * The love of strangers, family and friends * Nourish my body and urge it to mend" (The Healing Shawl, by Marilyn Maxen and Carol Wertheimer).

I visited a member of our congregation while she was struggling with a difficult diagnosis in the hospital. Draped across her hospital bed was a prayer shawl that someone had made for her with multi-colored yarn and a tiny golden cross knit right in. This woman told me how comforting her shawl had become, and that it was now a constant companion. Following her surgery I stopped by to see her at her home unannounced because I found myself in her neighborhood. She came to the door wrapped in her prayer shawl.

I understand that another woman who passed into the larger life was buried with her shawl in keeping with her wishes, so comforting to her had this anonymous gift been while she lived. I guess we just have to have been in deep distress to understand how comforti ng a simple gesture like a prayer shawl can be. If you knit or crochet, you may want to stop by the table in Fellowship Hall during coffee hour which is displaying other examples of prayer shawls, patterns to follow in making them and some of the compassionate ones who offer their prayerful and careful time to this ministry.

You can follow their good example even if you do not knit or crochet, because God is making comforters of us all through the pain and hurt and suffering we have come through by the grace of God. Do you know the pain of divorce, the grief of having lost a child, the suffering of lost employment? Maybe you have endured a life-threatening illness or been through bankruptcy or been shunned by a so-called friend. Perhaps you are a recovering alcoholic or addict or former slave to any number of compulsions.

You know what it’s like. You’ve been there. By God’s redeeming grace you survived that terrible trial, and by God’s redeeming grace you have been fashioned by it to be a comforter for others who are going through the same thing. Or maybe you have simply been made more compassionate toward anyone who is hurting for any reason. Last week, on Laity Sunday, several ministries at The Church in Aurora were highlighted that offer comfort to God’s children in one way or another: Stephen Ministry, Care Team and Workcamp. Today we are highlighting our Prayer Shawl ministry. There are many others beyond these.

The important points to remember are these: 1) that every single one of us has experienced pain and hurt and suffering in one way or another; 2) that God redeems these difficult times by comforting us in a surpassing way through his chosen instruments while making comforters of us at the same time and, 3) that God gives every single one of us opportunities to be instruments of his divine comfort to others--many times through the church.

What trials have you survived by God’s grace and divine comfort? How have you been fashioned by those experiences to be instruments of divine comfort to others? What doors of opportunity are being opened to you to comfort others with the comfort you have received from God? Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God