Sermon: July 31: Mt. Hollywood Congregational Church
_______
Alright, so, I have a series of questions for you. Open up your heart and your mind and feel free to interpret the questions as needed. I’d like to you be honest, if you don’t mind, and raise your hand when the question pertains to you:
+How many of you have had to do something that seemed physically/emotionally/mentally- impossible?+How many of you have moved somewhere, knowing hardly anyone? (I’m looking at you, JVC)+How many of you have had interactions with strangers that were, surprisingly, life-giving?+How many of you have experienced a sense of feeling inadequate? unable? unqualified? +How many of you have, at some point in your life, felt like David up against some type of real life Goliath? The fact is, we have all been in one or more of these situations at some point in our lives. The truth is, that we are up against these kinds of situations all the time. Sometimes they’re big problems. Sometimes they’re minor inconveniences. Maybe you accepted a job offer halfway across the country and had to uproot your family from everything they knew. Perhaps you found yourself running on adrenaline trying to save someone or something from danger. Or maybe you were put up to a task that felt totally impossible. Any of this sound familiar?Let us pray. Gracious and loving God, may the words of my mouth and the meditations of each of our hearts be acceptable in your sight... for you are our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen. In our first scripture for today, we hear God giving the reader new tasks, using King David as an example: I set him up as a witness to the nations, made him a prince and leader of the nations,And now I'm doing it to you: You'll summon nations you've never heard of,and nations who've never heard of you will come running to you...You think David was really excited about a leader of the nations? It sounds like a pretty daunting task. He was probably looking as forward to that as I would be looking forward to summoning nations I’ve never heard of. However, none of us are probably going to be running nations AND, besides,it’s about more than that. So let me get to the relevance of it by sharing a quick story.I was on a seminary visit at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary in 2007... the summer before my sophomore year of college. I sat in on a session with the Director of Admissions and when she opened up the floor for questions I raised my hand and said: I received a call to ministry about two years ago, when I was 16, and I am sure of that. But what do I do on those days when I feel totally inadequate and unable to do what God has called me to do? She responded with one simple phrase: God doesn’t call the equipped. God equips the called. Let me say that again. God doesn’t call the equipped. God equips the called. In the book of Isaiah, there are three books. First, second and third Isaiah. There are fancier names, but I’ll spare you. Our text for today falls into Second Isaiah, which spans chapters 40-55. The main theme of Second Isaiah is that of a New Exodus. The Israelites were being called home by God but so many of them had just gotten used to their new surroundings. You know, I was talking to a 22 year old client of mine who once served a 20 month prison sentence. She said that come the end of her sentence, she had begun to feel comfortable in the jail. “You get used to it,” she said. The unknowns of the outside world had become far scarier than the inside of the concrete walls she had begun to call home. In Isaiah 52, the Israelites are being called back to Jerusalem from Babylon, but scripture says, “they will not go out in great haste.” The author wrote it like that to assure that we compare it to the exodus in the Book of Exodus. You know the one. When the Israelites fled Egypt real quick to get away from Pharaoh and a life of slavery. Well, much like my client, the Israelites were scared to go back, even though they knew God was calling them. Even though they knew that what was to come, was going to be better. God was reclaiming them as her own. God was calling them back to the land from which they came. God was providing nourishment. God was calling them with no strings attached. And yet, and yet... they remained hesitant.How many times have we heard a business owner or someone of that nature tell us to come and buy even if we don’t have any money? “Sure, come get a iced chai tea latte with soy... you don’t have to pay for it!” It just doesn’t make sense for them, right? Starbucks would go out of business in a heartbeat and become a non-profit without the resources to restock and pay their employees. However, the business of God is not like the business of humans. People say, come to our store and, even though you don’t have any money, buy things anyway.They say, come shopping on Black Friday! We have the greatest deals all year! BUY IT!The day after Christmas, businesses discount all sorts of stuff, so just in case you didn’t get every single thing you wanted, you can buy MORE! However...God says even when you don’t have power or wealth, you can come anyway. When you’ve lost all you had and it feels like God has left you behind, believe in God anyway.When your life has turned upside down and it’s scary as hell, keep walking anyway.When you’re making decisions that seem irrelevant to the nature of God, pray anyway.When God calls you to do something for which you feel inadequate, go anyway.When you see injustice happen before your eyes and doing something about it could hurt your reputation, do something about it anyway.And to paraphrase the words of the French author, Anais Nin, When the risk to remain tight in a bud becomes more painful than the risk it takes to blossom, blossom anyway.Rev. Nadia Bolz-Weber, an incredible, progressive, tattooed-up, and excuse my language, kick-ass Lutheran pastor recently spoke at the Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary. In her commencement address she said this: “If you are worried that you have weaknesses, deficiencies, shortcomings you can stop worrying. You're right. You really don't have what it takes. But fortunately you do have the God that it takes.”God’s business is not about forcing you to suffer or causing you harm or creating anxiety. God made a covenant with David, as the Scripture says, of “Sure, solid, enduring love.” Would the God whose prerogative is love give you anything you can’t handle? Would the God who meets us where we are just toss us to the wind and hope we found our way? Would the God whose peace passes all understanding force us into the unknown without an ounce of support? Allow me to reassure you by reading, again, our second Scripture for today. Pay particular attention to God’s actions-- hear these words from Psalm 145--The Lord is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. The Lord is good to all, and his compassion is over all that he has made. The Lord upholds all who are falling, and raises up all who are bowed down. The eyes of all look to you, and you give them their food in due season. You open your hand, satisfying the desire of every living thing. The Lord is just in all his ways, and kind in all his doings. The Lord is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth. He fulfils the desire of all who fear him; he also hears their cry, and saves them. The Lord watches over all who love him, but all the wicked he will destroy. My mouth will speak the praise of the Lord, and all flesh will bless God’s holy name for ever and ever.Pause.You know, they say that oftentimes the preacher is preaching the sermon more to herself than the congregation. Today might be one of those days. For those of you who don’t know, today is my last Sunday in Los Angeles. My last Sunday at Mount Hollywood Congregational Church. If you read my article in the newsletter, you know how I feel about you all... and if I go into it now, I will cry. So just read the article. But because it is my last Sunday, that means that I am, in a matter of three weeks, moving onto new and different things. I am transitioning from a life of complete service and intentional community, to that of academia... They’re not altogether different in the grand scheme of things, but for the sake of the real world... I am moving to a new city... meeting new people... starting at a new school... entering a Masters program... I am leaving behind everything I currently know. That’s a lot of newness as far as I’m concerned. And even as I stand up here, doing what I’m going to be doing for the rest of my life, I am worried... anxious... nervous...unprepared for what is to come. I feel inadequate and ill-equipped most of the time. So, with that, I will finish my sermon speaking not to you, as individuals or you as a congregation, but us as a collective whole... including myself, because I’m not going to even try to pretend that I have this figured out anymore than you. So on those days when we can’t do it, know that God is there to catch us... that doesn’t mean it’s going to be easy... and that doesn’t mean we won’t be embarrassed... and that doesn’t mean we won’t learn really hard lessons in the process.... and that doesn’t mean we won’t feel like failures sometimes.
But what it does mean... what it does mean... is that God will be near to us...God will save us...God will be kind to us...God will show us incomparable compassion... God will watch over us.... and God will love us. Because even though we don’t have what it takes, know and be assured that even in the scariest... darkest... most overwhelming times... we have the God that it takes. Amen and amen. 