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'Christ
became poor that you might be rich,'
PHILADELPHIA, PA - March 18, 2005) - The Rev. Dr. James R. Thomas of the Bronx, NY, actually preached two sermons for the wrap-up event in this year's 23rd annual Preaching with Power series tonight. The first one was comparatively "unscheduled." He first described the experience about a month ago of changing several light bulbs in the sanctuary of St. Paul's Lutheran Church, the congregation he serves. The first two light bulbs were changed without incident. High up on a 30-foot ladder and about to change the third one, he described how he asked Sexton Olga Figueroa to leave the ladder she was steadying for a bit to take care of a request. The first two times the pastor made the request, Figueroa refused. "I don't think it is safe for me to leave you up there," she said. But Pastor Thomas kept hearing a "nefarious voice" in his head that said he would be OK without her support below. So, the third time, Thomas said he was more insistent. "Stop wasting time! I'm leaning hard into the ladder. I'll be fine." The sexton left to fulfill the request, and Thomas explains almost immediately he felt the ladder moving. He knew he was in trouble. "I always believed that at the time of my death if I had enough notice, I would call on the name of the Lord with a few chosen words all prearranged so that the Lord would have mercy on my soul." He got the words through his thought process as he plunged earthward, crashing into a pew. Thomas figures that because he landed along the seating portion of the pew his life was probably spared. "Had I hit the upright portion first the doctor thinks I might have been killed." The pastor suffered minor head injuries and a broken leg. The lessons he learned from the mishap? "If a pastor insists on doing certain kinds of work, lay people will step back and let them," he said. "The other lesson is that thoughtful lay people will offer their pastors good advice. And they frequently ignore that advice at their own peril." Thomas says that since the accident, "my parishioners have been coming out of the woodwork to help me out!" But that really wasn't the sermon he had prepared for Preaching with Power. Preaching on II Corinthians 8: 1-9, Thomas paid particular attention the verse 9. …"Though he was rich, for your sake Christ became poor so that you, through his poverty, might become rich." "When you are feeling desperate, or in a lowly spot, think deeply of Jesus," Thomas said. "Think about how he gave up all he had in order to serve you. When you are asked to extend yourself for the benefit of others, think about Jesus. When you think of the needs of displaced persons, or meet newcomers wearing different clothing from yours and speaking a different language, think of Jesus. When you meet people in need of food, or when you are undergoing long-term treatment, remember the name of Jesus and how he has been willing to stand up for you." Thomas also made that the riches coming from the love of Jesus can bring comfort to the smallest, struggling church. "I'd rather be poor as a street urchin (with Christ) than living a life rich without love." Thomas said the love of Christ "offers a pleasure that money can't buy. Money is an uncertain deity, a transitory god that cannot bring love to the human heart. Only God can do that." "What will they say you brought with you?" Thomas asked the congregation. "Many preachers constantly eye the next step they can take up the ladder. But I can tell you, the higher you climb on the ladder the harder you may fall. I urge you to connect in your lives with the people you really want to be around." He indicated that approach leads to identifying with the Christ - "somebody who elevated the powerless" in his ministry on earth. He noted also that Jesus "depended on the charity of others" during moments when he asked the Samaritan woman for water. Thomas also cautioned against "worrying so much about tomorrow that you can't live life well today. Think about Jesus in a new way. Jesus left so much behind, so much teaching and knowledge, so that you might have a better idea of what God is." Sometimes, he said, it helps to go to a new place in order to see Jesus in a different way - in a different light. "Those of you who have lost boys and girls to the streets or graves, who are haunted by fears of growing old alone, who face real or imagined fears, or are gripped by guilt, remember you are rich because for your sake Jesus became poor!" "I may not be all I should be, but for my sake, Christ came into the world. Jesus is all the world to me, my life, my joy, my everything!" Thomas, who works in the New York City public schools in addition to serving as a pastor, is a senior chaplain for the New York Air National Guard and was a Critical Incident Stress Management counselor after the September 11, 2001, attacks on the World Trade Center. He said he has seen Christ "in the faces and bodies of people the world over, relieving the suffering of others. They are people like yourselves," he said to the congregation, "taking up the challenge to be in ministry, to imitate God's loving kindness, to walk in the footsteps of Jesus." He concluded by saying that the "church, which has been healed by the wounds of Christ, must work to heal the wounds of humanity through the management of human affairs and all of God's creation. This is the Word of the Lord."
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