"A Little Lower Than the Angels"

Hebrews 1:1-4; 2:5-12

There is an amazing but true story told about a man who in the middle of the night awoke in the most terrible moment of a very realistic dream. In his dream he was driving a car which had just struck a little child. The effect of the man's dream was so profound that immediately he climbed out of bed, got down on his knees and asked God in heaven not to let such a thing happen to him. Then, climbing back into bed, it was as if the burden was taken away, sleep was restored, and not another thought was given to the matter until about noon the next day.

At that time the man and four others were in a car. The man who had had the dream was at the wheel and they were moving along a residential street at about twenty five miles an hour. Suddenly a tremendous urge to immediately stop came upon the driver with no apprent reason. And, so he applied the breaks quite abruptly.

When the other four passengers picked themselves off the dashbard and the back of the front seat, and all five tried to figure out why this abrupt stop was necessary, they were amazed to see a child dressed only in a diaper emerge between parked automobiles and waddle out into the street immediately in front of them.

Next a mother came charging out of the house, bounding over the curb and out into the street. She angrily grabbed up the child, and without much more than a glance in the car's direction retreated into the house.

We never know when God will answer a prayer or even how a prayer may be prayed or why. But, the thing we need to be reminded of, constantly, and I hope this little story does remind us, is that God does, indeed, pay attention to the things that are going on in our lives. God does know things that we might think are impossible to know. And, most importantly, God reveals himself to us in many ways. For it is the very nature of God to reveal himself to us. And God reveals himself to us in a variety of ways.

Our lesson from the book of Hebrews tells us that God sent Christ to us as a means of speaking to us; that it is Christ who shares everything that God is; and that it is through Christ that the world was created. Thus, we can say that the world and creation, itself, is a revelation of God through Christ. Not only do we see this thought presented to us in the book of Hebrews, but we see it presented in the opening verses of the Gospel of John, as well, where it says, "He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being."

So, in all ways, whether we are dealing with the physical world, talking and dealing with people, or whether we are on our knees in prayer, or studying the Bible, God is in some marvelous way being revealed to us through Jesus Christ. And it is only up to us to open our spiritual eyes to recognize it; to see God's message, God's activity, there for us.

In that story I told about the man who had the nightmare about hitting a child with his car: could the mother of the child have known that God was working on her behalf? Do you suppose that in her anger in having let her child "escape" from the house that she even spoke one word of thanks to God? Could the little child whose life had been saved possibly have understood the remarkable way by which his life had been spared? Of course not. And, certainly, we also do not aways recognize the countless ways that God is working for us. But every now and then it happens. God's presence, God activity on our behalf, God's answer to our prayers is seen in our midst. And all this activity takes place, according to the book of Hebrews, through Jesus Christ who is the exact imprint of God's very being.

Now, it is at this point in our lesson from the book of Hebrews that we are told that the world and the things of this world were made subject to human beings. The story of the creation of human beings in the book of Genesis says this very plainly, as well: "Then God said, 'Let us make humankind in our image, according to our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the wild animals of the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth.'" Indeed, there are only a few things, anymore, that are not subject to the control of human beings. And probably the two things that seem to be uncontrolable are the weather and death. And, yet, even these two things have been affected by human technology. For it is possible to seed a cloud to get rain. And weathermen are getting better and better in at least forcasting the weather using sattelites and radar. And with air conditioning and huge malls who cares about the weather, anyway? Even death, itself, seems to be something that can be at least put off for many years for those of us who can afford the medical care. And, as a result of this, the world's birth rate is now more than twice as high as the world's death rate.

Nevertheless, death is still a reality. 100% of us is going to die. There is no one here who will manage to get out of here alive barring the return of Christ in our time. So, no matter how we may be able to prolong it, death is still not subject to human control. Except for one thing: Christ came into the world as God's solution to the problem of death. For in becoming human, and in dying on the cross, and being raised from the dead he conquered death for us all. God's message in sending Christ into the world was a message of life!

But the question is this: Are we listening? Are we attentive? God is doing a wonderful thing -- but are we aware of it? I am reminded of the old preacher whose sermon concerned the relationship between fact and faith. "That you are sitting before me in this church," the old preacher said, "is fact. That I am standing, speaking from this pulpit, is fact. But it is only faith that makes me believe that anyone here is listening." Are we listening to the wonderful message of life that comes to us through our Savior, Jesus Christ?

Today's lesson from the book of Hebrews tells us that Christ, this same one who conquered death, calls us brothers and sisters. As such, by faith we are made children of God and heirs of salvation with Christ. And that, my friends, is good news.

I am reminded of a hymn I wrote a few years ago, whose words go like this:

Priase to the Living Word of God,

Send forth for Israel's sake

To save her in the darkest hour

And her affliction take.

A Savior through the wilderness,

Redeeming love, so bold,

This Word of God shall lift us up

As in the days of old.

Praise to the Living Word of God,

Who saves humanity;

Who, being born of flesh and blood,

God's children makes us be.

We're brothers, sisters of the Word,

With us our Savior shares

The destiny of God's beloved:

No longer slaves, but heirs!

Praise to the Living Word of God,

Through whom all things were made!

O Light of God, the power of life

Which darkness cannot fade,

Enlighten every one of us

To serve you faithfully,

That though we may in this this world

God's children we may be.

God has made us a little lower than the angels, according to the scripture. But through Jesus Christ we have been elevated to the position of being children of God, brothers and sisters of the King of Kings. So, just think about that the next time you're feeling blue or lonely. Just think about that the next time you're feeling weak or sick or frustrated. As the creed of the United Church of Canada says: We are not alone. Thanks be to God!

Let us pray:

O God, we thank you for sending our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ into the world so that we may be freed from being slaves to being servants. Inspire our living that our words and deeds may reflect the excitement of your activity in our midst. For we pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.