Alone

A good example is Johann Sebastian Bach, one of the giants of western music and religious culture, who wrote at the top of each of his compositions Soli Deo gloria, (To God alone the glory).

Another is Martin Luther, one of the most widely-known persons of his century, whose collected writings number over 100 volumes, and whose effect upon history has been very prominent, but whose final words on his deathbed were We are beggars before God; this is true.

Alone? Not alone?

Will a wise person still have dark times?

Of course, but we trust we'll not be overcome by them.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a Lutheran pastor executed by the Nazis only days before the end of the war on Hitler's personal order, faced that ultimate crisis with a calmness of spirit that deeply affected even his jailers.

He knew that he was not alone; and that the promise of the Lord Jesus was with him even in that extreme situation, and would not abandon him.

That relationship is secure, by God's good gift.

Solomon asked for wisdom, and got lots more as well.

But he had trouble hanging onto those things. Why?

He fell into the ever-present trap of claiming it as all his own accomplishment and possession.

Without wisdom, much slipped through his fingers.

He made provision for the worship of other gods.

He thought of himself alone as the King of all he surveyed, instead of recognizing that he was a caretaker on behalf of God, that he was his steward, his servant.

He trampled on the relationship.

Alone? That is a disaster!

Our only hope is not to go it alone.

So graduates soon will be stepping out of the relatively structured environment of high school into the work-force, to the military, to college, or some other activity.

How many will be thinking that they can make it alone?

They are the ones who will have the hardest times.

The Antarctic explorer Robert Byrd entitled his autobiographical account of spending a winter in that harsh dark world “Alone”.

His solitude dropped him into mental illness that nearly took his life.

An extreme situation, certainly, but quite real.

So the Christian may have little food or much, a few friends or many, piles of graduation gifts or a congratulatory handshake, but the Christian also has the most important thing...Jesus' promise, the presence of the Holy Spirit with us wherever we go and whatever we do.

The majestic words of the beginning of John's Gospel nail it.

In the beginning...the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

Christ Jesus is the light, the wisdom, the relationship that matters.

Do we depart from this place alone?

Never alone. Amen.

Please note: The preceding sermon is provided as a resource for the thought, prayer, and meditation of the members and friends of St. Mark's. It is the residue of a verbal event, and thus it does not have academic footnotes and other details that would be expected in a written document. The writer gladly acknowledges the prior thought and work of many Christians before him.