Sermon by The Very Rev Chris Yaw, 3/17/2024, Lent 5
Centering Prayer
Lord Jesus Christ,
Son of God,
May your will be done,
through me.
Have you ever tried to awaken a teenage boy at 6:30 in the morning?
Not that I have any experience, but from what I understand It can be, pun intended, an eye opening experience...
First, there's the entry into their room, which smells like teenager.
Then there is the sound, of a huge box fan, set on high, 24, 7, 52, 365.
Don't try to compete with its sound.
Just go over and attempt to see if you can stir the sleeping giant by doing something subtle - like yanking the covers off all at once, or putting them into a half-nelson until his face turns blue. Yes, that's what it takes.
Once awakened, I understand teenagers, despite having gone to bed in the same room, in the same bed, just a few hours ago, once awakened, rarely recognize their environment.
There's a certain amount of looking around: What is this place? How did I get here? And who are you?##
Hang around long enough, and you might start to hear the complaints;
My knees hurt.
My elbows are sore.
My back is killing me.
My fingers ache, which is rarely related to cramps from holding pens or pencils for too long, and more likely related to manipulating various video game controllers, and using the texting function of their digital device, so that, if you did the timekeeping, these activities last 20 to 30 times longer than the longest amount of time ever spent holding a writing instrument.##
The next stop, sooner or later, will be the kitchen.
Which better be well stocked!
Because after 16 bowls of sugared cereal eaten out of a mixing bowl, the teenager gets into the car for the 5 minute trip to school, And the only question you are likely to hear is:
Do we have anything to eat in here?
Teenagers are constantly sleepy.
They have annoying joint pain and muscle aches.
And are afflicted with never ending-hunger.
Why are they suffering?
Because they're growing.
It's biological,
It's spiritual,
"Unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain:
"But if it dies, it bears much fruit."
This morning sermon is about suffering,
And redemption!
It's about the pain of loss,
And the gain of something else!
It's about the problems we brought into church,
The worries over our relationships, finances, work, and health,
And it's about how the suffering we are enduring,
Often paves the way for that new thing for which our soul yearns.
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One of the world's best known, and most respected actors is an Englishman named Michael Caine.
You may have seen him in one or more of his 160 films, from war movies, to Woody Allen, to Austin Powers, to Batman, Michael Caine started at a young age and learned many lessons along the way.
The one, he says, stands out most, happened when he was working on stage, as a young actor. He was standing in the wings, waiting for his cue, when he was supposed to open a door, walk on stage, and deliver his lines.
Proceeding his entrance, though, both actors on stage were to get into a raucous fight!
Trading insults and throwing furniture!
During one particular rehearsal, a chair had made its way across the stage and blocked the door just as Michael was supposed to make his entrance.
So when he opened the door, looked down and saw the chair, he fumbled, and looked confused.
That's when the director called for everyone to stop and tore into a lecture for young Michael.
He said that stage acting is unpredictable, and you can't tell how a scene is going to unfold,
So when you open a door, and find a chair, if it's a drama, throw it back, if it's a comedy, trip over it and get a laugh, but the bottom line, is that when you're faced with something you didn't expect, a surprise, a difficulty:
Use the difficulty.
Ruminating on that wisdom, it became a catch phrase for the actor, wisdom he passed along to friends, colleagues, and his children, to use the difficulty.
Of course, this does not eliminate the difficulty, this does not keep hard things from happening, but it does remind us that whatever challenge, hurdle, hardship, and difficulty that we face,
It can be used, in big and small ways.
"Unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain:
"But if it dies, it bears much fruit."
I wonder about the difficulties in this room.
I wonder if the fretting, the anxiety, the dread, might be better channeled
I wonder how you might use the difficulty.
This is never to say that God brings pain and tragedy into our lives just to teach us a lesson.
This is to say, that life, as unpredictable as we all know it is, brings us difficulties, and the best course, is often to use them.
What does this look like for you?
How does that seed that falls into the ground and dies, become a crucible for something new?
--------
I made a quick trip to Ohio this week.
No, I did not lose a bet...
I drove south, to see my friend Phil, who is running for an open congressional seat in the most Republican district in the state. Phil has enjoyed a long career in city and county politics and continues to make his opinions known even after leaving elected office.
Phil thought his political career was over until a race opened up in the adjoining district.
2/3 of that district voted for Donald Trump in the last election.
It is the redist district in Ohio.
But Phil, though a republican, does not wear a MAGA cap. And he has not been silent about his opposition. Much of Phil's activism has been in writing OP/ED pieces for the big newspapers in Ohio in which he openly and vehemently opposes Trump and Trumpism.
What made Phil run for this congressional seat was the retirement of the incumbent, a strong Trump supporter, and this open seat, which has attracted 10 people, each trying to out Trump the other.
So Phil thought, perhaps that would leave room for one dissident.
He threw his hat into the ring and proudly announced his name and his slogan, the anti-MAGA Republican. He would be the one among 11 who would really stick out!
So Phil has spent the last several months going to Republican gatherings all across the district, which are totally dominated by the MAGA crowd, feeling about as welcome as a vegan at a Sizzlers steakhouse.
Phil has sat through straw poles at party caucuses where he got zero votes.
No, he is not a sadist.
He is trying to win at a clever strategy that has been tried before but never quite succeeded:
Phil is hoping that his fellow candidates, all 10 of them, will split the majority vote, leaving him and his supporters, who in Ohio, can be Democrats and independents who are eligible to vote in the open primary, with just enough votes to win that primary, which is nearly always where this race is decided.
Phil knows this is a long shot.
Raising money is hard.
He has chipped in tens of thousands of dollars of his own.
He has solicited everyone in his Rolodex.
So why is he doing it?
Because he believes it's what God is asking of him.
He does not want to look back at his life and see something he feels strongly about, not backed up with serious action.
He does not think it's a good example for his children, for his family, or for his church, which commends him to fall to the ground and die so that something new might live.
I wonder what long shot God is calling you to consider?
I wonder what injustice, or threat, has gotten your attention, and maybe inviting you to address?
I wonder if I am willing to make the same sacrifice as my brother Phil?
"Unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain:
"But if it dies, it bears much fruit."
-------
In our gospel we meet a couple of curious Greeks - They are Jews who have come to Jerusalem for the festival. And they have heard about Jesus - They are curious about Jesus - his ministry, his message -
And they ask around - wanting to meet him -
Wondering what he stands for -
And if he has a word for them,
It's always struck me as curious that Jesus doesn't offer any small talk here -
He launches right in -
And he gets to the heart of what his life is about - and what needs to happen for the dynamic potential he has inside of him to be unleashed - and to make a mark on the world like no other,
He needs to die. That something amazing might follow.
Fast forward to another day and time when a man named Mike Lazaridis - who was also of the same region - Greece/Turkey - Lazaridis came up with the device called a 'Blackberry' - which - at its height - owned 43% of what we now call the Smartphone Market.
43% is huge.
Then one day some of his engineers came to him and told him about an opportunity!
The market was growing so quickly - and Blackberry was so well positioned -
But wasn't quite there - That if it made some changes - what a future it could have!
But it meant that those pesky little BlackBerry buttons, the shape, and operating system of the Blackberry would have to be totally scrapped. It would have to fall to the ground and die.
And like you and me often do in similar situations - We balk!
We can't do it. We don't want to die.
So Mike Lazaridis laughed.
Famously called the first iPhone a 'toy'
And saw his market share go, in just 3 years, from 43% to 6%.
Some of our ideas, assumptions, habits, and tendencies need to die.
In this Lenten season, when our Parish's theme is: 'The Happiest Lent You've Never Had' -
I wonder about our ideas surrounding joy.
Many of us think:
Joy is only a reward for good behavior.
Joy is the result of luck and is unpredictable.
Joy is the result of chance.
Some of us feel like we don't deserve joy.
We haven't earned it,
We haven't been good enough for it.
We aren't worthy of joy.
These ideas need to fall into the ground and die -
So that something much better might emerge!
Like the truth that:
Joy is an essential part of your well-being.
Joy is something you can create for yourself -
You don't need to earn it.
You don't need permission for it.
You deserve Joy.
Becoming more joyful means re-writing the script - putting to death old ideas and reprogramming yourself for a new one.
Our biggest and best life comes after we put death those things that need to die:
Apathy, hopelessness, and even routine!
This will bring to life their polar opposites,
Hope, confidence, clarity, joy, and peace!
making us into who God created us to be!
What are you putting to death today, and how is it bringing you life?
Amen.