Roger Delaney memorial message

The Peace of God Will Guard Your Hearts and Minds
(Philippians 4:7)

(Saturday, February 23, 2013 )

(Brook Hill United Methodist Church, Frederick, Maryland)

Roger Delaney was one of my dearest friends in the world. He had worked for Zephyr Media Group for quite a few years, but most of us don’t remember him for that.

We remember Roger for his music. Singer-Songwriter. Multi-Instrumentalist. Worship Leader. The artist behind two CD projects which he gave away for free.

He was the Encyclopedia of Pop Music. His knowledge of Pop and Rock and Jazz was voluminous. He loved the Beatles, and his songwriting was highly influenced by them. He loved my fellow Canadian, trumpeter Maynard Ferguson. He did a great singing impression of Neil Diamond.

On his blog he wrote: “I'm a very blessed man who loves God, loves his wife and kids, loves to play music and tennis, loves Adidas and the Minnesota Twins.”

He referred to his wife as: “…my incredible, gorgeous, brilliant, beyond-supportive wife, Ashley.”

Ashley has written a lovely obituary for Roger, in which she says:

“Roger was… above all, a man with a true heart of service for God... He was an eternal optimist with a sharp sense of humor, who loved lively debate and reveled in making friends who held views completely different than his own. He was an incredibly dedicated father and husband who took great joy in his family.

Without even trying, Roger was an inspiration to many, many people around him. Roger was diagnosed with esophageal cancer in September of 2011, and challenged himself every single day to take the discouraging news, exhausting treatments, and physical discomforts and turn them into opportunities for lifting others up and bringing glory to God. Early on in his cancer journey, he adopted the phrase “Why Not?” as his mantra for making it through the toughest times. He knew that there was a hard road ahead and that the odds were not good, but “why not” believe that he could overcome them? This state of mind kept him remarkably strong and positive throughout his treatments, and leaves his surviving family and friends secure in the knowledge that he triumphed over a terrible disease, even as it claimed his physical life.”

Though we did music together, I remember Roger more for his personality and character. We spent many hours talking together – at the Roy Rogers Restaurant on Ballenger Creek Pike, late at night after Praise Band practice, and at other times.

He was bright, enthusiastic and funny. For example, he wrote this on blog:

“The oral chemo I’m taking has lots of festive side effects, but the best one is the delightful yellow tinge it gives my skin. The packaging says this is due to the yellow color of the capsule – so why didn’t they make the bloody thing a deep golden tan? They could have saved me all the money I spend on that spray-on tan stuff. On the other hand, I suppose they could have made the capsules orange – then I’d just end up looking like Lindsay Lohan. I should just shut up and be yellow.”

Roger was open about his weaknesses and shortcomings, and the struggle with cancer. Last August 14th he wrote:

“I’m tired. Not physically, but emotionally and psychologically. Why, you ask? Well, there are the obvious reasons – ongoing treatments, the prospect of years of medication and side effects, just the weight of cancer lurking in the shadows waiting to pounce on me again.

I’m also growing weary of all the niggling little physical issues that I seem to encounter regularly. It feels like there is perpetually something that feels off, something that hurts, something I can’t seem to get on top of.

The hard part is getting to the point of remembering that I’m still here, able to function normally for the most part, to wrap my arms around my wife and kids, to hit a tennis ball and lead worship at church.

I had a bit of a hissy fit last Saturday, as all the items listed above came crashing down on top of me; I felt overwhelmed, hopeless, frustrated, certain that the rest of my life was going to be an ever-escalating series of maladies that would, one by one, keep me from doing the things I love to do.

But then my wife kissed me and assured me it was OK for me to feel that way. I went to Praise Band rehearsal and had a blast playing and singing. I started working on recording some new music. I laughed with our kids. I had a good night’s sleep. Suddenly, everything was good again.

Funny how life circles around like that, isn’t it? Every now and then, the pressure of everything that’s happened and has yet to happen, threatens to bury me. Then God takes me by the scruff of the neck, gives me a good shake, and reminds me of how richly blessed I am. He reminds me that nothing – NOTHING – can separate me from His love, and that His love for me includes allowing me to share my time here on Earth with some pretty amazing folks. Thank you, Lord.”

Last October, shortly after his birthday, he wrote:

“Every day has ample reasons for blowing up balloons, and eating ice cream, and singing uproariously and hugging each other. So why wait for the “big days”? Especially now, with all that’s been going on, each day seems worthy of a party. I’m having fun with the kids and adoring my wife and just living. I am blessed indeed.”

Roger believed that his character was being refined by the trial of cancer.

Last December 19^th he wrote a blog post in which he did a Top Ten countdown of positive things he had experienced as a result of cancer. I want to read you numbers 9, 7, 3 and 1.

“There have been a few amazing benefits that have come from the struggle we’re in the midst of – so I thought I’d do a David Letterman Top 10 list of the positive things that we’ve been able to enjoy – in no particular order.

9. I’ve learned that every one of us has something in our lives that’s a burden, an obstacle, a dilemma. And for the person dealing with that difficulty, it’s just as bad and painful as what I’m dealing with. I can’t feel sorry for myself for too long, because everybody – EVERYBODY – has a reason to feel sorry for themselves. But letting that feeling dominate your life is useless. You just have to keep moving, keep hoping. It’s hard, really hard, but it can be done. Learning this lesson has been extremely valuable for me; I hope it’s made me more compassionate, more forgiving, more patient.

7. Any doubts I had about the power of prayer, and about the amazing willingness of so many of you to pray for us, have been effectively eradicated. God has used the prayers of so many to keep us going, to keep our spirits up and our hearts focused on Him, and for that we are so very grateful.

3. My pride, my insufferable arrogance about myself, my feeling of invincibility, my tendency toward feeling blessed and better than others just by virtue of me being me  – they have all been brought to their knees. And me with them. Not a moment too soon.

1. Every day, every second, is a reminder of how dependent on God I have to be. Choosing to trust Him is no longer an option; I can’t get through this without Him. And this experience has already blessed me in a thousand ways. I pray that it’s been useful to some of you as you confront the obstacles life throws at you. Thanks to God for being the Solid Rock upon which my life is built. Amen and amen.”

This sounds like a man learning to be graceful as he deals with the unasked-for challenge of cancer.

First and foremost, Roger was a believer in Jesus, a follower of Jesus. One of his favorite scripture passages was Philippians 4:6-7 –

“Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.  And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”

Here the Apostle Paul is encouraging us to “Let petitions and praises shape your worries into prayers.” (The Message)

There is a peace that God wants to give us in the middle of our ragged lives. It is a peace that transcends our understanding. There are many things we do not understand about life and death, but God stands ready. He’s offering us peace when we think we understand, and peace when we know that we don’t know anything.

This is a time when many of us have many questions about God. And I have several questions for God myself. These questions won’t be fully answered in this life, but in the middle of my befuddlement I already sense the peace of God at work, letting me weep, letting me reflect, soothing my heart and mind.

There is a peace that God wants to give us in the middle of our ragged lives. And He stands ready this morning. He’s holding out His hand. He’s offering peace to us through His Son Jesus Christ, and through the Holy Spirit, who is here with us now, in this room on February 23, 2013.

It wouldn’t be surprising if someone here today besides me needed God’s peace. So we’re going to pray:

Lord, help us today. Give us peace. Help us to sense and know Your presence in this hour and in the days ahead, in Jesus’ name.

Last Christmas, Roger wrote:

“I wish you and yours a blessed holiday season, filled with love and joy and compassion and grace and mercy. If you place your trust in the God of the Bible and in His son Jesus Christ, as I do, may you sense that trust at a level far deeper than anything you’ve known before. Thanks for another year of prayers, caring, good thoughts, and warm wishes. Please keep ‘em coming – the road ahead looks dark and treacherous. We’ll get through that next bit, and the next one – thanks to the never-ending love of our Savior and the relentless encouragement of all of you.

We’re not done fighting. We still believe God is going to carry us through the valley of the shadow of death and get us safely to the other side.”

Roger, you’re now safely on the other side, absent from your body but present with the Lord. By God’s grace I’ll see you later, old friend!

sermon: Are You Saved?

In Honor of Roger Delaney (1959-2013)

(Preached at Brook Hill United Methodist Church – Feb. 17, 2013)

Romans 10:8 -13 (New Living Translation)

“The message is very close at hand;
    it is on your lips and in your heart.” (Deuteronomy 30:12-14)

And that message is the very message about faith that we preach: If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is by believing in your heart that you are made right with God, and it is by confessing with your mouth that you are saved. As the Scriptures tell us, “Anyone who trusts in him will never be disgraced.”  Jew and Gentile are the same in this respect. They have the same Lord, who gives generously to all who call on him. For “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

My friend Roger Delaney died unexpectedly on Friday. I am so glad that I was there in the hospital with Roger and his wife when he died. His death makes this morning’s message even more timely.

There’s a question asked by this morning’s sermon title: ARE YOU SAVED?

The word saved is related to the word salvation and to the word salvage.

When I grew up in eastern Canada, there was a man who lived in our city whose job was salvage. I don’t know what his real name was, but he was called Red Fox. He had long red hair in the days before hippies, and he dressed in rags. He walked through the streets with his old white horse, and the horse pulled a big red tumble-down wagon with sideboards. This man worked in salvage. He collected old scrap metal and other things that were eventually recycled. Even though he looked like a tramp, everyone said he was the richest man in the city.

His work was the work of salvage. He was in the salvage business. He was collecting old and broken things. He was saving those broken things from uselessness, saving them to be re-purposed so they could be useful again.

God is also in the salvage business. His business is collecting old and broken souls and lives, saving them to be re-purposed so they can be useful again.

WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE SAVED?

It means to be rescued, to be reclaimed, to be gathered by God, the great salvage-master.

Where we see junk, God sees something of value. When God created us, we were made in His image, after His likeness. We were made to be connected to God, to be in relationship with God. When God looked at the first humans, He said, “It is very good.” We are cherished by God. He sees something of worth, something of value within us.

But our first parents sinned, and all of humanity became estranged from God. God’s image in us became broken and scarred. To a large extent we lost our way. There was still an aching within many of us to know God, but we became disoriented. We were distracted. We were confused.

The GOOD NEWS of Jesus is that God has mounted a massive salvage operation. The death of Jesus on the cross is the pivotal event in history. Jesus is God Himself, and on the cross He exchanged His life for ours. The Bible says, “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.”(John 3:16-17)

To be saved is to welcome Jesus Christ into our lives.

To be saved is to be rescued from our broken relationship with God,

To be saved is to be forgiven of our sins.

To be saved is to be set on a right path of walking with God.

To be saved is to be rescued from hell, rescued to serve God as He restores the world. This is why we pray, “Let Your kingdom come, let Your will be done, in earth as it is in heaven.”

And then there will come a final day when God will usher in a new heaven and a new earth, and we will be welcomed to live with Him in that glorious kingdom.

So that’s what it means to be saved.

Early last week I asked for input on Facebook, and my friend Jenni Hess responded. Jenni speaks of a time of trouble last summer when she needed God’s rescue. She says:

“God rescues me everyday, but I can honestly say that last summer I let God lead the way. I didn’t know how to do what I needed to do. I let God take control of where I needed to be. And I remember after I let God lead me and trusted in His plan for me, I was driving in the car, and looked up and saw a church steeple above a tree line, and I felt truly saved. I have been on that road many times before and never saw that church steeple, but I saw it that morning, after I decided to trust in God. His Salvation is everywhere, everlasting and ever sure. But we have to stop trying to save ourselves and abandon our ways and let God do the saving and leading. It wasn’t hard at all to let Him rescue me.”

That’s a great word. Thanks, Jenni!

In the scripture passage which was read, Paul is thinking about his Jewish brothers and sisters. His heart’s desire is for them to saved. But they are trying to be saved by doing good things, by being good.

It’s human nature to think “I must do something good to get to heaven.” Hinduism teaches this. Islam teaches this. Judaism teaches this. “I must try harder. I must be more self-disciplined. I must spend more time in prayer and Bible study.”

But that is not the Gospel of Jesus. That is the Gospel of Try Harder. And the Gospel of Try Harder is a false gospel. There will be many people in hell, even from Christian churches, who followed the Gospel of Try Harder.

The Gospel of Jesus is scandalously simple. Do you remember the words of Jesus? “My yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

SPEAK AND BELIEVE

Here is the Gospel of Jesus: SPEAK AND BELIEVE – “If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” (Romans 10:9)

It’s not magic, and we must speak with honesty and believe with sincerity. But the Gospel of Jesus is simple: Speak and believe.

I want to read you a short passage from Brennan Manning’s classic book “The Ragamuffin Gospel”. Some of us will have trouble with his words:

Because salvation is by grace through faith, I believe that among the countless number of people standing in front of the throne and in front of the Lamb, dressed in white robes and holding palms in their hands (see Revelation 7:9), I shall see the prostitute from the Kit-Kat Ranch in Carson City, Nevada, who tearfully told me that she could find no other employment to support her two-year-old son. I shall see the woman who had an abortion and is haunted by guilt and remorse but did the best she could faced with grueling alternatives; the businessman besieged with debt who sold his integrity in a series of desperate transactions; the insecure clergyman addicted to being liked, who never challenged his people from the pulpit and longed for unconditional love; the sexually abused teen molested by his father and now selling his body on the street, who, as he falls asleep each night after his last 'trick', whispers the name of the unknown God he learned about in Sunday school.

“But how?” we ask.

Then the voice says, 'They have washed their robes and have made them white in the blood of the Lamb.'

There they are. There we are - the multitude who so wanted to be faithful, who at times got defeated, soiled by life, and bested by trials, wearing the bloodied garments of life's tribulations, but through it all clung to faith. 

My friends, if this is not good news to you, you have never understood the gospel of grace.”

(Brennan Manning, The Ragamuffin Gospel)

So will that prostitute make it to heaven? Will the woman who had the abortion make it to heaven? Will the crooked businessman and the spineless pastor make it to heaven?

Jesus said to the Pharisees: “I tell you the truth, the tax collectors and the prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God ahead of you.” (Matt.21:31)

THE “SALVATION EQUATION”

God is interested in our good works. But we don’t have to do more good works so that He will love us.

Here are two “equations” that help to explain this:

The Gospel of Try Harder: Faith + Works = Salvation

The Gospel of Jesus: Faith = Salvation + Works

This was good news to Martin Luther. He tried to remember his every sin so that he could confess it. His confessor was exasperated with him. Then he read in Romans that salvation comes by faith alone, and his life was changed.

This was good news to John Wesley. For 35 years, he was the biggest doer-of-good-works in England, but he lived under the guilt of sin. Then in May of 1738 he heard that salvation comes by faith alone, and his life was changed. When he began to preach about salvation by faith, he was turned away from preaching in churches. He began to preach in the fields, and this was the beginning of Methodism. 

Today could be the day in your spiritual journey when your life is salvaged, the day you are rescued and step into God’s new life. SPEAK AND BELIEVE.

“If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”