Word and Table

This sermon is based on the readings for Christmas 1C: 1 Samuel 2:18-26, Luke2:41-52 and Colossians 3:12-17, which can be read by clicking on the links.  Before I start let me say that I owe some of the illustrations and ideas in my message today to the good work of Paul Larson, one of my preaching colleagues on Preaching the Revised Common Lectionary email discussion group, of which I am a member.

Don’t think about monkeys!
Now be truthful . . .
How many of you were thinking about monkeys before I said,
“Don’t think about monkeys?”
But now that I have brought it up,
and even though I told you “Don’t think about monkeys,”
most, if not all of you, have monkeys on your mind.
You are thinking of monkeys you have seen in the zoo;
or monkeys on the Discovery channel,
or that big monkey/ape in the movie King Kong.
You see, the word “monkeys” refers to something we can perceive or see with our mind’s eye,
while the word “don’t” is purely conceptual.
I’ve read that one guy who coaches people who play golf tells his students that they are not to say to themselves,
“Don’t hit the ball in the lake,”
because even saying this creates a negative image in the mind.
And while the mind can’t see “don’t.”
It can visualize the lake perfectly,
and so that is where one ends up hitting the ball.

This reminds me of a game Jim and I play with our daughters.
We have found that if Kristin, Amy or Desiree get a little huffy,
we only need to look at them and say, “Don’t smile,”
and guess what,
they can’t help but smile.
Their minds can’t see “don’t,”
but they see “smile” all too easily.
And of course, in this case there is also the “dad” factor at work.
I tell you all this in order to set the stage for my sermon on the making and keeping of New Year’s resolutions.
I believe that one of the reasons we find it so hard to keep resolutions is because we consistently couch them in terms of
“Don’t do this,” or “don’t do that.”

Maybe that is why many people have decided to follow the example of television commentator, Andy Rooney,
and have given up on resolutions altogether.
Andy Rooney once said:
“I’ve given up on resolutions.
I’m not going to lose any weight again this year.
Last year I was determined not to resolve to lose any.
I didn’t try and for once I was successful.
I didn’t lose any” (quoted in Homiletics, December 29, 1996).
Now contrast this with the woman who once said,
“I have kept every New Year’s resolution I have ever made.”
Stunned, the person she was speaking to said, “Really? I am impressed.
How have you managed to keep all of them?”
Her answer: “I keep them in my desk drawer!”
Unlike this woman and unlike Andy Rooney I am planning to make some real New Year’s resolutions.
And this time I think I am going to have more success at keeping them than have had keeping other resolutions in the past.
My plan is two-fold.
First of all, my plan is to approach the making of resolutions from a more positive perspective.
Like many people, I have almost always come at it from the negative side with resolutions like:
“Don’t eat fattening foods” or “Don’t watch too much TV” or “Don’t be so impatient.”
And as I’ve already said, the “Don’t” part doesn’t compute.
Proof of that goes all the way back to the garden of Eden when God said, “Don’t eat the apple.”
It didn’t work then either, even though it was God talking!

No, approaching things from a negative perspective produces negative results.
St. Paul knew that and it shows in his writing to the Colossians,
where what he says is almost like a set of new year’s resolutions,
though with a positive slant.
He says, “As God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved.”
What could be more positive than that?
We are God’s chosen ones.
We are holy.
We are beloved.
He doesn’t say, “As those who are overweight….
or As those who are impatient….
or as those who are sinners in the hands of an angry God…
He says, “As God’s chosen ones, holy, and beloved….”
Paul doesn’t tell us how bad we are and list all the negative attributes we need to change,
rather he tells us we can change because we are God’s chosen ones who are holy and beloved.
Famed psychologist, William James said,
“People by and large become what they think about themselves.”
And in the making and keeping of resolutions,
as well as in the living of life in general,
we need to remember St. Paul’s positive approach.
He tells us who we are in God’s eyes and then encourages us to grow into that image instead of pointing out our shortcomings and failures and telling us, “Don’t do that anymore.”
Marketing guru? Craig Massey tells a story about being in a restaurant when he heard an angry father say to his 7-year old son,
“What are you good for anyway?”
The boy, who had just spilled his milk, put his head down and said, “Nothing.”
Later, Massey said he was disgusted with his own son for a minor infraction,
and he heard himself ask his son the same question,
“What are you good for anyway?”
His son replied just like the other boy, “Nothing.”
Immediately Massey regretted the question.
As he thought about this, he realized that the question was all right but the answer was wrong.
A few days later when his son committed another minor offense, he asked, “What are you good for?”
But before his son could reply, he hugged him and said,
“I’ll tell you what you’re good for. You’re good for loving!”
Before long, whenever he asked the question, his son would say,
“I’m good for loving.”
Whether we keep our New Year’s Resolutions or not,
St. Paul wants us to know “we are good for loving.”
We are “chosen, holy, and beloved.”
And because we are beloved we can clothe ourselves in the loving characteristics St. Paul puts before us.
And this brings me to the second part of my renewed effort at making and keeping resolutions - being choosy about the resolutions I actually make.
You see,
I believe that if we are going to come up with some resolutions to keep,
then we ought to chose some that are really worth-while.
And while most of us could stand to lose a little weight,
or be more prudent in our finances,
or more consistent in living a healthy lifestyle,
I want to recommend that we chose some resolutions that will help us grow up and mature in our faith.

It’s interesting to me that our readings from both I Samuel and from the gospel of Luke talk about this kind of growth.
Concerning the young boy Samuel,
our Old Testament lesson has this to say:
And the young man Samuel grew in the presence of the LORD.
And then a little later on it adds:
Now the boy Samuel continued to grow both in stature and in favor with the LORD and with the people.
In Luke we find similar words about the boy Jesus:
And Jesus increased in wisdom and in years, and in divine and human favor.

In other words, I believe our New Year’s resolutions ought to reflect a desire to grow in wisdom and stature and divine and human favor.
And again, Paul’s words to the Colossians are formative here.
He writes: “clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience.
Bear with one another and, if anyone has a complaint against another,
forgive each other;
just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive.
Above all, clothe yourselves with love,
which binds everything together in perfect harmony.”

Now that is a pretty good list of resolutions,
but when we consider this list of resolutions from Paul,
we need to remember that our growth in these areas comes not from some superhuman effort on our part,
but from living out our lives as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved.
This means that our lives are shaped by the life of God.
God’s compassion for us helps us be more compassionate toward others.
God’s kindness shows us how to be kind to those we encounter.
Realizing that we are far from perfect and yet God has chosen us,
can help us display humility, meekness and patience.
If we understand and accept the positive view God has of us it will be easier for us to attain positive goals.

I recently ran across a story from a Rabbi concerning one of the first bar mitzvahs he ever performed.
A bar mitzvah is a Jewish rite of passage similar to our rite of confirmation, as a boy assumes adult religious responsibilities.
This bar mitzvah was for a rather awkward and sad boy,
and this was made worse by the fact that his parents did little to encourage his self-esteem.
In fact, they all but came out and told the Rabbi that their son was too dumb to learn the traditional Hebrew passages a boy recites for his bar mitzvah.
The Rabbi, however, was determined to bring out the best in this boy.
He spent extra time teaching him the songs and prayers,
and in so doing, he discovered that the young man was quite intelligent and also had a fantastic singing voice.
On the day of his bar mitzvah, he performed beautifully.
At the end of the ceremony,
The Rabbi stood and spoke directly to his charge.
He said, “Son, this morning you met your real self.
This is who you are.
You are good, graceful, talented, and smart.
Whatever people told you yesterday, and Louis, whatever happens tomorrow,
promise me one thing.
Remember . . . this is you.
Remember, and don’t ever lose it.”

A few years later, this young man wrote to the Rabbi.
The boy whose parents predicted that he was too dumb to perform a traditional bar mitzvah was studying for his medical degree at an Ivy League university, as well as being engaged to be married.
He ended his letter by saying, “I kept my promise -
I always remembered my bar mitzvah morning when you said that this
is who I am. For this, I thank you.”

Having someone believe in him made a huge difference in this boy’s life.
We have someone who believes in us and that someone is God.
God has chosen us for great things.
God has forgiven us all of our sins, faults and failings and declares us to be holy.
God tells us we are his beloved.
He also shows us that his love for us has no limits,
and if we can just keep these simple truths in mind it will help us to accomplish the goals that Paul puts before us.

By allowing God to work within our lives,
we can change,
we can grow closer to God and to each other,
we can, in Paul’s words, cloth ourselves with a new righteousness.
Let me try to illustrate what I mean.

The beginning of a new year is often shown like this.
An old man, wrapped in large flowing robes,
looking for all the world like he’s not going to be around much longer,
is replaced by a small baby,
full of life and clothed only in a diaper.

Erma Bombeck said a few words about this in a column of hers several years before her untimely death.
She asked why a baby in a diaper is the symbol for the New Year,
and then she went on to answer her own question.

Maybe little New Year, she writes,
is supposed to be a symbol of innocence, freshness and optimism.
And perhaps it is reasonable to believe that this baby in a diaper is a reminder to shed some of the baggage and old clothes of the last year.

Maybe we shouldn’t have any pockets holding names of old adversaries to whom we are not speaking -
and can’t even remember why.
No shirts of self-pity that we’ve worn too many years without cleaning.
No glasses that allow us to see all of our differences but none of our likenesses.

Maybe we shouldn’t have any shoes that have walked in the same ruts of old ideas and stubborn resistance to change for too many years.
No luggage to kick along that holds years of yellowed and crumbling prejudices toward people no longer alive.
No neckties or scarves to choke out laughter or joy or words of forgiveness.

Maybe we should be like a baby who has just entered the world ready to celebrate and live life on its own terms.
Maybe this child represents a newness,
another chance to grow, to develop, and to learn.

To those who have ears to hear, hear the gospel in Erma Bombeck’s words.
For there is good news in them,
and what Bombeck has to say strangely compliments Paul’s words in
Colossians 3:12-17

Put on then, or clothe yourselves,
as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved,
with compassion, kindness, lowliness, meekness, and patience,
bearing with one another and,
if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other;
as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive.
And above all these put on love,
which binds everything together in perfect harmony.
And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts,
to which indeed you were called in the one body.
And be thankful.
Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teach and admonish one another in all wisdom, and sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs with thankfulness in your hearts to God.
And whatever you do, in word or deed,
do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus,
giving thanks to God the Father through him.

Now these sound like some resolutions worth making and keeping.

Oh, and lest you forget:
Don’t think about monkeys.

Technorati tags: Christmas 1C, lectionary, sermon, 1 Samuel 2:18-26, Luke2:41-52, Colossians 3:12-17, New Year, resolutions

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