The Heavenly Call Of God
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In this week's epistle passage, Paul speaks of "press[ing] on toward the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus" (Philippians 3:14) -- underlining the sheer perseverance that is often required if we are to maintain forward momentum in our journey of discipleship. In this installment of The Immediate Word, team member Paul Bresnahan discusses the "upward call of God" and suggests that this call offers an instructive way to approach the looming crisis of global warming. It seems like such a huge problem that many of us are inclined to just throw up our hands and say, "What can I possibly do that will make a difference?" Yet God's call to us, as stewards of this earth, is to persevere in that journey all the same. Team member Scott Suskovic focuses on a different aspect of the Philippians text: how Paul recites his spiritual resume, point by point, then crumples it up and throws it away, declaring that the only thing of importance is his relationship with Christ -- that all the rest is "just a game."
The Heavenly Call of God
by Paul Bresnahan
Philippians 3:12-14
The heavenly call of God reminds me to lift my eyes unto the hills from when cometh my help (Psalm 121) and to consider the heavens that have been fashioned by the fingers of God (Psalm 8).
As an urban dweller near Boston, I cannot help but notice when I lift up my eyes to heaven the frequent heat inversions we suffer from in the summertime and the mild winters we've had in recent years. This year we've only had 4 inches of snow -- and in spite of the fact that we've had a few significant cold snaps, the overall picture seems to be that there really is a warming trend. Enter Al Gore's Oscar-winning movie An Inconvenient Truth and I find myself struggling indeed with the "upward call of God."
This is God's world. For good or ill, God gave us dominion over that world. And now many of us are concerned about the account we must someday give of the stewardship of what God has put into our hands. That day is coming sooner rather than later. What can any one of us do -- other than just throwing up our hands and running around like Chicken Little literally alarmed that the sky is falling? We've stared down the darkness before, as empires come and empires go. Now we face an even more daunting task -- the salvation of the very planet we live on.
Let's begin with Paul by recognizing that we must "press on toward the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus." We've got to be in it for the long haul.
THE WORLD
Warnings abound about global warming. This country sidestepped any serious consideration of the Kyoto Protocols in 2000, when other industrialized nations around the world began to bite the bullet over reining in CO2 emissions. It is ironic that the prophets of our own time are scientists and meteorologists, who have documented some disquieting trends that include the disappearance or dissipation of glaciers in the Alps and the Himalayas, the melting of the permafrost in the Canadian Northwest Territories, the breakup of the ice sheets at the poles, and the threat to polar bear habitat. The list goes on.
Without becoming alarmist, many are indeed trying to take a sober look at the realities of this "inconvenient truth." Al Gore's Oscar-winning movie by that title has brought renewed and sustained attention to environmental concerns we share as those given "dominion" over the created order.
Very recently, James Hansen, a NASA scientist of some repute and one of the earliest prophets of global warming, reiterated his concern that funding for climate research has been slashed and that the entire process of research and reporting has been hopelessly politicized (like almost everything else these days). In the New Zealand Herald Mr. Hansen is quoted as saying: "In my more than three decades in government, I have never seen anything approaching the degree to which information flow from scientists to the public has been screened and controlled as it has now."
It is a disturbing fact, if it is true. I for one find the evidence disturbing and feel that there is much to be learned from an honest and open evaluation of the truth. That is the missing piece in the ongoing debate, it seems to me.
THE WORD
There is in the readings this week a theme of looking toward what lies ahead rather than what lies behind us. It is a biblical way of saying that there is simply no use in crying over spilled milk. It is not a bad way to live. In our political life, we always seem to be having hearings so that we can assign blame. There is an old axiom that states that "blame is always a cover-up." In other words, as we seek to find someone to blame for our woes we take attention off our responsibility for our own lives.
The scripture seems to ask us to focus on forgetting what lies behind and pressing on to what lies ahead. In our lesson from Isaiah today we read: "Do not remember the former things, or consider the things of old. I am about to do a new thing." God seems to be saying that something new is about to happen, and if we have our eyes too firmly fixed on the past we'll miss the miracle of what is yet to spring forth from God's creative and redemptive work.
The Psalmist recognizes God's way with us. Indeed, we doubt and wonder -- but ultimately it is the confidence of faith that opens us up to that which is possible. It is therefore reassuring that we have words like these from today's Psalm, which remind us about God's Grace that is always leading us toward redemption: "Those who sowed with tears will reap with songs of joy."
St. Paul similarly asks us to answer readily "the heavenly call of God." He makes it clear that life when it is lived well recognizes that there is a "long haul" dimension to the struggles we face. The way he puts it is in those familiar and ringing words of scripture: "forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus." Those stirring words open the human heart to God's urging us on to something new.
Even in the Gospel, Jesus reminds Judas not to prevent Mary's extravagant and devoted loving care for her Lord. When Judas complains about how much could have been provided for the poor our of Mary's extravagance, Jesus reminds all who were gathered, and all who really care about the poor, that efforts to help the poor will always be available to us. And did Judas really care about the poor? Does the political system in which we live really care about the poor? What do you think?
There is always the present moment. There is always what is possible to do right in this living moment. This is the moment where God's Grace is to be found. Now is the moment to respond to the heavenly call of God. Forget what lies behind us. Let's move on to what lies ahead.
CRAFTING THE SERMON
Several years ago I went to a lake in northern Ontario where I used to go as a child. Something was terribly wrong up there in the beauty of that pristine lakeside forest -- the forest was denuded of the broadleaf maple trees that used to provide such lovely and abundant shade on a hot summer's day. Now those leaves were just a fraction of the size that I remembered them being. I asked my friends what happened. "Acid rain!" was the answer.
In one short lifetime a dramatic change had taken place in such a noticeable way. Similarly, the effects of global warming seem to have left their mark in so many places. Last fall our church hosted a singing group from St. Petersburg, Russia, and when I asked them about their weather at that time of year, they said that there was a time when snow would be falling by late November -- but no more, not since global warming. Nowadays winter comes later, is less severe, and does not last as long. The evidence is mounting that "this fragile earth, our island home" is suffering from many environmental abuses.
In so many ways, we as an electorate seem to have become much more passive than we used to be. We seem to have abdicated our responsibility to hold our elected officials responsible for those public policies which affect the lives we live. As the old Boston politicians used to say: "The only thing that apathy guarantees is that someone worse than you will govern."
That makes sense, doesn't it? It is not enough just to vote -- it behooves us to get involved, to get our hands right into the thick of things and to hold everyone's feet to the fire, including ourselves.
This planet is the only one we'll ever have. Environmental degradation is simply not acceptable. The Gulf coast hurricanes Katrina and Rita remind us that there is a grinding reality to poverty, neglect, inadequate health care, substandard education and housing for far too many of our own people. The reality is that our response to these storms has been anemic at best, and downright intentionally neglectful at worst. In other words, the connection between environment and public policy toward the poor are related. We are pouring money down the drain of some rather questionable international "diplomatic" policies, while we ignore and pull back from our commitments to our own vital interests domestically and environmentally.
In the very beginning God gave us dominion over the created order. That doesn't mean that we have the right to be irresponsible over what God has given into our care. It means that we are being called to be good stewards of all that has been given to us.
We have received a heavenly call. We may not all agree on how best to respond toward that call, but I suspect that we could strain and press ahead with more vigor and creativity than we have in the recent past. This is not just the responsibility of our elected leaders. It is the responsibility of good and sound citizenship. Many of us could use a course in Civics 101 these days.
No doubt many will be tempted to say: "What can I do against such insurmountable and complex problems?" What we can do is forget what lies behind and press on toward what lies ahead. Watch for it -- God is about to do something new again. True enough, there may be tears of sorrow this night, but joy will come in the morning.
When Jesus comes into our midst we will no doubt want to lavish him with expensive ointment and rejoice that he lives. My dear friends, Jesus is living today in the poor who cry out to us for help from those areas of this world where there are dangerous droughts and famine, where warfare and civil unrest make mere survival precarious. Jesus is living today in the very forests we love, and the glaciers that inspire such awe among us. God's glory is visible in the created order that we have been called to tend to with all the zeal of a mother caring for her child. Jesus is living among the vulnerable in our cities and in the lowlands of the Louisiana and Mississippi Gulf coast. We could lavish Jesus right now with the ointment of the healing touch of human love and generosity.
Many of our denominations are seeking to respond to the multitude of human needs by responding to the Millennium Development Goals as articulated by the United Nations. That in and of itself is a modest but hopeful beginning.
Yes, we have dominion over all the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, and the myriads of creatures and the very planet we all share. I am persuaded that there is a way to preserve what we have been given in a sustainable and responsible kind of way. The good news of the Gospel is that Jesus has made us his own. Therefore we press on toward that upward call of God. The prize for which we strive after is this: the heavenly call of God.
The greatest joy we will ever know is the Joy of sharing abundantly the generous love of God which we know in the person of Jesus Christ our Lord. We don't have to look far to see that Person. That person is the multitude of men, women, and children in this world who seek the ointment of our generosity. That person is revealed to us in the beauty of this glorious planet. Now can you hear the Heavenly Call of God?
ANOTHER VIEW
It's Just a Game!
by Scott Suskovic
Philippians 3:1-11
So much of our life is just a game. It is a game of presentation. It is a game of facades. It is a game of validation, rights, and privileges. Much of it is a game based on a house of cards as we try to build up our confidence.
The focus of the recent firing of eight U.S. Attorneys was on their resumes. The focus on the presidential candidates is on their past experiences. The focus on the newest generals overseeing our military in Iraq is their previous assignments. So much of this game of confidence focuses on credentials, resumes, and certificates to the point that it is easy to miss the greater meaning.
THE WORD
If you were to ask a Jew living in the first century, "Where does your confidence come from?" they might say, "My circumcision, my family background, my righteous living. That is the source of my confidence." Paul tells the Philippians that they are just playing a game. If your confidence is only based on an external circumcision, you are just mutilated, not truly circumcised. Paul is quoting from Deuteronomy and Jeremiah, who repeatedly talk about placing the law within our heart. True circumcision is of the heart. If it is not of the heart, it's just a game.
But if you want to play that game, Paul says, "You're on." If anyone has reason for confidence, it would be Paul -- you will lose that game to Paul:
1. circumcised on the 8th day (he followed the law from week one)
2. of the people of Israel (not some Gentile convert)
3. of the tribe of Benjamin (he can trace back his Jewish roots for 1,600 years)
4. Hebrew of Hebrews (he knew the culture, spoke the culture, lived the culture)
5. a Pharisee (a small, elite group of people who obeyed the law and kept themselves pure)
6. a persecutor of the church
as to following the laws, requirements, rituals, Paul described himself not as pretty good or above average but blameless
In other words, you don't want to play that game with Paul -- he will beat you. But after listing all of his bragging points, Paul then says: "But whatever gain I had, I count as loss for the sake of Christ." It's just a game. In fact, Paul says, "I count it all as rubbish." (The better translation of that word is "dung.")
CRAFTING THE SERMON
I think that the preacher could have great fun crafting this sermon around some popular board games.
Scrabble -- What a great game. It includes words, keeping points, even bluffing. As a Jew, Paul was playing Scrabble: Israelite -- double letter; Hebrew -- double word; Benjamite -- triple letter; Pharisee -- triple word. Beat that!
I remember talking to one guy whose faith was a Scrabble game. His church experience was all about keeping score and earning points. So Jack played the game. He thought that was Christianity. Problem was, he couldn't keep up. The bar kept on rising. He was falling behind. And all he heard from church was you are going to hell unless you shape up, score some more points and get back in the game.
So he left the church for a long time. He could never score enough points. It wasn't until he came face to face with God's grace that he realized it was all a game that he could either play -- and trust what he could accomplish -- or stop playing and trust what Jesus had already accomplished. It was when he put away the tiles and closed up the board game that he could embrace the words of Paul: "Whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ."
Monopoly -- What a classic: greed, cutthroat dealing, amassing a fortune, wiping out the competition while trying to avoid jail. It's the American way! It's also the game Paul played. You see, after Paul added up all of his profits -- circumcision, Hebrew, Benjamin, Pharisee, blameless -- he had amassed quite a fortune in prestige, pedigree, possessions, position, and power. He had it all. Paul was on the fast track to become one of the leading Pharisees of his time. And yet, looking at his fortune, adding everything up on the profit column, it was worth to him as much as Monopoly money, plastic hotels, and a tiny silver thimble moving around a board game. Maybe Monopoly is your game of choice. Maybe it is adding up all of your gain and profit. Paul tried that, and concluded that it was all garbage compared to knowing Christ.
Maybe your game isn't Scrabble or Monopoly -- maybe it's Trivial Pursuit, another great pastime of pooling your memory on useless trivia. And what a perfect name: Trivial Pursuit. That's the kind of game that many of us find ourselves playing every day. We are busy, the calendars are full, families are scattered, lives are drained -- and for what? Transforming the world? Improving our community? Strengthening the family? Or it is all just Trivial Pursuit?
Where does your confidence come from? From Scrabble, where you count up your points? From Monopoly, where you add up the profits? Maybe it's Trivial Pursuit, where you chase after things that just don't matter. Today, listen to Paul as he urges us all to stop playing games.
Do you know when Paul stopped playing the game? It was when he was at the top of his game, on his way to the town of Damascus, breathing murder against those Christians. And God stopped him in his tracks, knocked him to the ground, and blinded him for three days. Talk about a megaphone wake-up call. It was only after that that Paul could see the silly, meaningless games he was playing.
Is that what we need? A wake-up call? Getting the wind knocked out of us on our own road to Damascus so that we stop playing the games? Maybe.
Where does your confidence come from? The confidence to take that next step, the confidence to make that next move, the confidence to trust God, the confidence to really believe -- not just recite it, but really believe Jesus has put an end to the game-playing. Where will that confidence come from? Paul says that there is only one source for that kind of confidence -- the surpassing worth of knowing Jesus. His accomplishment, not mine. His worth, not mine. The rest is dung, the rest is garbage, the rest is just a game.
ILLUSTRATIONS
Out in Hollywood, California, in the year 1989, another star was added to the renowned "Walk of Fame." The new star was placed near the stars belonging to Julie Andrews and Wayne Newton. The recipient of this star had first been offered the honor decades before, but he had refused to let his name be used -- even though by that time millions of people around the world had come to hear him speak. In 1989 he reconsidered, and the name of Billy Graham was inscribed on the sidewalk beside Hollywood Boulevard.
His motivation in accepting the honor was just a bit different from that of the typical celebrity. "I hope it will identify me with the gospel that I preach," he said, accepting the honor. At the unveiling ceremony, Billy Graham advised the curiosity-seekers who had come out to see him: "We should put our eyes on the star, which is the Lord."
We live in a culture that measures a person's "net worth" in dollars and cents, that confuses fame with virtue, and mistakes physical attraction for love. When the most distinguished leaders of our culture want to get to know us, they ask for our resume, our degrees, our accomplishments. We're taught from a very young age that we must earn our rewards and honors in life -- and that once we do, they belong to us, taking their place among our most cherished possessions.
It's sobering and even baffling to hear the story of a man like Paul, who casts this all away, who regards it as so much rubbish. It's not that Paul despises the things of this world. It's just that he loves Jesus more.
***
Remember Charles Dickens' famous story A Christmas Carol? Remember how the ghost of Scrooge's business partner, Jacob Marley, appears to him one night? Listen to it again, as Charles Dickens describes it:
The chain he drew was clasped about his middle. It was long, and wound about him like a tail; and it was made (for Scrooge observed it closely) of cash-boxes, keys, padlocks, ledgers, deeds, and heavy purses wrought in steel.
Jacob Marley, like Ebenezer Scrooge, had spent his entire life driving hard bargain after hard bargain, until he'd made himself wealthy in the sort of things the world values. Then Marley died -- and in the life to come (in the novelist's imagination), he soon realized that the ink in his own cosmic ledger-book was a different color than what he'd expected. What had been clean, crisp, black ink in life became an oozing red in death. Listen again, as Dickens picks up the story a bit later:
"You are fettered," said Scrooge, trembling. "Tell me why?"
"I wear the chain I forged in life," replied the Ghost. "I made it link by link, and yard by yard; I girded it on of my own free will, and of my own free will I wore it. Is its pattern strange to you?"
Scrooge trembled more and more.
"Or would you know," pursued the Ghost, "the weight and length of the strong coil you bear yourself? It was full as heavy and as long as this, seven Christmas Eves ago. You have laboured on it, since. It is a ponderous chain!"
The ponderous chain of religious respectability that Saul of Tarsus had spent half his life forging, he had the good sense to unwind from around himself and abandon once he met Jesus Christ. Saul gave up his identity, and with it even his name. He became someone completely new -- Paul, child of God and disciple of Jesus. What he had once been no longer mattered.
***
It happened just over 50 years ago, in Oxford, England: one of the most significant milestones in the history of sports. A young medical student by the name of Roger Bannister walked out onto the university track. Weather conditions were less than optimal: cold and windy. Even so, 3,000 people were watching. The crowd had come out to see him run because they knew that day he was going to attempt a record that had never before been achieved. Roger Bannister was going to try to run a mile in less than four minutes.
For years, the four-minute mile had been the holy grail of runners. Some physiologists claimed it was impossible, that the human body simply couldn't take that kind of strain: the pumping of the heart, the rapid inflation and deflation of the lungs, the jarring effect on the joints as -- again and again -- the runner's spikes collided with the cinders of the track.
This wasn't a sprint; it was a mile -- a distance event. It required careful pacing, planning, mental attitude -- not to mention sheer physical endurance. In the weeks prior to the race, the 25-year-old medical student had undergone a grueling training regimen. Every day, for a half-hour of his lunch break, he ran ten quarter-mile races, taking breaks of just two minutes between each one.
On May 6th, the day of his attempt, Bannister had a game plan. He had two other expert athletes running with him, to pace him: one who was to run ahead of him for the first half of the race, and another for the second. In the final stretch, the plan was for him to break into a furious sprint and give it everything he had.
It all happened according to plan. He charged across the finish line and collapsed into the arms of a friend. "It was only then," he said later, "that real pain overtook me. I felt like an exploded flashlight with no will to live."
When the announcer read out the time -- three minutes, 59 seconds -- the crowd went wild. They had witnessed history in the making, and they knew it.
Roger Bannister's record has been broken many times since -- the first time, a mere six weeks after he set it. But he will always be the first. "It may seem incredible today," he told the BBC, in an interview on the 50th anniversary of his achievement, "that the world record at this classic distance could be set by an amateur athlete, in bad weather, on a university running track."
Even more exceptional -- in light of the way many of today's top athletes neglect their studies -- just a month after breaking the four-minute mile, Roger Bannister qualified as a medical doctor, and went on to have a successful career as a neurologist and, later, head of an Oxford college.
Now that's perseverance -- "pressing on toward the goal," as Paul says in Philippians 3:14.
***
Tomorrow, March 26, Christians around the world will celebrate the Annunciation, the visit of the angel Gabriel to a young woman named Mary to announce to her that she will have a son and will name him Jesus. This son "will be called the Son of God, the Son of the Most High," the angel tells her. "He will reign forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end."
Mary had found favor with God, and now God was entrusting her with this most important task, to give birth to and to raise his only Son. This was certainly a heavenly call. Mary had to put aside all her worries about what the neighbors, and her family, and her fiancé Joseph would think about a young woman who was engaged, but not yet married, having a baby.
God called, issuing an upward call, and Mary answered, "Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word."
***
Yesterday, March 24, Christians remembered Oscar Romero, the bishop of El Salvador, who was martyred in 1980 for the strong stand he took on helping the many people in his country who lived in abject poverty, while a few lived in extreme luxury. He was warned repeatedly to just "tend to his flock" and leave social issues alone. But he felt the call of God to see that his people were not only nourished spiritually but also assured of the basic things they needed: food and housing, education and health care. He heard the upward call of God, and answered with his life.
***
In our Philippians text, Paul shows us that in order to press on toward the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus, we need to forget what lies behind us, as he did. Too often we let anger over what someone did to us in the past -- or guilt over something we ourselves did -- keep our minds so preoccupied that we can't even think about answering our Lord's call. In our Gospel today, Mary (Lazarus and Martha's sister) takes some expensive perfume and anoints Jesus' feet, then dries them with her hair, with enough left over to use later at the time of his burial. Mary was answering the upward call, ministering to the Lord himself.
***
In a recent speech at Bennett College in Greensboro, North Carolina, Presidential candidate John Edwards was lifting up the issue of global warming. In urging the students to act to preserve the environment, he announced that his campaign would operate in a way that would be "carbon neutral," meaning that any emissions generated during the campaign would be offset by other conservation steps.
***
In less than a century, our human industrial society has become the major driver determining the future of the earth, its fauna, forests, and its very climate. We have gone from being one small part of creation -- who thought of ourselves a little self-importantly as rather separate from it -- to the central player. We have become as gods without the wisdom or understanding or any deep acceptance of our responsibility for the future of the earth.
-- Climate scientist Alan Betts, in Sojourners magazine (April 2007), p. 8
***
Who's lacking clean water? In Progress for Children: A Report Card on Water and Sanitation, UNICEF reports the following numbers about who is lacking clean water:
Industrialized countries: 0.24 million
Central/Eastern Europe: 35 million
Latin America/Caribbean: 50 million
Asia/Pacific: 624 million
Africa/Middle East: 355 million
***
It may be that as civilization advances, the sense of wonder declines. But it is ironic that just as technology frees us to be full human beings, not mere survivors of the earth's rigors, at this very moment we may be about to lose the whole planet because we have lost our sense of wonder. For finally only reverence can restrain violence, violence against nature, violence against one another.
-- William Sloane Coffin, Credo (Westminster John Knox, 2003), p. 113
WORSHIP RESOURCES
by Thom M. Shuman
Call to Worship
Leader: Whatever God did in the past,
the future is that much better!
(even in Jerusalem)
People: We will not stop looking for the newness God has for us!
Leader: Whatever we have achieved to this point,
we have not completed our journey.
(even into the unknown)
People: We will quicken our pace to follow Jesus wherever he leads.
Leader: Whatever obstacles we put in the path,
God will make a way to our hearts.
(even in the desert of death)
People: We will move onward through our doubts and fears.
Prayer of the Day
Holy God, Water-Tamer:
you humble our pride, so we might open our hearts to your healing;
you restrain our fears, so we might reach for your joy.
Jesus Christ, Living Water:
you gather up our tears and wash away the dust of our despair;
you sit at our feet and anoint us with your costly love;
you wipe away our sin and make us new.
Holy Spirit, Impudent Joy:
you grace us with gifts so abundant
they become a river bursting its banks in our lives.
God in Community, Holy in One,
we lift our prayers and our joy
as we pray as Jesus has taught us,
Our Father . . .
Call to Reconciliation
Even now, God makes a way for us to be made whole.
God wants to bring us out of despair and to fill our hearts with laughter.
Please join me as we pray to the One who forgets our past to offer us a new future . . .
(Unison) Prayer of Confession
God, whose name is Grace:
we confess that all too often we assume we have it made and
there is no need to advance in our faith.
Because the poor are always with us, we believe we can ignore them.
We want Jesus to be with us, but not if it means a lot of struggle and pain.
Forgive us, God of Mercy, and repair our broken lives.
You have rearranged the price tags on everything we value,
so we might set down all that holds us back,
to push ahead in following Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior.
(silent prayers may be offered)
Assurance of Pardon
Leader: God comes to us to give living water to thirsty people;
God comes to us to anoint us with the grace that wipes away our sin;
God comes to fill us with joy.
People: Our tears are turned into rivers of grace;
our weeping becomes glad cries of praise.
Thanks be to God. Amen.
CHILDREN'S SERMON
Reaching Goals
Object: a yardstick
I press on toward the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 3:14)
Good morning, boys and girls. I brought a yardstick today because I want to talk about measuring things. What kinds of things do you measure with a yardstick? (let them answer) You can measure the size of rooms, how long a table is, the size of furniture to see if it will fit through a door, and how big windows are. Do any of you keep a chart on a door or wall of how tall you are? (wait for a show of hands) Some of you have a chart on a wall or door. How tall are you? (let them answer) How often do you get measured? (let them answer) Some people get measured once a month or maybe every two or three months. Are you disappointed when you are still the same and haven't grown at all? (let them answer) Most children want to grow taller. How tall do you want to be? (let them answer) Some of you might get as tall as you want. When you want to be a certain height, we call that a goal. Once there was a little boy and he had a goal to jump higher each day until he could finally touch the ceiling. He put a chart on the wall. Each day he jumped to see how high he could jump, and then he marked it on the chart. His goal was to touch the ceiling. Every few months he could jump higher and touch a little bit closer to the ceiling. As he grew taller he could jump higher and touch higher on the chart. After a few years, he was tall enough to jump and touch the ceiling. He reached his goal.
Our lesson today is about trying really hard to reach goals. The person in our lesson had a goal, too. It wasn't to be very tall or to jump and touch the ceiling. His goal was to follow Jesus and teach other people to love God and to love each other. Each day he got a little closer to his goal. He knew that following Jesus and trying to be like him was a very good goal to have. It was probably the best goal in the world.
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
The Immediate Word, March 25, 2007, issue.
Copyright 2007 by CSS Publishing Company, Inc., Lima, Ohio.
All rights reserved. Subscribers to The Immediate Word service may print and use this material as it was intended in sermons and in worship and classroom settings only. No additional permission is required from the publisher for such use by subscribers only. Inquiries should be addressed to permissions@csspub.com or to Permissions, CSS Publishing Company, Inc., 517 South Main Street, Lima, Ohio 45804.
The Heavenly Call of God
by Paul Bresnahan
Philippians 3:12-14
The heavenly call of God reminds me to lift my eyes unto the hills from when cometh my help (Psalm 121) and to consider the heavens that have been fashioned by the fingers of God (Psalm 8).
As an urban dweller near Boston, I cannot help but notice when I lift up my eyes to heaven the frequent heat inversions we suffer from in the summertime and the mild winters we've had in recent years. This year we've only had 4 inches of snow -- and in spite of the fact that we've had a few significant cold snaps, the overall picture seems to be that there really is a warming trend. Enter Al Gore's Oscar-winning movie An Inconvenient Truth and I find myself struggling indeed with the "upward call of God."
This is God's world. For good or ill, God gave us dominion over that world. And now many of us are concerned about the account we must someday give of the stewardship of what God has put into our hands. That day is coming sooner rather than later. What can any one of us do -- other than just throwing up our hands and running around like Chicken Little literally alarmed that the sky is falling? We've stared down the darkness before, as empires come and empires go. Now we face an even more daunting task -- the salvation of the very planet we live on.
Let's begin with Paul by recognizing that we must "press on toward the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus." We've got to be in it for the long haul.
THE WORLD
Warnings abound about global warming. This country sidestepped any serious consideration of the Kyoto Protocols in 2000, when other industrialized nations around the world began to bite the bullet over reining in CO2 emissions. It is ironic that the prophets of our own time are scientists and meteorologists, who have documented some disquieting trends that include the disappearance or dissipation of glaciers in the Alps and the Himalayas, the melting of the permafrost in the Canadian Northwest Territories, the breakup of the ice sheets at the poles, and the threat to polar bear habitat. The list goes on.
Without becoming alarmist, many are indeed trying to take a sober look at the realities of this "inconvenient truth." Al Gore's Oscar-winning movie by that title has brought renewed and sustained attention to environmental concerns we share as those given "dominion" over the created order.
Very recently, James Hansen, a NASA scientist of some repute and one of the earliest prophets of global warming, reiterated his concern that funding for climate research has been slashed and that the entire process of research and reporting has been hopelessly politicized (like almost everything else these days). In the New Zealand Herald Mr. Hansen is quoted as saying: "In my more than three decades in government, I have never seen anything approaching the degree to which information flow from scientists to the public has been screened and controlled as it has now."
It is a disturbing fact, if it is true. I for one find the evidence disturbing and feel that there is much to be learned from an honest and open evaluation of the truth. That is the missing piece in the ongoing debate, it seems to me.
THE WORD
There is in the readings this week a theme of looking toward what lies ahead rather than what lies behind us. It is a biblical way of saying that there is simply no use in crying over spilled milk. It is not a bad way to live. In our political life, we always seem to be having hearings so that we can assign blame. There is an old axiom that states that "blame is always a cover-up." In other words, as we seek to find someone to blame for our woes we take attention off our responsibility for our own lives.
The scripture seems to ask us to focus on forgetting what lies behind and pressing on to what lies ahead. In our lesson from Isaiah today we read: "Do not remember the former things, or consider the things of old. I am about to do a new thing." God seems to be saying that something new is about to happen, and if we have our eyes too firmly fixed on the past we'll miss the miracle of what is yet to spring forth from God's creative and redemptive work.
The Psalmist recognizes God's way with us. Indeed, we doubt and wonder -- but ultimately it is the confidence of faith that opens us up to that which is possible. It is therefore reassuring that we have words like these from today's Psalm, which remind us about God's Grace that is always leading us toward redemption: "Those who sowed with tears will reap with songs of joy."
St. Paul similarly asks us to answer readily "the heavenly call of God." He makes it clear that life when it is lived well recognizes that there is a "long haul" dimension to the struggles we face. The way he puts it is in those familiar and ringing words of scripture: "forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus." Those stirring words open the human heart to God's urging us on to something new.
Even in the Gospel, Jesus reminds Judas not to prevent Mary's extravagant and devoted loving care for her Lord. When Judas complains about how much could have been provided for the poor our of Mary's extravagance, Jesus reminds all who were gathered, and all who really care about the poor, that efforts to help the poor will always be available to us. And did Judas really care about the poor? Does the political system in which we live really care about the poor? What do you think?
There is always the present moment. There is always what is possible to do right in this living moment. This is the moment where God's Grace is to be found. Now is the moment to respond to the heavenly call of God. Forget what lies behind us. Let's move on to what lies ahead.
CRAFTING THE SERMON
Several years ago I went to a lake in northern Ontario where I used to go as a child. Something was terribly wrong up there in the beauty of that pristine lakeside forest -- the forest was denuded of the broadleaf maple trees that used to provide such lovely and abundant shade on a hot summer's day. Now those leaves were just a fraction of the size that I remembered them being. I asked my friends what happened. "Acid rain!" was the answer.
In one short lifetime a dramatic change had taken place in such a noticeable way. Similarly, the effects of global warming seem to have left their mark in so many places. Last fall our church hosted a singing group from St. Petersburg, Russia, and when I asked them about their weather at that time of year, they said that there was a time when snow would be falling by late November -- but no more, not since global warming. Nowadays winter comes later, is less severe, and does not last as long. The evidence is mounting that "this fragile earth, our island home" is suffering from many environmental abuses.
In so many ways, we as an electorate seem to have become much more passive than we used to be. We seem to have abdicated our responsibility to hold our elected officials responsible for those public policies which affect the lives we live. As the old Boston politicians used to say: "The only thing that apathy guarantees is that someone worse than you will govern."
That makes sense, doesn't it? It is not enough just to vote -- it behooves us to get involved, to get our hands right into the thick of things and to hold everyone's feet to the fire, including ourselves.
This planet is the only one we'll ever have. Environmental degradation is simply not acceptable. The Gulf coast hurricanes Katrina and Rita remind us that there is a grinding reality to poverty, neglect, inadequate health care, substandard education and housing for far too many of our own people. The reality is that our response to these storms has been anemic at best, and downright intentionally neglectful at worst. In other words, the connection between environment and public policy toward the poor are related. We are pouring money down the drain of some rather questionable international "diplomatic" policies, while we ignore and pull back from our commitments to our own vital interests domestically and environmentally.
In the very beginning God gave us dominion over the created order. That doesn't mean that we have the right to be irresponsible over what God has given into our care. It means that we are being called to be good stewards of all that has been given to us.
We have received a heavenly call. We may not all agree on how best to respond toward that call, but I suspect that we could strain and press ahead with more vigor and creativity than we have in the recent past. This is not just the responsibility of our elected leaders. It is the responsibility of good and sound citizenship. Many of us could use a course in Civics 101 these days.
No doubt many will be tempted to say: "What can I do against such insurmountable and complex problems?" What we can do is forget what lies behind and press on toward what lies ahead. Watch for it -- God is about to do something new again. True enough, there may be tears of sorrow this night, but joy will come in the morning.
When Jesus comes into our midst we will no doubt want to lavish him with expensive ointment and rejoice that he lives. My dear friends, Jesus is living today in the poor who cry out to us for help from those areas of this world where there are dangerous droughts and famine, where warfare and civil unrest make mere survival precarious. Jesus is living today in the very forests we love, and the glaciers that inspire such awe among us. God's glory is visible in the created order that we have been called to tend to with all the zeal of a mother caring for her child. Jesus is living among the vulnerable in our cities and in the lowlands of the Louisiana and Mississippi Gulf coast. We could lavish Jesus right now with the ointment of the healing touch of human love and generosity.
Many of our denominations are seeking to respond to the multitude of human needs by responding to the Millennium Development Goals as articulated by the United Nations. That in and of itself is a modest but hopeful beginning.
Yes, we have dominion over all the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, and the myriads of creatures and the very planet we all share. I am persuaded that there is a way to preserve what we have been given in a sustainable and responsible kind of way. The good news of the Gospel is that Jesus has made us his own. Therefore we press on toward that upward call of God. The prize for which we strive after is this: the heavenly call of God.
The greatest joy we will ever know is the Joy of sharing abundantly the generous love of God which we know in the person of Jesus Christ our Lord. We don't have to look far to see that Person. That person is the multitude of men, women, and children in this world who seek the ointment of our generosity. That person is revealed to us in the beauty of this glorious planet. Now can you hear the Heavenly Call of God?
ANOTHER VIEW
It's Just a Game!
by Scott Suskovic
Philippians 3:1-11
So much of our life is just a game. It is a game of presentation. It is a game of facades. It is a game of validation, rights, and privileges. Much of it is a game based on a house of cards as we try to build up our confidence.
The focus of the recent firing of eight U.S. Attorneys was on their resumes. The focus on the presidential candidates is on their past experiences. The focus on the newest generals overseeing our military in Iraq is their previous assignments. So much of this game of confidence focuses on credentials, resumes, and certificates to the point that it is easy to miss the greater meaning.
THE WORD
If you were to ask a Jew living in the first century, "Where does your confidence come from?" they might say, "My circumcision, my family background, my righteous living. That is the source of my confidence." Paul tells the Philippians that they are just playing a game. If your confidence is only based on an external circumcision, you are just mutilated, not truly circumcised. Paul is quoting from Deuteronomy and Jeremiah, who repeatedly talk about placing the law within our heart. True circumcision is of the heart. If it is not of the heart, it's just a game.
But if you want to play that game, Paul says, "You're on." If anyone has reason for confidence, it would be Paul -- you will lose that game to Paul:
1. circumcised on the 8th day (he followed the law from week one)
2. of the people of Israel (not some Gentile convert)
3. of the tribe of Benjamin (he can trace back his Jewish roots for 1,600 years)
4. Hebrew of Hebrews (he knew the culture, spoke the culture, lived the culture)
5. a Pharisee (a small, elite group of people who obeyed the law and kept themselves pure)
6. a persecutor of the church
as to following the laws, requirements, rituals, Paul described himself not as pretty good or above average but blameless
In other words, you don't want to play that game with Paul -- he will beat you. But after listing all of his bragging points, Paul then says: "But whatever gain I had, I count as loss for the sake of Christ." It's just a game. In fact, Paul says, "I count it all as rubbish." (The better translation of that word is "dung.")
CRAFTING THE SERMON
I think that the preacher could have great fun crafting this sermon around some popular board games.
Scrabble -- What a great game. It includes words, keeping points, even bluffing. As a Jew, Paul was playing Scrabble: Israelite -- double letter; Hebrew -- double word; Benjamite -- triple letter; Pharisee -- triple word. Beat that!
I remember talking to one guy whose faith was a Scrabble game. His church experience was all about keeping score and earning points. So Jack played the game. He thought that was Christianity. Problem was, he couldn't keep up. The bar kept on rising. He was falling behind. And all he heard from church was you are going to hell unless you shape up, score some more points and get back in the game.
So he left the church for a long time. He could never score enough points. It wasn't until he came face to face with God's grace that he realized it was all a game that he could either play -- and trust what he could accomplish -- or stop playing and trust what Jesus had already accomplished. It was when he put away the tiles and closed up the board game that he could embrace the words of Paul: "Whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ."
Monopoly -- What a classic: greed, cutthroat dealing, amassing a fortune, wiping out the competition while trying to avoid jail. It's the American way! It's also the game Paul played. You see, after Paul added up all of his profits -- circumcision, Hebrew, Benjamin, Pharisee, blameless -- he had amassed quite a fortune in prestige, pedigree, possessions, position, and power. He had it all. Paul was on the fast track to become one of the leading Pharisees of his time. And yet, looking at his fortune, adding everything up on the profit column, it was worth to him as much as Monopoly money, plastic hotels, and a tiny silver thimble moving around a board game. Maybe Monopoly is your game of choice. Maybe it is adding up all of your gain and profit. Paul tried that, and concluded that it was all garbage compared to knowing Christ.
Maybe your game isn't Scrabble or Monopoly -- maybe it's Trivial Pursuit, another great pastime of pooling your memory on useless trivia. And what a perfect name: Trivial Pursuit. That's the kind of game that many of us find ourselves playing every day. We are busy, the calendars are full, families are scattered, lives are drained -- and for what? Transforming the world? Improving our community? Strengthening the family? Or it is all just Trivial Pursuit?
Where does your confidence come from? From Scrabble, where you count up your points? From Monopoly, where you add up the profits? Maybe it's Trivial Pursuit, where you chase after things that just don't matter. Today, listen to Paul as he urges us all to stop playing games.
Do you know when Paul stopped playing the game? It was when he was at the top of his game, on his way to the town of Damascus, breathing murder against those Christians. And God stopped him in his tracks, knocked him to the ground, and blinded him for three days. Talk about a megaphone wake-up call. It was only after that that Paul could see the silly, meaningless games he was playing.
Is that what we need? A wake-up call? Getting the wind knocked out of us on our own road to Damascus so that we stop playing the games? Maybe.
Where does your confidence come from? The confidence to take that next step, the confidence to make that next move, the confidence to trust God, the confidence to really believe -- not just recite it, but really believe Jesus has put an end to the game-playing. Where will that confidence come from? Paul says that there is only one source for that kind of confidence -- the surpassing worth of knowing Jesus. His accomplishment, not mine. His worth, not mine. The rest is dung, the rest is garbage, the rest is just a game.
ILLUSTRATIONS
Out in Hollywood, California, in the year 1989, another star was added to the renowned "Walk of Fame." The new star was placed near the stars belonging to Julie Andrews and Wayne Newton. The recipient of this star had first been offered the honor decades before, but he had refused to let his name be used -- even though by that time millions of people around the world had come to hear him speak. In 1989 he reconsidered, and the name of Billy Graham was inscribed on the sidewalk beside Hollywood Boulevard.
His motivation in accepting the honor was just a bit different from that of the typical celebrity. "I hope it will identify me with the gospel that I preach," he said, accepting the honor. At the unveiling ceremony, Billy Graham advised the curiosity-seekers who had come out to see him: "We should put our eyes on the star, which is the Lord."
We live in a culture that measures a person's "net worth" in dollars and cents, that confuses fame with virtue, and mistakes physical attraction for love. When the most distinguished leaders of our culture want to get to know us, they ask for our resume, our degrees, our accomplishments. We're taught from a very young age that we must earn our rewards and honors in life -- and that once we do, they belong to us, taking their place among our most cherished possessions.
It's sobering and even baffling to hear the story of a man like Paul, who casts this all away, who regards it as so much rubbish. It's not that Paul despises the things of this world. It's just that he loves Jesus more.
***
Remember Charles Dickens' famous story A Christmas Carol? Remember how the ghost of Scrooge's business partner, Jacob Marley, appears to him one night? Listen to it again, as Charles Dickens describes it:
The chain he drew was clasped about his middle. It was long, and wound about him like a tail; and it was made (for Scrooge observed it closely) of cash-boxes, keys, padlocks, ledgers, deeds, and heavy purses wrought in steel.
Jacob Marley, like Ebenezer Scrooge, had spent his entire life driving hard bargain after hard bargain, until he'd made himself wealthy in the sort of things the world values. Then Marley died -- and in the life to come (in the novelist's imagination), he soon realized that the ink in his own cosmic ledger-book was a different color than what he'd expected. What had been clean, crisp, black ink in life became an oozing red in death. Listen again, as Dickens picks up the story a bit later:
"You are fettered," said Scrooge, trembling. "Tell me why?"
"I wear the chain I forged in life," replied the Ghost. "I made it link by link, and yard by yard; I girded it on of my own free will, and of my own free will I wore it. Is its pattern strange to you?"
Scrooge trembled more and more.
"Or would you know," pursued the Ghost, "the weight and length of the strong coil you bear yourself? It was full as heavy and as long as this, seven Christmas Eves ago. You have laboured on it, since. It is a ponderous chain!"
The ponderous chain of religious respectability that Saul of Tarsus had spent half his life forging, he had the good sense to unwind from around himself and abandon once he met Jesus Christ. Saul gave up his identity, and with it even his name. He became someone completely new -- Paul, child of God and disciple of Jesus. What he had once been no longer mattered.
***
It happened just over 50 years ago, in Oxford, England: one of the most significant milestones in the history of sports. A young medical student by the name of Roger Bannister walked out onto the university track. Weather conditions were less than optimal: cold and windy. Even so, 3,000 people were watching. The crowd had come out to see him run because they knew that day he was going to attempt a record that had never before been achieved. Roger Bannister was going to try to run a mile in less than four minutes.
For years, the four-minute mile had been the holy grail of runners. Some physiologists claimed it was impossible, that the human body simply couldn't take that kind of strain: the pumping of the heart, the rapid inflation and deflation of the lungs, the jarring effect on the joints as -- again and again -- the runner's spikes collided with the cinders of the track.
This wasn't a sprint; it was a mile -- a distance event. It required careful pacing, planning, mental attitude -- not to mention sheer physical endurance. In the weeks prior to the race, the 25-year-old medical student had undergone a grueling training regimen. Every day, for a half-hour of his lunch break, he ran ten quarter-mile races, taking breaks of just two minutes between each one.
On May 6th, the day of his attempt, Bannister had a game plan. He had two other expert athletes running with him, to pace him: one who was to run ahead of him for the first half of the race, and another for the second. In the final stretch, the plan was for him to break into a furious sprint and give it everything he had.
It all happened according to plan. He charged across the finish line and collapsed into the arms of a friend. "It was only then," he said later, "that real pain overtook me. I felt like an exploded flashlight with no will to live."
When the announcer read out the time -- three minutes, 59 seconds -- the crowd went wild. They had witnessed history in the making, and they knew it.
Roger Bannister's record has been broken many times since -- the first time, a mere six weeks after he set it. But he will always be the first. "It may seem incredible today," he told the BBC, in an interview on the 50th anniversary of his achievement, "that the world record at this classic distance could be set by an amateur athlete, in bad weather, on a university running track."
Even more exceptional -- in light of the way many of today's top athletes neglect their studies -- just a month after breaking the four-minute mile, Roger Bannister qualified as a medical doctor, and went on to have a successful career as a neurologist and, later, head of an Oxford college.
Now that's perseverance -- "pressing on toward the goal," as Paul says in Philippians 3:14.
***
Tomorrow, March 26, Christians around the world will celebrate the Annunciation, the visit of the angel Gabriel to a young woman named Mary to announce to her that she will have a son and will name him Jesus. This son "will be called the Son of God, the Son of the Most High," the angel tells her. "He will reign forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end."
Mary had found favor with God, and now God was entrusting her with this most important task, to give birth to and to raise his only Son. This was certainly a heavenly call. Mary had to put aside all her worries about what the neighbors, and her family, and her fiancé Joseph would think about a young woman who was engaged, but not yet married, having a baby.
God called, issuing an upward call, and Mary answered, "Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word."
***
Yesterday, March 24, Christians remembered Oscar Romero, the bishop of El Salvador, who was martyred in 1980 for the strong stand he took on helping the many people in his country who lived in abject poverty, while a few lived in extreme luxury. He was warned repeatedly to just "tend to his flock" and leave social issues alone. But he felt the call of God to see that his people were not only nourished spiritually but also assured of the basic things they needed: food and housing, education and health care. He heard the upward call of God, and answered with his life.
***
In our Philippians text, Paul shows us that in order to press on toward the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus, we need to forget what lies behind us, as he did. Too often we let anger over what someone did to us in the past -- or guilt over something we ourselves did -- keep our minds so preoccupied that we can't even think about answering our Lord's call. In our Gospel today, Mary (Lazarus and Martha's sister) takes some expensive perfume and anoints Jesus' feet, then dries them with her hair, with enough left over to use later at the time of his burial. Mary was answering the upward call, ministering to the Lord himself.
***
In a recent speech at Bennett College in Greensboro, North Carolina, Presidential candidate John Edwards was lifting up the issue of global warming. In urging the students to act to preserve the environment, he announced that his campaign would operate in a way that would be "carbon neutral," meaning that any emissions generated during the campaign would be offset by other conservation steps.
***
In less than a century, our human industrial society has become the major driver determining the future of the earth, its fauna, forests, and its very climate. We have gone from being one small part of creation -- who thought of ourselves a little self-importantly as rather separate from it -- to the central player. We have become as gods without the wisdom or understanding or any deep acceptance of our responsibility for the future of the earth.
-- Climate scientist Alan Betts, in Sojourners magazine (April 2007), p. 8
***
Who's lacking clean water? In Progress for Children: A Report Card on Water and Sanitation, UNICEF reports the following numbers about who is lacking clean water:
Industrialized countries: 0.24 million
Central/Eastern Europe: 35 million
Latin America/Caribbean: 50 million
Asia/Pacific: 624 million
Africa/Middle East: 355 million
***
It may be that as civilization advances, the sense of wonder declines. But it is ironic that just as technology frees us to be full human beings, not mere survivors of the earth's rigors, at this very moment we may be about to lose the whole planet because we have lost our sense of wonder. For finally only reverence can restrain violence, violence against nature, violence against one another.
-- William Sloane Coffin, Credo (Westminster John Knox, 2003), p. 113
WORSHIP RESOURCES
by Thom M. Shuman
Call to Worship
Leader: Whatever God did in the past,
the future is that much better!
(even in Jerusalem)
People: We will not stop looking for the newness God has for us!
Leader: Whatever we have achieved to this point,
we have not completed our journey.
(even into the unknown)
People: We will quicken our pace to follow Jesus wherever he leads.
Leader: Whatever obstacles we put in the path,
God will make a way to our hearts.
(even in the desert of death)
People: We will move onward through our doubts and fears.
Prayer of the Day
Holy God, Water-Tamer:
you humble our pride, so we might open our hearts to your healing;
you restrain our fears, so we might reach for your joy.
Jesus Christ, Living Water:
you gather up our tears and wash away the dust of our despair;
you sit at our feet and anoint us with your costly love;
you wipe away our sin and make us new.
Holy Spirit, Impudent Joy:
you grace us with gifts so abundant
they become a river bursting its banks in our lives.
God in Community, Holy in One,
we lift our prayers and our joy
as we pray as Jesus has taught us,
Our Father . . .
Call to Reconciliation
Even now, God makes a way for us to be made whole.
God wants to bring us out of despair and to fill our hearts with laughter.
Please join me as we pray to the One who forgets our past to offer us a new future . . .
(Unison) Prayer of Confession
God, whose name is Grace:
we confess that all too often we assume we have it made and
there is no need to advance in our faith.
Because the poor are always with us, we believe we can ignore them.
We want Jesus to be with us, but not if it means a lot of struggle and pain.
Forgive us, God of Mercy, and repair our broken lives.
You have rearranged the price tags on everything we value,
so we might set down all that holds us back,
to push ahead in following Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior.
(silent prayers may be offered)
Assurance of Pardon
Leader: God comes to us to give living water to thirsty people;
God comes to us to anoint us with the grace that wipes away our sin;
God comes to fill us with joy.
People: Our tears are turned into rivers of grace;
our weeping becomes glad cries of praise.
Thanks be to God. Amen.
CHILDREN'S SERMON
Reaching Goals
Object: a yardstick
I press on toward the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 3:14)
Good morning, boys and girls. I brought a yardstick today because I want to talk about measuring things. What kinds of things do you measure with a yardstick? (let them answer) You can measure the size of rooms, how long a table is, the size of furniture to see if it will fit through a door, and how big windows are. Do any of you keep a chart on a door or wall of how tall you are? (wait for a show of hands) Some of you have a chart on a wall or door. How tall are you? (let them answer) How often do you get measured? (let them answer) Some people get measured once a month or maybe every two or three months. Are you disappointed when you are still the same and haven't grown at all? (let them answer) Most children want to grow taller. How tall do you want to be? (let them answer) Some of you might get as tall as you want. When you want to be a certain height, we call that a goal. Once there was a little boy and he had a goal to jump higher each day until he could finally touch the ceiling. He put a chart on the wall. Each day he jumped to see how high he could jump, and then he marked it on the chart. His goal was to touch the ceiling. Every few months he could jump higher and touch a little bit closer to the ceiling. As he grew taller he could jump higher and touch higher on the chart. After a few years, he was tall enough to jump and touch the ceiling. He reached his goal.
Our lesson today is about trying really hard to reach goals. The person in our lesson had a goal, too. It wasn't to be very tall or to jump and touch the ceiling. His goal was to follow Jesus and teach other people to love God and to love each other. Each day he got a little closer to his goal. He knew that following Jesus and trying to be like him was a very good goal to have. It was probably the best goal in the world.
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
The Immediate Word, March 25, 2007, issue.
Copyright 2007 by CSS Publishing Company, Inc., Lima, Ohio.
All rights reserved. Subscribers to The Immediate Word service may print and use this material as it was intended in sermons and in worship and classroom settings only. No additional permission is required from the publisher for such use by subscribers only. Inquiries should be addressed to permissions@csspub.com or to Permissions, CSS Publishing Company, Inc., 517 South Main Street, Lima, Ohio 45804.
