Community Church Sermons
January 1, 2006
In 1943, a naval engineer by the name of Richard Jones was trying to design a meter that could be used to monitor the horsepower of battleships. One day, he was working with tension springs when one accidentally fell to the ground. The spring kept moving in an amusing sort of way. An idea was born!
And at Christmas of 1945, Gimball’s Department Store in Philadelphia became the first store to sell Mr. Jones’ idea – something that would become one of America’s all-time favorite toys – (play Slinky mp3) - the Slinky!
Anybody here ever get a Slinky for Christmas? Who would’ve known there was a Slinky toy hidden inside an ordinary old tension spring?
Isn’t the world full of hidden mysteries?
For that matter, who would’ve thought that some of the most popular episodes on the Oprah Winfrey Show would be those that take very plain and ordinary people and “make them over” into the most gorgeous and stylish men and women? Who would’ve known there was movie star potential inside some old decrepit human being like, oh say – Bob Puckett?
Life is full of hidden possibility just waiting to be discovered!
That is an underlying premise of science. And it is the heart and soul of faith! You see, contrary to popular opinion, science and faith share some things in common!
Natalie Sleeth expresses this truth so beautifully in her song, “Hymn of Promise.”
In the bulb there
is a flower, in the seed an apple tree,
In cocoons a
hidden promise: butterflies will soon be free!
In the cold and
snow of winter, there’s a spring that waits to be
Unrevealed until
its season, something God alone can see!
There’s more to life than what meets the eye! Science teaches us that. And what science hangs on is what we people of faith believe is the intricate beauty of God’s very nature. God is a Creator whose creation is loaded with mysteries and unrealized possibilities just waiting to be uncovered! Faith and science together say, “Come and explore! Come and discover!”
And as Christian people, there is no better time to remind ourselves of this truth than on the other side of Christmas and at the start of a New Year.
Did you catch the story in our Gospel reading?
Mary and Joseph take their baby to the Temple in Jerusalem to be dedicated. At just about the same time, an old man by the name of Simeon is prompted by the Spirit to go to the Temple. Perhaps you can imagine Mary and Joseph and their baby coming through one entryway, and Simeon coming through another. The place is crowded with people offering sacrifices of one kind or another. It is like Wal-Mart just before Christmas! But you know what’s going to happen, right? Somehow, they’re going to bump into each other just like the day I happened to bump into one of our church members going into a restroom at a Visitor’s Center on Interstate 81 somewhere in Virginia! What a small and amazing world we live in!
So Mary and Joseph just happen to bump into Simeon. And when Simeon sees the child they are carrying, he takes the baby in his arms and sings a song that goes something like this:
“Lord, now I’m
ready to come home. I’m ready to die in peace.
For I have seen with my own eyes your salvation!”
Who would’ve imagined that wrapped up in that little baby’s blanket was a child who would be the Savior of the world?
When you think about it, the whole Christmas story is about ordinary people like you and me discovering extraordinary things about others and ourselves! A little girl – Mary - becomes a great hero! A jealous boyfriend – Joseph - becomes a good husband. Agnostic shepherds become the first preachers of the Gospel. Astrologers from the East become the safety net for God’s Messiah.
Christmas is full of unlikely characters becoming more than they or others ever imagined they could be for the sake of fulfilling God’s purposes.
And that’s part of what it means to believe in Christmas:
That God is a wonderful Creator who loves to create and re-create! That God’s creation is overflowing with amazing possibility! And that when God created you, God filled you to the brim with hidden treasure and potential just waiting to be discovered! It’s the story of your life!
Think of yourself way back when, as a baby held in your mother’s arms. Who could’ve imagined back then that inside you was the gift of speech, and walking, and riding a bicycle, and throwing a ball, and doing math, and running a business, and raising children of your own, and hitting a golf ball 300 yards smack down the middle of a fairway? Well, that may be one that God left out.
But throughout your life you have gone through one makeover after another – from infancy to childhood – from childhood to adolescence – from adolescence to adulthood - and if you are like me, from adulthood back to adolescence again! Layer after layer after layer has been peeled off of you only to reveal new gifts, new strengths, new potential, new possibilities – a continually emerging new YOU!
The Bible says it this way: right now we are God’s children, and we can’t see what we will eventually become, but one day, when everything is complete, we will find that we have become like Christ!
Jesus was a baby destined to become the Savior of the world.
And you and I are destined for great things too!
So today, on New Year’s Day, I wonder if you’ll take the first steps toward becoming the new YOU that God is creating.
The first step, I think, would simply be to let yourself experiment with the NEW creation that is alive within you.
Last week when we were in New England we spent a night with my mother in the Emergency Room of a hospital. She has chronic pulmonary disease and was having trouble breathing. So off to the ER we went. While there, a nurse was getting ready to start an IV, but was unable to clean off a part of my mother’s forearm. No matter how hard she scrubbed, there was a dark substance on my mom that wouldn’t come off. Finally, my mother told her what it was. Paint!
My mother paints! She is in her eighties now, and can barely see. She has breathing problems, and some other health issues.
But she took up painting! And she paints some truly beautiful landscapes that have a surreal kind of quality because of her visual impairment. They’re quite striking actually!
And what I find so remarkable about my mother’s painting is that she never took it up until just a few years ago. I guess it was something she wanted to do, but never got around to doing. But one day she got some paint and brushes and paper to paint on. And lo and behold, my mother discovered something NEW about herself! She has a talent she did not realize she had!
What NEW thing is it that you’d like to try in this New Year? Maybe there’s something you always wanted to do but never got around to. Painting? Writing? Acting? Singing? Reading a certain book? Gardening? Fishing? Skydiving?
Believe it or not, one of the first things Jesus did when he met people was to call them out to do something new. Fishermen were called to become fishers OF men. Peter was invited to try walking on water! The 12 disciples were told to cook a meal for 5,000 people! They had never even been to a church supper before!
Jesus knew that people had to be encouraged to stretch themselves to the point where they could understand that they truly had potential for experiencing more of life than ever before. You see, you can’t become a new YOU until you get a taste of the NEW that is IN you! So go and try something new this year!
Then a second step toward the NEW YOU would be to make friends with people who are different – especially people you would not likely become friends with on your own. That’s an experience Jesus often held out to his disciples. Those who thought themselves to be pretty righteous, Jesus often took to parties where there were sinners and prostitutes. Those who thought themselves to be healthy and clean found themselves sitting down to dinner with lepers. And the theologically correct folks got to meet people who came at life from a completely different religious angle. Jesus put orthodox believers into close proximity with unorthodox folks like the Samaritans, and even told stories in which the heroes turned out to be the unbelievers.
Why do you suppose Jesus did that?
I suspect it’s because most of us do not realize our own ability to learn and grow through experiencing difference. Many people are afraid of difference. Some Christians and churches do everything in their power to insulate themselves from others whose ideas and thoughts challenge their present mindset.
And yet Jesus constantly brought his disciples into relationship with people who represented life experiences far different than their own.
So how would you feel about making friends this year with someone whose religious, political, or personal views are strange and different to you? Would you be willing to build a friendship with a Muslim person, or a Jewish person, or even someone who does not believe? Would you be willing to listen to what they have to share? Would you reach out to a person whose politics is different, or whose lifestyle is not comfortable to you, or whose racial experience is something you cannot fathom? Could you simply go and make friends with someone you’ve never been friends with before?
You’ll find out a lot about yourself, and about life, and about the ability God has given you to learn and grow through the experiences of others!
And how about one more step toward the NEW YOU?
Have you noticed that Mary and Joseph and the Shepherds and the Wise Men were all invited to take up tasks that were larger than their own lives? They were called to give themselves to the higher purposes of God.
You will never know yourself and the potential of your life until you discover that you were created for a heavenly purpose. Yes, Mary was called to be a mother, but much more than a mother. Joseph was called to be a father, yet more than a father. The shepherds were good shepherds, but they had other work yet to do. The wise men enjoyed their wisdom, but there was something more they had to do for God. All of them had their own lives to live, but they also had a purpose that involved God’s salvation of the world!
There is a God-thing you were brought into the world to accomplish. God placed that purpose into you because God knows it will bring you a sense of joy and fulfillment far beyond your imagination!
A number of years ago, a stranger came into the worship service of a church I served. Why he came to worship that day is not clear, but while he was there, a couple in the church recognized him as an old acquaintance. They warmly greeted him and spent some time reminiscing. When the service began, they sang the hymns with him, and pointed out the various parts of the service. Afterwards, they discovered that he was pretty much alone in life. A divorce and some sad experiences had left him isolated and lonely. But being with Conrad and Dot that day, and worshiping God for the first time in years, brought new joy to his life. When he left that morning, he spoke about what a special day it was. And then he went home and died.
Afterwards, Conrad and Dot realized that there was some divine purpose in their being with their old friend that day. What had seemed like a chance encounter was much, much more than that. They had been part of God’s plan for that man’s last day on earth.
You never know who it is you’re sitting with in church on Sunday, or chatting with in the cashier line at Wal-Mart. You never know all that’s going on in the lives of the people you encounter every day. But God knows.
And God has a higher purpose for your life every day.
Isn’t it interesting that when the first new residents arrived in Tellico Village, they felt a calling to begin a church – our church – and later, other churches too. And the people who came to those churches felt a calling to reach out to the world all around. The Good Samaritan Center. The Good Neighbor Shop. Habitat for Humanity. The Child Advocacy Center. Loudon Technical School. On and on the list goes, detailing the myriad ways people have risen above their own needs to take hold of the larger purposes of God.
Who would have imagined that there was a servant of God hidden inside an engineer, a military officer, a teacher, a parent, a business person, a scientist, a nurse, a doctor, a coach…a retired person like many of you?
Only God can imagine such things! Because God is a good Creator who loves to create wonderful things! And God has created you for a reason, and every day of your life for a purpose that is larger than yourself!
So Happy New Year! I truly wish you all the best. And most especially this:
That you will let God create a NEW YOU as the New Year unfolds!