Did you see this? What a great piece of encouragement! We really do know just how goofy we can be! There were numerous responses to the question; I think I liked the more succinct ones best.: "[It takes] approximately 11 to change a light bulb. One to actually change the bulb, and 10 to form a small support group and discuss the source of its dysfunction. "How many MCCers does it take to change a light bulb? "None. MCC wouldn't ask the light bulb to change. We would accept the light bulb just the way it is." And, "Silly...MCCers don't change light bulbs. They change the name of the church and move."
Just when I had begun to think that many of us, myself particularly included, could only be overly sensitive to the perceived slights of others, overly serious about the obviously superficial, and overtly envious of anything that didn't directly bring attention to us, I have the reassurance that we can laugh at ourselves. And because of that, I have hope.
Being able to laugh at ourselves - at our insecurities and inadequacies - is a giant leap toward true self-awareness. And awareness is the essential foundation of any hope for change or healing of any kind. We can never really get well until we are aware of just how sick we are! All of us ! We are all suffering, in some way, to some degree, from the diseases of self-doubt, cynicism, competition or complacency. And if we look to Christ for a cure...Christ will ask, "Do you want to be healed?"
We must take a deep breath together and ask ourselves that question. Any kind of healing...fixing.. .changing...first requires awareness. For those who have experienced the blessings of 12-step recovery programs, think about the very 1st step: "We admitted that we were powerless over [whatever] and our lives had become unmanageable."
Awareness. We must have it if we are to ever understand and improve anything. Above all, we must have a clear awareness of how God is going to do the work of healing in our lives. The reading we heard earlier from the prophet Isaiah calls us to such an awareness ofhow God is always going to work in our midst.
Hear these words again: "Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?" I remember so well, at our General Conference in Atlanta four years ago, how Dr. Elizabeth Stuart spoke about our constant attempts to catch up with God...and how, when we finally arrive at the place where we are sure God is, we discover there only the scent of her perfume...She having already moved on! God is always beckoning us to move on to a new thing...a new place...a new way of being. We cannot simply hang out by the healing poor, waiting for God to swoop down and rescue us...God is calling us to rise and move on to an, as yet, undiscovered place of health and wholeness.
It's so easy to slip into focusing on what Bruce Springsteen sang about back in the '80s: our "Glory Days." We want to keep reliving the triumphs...and the tragedies...of the past as if they are all we have to show who we are. But as coach Lou Holtz once remarked, "If what you did yesterday seems big, you haven't done anything today."
God says to us, "See, I am doing a new thing! ...do you not perceive it?" Dr. Roger von Oech wrote a book called A Whack on the Side ofthe Head: How to Unlock Your Mind for Motivation. In it he said, "It's no longer possible to solve today's problems with yesterday's solutions. Over and over again people are finding out that what worked two years ago won't work next week. This gives them a choice. They can either bemoan the fact that things aren't as easy as they used to be, or they can use their creative abilities to find new answers, new solutions, and new ideas."
The words that Isaiah spoke said clearly to the people of Israel...and say clearly to us today, that the God who released us from the bondage of spiritual separation can also release us from the bondage of spiritual and operational stagnation. We do not have to find ourselves, at this point in our history, in terminal condition...where we can be nothing more than we have become and do nothing more than what we have done to date. God is providing a path...we must choose to move forward on it.
You see, while we must be aware of our need for change...for growth...for healing...awareness alone is not enough. We must also take action. If awareness is the foundation, it is action that will build the house!
When Jesus encountered the man who had been lying beside the healing pool for so very long, what did He do? "When Jesus saw him lying there and learned that he had been in this condition for a long time, Jesus asked him,'Do you want to be healed?' Then Jesus said to him, 'Get up! Pick up your mat and walk."
In the movie "Apollo 13," there is a scene early in the film where Tom Hanks, as astronaut Jim Lovell, is sitting in the back yard on the night of the Apollo 11 moon landing, and he looks up into the sky and says to his wife, "From now on we live in a world where man has walked on the moon. It's not a miracle - we just decided to go."
As individuals who have been spiritually gifted to change the world...and as churches called to pool and direct those gifts...Jesus is saying to us, "Do you want to be more...do more...have more...make more of a difference? Do you want to be healed? Thenjust decide to do it."
Have you ever noticed that the Bible never mentions the intentions, dreams, or ideas of the apostles? However, an entire book is devoted to the "Acts of the Apostles." It was the performance of those dedicated people that drew the attention of biblical writers. Their incredible achievements are attributed to undying dedication and ceaseless action.
John F. Kennedy said, "There are risks and costs to a program of action. But they are far less than the long range risks and costs of comfortable inaction." The truth is, some people wait so long for their ship to come in, their pier collapses! The effect of our lives and our churches on the world will only be known by what we do with them. We may think that we're ill-equipped but, in that belief, we are failing to acknowledge the power of the Holy Spirit that can be activated by our persistence and sweat!
There was a scrawny, seemingly undernourished old man who entered a restaurant and asked who he needed to see to get ajob at a nearby lumberjack camp. The restaurant owner said, "You won't need to go far," and he pointed at a nearby booth. "The supervisor is having lunch right over there." The job seeker approached the supervisor and exclaimed, "I'm looking for a lumberjack job." The boss politely tried to talk him out of the idea. Surely this weak old man wouldn't be able to chop down a tree, much less keep up with the daily quotas. But the old man persisted: "Give me a few minutes of your time and I'll show you what I can do."
When the two arrived at a grove that needed to be cleared, the slender, persistent old man picked up an ax and proceeded to chop down a huge tree in record time. The boss was shocked; "Why, that's incredible! Where did you learn to fell trees like that?" "Well," the old man said, "you've heard of the Sahara Forest' The boss looked puzzled and said, "Don't you mean the Sahara Desert?" The old man smiled: "Sure, that's what they call it now!"
The world can look at any one of us...or any one of our churches - we can look at each other or ourselves and say: "No way you can do anything spectacular. No way can you change the world." But Christ is inviting us to get up and prove them -- and ourselves -- wrong. It's true, though; the world will never be affected by what we could have done, should have done or would have done. Positive achievers are always producers. Success is experienced by proving what you can do by doing it.
Like the man beside the healing pool, it's taken some of us a very long time to be willing to accept our need for healing and to be willing to get up and move on. Why did it take the man at the pool so long? Perhaps others wouldn't help him; perhaps, in many ways, he wouldn't help himself. He may have been a lot like the woman who read that smoking and drinking were bad for her health...so she immediately gave up reading!
Or perhaps...deep down inside...the man wasn't so sure he really wanted to be healed. Why? Because, if he got healed, his whole life would change. He'd have to get a job and be self-reliant. He'd Set no more sympathy and attention. Let's face it: health is work. It's not glamourous. It demands constant attention and adjustments while disease can be left alone...it will run amok all by itself! Jesus' challenge to action was no easy solution.
But action is also great therapy. It erases doubts and fears, anxieties, and worries. Action capitalizes on failures and mistakes and turns them into positive influences. It exercises the mind for problem solving and for creativity. It develops poise under pressure and uses wisdom and experience to consider alternatives and to provide a back-up plan. Action calls forth the best in us all, and it becomes the password to success. Action is work, and work - particularly the work of health - is the pathway to happiness.
Healthy, growing, productive churches can only come from healthy, growing, productive people. And we can no longer afford to be unaware or inactive regarding our personal or our collective health. God is saying to us - as individuals...as churches...as a District...as a Fellowship...to all of Christendom: "See, I am doing a new thing! ...do you not perceive it?"
And, in Christ, God is offering us, always, hope. To paraphrase Romans 8: "What shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall conflicts or tough times or the religious wrong or growth plateaus or limited finances or a changing world or competition among ourselves? No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through the One who loved us...and loves us now!"
As Hebrews 6:19 assures us, "We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure." We can stop clinging to the past as a way of defining or defending ourselves. God says, "See, I am doing a new thing!"
We can let ourselves get up and move forward, knowing that, yes, we may have to change some in the process...but we never have to fear the future. In an ever-changing world, we have a never- changing God who just wants us to keep moving forward. in health and in hope. Amen.