When the cheering stopped (For Palm Sunday 2011)

Some years ago a book was written by a noted American historian entitled
"When The Cheering Stopped." It was the story of President Woodrow Wilson
and the events leading up to and following WWI. When that war was over
Wilson was an international hero. There was a great spirit of optimism
abroad, and people actually believed that the last war had been fought and
the world had been made safe for democracy.

On his first visit to Paris after the war Wilson was greeted by cheering
mobs. He was actually more popular than their own heroes. The same thing was
true in England and Italy. In a Vienna hospital a Red Cross worker had to
tell the children that there would be no Christmas presents because of the
war and the hard times. The children didn't believe her. They said that
President Wilson was coming and they knew that everything would be alright.

The cheering lasted about a year. Then it gradually began to stop. It turned
out that the political leaders in Europe were more concerned with their own
agendas than they were a lasting peace. At home, Woodrow Wilson ran into
opposition in the United States Senate and his League of Nations was not
ratified. Under the strain of it all the President's health began to break.
In the next election his party was defeated. So it was that Woodrow Wilson,
a man who barely a year or two earlier had been heralded as the new world
Messiah, came to the end of his days a broken and defeated man.

It's a sad story, but one that is not altogether unfamiliar. The ultimate
reward for someone who tries to translate ideals into reality is apt to be
frustration and defeat. There are some exceptions, of course, but not too
many.

It is equally true that Winston Churchill was heralded as the great warrior-Prime Minister who had led his country to defeat Adolf Hitler and all his forces of evil. The cheering on VE Day and VJ Day must have been deafening. But afterwards when it was necessary to get down to bringing in reforms to make the world a better place the name of Winston Churchill was not the one on everyone’s lips. He had been the man of the moment, but not of the future. He was defeated in the first post war election and the Labour Party got down to creating the Education and Health policies which can still be seen today. Poor old Winston! A truly great wartime Prime Minister, but not a man for peacetime.

We all remember the days when we were glued to our TV screens as the Apollo 11 crew set off for the first human lunar landing. It was a truly amazing feat carried out with almost no fuel left in the lunar landing module’s tank. The world went mad and we immediately had world heroes led by Neil Armstrong. But then, as the following missions took place the whole programme became treated as an everyday event.

Looking back some 2,000 years, we see much the same thing happening in the Holy Land. In three years a travelling Galilean gathered a great following who thought he was the one to defeat the Roman occupiers and establish a new kingdom. He brought to their thinking new ideas about how God. Looking back to the point in the wilderness where Jesus rejected a mission of showing his divine power through acts of great awe inspiring style. At this point he rejected the sort of mission that would bring him instant acclaim. Yet, as he took the road to Jerusalem it was certainly acclaim that greeted him. But on this day he entered Jerusalem with the other pilgrims to Passover with cheers and greetings ringing in his ears. But very soon we would see a different scene “When the Cheering Stopped.”

Within our experience the cheering always stops eventually, doesn’t it? We reach the point where suddenly we wonder how we shall follow the activity that brought such acclaim. When we came to Anglesey in 2004 we visited the brightly lit cottage on the road to Benllech. On our tour we were shown a tableau to commemorate the religious revival of 1904. At the time I wondered what this was. As an incoming English person I had not heard about this event a hundred years before. Later I was to learn of the prairie fire that swept across Wales as the evangelists took the gospel to the people wherever they were. Now I understood why there were so many empty and grossly underused chapels in rural locations. Like all great events the cheering came to an end and no one knew quite how to continue the momentum that had been happening throughout the revival.

Do you remember those televised programmes produced by Ralph Reader? The annual “Gang Show”, entirely consisting of Boy Scouts, was known for its song, “We’re riding along on the crest of a wave.” But you cannot sustain that sort of living, can you? Following Jesus all the days of your life was never going to be “riding along on the crest of a wave.” First we would experience the joy of finding our personal relationship with our Lord, but then followed the bit where we got down to living it out. The application of Christianity to daily life is never going to be described as the high life, meaning great experiences and revelations. That sort of life is quite unsustainable.

Looking back to the high points of family life I see the joy expressed on the occasion of the birth of a child. Everyone is so full of joy and expectation. “Doesn’t he look like his mother?” “She’s got the family nose, hasn’t she?” Small items of clothing are created on the family knitting needles; father’s take their new born child our in the pram; preparations are made to have the child baptised with a party to follow. It is later that the problems of raising the child in a world that seems so alien arrive. The everyday experience of changing nappies and feeding the baby are the real experience and nobody cheers you on as you sit there feeding a hungry child at three o’clock in the morning.

Consider the wedding with all its detailed arrangements. It all eventually culminates in church with smart clothes and a beautiful bridal dress. We move on then to the reception and the atmosphere lightens after the formality of the church service. Much back slapping suggests a certain intake of alcohol and the affair is quite jolly. The day after, the guests return to daily life and life is maybe dull after the cheering on that great day. Eventually the newly married couple knuckle down to normality and the problems of living life in times of uncertainty about employment and financial constraint.

From now on only Christmas is going to raise the cheers again. Now that will be an expensive affair as people rush out to buy presents that are very expensive and perhaps inappropriate. Maybe the family gets together for Christmas Day and tucks into turkey as if it is the last one they will ever eat. Then, as is always the case, the shine goes off the presents and life returns to its usual state. The thing is that the shops that are open are now selling off the Christmas stock and the supermarket seems denuded of stock. Not that anyone will starve, but it looks less exciting than on Christmas Eve. The whole thing goes flat – just as it did each Christmas before. Every high point is eventually followed by a period where we feel to be bumping along the bottom of existence.

But, in Christianity it’s more a matter of “and now for something different.” Injected into our Christian experience is the presence of the Holy Spirit. Jesus promised to his disciples, and therefore to us, that he would be replaced by “the advocate”, “the comforter”. Turning to John’s gospel, we hear Jesus saying, “I will ask the father, and he will give you another to be your advocate, who will be with you forever.” Then we turn to the Acts of the Apostles and – Enter the Holy Spirit. Now the work begins to gain a momentum that took people’s breath away.

From that point on the believer would find he or she helped in many ways difficult to understand. In their lives they would find a contribution that would enable them to achieve difficult goals. In dark moments they would experience a light force keeping them buoyant, rather like a small inflatable boat. It was the Holy Spirit, and they responded with zeal. They took the message of Jesus to the uttermost parts of the known world. This work has continued ever since.

Over our lives , as Christians, we have experienced highs and lows of a great kaleidoscope in nature. Others, non believers, have experienced the same. Yet for us there has been, on occasion, a buoyancy not experienced b the rest of the world. I have spoken often about the opportunity I have found, when leading funerals services, to explain to non believers how God will come to them in their grieving. I explained that he would come to them in the guise of another human being. After all, he did this in the case of Jesus, so long ago. In fact, it is the Holy Spirit who acts as comforter in such circumstances. But it is hard enough to explain the nature of the Spirit to believers, let alone those who have no knowledge of current Christianity.

I am sure that all of us have spoken to people at one time or another who have referred to a feeling of lightness coupled with an assurance that all is well during very difficult times. Many Christians speak of God’s intervention at high points in their lives. They have referred to times when, perhaps, he has saved their lives in car accidents or the like. But I feel that the feeling of God’s spiritual nearness comes more often in our difficult times and times of grieving are classic examples. We grow up and when the first serious downturn hits us we wish we could run to mother or father to experience their arms around us once more. The Christian experiences this in his or her low times and finds a presence that comforts or seems to make sense of a feeling of better times ahead. Some voice seems to be saying quietly that all will be well.

Personally, I cannot subscribe to the idea that all our high points are God’s gift to us. If so, then I ask, “What about the black days. Are these his gift too?” So many times I have heard people say, “These things are sent to try us.” Include me out! Toplady’s hymn rings in my head, “Nothing in my hand I bring, simply to thy cross I cling.” At the very depths of our experience we can find God most easily. When you think about it, that’s the best place for him to be. It is at this rock bottom that starting to climb back is the hardest.

For me, the cheering might have stopped but the work goes on and it is made possible right at the point where it looks to be failing. To look for the Holy Spirit at the heights of life is to look in the wrong place. We are called to serve the greatest cause of all and given that extra support when our own strength fails. Bob Gordon was a student for the Congregational ministry in the sixties. He preached one day on the three ways that God helps us get through life. The three ways are 1) We are given sufficient strength to cope with life most of the time; 2) God helps us with the heavy loads that need that bit of support: 3) God takes the task to himself and relieves us of the duty. The third example is a rare occasion and might not come within our experience.

A man went to his minister to talk about his problems. It was all about work and the way he was being treated by the boss’s son who had taken over the reigns. The minister said, “Did I ever tell you about my operation?” He was not too keen to hear about the minister’s operation but listened. “I had to have an operation and I was absolutely scared stiff of going through it, So I prayed about it.” “Don’t tell me,” said the man, “God cured you and the operation wasn’t necessary!” “No”, said the minister, “I had the operation. But I found I was no longer afraid of it.”

This is an example of how God can help us carry that heavy load. The cancer victim, Pat Seed, once told of advice she had from a nun. The nun said, “God never gives you a cross too heavy to carry.” This is the good news we possess, that when things become impossible, God makes them possible.

Let Jesus have the last word:

Jesus looked straight at them and answered, "This is impossible for human beings, but for God everything is possible."