Minister: Marv Vose
No Fear! Not Even of Change?
Psalm 46:1-3 NRSV & The Message
When I got the call to become a pastor, it started a whole series of changes. I talked to my pastor about seminary and where I should go. I made applications and was accepted. Finally, I quit my job as a lawyer. My wife quit her job. And just about that time, we had our first child! Great timing! We sold our house. We sold a car. We sold a lot of our personal belongings and turned in the country club membership.
All of that was pretty difficult and painful. It was a lot of change! I had asked my wife to give up so much, I just couldn't bring up the topic of the cat. Now it made a lot of sense to me to just find our cat a good home and leave her here, but I couldn't ask that. So we were prepared to travel across country from Colorado Springs to Nashville with a car full of stuff, a month-old-baby daughter and a cat! I really was prepared to do that.
But when the moving van came, we had to prop open the door and the cat took off! She was gone! I thought this was probably a divine gift! The movers loaded all the furniture, closed up the truck and there was still no cat. Well...we had to leave, so I took the cat carrier to our neighbor across the street and said, "If that stupid cat ever shows up, put her in the carrier and ship her to Nashville and we'll pay for it." And then we left. We drove cross country to Nashville. We thought it would be easy, because we already knew that our baby daughter loved riding in the car and immediately went to sleep. And she did that! Went right to sleep and slept the whole time until we got to a motel at the end of the first day. Caroline and I were exhausted and ready to sleep. Our daughter was wide awake! Anyway, it was a long trip to Nashville.
And would you like to know who was there to greet us? The cat! The cat had shown up the next day at our neighbor's house and wanted to be fed! The neighbor had fed the cat, and then shipped it by air, to Nashville. he got there before we did. The stupid cat flew! We had to drive!
I tell you that story to explain why I love cats so much. But also, to get you thinking about change. That was a lot of change in a very little period of time. As far as I was concerned that was too much change! It was stressful and painful and overwhelming. Change can be that way.
And yet, we are constantly bombarded with change. Big change. Little change. Rapid change. Slow change. Some that we say we want and other changes that are forced on us without warning.
If you take a step back and look at what has happened in our world and our culture, it is pretty stunning. Some of our basic social institutions have gone through radical change. When the World War II generation got married, it was for a life time. You didn't even think about it. That was the way it was. Everyone knew that. Now folks get married for "as long as love shall last." That language is actually in some secular, wedding ceremonies. You don't want to buy that bride and groom fine china. Paper plates and plastic forks might fit better.
There have been huge changes in our economy. Corporations succeed or fail. Stores are bought and sold. Jobs are put together or lost. Fortunes are amassed at the same time there are bankruptcies. Everything is now manufactured in China!
The world changes! Our former allies can become our enemies and vice versa. We leave the Cold War Era only to find plenty of other enemies.
It even happens to the planet. When I read that verse today that said, "...we will not fear, though the earth should change..." I couldn't help but think about all of the climate changes and what that is doing to the polar ice caps. Now scientists say it is happening faster than they would have ever expected. Now is definitely not the time to buy oceanfront property!
Change is a constant in our faith. I didn't read it for today, but the prophecy in Isaiah is pretty plain and pretty bold. "Do not remember the former things or consider the things of old. I am about to do a new thing: now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?" (Isaiah 43:18-19) We read and celebrate that at Christmas time, but it is radical change!
In fact, change is what our Christian faith focuses on. We are changed from sinners into saints. Our brokenness is changed into wholeness and holiness. Our emptiness is filled with hope. Paul talks about it when he writes to the church in Ephesus. I want to read this one from The Message. "He handed out gifts of apostle, prophet, evangelist, and pastor-teacher to train Christians in skilled servant work, working within Christ's body, the church, until we're all moving rhythmically and easily with each other, efficient and graceful in response to God's Son, fully mature adults, fully developed within and without, fully alive like Christ." (Ephesians 4: 11-13, emphasis added.) How's that for a goal in this life? And that involves change.
But the truth of the matter, is that most of the time, we don't like it! Not one little bit! We like things to stay the same. It is comfortable. It is easy. If there is change, we might lose something that we value. It threatens us. It might be work. We might not like it. We dislike all kinds of things about change!
And that is nothing new. Two weeks ago at our Wednesday evening program, I was talking about the pilgrimage we took to Greece and Turkey to see some of the places the Apostle Paul had lived and ministered. We went to Corinth in Greece and toured the excavations at that ancient site. One of the places they have excavated was the central courtyard where the Bema was located. This is the exact place where Paul was brought up on charges. You see, this is what Paul would do. He would go to a new city and show up at the Synagogue on Sabbath. As a visitor, they would ask him to speak and he would tell people about Jesus and how he was the fulfillment of scripture. There were usually several people who would hear him and believe in Jesus. But the ones who didn't got really mad! And sooner or later, there was usually a riot or Paul was arrested and thrown in jail. Sometimes he was beaten. But in Corinth, they were a little more civilized and charges were brought against him. Paul was brought to the city center and was prepared to speak in his defense, but the city ruler refused to hear the charges and the one who brought the charges ended up being beaten up by the crowd! Now this was the exception! Usually Paul ended up on the short end of the stick.
Now why do you suppose people acted so violently? Why would people treat Paul that way.? It's very simple. He was proposing a major change in what people held dear. He threatened their faith and their way of life.
We don't like change, even if it is going to be good for us. The Israelites are a great example. They were leaving centuries of slavery in Egypt and going to the Promised Land, but it didn't take any time for them to start complaining and talking about how wonderful slavery had been. And now God had taken them out into the wilderness because God hated them and wanted them to die there! You and I know that is stupid, but it actually says that in the Bible!
There are some of you who think that they wandered in the wilderness for 40 years because Moses was a man and therefore he would not ask for directions. Isn't that right? And he certainly didn't have a GPS system!
But here is the real reason! Here's the Bible reason. They got to the Promised Land quickly and Moses is ready to lead them in, but they decide to send in some spies first, just to check it out. And the spies come out and they say, "Wow, this is really a great place! But the people who live there are huge! We could never take that country away from them, even if God is with us." You see the problem? They were afraid! They didn't trust God! So what does God say? We'll let this generation die off and we'll give the next generation a shot at the Promised Land. Even when change is good for us, we aren't enthusiastic about it.
But, you know what? We don't have any choice. Change is going to happen. It is going to happen around us and to us and in us. And for that we can give thanks. We may not like it, but that is the only way to life. The alternative is to slowly die.
People in business know that. Corporations have to continually adjust to the market are they die out. Churches know it. Have you heard what the seven last words of the church are? "We've never done it that way before." That is the beginning of the end for any church when that becomes the dominant idea. It's true for each of us. We either grow in the faith or we stagnate.
But it takes some real courage to change. It takes real courage to live in a world that is saturated with change. It takes courage to start a new venture. It takes courage to do life in a different way. We don't know where it will lead. We don't know what it will be like. It is like going into the unknown. And all of that takes courage.
It takes courage to know what kinds of change to embrace and what kinds to avoid. It takes courage to lead change, especially when others don't want it. And where do we find the courage to do that? Where do we find the strength to withstand those things we are afraid of? Good question, isn't it?
Decades ago, there was a little girl name Ruby-Ruby Bridges. She was six-years-old and lived in New Orleans when a federal judge said that the schools in that city had to open their doors to African-American children. It was a tense time. Change!
Most of the parents of white children decided that if they had to let black children into the schools, they would keep their children out. And if black children actually showed up for school, they would be in trouble. So most of the black children stayed away as well. Most of them, but not all of them. Ruby went to school.
Every day, six-year-old Ruby Bridges would kiss her mom goodbye and march off to school. There would be two federal marshals walking in front of her and two federal marshals walking behind her. She needed them because she had to walk through an angry crowd every day to an empty school building. She was the only one who went to that school.
Can you imagine being six-years-old and walking through a crowd of people who yelled at you and shook their fists at you? People who threatened her and her family if she kept walking to school? And yet Ruby did that every day. And then she walked home. Every day.
What's truly amazing is that she not only came back every day, but the style in which she went to school. One of the white school teachers said that she saw a woman spit at Ruby, but missed. Ruby smiled at her. She saw a man shake his fist at her and Ruby smiled at him. Then Ruby walked up the stairs, stopped at the building and turned around to look at the crowd. Then she smiled one more time. Ruby even told the marshals that she prayed for those people in the mob. She prayed for them every night before she went to bed.
Don't you wonder where in the world she got the incredible courage to be able to walk to school and pray for those people? A Harvard psychiatrist wondered the same thing. So he went from Harvard to New Orleans to interview her and her family. He even wrote a book about it.
This is part of what he says. "If I had to offer an explanation, I think it would start with the religious tradition of black people, which is of far greater significance than many white observers have tend to allow. In home after home I've seen Christ's teachings, Christ's life, connected to the lives of black children by their parents. Such a religious tradition connects with a child's sense of what is important, as anyone knows who has been in a black church and seen the look of pain give way to the look of hope." (The Moral Life of Children.) You see what he said? This Harvard professor, a non-believer, looks at the situation and says, "It's Jesus!" That's where the courage comes from. It is Jesus!
She didn't walk to school alone. She had this strong tower called Jesus. Her courage didn't come from the Federal Marshals or a judge. It came from Jesus! That's where our courage comes from, too. Isn't that right?
You and I will be surrounded by change all of our lives. It will be around us and in us. We can fight it or embrace it. We can adapt or we can slowly die. We get to choose. But the way to life is really to work with Jesus.
I want you to give it a try this week. I want you to experiment and change something. It can be little or big. It can be something you know God has been pestering you about for ever or it can be a spur of the moment. But I'd like you to exercise some courage this week and change something. And do it with Jesus!
No Fear! Not Even of Change?
Psalm 46:1-3 NRSV & The Message
Introduction: When I got the call to become a pastor, it started a whole series of changes. Tell because I want you to start thinking about change! Stress, pain, etc.
I. Yet we are confronted with a dizzying array of change these days.
A. If you step back, the changes are stunning.
1. Social institutions. Marriage. WWII to "as long as love shall last."
2. Economy. Stores are bought and sold. Corporations succeed or fail. Jobs are put together or lost. Fortunes & bankruptcies. All made in China.
3. The world changes. Allies can become enemies and vice versa.
4. Happens to the planet. Bible. The earth changes! Not the time to buy oceanfront property!
B. Change is a constant even in our faith.
1. Isaiah 43:18. Do not remember the former things.
2. Change is what our Christian faith focuses on. Broken into whole and holy. Sinners into saints. Paul in Ephesians 4:11-13.
II. In spite of all of that, we tend to not like changes! Sometimes it's just scary!
A. Nothing new.
1. Showing the pictures of ancient Corinth.
2. Paul's technique. Riots, arrest, beatings. Why? Because he was proposing a change and he made people afraid!
B. Even if it is going to be good for us, we don't often like it.
1. Ex. Israelites going through the Wilderness to Land of milk & honey.
2. Wandered in the wilderness for 40 years, not because Moses refused to ask for directions. They didn't enter because there were huge people there and the Israelites were afraid!
C. But we don't have any choice. The alternative is slow death.
1. Corporations are continually adjusting.
2. Church-seven last words. "We've never done it that way before!"
3. In our own journey of faith, we mature or we stagnate.
III. Takes courage to live in a world saturated with change.
A. Takes courage to know what to keep and what to change.
1. Takes courage to know when to lead and when to follow.
B. Where do we find the courage?
1. Ruby Bridges. New Orleans. 6-years-old. Integration.
2. You and I will be surrounded by change. Can fight or embrace. But the way of life is to do it with Jesus.
Conclusion: Give it a try this week. Do something different. May be small or large, but change something and enjoy having done it! Maybe God has been pestering you about or spontaneous. But do it with Jesus!