Blinders
Sermon
Sermons On The First Readings
Series I, Cycle A
Loggerhead turtles lay eggs among the sand dunes on beaches. The little turtles dig their way up through the sand and struggle along the beach seeking the ocean waters that wash upon the sand wave after wave. It's a hunger that is born deep within them to seek this sea water, for it is life - even living water. If they don't find it, they die. But if they find the water, they can live over 100 years and weigh over 600 pounds! If a little turtle gets sidetracked, say it falls into a moat around a sand castle, it goes round and round and gets disoriented and never reaches the water. It dies.
Born deep within all of us is a hunger for living water as well! God created us to be fed by the Bread of Life and nurtured by the Spring of Living Waters, the one God that we know through Jesus Christ.
Most folks get the idea that religion is a duty one must do if they want to go to heaven. This is an obstacle - sand castles carelessly strewn along the beach where the little sea turtles will be making their way laboriously toward the surf.
The little sand turtles seek the water like they're wearing blinders. But the blinders also get in the way - they can't see when or if they've been sidetracked to go where they don't want to go - if they've been trapped by death instead of reaching for life.
I hate it when I'm looking for something, maybe looking straight at it, but by some trick of perception I just don't notice it. Maybe looking too hard to find it, keeps me from seeing it. Usually, it takes somebody else coming along to point to it so I can see it.
And you know what they say? "If it was a snake, it would have bit ya."
The Lord hides blessings for his people in plain sight right in front of them and all they can do is scratch their heads and ask, "What is it?" People complain regularly to the Lord for this, that, and the other. Amazingly, the Lord responds to his complaining people, blesses them, and the people are left looking straight at the blessing and completely miss seeing it.
Limiting the field of vision, that is, putting on blinders, works well on horses, but does not on people. For it is only when we take off our blinders, our spiritual blinders, that all the blessings of the Lord begin to reveal themselves. The blessings were always there, it was we who could not see or know them. God offers an unlimited field of vision. We have only to take off the blinders.
Years ago on an interview show, Bob Costas was interviewing Shelley Fabares. They talked about how she grew up on the Donna Reed Show, her friendship with Annette Funicello, and being on a successful series like Coach. Then they got to the obligatory "How did you get to be such a big star?" Of course, Shelley Fabares' big break was the song, "Johnny Angel." And in the middle of the interview, Bob Costas starts to recite the words he knew so well - "Other fellas call me up for a date, but I just sit and wait, I'd rather contemplate, on Johnny Angel." And Shelley Fabares interrupts his reverie, "It's 'concentrate.' " Stubbornly, Costas insisted he knew the line was "I'd rather contemplate," and he liked it that way. Shelley said, "No. It's concentrate." The look on Bob Costas' face was priceless. He said, "I've interviewed and argued with celebrities and dignitaries and heads of state, and I've been wrong about other things, but nobody has ever contradicted me on a song lyric, and I'm the host of this show." But it was her song, after all, and she should know the words that made her famous. For over thirty years, Bob Costas had been singing a new song. But he had been singing it wrong.
It's what you learn after you know it all that really counts. It's a kind of blinders.
The First Reading from Acts is Luke's report of Paul's address at Athens. It echoes some of the things Paul says in Romans about God's revelation to all, even the heathen, and cites as evidence the idol worshiper's altar - probably set up to cover all the bases, an insurance move on their part, but in Paul's hands an object lesson.
Visiting in Athens on Mars Hill, Paul sees an altar to an unknown god. He notes that the Athenians are very religious, but that they have very little faith. He calls them to a real faith for a real world. He points out that God has the world in his hands. What does he need with what we have in our hands? What God wants is our hands, and our hearts, and our whole selves. It's like God is the parent and we are the child - offspring is the word used in verse 28.
Our creator God - the one, true God - bars no one; as God's children, all of humanity is welcome at the altar of our Lord.
There is a religious cartoon called Pontius Puddle. In one installment he is looking up to heaven and says, "I wonder if God really listens to what I say." The next frame has him praying, "Hey, God! What should I do with my life?" The next frame has a thunderous voice from heaven say, "FEED THE HUNGRY. RIGHT INJUSTICE. WORK FOR PEACE." In the final frame, Pontius says sheepishly, "Just testing." And the voice from heaven replies, "So was I!"
If we were sea turtles, Paul would say, "Keep your eyes on the water and don't get distracted by those sand castles. Take the blinders off and look at the big picture, the eternal view. God has given us the sea. Don't seek only the sand castles."
You know people who are distracted by the sand castles and think of God like this. We call this "gimme religion." A person who has "gimme--religion" only ever asks God for what he or she wants.
"Lord, money's a little tight this month. Help me." "O God, please let my uncle Joe be all right through this surgery." "God, I know I don't talk to you much, but I know you're always there, and right now, I could really use your help...." "God, why did this have to happen to me? Where were you? Why did you let this happen?"
Is it wrong to seek Jesus for what we get out of it? Is it wrong to seek Jesus for something to fill our needs, to feed our emptiness, to promise us heaven when we die? If such selfish motives get people to Jesus, it can't be all bad, can it?
In this sense, religion is striving for God, while Christianity is the event of God striving for us. For really the only answer Jesus gives is that he gives himself, and that is our example.
If you don't have the comfort of a fully--stocked refrigerator and money in the bank, you may find it harder to trust that God will provide for the next day. Even if you have all your material needs provided for, with guaranteed sources of income - solid investments to keep even your grandchildren provided for - it's still possible to live as if you had nothing, constantly afraid of running out of things and grabbing everything in sight. From this perspective, wealth is measured not by what you have, but by what you think you need - and without a solid faith, we may fail the test.
C. S. Lewis confesses in Surprised By Joy that, as a young man, he came to church seeking "manifestations," powerful spiritual experiences signified by a tingle in the spine - or (we could say) by a feeling of fullness. When the young Lewis didn't receive those feelings every time, he felt cheated, and was inclined to doubt the whole of Christianity.
Mature Christianity recognizes that spiritual experience is not God, but is rather a sign, something which points beyond itself to an utterly free and inscrutable God who cannot be confined in any human experience - of fullness or anything else. We don't need to dig for it or run to it, because if we could get it on our own, he wouldn't need to send it.
Real food - God's love and God's wonderful purpose for everyone! It's heady stuff and we can't take it all at once, but this is the bread of heaven that satisfies.
That's what Christianity is really all about. Letting go of this world and latching on to God in Christ, so much so that he becomes the way for us to go. In fact, the way and the destination. To be one in Christ and one with Christ. To lose yourself in him.
Always look straight to this water, this bread, but not with blinders that see only the distraction, the sand castle moats. Look to the blessings and the fullness as you have experienced God, and know that he is yours, no striving necessary.
Born deep within all of us is a hunger for living water as well! God created us to be fed by the Bread of Life and nurtured by the Spring of Living Waters, the one God that we know through Jesus Christ.
Most folks get the idea that religion is a duty one must do if they want to go to heaven. This is an obstacle - sand castles carelessly strewn along the beach where the little sea turtles will be making their way laboriously toward the surf.
The little sand turtles seek the water like they're wearing blinders. But the blinders also get in the way - they can't see when or if they've been sidetracked to go where they don't want to go - if they've been trapped by death instead of reaching for life.
I hate it when I'm looking for something, maybe looking straight at it, but by some trick of perception I just don't notice it. Maybe looking too hard to find it, keeps me from seeing it. Usually, it takes somebody else coming along to point to it so I can see it.
And you know what they say? "If it was a snake, it would have bit ya."
The Lord hides blessings for his people in plain sight right in front of them and all they can do is scratch their heads and ask, "What is it?" People complain regularly to the Lord for this, that, and the other. Amazingly, the Lord responds to his complaining people, blesses them, and the people are left looking straight at the blessing and completely miss seeing it.
Limiting the field of vision, that is, putting on blinders, works well on horses, but does not on people. For it is only when we take off our blinders, our spiritual blinders, that all the blessings of the Lord begin to reveal themselves. The blessings were always there, it was we who could not see or know them. God offers an unlimited field of vision. We have only to take off the blinders.
Years ago on an interview show, Bob Costas was interviewing Shelley Fabares. They talked about how she grew up on the Donna Reed Show, her friendship with Annette Funicello, and being on a successful series like Coach. Then they got to the obligatory "How did you get to be such a big star?" Of course, Shelley Fabares' big break was the song, "Johnny Angel." And in the middle of the interview, Bob Costas starts to recite the words he knew so well - "Other fellas call me up for a date, but I just sit and wait, I'd rather contemplate, on Johnny Angel." And Shelley Fabares interrupts his reverie, "It's 'concentrate.' " Stubbornly, Costas insisted he knew the line was "I'd rather contemplate," and he liked it that way. Shelley said, "No. It's concentrate." The look on Bob Costas' face was priceless. He said, "I've interviewed and argued with celebrities and dignitaries and heads of state, and I've been wrong about other things, but nobody has ever contradicted me on a song lyric, and I'm the host of this show." But it was her song, after all, and she should know the words that made her famous. For over thirty years, Bob Costas had been singing a new song. But he had been singing it wrong.
It's what you learn after you know it all that really counts. It's a kind of blinders.
The First Reading from Acts is Luke's report of Paul's address at Athens. It echoes some of the things Paul says in Romans about God's revelation to all, even the heathen, and cites as evidence the idol worshiper's altar - probably set up to cover all the bases, an insurance move on their part, but in Paul's hands an object lesson.
Visiting in Athens on Mars Hill, Paul sees an altar to an unknown god. He notes that the Athenians are very religious, but that they have very little faith. He calls them to a real faith for a real world. He points out that God has the world in his hands. What does he need with what we have in our hands? What God wants is our hands, and our hearts, and our whole selves. It's like God is the parent and we are the child - offspring is the word used in verse 28.
Our creator God - the one, true God - bars no one; as God's children, all of humanity is welcome at the altar of our Lord.
There is a religious cartoon called Pontius Puddle. In one installment he is looking up to heaven and says, "I wonder if God really listens to what I say." The next frame has him praying, "Hey, God! What should I do with my life?" The next frame has a thunderous voice from heaven say, "FEED THE HUNGRY. RIGHT INJUSTICE. WORK FOR PEACE." In the final frame, Pontius says sheepishly, "Just testing." And the voice from heaven replies, "So was I!"
If we were sea turtles, Paul would say, "Keep your eyes on the water and don't get distracted by those sand castles. Take the blinders off and look at the big picture, the eternal view. God has given us the sea. Don't seek only the sand castles."
You know people who are distracted by the sand castles and think of God like this. We call this "gimme religion." A person who has "gimme--religion" only ever asks God for what he or she wants.
"Lord, money's a little tight this month. Help me." "O God, please let my uncle Joe be all right through this surgery." "God, I know I don't talk to you much, but I know you're always there, and right now, I could really use your help...." "God, why did this have to happen to me? Where were you? Why did you let this happen?"
Is it wrong to seek Jesus for what we get out of it? Is it wrong to seek Jesus for something to fill our needs, to feed our emptiness, to promise us heaven when we die? If such selfish motives get people to Jesus, it can't be all bad, can it?
In this sense, religion is striving for God, while Christianity is the event of God striving for us. For really the only answer Jesus gives is that he gives himself, and that is our example.
If you don't have the comfort of a fully--stocked refrigerator and money in the bank, you may find it harder to trust that God will provide for the next day. Even if you have all your material needs provided for, with guaranteed sources of income - solid investments to keep even your grandchildren provided for - it's still possible to live as if you had nothing, constantly afraid of running out of things and grabbing everything in sight. From this perspective, wealth is measured not by what you have, but by what you think you need - and without a solid faith, we may fail the test.
C. S. Lewis confesses in Surprised By Joy that, as a young man, he came to church seeking "manifestations," powerful spiritual experiences signified by a tingle in the spine - or (we could say) by a feeling of fullness. When the young Lewis didn't receive those feelings every time, he felt cheated, and was inclined to doubt the whole of Christianity.
Mature Christianity recognizes that spiritual experience is not God, but is rather a sign, something which points beyond itself to an utterly free and inscrutable God who cannot be confined in any human experience - of fullness or anything else. We don't need to dig for it or run to it, because if we could get it on our own, he wouldn't need to send it.
Real food - God's love and God's wonderful purpose for everyone! It's heady stuff and we can't take it all at once, but this is the bread of heaven that satisfies.
That's what Christianity is really all about. Letting go of this world and latching on to God in Christ, so much so that he becomes the way for us to go. In fact, the way and the destination. To be one in Christ and one with Christ. To lose yourself in him.
Always look straight to this water, this bread, but not with blinders that see only the distraction, the sand castle moats. Look to the blessings and the fullness as you have experienced God, and know that he is yours, no striving necessary.
