I was wondering if you felt a little strange singing "Abide With Me" in the morning instead of the evening.  The origin of the words of this hymn make it singable almost any time.  It comes from Luke 24 where the two men on the road to Emmaus were met by a stranger.  They had been talking about the tragic death of Rabbi Jesus of Nazareth.  When the stranger joined them, he explained to them the Scriptures in a way they hadn't known before.  It must have been a lively discussion, and I would like to have been a mouse in someone's pocket that afternoon as they walked that dusty road.

          As they approached their home, the stranger appeared to continue, so the Bible says, "They urged him strongly, 'Stay with us, for it is nearly evening;  the day is almost over.'  So he went in to stay with them." (Luke 24:29)   Later at supper when they broke the bread together, they realized this stranger with them was Jesus Himself!  And after He disappeared from their sight, the two men ran the several miles back to Jerusalem to tell the other disciples they'd seen Jesus alive.  It's a touching story, a human story we can all relate to, about men in mourning who wanted the company of others, someone who could stay with them during their time of sadness.  They just didn't know it was Jesus until their eyes were opened.

          Today's text from the Gospel of John is also about people wanting the Lord to stay with them -- or at least their wanting to stay with Him.  In John 1:14, it's written, "The Word became flesh and dwelt among us."  That word -- to dwell -- is the same one the disciples used when they went to stay (or dwell) with Jesus, and it's the same word the two Emmaus disciples used when they asked this stranger to abide with them that evening.  I believe there is a longing we all have to stay close to God, and the older we get, the more we look forward to being with Him and all the saints in heaven.

          I heard this past week that an old friend from my first church in North Dakota had died.  Leonard Hansen was sheriff of Sheridan County during my four and a half years at St. John' s in McClusky.  Leonard and Helen would call us to come over, often late at night, and we'd often stay until midnight.  At least once a week I had coffee with him and others in the back room next to the jail there in the Court House.  Leonard never missed church, but before he came into the Sanctuary, he'd always hang up his pistol and belt on a hook in the narthex.  After church, he'd put it back on and have coffee with the rest of us.

          He was also a farmer who drove his team of horses ten miles into town on a 1930's winter day after the coldest night recorded in North Dakota history:  54 degrees below zero.  Leonard was 90 years old.  Funny, but I thought he'd died a long time ago, and now hearing he really was gone made me sad.  I think a part of me lives back there in the past and always will until I go to dwell with the Lord.  Sometimes I think I'm hopelessly sentimental.

          But sentimentality shouldn't have to keep us from the important things.  Every day I pray that my two children and six godchildren will stay close to the Lord.  And nearly every day I pray for you, the people of Epiphany congregation, that you also will stay close to the Lord.  But what does it mean -- to stay with the Lord?  Surely it doesn't mean an eternity of sappy sentimentalism.  It's good to recall past things, but not to make a career of it.  Heaven is not just sitting in a chair recalling the "good old days," that were not nearly so good as we remember them.

          Staying with the Lord means putting the past where it belongs -- in God's hands.  He knows what to do about our past, and I'm sure He's already forgotten most of it.  Some of our past is nothing to brag about.  We'd all do well if God and the whole world forgot all about it.  Staying with the Lord in eternity means living in a new heaven and a new earth where there are no more tears of regret, like John's vision in Revelation, where he saw, "There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away." (Revelation 21:4)

          Staying with the Lord means something for eternity, but it also means something for today.  So long as you and I are alive, we can do nothing better than stay with the Lord each day, by having faith in Him for all things, trusting Him to be with us each day that comes.  Abiding with Jesus is far better than abiding with this fickle world which knows the price of everything but the value of nothing.  Abiding with Jesus means valuing all human life, not just life that's convenient.  Abiding with Jesus means being willing to put our pride aside, to deny ourself of what doesn't really matter anyway, and to take up the cross of obedience and follow Him.

          Abiding with Jesus isn't just about church membership, but about being part of the Kingdom.  It's about letting God be the God of our whole life, not just an hour or two a week.  Whenever I receive new members, I have a lot of high hopes, but I also hope you all will still be with us a year from now, and that your faith and Christian life will be stronger for being here.  A church exists for the people, but it also exists to raise up workers in the Kingdom, warriors who defend the cross, and witnesses to God's love.  I pray each of you will be with the Lord, either here or wherever you are, never letting go of the eternal Life-Preserver, Jesus.

          God wants us all to stay close to Him in faith, and He wants us to be active in serving Him in some good way.  I want all you new members to know how glad I am that you're here.  And I pray you too will stay close to the Lord, here on earth and forever with the saints in eternity.

          Staying close to the Lord will take some effort.  Each week it will mean denying yourself a few hours of personal time to worship Him.  Each day it will mean denying your human nature of its self-pride and placing God's will before your own.  Staying close to the Lord will mean staying away from evil things.  God doesn't call us to be a desert hermit, denying ourselves all the creature comforts of life.  But He does call us to deny whatever will come between us and Him.

          In our instant age it's so easy to become fussy and impatient.  We're so used to having it our way that we want it all and we want it now.  If our car doesn't measure up, we get a new one.  If our computer locks up, we trash it.  If our internet connection isn't fast enough, we get a DSL.  It used to be we marvelled at how much our gadgets were capable of doing, but now we think denying ourself means putting up with an older model.

          Staying close to the Lord means valuing what's truly valuable, and it's surely not our gadgets.  We don't need technology to stay close to God.  Our relationship with Him will survive very well without a palm pilot.  The other day I saw an electronic Bible, one you can hold in your hand, and that comes in several translations.  Cool, you might think, but I wonder if you and I would read the electronic one any more than that other model, you know, the one without batteries, the one you can hold in your hand and read anywhere, the one you won't have scrutinized at the airport check-in.  Staying close to the Lord means getting the junk out of the way so we can be where He is, with His people, so we can love Him and be loved by Him.

          Our Lord Jesus came to be our Savior.  He lived as a man among men and He suffered for the sins of the world.  He was put to death though He was innocent, and executed like a common criminal.  He was buried in a borrowed grave and mourned as if He was gone forever.  But He surprised them all, even His closest friends, when He emerged alive from the tomb, a man changed in body, but the same Lord who loves and forgives all who come to Him looking for a place to stay.  And now today we looks for hearts with open doors, hearts willing to let Him in.  "Behold!  I stand at the door and knock," [Jesus said.]  "If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me." (Revelation 3:20)

          "The disciples said, 'Rabbi, where are you staying?'  'Come and see,' He replied."  I don't know where Jesus took them.  It was surely not His own home, because He didn't have one.  He was probably staying with friends, and that leads us to something else we all can do -- to offer Jesus our home as a place where He can dwell.  No matter whether we live in an apartment or a condo, a frame house or a trailer house, you and I can make our home a place where God is honored, His name is praised and His Word is followed.  Christ doesn't need a palace, just a dwelling.  Our home doesn't need to be spotless, just open to Him.  We can make a home for Him in our hearts, so that if we are away on assignment even in some distant land, He is still within us.

          Leonard Hansen is but one of many old friends now gone before, into the assembly of the righteous.  One day some of you will be in his place, a bright memory of a good man or woman dwelling with Christ.  And one day I will be your Leonard Hansen, someone you'll recall, hopefully with a smile and perhaps a good story, but someone you would want to spend eternity with.  Dear friends, stay close to the Lord.  I want you all to be there with Christ.  He has done all that's necessary for us to get there.  All we need do is make our dwelling with Him by faith.  God grant that to us all!  Amen

Copyright © 2002 by Pastor Bob Tasler.  All rights reserved.