Epiphany 4

Epiphany 4 SOME THINGS NEVER CHANGE 1/27 & 30/05

Things are not how they used to be. For heaven’s sake, not a person in this place is exactly what he or she used to be! Everything about and around us changes. It is Christ, within us, “that changeth not”. If you do not think you have changed all that much, dare to dig out a few of those old photographs from years ago. Check out those hairstyles…take a close look at the “fashion statements” we all considered ourselves to be. I’m not sure if it proved to be more fun or frightening, but this week I looked back over some of our earlier church pictorial directories, going back some 40 years. With tears I saw the many dear ones who have passed away over the years, reminded of the hymn verse: “Time, like an ever-rolling stream, soon bears us all away.” I was humored by examples of dramatic transformation in those of us still living. Seeing childhood pictures of today’s adults…seeing today’s children so closely resembling today’s parents…seeing yesterday’s children having children of their own…seeing how yesterday’s young men once grew long hair are today’s adults developing fuller foreheads.

You and I are in a constant mode of change. We cannot determine “if” we will change, but we do daily decide “how” we will change. Whereas our world seems so focused upon reversing our physical change, the church is focused upon nurturing spiritual change, faith-formation, and maturity in mission and ministry. God is not nearly as interested in how His Church looks, as in how His Church lives and gives. This is summarized in verse 8 of our Micah lesson: “To act justly and to love mercy and to work humbly with your God.” Our interest is not about how we look from one generation to another, but how we live from one generation to another and what one generation gives to another. Discipleship is not so much about the ongoing physical changes of our life, but about the faithful, steadfast, unchanging God who gives us life.

Pastor Rick Warren has confronted countless readers with this timeless truth in his book, The Purpose Driven Life, beginning his first of 40 chapters with these 4 words: “It’s not about you.” The title of his opening chapter is “It all starts with God.” The prophet Micah supports this truth, as God---like a powerful prosecutor---“has a case against his people.” (vs. 2) In the following verses God presents the evidence of His faithfulness and dependability. St. Paul continues the recitation of evidence in his first letter to the Corinthians, in vs. 20 asking the “wise man,” the “scholar,” “the philosopher” to stand front and center. Quick to add, in vs. 25, “The foolishness of God is wiser than man’s wisdom.” Paul invites believers in his, and every, generation to recall what they were like before being called into fellowship with Jesus Christ. Assisting us in this memorable experience, Paul highlights in vs. 26 that “not many of you were wise…not many were influential… not many were of noble birth.” If this is not honest and humbling enough, Paul further writes in vss. 27-28: “God chose the foolish…God chose the weak…He chose the lowly things and the despised things of this world.” What’s more, Paul concludes vs. 28 by reminding us that God can use “even things which have no real existence, to explode the pretensions of the things that are.” You see, our Christian walk depends upon God and is a daily faith response to what God has done for us and continues to do through us!

As children, we couldn’t wait to grow older. Now that we are older, we wish we were a little younger. Many adults get ready for bed about the same hour, as teenagers, we used to get ready to go out. Once young and single, many dreamed of marrying a doctor. In our old age it seems that we see one every week. We joke that we prefer aging to the alternative. Really, though, we know that we will one day leave this life, and we pray that, amidst the many changes life throws our way, ours was a life well-lived, faithfully- lived, and generously-given. Quoting from Philippins 2:12-13/”Therefore dear friends…continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling;, for it is God who is at work within you, giving you the will and power to achieve his purpose.” Amen.

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