Flying Through Life

Flying Through Life

Sermon preached by the Rev. Lowell E. Grisham, Rector

St. Paul's Episcopal Church, Fayetteville, Arkansas

June 14, 2015; 3 Pentecost, Proper 6, Year B

Episcopal Revised Common Lectionary

2 Corinthians 5:6-10, 14-17 – We are always confident; even though we know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord-- for we walk by faith, not by sight. Yes, we do have confidence, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord. So whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to please him. For all of us must appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each may receive recompense for what has been done in the body, whether good or evil.

For the love of Christ urges us on, because we are convinced that one has died for all; therefore all have died. And he died for all, so that those who live might live no longer for themselves, but for him who died and was raised for them. From now on, therefore, we regard no one from a human point of view; even though we once knew Christ from a human point of view, we know him no longer in that way. So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new!

Mark 4:36-34 – Jesus said, "The kingdom of God is as if someone would scatter seed on the ground, and would sleep and rise night and day, and the seed would sprout and grow, he does not know how. The earth produces of itself, first the stalk, then the head, then the full grain in the head. But when the grain is ripe, at once he goes in with his sickle, because the harvest has come."

He also said, "With what can we compare the kingdom of God, or what parable will we use for it? It is like a mustard seed, which, when sown upon the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on earth; yet when it is sown it grows up and becomes the greatest of all shrubs, and puts forth large branches, so that the birds of the air can make nests in its shade."

With many such parables he spoke the word to them, as they were able to hear it; he did not speak to them except in parables, but he explained everything in private to his disciples.

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From now on, therefore, we regard no one from a human point of view… If anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new!

It's been pretty exciting around here lately. First, we closed on the purchase of the law office next door. It's a building we've wanted for a long time. It is adjacent to our kitchen, office and Welcome Center. It immediately offers a great improvement to our space for our Youth program. And let me pause just a moment to brag on that program. Some months ago a California research project asked the youth office at the Episcopal Church Center in New York to identify five model youth programs in the Episcopal Church for them to consider studying. We were one of the five. Then the researchers did in-depth interviews with several hundred youth programs in all denominations to pick forty to study because they work well. We were one of the forty. We've got a wonderful youth program, and I'm grateful to Amanda Robinson, to Dan, and to Alon Terrell, as well as the parents, interns and young people who give themselves to make it such a great program. Now we will have a new home for their community. And looking further into the future, one day we may want to build a multi-storied facility on that site if we find our ministries continue to grow. Acquiring that property opens up so many things for us. I'm thrilled.

Another exciting opportunity: We found a perfect location for our new Magdalene-Fayetteville outreach ministry. We now have a contract to buy a house that is zoned to fit our use; it is near trails, bus routes, a grocery, a dollar store, and a park for recreation; and it is large enough—with four bedrooms, ample living space and program space, a separate studio for an office, land for future expansion, and a beautiful park-like front yard. With a gift this week from Greg and Hannah Lee added to our seed gift from Nick and Carolyn Cole, we have just the money we need to close.

So I was facing several deadlines late Friday afternoon when George Faucette sent me a document I needed to sign for the Magdalene house process. Just sign it and scan it back to me, he said. I printed and signed it. I put it in my scanner. The scanner wouldn't cooperate. Something about the driver. The usual functions weren't showing up on the screen. I tried a workaround. Didn't work. I began to get frustrated. I really don't like it when my machines don't do what I want them to do. I tried manually keying the machine. No dice. I got more flustered. I was getting angry. I started to 'grrrr.' I would have been more expressive, but I was watching Laura at the time and I didn't want her to see her grandfather blowing up at a scanner, computer and printer. But it wouldn't scan. I was going to have to drive, to take George the paper, manually. I got into the car, drove to George's, gave him the papers. It was such an annoying inconvenience.

There's a comedy routine by comedian Louis CK about people who complain about flying.

"Worst day of my life! I had to sit on the runway for forty minutes!"

"Oh my God, really! For forty minutes?! That's awful. You should sue them."

"What happened then? Did you fly through the air like a bird, incredibly?! Did you soar through the clouds impossibly? Did you partake in the miracle of human flight? And then land softly on giant tires that you couldn't even conceive how they expletive deleted put air in them?"

"I had to pay for my sandwich."

"You're flying! You're sitting in a chair in the sky! You're like a Greek myth right now!"

"But it doesn't go back very far, and it's kind of squishing my knee."

"There's always delays when I fly. Too slow."

"Really?! New York to California in six hours. That used to take thirty years to do that, and a bunch of you would die on the way there. You get shot in the neck with an arrow and you go aaaggghccck!, and fall down. And the other passengers would just bury you and put a stick in the ground with your hat on it and keep walking…

"Now you watch an Adam Sandler movie…, and you're there!"[i]

(I cleaned the more colorful language up considerably.)

I couldn't get the scanner to work.

O my God, really! What happened then? Did you get into your own automobile, comfortably air conditioned, and drive a couple of miles at forty miles an hour on smooth blacktop streets to give George the papers that it otherwise would have taken you a couple of hours to walk in the summer heat?

So much grace. So much mystery.

"There is a new creation!" Paul cries. Christ died for all, therefore all are raised to new life. Everyone! Every human being! The whole creation!

Jesus tells us, I am in you and you are in me and we are all one in the Divine life of God! Oh my God! Really! We are loved infinitely. We are accepted, just the way we are. We are loved and accepted even in our whiney, pitiful states. And God overcomes everything, including death itself, to bring us to life. I came that you might have life, and have it abundantly.

Here we are flying through space on a rock that is covered with waters full of fish and land supporting vegetation and animals; enveloped in an atmosphere that gives us breath. We are spinning around a star at just the right distance and angle that we have energy for such abundant life that you and I have evolved enough to be conscious of the divine love who made all things and who urges and calls us forward into union with all humanity and God. Amazing!

And I can imagine these things and write them in words on a computer, then send them to a printer. Wonderful! And speak them into a microphone in church in a language that you actually understand so that we communicate profound ideas together. Remarkable! And it all goes instantly on the internet where it can be seen and heard around the world.

It is "as if someone would scatter seed on the ground, and would sleep and rise night and day, and the seed would sprout and grow, he does not know how." It is all grace. It is all mystery. God loves us and grows us, despite ourselves.

But we get so stuck in our blind selfishness that we fail to see the wonder around us.

What if we could just let go of the self-centered chatter that plays its whiny music inside us incessantly? Let go of it just a bit, shift our focus away from our incessant expectations, and instead, look out the window of the spaceship in wonder. We are flying through life in a completely secure, amazing vehicle. We are enveloped by infinite love. We are accepted completely. We are being energized by the divine breath. We are God's beloved. Breathe that in. Let your heart be open and soft.

Then recognize that every other person is a mystery, also full of grace and love. What if we stopped looking at other people as if they were malfunctioning scanners that should be doing what we expect? What if we loved ourselves as God loves us? What if we loved our neighbor as ourself? What if, from now on, we regard no one from a human point of view. There is a new creation! The old has passed away. See! Everything has become new!

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[i] Louis CK, Flying (cleaned up a bit for pulpit use) - 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b3dYS7PcAG4

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