Again? - November 16, 2008

Judges 4:1-7
Audio version HERE.

Donna and I have always liked the song, “On the Sunny Side of the Street” … I’d like to share it with you this morning, but fear not, I’ll not sing it … our very own Kimberly Cronin will sing it for us this morning …

Grab your coat and get your hat
Leave your worries on the doorstep
Life can be so sweet
On the sunny side of the street

Can’t you hear the pitter-pat
And that happy tune is your step
Life can be complete
On the sunny side of the street

I used to walk in the shade with my blues on parade
But I’m not afraid...this rover’s crossed over

If I never had a cent
I’d be rich as Rockefeller
Gold dust at my feet
On the sunny side of the street

Two sides to the street …
A shadowy side …
A sunny side …
A dark side … a bright side …

There is no street with only a sunny side … and no street with only a shadow … always both … a shadowy side, a sunny side …

Reality – two sided …
Coins -two-sided, so is the moon … ya’ can’t have one without the other …
The Bible … two sided …

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth – that’s the sunny side of the street …
Now the serpent was more crafty than any other wild animal the LORD God had made - that’s the shadowy side of the street …

Vanities of vanity, all is vanity – the shadowy side of things according to the writer of Ecclesiastes …
But the very next book, Song of Solomon – a celebration of young love, food and drink – that’s the sunny side …

The book of Leviticus … shadowy …
Deuteronomy … sunny …

Genesis 12 has both sides in the same chapter …
Abram and Sarai are called to the greatest adventure even known – Get up and go … to a new land, a new world, a new way thinking and living … I’ll get you there, says God … but you’ve got to leave a lot of things behind … and if you do that, I’ll bless you mightily, and through you, I’ll bless the whole world …

But in the next few verses, famine sends Sarai and Abram packing to Egypt, and they get into a peck of trouble … Abram tells a terrible lie, jeopardizes Sarai’s life and nearly loses everything …

1 Kings 18 – Elijah is victorious over the priests of Baal … it’s a great day; Elijah’s on top of the heap … he’s on the sunny side of the street …
1 Kings 19 – Jezebel has a different idea; she issues a death edict - Elijah runs for his life, scared out of his wits – in a heartbeat, from the sunny side of the street to the shadow side with the blues on parade …

Psalm 22 – my God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
Psalm 23 – the LORD is my shepherd, I shall not want.

Two sides to the street …
What side of the street are we walking on?

It’s a choice … a conscious choice we make every day of our life …
A choice even God has to make …

In Genesis 6, God is utterly depressed … angry and disappointed …
God regrets making us …
God decides to walk on the shadowy side of things …
Let it rain, let it rain, let it train …
I’m gonna wash these people right outta my hair …

With the exception of Noah and his family …

The floods subside … the sun comes out … there’s a rainbow in the sky …
God takes a look at what God did … and I’ll never do that again!
The shadow side never works …

God says, When I see that bow … hanging there, like a hunter’s bow on the wall … I’ll remember my promise … I’ll not destroy the earth again … I’ll not walk on the shadowy side of things … I’ll grab my coat and get my hat and walk on the sunny side of the street.

From that moment on, God never crosses over again to the shadowy side of things …
Tempted?
You bet, but God stays on the sunny side of the street.

Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.

Jesus pays the price …
Because there is a price to be paid …
For all the wrong in our world … and there’s plenty of it …
But God pays the price …

All the way, to hell and back again … I will forgive and make all things new … carte blanc; the slate wiped clean …

Years ago, I heard a song at a retreat … I’ve never forgotten the words:
I owed a debt I couldn’t pay,
He paid a price he didn’t owe.

The sunny side of the street …

What side of the street do you walk on?

I love Winnie the Pooh stories … two characters …
Eeyore, a little donkey permanently gloomy …
Eeyore's favorite food is thistles. Eeyore's catchphrase is "Thanks for noticing me!"
And Tigger, perpetually happy …
He says of himself, Bouncing is what Tiggers do best.

In reality, Eeyore and Tigger live in each of us …
Some days, we’re Eeyore –
And some days, we’re Tigger –

Some of this is simple personality type … we’re all wonderfully different, but not that different … we all fall into basic patterns …

Sanguine …
Choleric …
Melancholic …
Phlegmatic …

All of these types have a shadow side and sunny side …
And Eeyore side … and a Tigger side …
I suppose the question is this … do we have any choices about this?
Can we really cross over from the shadow to the sun …
From the blues on parade to gold dust at our feet?

The lovely little movie, “Happy Go Lucky” … a marvelous parable of sunlight and shadow …

Poppy is a grade school teacher … always happy, always a smile, always making the best of everything …
She has her bike stolen at the front of the movie, so … she decides it’s time for driving lessons … she’ll get her driver’s license.
She’s a sunny-side-of-the-street kind of person …

Her driving instructor is her polar opposite … no smiles within a hundred miles … dour and grim, he’s depressed, angry, paranoid, short-tempered, judgmental … he lives in the shadow …

Poppy and her driving instructor … sunshine and shadow … ya’ can’t have one without the other, but choices are important … Poppy’s good nature clearly has an effect on her instructor, but in the end, to no avail.
He chooses to stay on the shadowy side.
It hasn’t been easy for Poppy …
She has to choose, too.
But she chooses the sunny side of the street.

At the end of the movie, she says, “It’s my purpose in life to put a smile on everyone’s face.”

Grab your coat and get your hat …
Leave your worries on the doorstep …
Life can be so sweet …
On the sunny side of the street.

The story of Jesus …
The sunny side of the street …

God doesn’t give up …
God doesn’t walk away …
God doesn’t quit in a great big funk …
God doesn’t rummage around in the past …
For God, it’s all about tomorrow …

And that’s the Gospel truth …

God doesn’t give up …
There’s no looking back …

It’s the future that counts …
God doesn’t care one whit what you did yesterday, no matter how crummy it was … nobody can undo it … and there’s no need to undo it …
God is a god of miracles …
And the greatest miracle of all …
The resurrection of Jesus from the dead …

God brings good out of sorrow and heartache …
God givse life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist (Romans 4:17).

There’s always a way through, over, under or around … always a way of working things out, finding the best, making the best of it …
When life hands you a lemon, make lemonade with it …
Add the sugar of kindness and the sweetness of love …

Grab your coat and get your hat …

Is this easy for God?
No, it’s not easy for God to walk on the sunny side of the street …
The tears of Jesus …
His anguish in the Garden of Gethsemane …
His cry of despair on the cross …
It’s not easy to walk on the sunny side of the street …
But it gets easier with every step …

Every time we choose the sunlight, it gets brighter, it gets better …
Every time this rover crosses over, it’s a little easier to walk on the sunny side of the street.

God reinvents the strategy again and again …
Whatever it takes to “put a smile on someone’s face.”

Years ago, Robert Schuller offered this advice, When someone asks you how you’re doing, always say, Terrific! … that’s your gift to them, your gift for the day.

Schuller knows what we all know … words have transformative power …
We can pretty much convince ourselves of most anything by the power of the words we use …

A negative word, said often enough, creates a negative world for us … a little bit like Eeyore, or Scott the driving instructor …
Life is no good …
People are not dependable …
I’m a loser …
Folks are out to get me …
I’m scared …
I can’t handle this …
There’s something wrong with me …

The power of words to create the world in which we live …
But maybe we can more like Poppy … more like Tigger …

Life is always good, even when it’s hard …
God is good all the time, and all the time good is good …
My life is filled with gifts and grace …
I’m a servant of Jesus …
I’m not afraid, because whatever comes my way, I will handle it, I’ll make something of it …
There’s nothing wrong with me …
Every day, I grow a little bit taller, wiser and gracious …
I choose to walk on the sunny side of the street …

Yea though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for thou art with me … thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me … thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies … thou anointest my head with oil, my cup runneth over … surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the LORD forever!

The Psalmist knows all about the shadow side of things …
Death …
Evil …
Enemies …

But the Psalmist chooses to live on the sunny side …
Goodness and mercy …
A rich table …
Kindness and love …

To walk on the sunny side of the street …

God has shown us, says Micah:
Do justice, love kindness and walk humbly with your God.

Grab your coat and get your hat
Leave your worries on the doorstep
Life can be so sweet
On the sunny side of the street

Amen and Amen!

Surpise - December 2 07

Matthew 24:36-44

What a fine looking group of people … like Lake Wobegon, where all the men are strong, the women good looking, and all the children above average.

What a fine looking group … although it may have something to do with the fact that I cleaned my glasses before worship … it’s amazing how much better the world looks through clean glasses.

Glasses rarely get dirty all at once … they get dirty over a period of time … slowly … grit and grime … one day at a time … and we get used to it … until one day Donna looks at me and says, “How in the world can you see anything out of those filthy glasses?”

And I’ll take ‘em off and look at ‘em, and she’s right – they’re filthy … so I clean ‘em, put ‘em back on … and the world is a better place … because I cleaned my glasses.

Which reminds me …

John went to visit his 90-year old grandfather in a backwater region of Georgia.

The first morning, John's grandfather prepared bacon, eggs and toast. But John noticed a film on his plate, and asked his grandfather, "Are these plates clean?"

His grandfather replied, "They're as clean as cold water can get ‘em. Just you go ahead and finish your meal, Sonny!"

For lunch the old man made hamburgers. Again, John was concerned about the plates as his appeared to have tiny specks around the edge that looked like dried egg and asked, "Are you sure these plates are clean?"

Without looking up the old man said, "I told you before, Sonny, those dishes are as clean as cold water can get ‘em. Now don't you fret, I don't wanna hear another word about it!"

Later that afternoon, John was on his way to a nearby town and as he was leaving, his grandfather's dog started to growl, and wouldn't let him pass. John yelled out, "Grandfather, your dog won't let me get to my car".

Without diverting his attention from the football game he was watching on TV the old man shouted ...

"COLDWATER, GO LAY DOWN

Clean plates … clean glasses …

Who doesn’t need a little cleaning up now and then … a good scrubbing of the attitude … a little dry cleaning for the mind … stain remover on the soul.

Jesus said: “The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light; but if your eye is unhealthy, your whole body will be full of darkness” (Matthew 6:22-23).

“Healthy eyes” … the Greek word for healthy can also mean generous …

Healthy eyes: I will see things as God sees them … I will look at the world with generous thoughts … I will look at people and give ‘em a break … I will not expect too much, and I will forgive quickly.

By the way, where will the USC Trojans play football next year: at the Coliseum or the Rose Bowl?
A fan who goes to both venues was asked about it: “Well, parking’s bad at both, lots of things are needed … but as long as the concrete doesn’t hit me on the head, I’m okay … I just don’t expect too much, and then I have a good time.”

“I just don’t expect too much, and then I have a good time!”

Expectations …

Two weeks ago, fog cancelled flights out of LA – passengers were outraged … about what? The fog?

Airline travel … smaller seats, and now they’re even taking away the pretzels …

Andrew Robert Thomas, an assistant professor of business at the University of Akron says: “… the cattle-class experience has contributed to the rise and intensity of air rage incidents all over the world.”

“With the cutbacks continuing and the number of air travelers projected to triple in the next 20 years, air rage will be a problem for the foreseeable future.”

Air rage … road rage … what’s next, pew rage?

It’s already with us … at my former church in Detroit, a young family joined the church, enrolled in Bible study, became deacons … served the LORD with gladness.

One day, we were having coffee, and they said, “Tom, we have a funny story to tell you. When we were first started attending, we settled into a pew one Sunday, when along came Peggy, and she looked at us, and said, ‘That’s my pew; you’ll have to move’ and we did.”

Last week, pulled up behind an SUV, a rear-window decal – “Back off, I’m Grumpy” … with the Walt Disney character from “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.”

One of my favorite Civil War writers, Bruce Catton, tells of the aftermath of Lincoln’s assassination … how Secretary of War Stanton fanned flames of resentment against the South … Stanton and others couldn’t let go of their ill-will … Catton refers to them as “bitter-enders” … a term from the Boer Wars in South Africa – those who fought to the bitter end.

If any of us want to get upset, we can do it … there are lots of upsetting things …

But I don’t wanna be Grumpy … I don’t wannna be a bitter-ender … I don’t wanna be outraged by the fog!

I want to have a generous eye!

I want to have what Paul had when he wrote: “I have learned to be content with what I have. I know what it is to have little, and I know what it is to have plenty” (Philippians 4:11-13).

A generous eye … Paul writes to the church in Ephesus:

“Let no evil talk come out of your mouths, but only what is useful for building up … so that your words may give grace to those who hear … put away all bitterness and wrath and anger and wrangling and slander … be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ has forgiven you” (Philippians 4:29-32).

A generous eye …

Everything I read about the character of life: practice now a positive attitude … because you never know when you’ll need it.

“No one knows the day or the hour,” says Jesus.
So be ready … keep awake …
Life is full of surprises …
Good and bad surprises …
So be ready!

Jesus tells a story … ten bridesmaids waiting for the party to begin … it was late, and no party, so they took a nap.

But in the middle of the night, the groom shows up and the party begins.
Five bridesmaids had oil for their lamps, and turned them up …
The other five didn’t
Have enough oil,
So they asked to borrow some.

But the oiled five said, “Can’t do it. If we give our oil to you, no one will have enough. Go out and buy your own.”

Seems harsh … but they illustrate a principle: You can’t borrow a positive attitude.

You have to get your own!

It’s not hard … “go out and buy your own.”

We’re like those bridesmaids – we have oil, or we don’t!

When Marley’s ghost visits Scrooge, he’s bound in chains, ledgers, cash-boxes, keys, padlocks, deeds and heavy purses, all wrought in steel.

Scrooge asks what it means … Marley replies:

“I wear the chain I forged in life. I made it link by link, and yard by yard; I girded it on of my own free will, and of my own free will I wore it.”

To forge a godly life … a generous life … grace, mercy and peace; faith, hope and love; kindness, gentleness and patience.

Mary Oliver writes about prayer:

It doesn’t have to be
The blue iris, it could be
Weeds in a vacant lot, or a few
Small stones; just
Pay attention; then patch

A few words together and don’t try
To make them elaborate, this isn’t
A contest, but the doorway

Into thanks, and a silence in which
Another voice may speak.

(from Oprah, Dec. 2007)

The doorway into thanks!

A very dear friend lost his wife to cancer recently, after a 4 1/2 year battle – in an email, he wrote:

“As you can imagine it's been a roller-coaster lately. So many layers to this whole scenario - some more emotional than others (try deleting your wife's voice from your voice mail greeting - it took a couple tries to get through that). At the end of the day, no one wants to be the one left behind, but that is the reality of the deal we enter into. As I told Shirley shortly before her last time in the hospital - I would do it all over again, even knowing the ending. It was that good.”

I think of George and Dorothy Wetters, 58 years married … fit together like peanut butter and jelly … after a time, Dorothy died.

I wondered how it would be for George … I’d stop by his home, or he’d stop by the church … always the same: “How I miss her. But I had her 58 years … I am so grateful.”

George’s mind began to slip; he moved into assisted living … when I visited him, the same words, “How I miss her, but I had her 58 years. I’m so grateful!”

A long-time married man was asked if he had a secret … “Yup, I have a secret … every morning, I stand in front of the mirror and say to myself, ‘Harry, you ain’t no bargain.’”

Joel Osteen recently said about marriage: “The next time you find yourself critical of your wife’s faults, remember, it was those faults that kept her from finding a better husband.”

Build a positive attitude – go out and buy oil for your lambs!

Walk through the doorway of thanks … stay close to Jesus … fill your heart and mind with words of assurance:

“I am with you always.”

“I will never leave you or forsake you.”

“Fear not little flock, it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the Kingdom.”

“Yea though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for thou art with me.”

“I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”

A generous eye …
A positive attitude …
When life springs a surprise on you,
you’ll be ready …
more than ready,
to live your best life!

Amen!

Silly - November 11 2007

Luke 20:27-38

Good morning, dear friends … it’s good to be here … God has something good for us today … a word of hope, some encouragement … forgiveness; inner peace; renewal of spirit … fresh purpose and great confidence.

We’re God’s people; God’s unconditional love for us never changes … God is shaping our lives to be like Christ … day-by-day; year-by-year - to be ambassadors of the gospel … a light to the world … the salt of the earth.

“Come and follow me” says Jesus, and that’s what we do, and that’s who we are … followers of the Master …
Every day of our life,
He calls …
We get out of the boat, leave our nets behind …
We follow Jesus … so closely, we’re covered in His dust, the dust of the rabbi.

“Peter, you’re looking a little dusty today.”
“You bet I am; it’s the dust of my rabbi. Where He goes, I go. If he walks on water, I’ll do it, too!”

Every time we pick up the Bible and read of Jesus, we follow Him … from Galilee to Jerusalem; from Pilate’s chambers to the cross of Calvary; from the empty tomb to the gates of heaven.
We hear His parables; we witness the healings … we watch the powers-that-be challenge Him and plot His removal … we’re amazed at His courage … we’re moved by His compassion … we’re saved by His death … made new by His resurrection.

Jesus my LORD!

“I am who God says I am. I have what God says I have. I can do what God says I can do.”

In our text today, Jesus is confronted by the Sadducees … a group who didn’t believe in the resurrection of the dead.

From Abraham to King David, the Hebrew people had no concept of eternal life … this life was good enough … when life was over, everyone went to Sheol, the rich and the famous; the leper and the blind, and everyone in between – to Sheol, the land of the dead.

The nations around Israel had a sense of life after death … look at the pyramids … but not Israel … this life was good enough … nothing more was needed.

To have lived on God’s good earth was sufficient … to love and be loved … to enjoy good food and wine … to be charitable with neighbors; to have friends and be respected; to worship the LORD and sing the songs of Zion.

This life was good enough!

But God had something more in mind … God touched the heart of His people and said, “I have something for you beyond this life.”

The thought of eternal life emerged in the mind and heart of the Hebrew people … a new heaven and new earth … death banished; tears wiped away.
Everything made new!

Jesus believed in the resurrection of the dead … but not the Sadducees.

So they confronted Jesus with a question … did they want to learn from Him? Maybe!

But more likely, a less charitable intent … a question to set up Jesus, embarrass Him, discredit Him … a silly question with harmful intent!

A lady on a plan was reading her Bible … a man next to her asked, “Do you believe all of that?”
“Yes, I do!” she said. “It’s the Bible.”
“What about the guy in the whale?” said the man.
“You mean Jonah?” said the lady.
“Yes, three days in the belly of a whale … how could anyone survive?”
The lady paused for a moment, then said, “I don’t know. I’ll ask him when I get to heaven.”
The man said sarcastically, “What if he’s not in heaven.”
“Then you’re gonna have to ask him!” she said.

The Sadducees asked Jesus, “This resurrection stuff. Do you believe that?”

I wonder how long they labored to craft their question … did they meet in counsel earlier in the week? … did they gather that morning? … did they rehearse their lines?

“Here’s a good question … this’ll trip him up for sure!”
“Say it this way Eleazar.”
“Use this tone of voice.”
“All set?”
“Eleazar? Are you ready?”
“Okay, here we go!”

So much time for something so small! Silly!

Earlier this week, on my way to church, coming here on 79th, the light changed, so I stopped – I was on the intersection.

Sepulveda traffic was heavy, and a car had stopped blocking the cross walk to the YMCA.

A man on the southeast corner … the light turned green, the walk sign lit up, the man stood there … looking at the car blocking his way as if it were the Grand Canyon; shook his head with disgust … finally stepped off the curb with a huff, walked two feet out of his way around the car, glared at the driver, and then on to the Y.

I thought: “Silly!”

Time and energy wasted for something so small.

But we all do it.

Someone criticizes your work, and you spend hours fretting about it.

You do your best, but someone questions your motives … and now you can’t sleep at night.

A co-worker irritates the daylights out of you … and you can’t get it out of your mind.

You spend hours explaining yourself … trying to win over your critics … wondering how to get back at them.

Small things!

Silly things … a thousand little silly things thrown into the pathway of our life … 999 of them not worth a second thought.

That car blocking the walkway … not worth a second thought … walk around it, shake it off, who cares? … get on with your life. Don’t sweat the small things.

Stay on the high road … be of good cheer … roll with the punches.

“LORD, silly things will come my way today … little things not worth a second thought … and I’ll not give ‘em the time of day …”

“I’ve got better things to do … higher thoughts and greater ideas.”

LORD, I’ll stay focused on my life … I’ll do the best I can, and let you do the rest.
I trust you, LORD; I know that cars will block my way today … but I’ll walk around ‘em; I’ll not waste time fussing and fretting. I’ve got better things to do.”

The Sadducees fussed and fretted about small things … silly things …

But Jesus didn’t succumb to their game … Jesus didn’t allow silly things to distract Him … He knew what He had to do, and He had to do what He knew.

Stay on the high road … stay focused … we’ve got better things to do.

Sometimes the car blocking my walkway gets to me … I focus on the car, I stare at the driver … I’m bummed, I’m incensed, I’m insulted; my stomach churns.

No, no, no, no … stay on the high road … stay focused … we’ve got better things to do.

A little girl was told repeatedly by her mother, “Don’t climb up on the chair.”

One day, the mother was in the other room; things seemed very quiet. The mother peeked around the corner to see her child climbing up on the chair … but rather than walk into the room, the mother decided to watch.

The little girl climbed up, stood there on the chair, said, “no, no, no, no” and swatted herself.

I have to do that now and then … “no, no, no, no.”

These are not good thoughts … this is a waste of time … it’s a silly thing …

“No, no, no, no!”

I’ll take the high road … I’ll stay focused … I’ve got better things to do.

Jesus stayed focused on the things that count!

Sometimes I ask myself: what really counts? What’s important?

40 Million uninsured Americans?
Environmental degradation?
Humankind’s warring ways?
30,000 children dying every day?

What’s important?

Bad hair day?
The color of the carpet?
You didn’t get your newspaper on time?

What really counts?

Jesus sums it up well: A new commandment I give to you, Love one another as I have loved you.”

Paul writes ten years later: “faith, hope and love abide, and the greatest of these is love.”

In the film, “Dan in Real Life,” a young man says: “Love isn’t a feeling; it’s an ability.”

Yes, an ability to change the world … by making life better one person at a time!

Johtje Vos died on Oct. 10 in Saugerties, N.Y. She was 97.

During the war years, Mrs. Vos and her husband, Aart, lived in a three-bedroom house on a dead-end road in the town of Laren in the Netherlands, with acres of forest behind it. Mr. Vos, who died in 1990, grew up in Laren and knew every stream and field in the area. That allowed him to lead Jews through the woods to the house at night and back into the woods when the Nazis were coming. Each time a German raid was imminent, a sympathetic Dutch police chief in Laren, a friend of the Voses, would dial their phone, let it ring twice, hang up, then repeat the code.

In all, 36 people were saved by the Voses, with as many as 14 hiding in their home at any one time.

One of the survivors said at Johtje’s funeral:

“If Johtje hadn’t done what she did, my mother wouldn’t have survived and I wouldn’t be alive.”

Mr. and Mrs. Vos resisted the notion that they had done something out of the ordinary. Interviewed for a 1992 book … Mrs. Vos said, “I want to say right away that the words ‘hero’ and ‘righteous gentile’ are terribly misplaced.”

“I don’t feel righteous,” said Mrs. Vos, who, like her husband, was a member of the Dutch Reformed Church, “and we are certainly not heroes, because we didn’t sit at the table when the misery started and say, ‘O.K., now we are going to risk our lives to save some people.’ ”

It started one night in 1942 when a Jewish couple asked to be sheltered for just that night as they ran from the Germans. Soon after, another friend asked them to keep a suitcase containing valuables before he was sent to a ghetto.

The Voses were surprised to discover that their friend was Jewish. “We never talked about Jews,” Mrs. Vos recalled. “They were all just Dutch, that’s all.” (New York Times, Nov. 4, 2007).

Love is an ability to stay focused on the things that count … a daily promise:

LORD, I’ll not let the Sadducees get to me … if a car pulls into my walkway, I’ll walk around it …

LORD, I’ll stay positive and hopeful

I’ll not lose sight of the goal.

I’ll take the high road … I have great things to do … life is precious and good …

I am who God says I am. I have what God says I have. I can do what God says I can do.

Jesus my LORD. Amen!