• One horsepower is the amount of energy it takes to drag a horse 500 feet in one second
• Some people can tell what time it is by looking at the sun. But I have never been able to make out the numbers

• You can listen to thunder after lightning and tell how close you came to getting hit. If you don’t hear it, you got hit, so never mind
• When people run around and around in circles we say they are crazy. When planets do it we say they are orbiting
• South America has cold summers and hot winters, but somehow they still manage
• Vacuums are nothings. We only mention them to let them know we know they’re there.”
• A blizzard is when it snows sideways
• A monsoon is a French gentleman.
• Most books now say our sun is a star. But it still knows how to change back into a sun in the daytime

• Some oxygen molecules help fires burn, while others help make water, so sometimes it’s brother against brother
• A vibration is a motion that cannot make up its mind which way it wants to go

• Genetics explain why you look like your father, and if you don’t why you should
Well, those are pretty good and funny. Occasionally though, a kid comes out with something more profound than funny. Such as the child who said “When they broke open molecules, they found they were only stuffed with atoms. But when they broke open atoms, they found them stuffed with explosions,” or the kid who said, “Rainbows are just to look at, not to really understand.” Wow. Profundity out of the mouths of babes.
Now back to that five year old. I met a young lady who may have said the most insightful and honest thing anyone has ever said to me in 28 years at the hospital. Her name was Zoie, she was five years old and cute as a button. Unfortunately, I met her on the occasion of her grandfather’s death. I was on call and received a call to Baptist at about 10 pm, saying a man had passed away and that his family was very distraught and they needed me ASAP. I got to the hospital quickly as I was still in town and still in my suit after visiting with friends after the Maundy Thursday Service I attended at First Methodist downtown. While driving to the hospital, I sometimes imagine what I will find when I enter the doors of the place. As you might imagine, in 28 years of disease, disability and death I have seen more than my share. And when the nurse on the phone said the family was extremely distraught I flashbacked to some previous scenarios that were enormously difficult to manage. Scenarios that often featured a number of highly hysterical or volatile family members. However, this would not be one of those kinds of situations. Instead, I found a loving family by the bedside of a man who passed away. One daughter was a hospice and palliative care nurse from another state. It was a sacred time. The family gathered around the bed and held hands while I prayed. It was at the “Amen” that Zoie spoke up, breaking the silence and the soft tears with a very emphatic, “well, that didn’t really help any.” The room burst into laughter, and I said, “Sweetie, you might be absolutely right, it didn’t really change a thing did it.” Her dad shook his head and said, out of the mouth of babes. I told the family that in my years at Baptist I am not sure if I had ever heard such an honest and astute statement. I ask the families permission to use her statement in my sermon, and they were please for me to share this story.
“That really didn’t help any.” You see, even Zoie could see that her grandfather who lived with her for her a couple of years was still dead. The family was still hurting and grieving just as hard after the prayer as before. What did the prayer do? Did it help at all? I simply said to little Zoie, “well, if it didn’t help any I hope it at least didn’t hurt any as well. In reflection, I wonder what help our faith gives us on a practical level. You see, we have a magical view of our faith where we are all supernaturalists or magicians at heart. And the truth, real life doesn’t work that way, even Zoie could see that. Whatever our faith gives us, it often doesn’t fix what we want fixed in our lives. In that sense, it simply doesn’t help us. You see, we who are called Christians like to fix things, fix others, and fix our own lives. That is really all we are about. Fix people’s emotions and fixing their souls. Some even claim to be able to fix relationships and to fix people’s finances and the like.
The truth is, most of us like to fix things, all kinds of things. I take satisfaction in fixing my cars and other broken possessions myself; But I am not alone. What do you like to fix? Maybe your specialty is fixing up relationships; or match making; or solving the world’s problems. Maybe you have ideas about politics or for fixing the economy. Maybe you know what to do about the crime in America. Maybe you know how to solve computer problems or can understand a VCR. I believe that we all wish to fix something at heart. Every new student I have gotten for 28 years at the hospital goes through a “fix it” phase. We sometimes, somehow feel responsible to correct the problems that people bring to us, no matter how difficult they are to fix.
The truth is, that there is plenty in the world that disturbs us. We see heartache, grief, sickness, death, poverty, crime, war, and a host of other concerns that impact us on a day to day basis. We hear of peoples’ hurts, and we hear their cries and sad stories. We shake our heads and wish we could do more. We offer comfort, a listening ear, prayer, and emotional support. Yet, we wish we could do more to ease the pain, to fix the situation. We wonder if we can help any, we feel helpless and out attempts to fix others are often ineffectual.
The central character in today’s lectionary verses of scripture is Mary Magdalene. Mary was evidently there when Jesus was on the cross, and she is the first to arrive on that Easter morning, finding the empty tomb. Not much is known of Mary in scripture. Some have suggested that she is the same as Mary of Bethany, sister of Martha and Lazarus who anointed Jesus’ feet with expensive perfume. This is only conjecture, however. Some have suggested that she was a prostitute, again only a guess. What is known is that she had seven devils cast out of her in during Jesus ministry, she was with Jesus mother at the cross, she was the last to leave him, and she was the first to see the empty tomb. Seeing the risen Christ was not enough, but when he called her name, hearing became believing. She quickly told the disciples of her seeing the lord. The other thing we know is that Mary was crying at the tomb.
“Why are you crying,” a refrain that echoes twice in these verses. These are words that echo in our own lives with a haunting realism as we face life on a day to day basis. I don’t have to affirm the obvious to you, but life is difficult. It is hard. It is not fair. There is someone every single day who was on top of the world yesterday who has the world turn on top of them today. There is much that needs fixing if we only knew how. Mary needed help and the words she was hearing really didn’t help any—at least at first.
Scott Peck began a best-selling book with a sentence only three words long: Life is difficult. Life starts difficult, when we are forcibly pushed from the warm, soothing womb into the cold, glaring lights only to find ourselves to be turned upside down and smacked. Life ends difficult, when we are struck down with a terminal illness, an acute illness or simply old age. Ands every day in between has some degree of difficulty. We have health concerns, financial concerns, job concerns and relationship concerns. There seems to be more misery than not, more brokeness than wholeness, more unhappy days because life is difficult. Peace and contentment may be the most elusive quantities in the universe.
Very early on in life we learn to soothe our pain. We cry till momma comes and holds us. We suck our thumb or hide under the blanket. We soon discover more socially advanced ways to numb our pain. We get a good grade, make somebody laugh, make friends even the wrong kind at times, we get dressed-upped, fixed-upped, we do what we can to get compliments. We escape through the movies, TV or the Internet, sports or even work or school. We drink colas or beer, pop chocolates, smoke cigarettes. We manufacture adrenaline by watching scary movies, driving fast or engaging in risky behaviors, getting angry or filling our time full of activities. But the BOTTOM LINE is, we still have pain, BECAUSE LIFE IS DIFFICULT!!! There is a lot of pain out there and in here, and there are a lot of broken things and people, it is the human predicament.
I don’t know what Mary Magdalene’s seven devils were, I shutter to guess. But Every day, Every single day, I see people with all kinds of devils. I see brokeness, I have stared it in the face every day in the lives of countless thousand s of people whose names I don’t really remember. I have seen so many people that I have wanted to fix but could not. I have left them only with hurt and myself only with frustration, and I get up and do the exact same thing the next day. And you know what? Zoie hit the nail on the head, I really don’t often help people very much. SO from where I sit the stupidest thing I have ever read I the Bible is in this passage, not once mind you but twice, “WHY ARE YOU CRYING?” I hope it was a rhetorical question but if not, I will tell you why: We cry because we are broken people, and our faith really doesn’t help much. We have only a response of crying when dealing with all of life’s predicaments.
You see, all we can do is cry when life caves in around us and we pray to a seemingly silent God. All we can do is to cry, because life is difficult and we don’t know what else to do or how else to behave. All we can do is cry because we learn in life that there are some things that simply cannot be fixed, that will never be as they were before.
So Mary Magdalene at great risk, in the middle of a great grief finds and empty tomb and she cries. The two angels ask her why she is crying, and then the resurrected Christ asked her why she was crying. She explained it was because Jesus was dead, and to make matters worse, she had feared that his grave had been robbed. But with one word, her name, “MARY,” her tears melted to unbelievable joy.
Whatever else the cross, that ultimate expression of brokeness, that ultimate injustice, the ultimate proof that life is difficult meant it meant this: Whatever is broken can be fixed. Because Jesus died sure, but more importantly, because he was raised to life, Whatever is broken can be fixed. There is help for the helpless. Paul said it best in Romans 5:10
“If we are reconciled to God through the death of Christ, how much more then being reconciled, are we saved by His life!” It was his death that set us straight with God, but it is his life that fixes us. We are reconciled to God by his death, that is, we are made right in God’s sight by his death. But it is by his life that we are continually being saved (present continuous action).
It has been said that Christians are optimistic about the future, the pie-in- the- sky-bye-and-bye theory, and pessimistic about the present life because our faith make no difference in the here and now. Albert Camus, a famous historian and atheist, said the only difference between him and Christians was that he was optimistic about the present life and pessimistic about the future. Christ death takes care of the pie-in-the-sky-bye-and-bye part of it. But because of the empty tomb, and because we are being constantly saved by his life we can be optimistic about the present. Because of the empty tomb, the living Christ lives in us. Because of the empty tomb we have hope not only for tomorrow but especially for today. Because of the empty tomb, Whatever is broken can be fixed, because quite simply and quite profoundly, we are being saved by his life.
Because of the empty tomb, sadness is no longer a part of human destiny. Its sting will not always have power over us. Granted, we only see in part thru a glass dimly, but because of the empty tomb Whatever is broken can be fixed!!
The empty tomb helps us to make sense of a sometimes senseless world. But the empty tomb is only part of what Mary found. Here tears were turned to joy when Jesus called her by name, and then and only then she saw the Lord. Because of the empty tomb, he is still calling us by name, and many of us have indeed seen the Lord. And it is a vision that will forever change us. A vision that helps us endure the hardest hardships of life; a vision that helps us to make sense of all that happens in life. A vision that gives us hope. And it does not ultimately matter if you have seven devils or seven times seventy, if you have seen the Lord, because that is the good news that has changed the world.
You see here is what I know what life has beat into me for years and for what Zoie reminds me of and that is this: I can’t fix things or people very well. I can’t fix Stan Wilson, I can’t fix you, I can’t fix anything about Providence Baptist Church. I can’t heal the sick and I can’t change the world. But because of the empty tomb, I know that there is one who can! So today, the best good news ever, the central message of Christianity, the reason to go on, the reason to have hope, the reason that I still go to work every single day and dare pray in hopeless situations anyway, the reason to risk life is the reason that helps us to answer the question that Jesus asks. And the dumbest question I have ever heard becomes the sharpest test at the core of my faith. “Why are you crying?” For you see, the risen Christ calls us by name and says to us, Whatever is broken can indeed be fixed. And when we grasp that, there your tears will take second stage. Because the ultimate example of brokeness has just been fixed, been raised from the dead the firstfruits of all of us who will do likewise. Whatever is broken can indeed be fixed and it does matter, it does help more than we can ever understand. We echo this morning with the songwriter Henry Lyte, “Abide with me; fast falls the eventide; the darkness deepens; Lord, with me abide. When other helpers fail and comforts flee, Help of the helpless, O abide with me.” And on this resurrection morning, that is now possible, because Jesus Christ has risen from the dead just as he said, and is alive for evermore, fixing the broken, and helping the helpless, and that my friends is the Good News. Thanks be to God! Amen.

Jason’s fame spread quickly. As a result he met the likes of President Bush and Peyton Manning. He even was on the Today Show, Good Morning America, Larry King Live, and Oprah. He won the ESPY award for the best moment in sports in 2006, beating out Kobe Bryant’s 81 point game which happened to be the second best performance in NBA history. Topps Trading Cards has produced a Jason McElwain card, and he was in a Gatorade commercial aired during this year’s Superbowl.

I can’t believe being the sport’s fan that I am that I had never heard of Jason McElwain. It is a great story, and Jason’s performance is what sports should be all about. The story is timely as I could not help but contrast that to another story this week that of one John Calipari, the new coach at Kentucky who will possibly make four million dollars a year for the next eight years. Not a bad deal for a man who is supposed to be employed by a university to teach young people. Wonder what they pay the English professors at Kentucky? Yeah I know, 25,000 people don’t pay big money to hear an English professor lecture. So it is economics, but it says a lot about our priorities as well as a society. Sort of like here in Arkansas where the new director of the state lottery will make a half million a year, more than any state employee save the surgeon who is the chief cardiovascular surgeon at the Med school.

Well this is America where you can make your millions if you got something people want. I think Calipari better get the money quick, because his predecessor was a man named Billy Gillespie, who only lasted two seasons at Kentucky. Kentucky will pay his bought out contract more for not coaching than he made coaching in those two seasons. Who is Billy Gillespie and what happened to him? Just two years ago at this time, Gillespie was at the pinnacle of the basketball world. He was the golden boy, the up and coming coach that everyone wanted. His star was rising fast based on what he had done with the program at Texas A&M, a school doggedly known for its football and its political science professors. He took A&M to new heights in basketball, and the thinking was if you could win there you were a good coach. Kentucky was the biggest prize on the market two years ago, one of the best five programs in college basketball, and is second only to UCLA in number of national titles won. Kentucky is the winningest team in college basketball history winning 76% of their games all-time. So there is a lot of pride in the Blue Grass State, and they don’t take kindly to losing like we do here in Arkansas where we are nearly last in everything except in the rates of teen pregnancy, obesity, and smokeless tobacco usage, where we are clearly number one.

So what the heck happened to Billy Gillespie? How can one go from hero to goat so quickly? How can one be a rising star in one minute and a falling star the next? I had never heard of a coach fired after only two seasons. Two years is not enough time to get your players and put in your system. Just think if we had fired Nolan after his first two lousy years at Arkansas. But the tide can turn very quickly, you can go from hero to goat just like that, and that is exactly what we have happening in our text this morning on this Palm Sunday. You know the story: Jesus rides into Jerusalem on a donkey and the crowd goes nuts. They had no doubt heard about his reputation of kicking the religious establishment in the tail, of his traveling miracle show, and of his dynamic preaching and life coaching. He was the rising star, and when he finally made it to the big city lights, it was pandemonium city. The Nazarene was all the rage, and the town folk lined up along the streets to catch a glimpse of him, and in true prophetic fashion waved palm branches at him and shouted “Hosanna” and proclaimed him the best thing since buttered bread, or at least buttered matzo.

So what were they so excited about, and why did things turn so bad in such a short time for the carpenter? I mean they turned on him faster than a Kentucky Alumni on Billy Gillespie. Well, the short answer appears to be that either he wasn’t what they thought, or they simply tucked their tails and ran when the powers that be reared their ugly heads. When the going got tough, the tough got going. I tend to think as a student of human nature, that once they actually saw this Jesus, they realized that he was not who they thought he was, and so they were willing to crucify him one week later, or at least were willing to wash their hands of him and to get busy looking for the next great messiah prospect.

So if their expectations were not met, what exactly were they expecting? One author I read this week offers this explanation:

As I have thought about this question, I keep coming back to that strange word, “Hosanna.”  You’ve got to admit that it is not a term that comes up in everyday conversation.  If you are like me, the last time you uttered “Hosanna” was, well… a year ago in March, last Palm Sunday.  It is a peculiar word–one that is difficult to define.  Scholars’ best guess is that “Hosanna” is a contraction of two Hebrew terms: yaw-shah, meaning to save or deliver, and naw, meaning to beseech or pray.  So you might translate the shouts of the crowd as: “We beseech you to deliver us.”  The people cheered.  They tossed branches from the nearby trees to the ground, and they called out, “Hosanna.”  They looked upon this prophet–rumored to be the Messiah–and they cried out to him, “Save us.  Save us.”  I’m thinking that the meaning of Palm Sunday hangs on those two words–on that simple plea.  Do we feel compelled to shout “Save us!” to our God as we prepare for Holy Week?  (Dr. Scott Black Johnson, Day1.org, April 5 2009).

So they wanted to be saved, and that is a powerful need for those who seem desperate for deliverance, but my question is this: what the heck did they want saving from? Hell, you say? Not a chance I say– they had no concept in their Jewish theology that they needed someone to come along and offer them salvation from a fiery hell. There are some who would read backwards and impose this theology on the text, but that would simply be our agenda and not this crowd’s. So what did they so desperately wanted to be saved from?

Well the traditional answer seems to be from Roman rule and tyranny. They were looking for a deliverer who could free them from political captivity, who could restore the Jewish kingdom, who could free them from oppressive taxation, who could put money in their pockets, who could whip their enemies, in a word the same things we expect from our national leaders, but only with a lot more urgency because their situation was much more oppressive. However, in the end Jesus was not this kind of savior, so they quickly jumped ship and wanted him dead for not being who they wanted him to be. And that was that, and it is also the story of Palm Sunday and the unraveling that we will reenact this Holy Week. But, lest we be too hard on the disillusioned Jerusalemites, I wonder if we are any different? What do we want to be saved from and is it realistic? What do we want from our messiah and what do we shout when we think of him? What did you come to this place this morning expecting from this Jesus?

Well, we want to be saved from hell. OK, I will buy that, since we all will be dead a lot longer than we will ever be alive on this planet, and I understand that we want some kind of assurance that we will prosper in the next life. But I also do not think that is all there is to it for us, as frankly we don’t really relate to whatever hell is very well and day in and day out don’t even think of the possibility or we all would be rabid evangelists. I was scared to death (pardon the pun) as a kid when my spit slinging Baptist preacher shouted “if you want to know what hell is like go home and put your hand on the burner on the stove and imagine that kind of pain forever and ever amen.” Well, I won’t even go there as I know that there are many who are fire insurance Christians. And regardless of what you believe about heaven and hell, the truth is that it is not a theology that consumes us 24/7. Our faith and spiritual need is at a much more pragmatic level.

Why do I say that being a good Baptist? I think by looking at the way we do church, by the things that we say about our faith systems, about the theology that we reduce to our clichés is proof that we expect to be saved in more ways that just being saved from hell. Our personal Jesus will save us from all kinds of things, just listen to what the average Christian says, does, and prays about. So I ask you this morning on a day when in our worship we sing Hosannas, when we wave our palms and boldly cry out, “Hosanna,” do we dare imagine what we really want God to save us from?  My guess the answer is as varied as we are– Save me from anger.  Save me from cancer.  Save me from depression.  Save me from debt.  Save me from the strife in my family.  Save me from boredom.  Save me from getting sent back to Iraq.  Save me from the endless cycle of violence.  Save me from humiliation.  Save me from staring at the ceiling at three a.m. wondering why I exist.  Save me from bitterness.  Save me from arrogance.  Save me from loneliness.  Save me from discomfort. Save me from inconvenience. Save me from poverty. Save my job. Save my 401k. Save me, God, save me from my fears. It is as Scott Black Johnson says:

In viewing Palm Sunday from that angle, we can begin to see the potential for some real depth in this celebration, for embedded in our quaint pageantry is an appeal to God that originates in the most vulnerable places inside of us; and it bubbles, almost beyond our control, to the surface.  “Hosanna.”  “Save us.”  Please God take the broken places that will tear us apart and make them whole.  We beseech you, God, jump into the water and drag our almost-drowned selves to shore.  “Save us.”  “Hosanna.” (Day1.org)

You see, the problem is that maybe Jesus is not that kind of Messiah either. Maybe he is not here to save us from what we so desperately want to be saved from. I will have to say that this week I did some hard praying, and you know me, in my skeptical self I figured it would do no good. I know that I cannot change God’s mind. I know that prayer is more than superstition, it is more than dragging the rabbit foot’s out of the pocket, it is more than manipulating the intentions of the almighty by badgering God into submission to let me have what I want to have. Prayer is not making a wish list and if you have been faithful enough, I somehow believe that God throws a carrot or two your way. So I found myself praying to the effect this week, “OK God, surely the heck you owe me one. I never ask for what I want because I know you don’t work that way. I also am skeptical that you will do something just because I ask, but for heaven’s sake, just this once, I won’t ask again anytime soon, can you please help me out here, can you please save me, hosanna.” I knew that by the time I got to this prayer fate was already set anyway, and that if anything the prayer was ill-timed. What I should have prayed for was the grace to deal with the situation regardless of what happened, and the strength to deal with the consequences. My prayer was in effect answered, but now I have a lawyer in the family, so be careful what you pray for!

We want desperately for this Jesus to save us, and what we mean by that is as varied as we are. But the truth is, no messiah can live up to our expectations, no messiah can be all the things that we need, no messiah is our personal genie. And when we figure that out, we have less use for such a savior, and we can easy turn on him. I see people everyday almost who are somehow disillusioned about God because of one, his people are hypocrites, or two, they have felt betrayed by the almighty because they did everything right and got sick anyway. The rabbit’s foot was no insurance, and they wondered if faith makes any real difference in our real problems.

No messiah can live up to all our expectations. Jesus of Nazareth did not live up to the hosannas that were being thrown his way on that first Palm Sunday, and their first clue should have been that he was riding a Jackass instead of a white stallion. After all, when you read the story, in Jerusalem on that week of passion we did not see any miracles. Nary a one. Jesus did not raise the dead or open blind eyes or heal lepers. The lame did not rise and walk, he did not calm the storms at sea not did he feed the masses. Not in Jerusalem on the biggest stage. He simply did an intense batch of teaching on what the Kingdom of Heaven was really all about, and he did so largely in parables that had a kick to them because it wasn’t like anything that they expected. He became increasingly confrontational not with the Romans but with everything religious and sacred. He in essence said they all had it all wrong, perhaps beginning with what they thought that they needed saving from. He drove the money changers out of the temple with whips for heaven’s sake, and he was not what anyone thought he was when he entered the city on that Sunday. So they got mad enough to kill him, and that is exactly what happened when events started to quickly unravel for him.

So what is the moral of our story for all of us who use our personal Jesus for whatever the heck we think we need saving from? I believe it is this: the gospel is not about us, it is about God. That is a subtle but profound shift in perspective. And when we realize this we will understand what happened here on this Holiest of weeks– the people were mad and felt duped when he didn’t jump through their hoops, so they got mad enough to hurt him. And it is still the same to this day except we are the ones willing to fight and die for our own theological sacred cows. You see, when we understand that the cross is about God and not about us that changes everything. It changes how we view sin, how we view Jesus’ sacrifice, how we view ourselves and how we view the amazing love of God. And if the implications of such are too hard to comprehend (they are for me), then consider that Jesus most likely would shake us up just like he shook them up on that week; he would turn our religious convention on its ears. He might even show up to our churches with a whip or two. He would do so because again, we would find that the Kingdom of God is not about us but in fact is about God. It is not about our programs or our agendas. It is not about our religion, our churches, our priorities or our culturally encapsulated theologies. It is about getting out these doors and loving our neighbors as ourselves, of loving our enemies because anyone can love a friend. It is about walking the second mile when we know good and well that walking only one is enough, it is about turning the other cheek, it is about doing to others as you would have them do unto you. It is not about sin and failure, but about love, acceptance and forgiveness. How we would change our churches if we could just realize the Kingdom of God in our midst?

I don’t know what we would look like if the carpenter’s Kingdom message ever really got of hold of us. But I think we might not shout “hosannas,” God save us, any longer; but we might just see what we could be about to save what needs redeeming in others. And in so doing, we might also find what we desperately seek– our own salvation. And that my friends, is the message of Palm Sunday, and that is why we call it the Good News. Thanks be to God! Amen.

Have you not known? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable. He gives power to the faint, and strengthens the powerless. Even youths will faint and be weary, and the young will fall exhausted; but those who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.

We go through this routine and half the time eat somewhere that neither one of us is crazy about. It is a classic case of indecisiveness. Now, we are not indecisive people. Dianna has about 45 employees, all highly educated nursing instructors at the school, and is responsible for 500 student’s welfare. I am also responsible for a few employees and a bunch of volunteers and for many things, including the completions of projects for senior administration. Decision making is what we do. So I have decided that when we are finally off work– boy are we off! I think we have responsibility fatigue (RF I am calling it) and it results in a total mind meltdown on some days. So we do best if someone decides for us and we vegetate in front of the tube, and feed our mind with intellectual pursuits like The Biggest Loser and Dancing with the Stars (it turns out the biggest loser is about the portly, I only watched it because I thought it a contest between the three Heifner brothers).

Indecisiveness. It is a modern malady I think, and Dianna and I are not alone. Well maybe we are. No, we are not. Do you know that research suggests that 65% of all Americans have an attack of indecisiveness in the voting booth? That would explain the last eight years. And we second guess ourselves on multiple choice tests where we would otherwise know the answer, we can’t decide how to spend our limited monies at 50% off sales, and we are overwhelmed at the choices on the cereal aisle at the grocery store. It has been said by scientists who study indecisiveness that the first case was in the Stone Age at the invention of the wheel. After it had been carved out of stone, the Cavemen had to deal with these two decisions: Do we charge extra for installation? And do we take Visa? (Indecisiveness, Wikipedia)

For me, part of the problem of being indecisive boils down to the point that we like to have the ability to change our minds, and some decisions are tough to undo if we decide in a way that we will later regret. I wasn’t sure if I really needed that Gall Bladder removed, but it is kinda hard to put that sucker back in once they suck it through that inch long hole in your belly. So the permanence of some things leads us to being extra indecisive on the front end.

And I think we as homo sapiens are always changing our minds. Dianna and I are particularly spontaneous, and we often don’t plan things, even big things. And that is good and bad at times. But we like flying by the seat of our pants, when it involves our personal time and personal lives, so we change our minds constantly. Some people have a hard time changing their minds, it takes a lot of planning and forethought, they look before they leap, and they think before they speak, they calculate before they spend, and they plan before they act. Some argue ferociously for their position even if they are wrong. Others are more malleable, and it is easy to persuade them or sell something to them. I am a tough sell; although a guy called the other night and wanted a charitable donation for one of those make a dream come true for sick kid’s organizations. I said no, I am tapped out, I give to many charities, I can’t give to you today maybe next time, I just gave my limit to the last guy that called, and finally I just said no. What I didn’t do was decide to hang up the phone, so he said, not even ten bucks to make the wish of a dying child come true? I said sure, send the bill.

So some of us change our minds too easily and others do not change them even if it causes them great consternation. I have chosen the lectionary text from the Old Testament today; from the book of Jonah, and it is a story that is not really about a big fish as much as it is about changing one’s mind. Jonah changes his mind and decides to do what God wants him to do in the first place, and that is to go to Nineveh and preach to those hated Assyrians. The whale changed his mind after probably deciding that eating a prophet is more disagreeable than eating the last place entrée in a chili cook-off, or eating at the cafeteria on a Sunday night right before closing time. The people of Ninevah starting with the King changed their minds about God and repented and a great revival broke out amongst a bunch of pagans and some of the most cruel conquerors history has known. Wow, that is a lot of mind change going on. The lesson is of course that the impossible can happen, unlikely change can miraculously occur when people just do what God leads them to do. It is a question of following God’s will and working God’s plan and not relying on our own conventions. And it is a nice story, and if I had to categorize the genre of the book of Jonah, I would say that it is a comedy, even though I think that we lose some of the humor in the translation or lack of translation to our culture.

But oh yes, lest I forget, there is one more mind that is changed. And that is surprisingly God’s. God changed his mind and decided not to wipe out all those Ninevites after they repented. He let them live and that of course made Jonah mad, but that is another sermon. So, can God change his mind? He evidently did on at least this occasion. Interestingly enough, those who preach you must accept the events in Jonah as historically and literally true often explain away this verse on God changing his mind. So what do you think, can God change God’s mind? It seems to be an important point to the book of Jonah, but what would it mean for us?

There are those who preach something called the Immutability of God. I have discovered that anytime a theology is not in plain English, I am probably not going to agree with it or like it very much. Such theo-jargon serves to only confuse the issue with intellectual hula hoops. But according to theologs, “immutability” means that God cannot change at all or at least change certain aspects about God, (such as God’s essence or attributes, or promises). These qualities cannot change. Jesus Christ (ergo God) is the same, yesterday, today and forever, as the writer to the Hebrews declares. James declares that there is no variableness nor shadow of turning in God, meaning that God is not fickle, God is consistent. What you see is what you get, and in essence God is the most predictable constant in the universe. If one discerns how God acts, then we know that God always acts in the same manner regardless of circumstances. Malachi reinforces this belief when it says, “For I, the Lord, do not change.” That is pretty plain and straightforward, but do you get your theology from Malachi?

There is great comfort in a God who does not change, mainly because everything else in all of creation is in constant change. And that can be very disconcerting for those who like to have things figured out and have their ducks in a row, which is all of us at one time or another when events are important enough. A God that does not change helps provide us a sense of security when we are very unsure of ourselves, of our future, or of the unknowns in our lives. When all else is going to hell in a hand basket in our lives, we take comfort in the one who is on our sided who never, ever, ever changes. God is stability when we are unstable. This belief undergirds all I do in Pastoral Care, when your life goes down the crapper, at least God is still there and still on your side, and buddy you can write that down.

But what if God does change? There are more passages that suggest that he does than otherwise? It is freely admitted, of course, that the Bible contains many anthropomorphic expressions used for God (human characteristics used to describe his essence). Anthropomorphisms such as God being sorry that He had made man on the earth, and being grieved to His heart (Gen. 6:6); that He came down to see whether the race had done according to the outcry which had come to Him or not (Gen. 18:21); that He would destroy Israel or Nineveh, but later did not do so because of prayer and repentance, (Jon. 3:10). There is the point of God repenting in scripture.

So does God change, or are these merely anthropomorphisms used for dramatic effect or for some other literary reason? I do not really know. This passage says in effect that God changed his mind, so I tend to think that he did at least this once. Now there are those who say that God’s actions were predictable based on the people’s repentance, and this is ironically a proof for his immutability in essence. That he had to change his mind to be consistent with his nature of forgiving if we only repent, which of course those pesky Ninevites did.

I have news for you this morning. We certainly believe that we can change God’s mind at least pragmatically. Most people I hear praying are really petitioning God to change his mind and do something they want done. God answers prayer we say, and often what we mean is that God gives us what we want if we ask him to do so. And if we don’t pray then we are victims of life, we are a ship without a rudder because God only intervenes if we ask. We have not because we ask not. I mean who just prays for God’s will be done, because that is going to happen anyway, right? Do we really have to pray that God do what he wants and plans to do? Jesus taught us to pray that way, but his prayer was that God’s will be done on earth as it is in heaven, and that is different because he included people in his equation of getting the work done. We on the other hand believe that God will change direction and act on our behalf if we bow down low enough and humbly ask him for whatever. It is hard to believe that we have that much power over the alpha and omega, that is we ask earnestly enough, or conjure up enough others asking fervently, then God will do something that he would otherwise not be so inclined to do. Then God answers our prayers we say. This is magical thinking, or believing God as a lucky rabbit’s foot. I remember a prayer group in college that I was part of at First Fundamentalist Baptist Church we always had two categories of petitions – needs and wants. We would list our needs, such as an “A” on a Calculus tests, or the courage to witness to that Frat brother, and our wants, such as “My car sucks; I want a new one so I can reliably get to prayer service.” We expected to get our needs because God takes care of that, and shoot every once and a while we might get something we want, if God was in the right mood I guess.

And yet I will keep praying for both needs and wants, I am not going to stop. I heard a man give tell his story this past week in a management meeting at the hospital, who has been at the point of death many times. And after two heart transplants and a rare type of cancer that led to his heart being damaged, he was on his last hope, an artificial heart at the Texas Heart Center. His Doctor their suggested that even though she had given him 30 days to live that there might be a miracle for him and she would pray to that end. This man also had a friend in the Dominican Republic pray for him very specifically. He didn’t pray for a new heart for this guy, but instead prayed for his heart function to up itself from the critical value of 13 to 50, which was where it needed to be. Well you have probably guessed how this story ends. His heart started immediately getting stronger, and now a year and a half later with no explanation his heart function is 56 and holding strong. He had absolutely no chance, no hope, yet he lives. So you tell him that God doesn’t jump through our hoops. In the mean time, I am going to try to hire that guy from the Dominican Republic to be on my staff, and I am going to plead with God to change his mind every chance I get.

But the message of the book of Jonah is deeper than a fickle God who changes his mind quicker than the direction of the wind in West Texas. I do believe that God’s mind can be changed, and even though I don’t believe that God always jumps through our hoops if we use the right formula, God nonetheless changes his mind when we first change ours. And if this view of God is a little too human for you, I suggest you read the Bible a little closer, because the evidence is there. We really are made in the image of God, and even in his wholly otherness he is more human than we would believe. William Carter hits the meaning of the book of Jonah on the head when he writes:

The book of Jonah is a funny book. It is a satire on every exclusive, narrow-minded expression of religion. This is theology as high comedy. But I hope the story disturbs us too. The story of Jonah holds before us a picture of God that is so loving, so patient, so relentlessly gracious that it pushes us to extend our human boundaries of God’s infinite grace. Why is Jonah so angry? The short answer is because God loves too many people. The longer answer, according to Jonah, is that God is “gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love, ready to relent from punishing.” Like Jonah, that’s how we expect God to be toward us. That’s not always how we want God to be toward others. All of this happens in the 10th chapter of Acts. By the 15th chapter the church is having its first major disagreement. All the preachers are called in from the frontier. Everybody is squabbling over one issue, namely, how many outsiders are we going to allow in God’s church? The problem, it seems, is that God keeps inviting everybody. It just goes to show the church doesn’t tell a lot of new stories, rather, we keep telling the same story of a God who loves everybody, who is merciful to everybody, who is kind to everybody, but who is stuck with some reluctant messengers. When are we going to get it straight that the love of God is for all people? That the judgment of God is laid upon every human heart? That the mercy of God can forgive every sin and give second chances to every person? When are we going to get it into our heads and our hearts that the Creator in heaven wants nothing more than to stand face to face with every creature beginning with us, but not ending there. God is willing to love anybody. Even Jonah. Even you and me. The difficulty is not in telling ourselves this is true. The difficulty is believing it’s true for everybody else. (Day One, “When God Repented,” William Carter, JAN 23, 2000).

God changed his mind because the Ninevites changed their minds, and their minds fell in line with God’s mind. When that happened, Jonah’s mind fell out of touch with God’s, and he was miserable for the reason that God had changed: God was not going to destroy his enemies and curse those who cursed him, but instead forgave them and gave them a place of blessing as well. And that is why Jonah didn’t want to go in the first place, he knew God well enough to know that he would change his mind and forgive those that Jonah himself could not forgive.

So who is it today that we cannot forgive? Who is it that we cannot love or for that matter even like? Who earns our hatred, dislike or just plain apathy? There is someone I promise you for each of us. There are those that we secretly hope will get theirs someday, those whom we will lick our chops when the judgment day comes around and God rights all those wrongs. Those we can’t just wait to get their comeuppance. You see in the end, the person who still needed to change his mind was not the godless Ninevites, but the prophet of God Jonah, whose life was filled with hatred and anger, and maybe he was God’s target all along. And while the pagan Ninevites radically changed, and God himself changed, a man who was full of hatred and prejudice did not change, and even after 120,000 Ninevites came to God, he wanted to crawl in a hole and die. Now you tell me who needed to change, who needed forgiveness, who needed God’s extraordinary grace?

In the end we need to examine our own lives and see where we need to change, because we all do somewhere or in something. And when we do, extraordinary things can happen, and who knows—maybe even God Almighty will jump through a hoop or two for us, because there is no end to his love and forgiveness. No matter who you are. No matter where you live. No matter your race or religion. No matter what you have done. And that my friends is Good News! Thanks be to God, Amen.

But, back to the anniversary.  You see, New Year’s Day marked the beginning of what will undoubtedly be more than 12 months of celebrating astronomy. The International Astronomical Union (IAU) has designated 2009 as the International Year of Astronomy (IYA2009) to commemorate the 400th anniversary of Galileo’s first celestial observations using a telescope. IYA2009 has been endorsed by the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and the U.N. General Assembly.

You remember Galileo; he was the poster boy for the science vs. religion debate.  Galileo invented a crude elementary telescope and saw such wonders as four of Jupiter’s moons, now known as the Galilean moons; the rings of Saturn, and the craters of the moon in great detail.  Turns out it was not Swiss cheese after all, go figure. But it was looking at Venus, a planet with non-descript surface features as it is shrouded in gas that rocked his world.  He noticed that Venus went through phases like our own moon, phases such as first quarter, crescent and the like.   It was then that he determined that Nicolai Copernicus was correct, and that we had a heliocentric universe; that is we revolved around the sun, and that the earth was in fact not the center of the universe.  And he also proved that American’s did not invent arrogance as the church took the prize in his day.  To make a long story short, he was condemned as a heretic by the church based on the church’s literal interpretation of certain scriptures, mostly in the Psalms.  This again proving the dangers of an overly literal interpretation of the scriptures.  He was sentenced to prison and forbidden to speak of such things, but later his sentence was eased to just house arrest and he was allowed to speak of his beliefs only as hypothesis.  What takes the cake was that Galileo was not a trouble maker, but a man of great faith and respect of the church, and surely that bought him some brownie points. He always wanted to dialogue with the powers that were, and obediently (for the most part) followed the churches direction.  He did have three illegitimate children, but shoot they became nuns so it was OK. But alas, Galileo Galilei can stop turning over in  his grave, on Friday the Vatican finally declared him a hero, taking only 350 years to realize that there was something to what he was saying, and they cleared him of wrong-doing.  The Catholic Church did learn its lesson as they were much easier on Darwin, the mortal enemy of Baptists everywhere.  We had no opinion of Galileo, because as he was looking through his scope Smyth and Helwys were high-tailing it to Holland.

So today, Galileo Galilei is going from heretic to hero. The story was released this past Friday: 

The Vatican is recasting the most famous victim of its Inquisition as a man of faith, just in time for the 400th anniversary of Galileo’s telescope and the U.N.-designated International Year of Astronomy in 2009.Pope Benedict XVI paid tribute to the Italian astronomer and physicist recently, saying he and other scientists had helped the faithful better understand and “contemplate with gratitude the Lord’s works.”In May, several Vatican officials will participate in an international conference to re-examine the Galileo affair, and top Vatican officials are now saying Galileo should be the “patron” of the dialogue between faith and reason. It’s quite a reversal of fortune for Galileo Galilei (1564-1642), who made the first complete astronomical telescope and used it to gather evidence that the Earth revolves around the sun. Church teaching at the time placed the Earth at the center of the universe. The church denounced Galileo’s theory as dangerous to the faith, but Galileo defied its warnings. Tried as a heretic in 1633 and forced to recant, he was sentenced to life in prison, then house arrest. The Church has for years been striving to shed its reputation for being hostile to science, in part by producing top-notch research out of its own telescope. In 1992, Pope John Paul II declared that the ruling against Galileo was an error resulting from “tragic mutual incomprehension.” But that apparently wasn’t enough. Last January, Benedict canceled a speech at Rome’s La Sapienza University after a group of professors, citing the Galileo episode and depicting Benedict as a religious figure opposed to science, argued that he shouldn’t speak at a public university. The Galileo anniversary appears to be giving the Vatican new impetus to put the matter to rest. In doing so, Vatican officials are stressing Galileo’s faith as well as his science, to show the two are not mutually exclusive. (The Columbia Dispatch, JAN 2, 2009).

As you know, I love to look at the stars, and these cold winter months are the best, and it is about the only redeeming feature of the winter for me.  The night air is cold, but clear, and ideal for viewing astronomical phenomena.   The low humidity with no haze or pollution make for dark skies.  Plus, the best features are out in winter, with most of the brightest stars and constellations visible.  Mighty Orion the hunter dominates the eastern sky, and with a good pair of binoculars away from the city lights you can get a glimpse of the great Orion nebula, which is literally a star factory, churning out new worlds like termites replicating on a rotten piece of wood, or maybe like Duggars popping out in Northwest Arkansas.  Just below Orion, Canis Major sits, which contains Sirius, the “dog star,” and the brightest star in the sky.  Nearby are the twins of Gemini, but if you look closely at the feature stars, Pollux and Castor, you will be able to tell that they are different colors, so they must not be identical twins.  You can even for 49.95 have a star named after a loved one at the international star registry, who will then send you a map to see where the star that you named is located.  But good luck, because there are already 1,000s named by astronomers, and with the city lights you can only see about a 1000 stars at night.   And trust me, you’ll never figure it out in a telescope, so save your money.

But I wonder what it would have been like to see the star of Bethlehem some two thousand years ago.  Interestingly enough, there are a number of astronomy websites, including the one at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory at NASA that try to scientifically explain the star of Bethlehem.  One theory involves a conjunction of two or more planets that is two planets closely aligned in the sky; another theory suggests that it was a supernova, or exploding star that would perhaps produce many times its normal light.  Still others believe that it was a falling star, or meteorite, perhaps part of the Geminid shower, or one of the other spectacular meteorite displays that happen in the winter.

Many planetariums around the country in December have a Christmas show in which these theories are described.  But there is a goodly amount of mystery surrounding the star that attracted these wise ones, in fact, there is even more questions about the celestial event of the ages. 

There is no indication in the text that any other person than the wise men who actually saw the star. Kind of strange, don’t you think?  The shepherds in the field evidently did not see the star, Herod who would have surely heard about such a phenomena in the kingdom, did not see the star, Mary and Joseph did not see the star, and there is no contemporary record of a big star. Mark, Luke, and John do not record a big star. Astronomers running their planetariums backwards through time are not unanimous about it, and scholars trying to date the birth of Christ with its appearance have been confounded. Possible candidates for the star simply do not match the gospel’s chronology and dating. The reason for this is that Matthew never alleged a conspicuous star.  So some have suggested that the wise men were not of the science of astronomy but of the pseudoscience of astrology.  And by the way, Galileo was also interested in Astrology as well.  These wise men were astrologers.  

Now I know what you’re thinking, you are probably like me and were taught to believe that astrology is of the devil, and that you will burn in hell for dabbling in it, that it is anti-god, that the devil will posses your mind against your will, that you will projectile vomit and your bed will fly across the room. But come on now, you have all read your horoscope haven’t you?  I know you have.  Or you have read a fortune cookie.  And don’t you at least know your birth sign, mine is Virgo.  Reading Jean Dixon has not compromised my faith in the Almighty, and the truth is, there are many more passages of scripture that promote astrology which was a common practice in Jesus world, than purportedly condemn it.  Passages like Luke 21:25-27: “And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring; Men’s hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken.
And then shall they see the Son of man coming in a cloud with power and great glory.”  Or in Genesis chapter 1:14 “And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years:” Most of the inflammatory passages in the Old Testament are really condemnations on the King of Babylon and his court of Astrologers, not astrology itself.  Now don’t be overly concerned, I think horoscopes are harmless fun, sort of like the ubiquitous fortune cookie, and don’t necessarily open your mind up to demon possession.   

But maybe it could be that no one saw the star, because it wasn’t an Astronomical event but an astrological event, and probably most of the Jews in the region wouldn’t fool with such things, so they might miss such a sign.  I do find it interesting that these wise men had to stop and ask for directions from of all people, Herod, who had not heard of the event, but was very interested in the newborn rival.  I guess wise men aren’t afraid of asking for directions and maybe the unwise are!  Incidentally, if there was a star in the east in the winter, it could have appeared in the constellation of Pisces, or “the fish” which was of course, an early symbol for Christians.  There was a conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn in 7 BC in the constellation of Pisces.

But the wise followed their star, and they made a long and arduous journey to do so, and they found what they were looking for, the King of Kings, ironically in the form of a hapless babe.  These gentiles, perhaps pagan gentile astrologers of all things were able to see what the good religious folks missed.  In fact, the poor were there, represented by the shepherds; the dumb were there, represented by the dumbest of animals, the ox and the donkey as described in what some call the fifth gospel, the prophet Isaiah.  And those unclean, pagan astrologers, whom we have made palatable by calling kings, were there, all to experience the news flash of the ages.   

So following one’s star has forever since been a metaphor for finding one’s destiny, and fulfilling their life’s work.  We make wishes on falling stars, and we are guided by the stars.  We reach for the stars.  Columbus found the new word by following the stars at night.  So not unlike the wise ones, we too follow the stars, perhaps not Jean Dixon stars, but are constantly in search of something in life.   We search for happiness, we search for peace, we search for joy, we search for meaning and purpose, we search for the will of God in our lives and we even search to find ourselves.   Much of the time the search seems futile and we have to stop and ask for directions along the way.  The wise among us realize that the search is a journey, and not just a destination.  The search involves failures, it involves mistakes it involves detours.  It involves our minds, our hearts, and our souls, and it often involves hard work.  Following the stars is not nearly as romantic or idealistic as it sounds.  But following the stars, our star, is a necessity in life if we are to find any form of significance or meaning.

But the truth is, there are all kinds of stars in the heavens.  I will never forget our trip to Canada in 2000.  I was thrilled to see the Aurora Borealis in all its splendid resolve of color. But I was equally excited to sit out on the deck of our cottage on the North shore of Lake Superior near Thunder Bay and see countless thousands of stars in the night sky, far away from any city lights.  There were so many, that even the familiar constellations were difficult to discern because of the addition of so many other stars to the picture.  Life is a lot like that as well.  We have so many choices, so many claims to truth, so many stars to follow; the picture can be quite confusing.  It is easy to get lost, or to perchance follow the wrong star. 

I think that the message of Epiphany Sunday is one worth remembering, and it is as simple as a worn out cliché– wise men and women still seek him.  Because the truth is, sometimes we moderate folk trade conviction for tolerance.  We trade our doctrine for accommodation.  And we trade belief with freedom, and use the cherished beliefs of soul competency and the priesthood of every believer to promote I’m OK you’re OK and say that following any star is OK as long as you are following your star.  We say that this diverse world is a better place because of the millions of stars that one can choose to follow.

I am here today to say that I know of a man who faithfully follows his star, a man of undisputed conviction, a man on a mission, a strong charismatic leader, one of zealous obedience, one of headstrong belief, a man willing to die for his cause, one who possess most every desirable characteristic that we seek save one– his name is Osama Bin Laden.   He is a perfect example of a man following the wrong star.     Epiphany means “discovery,” and the message of Epiphany is, which star we follow whether we name it after ourselves or not is very important.  And that’s what made these astrologers different from Herod’s court astrologers, and from every other astrologer or sage in the land.  It’s what made them different from the good religious folk, from the Pharisees and the Sadducees, and even different from the common Jew who would betray him.  Because these astrologers were truly worthy of the moniker “wise men,” for the star they pursued, the Star of Bethlehem was the one that somehow would be the key in whatever other stars they decided to follow in life.  And in their finding the Christ child, they represent us all, who have been on the journey and are hungry for something we are not quite sure of.  Because our following the stars, our search for something in life, our search for happiness, our search for peace, our search for joy, our search for meaning and purpose, our search for the will of God in our lives and even our search to find ourselves is inextricably wrapped up in the Star of Bethlehem.  And for those who have found him and the difference he makes, have heard Good News indeed.  And life’s complex picture becomes as clear as a cold winter night sky, the one where the stars are always bright. Thanks be to God! Amen.