People with a Passion for Christ. I am not quite sure what that means. Different people here, from different theological backgrounds, may describe them differently: People that love Christ. People that love Christ ABOVE ALL. People with such a passion that they become missionaries to preach the gospel. People on a mission.

Passion to me is when you are driven to do something. Your whole life revolves around that passion. It makes you DO things.

So today I am going to talk about four people who DID things, people with a passion for Christ that made them change the world. They are four very different people: 2 are American, 2 are European. 3 white, one black. 1 virgin, 1 straight, 1 gay, one unknown. 3 women, one man. 2 murdered, 1 died, one alive.

But they have in common the fact that they had a special mission from God. And their passion for Christ changed the world we live in.

1. France ca. 1400 was hell: the Hundred Years War with England, the Black Plague, a general famine. The King of France had gone mad and slain some of his nobles. The Queen took over and began sleeping with his brother. When the brother was assassinated, she ended up sleeping with the assassin - a rival Duke who was in cahoots with the English. She disowned her son the Dauphin, declaring him a bastard, and signed a treaty handing France over to the English.

Joan of Arc was born in a village just outside of France. When she was a teenager she began having visions and hearing voices whom she identified as St. Michael, St. Catherine, and St. Margaret. She took a vow of virginity, which was not merely a renunciation of sexual pleasure, for a woman it was an essential declaration of freedom from control and domination by men. Her Voices then told her to go save the city of Orleans which was besieged by the English and to take the Dauphin to be crowned King of France at Rheims.
Miraculously, she did it.
Wearing men's clothes because she was doing men's work, as a disguise, and because it helped her fend off groping guys, she went to the Dauphin and picked him out of a crowd where he was hiding to test her. She was able to raise the eight-month-old siege of Orleans in four days. Under her inspiration, the heretofore useless French army conquered its way to Rheims, where the Dauphin was crowned.

Dumped by the King once he was crowned, Joan was ultimately captured by the English.
They needed to prove she was a witch, so they could say all she had accomplished against them was Satan's doing instead of God's will. When they burned her at the stake she was 19 years old.

At least she got to wear this fabulous hat, which says "heretic, relapsed, apostate, idolater".

Later her trial was overturned and she was ultimately canonized a saint by the very church who had burned her.

How did she change the world? This incredible woman was one of the first people in modern times to assert that the highest authority of all, God, lives within us and cannot be imposed from without. She decided to follow her calling, even in the face of the most hideous consequences.

2. Florence Nightingale was born in Italy on 12 May 1820 and was named Florence after the city where she was born. Her parents, William Edward and Frances Nightingale were a wealthy couple, who had toured Europe for two years on their honeymoon. During their travels their first daughter, Parthenope, was born in Naples (Parthenope being the Greek name for the ancient city), followed one year later by Florence. On returning to England the Nightingales divided their time between two homes. In the summer months they lived at Lea Hurst in Derbyshire, moving to Embley in Hampshire for the winter.

Florence and Parthenope were taught at home by their Cambridge-educated father. Florence was an academic child, while her sister excelled at painting and needlework. Florence grew up to be a lively and attractive young woman, admired in the family's social circle and she was expected to make a good marriage, but Florence had other concerns. In 1837, whilst in the gardens at Embley, Florence had what she described as her 'calling'. She heard the voice of God calling her to do his work, but at this time she had no idea what that work would be.

Florence developed an interest in the social questions of the day, made visits to the homes of the sick in the local villages and began to investigate hospitals and nursing. Her parents refused to allow her to become a nurse as in the mid-nineteenth century it was not considered a suitable profession for a well educated woman. Faced by family opposition to her independence, Florence fell ill, and was nursed by her aunt. The two became devoted to each other, and Florence described their relationship as "like two lovers". Florence also loved a cousin, Marianne Nicholson. "I have never loved but one person with passion in my life, and that was her" Florence wrote. She never married.

While the family conflicts over Florence's future remained unresolved, it was decided that Florence would tour Europe with some family friends. On their way back, in July 1850, they came through Germany where they visited Pastor Theodor Fliedner's hospital and school for deaconesses at Kaiserswerth, near Dusseldorf, a place very close to my home where one of my great ants was nursed in the 1970s and 80s. The following year Florence Nightingale returned to Kaiserswerth and undertook three months nursing training, which enabled her to take a vacancy as Superintendent of the Establishment for Gentlewomen during Illness at No. 1 Harley Street, London in 1853.

In March 1854 Britain, France and Turkey declared war on Russia – the Crimean war began. The allies defeated the Russians at the battle of the Alma in September but reports in The Times criticised the British medical facilities for the wounded. In response, Sidney Herbert, the Minister at War, who knew Florence Nightingale socially and through her work at Harley Street, appointed her to oversee the introduction of female nurses into the military hospitals in Turkey. On 4 November 1854, Florence Nightingale arrived at the Barrack Hospital in Scutari, a suburb on the Asian side of Constantinople, with a party of 38 nurses. Initially the doctors did not want the nurses there and did not ask for their help, but within ten days fresh casualties arrived from the battle of Inkermann and the nurses were fully stretched.

The 'Lady-in-Chief', as Florence was called, wrote home on behalf of the soldiers. She acted as a banker, sending the men's wages home to their families, and introduced reading rooms to the hospital. In return she gained the undying respect of the British soldiers. The introduction of female nurses to the military hospitals was an outstanding success, and to show the nation's gratitude for Florence Nightingale's hard work, a public subscription was organised in November 1855. The money collected was to enable Florence Nightingale to continue her reform of nursing in the civil hospitals of Britain.

Florence Nightingale's greatest achievement was to raise nursing to the level of a respectable profession for women. In 1860, with the public subscriptions of the Nightingale Fund, she established the Nightingale Training School for nurses at St Thomas' Hospital.

How did she change the world?

Like Joan of Arc, Florence Nightingale listened to the voice of God inside her rather than settle for the traditional accepted role of a woman. By legitimizing careers for women she made it possible for all women to be able to build lives and support themselves without dependence upon or control by men.

3. Rosa Parks (born February 4, 1913)

Most historians date the beginning of the modern civil rights movement in the United States to December 1, 1955. That was the day when an unknown seamstress in Montgomery, Alabama, refused to give up her bus seat to a white passenger. This brave woman, Rosa Parks, was arrested and fined for violating a city ordinance, but her lonely act of defiance began a movement that ended legal segregation in America, and made her an inspiration to freedom-loving people everywhere.

Rosa Parks was born Rosa Louise McCauley in Tuskegee, Alabama to James McCauley, a carpenter, and Leona McCauley, a teacher. At the age of two she moved to her grandparents' farm in Pine Level, Alabama with her mother and younger brother, Sylvester. At the age of 11 she enrolled in the Montgomery Industrial School for Girls, a private school founded by liberal-minded women from the northern United States. The school's philosophy of self-worth was consistent with Leona McCauley's advice to "take advantage of the opportunities, no matter how few they were."

Opportunities were few indeed. "Back then," Mrs. Parks recalled in an interview, "we didn't have any civil rights. It was just a matter of survival, of existing from one day to the next. I remember going to sleep as a girl hearing the Klan ride at night and hearing a lynching and being afraid the house would burn down." In the same interview, she cited her lifelong acquaintance with fear as the reason for her relative fearlessness in deciding to appeal her conviction during the bus boycott. "I didn't have any special fear," she said. "It was more of a relief to know that I wasn't alone."

After attending Alabama State Teachers College, the young Rosa settled in Montgomery, with her husband, Raymond Parks. The couple joined the local chapter of the NAACP and worked quietly for many years to improve the lot of African-Americans in the segregated south.

"I worked on numerous cases with the NAACP," Mrs. Parks recalled, "but we did not get the publicity. There were cases of flogging, murder, and rape. We didn't seem to have too many successes. It was more a matter of trying to challenge the powers that be, and to let it be known that we did not wish to continue being second-class citizens."

The bus incident led to the formation of the Montgomery Improvement Association, led by the young pastor of the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. The association called for a boycott of the city-owned bus company. The boycott lasted 382 days and brought Mrs. Parks, Dr. King, and their cause to the attention of the world. A Supreme Court Decision struck down the Montgomery ordinance under which Mrs. Parks had been fined, and outlawed racial segregation on public transportation.

In 1957, Mrs. Parks and her husband moved to Detroit, where Mrs. Parks served on the staff of U.S. Representative John Conyers. The Southern Christian Leadership Council established an annual Rosa Parks Freedom Award in her honor.

After the death of her husband, Mrs. Parks founded the Rosa and Raymond Parks Institute for Self-Development. The Institute sponsors an annual summer program for teenagers called Pathways to Freedom. The young people tour the country in buses, under adult supervision, learning the history of their country and of the civil rights movement.

"I do the very best I can to look upon life with optimism and hope and looking forward to a better day, but I don't think there is anything such as complete happiness. It pains me that there is still a lot of Klan activity and racism. I think when you say you're happy, you have everything that you need and everything that you want, and nothing more to wish for. I haven't reached that stage yet."

Parks' belief in God and her religious convictions are at the core of everything she does. It is the overriding theme in her book and the message she hopes to impart: "I'd like for [readers] to know that I had a very spiritual background and that I believe in church and my faith and that has helped to give me the strength and courage to live as I did."

How did she change the world? By following her call, Rosa Parks started the civil rights movement and helped end official segregation and racism. But even 50 years later, discrimination of people because of the colour of their skin is well and alive in all parts of the world.

4. Matthew Shepard was prematurely born on December 1, 1976 in Casper, Wyoming, the oldest son of Judy and Dennis Shepard. Matthew attended Crest Hill Grade School, Dean Morgan Junior High in Casper. His sophomore year he attended Natrona County High School. The last two years of high school he spent in Lugano, Switzerland. There he attended The American School in Switzerland (TASIS), graduating in 1995. While in Switzerland, Matthew traveled throughout Europe. He spoke three languages: English, German and Italian. He loved Europe but also loved his hometown of Casper.

After coming back to America, Matthew attended Catawba College in Salisbury, N.C, and Casper College. Moving to Denver he worked several jobs. Later he was attending the University of Wyoming in Laramie. There his major was political science/foreign relations and the minors were languages. Matthew was selected as the student representative for the Wyoming Environmental Council, and was very active in politics. 
Matthew started acting in community theatre at the age of 5, and was very active in front of and behind the scenes in several Casper College and Stage III Theater plays. Matthew also enjoyed soccer, swimming, running, snow skiing and dancing. He knew he was not the best athlete in the world but he had a very competitive spirit. Matthew loved the nature, enjoying hunting, fishing and camping. Matthew was a member and an acolyte in St. Mark's Episcopal Church in Casper, Wyoming.
Matthew was lured from a campus bar shortly after midnight on October 7, 1998, by two men (Aaron McKinney, 22 and Arthur Henderson, 21) who told him they were gay. He was driven to a remote area near the Sherman Hills neighborhood east of Laramie, tied to a split-rail fence, tortured, beaten and pistol-whipped by his attackers, while he begged for his life. He was then left for dead in near freezing temperatures. A cyclist who found him on Snowy Mountain View Road at 6:22 pm, some 18 hours after the attack, at first mistook him for a scarecrow. He was unconscious and suffering from hypothermia. His face was caked with blood, except where it had been partially washed clean by tears.

Matthew died at 12:53 am on Monday 12th October 1998, at Poudre Valley Hospital in Fort Collins, Colorado, with his family at his bedside. Hospital officials said Matthew had a fracture from behind his head to just in front of his right ear and a massive brain stem injury which affected his vital signs, including his heart beat, body temperature and other involuntary functions. There were also approximately a dozen small lacerations around his head, face and neck. He was so badly injured in the attack that doctors were unable to operate. He never regained consciousness after being found, and remained on full life support.

Matthew's funeral was held on Friday, October 16, 1998, and it touched a lot of people all over the world. The tragic story of this gentle soul has touched the hearts of people across America, and throughout the World. At the funeral, his father said: "Matthew was the type of person, that if this had happened to another person, would have been first on the scene to offer his help, his hope and his heart to the family. We should try to remember that because Matt's last few minutes of consciousness on earth may have been hell, his family and friends want more than ever to say their farewells to him in a peaceful, dignified and loving manner. Once again, I must express our appreciation for the outpouring of concern about Matt's wellbeing during the last week, as he fought for his life in the hospital. We'll never forget the love that the world has shared with this kind, loving son."

During the trial, one of the murderers, Aaron McKinney, tried the ‘gay panic’ defense, citing same-gender sexual experiences as a youngster, and that, vacationing with a girlfriend in Florida, he once inadvertently entered a gay church.

Both assailants were convicted and sentenced to two consecutive life sentences each.

After his death, Matthew's parents founded the Matthew Shepard Foundation (www.MatthewShepard.org). The goals of the Matthew Shepard Foundation include supporting diversity programs in education and helping youth organizations establish environments where young people can feel safe and be themselves, no matter if gay or straight. The Matthew Shepard Foundation's primary goal is to educate and replace hate with understanding, compassion and acceptance. Matthew's mother, Mrs. Judy Shepard, travels throughout the United States speaking at businesses, colleges, universities and high schools in an effort to educate young people about how to erase hate, and on the acceptance of diversity.

How he changed the world:

Did Matthew have a passion for Christ? Apart from his involvement with his church, we don’t know. But he had a passion for life. For helping others. For the acceptance of others, of minorities, that is born out of the experience of being different. His death made people stop and think. His memory will live on to remind us that God loves us all, regardless of our sex, the colour of our skin, our nationality, our sexual orientation.

Joan of Arc.
Florence Nightingale.
Rosa Parks.
Matthew Shepard.

All of them changed the world by what they did and what was done to them. They listened to their calling and thus had a great impact on other people’s lives. Their work made this world a better place.

So what is your calling? Your mission? If you have passion for Christ – what does He want you to DO?

Let us pray:
Lord, you have a plan for us. We all have a calling, a mission to fulfill. It may not be as high profile as the people we have just heard about. But it can still change the world, starting with our family and friends, causing a ripple that can stir the mighty ocean. Help us, Lord, to be silent, and to listen to your voice, to hear our calling. Help us overcome our own plans, desires and fears – and stand up and step out and do what you planned for us to do.
Amen.