Matthew 7:24-27 (New King James Version)
24 “Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock: 25 and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock.
26 “But everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand: 27 and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it fell. And great was its fall.”
It is often said that there are only two things in life that are certain: true? Death and Taxes. I submit to you today that there is a third certainty in life, and that is change. The good news is: everything changes. The bad news is: everything changes. Change is inevitable. Change is a constant. When you woke up this morning, you were not the same person you were when you went to bed last night. For some of us that’s good. For most of us that’s usually not so good.
A man from the back mountains of Tennessee found himself one day in a large city, for the first time standing outside an elevator. He watched as an old, haggard woman hobbled on, and the doors closed. A few minutes later the doors opened and a young, attractive woman marched walked out. The father hollered to his youngest son, “Billy, go get mother.”
We, as a church, currently face some big changes. Me, as well as you. I have to tell you, it will be very easy in the months ahead to see me as someone trying to change this church into something else other than that which it is. It will be very easy to look back on other times when this church was different, was something else. When it was what it was. When Rev. Hank was the pastor and all felt comfortable and well.
I can’t put the words on it for all of you but I can bet that many of you feel scared about the future of this church. You know what: I’m scared, too. I don’t know what’s going to happen. I don’t know where God is going to lead us. I don’t have the answers to those things. But I’ll be honest with you: I’m apprehensive about the future. In all honesty, I’m a bit frightened. I’m worried about whether we’ll be able to work together. I’m worried that I won’t measure up. I’m worried that people will think that I am trying to undo what has been done before, that I will want to change too much. You are not the only ones might be apprehensive about change.
In the last three years, I have left a job I held for about 20 years, my two oldest sons graduated from college, my youngest son graduated from high school and started college in Pennsylvania. My business went under. I started a new, temporary job teaching school, and I just recently picked up a stint as a pastor in a cozy little country church. And in the midst of all this I managed to have a heart attack. I think I’ve had enough change for a while. But I have this feeling there’s more to come.
I just want life to be the same for awhile. Is there anything wrong with that? But all I hear is this needs to change and that needs to change and again, I’ll be honest, change scares me even though I face it every day. Just for once, I’d like to get something a certain way, a way that I like it, a way that’s comfortable for me, a way that works, and I’d like to have it stay that way. Like Woodrow Wilson said, "If you want to make enemies, try to change something." So I don’t, But my lawn mower keeps breaking down and my car needs brakes and my substitute teaching job ends in a week. Did you know The average American worker has held eight jobs by the time they are 40? So change happens to me usually when I ‘m not looking and unfortunately then I have to deal with it.
Now, I think I know what you’re thinking. You’re thinking that I’m setting you up for all kinds of changes here at Silver Lake but the truth is, the biggest change has already happened. Hasn’t it. Someone retired and now that could have opened a whole pandora’s box of change. There are many things now that could be different. But yet, tell me about any big changes that you did not see coming. I’m sure you could come up with an example or two but for the most part, we really are not surprised too often. Our cars wear out and break down. Our houses get older and need repair or they will fall down. People get older and we slow down. Children get older and they grow up on us and move out, etc. etc. These are all changes that are inevitable.
In fact change seems absolutely unavoidable. It is very odd that most of our lives seem to be one long search for security, yet change is close to, if not the most dominant force in our lives. Perhaps that is why we seek security the way we do. We are continually trying to defeat an enemy that anticipates our every move and waits for us at every turn. And so we resist change. In fact, We spend a great deal of time and energy trying to hold off change.
Yet, there are many changes we gladly embrace. Take healthcare for example. If not for changes in the treatment of heart disease, I wouldn’t be here. Cell phones? It is the rare person that does not have one. Computers? It is the rare American household that does not use one. Entertainment? Can you even imagine life without being able to rent a movie? And where would we be without Dennis Hill’s cookies? The way those cookies are made is a modern invention, a product of change.
What is it about change that we do not like? If we had the power, I don’t think we would do away with all change. Life would then become quite stagnant and probably quite boring. I’ve never lived out of New England but I can’t imagine living in a part of the world that doesn’t have four seasons. I love the colors and crispness of fall, the beauty of the snow, the newness and the growth of spring, and the warmth and peace of a late August afternoon. I think change becomes an enemy when it threatens that which we hold dear. When it threatens parts of our lives as change could threaten this chapel, our spiritual home. We do not want the things that make Silver Lake Chapel what it is, to change and we will defend them fiercely.
When Tina and I started looking for a different church, Silver Lake was a natural choice. We both were feeling beat up and more than a little tired. We were like travelers who’d been on the road for a long time and needed a place to stop and rest and re-discover the good things about God’s people. We needed so much to be reminded about why we were followers of Jesus Christ to start with. We needed to be home. We needed to be in a place where we felt accepted, embraced, a place where as the old “Cheers” theme song goes, “a place where everybody knows your name” and we needed to feel the feelings that go along with that. Silver Lake Chapel, that would be all of you, gave us the place we needed to find all that. But things change. There are seasons to life, and just like the seasons in our calendar year, they impose their will on us without our permission. Silver Lake is threatened by such change. We’re starting off a new season with a different pastor but we also are at a place of reckoning. A place where we could lose that which makes Silver Lake the spiritual home to all of us that it is.
Today’s scripture lesson is about foundations. Jesus uses the analogy of building a house to represent our spiritual lives and of course the first and foremost thing you need when building a house, is a good foundation. Without a good foundation, a house begins to settle unevenly from the very day it is built and the structure of the house will show that.
I live in a house that was built before anyone in New England knew the recipe for cement and my house is built on stones that have been fitted together. Basically my foundation is built on a stone wall and there are parts of my house that show that. Even after over 200 years, my house is not finished settling. There are growing gaps between certain beams and cracks here and there that betray the presence of shifting a shifting foundation.
This chapel did not always have a good foundation. Did you know that? It had to be dug out and built under this existing structure. And that is a great analogy for what God has done here. There is a foundation in this place of love and acceptance and inclusion of anyone who wants to be a part of this family. It is that foundation that brought me and Tina here in the first place and that is the foundation that we will build on. I know what fear of the future is. I know what it’s like to have to struggle with changes that we did not want to make. I know what it’s like to struggle to find a home in a place that is not really offering that.
Today’s scripture talks about foundations and the problems that result from having poor one and also the benefits of having a good one. Jesus defines a solid foundation as the hearing and doing of the word of God. The person who hears the words of Jesus and does them has a strong, firm foundation able to withstand the storms and difficulties that come with being a human being. We are at a place as a chapel where we are called to question these words. Do we believe in the foundation or not? Have we heard God’s word and done it, here at Silver Lake. . . or not? Do we trust that God has led us to this point, this very moment in time . . . or not? Do we, as a church, as a spiritual home, really believe in the words that we read, sing, and hear every week or not?
Every week we pray the words, “Thy will be done!” The writer Gerhard Frost says that he so often prays this prayer and then ducks, preparing for the worst instead of expecting the best. It is so easy to forget that the Father of our church family is a loving God who already has given us all things. Romans 8:32 reads that “He who did not spare his own Son but gave Him up for us all, how will he not also graciously give us all things?” God’s will for us is not only the best, but it is the only good. All else is less than. All else is a weak, vulnerable foundation.
One last thought: a friend was planning a rather ambitious vacation to Europe for his family of six. He spent many hours on the internet looking at maps and itineraries and all sorts of travel information.
A few days before they were supposed to leave, the youngest of his children came into the room where he was working. She looked over his shoulder at all the maps and the papers and computer printouts. She sat and watched while he was writing things down and going from this website to that website on his computer. Finally, she climbed up into her Daddy’s lap and looked up at him and said, “ Daddy, I am so glad all I have to do is go along.” That is the mark of a trusting child: the willingness to feel secure in another’s hands. And that is the mark of the children of God: a willingness to welcome the unknown future and commit themselves to their Father’s hands.
Every day of lives, we make choices, judgments, and decisions according to the talents we have and the life that has been laid before us. Beyond those areas that we seem to control, however, lies the vast domain of our helplessness. It is there that we must be willing to admit our total dependence on our Father. Then we too can celebrate the fact that we are in God’s hands. He is planning and has planned the trip and we can just go along, knowing that he’ll bring us to the right destination.
[Much credit to Gerhard Frost, Homing in the Presence]
