SECOND SCRIPTURE READING (PASTOR)
Note: While I usually tell
stories about myself, if I tell other people’s stories, or stories about people
I make a point to ask them prior, and offer to have them read it first. This
sermon has two of these such cases.
Acts 16.9 - 15
During the night Paul had a vision:
there stood a man of Macedonia pleading with him and
saying,
“Come over to Macedonia and help us.”
When he had seen the vision, we immediately tried to cross
over to Macedonia,
being convinced that God had called us to proclaim the good
news to them.
We set sail from Troas and took a straight course to Samothrace,
the following day to Neapolis, and from there to Philippi,
which is a leading city of the district of Macedonia and a
Roman colony.
We remained in this city for some days.
On the sabbath day we went outside the gate by the
river,
where we supposed there was a place of prayer;
and we sat down and spoke to the women who had gathered
there.
A certain woman named Lydia, a worshiper of God, was
listening to us;
she was from the city of Thyatira and a dealer in purple cloth.
The Lord opened her heart to listen eagerly to what was said
by Paul.
When she and her household were baptized, she urged us,
saying,
“If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord,
come and stay at my home.”
And she prevailed upon us.
SERMON (PASTOR)
I was snowshoeing the other day with Luke, Zach Eggers and
Zach Allen, and Blake, a friend visiting Luke. I stopped for a minute and had
the guys snowshoe on, and as they went, Blake asked Zach Allen, “So, what
brought you to the church?” and Zach explained that a couple of congregants,
who were his patients, had invited him. To which, almost out of my earshot, I
heard either Luke or Eggers say, “Tell the real story,” and I smiled, without
having to hear the rest. Shirley and Dale Dodson had told Zach to come to
church because there was cute pastor his age. Likewise, not knowing the moment
a parishioner walks in the sanctuary door the parishioner is off limits for the
pastor to date, the Dodsons told me, “We invited our doctor who is your age to
church,” wink, wink. I remember first meeting Zach, shaking hands at the
sanctuary door, and both of us with our unique laughs chuckling at the
awkwardness.
And as I snowshoed toward the guys, I thought about just how
different what became of that introduction was than its intent. Yet, its even
better. Zach Allen has found a family in this church, a home away from home,
and the church has been graced by his gifts and increasing leadership, and will
be ordaining him an elder this day. Likewise, here we all were in the woods,
with three great friends. I had gotten to know Zach, and introduced him to
Luke, and they became fast friends, and Luke hung out with Eggers and the three
of us skied together, and now, the four of us were snowshoeing though the woods
and laughing, and as I caught up to the guys, I was that deep kind of thankful.
God had planted a seed with Shirley and Dale, which didn’t grow in the way they
expected, but it grew into something much more profound, a Jack in the
beanstalk of grace. And this is the way God works. And I think this is exactly
what Paul experienced in Lydia.
Paul received a vision to go to Macedonia and preach the good news
to the people there, and so he went immediately. He sailed from one place to
the other, and on again, until he came to that Roman city and after he had been
there preaching for a few days, he went to the place of prayer for sabbath and
rest. There by the riverside, he found Jewish women, like those from home, who
already believed in God. They opened their hearts to Paul’s Good News of Christ
and were baptized in that river, and welcomed Paul and the disciples to Lydia’s home to
stay and receive hospitality. Paul expected to convert the Macedonian Roman men
in the streets and government buildings, but here he was preaching to women of
his own background in this foreign place. Its like going from here to South
America and preaching to people from Baker
City, who then implore
you to stay with them. I imagine Paul hiking out from that place by the river,
and thinking about how differently he initially imagined God’s call to them in Macedonia from
what it later became. It grew into something so much more profound, and this is
the way God works.
I was at breakfast with Sam Sullivan and she was telling me
about a recent trip with her Middle School Leadership Class to learn about and
care to the poor in Portland.
She was telling about the amazing family that runs the program. That they used
to live here and attend the Nazarene
Church, and one Sunday Sam looked at their young son, Jake, who was born with
spina bifida. Sam wondered who was going to take care of him. I wonder if in
that moment God was planting a seed. Jake’s family moved to Portland and Jake grew up really serving and
living amongst the homeless. Sam describes that the family usually split the
class up into groups to walk around town, and when he was just twelve, Jake
would have his own group. He would tell kids older than himself and adults -
yes, lets talk to this person who is homeless and he would know them by name.
He also knew the people for whom it was better to let be. He knew the streets
from serving them. This last trip, Jake, in his scooter showed groups of
students around town, to which the kids responded that they wanted to be like
Jake. In the evening, Sam stayed with the students in a building downtown,
which Jake’s family owns. Jake told Sam that he had locked every door, and that
she could lock this one behind him, and he told her just what to do is
something seemed sketchy. Then he said, “If you felt a bit unsafe, I will stay
and take care of you.” It wasn’t seed Sam thought would be planted as she
watched this child with spina bifida and wondered who would take care of him.
Instead, this young man, was making sure he took care of them, not only
students, but the homeless community of Portland.
Sam said she locked the door after him, and he said, “Remember, (pointing to
his scooter), this thing goes fast, I can be here if you need me.” She nodded,
the door clicked, and Sam burst into tears, with that deep kind of
thankfulness, the kind where God takes what you think you’ve planted and grows
it into something so much more profound. Sam told her students in the morning
this story and I wonder, what shall grow from that single seed.
First Presbyterian, there is a quote that says, if the only
words you ever pray are, “Thank you,” it is enough. The places where God
changes our trajectory are often the places where we find that deep
thankfulness. Today, I want to hear about those seeds, which grew into more
than you could have ever imagined, because this is the story of our God, and
thankfulness is the story of God’s people. Amen.
