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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