June 1st, 2025 - "Hold Fast and Shine!" - Rev. Dr. T. Ray Wheeler

Matt Nelson: Welcome to the Sermon podcast from First United Methodist

Church in downtown Bentonville.

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Rev. Dr. T. Ray Wheeler: It's a joy to share a message this

morning with you and when I was.

Thinking about Jazz Sunday, I thought Philippians two, one through 16,

because in the middle of this letter, Paul kind of breaks out into song.

So most scholars believe that starting about verse six through about verse 11,

Paul is quoting a first century hymn.

And he's using these words because I'm thinking Paul is

thinking those Philippians, I've heard them sing this hymn.

They will know this hymn.

This will inspire them.

So part of this is that Paul breaks into song in the middle of this.

So listen for the word of God contained in this holy scripture.

If there is any encouragement in Christ, any consolation from love, any

sharing in the spirit, any compassion and sympathy, make my joy complete.

Be of the same mind, having the same love being in full accord and of one mind.

Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility, regard

others as better than yourselves.

Let each of you look not to your own interests, but to the interest of others.

Let the same mind be in you.

That was in Christ Jesus.

And here's where he breaks into Psalm, who though he was in the form of God.

Did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, but emptied

himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness and

being found in human form, he humbled himself and became obedient to the

point of death, even death on a cross.

Therefore, God also highly exalted him and gave him the

name that is above every name.

So that at the name of Jesus, every knee should bend in heaven and on

earth and under the earth, and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ

is Lord to the glory of the Father.

That must have been a great hymn.

I would love to have heard that.

Therefore, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed me, not only in my presence,

but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.

For it is God who is at work in you, enabling you both to will

and to work for his good pleasure.

Do all things without murmuring or arguing so that you may be blameless

and innocent children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked

and perverse generation in which you shine like stars in the world.

It is by your holding fast to the word of life that I can boast on the day

of Christ that I did not run in vain.

Or labor in vay.

This is the word of God for us, the people of God.

Thanks, God would love it if you'd join me for a quick prayer this morning.

Holy God, I ask you to break your word like bread for your children and let

us receive a message so that because of me or in spite of me, your word will

go forth and bear fruit in the world.

Christ's name we pray.

Amen.

The African American jazz pianist, Fatz Waller.

Had a saying that he liked to say when he was playing at his

most brilliant and profound fats.

Would shout above the noise of the piano and the band.

Somebody shoot me while I'm happy.

And I was reminded of this when I read this scripture today.

If I had to guess, uh, I would bet that Fatz Waller's life was not always easy.

And this statement was a way that Waller would celebrate that feeling

of musical freedom and joy, and it was another way to say, hold fast and shine.

Fats is also acknowledging that while I'm on the mountain

right now, tomorrow is coming.

Many music scholars believe that Waller wrote a number of the most popular hits of

his day, but he didn't get credit for it.

Because when he needed money, he would write a song.

He would sell it to another songwriter for just a flat fee, and that

songwriter would put his name on it.

So we really don't know how many things he wrote, and a lot of scholars believe

he probably wrote around 400 songs, and many of them are not attributed to it.

My favorite story of Wallers, he told this himself.

He finished the concert in Chicago.

He comes out of the concert hall and two large imposing men.

With guns, kidnap him and put him in the back of a car and drive

him to the Hawthorne Inn, and he's thinking, oh, they're gonna shoot me,

or they're gonna hold me for ransom.

I go to the Hawthorne Inn, which was owned by uh, Al Capone, and there's

a big party going on and they take him out at gunpoint, take him into

the party, and there's a piano there, and you say, okay, sit down and play.

And he said, I realized I was the surprise guest at at Al Capone's

birthday party, and they probably wouldn't shoot the piano player.

So he got out of that Waller, died of pneumonia at the early age of 39,

so his life was short and hard, but when he played music, he could shine.

And for FETs, he might've been happy to freeze that moment.

And not come down from that high, from that shining moment.

In some ways, Paul is urging a beleaguered church in Philippi to hold fast to the

love of Christ and their community so they can shine in the midst of their troubles.

It's perhaps potent that Paul is writing from a jail cell.

Members of the Church of Philippi were being faced with arrest

from the Roman government in prison torment and even death.

Paul is not trying to paint a rosy picture.

He's not saying, if you fall Christ, all your problems will be solved.

That ship has sailed.

You know those closest to Christ thought he's gonna run all the Romans out,

he's gonna set up his kingdom and he's gonna put us in charge of this kingdom.

But by the time Paul is writing this, most of the apostles and

many of the early followers of Christ have already been martyred.

I believe Paul is telling the church to hold fast to the love of God

in Christ and hold fast to that love in the community of faith.

Show love to one another and don't argue over the little things.

Paul tells the church to be of the same mind several times through

this passage, and I don't think he means agree on everything.

I don't think he's saying have all the same opinions.

He means have the same attitude, have the same orientation, share the same

love Our founder John Wesley suggested though we cannot all think alike.

May we not all love alike.

May we not be of one heart, though we are not of one opinion.

So brothers and sisters in Christ, we are one bread and one body.

As my favorite communion hymn says, no matter our differences

of opinions and beliefs.

And I think that's an important lesson for us right now because

many of us are confused and afraid.

I read a recent poll that said 73% of the people in our country are worried

about the future, and that means no matter what ideology you hold.

Left, right center nonpolitical.

You may be afraid, 73% is not of any one party.

We're all afraid.

I think it's fair to say we may not all be afraid of the same things,

but we feel that fear just the same, and people of fear have a hard

time living in love as the gospel.

John tells us perfect love casts out fear.

So I'm not saying everything's great if you're a Christian.

But around this table here, we can share the same love.

The love of Christ makes us one, no matter where we come from, no matter

what opinions we hold, no matter who we are, we are not worried like the

followers of Christ and Philippi, that we'll be arrested for being Christians

and perhaps tortured or even killed.

And no one is writing us encouraging letters from jail.

We will still hold different opinions and advocate for what we believe and go

out into the world and work for justice as we see it and resist evil as we

see it, and I think we should do that.

But around the table, we are with God and we are one in love.

Fatz Waller had a desire to freeze that moment, that moment of joy.

He wanted to stop time when he was the happiest.

But when we gather around this table and experience this mountaintop

experience of love and community, we can go back out into the world,

beloved, we can go into that messy.

And confusing and fearful world, and we can shine like stars.

May it be so.

Amen.

Matt Nelson: Thanks for listening to the Sermon podcast from First United

Methodist Church in downtown Bentonville.

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