I’ve been re-reading J.R. R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings trilogy recently. It has been about 30 years since I read that great fantasy epic.
So I have been re-introduced to hobbits, dwarfs, elves, orcs, Nazguls, and other strange critters, and their great adventure to fight the evil of Sauron and his quest to obtain the one ring.
How many of you have any idea what I am talking about?
If not then you must read the book—you can see the movies which are pretty good–but books are always better.
Tolkien’s epic work is really a fantasy adventure about life, about the battle between good and evil. As such it is a veteran’s story, and it is a Christian story.
Influenced by his experiences in World Wars 1 and 2—Tolkien has given us a morality story of sorts—a story that addresses the human condition in the midst of trial– dealing with virtues and vices, success and failure, strength and weakness, good and evil.
Of the many themes that Tolkien wove into his story a few stood out to me as I thought about Veterans’ Day this year– and they not only pertain to veterans—but directly to us as Christians as well.
In the books, different characters at different times talk about remembering— remembering the great stories of the past; recalling significant people and their deeds of bygone ages.
In recalling these ancient histories, the primary characters were able to then to have greater understand of themselves and their present situations. The past illuminated the present.
Occasionally one of the characters, in gazing upon the ruins of an unknown culture or city, laments that certain stories were forgotten, and you get the sense that they lose a bit of their identity, a bit of understanding of where they are in life—like following a map and a part is missing.
Similarly our veterans are part of a story, an adventure, as I think Tolkien might phrase it that gives us understanding of where we are today.
Those adventures, those experiences, those histories, the personal remembrances need to be told so those stories are not lost, that the various parts of the map that show us where we are today and how we got here remain intact for future generations.
Writers talk about the forgotten wars—1812, Korea, World War 1—I dare say that in another 30 years Vietnam will be relegated to that category.
We will forget about why those conflicts happened, we will forget the lives sacrificed in those events, and we will forget about lessons learned that give direction and guidance to those who come after. In forgetting the veterans’ stories we will in some sense lose our way.
We need to remain in touch with those stories. We need to read the histories—be aware of the events of the past because they give us understanding of the present. Their past illumines our present.
As Christians, there is something similar. The Lord gave us the Holy Scripture— his story– with amazing characters and adventures in their dealing with God and his purposes. And he gave us the whole story, the beginning and the end.
Knowing this story – knowing scripture, gives us an understanding of who we are, where we are now and where we are going.
It is in scripture, in the story, we will come to know God, and know his plan. We will have his entire map to guide us, to lead us to faith in Jesus Christ, and guide us in living life with him.
The stories of the past are important. Scripture itself says: thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path.
a second theme that struck me is the concept of fellowship—a binding together of peoples at different levels, by commitment to one purpose or mission.
In the books, elves, dwarfs, hobbits, and men were all drawn together, and bound together at different levels to oppose the dark power of Sauron and the Ring.
In the closest and smallest of those fellowships were the two hobbits, Frodo and Samwise—comrades in arms. Nothing would allow them to abandon each other in the common mission to destroy the one ring.
I have never met a veteran who did not speak of his fellowship with his or her comrades in arms. They went through their adventures as part of a group, be it great or small, creating a comradeship greater than themselves.
The events shared especially in the most dangerous times have a power to bind people together in a way most of us will never understand. A band of brothers as Shakespeare defined it.
This was brought home to me personally some years ago at my dad’s funeral. Most of the folks I knew, but there was a group of six older gentleman who were strangers to me.
After the service they came up and introduced themselves to me. I still remember one, Mr. Debatis, Captain Debatis as my dad knew him.
He was the pilot of the B24 on which my dad served as a waist gunner in WW2, and the other guys were the rest of his crew—at least those who were still alive and were healthy enough to travel. They came from all over the east coast to be there.
Fellowship: as a veteran, you are not a veteran alone.
Neither as a Christian are you a Christian alone. Bound together by the event of the cross–What Jesus has done for us –we become part of the fellowship of the church—we become brothers and sisters in Christ—–united together with him in the battle against evil: the devil, the world, and the flesh.
Similar to Tolkien’s fellowship, and the veterans fellowship, there is self-sacrifice involved. Jesus calls his followers to love one another as he loved us—to lay down our lives for one another.
But fellowship in Christ is substantially different –it is an eternal fellowship. Bound together in this life in our common adventure to follow Jesus —we continue to be bound to each other in eternity with Jesus.
Look around—we are in this together——forever! —– I hope that is good news!
The third theme that stuck out to me was that of stewardship– defined especially as the careful and responsible management of something entrusted to one’s care.
In some sense, stewardship was the overriding theme of Tolkien’s entire adventure. Each culture in the story had stewardship for its stories, its histories, and responsibility for safeguarding and passing on those histories that gave meaning and purpose and identity to their lives.
Each member of Tolkien’s fellowship had a personal stewardship for his own role and duties as appointed to each, in fulfillment of the mission. Each uses his gifts, his power, his skills, who he is, to accomplish the mission of destroying the ring—defeating evil.
Our veterans are models of that kind of stewardship. they put themselves forward to take up a burden—a mission for others—for our nation, for our constitution, for our freedoms—confronting whatever evil may threaten those most precious and valued ideals.
And most paid a personal price from which all of us today have inherited great benefit. They were the stewards of the freedoms and life we enjoy today.
Likewise as Christians, we are stewards of all Jesus has done for us. Today, coincidentally, is the opening day of our parish stewardship season.
We think it is about money—but it is far more than that—money is merely an indicator –a gauge if you will, of involvement in the adventure.
in this parish we are stewards of our story—holy scripture and Christian tradition—communicating that faith once received to future generations,–telling people the difference Jesus makes in our lives—telling the bible stories that give meaning and purpose and identity to life.
This parish is a steward of fellowship— equipping us to use our gifts and skills and personalities for God’s purpose and the building up of his church—the fellowship of Jesus Christ himself– to fulfill the mission of bringing all to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.
Stewardship is a call to us, as Christians, to invest ourselves, like the characters Tolkien created, like the veterans we celebrate today, in the mission we have been given, and in that fellowship to which the mission has been entrusted.
Tolkien gave us a wonderful epic about life. Our veterans are folks who actually lived out that epic in so many ways, and we have benefited by their lives.
So vets, thank you for your service—for your stewardship of the missions given to you in your time.
Similarly, each of us is currently involved in living out Tolkien’s epic in real life, in our lives, beginning here and continuing into eternity.
I pray each of us might be good stewards of our story, and be good stewards of our fellowship. May each of us be fully involved in the adventure that God has called us to in Christ Jesus.
Sermon preached by the Rev. Richard C. Marsden
The Church of the Redeemer
Sarasota Florida
Veterans’ Sunday
13 November 2016