Philippians 1:21-30 "For to me, living is Christ and dying is gain. If I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me; and I do not know which I prefer. I am hard pressed between the two: My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better; but to remain in the flesh is more necessary for you. Since I am convinced of this, I know that I will remain and continue with all of you for your progress and joy in faith, so that I may share abundantly in your boasting in Christ Jesus when I come to you again. Only, live your life in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that, whether I come and see you or am absent and hear about you, I will know that you are standing firm in one spirit, striving side by side with one mind for the faith of the gospel, and are in no way intimidated by your opponents. For them this is evidence of their destruction, but of your salvation. And this is God's doing. For he has graciously granted you the privilege not only of believing in Christ, but suffering for him as well – since you are having the same struggle that you saw I had and now hear that I still have."

Seven weeks from today, I will be at Rockville Women's Prison, participating in a Kairos (faith-based) Retreat. You will soon see my picture on the bulletin board with the caption "Send Lisa to Prison" and ways that you can support me in this ministry. This will be my 4th time to serve at a Kairos Retreat. It is by far not one of the easiest parts in serving God in fact I cried all the way home after my first retreat. But it is one of the most rewarding to see these women transformed by the Spirit of God over the course of 4 days. Their pain is very real. It is not only the poor decisions, which got them there, that is heart breaking but it is about the past abuse that many of these women have endured and the loss of relationship with their children that they face throughout their term. In prison, inmates become very guarded and silent walls are built as trust is often betrayed. A person has no freedom to make their own decisions. Prison is a very dark place and there are evil temptations at every corner. This retreat allows 40 women to experience the breath of the Spirit that descends upon and truly renews them. They become acquainted and feel the love and grace of Christ that hopefully will be carried out with them when the retreat is complete.

After experiencing Rockville, I find it no wonder why the apostle Paul writes from his prison cell that he would prefer to die than to keep on living. It is a real possibility that he could face death. Paul knows that in death he will be totally in the presence of Christ. So he debates whether it is better to stay alive or die.

The people of Philippi are on the receiving end of this correspondence and I am sure they are a little on edge. You see this is their founding father of their new church. Paul is a dear friend, who they care for deeply. I'm sure there is a sigh of relief once they hear Paul come to the realization that it is better for him to remain alive for their sake.

Paul is very upfront and honest with them. It is almost an act of tough love as he indicates that there is no guarantee that he will be returning to Philippi! He wants to be clear that his presence is not required for them to move forward.

Things might get pretty bad. In fact from where Paul is sitting in his prison cell, it is almost certain. You may be faced with death, cancer, a dying spouse, divorce, job loss, natural disasters, children with challenging behaviors, depression, church members may want to leave or you may disagree on how you want to govern the church. The list could be endless! But whatever you do stay united in one Spirit and live your life worthy of the Gospel. Work side by side as you live out your faith. That is what will keep you strong, that is what will help you survive and stay resilient.

Tom Troeger shared a story about survival during one of his sermons at Montreat this summer. The lost Boys of Sudan are the children, teenagers and young men numbering one thousand, who had to flee their country because it was embroiled in a civil war. Many of them did not have shoes or sandals covering their feet and as they walked for miles their feet would be cut open and bleed. The scent of blood would draw the attention of the lions. When a group of these boys would encounter a lion face-to face, it was terrifying as you could imagine. They would not have any weapons, no knives or guns to protect them. So the older boys would stand shoulder-to-shoulder in a circle. They would look really big and the younger boys would get inside the circle with sticks and point them out. As the lions came roaring forward, the boys stood tall and brave together. At that point, the lion (almost always!) would back down from its attack and go look for an antelope. The boys saved themselves by forming the circle.

The lost boys of Sudan were studied through a grant received by one of Tom's colleagues, Jan Holton. She wanted to find out how these young boys were able to survive these horrible circumstances. After the study, Jan wrote a book, Building a Resilient Community – Lessons from the Lost Boys of Sudan (Book by Jan Holton; copyright 2011; Cascade Books publisher).

Jan's book explores the qualities and values of the community of the lost Boys of Sudan, which led to their survival and resilience. One of these qualities is the necessity for the group to form a circle of care and compassion where everyone's needs matter. Through the grant Jan was able to go to the area where these boys had travelled, she also studied their arrival as refugees in our country. It was shared that the boys would each be given a family of their own (kind of like an adoption) and they would be given their own bedroom. It was found that when the family would leave for the day upon their return they would fine the boy with five others camped out in their bedroom. They didn't want to let go of each other.

This is what Paul is urging the Philippians to do as a community. They must stay strong and resilient in the most challenging of times. Then Paul ends by saying that God has graciously granted us the privilege of not only believing in Christ but suffering for him as well. When did we last think about it being a privilege to believe in Christ and a privilege to suffer for him?

I believe John Knox knows what a privilege it is to believe in Christ. You showed that last week by inviting your friends and family to worship here last Sunday. We had 172 in attendance! It was like Christmas Eve in September! It was glorious to stand up front and see all those people sitting in the pews. Wouldn't it be wonderful, if every Sunday our sanctuary was that full? What is it going to take to bring others into our church? I'm not sure what the answer is. We have all kinds of people entering our doors during the week. What will it take to get them back in here on Sunday so that they can learn what a privilege it is to believe in Christ?

Now we come to the last part of Paul's remark. When is it that we find it a privilege to suffer for Christ? Living in a society that is so self-serving and focused on looking out for me, myself and I. This is a real challenge or at least it is for me. It is difficult to reach outside our comfort zone or to go the extra mile. Who wants to be inconvenienced even when it comes to Christ? One of the true blessings about serving on the prison retreat team is getting to know people from different churches. You get to hear about their incredible faith journeys.

Angel, who is new on our Kairos team, shared with me at our last meeting about her mission trip to Haiti. There was a small group of them who travelled 10 hours in the bed of a dump truck after arriving in Port of Prince to the vast jungles to lead a Vacation Bible School to a remote village. Now in this area practice of Voo Doo is very prevalent. At one time during their journey their truck was stopped by a group of men. They began yelling at them and telling them to get out of the truck. These men were armed and very dangerous. As they surrounded the group of mission workers, Angel said she thought this was going to be the end of her life! She remembers her young son's last words to her before she left the US were "Mommy, please come back alive!" Fortunately, the guards that had accompanied them were able to convince the men to let them go. Once they arrived in their camp, they could see the witch doctors watching them from their huts, which continued throughout the week and was very intimidating. Through it all, Angel remark how the village was so eager to hear about Christ and thirsty to drink in God's Word. She said this experience was incredible!

How do we receive the challenging words of Paul? May we be committed to unite as one no matter what obstacles we face, working side-by-side to serve God. May we continue to invite others into our doors to experience the privilege of believing in Christ. And of course we can't all go to Haiti and risk our lives as mission workers like Angel, but may we be willing to suffer in Christ's name. Amen.