Grace and Peace to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

The text for today’s meditation is verse 6 of the epistle lesson Philippians 4:4-7

verses 4 & 5; "Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice. ⁵ Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand;"

Horatio was a successful lawyer in the late 1860’s who lived in a north side suburb of Chicago. He and his wife Anna had 5 children, Annie, Maggie, Bessie, Tanetta and Horatio, Jr. Horatio and his wife were very generous with their time, home, and money. In 1870 4 year old Horatio Jr. died of scarlet fever. In 1871 most of Horatio’s real estate investments burned to the ground in the Chicago fire. In 1873 Anna’s health began to fail. Horatio, hoping to put behind the tragic loss of their son, the fire, and to benefit Anna's health, planned a trip to Europe. They would sail on a French steamer to Europe with their four daughters. The day they were to sail for Europe Horatio had a business emergency and could not leave. Not wanting to disappoint his wife Anna and their daughters he sent them on ahead and planned to follow on another ship in a few days.

On November 22, 1873 the French steamer was struck by a British iron sailing ship. The French steamer, with Anna and her daughters aboard, sank within twelve minutes in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. Only 81 of the 307 passengers and crew members survived this tragic shipwreck.

Even though the British ship was in danger of sinking the unconscious Anna was picked up from floating debris by their crew. An American cargo sailing vessel arrived in time to save the survivors of the two ships that collided. Anna was taken to Cardiff, Wales where she telegraphed her husband Horatio. Anna's cable was brief and heartbreaking, "Saved alone. What shall I do..." Horatio and Anna's four daughters had drowned. As soon as Horatio received Anna's telegram, he left Chicago to bring home his wife.

I wonder what Horatio would think if someone shared with him Paul’s words in Philippians 4 after he read Anna’s telegraph; "Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice." I imagine he would think he didn’t have much to rejoice about. After all, in a matter of almost four years He lost his son, his fortune, his daughters, and almost lost his wife.

Horatio certainly wasn’t happy but should he be joyful? There is a difference between being happy and joyful. Happiness depends, almost exclusively, on external things like our health, our relationships, how we "feel" at a given moment, what we have or can obtain, and how much money, influence, and fame we’ve acquired. When these "things" are taken away or harmed we immediately turn into "unhappy campers" and we selfishly become preoccupied with trying to get them back. That’s what "happy" can do to us.

Paul certainly didn’t have anything to be "happy" about when he wrote this letter. He was in prison growing older and weaker and probably looking ahead to an untimely, painful, and violent death. And still he wrote "Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice!" How is it possible for Paul to rejoice? What about the Philippians, they were living in an anti-Christian environment and arguing among themselves, how can they rejoice? What about Horatio, how can he rejoice? What about the families in Newtown CT, how can they rejooice? What about us, how can we rejoice?

The secret to the kind of joy Paul is talking about is in the next verse where it says, "The Lord is at hand." Another translation says "The Lord is near." More than likely Paul was thinking of Jesus coming back soon to usher in His kingdom. With this in mind, everything that hurt or hindered his people would be seen for what it was: completely inconsequential when compared to knowing and seeing Christ face to face. That joy is amazing! Paul is saying, "That joy will soon be upon us, and death, disease, and danger will be swallowed up in Christ’s victory forever! So, "Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice." Remember, Paul met Jesus face to face. He knows what it feels like to be face to face with Jesus.

Could Paul be saying all that and more? He valued the use of the Word and Sacraments. Could he have had these in mind as well when thinking about the phrase "The Lord is near?" After all, when we hear the gospel read and preached in all its truth and purity, when we receive the very body and blood of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ in, with, and under the bread and wine that is Jesus being near us, next to us, in us? When two or three are gathered together in the name of Jesus, when we hold up and help each other, when we disciple and discipline each other, the Lord is "near" in those actions and activities.

What about the prayer that is answered at just the right time? Or the incurable being cured. The hopeless that actually happens. The impossible comes true. None of these things are promised by God but they do happen.

The point is God shows up! And sometimes, in unpredictable, unprovable, and unpromised ways, He shows up! He shows up for you! He shows up for you and your salvation. God always shows up. He is always near!

Which means that no matter what is going on around you, and whatever is happening to you, you are always operating from a position of strength, because the Lord is near! We are always in a "no lose" situation, because the Lord is near! You are always going to come out fine, because the Lord is near. And because yours is a God who always shows up at just the right time and just the right way for you, you "Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice."

Horatio could have wallowed in His sorrow. He could have blamed God for all his misfortune. But instead, after passing the spot in the Atlantic Ocean where the ship his family was on sank, Horatio G. Spafford, alone in his cabin penned the words to his famous hymn, "It Is Well With My Soul." In the first verse He writes "When peace, like a river, attendeth my way," When everything is going well. "When sorrows like sea billows roll." When bad things are coming at like a storm at sea, wave after wave. "Whatever my lot, Thou has taught me to say, It is well, it is well, with my soul." During all times, both good and bad, the Lord is near; therefore it is well with your soul. Horatio's faith in God never faltered.

He and Anna went on to have more children and eventually moved to Jerusalem where they served the needy, helped the poor, cared for the sick and took in homeless children. Their only cause was to show those living about them the love of Jesus.

Remember, no matter what is going on around you, and whatever is happening to you, you are always operating from a position of strength, because the Lord is near! "Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice."

Amen.