How did any of us come to this point in time?
Here we are, in church.
I’m a pastor.
You’re parishioners.
We’re baptized in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit …
We’re followers of Jesus …
How in the world did that happen?
In today’s passage from John,
So many simple things, little things …
And before you know it, something has happened …
A claim has been made upon the soul …
Just a moment ago, life moving in one direction.
Now, a change of pace …
To follow him – a new direction.
Frederick Buechner, the Presbyterian minister/writer …
Tells of his own beginnings …
After great success with his first novel – his picture appearing in Time, Newsweek and Life, Buechner moves to New York City to pursue fame and fortune … only to find the least expected!
Not yet a believer of any sorts, he nonetheless pays a visit to Madison Avenue Presbyterian Church, less than a block from his apartment.
A small thing, to live less than a block from such a church … wonder if God had a hand in that one …
Madison Avenue – with George Buttrick preaching – Beuchner becomes a believer, and then one day, a simple phrase from Buttrick seals the deal for Buechner – a simple phrase …
Buttrick said: Jesus was crowned in the hearts of people who believe in him, a coronation that takes place "among confession, and tears, and great laughter."
The phrase “great laughter” touched Buechner and nudged him into the kingdom.
He writes: I was moved to wonderful tears from the deepest part of who I was.
In his autobiography, The Sacred Journey , Buechener describes the moment as one of finding Christ … and being found by him, in a profoundly transforming way.
How did any of us come to this point in time?
That we should be followers of Jesus.
Our reading today from John triggers all sort of thoughts for me …
It says so simply, Jesus finds Phillip.
I like the word “find” …
It’s good to find things …
To find my glasses … or the book I was reading last week, and where in the world did I put it?
It’s a good to find a good restaurant … or a good job.
It’s good to find our way …
Which way we shall we go?
Right, left?
North, south?
It’s a good thing to be found …
Amazing grace …
One I was lost, but now am found …
Jesus finds Phillip …
I suspect that’s a big part of it for most of us …
That’s why we’re here …
Jesus finds us …
Somehow, somewhere, somehow …
Amid the tangle of time and events …
Jesus found me when I was a child …
Before I had any conscious will … it was God; it was not yet Jesus … he would come later in my life, much later …
Some of us have childhood memories of God.
A presence …
A love …
For some of us, the journey began later in life … maybe a high school youth group … maybe a friend in college … or even later – a crisis drives us to our knees and we cry out in despair …
Something …
Someone …
Somewhere …
Somehow …
Jesus finds us …
Then Phillip finds Nathaniel …
Nathaniel isn’t too sure about any of this …
Can anything good come out of Nazareth? he asks.
Phillip says, Give it a try … what’s to lose?
I’ve had a good many Phillips in my life …
I bet you have, too.
The inviters!
Folks who help us leave behind the comfort and safety of our fig tree … that little place in life where we’ve made a home for ourselves … but something comes along and invites us to get up and get going … to a new place …
Like Nathaniel, we grumble a bit … what’s all the to-do about? What’s the fuss?
We think: Leave me alone; can’t you see I’m doing just fine as I am? My fig tree is fine tree; come and sit with me.
But thank God for the Phillips in our life …
The inviters.
Let’s stop a moment …
I want you to think about your inviters … the Phillips in your life …
Folks who invited you to the adventure of faith …
Let’s take a few moments … recall some names … folks who invited you to God …
…. …. ….
Now …
Form some small groups … 4 or 5 folks …
Yup, ya’ gotta get up and leave your fig tree … … …
Okay?
Now share with each other your Phillips …
Who invited you to God?
[sharing] … … … …
For me, the Rev. Jerome DeJong, Immanuel Reformed Church, Grand Rapids, Michigan; Dr. DeJong is now with the LORD.
25 years ago, I wrote to him … told him of my life and work, and how much he meant to me.
He wrote back – a simple note of thanks … saying what most pastors say: “It’s great to know that my words and work made some difference in someone’s life.”
The second, my friend and colleague, the Rev. Bob Orr, my parish associate in Detroit – Bob is a man of adventure – time and again, Bob said to me, “Let’s do such and so,” and off we’d go.
Because of him, we paid a visit to Willow Creek Church in Chicago, what would become a powerful chapter in my life
And then he introduced me to the Abbey of Gethsemane in the hills of Kentucky … once a year, we’d go for a long weekend – burning into my heart and mind images that will never be forgotten – the sounds and smells of monastery … monks chanting, the pungent odor of incense … the clink and clank of dishes and silverware in silent dining …
Bob is still inviting me … sends me books … and fascinating emails …
He’s been great at getting me to leave behind my comfy fig tree.
How in the world did any of us get here?
That we should be followers of Jesus.
It’s extraordinary thing when I think about it …
That any of us should be there today …
Amen and Amen!
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