The story is told of a man who was walking down a busy airport concourse, and found himself walking beside a pilot. As they walked along together, he said to the pilot, "What a great job you have, flying jets. That must be incredibly exciting."

To which the pilot replied, "Not if I do it right."

The pilots in our congregation would probably agree. As you soar across this country, you want your flight to be as UN-exciting as possible. You want to stay far away from hills and mountains, skyscrapers and television towers. You know that stationary objects stand as deadly dangers to your aircraft and its passengers, so you want to keep your distance as you make a flight.

There is a peril to proximity. Get too close to the ground, and you may have an unexpected date with death or serious injury.

Fortunately, scientists and engineers have developed some great new gee-whiz technology for modern jets. Pilots will soon be able to peer through clouds and fog, follow moving maps in poor weather, and see where their plane is flying relative to nearby mountains, using such gizmos as the Vertical Situation Display, the Enhanced Ground Proximity System, and the Enhanced Vision System. Said test pilot Mike Carriker to The Washington Post, "This is a virtual Nintendo system."

Coolest of all is the Enhanced Vision System, which scans the ground with infrared sensors. This gizmo can effectively see in the dark and peer through fog by measuring differences in the temperature of objects. A "thermal video" is then projected into the cockpit.

This technology is so sensitive that it is possible to tell where lines are painted on runways. Vehicles passing outside are clearly seen because of the heat from their engines, and people working nearby are picked up from the heat of their heads. (Don Phillips, "Gee-Whiz Future of Aviation Is Arriving Now," The Washington Post, April 22, 2002, A9)

Now I don't know about you, but I would LOVE to be able to see through the fog of life, and be warned and alerted when I'm in danger of crashing. Wouldn't it be great to have an Enhanced Vision System for daily living, something to steer us through the clouds that so often surround us?

Fortunately, the Bible contains just such a system, one designed to alert us to proximity perils. But like the new gee-whiz technology for modern jets, it doesn't come cheap. You've got to pay for it. For the Bible to be taught and preached and brought to life, we ALL have to make financial commitments to the work of the church. When you participate in our giving drive, as I hope you will do today, and fill out an Estimate of Giving Card for the year 2003, you are promising to support the work that will be done to keep people from crashing in the New Year. This will be done through quality Christian Education for adults and children, creative youth work, inspiring music, supportive small groups, and preaching that brings the guidance of Holy Scripture to life.

You want to fly into 2003 with the very best guidance system, don't you? If so, fill out a card today.

In today's passage from First Thessalonians, we are given not only an Enhanced Spiritual Vision System, but a Vertical Situation Display and a Ground Proximity System that promise to get us safely through the proximity perils we face each day. The apostle Paul gives us some devices that are not exactly high-tech, but are certainly highly effective.

The very first proximity peril that Paul points out is the coming "day of the Lord" (5:2). This is a day he predicts will come like a thief in the night, every bit as surprising as an unexpected mountain rising up in front of you. This is the day of judgment, according to Paul, that day in which the righteous of the world will be vindicated, and the unrighteous will be judged. Sudden destruction will come upon the unrighteous, he predicts, "as labor pains come upon a pregnant women, and there will be no escape" (v. 3). Disaster will strike with the force of a plane plowing straight into an obstacle on the ground.

But is this the fate of the righteous? Not at all, according to Paul. Those who believe in Jesus Christ and who have a right relationship with God have an Enhanced Spiritual Vision System. You Thessalonians "are not in darkness," he points out, "for that day to surprise you like a thief; for you are all children of light and children of the day; we are not of the night or of darkness" (vv. 4-5).

To be in darkness is to be focused on the peace and security of the secular world, while to be in the light is to find true peace and security in God. To be in the night is to be unaware of what the Lord is doing in the world, but to be in the day is to be sensitive to his daily involvement in human life. Since believers in Christ are not in a state of darkness, and are not living in the night, they have no reason to fear the day of the Lord. They have a Spiritual Vision System that enables them to see God's activity through the fog and the darkness of day-to-day difficulties.

On high-tech aircraft, this vision is made possible by infrared sensors. In Christian life, on the other hand, this vision is made possible by faith -- by a willingness to trust Jesus Christ to bring you forgiveness, and peace, and security, and everlasting life with God. When you look at life with the eyes of faith, you see a world in which the Lord is at work to bring healing to the ill, comfort to the grieving, hope to the despondent, and liberation to the oppressed. You see a slice of reality that is completely invisible to those who look only to the world for their security and peace. You see the often overlooked fact that God is a firm foundation for us, even when our lives are rocked by terrorism and warfare and destruction and disease.

Methodist minister James Mayfield tells the story of a friend named Steve, a man who had experienced a number of hardships and difficulties in his life: He had been abused as a child, had married and divorced, had fathered a son he hadn't seen in 18 years, and had been living with the AIDS virus for 12 years. "If ever a person had a right to be bitter about all the undeserved stuff that life had dealt him," Mayfield writes, "Steve did." And yet, he was not bitter. He lived his life in the assurance of God's love and forgiveness and with the expectant hope of seeing the Messiah all around him. He saw the world through the Spiritual Vision System called faith.

On his birthday one year, Steve wasn't doing very well. He had lost a lot of weight, and looked weak and pale. But a group of church friends threw a party for him, and, as the food was brought out, Steve said a prayer: "Lord, no matter what lies ahead for me, it has been so good, and I would not ask for anything better." Even with AIDS, Steve felt that he was the luckiest man alive, because he had discovered that love is truly the greatest gift, and he knew that he was loved.

Steve lived with an incredible sense of hope. Not that there weren't days when he wasn't down and discouraged, but he lived as one who had seen the Messiah! He saw life through the eyes of faith ... as one who knows that God's love and grace is all around him. (James L. Mayfield, "Seeing Through the Eyes of Faith," Sermon at Tarrytown United Methodist Church, December 26, 1999, www.tarrytownumc.org/sermons/sr19991226.htm)

The eyes of faith. That's our state-of-the-art, gee-whiz, Enhanced Spiritual Vision System.

In addition, we are given a Vertical Situation Display and a Ground Proximity System that promise to guide us safely through the proximity perils we face each day. On an airplane, the Vertical Situation Display gives the pilot a view of the plane's flight path, with a profile of the terrain outside. It lets the pilot know whether he is properly oriented toward the ground, and on a safe course.

In First Thessalonians, the apostle Paul keeps the message of his Vertical Situation Display short and sweet: Remain VERTICAL, he counsels. "So then let us not fall asleep as others do, but let us keep awake and be sober" (v. 6). Paul wants us to remain vigilant in these perilous times, spiritually awake and alert, as well as free of impairment by drugs and alcohol. This is not a rant against responsible drinking -- after all, Paul is the same one who recommends that his protégé Timothy "take a little wine for the sake of [his] stomach" (1 Timothy 5:23).

But Paul clearly condemns substance abuse: "Do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery" (Ephesians 5:18); "let us live honorably as in the day, not in reveling and drunkenness" (Romans 13:13); and among those things that are works of the flesh and keep people out of the kingdom of God, Paul lists drunkenness (Galatians 5:21).

So if you want to avoid hitting the ground, remain vertical.

Paul also tells us about an Enhanced Ground Proximity System, a wonderful set of features that can provide us with life-saving protection. This is no high-tech aircraft warning system, of course, but is an array of equipment that can keep us out of danger. "Put on the breastplate of faith and love," advises Paul, "and for a helmet the hope of salvation" (v. 8). These are the features that can keep us out of danger as we fly through the many trials and temptations and tribulations of daily life: Faith in Christ, love for God and neighbor, and hope of everlasting salvation. This trio can keep us sailing smoothly on the course that God desires for us, far from the earthly obstacles that can rise up and threaten to destroy us.

And why are we given this marvelous protective equipment? Because our Lord doesn't want us to crash. "God has destined us not for wrath," writes Paul, "but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ" (v. 9). Our Lord really wants us to enjoy abundant life, and to live with him ... in life, in death, and in life beyond death.

There's no need to crash and burn if we install these soul-saving systems. And so that these spiritual devices can be available to you, and to all who come to this church in the next year, please take part in our giving drive by filling out an Estimate of Giving Card for 2003. Paul concludes today's Scripture passage by saying "Therefore encourage one another and build up each other, as indeed you are doing" (v. 11).

One of the most important ways we encourage one another and build up the Christian community is through our support of this church's many vital programs. Through our weekly tithes and offerings, we help to steer ourselves and others through the many perils of life.

So give generously. The life you save may be your own. Amen

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