The Heart of a King

A Sermon for the 3^rd Sunday after Pentecost (RCL B) 6-17-2012

Offered by Nathan Ferrell for Trinity Episcopal Shared Ministry

Texts:                         1 Samuel 15:34-16:13; Psalm 20; Mark 4:26-34

Themes:                     Fathers’ Day, seeing the heart, silent growth

Title:                          The Heart of a King

How do you see the heart of a king? How do you see the heart of a champion?

If you know anything at all about the world of sports, then you will know that certain people have “IT” and others do not. And that “IT” is usually described as the will to succeed, the drive to win, the refusal to lose. This invisible character trait can be summarized as the heart of a champion.

In the world of basketball, Michael Jordan had this heart. He had IT and everybody knew it!

You could see it in the way that he played every single game with intensity and passion!

Many today are critical of the new basketball star, LeBron James, because they do not think that he has this kind of heart, not the way that Jordan had it. 

But how do you see the heart of a champion? How can one see the heart of a king?

If you stop and really think about this famous episode of Samuel anointing the young boy David as the new king, you can begin to see how incredibly odd it is!

An old man, sneaking off and moving behind the back of the king, and choosing some random 10 year old boy – from an obscure family – to serve as the next king?

Now, I am not particularly happy with our current procedures for choosing leaders in our society.

I think that our current system favors those who are dishonest, those with purely selfish interests, and I believe that money has far too much influence upon who is elected, regardless of the ideas or the character of the candidates.

But surely even our flawed process is FAR superior to what we see here in this story!

Saul had failed. God had rejected him, and God needed to pick a successor.

Somehow, God saw the heart of David and God determined that David had the heart of a king!

How can you tell when a boy is so young, perhaps only 10 years old?  

Of course, WE cannot. But of course, God can.

What we have given to us here is a lesson. It’s not a model for how to choose leaders in society, but rather a lesson for how we are to look at others.

We all know that our physical vision is not entirely objective.

Isn’t it amazing that one day I can look in the mirror and think to myself, “All right, you look pretty good!” And the next day I can look in that same mirror and think, “Oh man, you look awful!”

What changes? Not my waistline. It doesn’t change that quickly!

What changes is my perception. Mirrors do not tell the truth. What we see in mirrors, what we see with our eyes, tends to corresponds much more closely to how we FEEL rather than to reality!

Our gift of sight is often quite subjective. And THIS is why God calls us to move beyond the surface, beyond the range of normal sight.

“For the Lord does not see as mortals see; they look on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.”

This divine vision is to be OUR vision. This way of seeing is to be OUR way of seeing.

We all know that this is not easy! Let’s be honest: who here might see, for instance, a young man covered with tattoos and various body piercings and does not make an instant judgment of him?

But can you see his heart? We can tell that such a person lacks wisdom – by placing so much emphasis upon his outward appearance when what truly matters is inside.

But can we truly see the quality and the character of his heart? Or do we even try?

I’ve shared this with you before, but it bears repeating: God’s plan for us is that we learn to see each man as our brother, and each woman as our sister.

Not because of what they look like on the outside. Not because of their age or any external factor.

But simply because they are people for whom Christ died.

Simply because they are human beings, with beating hearts just like ours.

This is God’s plan, and it is very slowly being worked into the mass of human society.

Just look at this parable of the mustard seed.

This is the principle of how God works in the world: there is a slow progression – a  gradual growth and development – in the fulfillment of God’s desires for the world.

We can see this principle at work in so many different levels.

Consider in a brief overview how we have conducted ourselves in civil society.

We began in simple tribal family groups, with strong men in positions of power because of their personal strength and wealth.

Then we progressed to kings who united together a number of related tribes into larger social groups under their authority.

After this, we progressed to democratic nations, where only the right kind of men – men of position and means - could cast a vote.

Now, we have reached a point where all people, regardless of gender and race and tribe and language and class, are entitled to a voice and a vote in society.

You can see this slow growth and progress in God’ vision for humanity coming into fruition – God’s vision for a world where the dignity of each human being is honored.

Consider also this slow growth and development within the people of God.

Beginning with the tribe of Abraham and his children, God began to set apart a special people.

This one tribe became a family of twelve tribes with a clear ethnic delineation.

Over time, converts began to be attracted to a life within the covenant with the Lord.

Of course, with the coming of Jesus and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, people of all nations were grafted into the family of Abraham.

But even then, there was much more to do! Slavery still abounded, even within the church.

Racism continued to plague the church for many centuries. In our own day, there are continued struggles over the place of women and people of different orientations within the church.

God’s vision for diversity within the kingdom has been slowing growing and spreading out it’s branches, providing shade and refuge for more and more members of the human family.

After all, we know the vision! God’s method has been explained to us.

“The Lord does not see as mortals see…the Lord looks on the heart.”

And what is it about this mysterious heart anyway? 

Do you know that there are now dozens of documented cases of persons receiving a heart transplant who experience sudden personality changes which are related to the donor?

Such as a middle-aged man who received a heart transplant. Soon afterward he bought his first Harley-Davidson, and he fell in love with riding. Later, when speaking with his doctor, he learned that his heart donor had been a motorcyclist!

More and more scientific research is documenting what the writers of these ancient biblical texts already knew! (see http://www.heartmath.org/research/research-home/research-center-home.html)

Within the human heart is where the human soul resides, even within the muscle tissue itself.

So remember, my friends, that God sees and knows your hearts! 

At all times, God sees and knows us. 

And let us remember to look with the eyes of God, to see beyond the surface level, and to gaze into the heart of those we meet, to consider their eternal worth and dignity, and to love them as God does. 

It is not easy, but this is our task and our special calling in Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen. 

Practice Makes Perfect - Sermon for 6 Epiphany, Feb 12

A Sermon for the 6^th Sunday after the Epiphany (RCL B) 2-12-2012

Offered by Nathan Ferrell for Trinity Episcopal Shared Ministry

Texts:              2 Kings 5:1-14; Psalm 30; 1 Corinthians 9:24-27; Mark 1:40-45

Themes:         healing of leprosy, athletic training
Title:               Practice makes perfect

“Do you not know that in a race the runners all compete, but only one receives the prize?”

St. Paul writes here to the disciples in the city of Corinth, where the famous Isthmian and Imperial Games had been held for hundreds of years. Athletic competitions were well known and understood by the Greeks, and Paul uses this as a metaphor for his on-going discussion about eating meat from pagan temples.

“Athletes exercise self-control in all things.” I think all of us understand this basic reality of discipline and practice. And we all know the old saying: Practice makes perfect. It’s true, of course.  

If you want to learn to speak in a new language, you have to say the words over and over again hundreds of times so that, when you are in a real conversation, you are ready to speak and the words will come naturally.

If you are a basketball player and your free-throw percentage is low (can anyone here say, Andre Iguadala of the 76ers?), if you have trouble making free throws in a game, then what do you do?

You go every day and shoot a few hundred free throws so that, when it is game time, you are ready to shoot those free throws and make them. It may take thousands and thousands of practice shots, but eventually – if you put in enough effort – then your percentage will improve.

What did St. Paul say? “Athletes exercise self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable one.”

If athletes and others are willing to pour so much energy into disciplining their bodies so that they can win a game, why are we generally so UN-willing to pour even MORE energy into disciplining our bodies and souls so that, when the moment of decision arrives, we are ready to practice goodness, patience, generosity, kindness, humility, love?

The great abbas and ammas (the spiritual fathers and mothers) of the Egyptian desert in the 4^th century are still the standard-bearers for the hard work of practice within the Church. They have set the bar which has never yet been surpassed in the hard work of practicing spiritual transformation.

There was once a wise man in the desert who struggled with controlling his tongue. It seems that he was one who was quick to speak and this often made him say things that he later regretted. So it was said of this Abba Agathon that for three years he walked around every day with a stone in his mouth until he learned to be silent.

Another of these wise men, Abba Ammonas, once told his friends that he had spent the last fourteen years pleading with God night and day to grant him the victory over his anger.

Now, I would never recommend that you carry a stone around in your mouth for a few days, even less for a few years! But that’s not the point. The point is this: practice makes perfect!

These men and women in the desert did not know what to do, but they knew that they had to do SOMETHING in order to change the habitual patterns of their lives. And the point is that they were willing to keep trying until their efforts and the energy of the Holy Spirit worked together to achieve true and lasting change.

What are we willing to try? How long are we willing to practice and pound on that door until it finally opens for us?

This brings us to one of the great paradoxes of our life in Christ. We all know that grace if free. We all know that God loves us no matter what. We all know that there is nothing that we can do to make God love us any more, and there is nothing we could ever do that would make God love us any less.

God’s love is complete, total, final, unwavering, unchangeable.

Our efforts toward transformation have nothing to do with earning anything from God, with achieving a different level of status in God’s judgment.

You see, our motivation for spiritual growth comes from an entirely different source.

Bear with me, please, as I continue along with the basketball analogy.

And let’s say that the calling of God placed upon you in your baptism is analogous to you being selected as a member of the United States national Olympic basketball team! And the coach of this team is none other than Michael Jordan himself!

Jordan calls you on the telephone and says that you have been carefully selected to represent your country in the Olympic games as a member of the basketball team expected to win the gold medal!

What an honor! What a privilege! And you are elated, until you realize that you really are not any good at basketball after all!

You do not want to embarrass your country! You do not want to embarrass yourself and your family and all of your friends who will be watching every game on television! And you do not want to disappoint your coach and all of those who selected you for this honor.

So what do you do? You start practicing! You pick up a basketball and practice your dribbling and passing and shooting until you fall down in exhaustion! And then you do it again the next day! And the day after that! Because you were chosen for this task! Because, more than anything else, you want to be ready, and you want to do your best!

In our baptism, you and I received that phone call from the coach! We have been selected as part of the team to represent the best, the highest good, the Lord of all, the King of the world!

I’m not just making this up. Please pick up your Prayer Book and let’s look at the Catechism together for a minute. Please turn to page 855 in the Prayer Book and look at the first question there and please respond by saying the answers in unison.

Q.        What is the mission of the Church?

A.         The mission of the Church is to restore all people to unity with God and each other in Christ.

Further down the page, you will see this question:

Q.        What is the ministry of the laity?

A.         The ministry of lay persons is to represent Christ and his Church; to bear witness to him wherever they may be; and, according to the gifts given them, to carry on Christ’s work of reconciliation in the world; and to take their place in the life, worship and governance of the Church.

And it’s the same with all the other orders within the Church: bishops, presbyters, deacons. We are all called to represent Christ and his Church. We all have received that call!

But do you know what? None of us are naturally very good at this. Some have more natural talent than others. But all of us must get into the gym – the spiritual gym – and practice and practice and practice, until we are ready for prime time.

We are not trying to earn a place on the team – we’ve already got that!

But we are trying to do the best that we possibly can! And to be the best that we possibly can.

We expend a great amount of energy with prayers for healing and strength when illness strikes those close to us. This is right and good, because the abundant life which God desires for us includes our physical health. But we all know that this is only a partial good, because all physical healing is necessarily temporary.

Naaman, the Syrian commander, and the unnamed leper healed by Jesus – both of them became ill again later in life. Both of their bodies eventually broke down and decayed and ceased to function.

The healing that matters far more than any healing of the body is the healing of the soul, the transformation of our habits and our attitudes and patterns of thinking that result in a person who will not be disqualified when it’s game time.

This is what we and God get out of this training ground, this gymnasium of spiritual exercise which we call planet earth – the quality of the soul which we create together. Us and God together – creating a life of value – eternal, lasting value.

It takes a lot of work, my friends. It requires commitment and dogged persistence, a no-quit attitude.

But the reward, the gold medal at the end, is one that lasts forever. Amen.