“Choose Life”
Highlands Presbyterian
Church
February 16, 2014
Recently
a man died in Russia; a very wealthy man. When he died, he had more than 20
million dollars. He was born poor in rural Russia. Stalin deported his parents
were deported to the western edge of Siberia where they became farmers.
As
a young man, he was a poet and wrote six books during his lifetime. He was also
attracted to machines, particularly farming machines and became known among the
families in his small, rural Russian community as a “tinkerer.
He
was a decorated tank commander during World War II. After the war, he went on
to become one of the wealthiest of all Russians. His notoriety spread and at
one time Harvard awarded him an honorary degree.
He
received the highest award Russia bestows, the Order of the Apostle Saint
Andrew and in 2009, on his 90th birthday, he was named “Hero of the
Russian Federation.”
But
shortly before he died, he wrote a letter in which he said, “The longer I live, the more often that question gets into
my brain, the deeper I go in my thoughts and guesses about why the Almighty
allowed humans to have devilish desires of envy, greed and aggression."
His
great regret? Mikhail Kalashnikov was the inventor
of the AK-47 rifle. According to The Associated Press, Mikhail
told Patriarch Kirill, the leader of the Russian Orthodox Church, that he kept
asking himself if he was responsible. The letter reads QUOTE “The pain in my
soul is unbearable. I keep asking myself the same unsolvable question. If my
assault rifle took people's lives, it means that I, Mikhail Kalashnikov... son
of a farmer and Orthodox Christian am responsible for people's deaths.
He
concluded by making it clear he wished he had lived his life differently, "I would prefer to have invented a
machine that people could use and that would help farmers with their work — for
example a lawnmower."
Of
course, had he invented the lawn mower, he would never have received such
accolades and would not have died quite so wealthy. His name would not have
been known throughout the world.
But
as the inventor of the AK-47, his name became famous. The gun which was known
as the “Kalashnikov” was used by the Sandinistas in
Nicaragua, the Viet Cong in Viet Nam, the mujahedeen in Afghanistan, it’s a
part of the flag of Mozambique because it was the major reason their despot
rulers came to power.
The Kalashnikov or AK-47 appears on the flag of one of the
world’s most destructive terrorist groups, Hezbollah. Invented 65 years ago,
the weapon remains popular today with Al Qaeda, the Taliban, and the Mexican
drug cartels.
All of which left its inventor, a wealthy, famous, decorated man
crying out from his deathbed, “The pain in my soul is unbearable.”
As
an Orthodox Christian, Kalashnikov would have known
the words spoken by Moses, words read this morning by Cathy, “I call
heaven and earth to witness against you today that I have set before you life
and death, blessings and curses. Choose life so that you and your descendants
may live.”
While
millions of his countrymen starved to death all around him, this man chose
death…becoming wealthy and respected for the invention of a the means by which
tens of thousands more would die during his lifetime…a lifetime at the end of
which he regretted not inventing instead something that might have helped
farmers to feed people rather than something that helped armies to kill them.
The
choice God gives us all…between life and death…is seldom so dramatic…but always
just as real. Choosing life has to do with having a clear sense of purpose,
it’s about knowing that day will come when you look back on your life and ask
whether you did what you wanted to do, did you do what was important, did you
do something that made the kind of difference God sent you here to make.
God
gave Kalashnikov the tools to invent machines that would help farmers grow
crops and feed hungry Russians but, to his regret, he used those same tools to
build weapons that have been used for half a century to kill people.
One
of the major reasons for dysfunction in the world, in nations, in communities,
in individuals is the failure to adopt a philosophy about life based on what is
true in the universe. There is a cause and an effect to everything we do, every
choice we make.
When
Moses spoke these words, “I have set before you today life and prosperity,
death and adversity.
Chuck Killion sent me a story about life and death
choices.
A minister decided that a visual demonstration would
add emphasis to his Sunday sermon. Four worms
were placed into four separate jars. The first worm was put into a container of alcohol. The second worm was put into a container of
cigarette smoke. The third worm
was put into a container of chocolate syrup. The fourth worm was put into a
container of good clean soil.
At the conclusion of the sermon, the Minister
reported the following results: The first worm in
alcohol . . . . . . Dead. The second worm in cigarette smoke . . . Dead. Third
worm in chocolate syrup . . . . Dead.
Fourth worm in good clean soil . . . Alive
So the Minister asked the congregation, "What
did you learn from this demonstration?" Maxine was sitting in the back,
quickly raised her hand and said . . . "As long as you drink, smoke and
eat chocolate, you won't have worms!"
Life and death choices, right?
Meanwhile
back to Moses. If you obey the commandments of the Lord your God, he said, that
I am commanding you today, by loving the Lord your God, walking in his ways,
and observing his commandments, decrees, and ordinances, then you shall live”
he was saying there is the unmistakable dimension of this universe that choices
make a difference.
There
is absolutely no sense here that God decides people's relationship with God, nor
that once we make our choices that they are irreversible. The choices, the life
lived hearing God or refusing to hear, create their own effects in the world
for good or evil.
While
God offers life, there is a sense in the words of Moses in which he is telling
us that we create that life as we make daily choices about how we live it, the
way we spend our time, our resources, use our individual gifts.
One
does not have to be an inventor to face choices between life and death…you just
have to be human. We all face life and death choices. We face those choices in
how we raise our children, the kind of neighbor we become, whether we use the
time we have and the gifts God gave for ourselves or for others.
Let
me tell you about one who spent many years in rather unfulfilling work, who began
searching for a job with heart. Despite having no formal qualifications or
experience, Bronnie
Ware found herself working providing care for those on the verge of
death.
Over
the years she spent tending to the needs of those who were dying, Bronnie's
life was transformed.
She
began by writing an Internet blog about the most common regrets expressed to
her by the people she had cared for. She called her blog The Top Five
Regrets of the Dying; more than three million people around the globe read
it in its first year.
She
then wrote a book entitled The Top Five
Regrets of the Dying: A Life Transformed by the Dearly Departing. Bronnie
has had a colorful and diverse past, but by applying the lessons of those
nearing their death to her own life, she developed an understanding that it is
possible for people, if they make the right choices, to die with peace of mind.
Here
is what she learned were the greatest regrets from those on their deathbeds and
the choices they made during their lifetimes.
5. I wish that I had let myself be
happier.
4. I wish I had stayed in touch with
my friends.
3. I wish I’d had the courage to express
my feelings.
2. I wish I hadn’t worked so hard.
1. I wish I’d had the courage to live
a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me.
“This was the most common regret of all. When people realize
that their life is almost over and look back clearly on it, it is easy to see
how many dreams have gone unfulfilled. Most people had not honored even a half
of their dreams and had to die knowing that it was due to choices they had
made, or not made. Health brings a freedom very few realize, until they no
longer have it.”
Does any of that sound as familiar to you as it does to me?
Choices…God has given each of us choices…and we still have time in our lives to
make them.
I am going to close with a poem written by my old High School friend
Charlie Brice…he is a much published poet and this one was recently published
in the Kent State Literary Journal. His peom “Born Again” answers one of those
questions I hate, “Are you born again?”
You want to be born again?
I’ll give you born again: live, savor each breath,
inhales and exhales,
the blossom of tomatoes and oregano
exploding in your frying pan,
the smell of garlic and olive oil,
the grand bouquet of basil,
comfort them, stroke their dying hair, smell their fragrant mortality.
AMEN…you want to be born again? You want to be born again?
I’ll give you born again…live! Choose life.
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