sunday february 21, 2010 first sunday in

8/14/2019 Sunday February 21, 2010 First Sunday In

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Sunday February 21, 2010

First Sunday in Lent

Title: Life Stories

I often think of Christmas and Easter as being sort of like the

north and south poles of the year…when actually they are much

closer to one another. I am always surprised just how quickly

after the Christmas season we begin the Lenten journey that

brings us to Easter. That journey began on Wednesday…Ash

Wednesday and will continue for the next few weeks. There are

40 days in Lent…which…as most of you know include the days

between Ash Wednesday and Easter Sunday excluding Sundays.Forty is a favorite biblical number. It shows up in many of our

big stories. We have Noah and his friends spending 40 days and

40 nights in the rain on the ark, Moses spending 40 days and

nights at the burning bush on Mount Sinai, getting the Ten

Commandments and other instructions from God. Later we

have Moses leading the Israelites for 40 years in the desert on

the road to the Promised Land. Finally we have the story of Jesus being baptized and then being called by the Spirit out into

the wilderness for…you guessed it…40 days and nights. It is

from the days that Jesus spent in the wilderness fasting and

praying that we come to the model we have for the Lenten

experience. Frederick Buechner, my favorite modern day

theologian puts it nicely saying that Jesus spent that time in

prayer and reflection contemplating just what it meant to be

Jesus and that we are to use these days in prayer and reflection

contemplating just what it means to be us.



That is a worthy task. How often do you spend time wondering

just what it means to be you? Most of us probably think we

being us is a done deal…but truly we are still works in progress.

It is a wonderful spiritual exercise as we strive to livemeaningful lives to spend some time pondering just what it

means to be us. It is so easy to live on automatic pilot. It is

preferable to shape our lives as a result of prayer and pondering

and thoughtful reflection and maybe even repentance…which

means to turn around. Some of our thoughts…if we actually

enter into such a time could cause us to change course a

bit…that is the hope really! Often repentance is tied in with this

great confession that we are on the wrong track. It is one of thewords of faith that has become twisted a bit. It simply means we

acknowledge to ourselves and to our God that we are tracking in

the wrong direction and that we would like to turn around. Any

way you slice it…Lent is meant to be a time of thinking about

our lives…which is really a good thing to do. We don’t do it that

often. Oh…we think about what we would like to eat for

dinner…what we want to watch on television…where we wouldlike to go on vacation…and things like that…but we don’t spend

all that much time thinking deeply about who we are at our

depths. At least…that is my guess. In various ways, shapes and

forms over the next few weeks I will be prodding us to think

about our ever changing lives.

I had a kind of neat experience recently. I mentioned in the

annual report that I have accepted the opportunity to serve on

the board of Androscoggin Home Health Care and Hospice. I

attended my first board meeting in January and discovered that

each meeting they have someone from the organization come in

and do a little presentation as a way of educating board members



of the various good works they do. It is not unlike our “Moment

for Missions.” On this occasion they had a volunteer

coordinator tell of how they helped people who were using their

hospice program put together what they called “Life Stories” assomething to leave behind for loved ones. I guess it is a rather

new venture for them.

Here is how it works. If you are in the hospice program winding

down the days of your life…if you so desire they will help you

in some unique way to put your story together. With permission

from the families they showed us a few samples.

They helped one woman put together a bit of a slide show on a

computer with photos of her life. She had been born in Europe

in the 1930s and there were photos of her as a little girl with her

parents. Because of the war she was sent to the States where life

was very challenging due to having little or no money. She and

her family lived on the street for a short time. Then she grew up,

fell in love and was married. They showed photos of her and herhusband getting married and then having children. As she got

older along came grandchildren. Then as she became sick there

were photos of her children and grandchildren gathered with her

often. Then you notice all the photos have her using oxygen and

she is becoming frail. Then the photos show an absence of her

husband. Finally, she is at the Hospice House with the children

and grandchildren gathered with her and they too are much

older. While this slide show played on the computer they played

the old Joni Mitchell song “The Circle Game” as a sort of sound

track.



And the seasons they go round and round

And the painted ponies go up and down

We're captive on the carousel of time

We can't return we can only look behind From where we came

And go round and round and round

In the circle game

I might mention to some of you long timers here at church that

at Electa Hill’s funeral her granddaughter played the guitar and

sang that song in this church. Anyway…you could have heard a

pin drop in the board room as the slide show ran onto a bigscreen for all to see.

A second way of helping someone took even more thought. It

was for a very young man…in his early 30s…dying from

cancer. His big concern was that his two year old would not

remember him. In conversation with him they discovered that he

read stories to his daughter each night. They came into theHospice House and when he was strong enough and feeling able

they recorded him reading stories. They collected a bunch of

stories on a CD and put a picture on the front of the man reading

to his daughter…and a little message to her from him on the

back. It is a part of his life story that he will leave behind to

help her remember him. Isn’t that a touching thing?

Have you ever thought of your life as a story? If so…who is the

author? I like to think we are sort of co-authors with God…in

that God gave us being and then we write the stories. Actually

we are sort of co-authors with one another.



At some point our stories are written in part by our families and

friends…our economic status…our circumstances…our gray-

matter and whatnot. Eventually our stories become our own to

shape. We might be able to look back and see how we wereinfluenced…for good and for bad…we might have some scars

that last a life time…but at this point…our stories are our own

and we need to claim them and write them the way we want

them to reflect who we are at our deepest level.

We might ask ourselves “What do our life stories say so far?”

But I think a better question for us might be “What do I want the

rest of my story from this moment on to be like and how can Ishape it that way with God’s help.” The big Lenten question for

us to ponder…is “what do I want my life story to say?”

When I was choosing scripture for the morning I wanted to use

Psalm 51 that talks about new life as God’s grace allows…as we

ask God to create a new heart in us. I also wanted to use the

passage from Gospel of Mark that talked about Jesus going into

the wilderness because it is such a part of the Lenten story. But

there was another passage from Luke that appealed to me as

well. Let me read it to us:



Luke 6:24-36 (The Message)

Give Away Your Life

24

But it's trouble ahead if you think you have it made.What you have is all you'll ever get.

25 And it's trouble ahead if you're satisfied with yourself.

Your self will not satisfy you for long.

And it's trouble ahead if you think life's all fun and games.

There's suffering to be met, and you're going to meet it.

26 "There's trouble ahead when you live only for the approval of

others, saying what flatters them, doing what indulges them.

Popularity contests are not truth contests — look how many

scoundrel preachers were approved by your ancestors! Your

task is to be true, not popular.

27-30"To you who are ready for the truth, I say this: Love your

enemies. Let them bring out the best in you, not the worst. Whensomeone gives you a hard time, respond with the energies of

prayer for that person. If someone slaps you in the face, stand

there and take it. If someone grabs your shirt, gift-wrap your

best coat and make a present of it. If someone takes unfair

advantage of you, use the occasion to practice the servant life.

No more tit-for-tat stuff. Live generously.

31-34"Here is a simple rule of thumb for behavior: Ask yourself what you want people to do for you; then grab the initiative and

do it for them! If you only love the lovable, do you expect a pat

on the back? Run-of-the-mill sinners do that. If you only help

those who help you, do you expect a medal?



Garden-variety sinners do that. If you only give for what you

hope to get out of it, do you think that's charity? The stingiest of

pawnbrokers does that.

35-36 "I tell you, love your enemies. Help and give without expecting a return. You'll never — I promise — regret it. Live out

this God-created identity the way our Father lives toward us,

generously and graciously, even when we're at our worst. Our

Father is kind; you be kind.

That is a great recipe for life as we contemplate what we want

our stories to say about us.

Going back to the Life Story of the woman I mentioned…I have

no idea what she was like or what she believed as a person of

spirit or not…but the photos showed how she had benefitted

from sharing her life with the people that she loved…the people

that loved her. While life circumstances took her from her home

country of Hungary and brought her penniless to this

country…she either had or quickly gained resilience. Life willtrample you if you do not have some resilience. On the other

hand too much hardness shuts life out…finding that balance

takes some contemplation.

Touch, feel, love, and live in a way that tells your story in a way

that reveals who you are at your core. Jesus found meaning in

his life attempting to live out the values of God as best as heunderstood them and did so as faithfully as possible. That is our

goal too…although doing so will be different for each of us.



I cannot do your Lenten journey for you and then tell you how

to live…it is more personal than that. But…I can commit to live

the Lenten experience with you and contemplate my life

story…as you do the same. Furthermore…I can promise youthis…if we enter into some deep listening to our lives…taking

some time for prayer and pondering and reflecting on what we

want our stories to say about us it will have a grand effect on the

kind of people we end up being. It is a worthy exercise as we

journey along together toward the new life that Easter promises.

I fully understand that it is much easier to live on automatic-

pilot. We are busy and contemplation takes time. I know that. If you are content to let happenstance write your life story…I

guess that is your prerogative…but it is my guess that you are

interested in something more than that. And by the way…I am

not expecting huge change for myself or you…maybe just a

little spiritual tweaking to put ourselves a little closer in step

with God and with one another.

I’ll leave us with a few words from Corinthians that perhaps

sums this all up better than I could myself. “Go after a life of

love as if you life depends on it…because it does. Give

yourselves to the gifts that God gives you.” I believe doing so

will add depth to our life stories. It will change us incrementally

for the better. That is what we are called to do during the

Lenten season and every other day. Amen.

sunday february 21, 2010 first sunday in

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