Series Finales

As I considered what I would talk about for my final sermon before the Antrim Church...well at least for now...never say never :-)

As I considered what I would preach about I had multiple options. First, I could have just continued my "Dear Least Important Church..." series, and you could be listening now to "Don't Be a Sucker." However, that would be an odd way, short of being unexpectedly being called home by the Lord, to end a ministry.

Or I could do the equivalent of a television series finale...where either we every open question is answered...or everybody is given a happy ending...or things are left in a permanent dissatisfying cliff-hanger. Well...

• I don't have all the answers (only the Bible, and the One behind it does).
• I can't give everyone a happy ending—we all have to wait for "a cry of a command," "the voice of an archangel," and "the sound of the trumpet of God" (1 Thessalonians 4:16) "Amen. Come, Lord Jesus!" (Revelation 22:20)
• As for leaving you with a permanent cliffhanger...well...that would be cruel wouldn't it?! :-) Beyond that, I'd have to make it up...unless, of course, instead of moving to California for my new job I just disappear. :-)

Another option would be retrospective...again...like those that the sneak into television series. I could replay clips from my sermons...and then we could tell by you nodding...or sleeping...how many you remember the originals. :-)

Or, I could be a bit more biblical in approach, and I could mimic Paul and the Ephesian elders...where, seeing them the last time, he gave that church he loved so much words of advice.

I'm going to throw off the normal flow of my sermons and we are going to immediately read this week's passage from Colossians. No intro...well, other than the two sentences I just said. :-)

Let's turn to Colossians 2:6-15:

6 Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, 7 rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.

8 See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ. 9 For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, 10 and you have been filled in him, who is the head of all rule and authority. 11 In him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, 12 having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead. 13 And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, 14 by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. 15 He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him. (Bold words refer to Jesus...and there is the potential a couple other do too.)

My first reaction to those words can be summed up in a single word:

Amen!

When I listen to my entire iTunes library in shuffle mode I never know what might suddenly come over the speakers. Rock, classical, children's, christian, rap, bagpipe, country, polka, heavy metal...well, the list could go on. I even have some Ronald Reagan clips with which I did not set to "Skip when shuffling," and this week one labeled "Optimism" snuck in between songs. At the end of the selection he told a joke that brightened my day, and I hope will brighten yours:

OTR

How many here know what the acronym OTR stands for?

Now...before I asked that question I figured I'd better do a Google search to make sure that there wasn't some other meaning even more common than the one I'm used to...and visiting Wikipedia I found that...in part...it can also mean:

• Ótr, a dwarf in Norse mythology
• "An airport that serves Coto 47, Costa Rica"
• Optical Transition Radiation
• Off the road tires
• On the run

And so on...¹

But none of those are it...anybody who knows some of my personal history and likes know what it might be?

Old time radio. You know, the golden age of radio when it ruled. When great shows like The Shadow ("Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men? The Shadow knows.") and Abbot and Costello ("Who's on first?") kept people close to radios (that were more furniture than electronic devices).

As hard as it may be to believe for the kids here, I am actually not old enough to have listened to most of those when they first aired :-), but there was one series that I did listen to every weeknight growing up in Canaan, New Hampshire. With my AM/FM radio...one with tubes and not transistors...where only the AM worked...I would tune to 1210 on the dial...and not tune digitally...where you know exactly what frequency you've got...I had to use a good old analog one where sometimes you have to have very accurate wrist action to get the exact spot you want.

The reward for getting 1210 was receiving WCAU out of Philadelphia (now WPHT)...and hearing CBS Mystery Theater with E.G. Marshall narrating. For those who haven't spent some quality time on the AM dial, that set of frequencies is fickle, with atmospheric conditions greatly affecting what you can, or can't, tune in. (That's why you can listen to stations much further away at night.)