Stories of Hope and Promise
Jeremiah 31:27-34; Psalm 119:97-104; 2 Timothy 3:14 - 4:5; Luke 18:1-8
John Chapman was a man of great hope. He was born in 1774 in Massachusetts. In the
early 1800's he got in on the opening of land in the Northwest Territory, as it was then
called, of the new United States. He found small plots of land suitable for farming and
cleared them by hand. He bought fruit seed in Pennsylvania every year and carried it to
his many apple orchards, usually on his back.
When the trees were large enough to transplant, he sold them to settlers homesteading the
West. Eventually, he had little apple orchards spread around what would become the
states of Ohio, Michigan, Illinois and Indiana. Most people forgot, or never knew, his
real name, and took to calling him Johnny the Apple Man or Johnny Appleseed.
Johnny was a gentle man with a big vision. He was liked by most people who knew him,
the native Indians and white settlers alike. His vision was to spread the goodness of apple
trees everywhere people settled. Apples, he believed, gave the promise of harvest and
hope that the wilderness would become home. Every tree he grew was a symbol of hope.
Johnny had another curious habit. He loved books, but did not have the means to carry
more than two, usually a Bible and a book of inspiration or theology. Because Johnny
wanted to share his books, he carefully cut chapters out of whatever inspirational book he
had available and loaned one or two chapters to families that wanted to read. He'd later
swap those chapters for others when he came back through. In this way he left hope and
encouragement wherever he traveled.
His grave can be found today in Fort Wayne, Indiana. It says, "Johnny Appleseed (John
Chapman). He lived for others."
Johnny understood his greatest task in life: to keep hope alive. When we keep hope alive,
then hope keeps us alive.
Steve Goodier
I’m no Johnny Appleseed, but I am happy for this opportunity to speak to you this morning, and hopefully plant some RJC seeds in your midst.
Let me first share with you a little about RJC and then I’ll focus on the lectionary readings for today.
It is certainly in times like the present that we need to have such a strong hope as Johnny Appleseed had, as currently we have just 93 students. That’s actually four less than we ended with last year, and probably considerably less than the numbers when any of you or your children might have attended RJC. So we are somewhat concerned about that, as you might imagine, mostly re: the financial implications, but we do have hopes of getting the numbers up a little higher in the second semester. Of those 93 students: 47 are new, 46 are returning students. 76 are from Saskatchewan, 10 from Alberta, 2 from Manitoba, 2 from Nunavut, 2 from Hong Kong and 1 from South Korea. 46 are from Mennonite congregations, 12 are from Roman Catholic churches, 4 Alliance and then one or two from about 14 other denominations. There are also a number who claim to have no church home.
The school year has gotten off to a good start. What we lack in quantity, we seem to have made up in quality. So far, at least, it seems like a very good group of students and it seems that students and staff alike notice a very positive atmosphere at the school.
Classes began on August 27, so students have already been in class about 8 weeks. In fact they completed their first term on Friday.
We had our annual corporation day this past Tuesday evening. There wasn’t a lot of discussion at the meeting, but we talked a bit about the enrolment concerns and how we are trying to meet those concerns, as well as hopes of continuing on with a scaled down version of Phase 2 of our building plans from a few years ago. I can talk further with you about that if you have some questions later.
Students have all attended their class retreats and we’ve had some good football, soccer and volleyball games. Just last weekend was the Alumni volleyball and soccer tournament. This week, playoffs begin for football and soccer, and volleyball playoffs will be in November.
Chorale auditions took place the first week of October and students went home for Thanksgiving knowing whether they had made it or not. So they’re now just a couple weeks into practicing and looking forward to touring to churches.
Tuesday and Wednesday of this week will be Deeper Life Days in which the theme is “Harmony” focusing on the racial tensions in our world and how we can work to build bridges. On Friday is our annual Fundraising Banquet, with Jep Hostetler as our guest speaker.
Jep is a retired doctor, who now makes his living as a public speaker. He incorporates humour and magic into his talks about finding joy in life. Together with a silent auction and other activities, this evening is always a fun event. So if you’d be interested in attending, please call the school to reserve your complimentary tickets.
If you can’t make it out to Rosthern for this event, I believe there will again be an Alberta Fundraiser in spring. In the last couple of years, it, too, has proved to be an enjoyable evening. So keep your eyes and ears open for that announcement.
The Musical Arts Ed class is working on sets and rehearsing for “She Loves Me” a romantic musical comedy to be performed as a Dinner Theatre on November 29-December 2. It won’t be long after that and we’ll be into Christmas concerts and Christmas holidays. When you look at a semester like that, it can go by in quite a hurry.
As you should know, RJC is owned and operated by Mennonite Church Alberta and Mennonite Church Saskatchewan. It is your school. As such, we would ask that you please keep your school, the staff, the students, the board, the alumni and auxilliary in your prayers as well as in your financial giving as we seek to make this a good year and a hopeful year for all.
In November, I’ll be taking some students on the road to Swift Current for a traveling Open House, and in March, for the MC Alberta annual sessions, we’ll also be bringing some students to Edmonton for a youth event. So if you’re a youth or you have youth, please mark March 14 on your calendar and plan to attend and bring a friend or two.
My role at RJC is student recruitment, fundraising, and constituency relations. So if you’d like to talk to me because you might be interested in attending RJC as a student, or you’d like to make a donation to the school, or have any questions or comments about the school, I’m available to talk to anyone after the service this morning.
Well, as I said earlier, we need to have a hope like that of Johnny Appleseed, to see the tree within the seed, to keep hope alive that hope might keep us alive. This morning’s lectionary readings are all about hope.
Psalm 119 is a Psalm, 150 verses long, all in praise of God’s law. In verses 97-104, the Psalmist’s words of praise arise from the knowledge that God’s law gives hope. God’s commands give wisdom, insight, understanding, keeping one on the right path.
Jeremiah, probably with a great deal of joy and zeal, proclaimed his message of chapter 31:27-34 to the people. For so long, he had been preaching doom and gloom because, unlike the Psalmist, the people of Israel and Judah had not followed God’s law. But now Jeremiah was able to share a message of hope. God would restore Judah and Israel. Exiled peoples would return, the land restored, the nation would be rebuilt. In the past, God had promised that a person’s sin would bring punishment on three or four succeeding generations. But a time was coming, said Jeremiah, when a person would be punished only for their own sins. The reason for this change?
God was promising to make a new covenant, a covenant that will be written on their hearts and on their minds. It will be always with them. They will memorize it, they will know it completely. If they fail to obey, it will be their own fault, no one else’s. But because it is written on their hearts and minds, they will be better able to remain faithful, they will know right and wrong. And it will be a time of forgiveness. God will remember their sins no more. God will be their God and they will be his people.
We certainly see this prophecy fulfilled in the Christian era, even though we all continue to struggle with remaining faithful. God’s law may be written on our hearts and minds, but there is much in this world that also desires to be written on our hearts and minds, and we are forced to choose. This past June, the school presented the musical, “Children of Eden.” The play was unfamiliar to most of us, but we were moved by our students presenting the stories which showed the choice between good and evil, God and self is so strong. We wish we didn’t have to choose, but as Jesus has said, you cannot serve both God and mammon. So, like Adam and Eve, like Cain, like Noah and his family, we do have to choose.
So we find Paul’s encouragement to Timothy in 2 Timothy 3:14 - 4:5 speaking to all of us as well. He reminds Timothy and us that all we have learned and now believe, that which we have been taught from Scripture, will make us wise for salvation. As the Psalmist told of the benefits of obedience to the law, Paul tells also how the gospel continues to provide not only wisdom, but salvation. When all around people turn away from the truth, what Timothy has become sure of and what we have become sure of will guard us and enable us to do the work God has called us to do.
Finally, in the parable of the Persistent Widow, found in Luke 18:1-8, we again find a story of hope. Though the judge in her town is unjust, because she does not give up hope, he grants her request. He gives her justice. This woman had faith in the same lesson Johnny Appleseed had learned: When we keep hope alive, then hope keeps us alive.
At RJC, as in the church, we rely on that same kind of hope: Hope and the strong belief that God’s Holy Word and all we have learned about it and now believe will give us wisdom and understanding to go about the work of running a school and teaching students and keep us on the right path; Hope that we and the students that we teach will choose to live by the covenant God is writing on our hearts and minds; Hope that every year we will get the required number of students or have wisdom to know how to manage the shortfall; Hope that our alumni and our constituency will continue to support us as strongly as they presently do; Hope that RJC will continue to be here for our grandchildren and great grandchildren.
For me, RJC is indeed a place of hope and I’d like to share with you some of the stories of hope that I’ve witnessed there.
We had one student at RJC the last two years, who was something of a troubled young man. He came from a broken home where there wasn’t a lot of spiritual and emotional support for him. Money was no object, but parents didn’t always find ways to show him love. As a result, he got into all kinds of trouble at home and was sent to RJC.
As you might imagine, being sent away to school doesn’t always work. This young man reacted by acting out, making life difficult for himself and for others. There were certainly glimpses of hope when he got involved in various school activities and was actually able to enjoy himself, yet, for the most part, he found it much easier to present something of a negative attitude.
This young man graduated in June and moved home. But recently he moved to Saskatoon, and to my knowledge, he was the first recent alumnus to return to the school for a visit. Oh there were those who came for the opening program and for the Saskatoon Youth Orchestra and RJC Choir concert, but this young man came on a school day, and made a point of visiting with our vice principal and to say, more so with his actions than with his words, perhaps, that the effort the school made on his behalf was appreciated.
It is such a sign of hope that gives us reason and purpose for what we do every day. At the same time, there are many more positive signs of hope that also encourage us to keep on.
There’s Michelle, a girl whose step father is an alumnus of RJC. Michelle came in grade 11 last year and for the first month or more was homesick and struggling with why she was at RJC. Then, suddenly, something seemed to click, and since then she has been one of our strongest, if not loudest promoters of RJC. When asked to say something about her RJC experience, she could go on and on. I wish I could have brought her with me today.
When I began working at RJC in March, the Grade 12 English class was in the midst of each taking their turn telling their story in chapel. These were amazing times, as students shared what their lives past, present and future are and will be all about. Many were quite vulnerable, sharing some rather difficult things in their lives, opening themselves up for all their friends to see who they are and sharing how RJC has made a difference in their lives. Stories of hope.
I had the good fortune to go along on choir tour in May here in Alberta. Unfortunately we didn’t get to Lethbridge. Medicine Hat, Rosemary and Calgary were the closest we got. Perhaps some of you traveled to one of those locations to hear the choir. I was truly blessed to be part of that tour as they had a wonderful selection of songs that I never grew tired of hearing, even listening to most of them twice a day. The students were well behaved and quite willing to perform to the best of their abilities each and every time, and it seemed like a good time was had by all. Certainly the audiences responded favourably to each performance.
I was also blessed by our year end musical, “Children of Eden”. If you’ve ever seen the musical you will know that it has a powerful message as it traces the stories of Adam and Eve, Cain and Able, Noah and his family as they make the difficult choices in their lives. One or two persons didn’t care for the fact that it didn’t follow the Biblical accounts a little more closely, but the almost professional performances by the students and the strong message throughout the play, moved many to tears as we identified with the various characters and their situations. The message that came through, too, was certainly one of hope. When it was beginning to seem that Noah and his family would have to rely on each other to get through life, God gave them his promise to be with them and with all humanity.
This year, it has been neat for me to watch those students whom I recruited, as they find their way into the student body and as they also find ways for their own voices to be heard. Many are just discovering anew, who they really are, and many are still on their journey toward that discovery. Again, hopeful signs.
I’m sure, if we took the time to notice, we would find that all of our lives are also filled with similar such signs and stories. Even in the midst of difficult times in our lives, there are always signs and stories of hope that we can find.
Jeremiah could find hope, even when all around him looked hopeless, as Israel was being conquered and exiled. Paul directed Timothy to find hope when he knew the temptations that pulled at him and the members of his church. The widow in Jesus’ parable found hope, because she refused to give up hope.
I came across a book the other day, I can’t recall the exact title, but it had something to do with “Seeing the 90%”. The author’s premise was that too often we focus on the 10% in our lives that is negative, the things going wrong and in so doing, we miss the 90% that is positive, the good things happening in our lives. The author’s suggestion was that we need to give more time to the 90%, focus on the good things going on in our lives and not let the negative things get us down. In that, too, there is hope, there is joy, there is life.
I trust that today may be a day that we can begin to be more hopeful, that we may see the good things in our lives, that we might recognize the truth that when we keep our hope in God alive, then that hope keeps us alive, keeps us going; keeps us faithful. So may it be. Amen.
To him who is able to keep you from falling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy — to the only God our Saviour be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen.