Sermon from 10am Sunday Worship, The Very Rev Chris Yaw, 12/18/2022: Matthew 1:18-25
Who do you suppose I am?
Ya, Joseph - of the ‘Mary and Joseph’ moniker.
How do you know me?
Same way you know Stedman…
Ya, it’s my partner!
Ya, Mary’s more famous than Oprah - even though Oprah talks a lot more…
And she’s famous for bringing you and me The King - quite literally... I was there, OK…?
You complain about crowded hospitals, try doing the Lamaze with a cow breathing down your neck...
And I’m with you this morning, why?
Well, because your rector made me come… lazy guy - does everything he can to get out of preaching...
But more importantly because, while it was Mary who brought us the king: it’s Mary who brought me the King - And I want to tell you about it….
That’s why I’m here - because I hope that my story of finding God can help you do the same thing.
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Like my motorcycle jacket?
I thought it might freak you out.
You know, everybody thinks of me as this holy, old man - who worked so hard and obediently for dad making tables and chairs for the neighbors.
But that was for Dad - not me - I have always had my eyes on boats - really fast sailboats...
Ya!
From the first time I saw them on the Sea of Galilee - and then the Mediterranean - I was captivated. And so, I learned how to build them - lots of them - and I learned how to sail them... and boy the times I had!
Sure, you’ve seen pictures of me when I was old - those are the popular ones -
But you should have seen me when I was young - and when this jacket fit…
I worked hard, and played hard, when you hear somebody say they curse like a sailor, guess who taught them?
I had my motto tattooed on my forearm: “No Regrets"
There was not a girl in town - or down by the coast — that I’d let get by - without taking her for a spin on the boat.
What a life that was!
That was, until I saw Mary.
I’ll never forget the first time - she was in the market - She was tall, and thin, and wearing blue - And I was buying a bunch of dates when all of a sudden I looked up - and there she was - the most beautiful girl I had ever seen.
People talk about having visions of Mary today - well I tell you, those are nothing like the vision I saw that day. That girl was breathtaking.
So I started doing some re-con - asking around - to get her name and address - and figure out what kind of a person she was.
When the intel came back - I was depressed!
She was one of those goody-two shoes who spent all day in church -
No wonder I’d never seen her around!
‘Forget that!’ I thought - we would not work out.
I liked God, but at a distance!
Then for the next three days in a row - something really wild happened - while walking to work - I saw her again! 3 days in a row. What are the odds?
And each time I saw her, my heart skipped a beat
I had to meet her -
I had to get to know her.
So, I went to church.
That’s not to say I’d never been to church -
Where I grew up, religion was mandatory!
But looking at you guys in the back row - ya, that was me.
I went when I had to - And I never went willingly!
And I always brought something else to do!
I know you guys got your smartphones on back there, but we had our own games to play, anything to make the time pass quicker, so we could get out and get on with the day.
That is, until Mary.
Every weekend I began to go to church - hoping to get a glimpse of her -
Until one day, they announced a study group around the scriptures - not for me!
But... It was for whole families - and I saw Mary’s family sign up -
So, I signed up as well.
That's how we met, that's where we met, at a Bible study, me of all people!
And boy, how Mary knew her Bible!
So, I knew that the only way to impress her, the only way to get in on the conversation, was for me to know the Bible too.
So it wasn't with the most pure motives that I started going to Bible studies, but God uses what God can to do what needs to be done.
After a couple months of this, I became friends with Mary's family. You see in my day, you can't date the girl without knowing the dad, and the mom, and the brothers, and the sheep, and the chickens, if you know what I mean.
They had to trust you. And I was good at winning over people's trust! All those times down on the dock, courting young ladies, if you know what I mean...
So, I was very good at it. That is, until I wasn't!
See, one day, I went over to Mary's house to do a little, Bible study, and her dad pulled me aside. He said he knew my kind and he wasn't sure he could trust me.
He had some questions about my sincerity.
And he asked me to declare my faith in the first commandment, that I should love the Lord, as one God, with my whole heart and soul and mind and strength.
Well, I had been reading that for years in church it never captured me the way it did at Mary's house when her dad pulled me aside and asked me that question.
Mary had overheard, and she slipped into the back of the room, looking on, wondering what my answer would be, I knew what the right answer was, but I also knew that if I gave the right answer it would mean an end to the lifestyle I liked living, with me in charge, with me first, and I had to think long and hard about doing that.
And as Mary looked at me, I could feel her gaze, and with it, I could feel a sense of strength and peace, and affirmation that leaving behind the old ways would actually make room for better ways.
I thought of all the ways I was living my life on my own, by myself, and the fear and loneliness that accompanied my reliance on myself, because I knew how fallible I really was.
And I knew how guilty I was - of doing things I shouldn’t - I let people down, I said things I shouldn’t, and did things I wish I hadn’t. Could I be forgiven?
So, this notion, that there was something bigger than me, something in charge of things other than me, who cares about me, and loves me, began pulling at my heart.
All those church services I had listened to half-heartedly, began to fall into place, the warmth of the people who love me, the sense that this was the right thing to do, and that steady smiling gaze from Mary undid me. I knew I had to trust - to have faith - to be forgiven - to accept God’s plan.
So, I did.
I looked Mary’s father in the eye and assured him I was the real deal - to stick around and watch - and let him make up his mind in his own time.
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A week later, I had Mary out on the boat - And I was tying up a sail when my sleeve slipped down, and for the first time, she saw my tattoo - “No Regrets.”
She said, “Do you believe that?”
I said, “At the time, yes,”
“At the time I thought that having 'no regrets' was a sign of courage and confidence, that I was intentional and sure of myself in everything I said and did.“ And if not that, then certainly I was not in need of forgiveness.
“But I have found that anyone who lives with no regrets, lives a pretty unexamined life.
“Now I have found that owning up to my regrets, it’s the healthiest thing I can do.
“Owning up to them, then trying to fix things if I can - then trying to learn from them is best.”
Here’s one thing I've learned.
Not too long ago, the Greeks brought the Olympics to Rome.
And my friend went. And one thing he noticed, was that whenever the top three finishers, the Gold, Silver, and Bronze winners took to the stage to receive their medals, the happiest person on that stage was the Goal medal winner.
The second happiest person was the Bronze medal winner.
And the least happiest person was the Silver medal winner.
“Why?” asked Mary.
“It’s because the bronze medal winners would say ‘At Least’!
‘At least I wasn’t 4th, or 5th, or 6th!’
“But the Silver medal winners wouldn’t say ‘At Least’
They would say ‘If only’… ‘If only I’d run faster, trained harder, thrown further, etc.’
And their regret undoes them.
“Now I’ve learned to go through life not saying ‘If only’ - but ‘At least.
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This conversation led me to the tattoo removal shop - and you’ve never seen these technicians laugh harder than while taking off a tattoo that says ’No Regrets.’
A little while after that tattoo came off, Mary’s father trusted me enough to let me get engaged to Mary - by that time, we had grown so close to each other - and to God - that we sort of knew this was going to happen.
That’s when the dreams started coming.
Dreams of angels - telling me all sorts of things - that I would have, in younger days, laughed at and laughed off.
But when I saw how God worked in my life - guiding me, comforting me, and causing me to get my life turned around, few other things could surprise me.
And that’s my message for you:
All of us get into places where we don’t suspect much change is possible.
We get into routines and belief patterns that shut out any notion that anything can change.
Well, I’m here to tell you: not so fast.
I’ve heard angels singing in the sky
I’ve seen stars moving in the heavens -
I’ve heard visions of divine guidance and provision -
And if there’s any advice this old boat-builder can give you - it’s to trust that voice -
You know what it’s saying - you know how to make room for it.
Trust it.
Obey it.
For that’s the one thing I’ve done for which I have no regrets.
Amen.