Scripture Text – Revelation 7:15-17

“Therefore are they before the throne of God,

and serve him day and night in his temple:

and he that sitteth on the throne shall dwell

among them.

They shall hunger no more, neither thirst and

more; neither shall the sun light on them, nor

any heat.

For the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne

shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living

fountains of water and God shall wipe away all

tears from their eyes.”

Subject:

“AND GOD SHALL WIPE AWAY ALL TEARS!”

I greet you today with the peace of Christ.

The tragic circumstances which have caused us to come to this sacred place is one of the realities of our shared humanity.

Ours is a fallen world – sin cursed, hard-edged and cruel. However mature faith calls us to face life with all its good and bad manifestation – the God we serve is a God of the mountains and God of the valleys.

How do we make sense out of senseless acts of murder?

How do you find any degree of purpose in personal pain?

How do you hold faith in the midst of life’s frightening and heartrending experiences?

And most of all what is God doing – where was God when murder knocked at my door?

These are the deep and disturbing questions which I have heard and which many of you have raised in recent times.

One of the constant realities of life and living is that sometimes you have to live with unanswered questions.

Over the past 4 weeks I have spoken with many of you, I have felt your pain.

Mrs. Hall and this church join me in empathizing with you in your long night of pain.

Our church continues to try to imitate Christ; to pursue justice – to show compassion and to embrace the fallen – assist the weak and welcome the prodigal.

Today I do not have answers, as much as I offer you hope. In speaking to some of you I sensed the hurt is almost beyond measure – some of you are angry and some of you are yet bitter. This I understand.

As a Pastor, my first word to you is grieved as you may, but do not park in your anger and do not stay long in your grief.

As you search for answers one of the painful lessons of life that I have learned is that in this life sometimes you are required to live with secret wounds and silent tears.

One of life’s great mysteries is that some times, God calls us to live life with some things revealed and some things concealed.

You have every right to grieve, you should employ all the available resources at your disposal to see that the blood of your loved one is vindicated, but I say to you – as forcefully as I am able – don’t park in pain and anger.

If you stay too long in pain and anger they will destroy you.

This is where your faith in God kicks in – and I pray all of you will learn to weep, and grieve as a people with hope rather than despair.

Our land has become a hard-edged society; too many of our people are living on the edge of quite desperation.

The premium for human life is at an all time low – there is an urgent need for us to assess and re-assess the personal decision we make along with their consequences.

Freedom must always be embraced with a recognition it comes with limitations and responsibility. As citizens of this country we have worshipped idols of mammon and our worship runs so deep we have become addicted.

Now that the golden calf of materialism has fallen we are in denial and manifesting clear symptoms of withdrawal.

It is in denial of our common humanity that causes us to turn on each other.

Listen to how we speak to each other because we differ politically. We speak of freedom, but one of the tenants of democracy and freedom is a good and healthy debate.

Even the church – church leaders have one language, while in public and a very different one while in private.

We should be able to differ strongly without demoralizing each other.

I heard a policeman state that October is usually the bloodiest month of the year, somebody shout the devil is a liar.

I call on all Bahamians; let us remove from our houses anything that harbor crime. October need not be a blood month; if you can hear me I ask you in the name of Jesus curb your anger.

My brothers and sisters we can no longer remain philosophical – apathetic or indifferent – A National Bus Stop is imperative – we are caught in the trade winds of our times.

If the root causes of crime are both personal and sys-te-mic, we must produce more responsible persons and change these rotten systems.

Parents, the government build schools, but you must see that your children attend school.

We have proms for girls in $500 dresses with less than 1.00 point average –

And we must know without a good education someone will sell you your own coconuts.

On a national basis we cannot continue to do things the way we have done them the last fourty-two (42) years and expect different results – a new psychology of transforming is urgently needed.

We need to transform the way we do justice in this country.

At the core of our crime problem is the way the justice system runs. And I believe as long as persons who make the laws benefit from crime the laws will not change.

6000 cases behind – more than 100 persons accused of murder out on bail and a remand system that is out of wack – a change must come.

A lady whose son was murdered said to me that dealing with her lawyer and the court system was almost as painful as the murder of her son.

Change in the way we do justice must come.

We must transform the way we do education.

We must transform the way we do land development in this country.

Doing business in our country is far too frustrating and laborious. It is almost as though the system is intended to discourage you. If we put out the red carpet for foreigners we should cut the red tape for Bahamians.

Successive election in our country means nothing if we continue to change faces, but the systems remain basically unchanged.

It is a sad commentary on our political life that for a first time in a very long time – people are questioning the veracity and legitimacy of black leadership.

I believe and I contend that people should be free to support the political party of their choice, but the time has come for us to be more national than political. Today we must go beyond our shamed grief. Perhaps someone here would consider bringing to forefront a National Association of Families of Victims of murder.

Some of you might recall a story in Greek Mythology when Hercules was made to clean the Au-g-ean Stables. The filth was thick and its putrid scent invaded all the surrounding communities.

The myth goes that Hercules did not take the easy way. He did not cover up the filth, he did not spray it with an air freshener, but you remember he went out and diverted a river and caused a deluge through the stables to clear them out.

We need a river of cleansing.

This is no time for the name and blame game.

Not only must we change faces, we must change unjust non-working systems.

We must undamn the waters of justice and let them flow through every institution and bring about a new day for all God’s people.

Realistically, we believe that the cleansing we seek on the outside must first take place on the outside.

On this occasion as we commiserate with all of you- it is clear that that as we mourn we must ask that the whole country send a message to the criminal elements that you have shed innocent blood and let the law take its course.

Pain is not political, tragedy knows no party affiliation.

This war we face is not merely physical, but spiritual.

Scripture reminds us

“For the weapons of our warfare are not

carnal, but mighty through God to the

pulling down of strongholds.”

The murderous spirit of Cain which engulfs our land forces us to reprioritize and give emphasis to the right things.

We cannot give $500.000 dollars to Junkanoo and little babies are dying for lack of incubators.

The change we seek is deeply rooted in our Christian faith.

We believe that this miserable world must give way to a better one.

Our faith teaches us that right is ultimately stronger than wrong.

Our faith teaches us that to do right is far better, in the long run than to do wrong.

We believe that the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice.

We believe that the wicked prospers but for a season.

We believe that those who murder and take the life, which God has given – have a day of reckoning to account for their deeds.

We believe that God is still in control.

God has not forgotten you.

God is going to wipe away your tears, not when you get to heaven, but truth crush to earth will rise again.

God will wipe away your tears – no lie will live forever.

God will wipe away your tears.

The tears of affliction must soon give way to a season of rejoicing.

God’s word assures us that they, I said they – that sow in tears shall reap in joy.

If you place God at the center of your pain He has a way in transforming pain into purpose.

If you trust and never doubt He will surely bring you out, take your burdens to the Lord and leave them there.