Before We Were Born

A friend of mine recently related an amusing story about her grandson. He’s pretty young, maybe four or five. My friend and her grandson were talking about the wedding of his mother and father. They were looking at pictures of the beautiful day. The child said words to the effect of, “I wasn’t there.” To which she said, “I know. I was there.” And he said, “That’s weird.” “Well maybe to you,” said the grandmother, “but not to me.”

I don’t know the grandson, so I’m not sure what was going through his mind. I suspect he was a little perturbed that people had this really great party but he wasn’t included. Surely, they should have waited for him if they were going to have cake! That would have been my thought. But I also suspect he is beginning develop this awareness that events before his life ever began can have a profound impact on his own life. In fact, events before his life ever began made his life possible. The family into which he was born, the joy and nurture he receives from his mother and father, aunt and uncle, and grandparents rests on a series of covenants made when he wasn’t there. Right now he looks at the pictures from those covenant moments and says, “that’s weird.” But, I suspect he’ll grow to look at those pictures and say, “thanks be to God.”

Scripture contains a number of snapshots of covenant moments. These moments predate our lives by millennia. Perhaps we look at these pictures and have an initial reaction—that’s weird. A normal response. After all, cow entrails are involved in a couple of these covenants. But ultimately, we begin to see that these covenants made long before we were born provide the contents for us to receive joy and nurture of the community of fait to which we belong.”There’s a snapshot of Moses and the Israelites receiving the commandments, a snapshot of David receiving a promise, another snapshot of exiles returning to their homes. In these covenant moments, God forged and renewed the relationship between God and God’s people. Here’s a picture we treasure—Jesus at a table with his Disciples, bread and cup. Indeed, "Thanks Be to God."

Sermon Conclusion

I hate it when I find the fitting conclusion to a sermon the week following the sermon. I'm supposed to find these things the week before the sermon. In Diogenes Allen's book Steps Along the Way, he recounts a story by G. K. Chesterton. In the story, the characters seek to understand the role a howling dog plays in a murder mystery. It turns out to have a very rational explanation. However, a non-believing character "assigns all sorts of mysterious powers to the dog." When the rational explanation is discovered, the Priest addresses the character saying:
"It's the first effect of not believing in God that you lose your common sense, and can't see things as they are. Anything that anybody talks about, and says there's a good deal in it, extends itself indefinitely like a vista in nightmare. And a dog is an omen and a cat is a mystery . . . calling up all the menagerie of polytheism from Egypt and old India . . . and all because you are frightened of four words: 'He was made Man.'"

Allen concludes this section by saying, "Unlike Superstition, Christianity, for all its wonders, makes sense. You are not asked to leave your mind behind when you believe. Rather you are to believe in order to gain understanding by learning to see the world from the point of view of the divine mind, the source of all order and rationality that we find in the world God created." (p. 21).

A New Year

As we say good bye to 2009 and hello to 2010, there are a number of exciting things happening. On January 3, after the 10:45 service, we will have a board meeting to introduce the search committee's selection of two associate ministers. The next Sunday, we'll have a congregational meeting, a welcome lunch for new members, an ordination and installation service for deacons, officers and elders, and a Chili Cook-off/Pie Contest.