“Let
the Artist Keep Painting” Sermon Delivered By Rev. Dick Stetler – June 26,
2016 Centenary United Methodist Church
Psalm 77:1-2, 11-20; Luke 9:51-56
Our first lesson today was from the book of Psalms.
Listen again to the plea of the
psalmist in the first two verses:
"I cry aloud to God; I cry aloud, and he hears me.
In times of trouble I pray to the Lord; all night long I lift my
hands in prayer, but I cannot find comfort."
One of the most common temptations that comes to countless people
is to seek reassurance when life takes them into
uncharted water.
What causes us to choose unproductive responses that produce
worry, anxiety and stress, particularly when we call ourselves, "people
of faith?" The psalmist
wanted God to remove the emotional response that the author, himself,
had chosen. The miracle
for which we often pray is seldom the one that arrives.
All of us know that every storm-swept sea has a day when that
same body of water looks like glass. Threatening weather always passes
and nature returns to the consistency of its seasons.
Why do we forget so easily that change is the only constant
reality in our physical world?
Too often we get stuck by anticipating the arrival of the
approaching storm clouds.
We find miracles, not in answered prayers, but in the way people live
their lives during tumultuous events. Lois and I were visiting a couple living in Pinehurst, North
Carolina. The husband had
stage four bladder cancer.
When we saw him, we knew that our visit with him would be the last.
He had lost half his body weight and his strength was failing.
In spite of his condition, he became quite insistent that he
become our tour-guide. We
took the pair around Pinehurst so he could show us some of their
favorite haunts and golf courses. Not long after our visit, we received word that our friend had
died. Think about this:
They had their dream retirement home exactly where they wanted
it. Both were avid golf
enthusiasts and had settled in one of the
golf capitals of the world.
They both had worked hard as they looked forward to these years and
suddenly their retirement was interrupted because two physicians had
misdiagnosed her husband's condition. Ann decided not to get stuck by circumstances that she could not
change. She gave herself plenty
of time to mourn and adjust to the loss of her playmate of many years.
While she was adjusting during the year that followed, a high
school classmate called whom she had dated during those years.
He had heard about her husband's death and shared with her that
his wife had died. Ann received a friendship ring from him before the two went their
separate ways following graduation. One of the first things that she
told him during their conversation was that she still had that ring.
He asked if he could see her.
She said, "It has been such a long time. I would love to see
you." He was the pilot of his
own jet aircraft and made his way to see her from Asheville Regional
Airport. They began seeing
each other and today the two are happily married. Many people would say that this turn of events was a miracle.
Was it?
A miracle that was made visible had more to do with the way Ann
had chosen to live her entire life.
Her spirit anticipated
that the Artist had more work
to do on her canvas.
She had no idea that her life would take the
fairytale twist that it did. The quality of Ann's life depended on who she had become, not
because God answered her prayers and not because her new husband
represented her salvation from loneliness.
She had not asked God for anything.
She remained grateful for the many years that she and her husband
were together.
She was the miracle, not
the outcome of having a new spouse in her life.
What is
interesting about miracles is that we are the ones that assign that
label to some extraordinary event that we have personalized.
So often miracles happen,
not because of the magical appearance of some remarkable outcome, but
because people have allowed the
Artist to keep putting more designs on their canvas.
Instead of crying, "Why did this
have to happen to us?" and plunging into despair, Ann said, "I will play
the hand of cards that life
has dealt."
She was always an extremely
positive, gregarious spirit who knew how skillfully to surf the tides of
change. Our Gospel lesson today has an interesting illustration that is
very typical of the way a number of people respond when they encounter
resistance. Jesus' cousins,
James and John, had been sent ahead to a village to secure a night's
lodging for Jesus and the others. For whatever reason, the Samaritan
villagers rejected their request.
While reporting their findings to Jesus, they asked, "Lord, do
you want us to call down fire from heaven to destroy them?"
(Luke 9:54) Jesus
became the living miracle on this occasion.
He took no offense at the rejection by the Samaritan villagers.
He corrected his disciples' thinking about the matter as he and
his disciples went on to the next village.
Miracles become more
visible because of the quality of the energy we display when life
presents us with a mountain to
climb. Had Jesus responded in an equally hostile manner as James and
John, the entire Jesus-narrative would have been different.
His savior status
would have been greatly compromised if not totally diminished.
There is a story in the second
book of Kings where one of the early prophets was reported to have
behaved in just the opposite way from what Jesus would later teach his
listeners. As Elisha was leaving Jericho on his way to Bethel, a group of
boys made fun of his bald head.
They shouted, "Get out of here baldy!" Elisha glared at them in
anger and cursed them in the name of God.
The Bible says, "Two she-bears came out of the woods and tore
forty-two of the boys to pieces."
(2 Kings 2:23f)
Certainly a story like this would not raise the bar for anyone
attempting to understand the nature God.
There was no miracle being made visible during this drama. We associate
miracles with seemingly supernatural events. We think in
terms of Moses parting the waters of the Red Sea, of Lazarus being
raised from the dead, of ten lepers being healed of their disease or of
Jesus showing himself to people after he died on a cross. While these
are important events that reportedly took place in our faith tradition,
miracles are far more than paranormal interruptions in the flow of
events. We are
creators of miracles when we realize that every experience, be it
planned or completely unscheduled, has no meaning until we assign one to
it.
We have the ability of dealing
with circumstances peacefully when the same experience could easily
break the spirits of those that interpret all
barriers as one
horrible injustice after
another. The wise wait to see what else
the Artist may have in mind.
Such a spirit as this represents what a miracle looks like. They
have shed their animal nature of hostility while being threatened and
decided instead to display the qualities of being angels-in-the-flesh. We
live in a generation where instant gratification is readily available to
most of us. Prior
generations were seasoned pros
at dealing with losses, life-reversals and death.
There were no other alternatives for them but to deal with
everything that showed up in their lives.
Our great-grandparents did not have massive grocery stores,
shopping malls, easy access to airports and instant communication with
people living anywhere in the world.
Think of the miraculous medical procedures that we have available
today. Yesterday, I
received a call from a couple that was in the congregation of my first
church. They plan to visit
Centenary in July. Their
son's wife had stage four cancer in many of her internal organs, her
heart and brain. At the Maryland University Hospital, she underwent a
stem cell implant and today she is cancer-free.
A friend in my last church has a new heart. I have two titanium
hips. Think of what
tomorrow will bring. Such incredible advancements have come because
we are miracle workers ourselves. Even though a number of people are chronic complainers about
everything, western societies are miracles.
Like bee hives of activity, most people are doing their part in
serving one another in some capacity as Jesus taught his followers.
While all of us experience life somewhat differently, for the
most part, we cooperate with each other to create a society that most of
us enjoy.
God
cannot give to us anymore than what we have and we cannot use what we
never took the time to develop.
God could easily say to each of us, "You are the miracle workers.
Look within yourselves for the
temporary fixes that many of
you desire." Most of what we
desire are temporary fixes
because all of us will eventually leave our physical forms when
our dream here has ended. Jesus taught his listeners that they would create even greater
things than what they saw him do.
(John 14:12) He was
absolutely correct. He knew greater things would come as a result of how
God created us to be. Jesus
could not have created hospitals, cars, universities, space stations,
computers and cell phones. Those of us that have thought about how our species is designed
have come to the realization that the key to understanding life depends
on our interpretation of what is happening. The one aspect of life that
we can control is how we greet
the teachable moments that
come simply by living in our physical forms. Helen Steiner Rice could not have explained our message this
morning any more beautifully then when she wrote a poem containing these
words: Together, you and God stand at life's crossroads and view what you think
is the end, but God has a much bigger vision and tells you, "It's only a
bend. For the road goes on and is smoother. And
the pause in the song is
a rest. The part
that's unsung and unfinished is the sweetest, the richest and the best."
So rest and relax and grow stronger. Let
go and let God share your load. Your life is not finished or ended. You've
just come to a bend in the road. Another way of saying this is to keep moving forward the best way
that we have learned how to do.
Try not to become stuck when faced with a detour.
The Artist may have a
few more items to add to your canvas as your futures unfold.
Bring a response of peace and patience to every episode that shows up in your path. These two skills of spirit can form the foundation upon which to continue building a miraculous life. You are already a living miracle. When we live this way, others notice. When others act on what they see, the Kingdom of God here on earth expands a little more |