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Wallingford Presbyterian Church July 13, 2008 |
Rev. Ken Sunoo |
On March 19, 1945, the USS Franklin was bombed during the Battle of the Pacific. Two bombs hit the flight deck, and within a few minutes more than half the crew was dead or wounded (724 of the crew died). It was one of the worst naval disasters in American naval history. But the story of the Franklin is mostly remembered by naval historians because of the resulting heroic efforts to save the ship. Indeed, the ship was saved, despite having furious fires and flooding.
As a result of that heroic effort in 1945, more medals were given to the crew of the USS Franklin than to any other crew in naval history. Two Medals of Honor (highest award given by US govt.), 19 Naval Crosses, 22 Silver Stars, 115 Bronze Stars. When the ship finally reached port, a memorial service was held, and one of the two Medal of Honor winners, a [Jesuit priest and] Navy Chaplain named Lt. Commander Joseph T. O’Callahan, gave the prayer at the service. Here’s his prayer:
“And since it is of thy mercy, O Gracious Father, that another week is added to our lives, we here dedicate again our souls and our bodies, to thee and to thy service, in sober, righteous, and godly life. During the week we made new resolutions, and in these do thou, O Merciful God, confirm and strengthen us so that as we grow in age, we may grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.”
One line in that prayer grabs me in particular: “As we grow in age, may we grow in grace.” Growing in age – that’s something each of us has in common. Lately, when I go see my doctor for check-ups, I have a laundry list of ailments to go through with him: why do my heels hurt every time I played basketball? What’s wrong with my knees, which now tend to get sore after I work out. It’s strange, because I’ve never had these kinds of problems before. I’ve always taken pride in being very physically fit.
After my doctor checks me out, he then asks how old I am.
“I’m 44 years old.”
“Ah,” he says with an understanding nod.
OK, so I’m not getting any younger. I don’t heal as fast as I used to. My body’s getting older every day. That’s true for all of us. What fascinates me is what great lengths many in our culture go to fight this aging process.
Several years ago, Newsweek ran an article on the spate of new products all tapping into baby boomers’ profound fear of aging – “promising to revive body parts we didn’t even know could croak. Your cuticles? Yes! Luckily, Olay Total Effects Moisture Treatment delivers younger-looking nail beds. Vanessa Williams, Crest’s spokeswoman at the time, vowed that Rejuvenating Effects toothpaste will ‘remineralize’ your aging mouth, whatever that means.”
We live in a culture where youth is worshipped as an idol. Botox treatments and plastic surgery are big business. We tend to spend most of our teen years wanting to get older, and then the rest of our lives trying to recapture our youth.
The problem is, no matter what treatments we try, no matter how well we eat or how much we exercise, we’ll still grow older. Every one of us grows in age, that’s not up for grabs, but not everyone grows in grace.
This morning, we looked at two passages from Jesus’ life: one tells the story of when Jesus goes to the temple when he was 12 years old. The second passage shows Jesus at about 30 years old, being baptized by John the Baptist and beginning his adult ministry. Notice what happened in the intervening years: Luke tells us that Jesus “increased in wisdom and in years/stature, and in divine and human favor.” In other words, Jesus used that time growing up to prepare himself for ministry. Jesus is someone who grew both in age and in grace.
How do we follow his example? How do we grow in both age and grace? It’s an especially relevant question to ask today, when we’ve officially received Matt and Shanti as new members of our church. Because every time we receive new members and hear the promises they make, we are all of us reminded that church membership is about living into our baptismal vows, to make a public commitment to God to grow in grace.
Now, I could give you a whole long list of things we can do to help us grow in grace: baptism, discipleship, stewardship, mission, prayer, Bible study, worship, church membership & fellowship, service. I could go on and on, and there are good reasons to emphasize all of these things.
But it’s also important to remember that Jesus himself boiled it down to two commandments: Love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, and soul, and love your neighbor as yourself. We don’t need to be perfect. None of us grows in grace without some setbacks in our lives. We need to trust that God can make us into the kind of person he wants us to be, and open ourselves to the nurture and guidance of the Holy Spirit.
One pastor put it this way: “The difference in our lives depends on whose hands they are in. For you see, a violin in my hands will get you some squeaky noise, but a violin in Mr. Yitzak Pearlman’s hands gets you wonderful music. Marble in my hands is just ugly dirt covered stone, but in Michaelangelo’s hands becomes a magnificent statue of David. A peanut in my hands is a small snack, but in the hands of George Washington Carver it is peanut butter or shoe polish.
It all depends upon whose hands it is in. A little spit and mud in my hands will get you a mud cake, but spit and mud in Jesus’ hands will open up blind eyes. Two fish and 5 loaves of bread will get you a couple of fish sandwiches in my hands, but in Jesus’ hands it fed 5,000. Nails in my hands might get you a little bird house, but nails in Jesus’ hands hanging on the cross between two thieves on a hill called Calvary, is salvation for the world. Because it all depends upon whose hands it is in!
…the substance, meaning, power, difference of our lives depends on whose hands they’re in!” (Pastor Ken Ulmer, Annual National Pastors Convention, Feb. 2002)
Today, we celebrate because Matt and Shanti have committed, with God’s help, to continue growing into the faithful disciples God has called them to be, and they have chosen this congregation to walk alongside them in that journey. We celebrate because we have as much to learn from them along the way, as they will learn from any of us. And there’s no question we are simply delighted that they have chosen WPC as the place where little Mira will learn what it means to be a follower of Christ.
Their lives and our own lives and the life of this church family as a whole are all in God’s hands, and that makes all the difference.
May God help each of us to live our lives so that as we grow in age, we may also grow in grace. Amen.