6.23.24 "Five Smooth Stones" Westminster Presbyterian Church, Pasadena, CA

1 Samuel 17.1-11; 17.38-50

The Baptism of a child is always, a day of celebration …

Prayers and promises … songs and sermons … food and festivities.

Markus Christian Thomas von Thun-Hohenstein

Young Man, we pray for your wellbeing … body and soul … we make promises to you, that we’ll do our best:

We promise, a roof over your head, a comfy bed, loving arms, kindly words, good schools and safe neighborhoods … 

We promise: books to read, bikes to ride, games to play.

We promise you a childhood … a pathway to the years that stand before you … to make the most of yourself, to dream all the dreams of a child … good dreams, dreams of discovery and courage, dreams of bravery and adventure, the dreams of the heart, and the dreams of the mind.

We promise: to provide for you all that we can … and you, dear boy, provide us a future, beyond our years and time … 

when we have retired from the journey, 

when we have laid down our burdens, 

you will continue the good fight, 

you will run the race of life.

Markus Christian Thomas, you will build upon what we’ve built … tear down a few things no longer needed, and build anew what we could’t even imagine.

You will write your books, and sing your songs … and discover more of God’s good world … 

You’ll find solutions to the problems that vexed us … you’ll find your way to the stars … 

Like us, you’ll discover your own foolishness and failure.

Young Man, just like us, you will know yourself to be flesh and bone … you will learn the deep lessons of humility, honesty, kindness, and love.

As I write this sermon, I think of the young boy David … and his five smooth stones …

He’s the youngest of the family … his elder brothers are engaged in battle with the Philistine armies …  

Goliath, a giant of a man, bellows his challenge - find someone to fight me to the death … and if you win, my soldiers will surrender to you … and if I win, you will surrender to me.

Who will fight me?

No one volunteers … except one boy … full of youth’s energy and confidence … I’ll do it, says he … I’ll fight the giant.

The boy is brought to King Saul … the king is amazed, and says to the boy, Here’s my armor for you!

But the armor is too big … which is to say, We can’t wear anyone else’s armor … a good lesson for all of us …  

A child born unto us - we have our dreams for them … we want them to do well, be well, win the day … 

We feed and cloth them, we school them and take care of their needs … but they will never wear our armor … what fits us will never fit them … 

A new generation finds its own resources and abilities … the child in our arms discovers who they are, and what they possess, the skills of their heart and mind … 

David isn’t a solider, he’s a shepherd … 

He’s used to the elements - cold at night, hot during the day … seasons of chilling rain and wind-blown snow … prowling lions of the night … cliffs and crevices in the mountains … danger at every turn of the way …

David is already prepared … in his own way … he has his sling … at his feet, five smooth stones … it’s all he needs … 

David confronts the giant, sends a stone hurtling to its mark, the giant falls … the day is won, victory gained, peace at last.

A young boy, a sling, and five smooth stones.

We know the rest of the story, David goes on to more victories and greater things … he’s not perfect, by any means, but his faith remains clear and focused … when King Saul fails and dies, David is called to be the next King of Israel … the mantle of leadership falls upon his shoulders, he leads the nation for forty years …

As for Markus Christian Thomas … what will he do?

Discoveries to be made.

Adventures to be had.

Goodness to embrace.

Mistakes to be made.

Love given, and love received.

The future will unfold for him … 

In the meantime, we do what we can to insure a good future.

What every generation has done before us … we take up our tools, hitch up our jeans, take a deep breath, face the world square on … and go to work.

There are giants to defeat.

Battles to win.

Life to be lived.

Look for the good, and we’ll find it.

Search for opportunities, and they’ll appear.

And if, as we work, we can transmit life into our work,
life, still more life, rushes into us to compensate, to be ready
and we ripple with life through the days.

Even if it is a woman making an apple dumpling, or a man a stool,
if life goes into the pudding, good is the pudding
good is the stool, content is the woman, with fresh life rippling in to her,
content is the man.

Give, and it shall be given unto you
is still the truth about life. … D.H. Lawrence, 1929

Paul the Apostle wrote: be steadfast, immovable, always excelling in the work of the LORD, because you know that in the LORD, you labor is not in vain.

We live, we work, we go to church … we rise in the morning to take up the tasks of life … we grab a quick lunch, or cook a pot of stew … we retire at night, and lay me down to sleep, and pray the LORD my soul to keep.

We have what it takes … 

our shepherd’s sling

five smooth stones … 

the courage of Christ and the love of God … 

For Markus Christian Thomas … and for all the children of the world. 

Hallelujah and Amen!

6.16.24, "On Being a Man" Westminster Presbyterian Church, Pasadena, CA

 1 Samuel 16.6-13; Ephesians 5.21-33

Happy Father’s Day to all.

Fathers come in all sizes and shapes, forms and features, colors and cultures, personalities and experience … some even have children and grandchildren.

Not all fathers have children … some are fathers of great ideas … fathers of invention … 

Photo: Robert Orr

some are silly, some are serious; 

some are lofty, some are light; 

some are nervous, some are easy going; 

some are triumphant, some are defeated; 

some are roughriders, some are couch potatoes … 

some are alone because of death … 

some are single by choice or circumstance … 

some are in relationships of various sorts and arrangements … 

some are tall and some are short … 

some are bold and some are old … 

What does it mean to be a man? For that matter, what does it mean to be a woman? 

Last week, I had coffee with a trans-man … and the next day, with a trans-woman … both spoke eloquently of their faith in Christ, and the call of Christ in their lives … they to be what they were physically, but it didn’t work; only when they became themselves, in mind and spirit, heart and soul, did they find the glory of God in their lives. 

There was a time when left-handers were viewed with suspicion, even fear … children born left-handed were forced to use their right hands,

Folks with red hair were under suspicion, too … associated with witchcraft and Satan.

But left-handers and red haired people, and all genders, shapes and colors, sizes and experiences, variations and varieties, are included in the being and glory of God. 

God created them, male and female, it says, and everything in between and everything beyond. The butterfly and the oxen, the vast expanses of space, and the buzz of a bee.

Our bodies come in all sorts of shapes … we’re born in so many ways … sometimes without limbs, sometimes with heart defects, and a missing chromosome … our bodies are damaged by illness … body parts removed in surgery … body parts lost in war and accident; hearing loss; diminished eyesight … in the end, the body is laid to rest … in the final end, the grand finale, when all is made new, it’ll be a spiritual body we receive. This perishable body must put on imperishability, says the Apostle Paul; this mortal body must put on immortality.

In some Christians circles these days, an unhealthy emphasis upon the body, the muscular man, the manly man … the John Wayne type … Conan the Barbarian … men with guns … defending the church, the home, and the nation …  

Bible camps where young boys are taught to carry weapons and use their muscles … retreats for men, to do sword drills, with real swords - stomping around, feeling their oats.

In film and books, stories and tall tales, men as swashbuckling pirates, gun-wielding cowboys, blazing sword-masters and daring-do soldiers of fortune … 

The fist does the talking … more braun than brains … more testosterone than common sense.

It’s called “toxic masculinity” … 

White Christian Nationalism is riddled with it … fundamentalisms and fascisms of various sorts elevate the man and diminish the woman … it’s harmful to everyone!

Throughout history, men have ruled the roost … 

The biological realities  … women bear the children, tend the fields, cook the stew … men hunt and fish, and go to war.

Men have privileged themselves, and dressed it all up in religion, and in so doing, men have cheated themselves, even as men have deprived women of their rightful place in the sun. 

When equality is broken, everyone is injured; everyone loses …  

What do we find in the Bible?

We find variety!

Adam and Eve in the Garden … they sort of get along, and they sort of don’t.

Their sons, Cain and Able … in a fit of jealousy, Cain kills Able.

Another son is born, Seth … through Seth, a line of spiritually sensitive descendants … the descendants of Cain, industrious and violent.

Then comes Noah, who builds the ark … 

His three sons … one of whom is careless and irresponsible, and two of whom do the right thing …  

Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob … each, very different … sometimes wise, and sometimes not.

Moses, the reluctant leader …  

Joshua fights the battle of Jericho … 

Samson, a womanizer and a lout … a barroom brawler.

Gideon, a man of faith …

The kings of Israel and Judah - mostly failures.

The prophets, Jeremiah, Micah and Amos …

Daniel in the lion’s den …

Ezra and Nehemiah rebuild Jerusalem after the ruin of war and deportation … 

In the very best moments of our quest, we turn to Jesus! 

Born of Mary, reared in Galilee  … a rabbi at the age of 30.

Tempted in the wilderness to be a “manly man,” and to that nonsense, Jesus says “No!” …

He’s a gifted preacher … with humor and practical examples. He’s deeply compassionate and kind.

He respects the laws of the land, but plays loose with them if they hamper the work of goodness. 

He weeps at the news of his friend’s death … he weeps when he sees Jerusalem … he welcomes children, and they respond to his warmth … he pays attention to women who are otherwise ignored and shoved aside … he crosses boundaries and eats with sinners … social distinctions mean little to him … 

He’s a carpenter, so he knows how to work with his hands … he’s a man of prayer, and study.

He’s got friends, and he has enemies.

He resorts to physical confrontation but once … with a whip woven of cords, he drives out the animals and their handlers, and overturns the tables of the money changers … he shouts, My Father’s House should be a house of prayer, but you’ve turned it into a den of thieves.

In the Garden of Gethsemane, he’s frightened.

When he’s arrested, a disciple  pulls a sword … Jesus tells him to put it away.

When he stands before Pilate, he’s mostly silent.

When he carries the cross, it’s too much for him … he collapses into the street … Roman soldiers press a bystander into service, to carry the cross the rest of the way.

On the cross, he’s sad; his body in agony … his faith wavers …. he cares about his family … in the end, he gives himself into the hands of God.

Some questions might give us focus:

Would Jesus demean women and mistreat children? 

Would Jesus make crude jokes and offer crass remarks?

Would he boast of his prowess, his cunning, his power?

Would he play the crowds to garner their applause?

Would he make fun of immigrants … or those with physical needs?

Would Jesus carry a sword, a knife, a Roman spear … would he carry an AR-15?

On the positive side of things:

He’d stand up for democracy and freedom, self-expression and fullness of opportunity!

He’d feed the hungry and cloth the naked!

He’d lead book studies, and join Habitat for Humanity!

His eye on the sparrow, and his ear to the news of the day.

He’d eat with his friends, and walk along the seashore. He’d be tired, and he’d need some downtime.

He’d be at the borders to welcome the refugee … he’d tell the rich to pay their fair share, and quit complaining … he’d tell the pious to loosen up a bit, and he’d tell the lost they are found … he’d ignore boundaries, celebrate diversity … he’d go to church and sing the songs of Zion.

In the face of Jesus, we see our humanity.

It’s never been easy to be human … life is hard … but can it be done? Of course … in Jesus, we see it done, and if Jesus be too much for us, we look to the women and men of the ages … yes, it’s hard to live, hard to live well, but it can be done … and so I say to you, with prayer and promise:

Happy Father’s Day … and God’s love to all.

Amen and Amen!