Yesterday, a group of people from St. Mark’s ran and walked
in a 5K race down at canal side called the Color Run. We did it in honor of fellow parishioner Erin
Meehan who has been struggling with Lymphoma since January. Thank God-- Erin is now in remission. Please take a moment today or tonight when
you lie down to thank God for that blessing.
Now the Color Run, isn't an ordinary 5K. It is a race in which participants at
various stages of the race get doused in colored powder. Along the route there are these color stations
where overzealous volunteers douse you red or blue or orange or purple powder. Now in theory this looks like a lot of
fun, but it’s not fun when you run
through the station breathing heavy and end up inhaling a gallon of the powder—by
the way it’s actually corn starch By the
time your finished you are a hot mess, covered with what is
a rainbow of colors. If you look
carefully at this side of my face you might see some remnants of orange
coloring.
The Color Run was my fourth or fifth 5K race. Now I have
found that when running a 5K when I get to about 2 and a half miles in I begin
to look for I begin to wonder where is that finish line. I find
at that point I’m ready for the race to be done The amazing thing is that it
seems that when I finally see the finish- I get an this extra burst of energy-
the adrenalin kicks, the noise of crowd lifts me up for the final part of the
race. Yesterday, once I saw that finish
line- I was locked in, my attention, my focus was totally on the getting across
the finish line.
In the letter to the Hebrews this morning, we heard Paul
exhorting the Hebrews to run with perseverance the race set before them—looking
to Jesus the pioneer, the perfecter of faith. As I have read that a number of times this
week “Looking to Jesus” jumped out at me-Eugene Peterson in his translation- The Message- doesn’t say
looking to Jesus- he translates it this
way “Strip down, start running, and
never quit—Keep your eyes on Jesus
He says-Keep your eyes on Jesus- essentially lock in on the
finish line- focus your attention--- Keep your eyes on Jesus.
Isn’t that what Christian faith is, keeping our eyes on
Jesus? Focusing our attention, looking to Jesus for direction? Isn’t that faith?
In the early part of the reading from Hebrews today Paul
presents to his readers what he calls a great cloud of witnesses, these are the
superstars of faith- they would be up on the ring of honor down at Ralph Wilson
stadium.They are the cloud of witness because at times they display
great faith, great focus by keeping their eyes on God.
One example that Paul uses is The Israelite people and their march
around the city of Jericho- now I read somewhere this isn’t a small march- this
is 100,000 people—those 100,000 people they keep their focus locked in on God and the
directions he’s given them- for seven days the Israelites march around the city
as God has instructed them the to do. For seven days- they keep their eyes on God and on the seventh
day after circling the city, the priests blow the trumpets loud, the people
shout and the walls of Jericho crumble into dust- just as God has promised.
But what does being faithful people look like in the 21st
century? What does keeping our eyes on
Jesus look like for us as modern people?
It’s probably not going to mean marching around a city for
seven days, probably not going to look like passing through seas that have
split open. Probably not going to mean being sawn in two. And in this part of
the world it’s probably not going to mean being persecuted or tormented because
we are Christian?
How do we keep our eyes on Jesus?
Maybe instead of looking thousands of years in the past for
examples- maybe we should look at our own witnesses. Those who inhabit these
pews.
I have watched over
the years as many of you have faced
insurmountable situations- some of you have faced terminal and chronic illness,
terrible tragedies- I have watched many of you beaten down by life- only to get
back and turn your lives, turn your situations over to Jesus- and “say here
Jesus, this is yours, you handle it.”
That’s what it looks like to keep your eyes on Jesus.
I have watched as some of you have heard the Holy Spirit
whisper in your ear and urging you try something new or different or urging you
to take up a ministry or mission project you never thought you could do- only
to do it.
That’s what it looks like to keep your eyes on Jesus.
I have watched a person leave a place of employment – because
it was asking that person to do something unethical and unkind.
That’s what it looks like to keep your eyes on Jesus.
I have watched as people have sacrificed again and again their
own wants for the good of this community- some of us may be challenged to do
that again as we move forward in this building project or with our the new
worship service.
That’ is what it looks
like to keep your eyes on Jesus.
Faith is about keeping our eyes on Jesus- some of the time
it’s hard and sometimes it feels downright impossible but the scriptures tells
us that all it takes is to have faith, faith the size of mustard seed. All it takes is a little mustard seed, a tiny
droplet of faith. God will take and work
with the tiniest droplet. Take your
mustard seed, take your tiny kernel of faith- and do your darnedest to keep
your eyes on Jesus today, tomorrow and forever more. For
when we keep our eyes tuned into Jesus- the finish the kingdom of God just
might break in right here, right now.
AMEN
No comments:
Post a Comment