Chris Yaw

A woman named Nell called the church this week - she needed money for rent and a water bill -

She lost her job and was feeling scared, alone, and desperate - a place you and I have probably been before-

And as I prayed with her I couldn’t help but think of the Gospel story you and I will hear this weekend -

Quick quiz: What’s the only miracle story that’s found in all 4 Gospels?

It’s the loaves and the fishes - the feeding of the 5,000-

And in this weekend’s story, the Disciple Phillip comes to Jesus and says, ‘All these people have followed us out to the desert and nobody’s got any food”

And the passage says that Jesus tested Phillip by asking, ‘What are you going to do?’

And the disciples said, ‘Well, there’s a little kid here with some loaves and fishes’

And Jesus took those, gave thanks, broke them, and handed them out -

And everyone was fed.

When we apply that to Nell and her bills - and learn three things -

First, let’s never forget that in every challenge: God is up to something.

We don’t know why Nell is broke, or why 5,000 people walked into the desert without any food -

What we do know is that God is up to something - sometimes it’s a test -

Because tests are meant to make us better - nobody develops a callus without skinning their knee -

Second, we see these disciples looking on the up side.

They said, ‘Hey, we’ve got some bread and fish!’

Ever hire someone? Look for two things: Are they on time? And are they enthusiastic?

Nell and you and me make things better when we look for the up side and remain positive about what God may be doing.

This leads us to our third point - give thanks.

This is the act of getting the spotlight off of ourselves and our own problems and onto something more productive - in this case, it’s thanking God for provision.

Of course. we many not always get the answers we want -

Nell may or may not have gotten what she wanted -

But we don’t pray ‘Our will be done’ - we pray ‘God’s will be done’

God has not forgotten about us, God is well aware of our needs, and God is working on God's own timeline to meet those needs.
In every challenge, let’s look for the blessing.

"Come away, to a deserted place, and rest" - Jesus.

One sentence, three pieces of advice, to 12 disciples - plus you and me.

Come away from that toxic air that’s all around us - the negativity the anxiety, and stress.

Come away from:

everybody else’s expectations for us-
the 24-hour "breaking news” cycle that leaves us over-informed and under-educated.
and from our own propensity to expect more from ourselves than we can possible deliver - then get depressed when we don't achieve it!

Come away to a deserted place -

What’s deserted?

How about that room that ‘hope’ lives in?

Or all those empty canals of optimism-

And the hallway of faith - that things have a purpose and are working towards a positive end - certainly that place could use a few more warm bodies..

Come away to a deserted place-

Yes, the gate is narrow,

The road is less-travelled,

And way too few people are taking it - so there’s plenty of room for us...

Come away to a deserted place and rest.

Rest in the long view of our cosmic existence - overall let’s remember the great strides being made in human equality, food and water production, and our capacity to truly care for one another.
Rest in the world's overall track record of working things out to the good over time - we know life always takes us two steps forward and one step back.
Rest in the reality that we’ve made it this far - think about it, we’ve overcome loads of things we thought would kill us - but none of them have.

Jesus calls us to come away, to a deserted place, and rest - not to escape life but to really live it.

How Centering Ourselves Saves Us

"Thai Soccer Coach Gives Team Greatest Victory Ever"

That would be my headline.

Trapped in a dark cave for more than 2 weeks with little food, water, or light, a dozen young boys should have simply freaked out, flipped out, and burned out.

But as you may have heard, their coach, a former Buddhist monk, wisely assessed the situation and used his skills in meditation and prayer to invite his boys into quiet contemplation, which lowered their heart and breathing rates, conserving energy and resources. This bought them precious time for rescuers to figure out how to bring them to safety.

Coach Ek is credited with saving these lives - and with inspiring us all with a real-life lesson in the importance of keeping focused, calm, and centered on that force which is saving us too.

This story parallels our Sunday gospel, that familiar and cautionary tale of King Herod’s absurd execution of John the Baptist.

Herod, overcome with the wine, women, and revelry, makes a stupid oath that traps him into executing John. Herod gives in to peer pressure, the nagging of his wife, and his own shameful pride that renders himself helpless against obeying his conscience.

In the overlap of these stories you and I see the importance of centering.

When you and I center ourselves on Jesus, the life-giver, whose message of calm in the storm, clarity among the distraction, and peace in the moment, we cultivate the power we need to stand up to the things that handcuffed Herod.

Our challenge is to do it - to take that time - to stand up to the head-spinning distraction and monolithic humanism that surrounds us - and to put more Jesus-time into our lives. How might we do that today?

After all, centering ourselves both calms us and saves us.

At a coffee shop I go to there’s a man who sits near the door who’s always smiling.

He’s not a weirdo, just conscious of people who enter the shop, and to many of them, he offers a warm smile.

One day I asked him why.

“Well, I figure there are many people who come into this place with a lot going on in their lives, and I’m not rich or even that smart, but I figure if I smile at ‘em, just one person might have a better day.”

He’s right.

Mother Teresa famously said, "Every time you smile at someone, it is an action of love, a gift to that person, a beautiful thing.”

In Sunday’s gospel you and I will hear two of Jesus’ miracles, he heals a woman’s wound and raises a child from the dead. These are vivid examples of how Jesus used the resources he had to touch the people he loved.

You and I have resources we can use that way too.

When we smile at others it makes them feel accepted, welcome, special, and appreciated

I remember someone telling me to smile when you’re on the phone - because people can actually hear the difference - it’s true - and it can make them smile too.

You and I have the motivation to smile because we’ve got God in our lives - go ahead - pause for 30 seconds and look at your gratitude list -

We’ve also got this wonderful resource that’s free, easy to use, and has the potential to really impact someone’s life - so go ahead - allow the feelings in your heart to go just a little bit north - and smile.

When he was 67 years old, Thomas Edison returned home from work late in the evening to news that his plant was on fire.

Immediately he turned around and headed back to work, knowing that the vast collection of chemicals and compounds at his plant would surely produce a spectacular conflagration.

“Son, go get your mother!” Edison instructed his oldest, “And follow me! You will never again see a fire like this!”

When Edison arrived at the plant, sure enough, he and his hundreds of employees, friends, and relatives witnessed an amazing fire. Nearly everything was lost including reams of priceless notes, records, prototypes, and projects that were crucial to his ongoing business. And the building, which was supposed to be fireproof, was only insured for a fraction of its worth. Tears and wails of lamentation could be heard: what would happen to the company, the jobs, the future of this once-promising enterprise?

Yet when a news reporter asked for comment, Edison calmly said, “Well, there was a lot of junk in that plant that needed clearing out anyway. This just made the job easier.” He then added, “I’m not too old to make a fresh start.” Sure enough, within the year most of the plant would be rebuilt and revenue would exceed $10 million.

To this day people marvel at the calm reason Edison exhibited that day. What the inventor knew was that his priceless ideas and stamina had not been lost - and what had, could be (and would be) replaced.

This Sunday we witness Jesus asleep in a boat as a storm churns all around him. When his frazzled disciples awaken him, Jesus calmly speaks to the storm and calms the seas. Clearly, those things that frazzled the disciples did not worry Jesus.

In the Sermon on the Mount Jesus tells us not to worry about what we eat, what we wear, or where we live, assuring us that our Heavenly Father knows our needs and will provide. Easy for HIM to say… after all, how many of our worries revolve around our livelihoods - and act as tempests that tip over everything else in sight?

Sure, we all know that Jesus can calm storms. But how can he calm MY storms?

I think this can happen as we imitate Him.

Think about it, if the routine worries of the day put Jesus to sleep, what kept him up?

Easy, 1) prayer, and 2) healing the broken. Time after time we hear of Jesus praying while others slept - remember the garden of Gethsemane. And more than once we hear of Jesus spending long days and nights tending to the never-ending crowds of people looking for healing.

Does prayer keep us up? How about tending to the needs of others? Perhaps when we get better at these, our abilities to let go of our daily worries will improve.

Did you know that lobsters never stop growing?

The largest one on record was 50 years old and weighed 45 lbs.

This is all the more remarkable knowing that lobsters outgrow their shells every couple months. And growing a new shell is a painful and painstaking process.

When a lobster grows too big for his shell, he swallows large amounts of water in order to crack the shell from the inside, he then expels the water and begins to wiggle out of his old shell, even closing his eyes for long periods of time while the shell around his head is removed.

Once a lobster is free from his shell, he just sort of wiggles around, vulnerable, exposed to predators, all the while waiting for the new shell to harden.

St Paul writes, So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new!" This makes the lobster the most Christian member of the animal kingdom.

However, St Paul did not write this passage for lobsters, he wrote it to remind us that God is doing something new in all of us.

Our lives are a series of growing shells that eventually become too small. Friends can come and go. Mentors can come and go. Homes, jobs, and relationships all have ways of no longer fitting, constricting us, and keeping us smaller than we really are.
How are we outgrowing our shells?

What is stirring in our spirits, waiting for bigger shells, bigger visions, to grow into?

What if we understood ourselves as ever-growing, ever-evolving, ever improving? What's keeping us from cracking our shells? How are we allowing the bigger, better, self inside of us to emerge, grow, and live?

I recently acquired a t-shirt that reads Safety Third.

I am aware that this is a common, if not hackneyed phrase from the tech world along the lines of ‘move fast and break things’ or ‘it’s better than good, it’s done.’ However this "slogan-ette" stuck out as something not just for tech entrepreneurs, but for Christian disciples.

After all, Jesus regularly put his personal safety third by putting obedience to God first and care for his neighbor second. The spirit of God does not always take us to safe places, ask any of the 12 disciples, 11 of whom were martyred. Or ask any Christian who has run into a burning house or dove into a raging river to save someone’s life.

In other words, the right road is not always the safe road - nor, for that matter, the convenient or comfortable one.

What does that say to us?

Let us give Jesus our all be removing the preconditions to our obedience, praying, ‘Take me Lord’ - wherever that may lead.

I gave a talk recently.

I tried something new - something I hoped would really work.

It didn’t.

But I’d do it again - not the part that didn’t work - but the part that made me try.

Every day we face decisions to either step out on stage, or crawl into the corner under a blanket.

When Jesus confronted the religious elite, as we’ll hear about Sunday, he affirmed the former - and asked disciples of all time to let go of a broken, established order and hold on to the fresh, new, living voice of God calling. Here are some examples:

Let go of feelings of insignificance, and hold on to the promise that God has plans for you.

Let go of feelings of regret and missed opportunities, and hold onto the fact you did as well as you could under the circumstances - and that is enough.

Let go of the thinking that life is about achievement, and hold on to the idea that life is about fulfillment.

Let go of the idea that your best years are behind you, hold on to the promise that life in Jesus means things are always getting better.

Let go of the notion that things need to be done the way they’ve always been done, and hold onto the notion that the voice guiding you toward something new can be trusted.

Let go and hold on.

My friend spent $150 taking his family to the zoo.

He was convinced that hearing the howler monkeys as they swung from tree to tree, or seeing the huge hippos waddling in the water, or watching the stalking alligators creeping through the grass would make for at least one lifetime memory. So at bedtime he asked his children what their favorite part of the day was. They were unanimous, “It was the pigeons dad, they sat right next to us and we fed them!”

Try as we might, we can’t make memories.

Good ones or bad ones. Despite our best efforts, we just can't change people’s minds.

Of course, that doesn't stop us from trying. In the Christian world we plan on 15-year-olds being able to make lifetime faith commitments and 20-year-olds to say "I do" and have it last forever. This does not mean we are against confirmation or marriage, what it means is that forces far greater than human intention and action are at work.

This Sunday we honor the Trinity, and the many ways God makes God's self known in the world. We will be reminded in our Bible reading from the Gospel of John that the Holy Spirit, the spirit of power, cannot be predicted, leashed, or controlled. Ultimately our commitments to God and to each other are beyond our understanding, but not the Holy Spirit's.

An important thing we can learn here is to rely more deeply on this Spirit. Taking time to listen, discern, and contemplate what we are being told, how we're being led, where the wind of the Spirit is blowing.

What does this look like in our lives? How might we not only listen better, but surrender, realizing that we are at our best when we let go and let God.

One day a woman went for a hike.

She crossed a river and spotted a priceless gemstone sparkling in the water.

She bent down, picked it up, and put it in her backpack. Later she came across a man in need. He asked her for some lunch. She opened her backpack to hand him her sandwich. The man saw the priceless gemstone and asked if he could have it. Without hesitation the woman handed it to him.

The man walked away joyfully thinking of all the things he was going to buy.

Later he decided to go back to the woman. When he found her he said he wanted to buy something from her. She wondered what he possible might want. He said, “Remember the way you gave me that priceless gemstone - without hesitation?”

She said yes.

He said, "I want that.”

On Sunday we celebrate the gift of Pentecost. We celebrate the power of God coming down from heaven and resting upon God's chosen people. This power is not political, military, or corporate. This is the power to serve, to love, and to give. This is the most valuable power on the face of the earth.

Every day, you and I are tempted to seek after all sorts of things, the next step on the career ladder, our reputations, our social standing, our financial portfolios, etc. Pentecost invites us to seek after something else: the power of the bended knee, the offering hand, and the generous heart.

May Pentecost remind us that this is where the greatest strength lies, these are the most valuable pursuits in the world.

There are two comparison games going on.

The first asks us to think of people who have more than we do.

We see it on social media - where everyone looks like they’re in a beer commercial. Laughing with friends, enjoying exotic vacations, smiling children, and pricey restaurants.

Comparing ourselves in this way can engender feelings of inadequacy, envy, and acquisitiveness, presuring us to improve ourselves to better compete. While this game is popular, alluring and easy to play it’s not healthy or satisfying.

The second comparison game asks us to consider people who have less than we do.

We don’t always see these people, but when we do we can’t help but notice we’ve got better health, homes, even water and electricity. We have better educational opportunities and live in safer places.

Playing this game engenders feelings of gratitude, thankfulness, and generosity, inspiring us to altruism, charity, and the betterment of others before ourselves. While this game is not as popular and is harder to play, it’s healthy and satisfying.

Of course we do well to play less of game one than game two.

When I was a teenager a spiritual mentor told me to pray for stuff.

Not just for mom and dad, good weather, and safety, but for cars, clothes, and money. Being young, I did so. And going to the church my mentor took me to, so did everyone else. We were taught that getting stuff was a sign of God’s favor. We were told to interpret the promise of Christ for ‘an abundant life’ quite literally - to mean that faithful people got stuff. Back then it made a lot of sense.

But today I no longer pray that way.

I think it’s because of my personal observations of scripture. The more I know about Jesus, who was also quite fond of prayer, is that he didn’t pray for a new car (donkey?), clothes, or money. This is not to say that he did not pray for his desires, but that his desires didn’t primarily revolve around stuff.

This Sunday we’ll hear Jesus talk about prayer and desire. And we may ask ourselves what we desire? To be more forgiving, loving, kind, hospitable, sacrificial, and selfless? To see a more just, equitable, and healthy world? To see God’s will be done? Or is it to live in a bigger house, have a nicer car, or own nicer things?

See any dissonance here?

When I’m tempted to begin my prayers for ‘stuff’ I remind myself to pray for Jesus to re-order my desires, to make them more attune to his. It’s because, like you, my deepest desire is to know, love, and live like Christ. And if he prayed like this, I suspect we want to too.

Chris Yaw

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Let's Look for the Blessing

Come Away...

How Centering Ourselves Saves Us

Smile!

How to Live More Calmly

You're a Lobster!

Safety Third

Let Go and Hold On

Manufacturing Memories

The Real Power of Pentecost

Two Comparison Games

Praying for Cadillacs

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