I lead the worship service in Innisfail on February 16, 2020. The arrangement of the prayers and hymns was part of my LLWL course. Scripture for the service included Deuteronomy 30:15–20. This became the central theme for the sermon. The other reading was 1Corinthians 3:1–9. This provided the “pie or cake” analogy when the early Christians asked “which church should we go to?” (Aside: I brought pie and cake for Children’s time: it was fun).
Sermon: Choices
Ever Watching God,
You give us many choices in how to approach your Scripture,
How ancient words apply to modern times.
May the words of my heart be acceptable in your sight.
Amen.
In the mid 1960’s, there was a popular TV show. A comedy. The Addams Family. It was about a very different family that is immersed in everything that is spooky: quite the opposite from what we would call “normal”. This was a bit before my time, but I have watched a few episodes. An animated movie was released last year, and my family watched it a few weeks ago. It was fun and silly, and even a bit philosophical. Our scripture reading from Deuteronomy reminded me of a theme from the movie.
The young boy, Pugsley, needs to prepare for a special day: a rite of passage, taking him from the playfulness of childhood, to the more serious life as an adult.
As Pugsley’s father, Gomez, puts it, this rite is the most important day in a young mans life. It’s the day your family surrounds you and passes judgement on your worth as a human being. Wow. No pressure for the accomplishment of this milestone.
Our character is faced with the choice of how to prepare for this upcoming event. It was made pretty clear that one is expected to eat, sleep, and breath the preparations for this day. Our character, however, has other interests. His eating, sleeping and breathing did not include the preparations for this event.
Let’s just say that Pugsley is not as prepared as his father would like.
In our scripture from Deuteronomy, the people were faced with different milestone: the Jordan river, and life beyond. They are faced with a choice. When they cross, do they hold God in their hearts and be prosperous, or do they abandon God and die?
Are they prepared to make this decision?
I wonder what what thoughts went through their heads. Some must have thought “Hey, I don’t have to worry about this if I don’t cross the river.” Some must have asked “Why does this river matter to God? Why is the other side so important?”
I think the big question here is “Do we need to honour God every moment of our lives, with everything we do, or only on Sunday mornings in the worship service?” “Do we need to eat, sleep and breathe God?” “What do we need to be happy?”
How do the choices made at a crucial milestone, one that occurred thousands of years ago, apply to our issues, here and now?
Let’s start with something simple. What is a milestone and why are milestones important? The literal definition is a marker that shows how far you have traveled on your journey. That’s a pretty good description, because it is the journey that is important, not the marker.
Take a moment and think about some of the milestones or accomplishments that we set for ourselves. Picture one. It could be graduating from university, maybe hiking to the top of a hill, or playing a challenging piece of music. The milestone, or accomplishment, is the celebration of all of the preparation that is needed to get to the end result. It is all of the hard work in school; it is staying in shape; it is practicing piano regularly and getting better with a piece of music.
Here, we see a common thread. We practice. Lots. And if this accomplishment is really important to us, and is really challenging, then we eat, sleep and breathe the practice. It becomes part of us. We immerse ourselves in our practice because we truly love what we do. It makes us happy. Even if the work is difficult, we see the task as a challenge that we need to overcome. Not some kind of evil that is out to get us.
This is why we are filled with joy when we graduate from university, why we shout at the top of that hill, or why we take a bow after our performance in the recital. All of this is God’s work.
In our lives, every day, we can choose to see the goodness in everything around us. Goodness that God provides. When can choose to look at problems as challenges that we need to overcome. Challenges that God has provided for us to sort out. One problem downstairs is that the bell choir room is freezing in the morning. We could choose to be angry about this. Or, we can go on a mission to see where God is hiding, why God is making the room so cold. We find God when we look for the answer.
People that always see the positive aspects in life, people that see God everywhere, are fun to be around. It seems that everything they touch is exciting and wonderful. Their lives are filled with pie and cake. This is how God wants us to live.
Some people choose not to see wonder and excitement in the world. Instead, their lives are surrounded by gossip, lies and conspiracy theories. There is little joy in their lives, only hostility and manipulation. We know from experience that people like this are not nice people to be around.
One recent conspiracy example is with the Coronavirus. No, I don’t mean the made up story that the coronavirus is somehow related to Corona beer. There is a rumour that the coronavirus can be cured by drinking a particular substance. This substance is chlorine dioxide, a type of industrial bleach. God does not show us any truth about drinking chlorine dioxide to cure illness. God does show us that dissolved chlorine dioxide is great for disinfecting medical equipment. And that drinking bleach will make you sick, and possibly kill you. This is a story made up by people that want to make themselves seem important, people that that want to control others using fear, people that want to take us away from God. This is what Moses was steering people away from on the bank of the Jordan River.
God wants all of us to be joyful and prosperous. We know how to do this. Eat, sleep, and breathe all of the goodness that God provides. And share your excitement for all that is wonderful.
Getting back to the Addams family movie. Pugsley did not see any joy in the preparations that his father felt were necessary for the rite of passage. However, he lived and breathed and slept something else, and for this he was praised by his family. You can watch the movie to find out what happened.
Your mission this week is to keep your eyes open for God. It should be easy as pie because God is everywhere. It could be something wonderful, like watching a grandchild at a piano recital. It could be a problem, like trying a new recipe for a cake, and it turns out flat as a pancake. God is hiding in the failed cake just as much as God is hiding in young hands playing the piano.
Thanks be to God,
Amen.
