Monday, August 26, 2024

8.18.24 "Miracles" - Westminster Presbyterian Church, Pasadena, CA

 1 Kings 3.9-15; Ephesians 5.15-20


Have you seen any miracles lately?


There are those who trade in miracles … 


the supernatural, the paranormal, seances of the 19th century … mediums, psychics, seers and spiritualists, and various sorts of faith healers … 

some of it has merit … 

I don’t discount any experience if it builds love,  confidence, and kindness … 

but the commercial trade in miracles, the hoopla and the noise, all for a few dollars … 

a trade built on the hopes and fears we all have … there is within much of this, something unsavory, something disagreeable … bunk and hokum … hogwash and horsefeathers.


Let me tell you about miracles.


I got up this morning … that’s a miracle …


I flip a wall switch, and there’s light.


I open the tap … clean, safe, drinkable, water.


I make coffee … I slice a banana on some cereal … pour a generous amount of oat drink … 


I hold in my hand more computing power in this little device than the computers used to launch the first astronauts to the moon.


I hop into my car, start it up, and off I go … I go to work, I open my laptop, I search the internet, I talk to the Google Gods, and they tell me everything … the algorithms know me better than I know myself.


Ten years ago, I went to the hospital in an ambulance … could hardly breath … blood clots filled my lungs … for 16 hours, on my back, chemicals going into my system … at the foot of the bed, a Christmas Tree they called it … 6 bags of drugs, three for either side of my body … and when the treatment was done, the clots were gone … they all said to me, Mr. Eggebeen, you’re one lucky man.


A hundred years ago, 20 years ago, I would have died … the death certificate would have stated, “pulmonary embolism.”


Huntington Hospital, Keck hospital, City of Hope … USC, UCLA … 


Every day, people walk out of such places with life restored, life given back to them … 


Sure, it’s technology, it’s science, it’s doctors and nurses … but is that not of God? 

Of course it is! … 

As much of God as anything can be, 

God gives to us a mind to think, a mind to pose big questions, and find real answers … 

minds to create drugs to dissolve blood clots, drugs to fight cancer, treatments to correct physical abnormalities.


And let’s think for a moment - someone sings a hymn, tears begin to flow!

A prayer, quite time, a deep wound in the soul is healed.

A child is held in loving arms and presented for baptism.

Bread is broken, the cup is poured, someone decides in just such a moment that God is love, and they give themselves another chance to live, to hope, to make it.


All of this from God … 


Solomon accedes to the throne of Israel … he goes to Gibeon to worship … one night, he has dream. God appears to him and says: Ask what you want!


Solomon says to God:


You have shown great and steadfast love to your servant my father David …


What better place to begin - to say Thanks!

Thanks for this moment in time, 

life, work, family, friends … 

the long story 

all the way back to the beginning of time … 

all the way forward to the end of our days … and beyond.


The wonders and glory of God’s goodness … all along the way.


A man and woman a thousand years ago fall in love, get married, have children … in the Netherlands on my father’s side … in Germany, on my mother’s side …


By then, Christianity has spread across northern Europe … 

my ancestors know something of Christ, 

they pray, 

they take their children to the church for baptism, 

a priest dips his hand into the water, and says, In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit!


Their descendants come to this land … and here I am … in this place, this pulpit, with their DNA …  


And here you are … all of your ancestors in your blood … you know some of the story, but not all of it … a whole world in your DNA.


Your own story to tell … 

the love and goodness of God … 

in the toughest of times, in the best of places … 

in sick and sin, thick and thin … 


in season and out season … 

in the midst of war and rumors of war, 

in the midst of strife and sorrow … 

when the sun shines bright, and when its raining torrents … 

when all is good, when all is broken … 

when love abounds, when it’s gone.

The tide comes in, the tide goes out.


I speak of miracles … here we are, in this time and place … graced with opportunity and challenge … 

a time to love, 


Though the world may take little note of who we are, we are all the product of great miracles … 


miracles of time and space, 

miracles of science and technology … 

 

The primal miracle, the first miracle, the miracle of creation - let there be light … God’s love at work, to bring about the better day.


More good than we can name … more wonderful than we can imaging … miracles of life and love piled up high to the sky … 


Solomon asks God for, A mind to discern between good and evil.


There is good, there is evil - we all know that.

Hindsight makes clear - what isn’t so easy to see in the moment.


People are misled all the time.


Tricked and conned by flimflammery, windbaggery, lies and deceit …  

Forgeries sell for millions of dollars

Ponzi schemes, promises of fabulous wealth …


Folks pretend to be doctors and nurses, attorney’s and faith-healers …


Universities have been taken in by fake diplomas.


Scholars plagiarize … 

Students use AI to write their papers …


Everyone lies a little bit, to puff the truth - into a more comfortable arrangement … some even tell big lies to win power for themselves.


Solomon knows what’s at stake … a kingdom teeters on the edge … will it be a day of good, or a day of evil? 


The story makes one point wonderfully clear: God is pleased with Solomon's request.


Maybe even surprised?


Let’s surprise God today … tomorrow, too … and all week long:


Pray for wisdom, discernment, insight, understanding.


No matter how good the idea might be, there’s a better idea out there waiting for us to find it.


Pray for a positive attitude … an outlook that says “all will be well” … “we’ll get it done!” 


Pray for the ability to focus on what counts … what matters, the big picture, the realities of life: faith, hope, and love.


Pray for energy to stay the course … pay the price … walk the walk and talk the talk …


Pray for a generous spirit, ready to defend the welfare of all …  


Pray for spiritual eyes - to see the good things of life … the miracles that surround us morning, noon and night … 


To see a World in a Grain of Sand 

And a Heaven in a Wild Flower 

Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand 

And Eternity in an hour


And pray for a heart that can say Thank You!

Thank you to a friend who helps …

The bird who cheers you on in the morning …

Loved ones who make you better than you could ever be by yourself …

To God, whose love floods the universe … with a flood of light and hope.


Such prayers are answered in the affirmative … God says to Solomon, I now do according to your word … I give you a wise and discerning mind.


The miracle of miracles.


Amen and Amen!

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