SermonsSermons:2008-10-03T17:35:05ZCopyright (c) 2008, Donna ThurmondExpressionEnginetag:germantownumc.org,2008:09:28Real Life Spiritualitytag:germantownumc.org,2008:index.php/6.5262008-09-28T19:01:00Z2008-10-03T17:35:05ZDonna Thurmonddthurmond@germantownumc.orgLuke 10:38-42 NRSV Now as they went on their way, he [Jesus] entered a certain village, where a woman named Martha welcomed him into her home. She had a sister named Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to what he was saying. But Martha was distracted by her many tasks; so she came to him and asked, Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to do all the work by myself? Tell her then to help me.” But the Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and distracted by many things; there is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part, which will not be taken from her.”
Let us pray. Come, Holy Spirit, Heavenly Dove; descend on us, reveal your love. Word of God and inward light, wake our spirits; clear our sight. Surround us now with all your glory; speak through me that sacred story. Take my lips and make them bold. Take hearts and minds and make them whole. Stir in us that sacred flame; then send us forth to spread your name. Amen.
Well, Charlie Brown has done it again! He stopped at Lucy’s 5-cent psychology stand for some advice. Lucy looks at Charlie Brown and says, “Charlie Brown, life is like a deck chair on a cruise ship.” “On the cruise ship of life,” she continues, “some people place their deck chairs at the rear of the ship so they can see where they’ve been. Others place their deck chairs at the front of the ship so they can see where they are going.” Dr. Lucy looks at puzzled Charlie Brown and asks, “Charlie Brown, which way is your deck chair facing?” Without hesitating, Charlie says, “I can’t even get my deck chair unfolded!”
Do you ever feel like Charlie Brown? I know, I do!
On the cruise ship of Christianity, we see and hear others who just seem to have it all together, sunning themselves, making the Christian life look so predictable and easy. And yet for many of us, if not for most of us, we’re still trying to unfold our deck chairs in our spiritual journey. If you’ve ever felt this way, this sermon is for you.
There’s a delightful short book by Mike Yaconelli called Messy Spirituality. Yaconelli was in youth ministry for decades, until he died in a car accident several years ago. Messy Spirituality was his last book.
He writes: “My life is a mess. For as long as I can remember, I have wanted to be a godly person. Yet when I look at…my life, what I see, mostly, is a broken, irregular path littered with mistakes and failures. I’ve had temporary successes and…moments of closeness to God, but...most of…my life seems hopelessly tangled in a web of obligations and distractions. I have been trying to follow Christ…, and the best I can do is a stumbling, bumbling, clumsy kind of following.”
Have you ever been there?
Mike tells about visiting with a lady who was known for her spiritual depth and a profound life of prayer. She had spent hundreds of days of her life in silent retreat alone with God. Mike says that she was so saturated with faith that he says she actually smelled of God…after having spent most of her life seeking God in solitude and silence. During their conversation, Mike said to her, “I’m embarrassed to be sitting with you…you spend huge portions of your days, your weeks…in prayer. I’m lucky to spend ten minutes a day. Next to you, I’m afraid I’m not very spiritual.”
Her eyes flashed with anger and she fired back, “Oh, knock it off, Mike! First off, you don’t spend every minute with me…you are comparing what you know about yourself with what you don’t know about me. I battle depression daily…I have to spend hours in prayer just to get off the couch.” He hadn’t known that. She continued, “Mike, do you ever think about God?” He said, “Yes, I do! In fact, most of the time!” “Well,” she continued, “thinking about God is being with God. Being with God is spirituality. So stop with the guilt stuff…you’ve been with Jesus most of your life….”
One thing I hope you can take away from this message is this: spirituality looks like what you look like when you are thinking about Jesus and seeking to do His will.
Mike Yaconelli suggested several things that defined what he called messy spirituality. I like to call it real life spirituality.
First, real life spirituality is unpretending…there is absolutely no room for pretence in real life spirituality.
Unfortunately, for many of us, pretending is one of the unwritten rules among a lot of us.
I think about a minister who is walking down the sidewalk. He comes upon about a dozen boys who are standing around a stray dog. He is afraid they are hurting the dog, so he says, “Hey what are you doing?” One of them says, “He’s just an old stray, but we want to take him home…but only one of us can take him…so we decided whoever tells the biggest lie is going to get to take the dog home.” The minister is appalled. He says, “Don’t you know that it’s a sin to tell a lie?” Then he went into a ten minute sermon about the ills of not telling the truth. He ended the sermon saying, “When I was your age I never told a lie.” There was a long silent pause, then one of the boys hung his head and said, “Oh my, give the dog to the minister!”
It’s so easy and so tempting to begin to think we ought to be like that minister and pretend to be something we are not.
So, we end up acting like God is in control when we’re not sure that we believe that at all. We give the impression to one another that everything is okay with us, when really it isn’t. We pretend we believe when we doubt. We hide our imperfections; maintain the image of a perfect marriage and well-adjusted children, when your family is just as dysfunctional as the next. We act like we have it all together when inside we feel like we’re falling apart. And whenever we come to church and someone asks how we’re doing…our answer is always “fine.” When often we’d like to say, “The truth is, my back is bothering me; my teenage kids are disappointing me; I’m unhappy with my body and I’m wondering if prayer makes any difference at all.” We just pretend with each other so much of the time.
The first step in real life spirituality is that we stop pretending.
Second, real life spirituality is not just unpretending, it is also unfinished…it is always unfinished. We are always in progress, always incomplete, always imperfect and always under construction. If we are Christians at all, we are always Christians under construction. We will never be complete until we see Jesus face-to-face.
Ruth Graham, the late wife of Billy Graham, saw a road sign one day that she said she’d like to have on her tombstone. The words were these: “End of construction, thank you for your patience.”
Ken Callahan had a repertoire of wise advice for churches and Christians. Among the wisest is this: “Most of us have an old friend by the name of perfectionism. Take that old friend for a ride with you out into the country. When you get to an isolated spot, stop the car and ask your old friend to get out. Then close the door, drive away and leave him there.”
Henri Nouwen is just as direct: “He who thinks he is finished is finished. Those who think they have arrived have lost their way. Those who think they have reached their goal have missed it.” (Chinese Diary)
When we accept that our life will always be unfinished and incomplete until we see Jesus, then we can begin to embrace the essence of true spirituality and accept the grace that God gives us!
That brings me to the third principle of real life spirituality. It always relies on the Amazing Grace of God.
God’s plan for your life and mine isn’t based on our goodness; it’s based on God’s goodness. God’s plan isn’t based on my intelligence; it’s based on God’s omniscience. It doesn’t matter whether I’m educated enough or even smart enough. It doesn’t matter what color I am or what kind of an accent I have. It doesn’t matter if I have a questionable history, or if other people think I’m odd. God isn’t impressed by any gift we possess, or put off by any limitation that we have.
It’s all about grace. All!
Let me tell you about Carl. It was little league and Carl was at bat. Carl’s team was down by one run. It was the last inning. There were two outs and the bases were loaded, and depending on how Carl did, it would decide the winner and the loser of the game!
Carl came from a large family. There was his mother and dad, grandparents, aunts and uncles to cheer him on and the opposing crowd was there to jeer Carl.
The stakes were high, the energy was reaching a fever pitch as the pitcher threw the first pitch. Strike one, the crowd really got into it, both yelling support and ridicule. Then came the second pitch, strike two. It was clear: Carl was either going to be the hero or the goat. The crowd continued with the noise as the third pitch came across the plate. Carl swung a mighty swing and everyone saw the ball fly into the catcher’s mitt. Strike three; you’re out! Carl was out, the game was over, and he was the goat.
The winning team went crazy! Their families swarmed out onto the field, everyone having their own kind of celebration. Carl’s team walked quietly off the field, dejected, and they all headed back to their cars in silence. But Carl was still standing at the plate, devastated, alone, his head held down in disgrace.
Then, it happened! Someone who loved him yelled, “Come on Carl, pick up the bat. Grandpa’s pitching.”
Bewildered, Carl slowly picked up the bat and swung at Grandpa’s first pitch. He missed it! In fact, he missed the next six pitches that were thrown to him. On the seventh pitch he got a hold of the ball and sent it into left field. His aunt ran, picked up the ball and threw it to first base with plenty of time for an out. But the first baseman, his Mom, must have lost the ball in the sun because it went right through her hands into the dugout. “Run,” everyone yelled. As Carl was running to second base, the first baseman recovered the ball and threw it to second. Amazingly, Uncle David was blinded by the sun as well. “Keep running!” yelled someone. And Carl headed for third, where the throw went at least two feet over the head of the third baseman. “Keep running, Carl.” And Carl raced for home, running as hard as he’d ever run. The ball was thrown with deadly accuracy as the catcher, blocking home plate, waited to tag him out, but just as Carl reached home plate, the ball bounced in and out of the catcher’s mitt. Carl was safe.”
Before he knew it, Carl found himself being carried around on Uncle David’s shoulders while the rest of the family crowded around cheering Carl’s name.
One person who watched the whole thing unfold said, “I watched a little boy fall victim to a conspiracy of grace.”
Carl was the loser, the goat, the one who struck out, failed his team, and disappointed everybody. Carl, who would have been left with this awful memory of failure was instead given a memory of grace, love and acceptance. And that’s what God has done for you in Jesus Christ!
God knows each of us are inconsistent, a bundle of imperfections and contradictions. When we try to get our act together and fail, God is not surprised. When we fail and try to pretend, God is not fooled. This is our Father who knows us and loves us anyway.
The final thing I want to say about real life spirituality is this: it is less about methods and more about passion and desire. At the heart of it is this passion to know and love God, to follow Jesus, to be God’s person, in spite of our past imperfections.
In the Gospel story that I read earlier, Mary and Martha have “opened their home” to Jesus. The obligation to provide radical hospitality in the Ancient Near East was strong. And travelers were mostly dependent upon the hospitality of private homes. Martha and Mary offered that gift to Jesus. And the story tells us about Martha scurrying around preparing for Jesus…but that Mary “sat at the Lord’s feet.”
When it says “she sat at the Lord’s feet,” this might be a description of her location in the room or her proximity to Jesus. But I think it is something more. To “sit at someone’s feet” was an expression in ancient times that was used to indicate the relationship between a disciple and a rabbi.
To sit at someone’s feet was to make that person your rabbi. It was about making their way your way, making their passion your passion. Mary made Jesus her rabbi and thus wanted to learn everything she could from him.
As I’ve shared in the past, 1st century Jews had a blessing that beautifully expresses the commitment of a disciple to stay in the presence of the rabbi he followed: “May you always be covered by the dust of your rabbi.” That is, “May you follow your rabbi so closely that the dust that his feet kick up will cake your clothing and line your face.” Like a baby duckling whose image of its mother has been imprinted on its brain, a disciple never wanted to let their rabbi out of their sight. They wanted the imprint of him to be on them.
This was the choice Mary made. This is the choice real life spirituality makes.
We’d like to think that spiritual growth results from one mighty, once-for-all commitment to God. But the truth is, it is hundreds...maybe thousands...of decisions that make up genuine spiritual growth, some of them moving us closer to God, some of them moving us farther away, but all contributing to what can become a deeper, richer, more vital relationship with God.
During my adolescence, I made about a hundred decisions to become a Christian, to re-become a Christian, to rededicate my life to God, then to rededicate my rededication. I meant every one of those decisions, yet I successfully acted on most of them for about 2-3 days, at the most, 2-3 weeks.
Still, those little decisions and the days that followed laid the groundwork for the next decisions. I couldn’t have made the next decisions if I hadn’t made the previous ones. I was growing one decision at a time. No question about it…my growth looked inconsistent...sometimes it was two steps backwards, one step forward…but I was growing nevertheless.
Those decisions involved and continue to involve the spiritual disciplines of prayer, Bible study, acts of service, being in deep community and in worship. But I try to never confuse spiritual growth with those parts of the Christian life. Those things contribute to spiritual growth but spiritual growth cannot be reduced to simply doing certain things.
Real spirituality is not about a formula; it is a relationship. It is not about perfection; it is about connection.
It is about the passionate pursuit to be with Jesus, to sit at his feet and throw ourselves into a wild and wonderful quest for God in scripture, in other people, in deep connections with other believers, in moments of solitude, in worship, in acts of service and even in the tangled jungle of our own souls.
So if you realize that you are unfinished and you’re tired of pretending and you are passionate about wanting something more, Jesus stands ready with all that amazing grace. He is not repelled by us, no matter how incomplete we are. He is not discouraged by our humanity or turned off by our messiness. He simply, doggedly pursues us in the face of it all. So, what else can we do but give in to his outrageous, indiscriminate love?
What else can we do but love the One who loves us so?
Let us pray. Lord Jesus, come and be our teacher. May the Spirit open up your Word to us. The life of intimacy with God that you lived...may we discover that life. May we know the joy of your grace, your correction, and the promise that you are with us on the journey. For we pray in your name. Amen.
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Endnotes: This sermon is based, in part, upon material from the following sources:
1. Melody Merita, “Messy Spirituality”
2. John Ortberg, God is Closer Than You Think
3. Mike Yaconelli, Messy Spirituality
08-0928.mp3
]]>Hearts Hardened With Hopetag:germantownumc.org,2008:index.php/6.5242008-09-21T15:04:00Z2008-10-03T17:26:37ZDonna Thurmonddthurmond@germantownumc.orgPsalm 46:1-7;10-11 NRSV God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth should change, though the mountains shake in the heart of the sea; though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains tremble with its tumult. There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy habitation of the Most High. God is in the midst of the city; it shall not be moved; God will help it when the morning dawns. The nations are in an uproar, the kingdoms totter; he utters his voice, the earth melts. The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge.
[and He says to us]: “Be still, and know that I am God! I am exalted among the nations, I am exalted in the earth.” The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge.
Matthew 8:18-23-27 NRSV Now when Jesus saw great crowds around him, he gave orders to go over to the other side.
And when he got into the boat, his disciples followed him. A windstorm arose on the sea, so great that the boat was being swamped by the waves; but he was asleep. And they went and woke him up, saying, “Lord, save us! We are perishing!” And he said to them, “Why are you afraid, you of little faith?” Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the sea; and there was a dead calm. They were amazed, saying, “What sort of man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey him?”
Let us pray. Come, Holy Spirit, Heavenly Dove; descend on us, reveal your love. Word of God and inward light, wake our spirits; clear our sight. Surround us now with all your glory; speak through me that sacred story. Take my lips and make them bold. Take hearts and minds and make them whole. Stir in us that sacred flame; then send us forth to spread your name. Amen.
Well, it had been one of those times in Memphis. It had been a rainy couple of weeks...every day...for at least two weeks! Everybody in the Kirchoff household was suffering from cabin fever and sun deficit, especially Chris, who was at that time about 3 ½ maybe 4 years old. So I loaded him up with his football jersey and his football helmet and a football and off we went to Overton Park to play some ball and take a short hike in the woods.
With all of that foul weather, our car, a VW Beetle, had changed its color from light blue to that color that we all know so well called street dirt brown! You know it!
After we had taken our walk in the woods and gotten back to our car, we saw that someone had written on the rear window with their finger: “Please wash me!” So, I decided it was time to take the car through the car wash.
Those were the days when you stayed in the car as it went through the car wash. Chris had never been through an automatic car wash. I watched his face as the car was drawn into a dark tunnel. Water began to roar down suddenly over all sides of the car. His eyes got as big as saucers, but his eyes went immediately from the car windows to me, looking for reassurance. Then big globs of soap began to plop down…then it billowed over the car as if a curtain were closing.
Chris was too small to understand what this was all about. His eyes darted from outside to me. He had no idea what to make of it all. What he did know was that I was there and would take care of him.
But then the giant brushes began to close in around us, whirling and sloshing and making a tremendous racket, making everything darker than before. I saw his muscles tighten…his lip quiver. As I think about it…it must have seemed like a horror film to Chris. I smiled, and nodded: it’s OK. He was afraid, but he didn’t cry. Then came a second rainstorm as water rinsed off the soap.
Then he jumped, startled, as a rubber wheel came banging down on the windshield and hurricane-like hot wind began to blast us, shaking our little car. I’m sure he wondered if we’d ever get out of that dark tunnel.
He only knew one thing: he knew me, his dad. I’d never given him any reason not to trust me. When our car finally broke out into the sunshine, his face broke into a smile. He smiled and said, “Let do it again, Dad!”
I’m pretty sure that most of you in this room have been in a dark, frightening tunnel at some time in your life. Where strange things were happening all around you that you didn't understand, and nobody was explaining anything, or if they tried to explain it, it would only make matters worse. And unless I miss my guess, this last week, most of us felt some of that as the Wall Street meltdown brought us to the brink of a second Great Depression.
What do we do in our times of great uncertainty? One of the things that we can do is go to the words of Psalm 46: “God is our refuge and our strength, a very present help in times of trouble.... The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge. …Though the nations are in an uproar and the kingdoms totter…though the earth should change and the mountains shake in the heart of the sea…I will not be afraid.”
When the psalmist wrote those words, it was a desperate situation in Israel. A foreign army had surrounded Jerusalem. It was the worst of times.
Then, there’s Matthew’s story about Jesus and the disciples in the storm.
Jesus and his buddies were out on the sea in their little boat. Suddenly a storm comes up. The waves are like mountains cresting over their little vessel. I picture the disciples fore and aft, their eyes as big as Chris’ in the car wash…only they were not just afraid…they were seasick and doing everything they knew to do to stay afloat. They’re desperate. And Jesus was stretched out in the stern, his head on a pillow, sleeping like a baby. And they cry out, “Lord save us! We are perishing!” (Another translation says: “Lord, don’t you care that we are perishing?”) And Jesus awoke and said to them, “Why are you afraid, you of little faith?” And he got up, rebuked the winds and the sea and there was calm.
The point we need to hear is that no matter how tumultuous our times, there’s One who can bring us peace. It is not the size of the ship or the strength of the storm…rather the depth of our trust in the promises of God. Simply put: God is with us. Whenever the storms rage…whenever the mountains shake in the heart of the sea, whenever the nations totter, God is our refuge and our strength.
Frederick Buechner is a preacher and a gifted author. But he’s known more for his writing than his preaching. Years ago, he wrote a book called Whistling in the Dark and, for the most part, it is about a theological idea called the Sovereignty of God. Buechner reminds us that when we…walk out into the unknown, into the darkness of life, we can whistle in the dark…not because we like the darkness or we’re unusually brave, or we’re trying to bluff our way though the darkness….but because God is there beside us. Because we know that God is at work and is always seeking to use even the worst of things to bring good in ways that we could never imagine.
Now, I don’t begin to understand that fully. But I know deep in the marrow of my bones and in every fiber of my being that when we walk into the unknown of life we can whistle in the dark, not because good things are always going to happen. They may not. We can whistle in the dark because we know that God is beside us and God is still at work.
I know today that I’m looking into some faces this morning of people who know what it is like to be in a dark tunnel. Circumstances or illness have put you there. Some of you have lost jobs and fear losing your job again. Some have lost loved ones. Some of you have lost your way. Others are stuck in the muck of life and don’t know how to take the next step. And this last week we all stood by helplessly as pensions and investments and retirement accounts were significantly diminished and we were all left feeling less secure than we ever dreamt.
As people of faith, what do we do when we face the unknown? We learn again to trust in God, knowing that God is still at work. We seek to never forget the adequacy of God in the face of the inadequacies of our lives.
If he were still alive, Mstislav Rostropovich could tell you something about this. In his lifetime, he was universally recognized as the world's greatest cellist. During the height of the Cold War, Rostropovich and his wife spoke out on behalf of human rights and artistic freedom in the face of a Soviet Union that was trying to shut off dissent from the likes of Andrei Sakharov and Alexander Solzhenitsyn.
In fact, in 1969 Rostropovich wrote an open letter to Brezhnev protesting against Soviet human rights violations; and in 1970, Rostropovich and his wife sheltered the banned novelist Solzhenitsyn at their home outside of Moscow.
The reprisals they faced were swift and severe. Their concerts, recording projects, and foreign tours were canceled. State-run media imposed a black-out of their names and activities.
Finally the state gave them an exit visa to perform in Paris, but then refused to let them back in, stripping them of citizenship and informing Rostropovich that he could never return to Russia. They were without a home. All their friends, belongings, musical compositions, instruments -- all they had was left behind. And they lived in exile until 1989.
But then, Nov 9th, 1989, the Berlin Wall came tumbling down. When Rostropovich heard the news and saw that the communist regime in E. Germany was coming apart, he knew that the whole Eastern bloc was coming unglued, and that his exile would soon be over. So, how could he express his gratitude and thanksgiving?
He caught the first plane to Berlin, hailed a cab and told the driver to take him to the wall. When he arrived at the wall, he realized that he had to worry about something he’d never had to worry about: a chair. You can't play a cello without a chair. Someone always had a chair ready for him. Never before in his life did he have to worry about a chair. But now he had to find one. He began knocking on the doors of homes close to where he was let off. A German family produced a small kitchen chair. And to offer his joy and gratitude to God for the gift of freedom and a homecoming that would someday happen, he sat in a borrowed chair in front of that crumbling wall and played his cello.
And what did the greatest cellist in the world play when he picked up his bow? He played a Bach cello suite. He said, “I chose Bach to say thank you to the great God.” (From a conversation between Rostropovich and John M. Buchanan, recounted in “Glory,” Fourth Presbyterian Church, Chicago, Illinois, 12/1700)
Life has been hard recently. The southern skies have been filled with fierce storms. Our nation is caught up in the tumult of a bitterly fought presidential campaign. And this last week, the volcanoes of misery overflowed as Wall Street erupted spewing ashes of fear among us all.
But this morning, I invite you to join with me in celebrating the Good News that God is still our refuge and strength, remembering that no category four storm or tumult of nations or act of terror or wealth-swallowing financial quake can separate us from the love of God.
We celebrate the great promise: God is with us; the Lord is by my side.
But the Good News is not only that God is by our side, but that God longs to give us peace inside.
In the magnificent Psalm 46, the Lord says, “Be still! Be still and know that I am God.”
It is a beautiful thought -- but I think that beautiful thought skewers me, and perhaps most of us, with judgment.
I mean, how often am I still? How often are we still in our life? Truly still! Quiet in body and serene in soul!
We live life at a frenetic pace…in this culture of radios, iPods and blaring TV’s. Cell phones interrupt our meals, PDA’s constantly buzz in our pockets, and 24-hour news assaults us with the latest of bad news from somewhere. Seldom are we still enough and quiet enough, long enough to even think of God, much less to pray.
In the midst of the rush and the clamor and the fear of life, we almost forget that there’s another world that we can know, don't we? A world of silence and serenity...a world of deep peace and soulfulness…a world of quiet healing, where trust is renewed and balance is restored. It is a world that can only be discovered when we hear and heed the words: “Be still! Be still and know that I am God.”
If we are willing to be still and know God…if we are willing to be devoted to a life of prayer, we will experience that inner peace and divine guidance. And we will be amazed by grace and empowered to face whatever storms may come.
The tendency in us is to want to ask, “But I don't know what the future holds.” But I would say to you, “You don’t have to know!” You just have to know the One who holds you in whatever the future brings. Whatever turns the future takes, the power of the cross can take us around every corner with confidence.
How can that be? It is because, as G. K. Chesterton said in those marvelous words: “our hearts are hardened with hope.”
The next time you open up the newspaper and read about bad news in Memphis or Shelby County or somewhere in the world, harden your heart with hope. When you turn on the TV and your hear more and more bad news, harden your heart with hope. Yes, there are doomsayers, and some of what they say we must hear. But they do not have the last word. We follow the doomslayer. You know the doomslayer!
So, harden your heart with hope and proclaim with one voice: God is our refuge and our strength!
Can you say those words with me? God is our refuge and our strength!
Try saying it now with some conviction: God is our refuge and our strength!
We will not fear though the earth should change! Why? Say it with me! Because: God is our refuge and our strength!
Though the mountains shake into the heart of the sea, we will not fear! Why? Because God is our refuge and our strength!
Though the nations rage and kingdoms totter! God is our refuge and our strength!
I will not...I can not...I must not...give way to fear. Why? Because God is our refuge and our strength!
Let us pray. O God, we give you our thanks today that you are able to harden our hearts with hope...that you are the One who can see us through the dark tunnels of life and raise us up to joy on the other side. So speak to our fears, teach us how to be quiet and to be still and to know that you are there, and show us how to trust you again. For we pray in the name of Jesus, with us now, and with us always. Amen.
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Endnotes: This sermon is based, in part, upon material from the following sources:
1. Dr. John Killinger, “God and Our Haiku Moments”
2. Lloyd Ogilvie, Falling Into Greatness
3. John Ortberg, “Mountain Moving Power”
4. Leonard Sweet, “The Chair, Collected Sermons,” Leonard Sweet, ChristianGlobe Networks
08-0921.mp3
]]>May I Have This Dance?tag:germantownumc.org,2008:index.php/6.5222008-09-14T14:39:00Z2008-09-25T15:00:11ZDonna Thurmonddthurmond@germantownumc.org
Lord, open our hearts and minds by the power of your Holy Spirit, that as the scriptures are read and your Word is proclaimed, we may hear with joy what you say to us today. Silence in us any voice but your own, that hearing, we may also obey your will, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Ephesians 3:14-21 NRSV For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth takes its name. I pray that, according to the riches of his glory, God may grant that you may be strengthened in your inner being with power through God’s Spirit, and that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, as you are being rooted and grounded in love. I pray that you may have the power to comprehend, with all the saints, what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. Now to him who by the power at work within us is able to accomplish abundantly far more than all we can ask or imagine, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.
And to the church at Corinth, the 4th chapter, verse 20, this Word:
1 Corinthians 4:20 NIV For the kingdom of God is not a matter of talk but of power.
May God bless to our understanding, the reading of His Holy Word.
Are you really somebody? Somebody incredible? Somebody who is going to be remembered? Think for just a minute about your claim to fame.
We will forever remember the accomplishments of athletes like Kerri Strug, who landed her vault despite a seriously injured ankle in the 1996 Olympics to clinch the gold for the American gymnastics team. We will forever remember Michael Phelps on the medal stand as he smiled and looked to his mother as he won an incredible eight gold medals. Who has forgotten the names Jackie Joyner-Kersee and her sister-in-law Flo-Jo from track and field at the 1988 Olympics? Both are world record holders in their events.
Those people inspire me! And so I began to look for an event I could master so that I could become a world record holder. I am pretty sure I could beat this record without training, but I’d be glad to train for it: it’s the most Ferrero Rocher chocolates eaten in one minute -- the world record is six. (You can watch the attempt here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D5_bErHgzOc) I have confidence that I can eat more than six in a minute. And I just might apply and see if I can’t be listed in the Guinness Book of World Records…but is that the mark I really want to leave on the world?
What do you want your claim to fame to be? I want to make a difference -- set some things right, bring some peace and justice, change the lives of some of the least of these, to bring just a little bit of doing as it is in heaven to earth, to bring a little bit of up there down here.
But there are times that I don’t feel so confident in my abilities…when I am not sure what mark I’ll be able to leave on the world. And it is those times that I am tempted not to take on the challenges of life. I’m tempted to walk away from the opportunity to make a difference -- and I’ll bet you’ve done it, too! The “it will never work, it’s too radical, they will never go for it,” excuses that keep you from proposing changes that bring just a sliver of justice or peace or right into a situation.
What I lack in those moments, and I imagine you can think of a time you have lacked it, too, is courage. Aristotle said that “courage is the virtue that makes all other virtues possible.” Courage that says, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me” is the courage that allows the Holy Spirit to transform you. It is courage that trusts God, that lets go and lets God, that has confidence in God’s grace and goodness and greatness. And at the same time it is humble, grounded in reality, and you know your limitations on your own. (Sweet)
In this passage from Ephesians, Paul prays for the church at Ephesus from the depth of his love. He wants them to have world-transforming courage, and that world-transforming courage is life-transforming, too. For the kingdom of God is not a matter of talk but of power.
Paul wants what is best for them -- and not just for the world, but for them as individuals…he wants what will satisfy them and make them whole.
Think of the last time you felt whole…that there was nothing missing in your life. We’ve all had those WOW moments – those experiences we wish we could hold on to, or replicate! Those times when everything else in life seems to be a distant whisper and you are so immersed in the joy of NOW that you have no worries, no concerns. Whether it was riding the merry-go-round on the school playground in 1st grade squealing with your friends, or holding hands for the first time with someone you liked, or playing chase with your child and falling down, laughing together, or watching someone you love really having a great time. They are all relational moments. Paul knows that the moment of wholeness comes for the believer when he or she is in relationship with the living God.
It doesn’t happen when you know about God -- when you memorize enough Scripture, or ferret out a flawless systematic theology. It doesn’t happen when you get your commitment level up to par -- when you are giving of your prayers, your presence, your gifts, your service, and your witness -- in the right amounts. It doesn’t happen when you follow a schedule and are disciplined in your prayer time and read the Bible daily. It doesn’t happen when you make an effort to be at church every Sunday. That’s not what church is about…that’s not what religion is about. It is not about living right; it is not following a formula…it is not about knowing about God. It’s about knowing God.
As we move through this sermon series on Being Spiritual Olympians, we will be focusing on the roles of prayer, community and solitude, attitudes of satiation and gratitude. All of these are ways to be on the spiritual journey -- but they aren’t being on the journey. They are dance steps you learn so that you can dance…but they aren’t the dance. They are ways to get to know God, but they are not knowing God.
Paul reminds us here that the spiritual life is about knowing GOD, not knowing about God. It is relational -- church, religion, IS about being rooted and grounded in love, that our hearts and minds would be like Christ’s, that the Holy Spirit would work in and through us, and we would be filled with all the fullness of God.
For many of us, if we’re honest about it, that sounds kind of like – well, what are the words we might use to describe it -- over-the-top, conservative evangelical, touchy-feely…emotional, in your face Christianity. And we shy away from talk about the Holy Spirit and God indwelling, and just as soon as we do, we walk away from the covenant. We walk away from the purpose for creation. The reason we were created was to be in relationship with God. And when we compartmentalize and check-list our religious duties and limit our willingness to let God take over our lives, to live in us, we give up that WOW -- that wholeness that sweeps us away.
We may learn the dance steps, but never dance. God comes to us and asks, “May I have this dance? Will you let me lead?”
If we’re honest with ourselves, we know that we are not in the lead. We don’t have control over our lives. “The thrill of victory and the agony of defeat” would mean nothing to those of us who watch the wide world of sports if it were just up to whether or not a person wanted to win and tried hard enough.
When Dave Wottle spoke of his run for Olympic Gold at the kick-off this fall, he talked about a sense of everything coming together at just the right moment for one competitor -- you can train the hardest, be the favorite to win, and experience the agony of defeat. An accident, a cramp, or just someone else having a great run…can leave you just shy of your dream. The same is true in life…we are not in control.
We commit ourselves as Christians to training, we can be seen as a leader, a person with great potential for the kingdom of God, a difference maker, and if we become dependent on ourselves…and not on God, we, too, can experience the agony of falling short, of being left just shy of our dream. Why? Because we went on our own steam. We didn’t open ourselves to the Holy Spirit to work in and through us.
When we open up to God…when we say, “I’ll learn the dance steps, and I’ll dance with you…and I’ll let you lead,” THAT is a transformed life that transforms the world. THAT is the life that is whole. THAT is when we make a difference in the world.
First, we learn the steps…we sign up for a Bible study, we commit to a daily devotional, we set aside a time for prayer, we volunteer to serve others here at church and in the community, we give of our money and our time in a sacrificial way. Then, we get to know God, we worship, we form community with other believers, we sign up for a prayer group, and we give of our love to others, loving them like God loves them.
And then we let God lead the dance. The apostle Paul said it this way to the church at Corinth, “the Kingdom of God is not just a lot of talk; it is living by God’s power.” It is not about knowing all the steps, it is about dancing. It is about having that perfectly in unison, beautiful, graceful glide across the dance floor. The whole becomes greater than the sum of the parts.
That’s why we love to watch the Olympics! At the Olympics, something intangible happens and we watch people accomplish amazing feats -- we watch the whole become greater than the sum of the parts -- we call it the Olympic spirit.
Natalie du Toit exemplifies for me the Olympic spirit. At 24 years old, Natalie swam and carried the flag for South Africa in the 2008 Olympics. At age 16, she almost made the team to go to the 2000 games. And there was a sense that there were great things in store for this young lady…that 2004 would be her Olympics. But in 2001, after she finished her morning workout, she eased her motor scooter into Monday rush hour traffic and headed to school.
Just down the street from her pool, a careless driver exiting a parking lot ran directly into her left leg. The scene was gruesome; the devastation was immediately obvious. She says, “I kept saying, 'I've lost my leg, I've lost my leg.’” Her teammates rushed to her. The traffic snarled. The scene became a total, horrible chaos. A motorcycle policeman racing to the accident crashed headfirst into a truck and had to be airlifted to a hospital. It would have been merciful if du Toit had fainted. But this is a girl who confronts reality without blinking. She stayed awake.
For days, the doctors attempted to save her leg. But it was no use. They amputated through the left knee and inserted a titanium rod into her broken femur. She recalls asking her mom, “When are they going to amputate?” She says, “My mom's answer was that they already had.” Through the fog of medication, du Toit absorbed the news. The next day she got out of bed. Life was calling. The pool was calling. She says of the time, “I just wanted to get back to life again -- swimming four hours a day -- and I wanted to be able to walk again so that I would be able to do things by myself.”
Natalie du Toit is now one of the world's fastest distance swimmers, and the only amputee to qualify for the Olympic Games. Less than two years after the accident, she qualified for the finals of the 800 meter freestyle at the 2002 Commonwealth Games, marking the first time an amputee in the modern era had raced in the finals of an able-bodied international swimming competition.
It’s an amazing story! What is your amazing story? Will you accomplish far more than all you can ask or imagine? You can…with God! Paul said it this way to the Philippians, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” How does that happen today? How does God dance with us?
The Holy Spirit. Just before his ascension, the disciples asked Jesus when the kingdom would come. And Jesus responded that the time was not important, but that “you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you.” Are you empowered by the Holy Spirit?
There is a benediction that summarizes for me what it means to dance with the Spirit’s leading. Its author is unknown…and perhaps that is fitting:
May the Spirit bless you with discomfort at easy answers, half-truths, and superficial relationships so that you will live deep in your heart.
May the Spirit bless you with anger at injustice and oppression, and exploitation of people and the earth so that you will work for justice, equity, and peace.
May the Spirit bless you with tears to shed for those who suffer so that you will reach out your hand to comfort them.
And may the Spirit bless you with the foolishness to think that you can make a difference in the world, so you will do the things which others say cannot be done. (Sweet)
Let us pray. Come, Holy Spirit, fill us with your power. We are called throughout your Scripture to humble ourselves and to serve you. As we seek to learn to be disciples, give us confidence in your grace and greatness so that we might have the courage to be transformed and to transform your world, for the sake of Christ, Amen.
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Endnotes: This sermon is based, in part, upon material from the following sources:
1. Tom O’Byrne, “Empowered by the Spirit” sermon
2. John Ortberg, “When the Game is Over It All Goes Back in the BOX,” Zondervan, Grand Rapids, MI, 2007.
3. Leonard Sweet, “11 Indispensible Relationships You Can’t Be Without,” David C. Cook, Colorado Springs, CO, 2008.
4. http://www.nataliedutoit.com
]]>The Time of Your Lifetag:germantownumc.org,2008:index.php/6.5212008-09-07T22:58:00Z2008-09-17T23:04:19ZDonna Thurmonddthurmond@germantownumc.orgExodus 20:8-11 NRSV Remember the sabbath day, and keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work. But the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God; you shall not do any work – you, your son or your daughter, your male or female lave, your livestock, or the alien resident in your towns. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but rested the seventh day; therefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day and consecrated it.
Let us pray. Come, Holy Spirit, Heavenly Dove; descend on us, reveal your love. Word of God and inward light, wake our spirits; clear our sight. Surround us now with all your glory; speak through me that sacred story. Take my lips and make them bold. Take hearts and minds and make them whole. Stir in us that sacred flame; then send us forth to spread your name. Amen.
They seemed to have it all – good looks, money, success, a beautiful home and a good marriage. At least, that’s how it all looked from the outside. Yet, they went to their rabbi, worried about their constant bickering and the deterioration of their relationship and their marriage. Rabbi Naomi Levy soon discovered that both of them were working long hours at high-pressure jobs and both of them were seriously stressed out. Their weekends were full of errands and on the weeknights they were exhausted. Rabbi Levy asked them how often they had a chance to really enjoy time together. “Hardly ever!” they said. Then she asked them to try a simple change: to observe a Sabbath. She says, “They looked at me as if I were insane.”
She reminded them how, in the Jewish tradition, Sabbath extends from Friday sunset to Saturday night. Sabbath means “to cease” – to stop what it is that we normally do and just be! It’s one day, a day of rest, a day to leave the week behind, to stop working or thinking about work…a time for family, friends and God…a time with nature, beauty and spirituality. A day for good food and drink, good company, fresh flowers and romance. It is a day to be quiet enough, long enough to appreciate all the blessings of life that so often we take for granted.
The couple said, “This sounds all well and good, but we aren’t religious people.” They only occasionally came to worship. And after all, their lives were so full. They had important, busy lives and here a rabbi was telling them to observe a traditional, 24-hour Sabbath.
“There must be another way to address the problems in our marriage” one of them said. The other one said, “How about some counseling, or helping us to learn better methods of communication?” But Levy held firm. She said, “You asked for my help and this is my advice…one day a week, starting on Friday at sunset, do something radically different.” She said, “Just try it!” They sort of shook their heads, and left her office feeling very apprehensive and skeptical, and said, “We’ll think about it.”
The next week they were back. They strolled into her office, arm in arm and told her they had taken her advice and hadn’t experienced such peace and joy in their relationship since their honeymoon. They seemed like different people -- calm, patient and more affectionate.
Naomi Levy writes, “True rest doesn’t affect us only when we’re resting. It spills over into our weeks, our years, our very lives. The days preceding a day of rest become days of excitement and expectation. The most harried days become tolerable when you know a day of holy peace is shortly arriving.”
We’re in the midst of this series, Finishing Strong: Being Spiritual Olympians, and we’ve been drawing from the life of athletes as we explore the spiritual life.
Listen to Dr. Mark Jenkins, a specialist in sports medicine. He writes: “It’s no secret among athletes that in order to improve your performance you've got to work hard. However, hard training breaks you down and makes you weaker. It is the rest (between training) that makes you stronger. Physiologic improvement in sports only occurs during the rest periods following hard training. If sufficient rest is not included in a training program, then regeneration cannot occur and performance plateaus. If there’s an imbalance between hard training and inadequate rest…then performance will decline.”
Now, hold that thought in mind and remember the ancient wisdom of God, who is saying the very same thing to you and me about our everyday life, our emotional, our spiritual, our
relational health.
Several years ago, in an issue of Parade magazine, there was an article entitled: “Change Your Life…Take a Day of Rest,” in which the writer was pushing the ancient idea of keeping a Sabbath. She writes in amazement about our hectic, crazy, cell-phone-always-at-the-ear pace and tells about a billboard she saw for an exercise class with the headline: “You Can Rest When You're Dead.” “What's going on?” she wondered. She says: “Instead of that image, put in its place a day when we allow ourselves to rejoice in physical pleasures – a day of good company, wonderful food…perhaps even romance. What might it feel like to treat ourselves royally once a week, to set the table with our best china, to put flowers in our homes, to light candles, to take time to pray?”
Then there’s this article from Hemisphere magazine, a United Airlines' in-flight magazine. The article was entitled “Ancient Wisdom,” and was written by Nan Chase of The Washington Post. The kicker line read: “If you and your family are drowning in a sea of to-do lists, try doing nothing -- one day each week.” “Learn to Sabbath,” she says. This gifted journalist, after describing her own pulling-out-hair lifestyle, writes to millions of going-crazy travelers: “I decided to try an old-fashioned cure for my Space Age blues. It's called Sabbath and it is a mental-health tool that works as well today as it did 3,200 years ago when the Hebrews codified a weekly day of rest as the 4th Commandment.”
What is Sabbath? Simply this: one of the great gifts of God!
“Imagine for a moment that someone who cares about you has sent you a gift certificate for a day that is to be devoted entirely to the needs of your soul. On that day, you don't have to work. You can take a walk and have a relaxing conversation with friends or loved ones about the things that really matter. You can meditate, pray, and read books that speak to your soul. You can nap and let your mind take a rest, or you can dance and sing to let your spirit soar.” Imagine that someone who cares about you has given you this gift. (Dr. Leonard Felder)
Well, that gift is yours!
The idea of Sabbath began with God. Genesis tells us that after working to bring life out of nothingness, God was ready to enjoy the life that He had created.
I’ve often wondered, “What do you think God did on that first Sabbath?” Now, I wasn’t there, but I imagine that God climbed a mountain early in the day before the sun came up in order to watch the sunrise, that God shared a picnic lunch with Adam and Eve, played fetch with a couple of golden retrievers, napped on a hammock tied between God’s two favorite oak trees, rode a horse on the beach in the evening, then toasted the sunset with great delight.
You see, Sabbath is not about a bunch of lifeless “thou shalt not’s.” It is about what refreshes, what restores our life, what helps us to feel God’s love and presence here and now, in this moment. It is a time when we stop just being a human DO-ing and simply be a human BE-ing. It is a holy day when we stop doing what we do the other six days and open ourselves to receive the gift God wants to give us.
So, how might we begin to Sabbath? It’s not complicated, but for me, it involves at least three things.
First, you have to set aside a day -- 24 hours. To me, it’s not really important when that 24-hour period is...the day is up to you. Sunday is a work day for me…so my Sabbath is usually Thursday night through Friday night. I set it aside, protect it, and put it on my calendar.
But for a long time, I told myself I didn’t need to take a real Sabbath – I could take little Sabbaths, little rests, little breaks all through the week. I used that to justify having my work and pace of activity invade all seven days of the week. But I’ve discovered that little breaks don’t give me anything like what one full day break provides.
A true Sabbath allows us get the pace of life and work out of our systems; it allows us to detach from our work physically, emotionally and mentally for a sustained period. That’s why God wisely said…not a little bit every day, but every seven days, take one whole day.
Second, when I Sabbath, I strive to do only those things that bring rest, refreshment and renewal.
As I said, for me, my Sabbath is usually all day Friday. I set it aside for things like nine holes of laid-back golf, time on my bike, perhaps a little gardening, movie and dinner with Jane, a time of spiritual reflection and time to be with friends.
I try to think of Sabbath in these terms: What is it that gives me life? What do I love doing that I don’t get to do on the other six days? What helps me relax? What helps me celebrate? What brings life back in balance when it’s gotten out of balance? What helps me to remember who I am and reconnects me with God?
God’s design is simple: that we Sabbath and do those things that rest and refresh us, that we do those activities or in-activities that renew us and put gas in our tank.
Finally, Sabbath is a time to remember the most important things in life, to recall the great spiritual lessons of the past and apply them to ourselves.
Upstairs, on the balcony level, is a plaque placed there in memory of a wonderful member of this church, Jim Roberts. It has three words on it, in addition to his name: Family, Friends, and Faith. Those are the things that ultimately matter in our lives. Family, friends, and faith. Things that matter in life are things like love for God, love for people, love for family…honesty, integrity, justice, grace, forgiveness and acts of kindness. That’s what matters!
And there’s no better place to be, when we Sabbath, than at church among God’s people in a time of worship, because then, we remember who we are and who God is.
John Moriarty is one of Ireland's leading scholars of Celtic spirituality and folklore. He tells a story from Celtic folklore that serves as a kind of parable for me about the Sabbath. In the folk tale, a collector of shellfish finds himself marooned at sea for a night on a rock island. When the tide came in, dolphins gathered at the rock in the darkness and shedding their skins, revealed themselves as beautiful human beings. Then, before dawn they all returned to the sea. But the shell collector, hiding in the darkness, took one of the skins, leaving one of the women without her dolphin-self. The two become friends; she follows him home and they marry. They’re happy, but there’s always a longing in her for something else.
All goes normally until one day she's making bread. Suddenly a drop of dolphin oil falls from the ceiling onto the table. The smell brings her back to another sense of herself. She searches and finds the dolphin skin hidden in the attic; she remembers who she is…what she was created to be…and she puts on the dolphin skin and returns to the ocean.
John Moriarty uses this story to remind us how hints of the eternal show themselves in the midst of ordinary life. We live immersed in the dailiness of life…doing and going, making money and spending money. But dailiness is not our destiny. We have another, truer identity! What is our true identity? Where is our true home? What is our true self? How can we be faithful to our earthly home and our ever mysterious, eternal home? Where are the dolphin drops that recall us to what is eternal and true?
My friend, Len Sweet, who retells the story, says this: the Sabbath is one of the dolphin drops that God added to life…a day, one day out of seven, that if observed, has the power to remind us of our true identity.
God longs that you and I rediscover the Sabbath…a time to cease all of our doing…and just be! A day when we can be less a human DO-ing and more and more a human BE-ing. The Sabbath is a gift of God...a gift we need! Isn’t it time that we open that gift and receive the blessing of God?
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Endnotes: This sermon is based, in part, upon material from the following sources:
1. Lee Bluemel, “The Importance of Doing Nothing”
2. Dr. Leonard Felder, The Ten Challenges
3. Siegfried S. Johnson, “Jumbo Shrimp Christianity: Oxymorons for Christian Living”
4. Naomi Levy, To Begin Again
5. Henri Nouwen, The Inner Voice of Love, page 68
6. Dave Shull, “The First Thing God Calls Holy”
7. David B. Smith, “The Missing Spice Called Sabbath”
8. Len Sweet, “Dolphin Drops”
9. Barbara Brown Taylor, “Sabbath Resistance,” The Christian Century, May 31, 2005
10. James Emery White, An Authentic Life
]]>A Sacred Thirst and a Holy Hungertag:germantownumc.org,2008:index.php/6.5182008-09-01T02:26:00Z2008-09-17T19:24:54ZDonna Thurmonddthurmond@germantownumc.org
Then, the author of the website leaves us with this question: “What could you accomplish if you had their passion, their desire, their energy, and their focus?”
It’s in that spirit that we hear our scripture lesson today: one verse from the 5th chapter of Matthew.
Matthew 5:6 NRSVBlessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.
Would you say it with me? Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.
Let us pray. Come, Holy Spirit, Heavenly Dove; descend on us, reveal your love. Word of God and inward light, wake our spirits; clear our sight. Surround us now with all your glory; speak through me that sacred story. Take my lips and make them bold. Take hearts and minds and make them whole. Stir in us that sacred flame; then send us forth to spread your name. Amen.
Every one of our lives are shaped by calendars -- each filled with squares and each square is another day. We live our lives one square at a time.
Lewis Smedes wrote about this: “I bought myself a new date book…, the same kind that I use every year, spiral-bound, with a black imitation leather cover, wrapped around pages and pages of blank boxes. Each square has a number to tell me what day of the month I’m in…. Every square is a frame for one episode of my life. And...I’ll fill the squares with important things (appointments, birthdays, anniversaries), classes I teach, people with whom I am to eat lunch, everlasting committee meetings that I will have to sit through -- and those are only things I cannot afford to forget. I fill those squares, too, with things I do not have to write down to remember, (food and drink), thousands of cups of coffee, some lovemaking, some praying and I hope some gestures of help for my neighbors. Whatever I do…has to fit inside one of those squares in my date book. I live my life one square at a time.”
Whether our calendar is on paper in a book, electronic, or in our heads, we all spend our lives filling up little squares. For most of us, our squares are chaotic, stuffed with all kinds of activities and we keep vowing that we’ll slow down someday and get around to the things that we know matter most. We say, “We’ll get around to them someday, when things settle down and we have more time.”
The Holiest man who ever lived told an unforgettable story about that. And John Ortberg, in his newest book, It All Goes Back in the Box, paraphrases that story like this:
He was a busy, important man who found the 40-hour work week such a good idea that he often did it twice a week. He picked up an MBA, joined professional organizations and got on boards of directors in order to expand his contacts. He listened to business books on a special CD player in his car that sped up the reader’s voice so he could listen in half the time. When he wasn’t working, his mind always drifted back toward work so that it was not only his occupation, but his preoccupation.
His wife tried to slow him down, to remind him that he had a family. He knew that they weren’t as close as they used to be. He hadn’t intended to drift away. It’s just that they always wanted time from him and that’s what he didn’t have to give.
He was vaguely aware that his kids were growing up and he was missing so much of it. From time to time, his kids complained about the books he wasn’t reading to them, the games of catch he didn’t play with them, and the meals he wasn’t eating with them. But after awhile, they just stopped complaining; they stopped expecting him to ever be different.
“I’ll be more available to them in six months or so,” he kept saying to himself, “when things settle down and I have more time.”
And though he was very bright, he didn’t seem to notice that things never settled down and slowed down. Besides, he said to himself when he felt guilty, “I’m doing it all for them.” Of course, this wasn’t even partly true. He would have lived this way if they didn’t exist at all. But because they lived in the home and ate the food and wore the clothes that his considerable money provided, he could say to himself, “I’m doing it all for them.”
He knew that he wasn’t taking great care of his body. His doctor told him he had some warning signs (high blood pressure, high cholesterol) and told him that he needed to cut down on red meat and start an exercise program. So he just stopped going to the doctor. “There will be plenty of time for that,” he said to himself, “when things settle down and I have more time.”
His wife nagged him about going to church. But he always had an excuse.
Yet, in the middle of the night, in those times when he couldn’t sleep (those times came more and more often) he felt a profound sadness about life…it was not depression…for he was functioning just fine. It was more of a quiet sorrow that had attached itself to the walls of his soul, a subdued sorrow that simply would not go away. When it came, if he was awake, he had a drink…and if it was nighttime, he took a sleeping pill.
One day, the chief operations officer of his company came to him and said, “You won’t believe this, but things are booming to such an extent that we can’t keep up. This is our chance to hit the mother lode. If we catch this wave, we’ll be set for life. But it will require major sacrifices. Our software system is hopelessly outdated. We’ve got to over-haul the operation from top to bottom.”
He knew exactly what to do. He’d put his company through a technological revolution. They’d go wireless, 24/7 accessibility for everyone and universally mandatory hands-free phones. He was now available to everyone in the world except for those who needed him most and those he most needed -- his wife, his children, his God.
He told his wife, “Do you realize what this means? Our future is assured -- we’re set for life. Once we’re secure we can finally slow down and go on that vacation you’ve been pestering me about.” But she’d heard it all before.
That night, as he sat before his laptop rearranging the universe, there was one microscopic detail that had escaped his attention. An artery that had once been as supple as a blade of grass was now as dry as plaster and as stiff as cement. Blood cells could barely squeeze through.
Every day, as he made his plans, drafted urgent memos, anxiously checked his portfolio, a few more chips of lipids and debris joined the blockage. Every cigar, every pat of butter, every angry word, every irritation-filled drive in the car, every self-preoccupied thought had done its work.
For more than half a century his heart had quietly gone about its business. But now it skipped a beat. Then another! Then a third! He gasped for air and clutched his chest. He had a moment of blinding clarity. For the first time in a very long time, a prayer crossed his lips: “Oh, God….”
His wife awoke at 3:00 a.m. and he was still not beside her. She went downstairs and saw him still sitting in front of the computer, his head on the desk. She touched him on his shoulder to wake him up, but he did not respond. She had a sick feeling as she dialed 911. When the paramedics got there, they told her he’d been dead for hours.
His death was a major story in the financial community. His obituary was written up in Forbes and Wall Street Journal. In publications and at the memorial service, people talked about his accomplishments. “He was a leading entrepreneur…an innovator in technology and delivery systems.” “He was a man of principles,” somebody said. “He never cheated on his taxes, his expense account or his wife.” Another noted his civic achievements and called him: “A pillar in the community.”
They commissioned a large marble memorial for him. On it they wrote the words: Visionary, Innovator, Leader, Entrepreneur. At the top they wrote his favorite word, one he’d given his life for: Success. They buried his body, put up his memorial stone, and everybody went home.
When it was dark and no one else was there, the angel of God was sent to the cemetery. Unseen and unheard, the angel made his way past all of the other tombstones until he came to this man’s magnificent memorial.
There, across the words: Visionary, Innovator, Leader and Entrepreneur, Success, the angel finger traced a single word to summarize this man’s life: F-O-O-L.
Do you know the number one thing that keeps people from knowing and loving God?
In survey after survey, people say the #1 thing that keeps us from knowing and loving God is: “I’m just too busy.” It is ironic that the early followers of Jesus couldn’t be stopped by persecution, poverty, prison or martyrdom. But we’re often stumped and stunted by something as trivial as “too much to do.” Yet, there is in each of us this hunger and this thirst for something more…a holy hunger and a sacred thirst that can only be filled with God and the things of God.
The Psalmist speaks of this: “O God, my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water.” St. Augustine put it like this: “Thou hast made us for thyself and our hearts are restless till they find their rest in thee.”
C. S. Lewis, reflecting on the long, slow process by which he came to faith wrote: “We have within us life-long nostalgia, longing to be reunited with something in the universe from which we now feel cut off.”
Bruce Springsteen sang about it: Everybody's got a hungry heart. Lay down your money and you play your part. Everybody's got a hungry heart.
Sadly, most of the time we try to fill that hunger with the junk food of life and try to assuage that thirst with sugar water…like the guy in Jesus’ story, we give our lives to other pursuits. And we just settle; we lower our expectations that we’ll ever find anything to assuage the hunger and quench the thirst.
Craig, a minister, tells about a guy who works at a service station where he buys his gas. He tells about how, before they computerized the pumps to take credit cards, he would have to go in and meet the attendant and give him his money for gas. He said the first time he met this attendant he asked him, “How is it going?” Without looking at Craig, the guy responded, “Lousy.” He clearly didn’t want to talk about it, so Craig just smiled and paid his bill. The next week he asked the attendant the same question and got the same answer: “lousy.” This went on for months. It became this despairing little liturgy that the two would repeat every week. Then one day as he was accustomed to doing, Craig asked, “How’s it going?” He expected the usual response. But this time, the attendant smiled and exclaimed, “Great!” Astonished, Craig asked, “So, things are improving?” “No,” he said, “I’m just lowering my expectations.” (from Craig Barnes, Sacred Thirst)
Jesus came to remind us: we don’t have to settle. We don’t have to lower our expectations. He said: “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for God and after the things of God.”
Consider Jesus’ words for a moment! In the original language of those words, we catch a glimpse of what Jesus meant here in the words “hunger and thirst.” For he used words that translated from the Greek that mean “a craving, an insatiable or consuming desire.”
Jesus says: Blessed are those who have a deep craving for a life-giving relationship with God and a passionate desire to structure their lives according to the nature and will of God. Those are who will be filled.
Blessed are those who have an insatiable hunger and unending thirst not only to know God but to do the right thing, to take the high road, to think the best thoughts, who long to have a core of goodness in them that radiates out into every thought and action. Those are the ones who will be filled!
Contrast that to what so often happens in you and me. We try to squeeze God into the edges of life. Not wanting to pay the price of not doing something else, we try to jam God into our already over-scheduled lives. If we’re not careful, we end up relegating God, the one who can fill that holy hunger and quench that sacred thirst, into the spare time and leftovers of our lives.
We end up praying on the run, studying Scripture when we can fit it in, skimming over deep relationships and serving only when it’s convenient. And we compromise our values and sell our integrity for a buck.
But Jesus said: Blessed! Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness…they will be filled.
If we’re going to feed this holy hunger and satisfy this sacred thirst, we can’t wait for our lives to get less demanding or our calendars to clear.
Jesus began a movement for those who knew they were hungry and thirsty and longing to feast on the bread of life and drink from living water.
And the church that resulted didn’t explode with vitality and energy and power because people figured out how to shrink worship, or diminish study, or sidestep community, or reduce prayer, or minimize serving into tiny little convenient mini-commitments that easily fit into the spare time and leftovers of life.
No! These disciplines were central -- their priority -- because they knew these were the source of their connection to the Risen Christ and the living water and the bread of life He could give.
Are you hungry? Are you thirsty?
I began by telling about Lewis Smedes and his calendar. He wrote: “Every square is a frame for one episode of my life. I live my life one square at a time.”
And God has given each of us a day, with the same amount of time and choice of how we will fill it. None of us know how many squares we will get, but each must choose how we will fill them.
In closing, I’d like to let the singer and poet Stacie Orrico speak and remind us of our holy hunger and our sacred thirst!
I've got it all, but I feel so deprived
I go up, I come down; I feel emptier inside.
Tell me what is this thing that I feel like I'm missing…?
There's gotta be more to life...
Than chasing down every temporary high…
There's gotta be more than wanting more.
I’m sure there’s gotta be more.
I've got the time and I'm wasting it slowly
Here in this moment I'm half way out the door
Onto the next thing, I am searching for...
There's gotta’ be more to life…!
There’s gotta be more! (song: “More to Life”)
There is more! And “more” has a name. Jesus. He is the One who can satisfy that hunger and quench the thirst.
Let us pray. O God, we give you thanks for your simple word that reminds us of the people you created us to be. Speak to the deep places. Amen.
08-0831.mp3
]]>Equipped: Everything You Need is On the Insidetag:germantownumc.org,2008:index.php/6.5162008-08-24T17:44:00Z2008-09-17T19:08:57ZDonna Thurmonddthurmond@germantownumc.orgLet us pray. Dear Lord God, right now, we thank you for this day; and Lord, your servant Deborah stands in front of you and I ask, Lord, that you anoint my mouth, anoint my heart, my mind, so that everything that comes forth will be from you, Lord, and none from me. In the name of your Son, Jesus Christ, I pray, Amen.
Church, our scripture lesson is taken from Ephesians 6:10-20. Hear the Word of God.
Ephesians 6:10-20 NIV Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world, and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.
Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.
And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints. Pray also for me, that whenever I open my mouth, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may declare it fearlessly, as I should.
Church, this is the Word of God for the people of God. Thanks be to God.
You know, Church, in thinking about our scripture lesson here today....excuse me just one more minute. (Deborah again walks over to the other side of the chancel area in order to retrieve her sermon outline.)
You know, I don’t know about you, but it looks like this has just been one of those mornings! I didn’t remember my Bible, and how am I going to preach if I don’t have the outline?
Church, have you ever felt that way? That maybe you were not adequately equipped or maybe you didn’t have the necessary tools or pieces to get started for your job, or even equipped enough to complete a task?
This is something we grapple with everyday because we spend a lot of our time trying to get prepared. We get prepared for our vacations. We spend the month of August...and then some...preparing our children for school. We get prepared for marriage. We get prepared for road trips and family gatherings. The list could go on and on. We even get prepared to zoom across town in our cars, with that little monitor that tells you if the police may be around! We prepare ourselves all the time!
Earlier, I know some of you may have thought I was confused or disoriented, or some of you may have been thinking it was perhaps time for you to leave because obviously I didn’t appear to be prepared or equipped to give the message here today. Some of you may have even become distracted and then some of you may have “zoned out” on me! Face it! Some of you probably thought I was just a little crazy...a little flighty, this morning!
If you did “zone out,” come on back in with me, because just like me, Church, some of you may have gone through times in your life where you knew or felt that you were not equipped or prepared -- just like we need to be equipped for preaching, dealing with our families, our jobs, and even as we prepare ourselves for the Spiritual Olympics.
In thinking about the Olympics, I am reminded of the 1992 Barcelona Olympics where an Iranian boxer was disqualified because he forgot to bring his boxing gloves to the ring!
At the same Olympics, a Canadian yachtsman was disqualified for not remembering to bring his life jacket.
As we have watched the Beijing 2008 Olympics, we have not heard of any instances of athletes forgetting their equipment, but we have heard personal testimonies of how some had to make adjustments when they were faced with challenges in their respective events.
I suppose by now we all know or have heard how Michael Phelps had to finish swimming the 200m butterfly for his fifth gold in Beijing without being able to see because his goggles suddenly filled with water. He therefore had to count his strokes to reach the finish line. And, what about the women’s beach volleyball team that won its second gold medal? They had to play both games in the pouring rain, and they credited the fact that they were more than prepared because their swimsuits were their uniforms. They said that you never know what is going to happen.
Do you really believe that you could go through life and be effective without being adequately equipped or prepared appropriately?
The Olympic athletes have answered that, as we have heard how they trained and sacrificed for the Olympics; but even with some of the best training regimens and coaches, some still fell short because the task at hand was greater than their level of preparation.
This is why in our Scripture lesson here today that I want you first to focus on how Paul tells us how to prepare or to get equipped for the Spiritual Olympics. Paul begins by saying in verse 10, “Be strong in the Lord.” This is exactly what we have seen the Olympic athletes do as they have prepared themselves with rigorous and demanding exercise routines and well-calculated diets that would support them with the energy and stamina that they need.
In a like manner, if we are strong in the Lord, as Paul says to us, then it is here in this Scripture lesson that we need to take heed of our equipment, our strategies listed there. Paul begins this list by advising us that we must put on the whole armor of God and then follow through with the belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, shoes of peace, the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit. Although these are military metaphors that Paul used during that time period, we can identify with them as we look at ourselves as we prepare to become Spiritual Olympians with emphasis on righteousness, peace, faith, salvation and the spirit.
This very image reminds us that we are all individually equipped to participate in Spiritual Olympics. But, I must raise the question: How do we use what we have? As you can see from the list, everything identified as equipment and strategies is on the inside and focuses on protective armaments that shield and strengthen every individual believer, while the entire community of faith draws its vitality from the health of each and every soul present. This means looking on the inside of ourselves, looking on the inside of the church, and looking on the inside of the community.
It is this looking on the inside, however, that causes us to wrestle with ourselves and each other. This struggle is sometimes caused by us when we are pushed back and afraid when we are faced with a challenge or a situation, like losing a home to foreclosure, losing our retirement savings due to a volatile stock market, or the sudden death of a loved one where we cannot see clearly or understand what to do or where to go, or we very simply did not or do not see it coming. We don’t look at how equipped we are, in times like that. Instead, we try to go it alone and do everything by ourselves without asking for help or input, or a word from our sponsor, Jesus.
In short, Church, we try to resolve what we didn’t see coming or anticipate with our physical resources only, and we forget to include our spiritual strategies equipped with our spiritual armor, our spiritual resources. And when we have this mismatch, we even distract others and may cause them to fall short when we are not properly equipped.
It is during times such as these that we have to pause and look at our equipment since it may not be fitting the way we need it to fit because we may not really know the manufacturer like we should. That manufacturer is Jesus, and He does not make a difference in our lives until we put Jesus at the center. It is then and only then that all of our equipment will work properly.
The reality is that when we struggle on the inside with our armor such as truth and righteousness, it is difficult to wear that armor or even keep it on when so many around us tell us or encourage us to lie. We see it all the time in television programs and commercials, such as the commercial when the woman asks her husband, “Do I look fat in this?”
And, let’s look at the most recent ongoing debate about the ages of the girls on the 2008 Beijing Chinese gymnastic team, “Were they all 16 and older?” And, in the terms of the righteous, I believe the question has already been asked: What shall the righteous do about poverty, about the homeless, about the escalating increase in incidents of violent crimes, or the AIDS orphans?
How is your armor, Church?
Well, in answering the latter question, perhaps, we can look at the model provided by our athletes -- the one where each one strives to train the body in such a way that it works in harmony with the game’s equipment and with the athlete’s mind.
Like the athlete, as we prepare for the Spiritual Olympics, we need to ensure that we nourish our spiritual bodies with a balanced diet of prayer, praise, worship, and work. Too often we fall short in this area of spiritual health because for some unknown reason we get comfortable and simply believe that the spiritual aspect of our lives will take care of itself with little or no effort on our part.
This is absolutely not true. Each of us must flex our spiritual muscles everyday as we deliberately make room and plan for prayer and devotion each and every day of our lives and not just when you come to church on Sunday.
You see, Church, our faith must find words, and those words may come from us in the form of praise and adoration that may come forth in song and prayer. What I am saying here is that there are times when you may need to sing your own solo and preach your own sermon in the quietness of your heart or private space.
In reflecting on prayer, please know that prayer is an especially critical part of our spiritual health. Prayer keeps us in close personal relationship with God and it is not just a time for giving God a litany of special requests according to your perceived needs. In saying this, I am reminded of a little boy who was almost six years old and he shouted to his family, “I’m gonna say my prayers now. Anybody want anything?”
Prayer, Church, is personal communication with God and not a wish list. The issue we must understand is that our desires must first be surrendered to the will of God. But let us remember that as we look at our spiritual equipment, it is not dependent on our own abilities, our own understanding, or our own insights. What we are talking about is a spiritual partnership that must exist between the player (us) and the equipment (Jesus).
Sometimes what we encounter in life is not about the equipment, but the player. This means that we must not forget faith which is listed in verse 16. Faith provides us with a covering over our lives and protects us. Faith becomes, and is, our strong defense against the spiritual difficulties that we face daily. We are equipped with spiritual power when we live in faith. Belief brings the power to eliminate the limitations that we impose on daily life. Many Christians believe that Jesus can do the impossible, but not for them.
You see, Church, we all need a daily dose of God’s Word; we all need Bible study. This means that we can no longer look at studying God’s Word as something optional for the adults but required for our children. We need to be like the Olympic athletes as they strive to get into what they call a state of “flow” where the entire body, the whole mind and spirit are so completely engaged and perfectly coordinated that the player can absolutely do no wrong.
Such a state like this is called “getting in the zone”, the Japanese call it ki, the Indians call it prana, the Russians call it “the white moment”, the Tibetans say lung-gom, and the Chinese say chi. And we, here today, as United Methodists, may call it Christian perfection. And with that, I say that we are sufficiently equipped to withstand any obstacle or any challenge, for when we put on our armor, we are trying to bring out the best in ourselves and the best in others. The better we equip ourselves, the better we equip others.
So, as Paul admonishes us to persevere and to hold steadfast, we need to remember that as the body of Christ, we are equipped to participate in the Spiritual Olympics as individuals, but more importantly as a team. Remember, Church, Michael Phelps demonstrated this as he won eight gold medals at the Beijing Olympics, but three of the medals required him to depend on a team; otherwise, he would not have set his phenomenal record.
Successful athletic teams exhibit characteristics of selflessness, high morale, cohesion, and esprit de corps. Our spiritual team should be no different. Go forth in the Spiritual Olympics with your heart, soul, mind, and body. You see, Paul knew that our everyday Gospel living comes out of our own personal Gospel Identity and our Gospel Identity comes, and as it should, out of God’s Gospel Work.
We are equipped, Church, for the work ahead of us. Everything we need is on the inside; we must wear the entire armor of God and not just a piece of it; it is all or nothing.
Let us pray. Dear Lord God, right now we thank you, Lord, for coming into our midst, Lord. Thank you for challenging us to continue to be equipped. Lord God, we ask that you continue to go with us and be with us throughout this day. Amen.
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References:
1. Conner, Floyd. (2001). The Olympics’ Most Wanted: The Top Ten Book of the Olympics’ Gold Medal Gaffes, Improbable Triumphs, and Other Oddities. Dulles, VA: Brassey’s Inc.
2. Dunn, James D. G. & Rogerson, John W. (eds.) (2003). Eerdmans Commentary on the Bible. Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company.
3. The New Interpreter’s Bible – A Commentary in Twelve Volumes, Volume XI. (2000). Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press.
4. The Collegeville Bible Commentary – New Testament. (1992). Collegeville, MN: The Liturgical Press.
08-0824.mp3
]]>In Trainingtag:germantownumc.org,2008:index.php/6.5132008-08-17T16:18:00Z2008-09-17T19:07:46ZDonna Thurmonddthurmond@germantownumc.org1 Timothy 4:7-10 NRSV Train yourself in godliness, for, while physical training is of some value, godliness is valuable in every way, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come. The saying is sure and worthy of full acceptance. For to this end we toil and struggle, because we have our hope set on the living God, who is the Savior of all people, especially of those who believe.
Galatians 5:22-23 NRSV The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.
Let us pray. Come, Holy Spirit, Heavenly Dove; descend on us, reveal your love. Word of God and inward light, wake our spirits; clear our sight. Surround us now with all your glory; speak through me that sacred story. Take my lips and make them bold. Take hearts and minds and make them whole. Stir in us that sacred flame; then send us forth to spread your name. Amen.
Since the beginning of human history, starting perhaps when that first man and woman saw their own reflection in a clear pool of water, humans have been trying to fix things about themselves. We try to fix the outside of ourselves. We know how to fix the outside, don’t we? We can exercise it, we can starve it, we can Rogaine it, we can stretch it, we can lift it, we can nip and tuck it, and even lipo-suck-it. We can paint it, dye it, get some wrinkle cream and apply it. We can dress it well and change its smell. But all that does is change the outward appearance.
There’s also the inner you...that part that really matters the most. That part that God sees and that other people see when they really get close to you. A part of you that is becoming amazingly beautiful or something unbelievably empty or something unimaginably dark.
In every one of us in this room, there is a gap...a gulf between God’s dream for us...what God had in mind when God first created us...and what really is.
This is where the rubber band comes in.
I’d like each of you to take the rubber band that the usher gave you this morning. If you didn’t get one, you can look at the one that somebody else has. We’re going to do kind of an object lesson with the rubber band this morning. I’d like for you to put it on your thumbs and stretch it. Now, some of you are going to be tempted to put it on one thumb and put it against the arm of the person next to you and let it go! But don’t do that! Or some of you are going to be tempted to send it my way if you don’t like the message today!
But here’s the idea of the rubber band. Loop it over your thumbs and stretch it. Feel the tension. One end of this rubber band represents your life as it is...today’s reality. The other end represents God’s dream for you...what God created you to be. God wants you and me to be this glorious creature: generous and courageous, truthful and loving, humble and pure-minded, to be in relationship with God. That’s God’s vision for you and me.
So, on one hand we have the reality and on the other hand we have the dream.
Now, would you say that there is at least a small gap in there...between God’s dream for you and the current, real-life you? A pretty large gap?
What I’d like to do today in the little while that we have together is help us to realize the gap and discover God’s plan for how to narrow the gap.
God intended us to bear fruit...the fruit of the Spirit. We read about them a moment ago...the fruit of the Spirit being love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Knowing that, I’d like for us to do a quick little sort of self-assessment of how we are doing in those areas.
I’m going to lift up just a few of them this morning, and you can look at the rest of them when you are home by yourself. They are listed in the insert in your bulletin today...all nine of them...and some questions for self-examination.
What I’d like for you to do, as I talk about just a few of these, is for you to give yourself an “S” if you are “superior” in that area, give yourself a “P” if you are doing “pretty darn good,” an “N” if you “need improvement,” and a “D” if you have to say, “Don’t even ask me about that!”
The first one that I would like for you to think about this morning is joy. What is your current “irritability factor?” If you’re not sure, I bet there is somebody next to you that can help you with your answer. Do you mostly speak words of complaint or words of gratitude? How are you doing on joy?
The second area I’d like to lift up is peace. To what degree is your heart and your mind at rest and at peace? How consistently are you troubled or anxious? Would people who know you best, describe you as contented or discontented?
How about patience? How do you respond when you don’t get your way or you are tired or you’re frustrated? Are you able to wait in line or in traffic graciously and patiently? How do you handle it when people aren’t moving as quickly as you would like them to move? How are you doing on patience? (If you’ve already moved beyond patience and you are looking at the others, you better give yourself an “N”, because you need patience!)
Before we leave the nine fruits of the Spirit, let me go to the ninth: self-control. Do you have any bad habits? Any at all? Do you feel like your patterns of either lust or envy or unforgiveness or greed or anger make you less than you’d like to be?
Do you sense a little bit of the gap?
I want to tell you a little bit about one of my gaps that I realized a week ago Friday. Last Friday, Jane and I were out shopping and we were in traffic on Poplar Avenue. I’ve told you before that I don’t do well in traffic! But my problem is, I keep telling you that I don’t do well, and I don’t get any better!
I was getting annoyed. I was grumbling. I was looking for shortcuts. Jane sensed that in me and reached over and touched me gently on the hand and said, “Honey, relax! You know, you really do get impatient an awful lot.” I was offended when she recognized that. I made excuses, but I knew she was right. I changed the subject. I know this is a very unfinished part of me. I needed to listen to what she was saying to me, but I blew it off because impatience is a part of my gap...at least one of the parts of my gap that I’m willing to tell you about! I assure you, there’s more!
It’s precisely that kind of thing...that kind of gap that is in every one of us...between the current reality on one hand and God’s dream on the other hand. It produces tension in our lives. We feel pulled in two directions and the tension always cries out in you and me to be resolved in some way.
There are two ways to resolve that tension: one is to pull the vision back towards what is...to just lower my aspirations and settle for mediocrity.
When that happens, you and I invariably do any number of things...among them, we say, “Well, you know, I’m just really only human after all. In fact, I’m not doing so badly compared to some other people that I know!” And we always pick some people that are doing worse than we are, and we tend to avoid self-examination, like maybe some of you did a few moments ago when you didn’t want to look at those nine things in the bulletin insert!
We get distracted by alcohol and money and power games and pleasure and busyness and watching television and other kinds of entertainment. We avoid accountability and worst of all, we just kind of get used to sin. We get accustomed to it in ourselves and we rationalize that in us, it is really okay!
That’s one of the ways that we try to resolve the tension. We pull the vision back towards the current reality.
Spiritual growth happens when we “stop settling,” when we cease compromising God’s vision for our lives. Spiritual maturity is growing in our relationship with God and trusting in God and out of that relationship and trust, bearing the fruit of things like love, joy, peace and patience. That’s the target! That’s the kind of people Jesus wants to produce.
But we look at that list and we just feel overwhelmed with how far short we fall. I know, I do! It’s like there’s an alarm going off, telling me, “Rick, you need to give this some attention!” And I don’t always want to do what it takes.
It was sort of like a night several years ago. Jane and I were in bed asleep. It was the middle of the night, and I heard this loud “beeping” sound. Beep. Beep. Jane gave me an elbow and said, “What’s that sound?” I didn’t move because I knew that if I acknowledged hearing the beeping sound, Jane was going to say, “Get up and do something about the beeping sound.” So I said, “What sound?”
She said, “You hear that! That beeping!” I said, “Oh, that beeping sound?” I said, “Well, I’ll go find out about it.”
I went into the hallway and found the problem and I took care of it. I came back to bed. I pulled up the covers, and Jane said, “What was it?” I said, “It was the smoke detector...the battery is going bad.” She said, “How did you make it stop?” I said, “I took the battery out.” Jane said, “You did what? You can’t do that! What if there is a fire?” I said, “Jane, do you smell any smoke? I don’t smell any smoke.”
So I pulled up the covers and we went back to sleep. At least I thought so! But then I felt that elbow. Jane said, “Rick, I smell smoke!” And you know what I had to do? I got up and put in a new battery.
But here’s the truth. It’s that way in your life and in mine. In our life and in our house and in our soul, there are beeping sounds going off all the time. There is a gap there, and we know the gap is there, and we know God wants us to do something about it. But we tend just to get used to it, or think that it is somebody else’s job to work on the gap, or to stop the beeping sound.
What this whole emphasis, this fall at Germantown United Methodist Church called Finishing Strong is, is the question: how do we move the reality more toward God’s dream? How can you and I – with God’s help – narrow the gap, not by compromising God’s dream, but by changing our reality?
Now, I think I would get very little argument from any of you here this morning if I said to you that Jesus never imagined a church full of religious people, but who remain week after week, year after year, cranky, impatient, egotistical, judgmental, deceptive, greedy, gossipy, lustful, and self-righteous, until they die, and “then” they go to heaven where God transforms them into something wonderful, like angels.
That’s not what Jesus came to do! His dream is to begin that wonderful transformation in you and me, here and now.
Jesus said if you want to know what real life looks like, then, “Look at me.” He said, “Just look at me and come and follow me and learn to trust me and I will live my life in you.”
While it is only God who can transform us, we are never passive in relationship to God. We can do things that either open us up to God and allow God to do God’s work within us, or we can ignore those things and just settle for the mediocrity of life.
Dallas Willard writes about spiritual transformation. He uses a little acronym, VIM, a word that means to be full of energy and enthusiasm for life. As he writes, the “V” stands for Vision; the “I” stands for Intention; the “M” stands for Method. Vision. Intention. Method. (Willard actually uses “means” for the “M” rather than “Method.” But the word “method” better fits our “Methodist” context.)
If you want to pursue spiritual transformation, then you and I have got to have a Vision. A very clear picture in our minds...a dream that comes from God about what life is meant to be.
Then, flowing out of that vision, we’ve got to have Intention. I’ve got to be able to say that I am going to pursue this vision in my life and nobody else can do it for me. I have to say “I want this. I want this more than anything else in all of my life. I know I’m going to be wayward. I know I’m going to be messing up at times. I’m going to get off track. But I’m going to keep coming back to this vision. I’m never going to let it go. I’m never going to let it let me go because this is what I want. And I will do this, whatever it takes.”
But it’s more than just about having a vision and intention. It’s also about having some Methods. It’s about the methods that train us. And training is “any activity we can do by direct effort that will help us do what we cannot now do by direct effort.”
I’ve heard some of you already talking about it...you stayed up late last night watching the Olympics. Think about Michael Phelps. Eight gold medals! Seven world records! He has tremendous gifts for swimming. They say he has the ideal body: short legs, a massive torso, a 7-foot wingspan with huge hands, broad shoulders, narrow hips, and size 14 feet that act like flippers, as well. And such flexibility in his feet that they say he can lay on his back and curl his toes to touch his toes to the floor!
But others have similar gifts! His coach says the difference in Michael is his superior fitness and his aerobic conditioning that comes out of years of training.
And the result is: Michael makes the unnatural seem natural, the difficult look easy, and the impossible actually possible!
Or let’s change the image. Jim Thrash. Jim Thrash can play the piano. He can play the organ. Let’s say that Jim invited you to come up here this morning to play a little Mozart or Bach. I know that if he invited me to do that, I could probably come over to the keyboard and I could play a little “Chopsticks” and one of the parts of “Heart and Soul.” But it wouldn’t sound anything like Mozart.
Doing what Jim and Eva do, isn’t about sitting down at the keyboard and trying. It is about years of training. Hour upon hour of training, doing exercises that at first sounded nothing like Bach or Beethoven or Mozart, but finally they were able to sit down and hammer out the music.
So vision and intention alone are never enough. It involves a third step: Methods...proven methods that train us.
It’s the same with spiritual growth.
Look at Jesus. Jesus engaged in certain practices that nurtured his relationship with God. He would go out into creation from time to time and people would miss him and say, “Where has he gone now?” He is out alone in creation...in solitude...to be alone with God. He immersed himself in the scriptures, marinating his mind in the word of God, memorizing great portions of it and then seeking to understand, “How do I apply that to my life and to the world around me?”
He engaged in fellowship with His close friends. He worshiped God. He gave generously. And He got involved in acts of servanthood.
And I want you to hear this: If Jesus felt He needed to do these things, then how dare we say, “I don’t need that. I’ve grown past that.”
Over these next weeks, we’re going to be exploring the disciplines that Jesus practiced. The purpose of these disciplines is not to earn us some points with God, not to “one-up” someone else, or prove how spiritual we are. Rather, it is to position ourselves so that we can seek to know and love and trust God and out of that relationship that we have with God, bear the fruit of things like love, joy, peace, patience, and self-control.
Some of you who were here last week may recall the story I shared with you about the 89-year old woman by the name of Mabel who lived in a nursing home, experiencing more suffering than any of us are ever likely to experience in our lives, yet living this extraordinary life of contentment and joy. But one of the things that you may have missed is that her life consisted of disciplines...disciplines that are familiar like prayer and solitude and meditation on the Scripture and worship, singing hymns and fellowshipping when it was possible, and giving of the little things that she had to others.
There is power in those disciplines. Today in Fellowship Hall, you will have the chance to sign up for study...personal growth opportunities for the fall.
But I want to leave you this morning with an Olympic image.
It was 1968. The Mexico City Olympics. John Akhwari of Tanzania was running in the marathon. In an earlier qualifying race, he had sustained an injury, but John was determined that he would run the marathon. So, in spite of his injury, he entered the grueling 26-mile competition.
All the runners took off in the race together and the day was moving along and day was becoming night as the race neared its end, a little more than two hours later. After another hour passed, all of the competitors had come into the stadium and crossed the finish line. Everybody except for John Akhwari.
People were getting ready to leave, but then the TV cameras caught sight of John hobbling toward the stadium. First they focused on his face, etched in pain. Then they focused on his right leg. It seems somewhere along the way he had fallen, split open his knee, and wrenched his knee socket out of place. Someone had come along and bandaged him up and got him started and John Akhwari was on his way toward the Olympic stadium...dead last!
Finally, he enters the stadium and people see this man and they begin to applaud. Then they stand up and begin to cheer him on. People stood and cheered, and the more they stood and cheered, the better he felt, and he began to jog just a little bit. They were amazed at his courage and his determination. His jog became a run, and finally he crosses the finish line and people erupt in cheers as if he had won the marathon. And in a way, he had! (To see John’s entrance into the Olympic stadium on U-Tube, click on http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hq3rOMnLGBk)
And God did not send Jesus across time and eternity so that we could just start the race. God sent Him to help us finish – finish strong!
Let us pray. O God, we give you our thanks this day. Get us in training. Be our vision. And show us the way. Amen.
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Endnotes: This sermon is based, in part, upon material from the following sources:
08-0817.mp3
]]>Beginning With the End in Mindtag:germantownumc.org,2008:index.php/6.5112008-08-10T23:50:00Z2008-08-18T18:01:09ZDonna Thurmonddthurmond@germantownumc.orgPsalm 8:3-9 NRSV When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars that you have established; what are human beings that you are mindful of them, mortals that you care for them? Yet you have made them a little lower than God, and crowned them with glory and honor. You have given them dominion over the works of your hands; you have put all things under their feet, all sheep and oxen, and also the beasts of the field, the birds of the air, and the fish of the sea, whatever passes along the paths of the seas. O Lord, our Sovereign, how majestic is your name in all the earth!
Philippians 2:5-8 NRSV Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness. And being found in human form, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death – even death on a cross.
Let us pray. Come, Holy Spirit, Heavenly Dove; descend on us, reveal your love. Word of God and inward light, wake our spirits; clear our sight. Surround us now with all your glory; speak through me that sacred story. Take my lips and make them bold. Take hearts and minds and make them whole. Stir in us that sacred flame; then send us forth to spread your name. Amen.
You and I can approach the human condition from two perspectives: physically and spiritually. But no matter which you choose, you are the pinnacle of God’s creation. Scripture tells us that we are fearfully and wonderfully made, a little lower than God, and intentionally designed, just as we are! But it is not just Scripture that tells us this. Science helps us to understand this as well. It helps us to grasp the wonder of how we are made!
Last year, as we began our fall sermon series, I shared with you how weary I get of the dichotomy that some in Christian culture make between science and religion. I told you how, when I was a teenager in a Methodist church across the city, a Sunday School teacher shared with me, after a lot of us had been asking questions about what we were hearing in Biology and what we were learning in church. This wise Sunday School teacher said, “Now, children, don’t worry so much about science and religion, because religion is meant to tell you the ‘why’ and the ‘who’ and science is about discovering the ‘what’ and the ‘how.’ Don’t be afraid!”
Someone recently said that if your science and your religion disagree, then study them both more.
While I was in Florida this summer, I heard Dr. Jack Stephenson speak about this. He so intrigued me that it got me reading about science and religion more deeply than I had done in quite awhile. I discovered that a part of how we are created that blends the “how” and the “why” is a way that God created your brain and mine.
The late Dr. Paul MacLean had a theory that our brain is built in three layers...one on top of the other. There is a layer of your brain and mine that we share with reptiles and amphibians. There is a part of our brain that we share with mammals and herding animals. And then there is a part of our brain that is unique, given only to human beings, that makes you different and distinct from every other living thing. (sources – see notes below – based on the work and theories of Dr. Paul MacLean)
I want to talk a little bit about this. It may seem odd, at first, but I hope that it will come together and make sense.
The oldest part of my brain and your brain is what some call the reptile or the frog brain. It is shared by all of the lower animals and controls most of our very basic survival needs...our heartbeat, our respiration, our balance, our muscles, and our instincts, including foraging for food and procreation and the fight-flight mechanism that is built into every one of us.
This frog brain, known as the medulla oblongata, is the foundation of your brain and mine. Part of its real function is to get us out of danger. It tells us to jump or to run or to fight or to freeze or to flee, and sometimes I’ve discovered that my frog brain just shuts me down. Ladies, if you are talking to your husband and he gets this glazed look in his eyes, and he just sort of sits there like a frog on a log, you can know his frog brain just kicked in.
Sometimes, I’m guilty of this. Somebody is talking to me and I just zone-out. I just kind of freeze up. Some of you are probably saying, “I’ve seen him do that with me!” Well, I’ve seen some of you do that with me on Sunday morning during a sermon!
Mostly, though, this part of you is concerned with getting food and keeping you from being food. It’s about self-protection. It’s the source of all of the fear and the rage and the anger that human beings express. It is fear-driven. It takes over when we are in danger and we don’t have time to think. It’s there to cause us to act, or to get out of the way of the car or the dog that’s coming after us.
But there’s a second part of your brain called the mid-brain. It was developed when herding animals were created. This mammalian brain, or some people call it the cow brain, is the seat of our emotions and our social instincts that we share with all other creatures.
But one of those instincts is to herd...to be in the herd. Herding animals really want to get in the middle of the herd, because if you’re on the outside, predators pick you off. Why herd? Because it’s safer that way!
You’ve seen the wildebeests on National Geographic, haven’t you? They are trekking across the African savannah, headed for water, for better grazing. When the lioness comes along hunting, this herd brain says, “Oh my, I don’t want to be on the outside or up front or at the end. I want to be in the middle of the herd. How can I claw and scrape myself into the middle of the herd?” This part of us says, “If necessary, push someone else to the outside. I don’t have to be faster than the lion, just faster than you. I don’t want to be the one running looking back and saying, ‘Oh, no! She’s gaining on me!’”
One of the questions that this part of your brain and mine asks us is, “Do I belong? Am I in the group? Am I included? Am I a part of the team?” If you’re a teenager, it’s that part of you that is constantly asking, “Am I popular? Do they like me, or dislike me?” It causes us to worry about our place in a herd or tribe or group.
It’s also the source of that herd mentality that says if someone else is on the inside, then they’re a threat, pushing me to the outside. It also says to us, “Go along to get along. If everyone is doing it, it must be okay.”
But God created you and me with something above the frog brain and the cow brain. God created you and me with a distinctly different part of our brain, the prefrontal lobe, right behind your eyebrows, that makes you extraordinary...that differentiates you from every other living creature...that makes you the unique, unrepeatable miracle that you are.
This third part of you, stacked on top of the rest, gives us the ability to choose to get beyond fear and beyond place. It makes it possible for us to move beyond ourselves, to get above concerns for our own safety, and to care for the good of others.
It enables us to ask, “Why am I here? What is my life meant to be about? What is my calling? What is my purpose? What does the other person need? And how can I make a difference in the world?” God has created you and me with an ability that no other creature on this planet has...to say: the reason I’m here is bigger than my survival and my place in the group.
When the Psalmist asked, “What are we that God is mindful of us...that we are made a little lower than God?” it is this ability to choose, and to choose the “mind of Christ.”
But you know, the truth is, we can spend our lives like a frog...like a cow. We can live in our frog brain and our cow brain. We can live our lives concerned with fear and place, and people do it all the time! You can probably identify some of those people. You know some of those people. There may even be some of those people in this room, or in your family! We can spend our entire lives fearful financially or physically, afraid about our health or about our relationships. We can live our lives in fear, or try to make other people afraid. We can live in a world built on an economy of fear. But you’ve got to know that fear and self-seeking is very different than the mind of Christ.
And above that, less violent, but no less hurtful, we can live in our herd brain, holding on to our place in the world and excluding other people.
I know that when I hear a preacher who is better than I am, at preaching, it kicks in! I immediately get threatened. I want to find something in him or her to criticize. You know about that! It happens when a new worker comes into your office and they are really good at what they do, and you get jealous of them. You want to find something about them to tear down. It happens in school. It happens in church. It happens at the office. We want to put other people down, and make them mess up, or trip them up, or make them less successful. That’s that herd brain kicking in.
But that way of thinking is also different than the mind of Christ...different than what you and I were created to be. Because when we live life out of fear and place, we are always less than God created us to be.
But when we’re in that third part of the brain, when we choose to have the mind of Christ, we live life as God intends.
Now, I don’t think the Apostle Paul ever understood that our brain was layered one on top of the other. But I think that was what he was talking about when he said, “Have the same mind in you that was in Christ Jesus...who did not count equality with God as something to be grasped... but humbled himself and became a servant.”
It is serving not because you have to out of slavery or fear. It is serving not because everybody else is serving and you are feeling pressure from the group. It is serving because simply you know deep in your being that that’s what you were created to do, and you want your life to be about holy things.
God’s dream is that we live in this third part of ourselves and have the mind of Christ. How do we do that?
Over these next weeks, we are going to be exploring how we can feed and exercise and nurture this third part of ourselves, and how we can nurture the mind of Christ in each of our lives so that more and more we see as He would see if He were looking through our eyes, and do what He would do if He were in our place.
And we are going to explore how, as this world moves faster and faster, what it means to learn to slow down, to go deep, to drink deeply and be nourished by the riches of God’s grace and presence.
As other people choose to live in mediocrity, just going along as part of a herd, how can we be that unique, unrepeatable person that God created us to be?