Organ Donation Sermon
Let Your Light Shine On
Sermon May 15, 2011
Let Your LIGHT Shine On: Organ Donation
Let Your LIGHT Shine On: Organ Donation
1 Corinthians 15:35 – 38 [show]1 Corinthians 15:35 – 38 The Resurrection Body [35]But someone will ask, “How are the dead raised? With what kind of body do they come?” [36]You foolish person! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. [37]And what you sow is not the body that is to be, but a bare kernel, perhaps of wheat or of some other grain. [38]But God gives it a body as he has chosen, and to each kind of seed its own body. (ESV)
is about the spiritual body.
35 But someone might ask, “How are the dead raised? What kind of body will they have?” 36 How foolish! What you plant doesn’t come to life unless it dies. 37 When you plant something, it isn’t a completely grown plant that you put in the ground. You only plant a seed. Maybe it’s wheat or something else. 38 But God gives the seed a body just as he has planned. And to each kind of seed he gives its own body.
These verses can be used to understand the resurrection, emphasizing that in the resurrection the physical body is transformed into a spiritual body. Therefore, the gift of organs and tissues does not affect the ability of one to be resurrected.
is about the spiritual body.35 But someone might ask, “How are the dead raised? What kind of body will they have?” 36 How foolish! What you plant doesn’t come to life unless it dies. 37 When you plant something, it isn’t a completely grown plant that you put in the ground. You only plant a seed. Maybe it’s wheat or something else. 38 But God gives the seed a body just as he has planned. And to each kind of seed he gives its own body.
These verses can be used to understand the resurrection, emphasizing that in the resurrection the physical body is transformed into a spiritual body. Therefore, the gift of organs and tissues does not affect the ability of one to be resurrected.
Pope Benedict XVI’s gave a message on Organ Donation: “To donate one’s organs is an act of love that is morally right as long as it is free and spontaneous. To be an organ donor means to carry out an act of love toward someone in need, toward a brother in difficulty. It is a free act of love, of availability, that every person of good will can do at any time and for any brother. As for myself, I have agreed to give my organs to whomever might be in need.”
The world has not turned out as it was in the perfect condition that God Spoke into existence. Crime, hunger, death, and disease were not present at creation, but due to man’s fall in the garden, adversity has found a home in every human soul.
Since suffering is inevitable for man, God created a redeeming value for suffering. The goodness of God will allow something positive to come out of a negative situation.
God’s greatest demonstration of this redemptive process is realized in HIS Son. The death of Jesus Christ resulted in the redemption of the world. His finished work at Calvary restored the broken relationship between God and man. God has rescued creation and mankind from hopelessness with His redeeming love. Christ suffered the loss of His life, but it became the seed of the world’s hope and joy.
Sooner or later suffering and sorrow comes to every home. Wealth, culture or even religion can prevent it. But the losses and griefs of life are able to leave behind an abundance of character and blessings that will make eternity richer. In a Christian home, sorrow should always leave a benediction. It should be received as God’s messenger, and when it is, it will always leave a blessing. Remember that we do not always see the Blessing at the time of the sorrow. It may be years before we can look back and not feel the pain and would be able to give thanks for the life of the person we knew or the lesson that we learned.
In his epistle to the Romans, Paul makes the claim that “In everything God works for good” (8:28). No matter how negative or hopeless our circumstances, says God can produce a positive result. God can always salvage something good out of something bad. For most of us this negative situation comes with death, especially a premature, tragic death. According to Paul, the potential for good is always there as long as God is present in our loss and sorrow, and God is always present!
But how is this potential realized? How in practical terms, does God work for good even in the bleakest circumstances of life and death? Part of the answer is that God accomplishes his work through us. We are called to become God’s partners. And through God we are empowered to do the best things in the worst of times.
Herein lies the deepest significance of a decision to donate organs and tissues. When we are faced with the worst of times – our own death or the death of a loved one –we can choose to work with God in working for good. We can embody Christ like self-giving in the most tangible way possible.
We can make our own deaths purposeful. Best of all, we can choose life for someone else. And we can make these choices now, while we are still able to think clearly and speak for ourselves, before we are incapacitated.
We can make our own deaths purposeful. Best of all, we can choose life for someone else. And we can make these choices now, while we are still able to think clearly and speak for ourselves, before we are incapacitated.
Not everyone dies in a way that allows vital organ donation. In fact, only 1 percent of people who die can be vital organ donors. Vital organ donors must be “brain dead” (a legal definition of death) and their organs mechanically preserved by a ventilator.
Blessings are often shrouded behind the veil of overwhelming grief. There are many who feel they can never be comforted. If organs and tissues may not be used for the living, how may this life be remembered. What gift did they share? How has this life made a difference in our community?
Sorrow should not be wasted. We should accept our suffering and discover if it has some mission to perform, some gift to give, some golden fruit to enjoy, some redeeming value. Sorrow and grief are very real emotions that need to be acknowledged and not allowed to have us turn from God. He is with us always. As a seed changes, so does our spirit our essence transform at our earthly death.
Approximately 17 people die each day while waiting for some organ transplant that could save their life.
One organ donor can save the lives of up to 8 people, and a tissue donor may save or enhance the lives of as many as 50 people!
Imagine the possibilities if everyone just agreed to become an organ donor upon their death: this of the grace they would bring to the lives of these thousands waiting, and the gratitude that would be expressed.
One organ donor can save the lives of up to 8 people, and a tissue donor may save or enhance the lives of as many as 50 people!
Imagine the possibilities if everyone just agreed to become an organ donor upon their death: this of the grace they would bring to the lives of these thousands waiting, and the gratitude that would be expressed.
To Remember Me — I will live forever
Robert N. Test
The day will come when my body will lie upon a white sheet neatly tucked under four corners of a mattress located in a hospital; busily occupied with the living and the dying. At a certain moment a doctor will determine that my brain has ceased to function and that, for all intents and purposes, my life has stopped.
When that happens, do not attempt to instill artificial life into my body by the use of a machine. And don’t call this my deathbed. Let it be called the bed of life, and let my body be taken from it to help others lead fuller lives.
Give my sight to the man who has never seen a sunrise, a baby’s face or love in the eyes of a woman.
Give my heart to a person whose own heart has caused nothing but endless days of pain.
Give my blood to the teenager who was pulled from the wreckage of his car, so that he might live to see his grandchildren play.
Give my kidneys to the one who depends on a machine to exist from week to week.
Take my bones, every muscle, every fiber and nerve in my body and find a way to make a crippled child walk.
Explore every corner of my brain.
Take my cells, if necessary, and let them grow so that, someday a speechless boy will shout at the crack of a bat and a deaf girl will hear the sound of rain against her window.
Burn what is left of me and scatter the ashes to the winds to help the flowers grow.
If you must bury something, let it be my faults, my weakness and all prejudice against my fellow human beings.
Give my sins to the devil.
Give my soul to God.
If, by chance, you wish to remember me, do it with a kind deed or word to someone who needs you. If you do all I have asked, I will live forever.
Robert N. Test
We have the power to help the world, we have the power to help our families, but we will not help anyone if we don’t talk about our decisions, if we do not make them real. When you leave this House of Worship please talk with your family. Make your choice real. There are pamphlets on the tables for you to take, read it, discuss it with your family and friends. It will offer clear answers to many of the questions you may have.
Let’s face it. How many of us had moments in the last few years where we were worried about our own health? When we had a real scare? And yet what have we done about it? May our lives be rich with meaning and filled with an abundance of love and joy. When the time comes for us to take our last breath, may our soul journey with God and may our bodies be used to give new life to others. In this way, through Jesus Christ and following in his footsteps may we gain everlasting life.
I know that this is painful, and I’m not trying to tell you what is the right decision for you.
I pray that we find the courage in our faith to make the decisions that cry out for a response.
And all God’s Children Say: Amen.
I pray that we find the courage in our faith to make the decisions that cry out for a response.
And all God’s Children Say: Amen.
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