How did they feed the animals on Noah’s ark?

I can’t help it.  I have questions.  I love a good story as much as the next person, but when something doesn’t make sense, it bothers me and the story of Noah’s ark always left me with some doozies.  Like this one.  How did they feed the animals on Noah’s ark?  Most of us believe Noah and his family (and all the animals) were on the ark for 40 days and 40 nights, but according to the Bible it was actually about 370 days in total.[1]  That is a LONG time to be trapped on a boat full of every animal known to humanity.  The smell must have been horrible.  But I have more questions.  Did they really have enough space for two of every animal?  How did they deal with the problem of genetic inbreeding?  How did Noah and his family stop the animals from eating each other?  Who “cleaned up” after them?  It’s these kinds of questions that drive a wedge between science and religion.  We have grown to believe the two are somehow incompatible.  That to believe in one means a person couldn’t logically believe in the other.  That unless people who believe in the Biblical story of creation can answer these questions, then it must not be true.  Well, I think I found an answer to at least one of those questions and it came from the TV show, The Big Bang Theory.  Sheldon’s mother, Mary is in town to see her son get an award for a scientific paper he wrote.  Mary (a devout Christian) tells her son (a self-avowed atheist) that she couldn’t quite understand what it was he was trying to explain, and he told her, “It describes a new model of the universe that conceptualizes it as an ‘N’-dimensional super fluid.”  And she responds, “Interesting. You can believe that, but God filling an ark with animals two-by-two is nonsense.” Sheldon’s derision is almost palpable as he asks, “What did they feed the lions mother?”  And Mary, sharp as a tack responds, “The floating bodies of drowned sinners.”  Score one for Mary.

The debate between creation and evolution has gone on ever since Darwin.

And it’s still one that goes on today.  You might find it surprising to know that most people believe God had a hand in creation.  Seventy-eight percent of people believe God has a hand in the creation of human beings. 78%! And of that 78%, over half believe God created human beings as fully formed people free of evolution.  According to a Gallup poll cited in Adam Hamilton’s book Making Sense of the Bible the numbers break down like this: 46% of Americans believe people were created by God without evolution, 32% believe human beings evolved by God’s guiding hand, and only 15% believe that evolution alone accounts for the development of humanity.[2]  But even though most people believe God had a hand in human development, we have a number of different theories on how that came to be.  On one end of the spectrum, Young Earth Creationists believe in a literal interpretation of the Bible and date the Earth as only 6,000 years old.  They use the genealogies in the Bible to help come up with that number.  On the other side are those who believe in theistic evolution.  And as the name implies, they believe that evolution is a tool that God used to develop human beings.  This group generally accepts the scientific theory that the Earth is about 4.57 billion years old and that humanity evolved over the last 2 million years.[3]  For them, evolution and Scripture are in harmony with one another, and what we read in the Bible isn’t inaccurate but just wasn’t made to be taken literally in how we understand time and creation. 

But why is there this divide in the first place?

Today it seems as if this rift has been around forever, but that hasn’t always been the case. The church has always been a supporter of knowledge and had in the past been unafraid of education.  They were among the first to support the university system.  They often funded and founded colleges and universities around the world.  Some of the most famous schools in our country where many noted scientists, doctors, mathematicians, and scholars have come from were established by the church.  In fact, some of the greatest scientists in the world have been Christian – Copernicus, Galileo, Pascal, Newton, Faraday, Pasteur, and Kelvin just to name a few.[4] Today, Francis Collins, “a renowned geneticist and former director of the Human Genome Project,” even developed an organization he calls the BioLogos Foundation to bridge the gap between science and religion and to help people realize that neither one is a threat to the other.[5]  So where is this debate largely coming from?  From Christians more than anyone else. 

For Christians, this isn’t just a matter of historical accuracy, but a test of their faith.

The debate about the authenticity of the creationist point of view has more at stake than bragging rights about who’s right.  It’s about trusting in the Word of God.  And as science continues to uncover more about the origins of the world, there are Christians who fear hearing these new ideas.  They are afraid the evidence being presented will contradict the beliefs they’ve held their entire lives, and they forcefully push back against it.  But as we will see, perhaps the premise we have started out with is faulty at its root.  In Genesis 2, we read a more personal story about God’s active hand in creation and how he formed the world.  Then he flooded the earth with water to create the land and the sea and after that created us.  And in that passage, it wasn’t until he created man that he finished the rest of creation.  After he molded man out of the earth, God created trees and flowers and rivers and animals and even involved man in the naming of the animals.  And only then did God create woman.  But within the Bible itself there rests a contradiction to this narrative.  In the chapter right before this one, the Bible has a distinctly different account of creation.

⁶ And God said, “Let there be a vault between the waters to separate water from water.” ⁷ So God made the vault and separated the water under the vault from the water above it. And it was so. ⁸ God called the vault “sky.” And there was evening, and there was morning—the second day.

9 And God said, “Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place, and let dry ground appear.” And it was so. ¹⁰ God called the dry ground “land,” and the gathered waters he called “seas.” And God saw that it was good.

¹¹ Then God said, “Let the land produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their various kinds.” And it was so. ¹² The land produced vegetation: plants bearing seed according to their kinds and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good. ¹³ And there was evening, and there was morning—the third day. – Genesis 1:6-13

That was only the third day of creation.

Do you remember when humanity was created?  The sixth day.  It wasn’t until the end of the week that God created both male and female in his image.  Before that he created the heavens and the earth, the land and the water, the plants and the animals.  In this version of creation, humanity was the last thing to have been created – but in the very next chapter we find out that man was created not long after the earth was formed and BEFORE all the plants and animals.  Both of them can’t be right.  These two stories directly contradict one another, and they are right there at the very beginning of the Bible! Either humanity was created before or after the plants and animals, but it can’t be both.  And don’t get me started on talking snakes.  When you really examine these stories, it becomes harder and harder to defend a literal point of view.  But maybe we don’t need to.  Maybe we should focus on what God is trying to tell us instead of worrying about the details.

One of my favorite movies of the year was The Six Triple Eight.

It’s a film based on the true story of the first and only all-Black and all-female battalion stationed in Europe during World War II.  I highly recommend it.  It is a story of faith and grit and perseverance that will move you to tears and give you hope in the human condition.  You’ll watch it and think, “I can’t believe this is true!”  But it is. Now, is everything true?  Is every last detail as it actually happened when Captain Charity Adams was in charge of the Six Triple Eight?  Of course not.  You all know how it is.  “Based on a true story” means only that.  Some parts are highlighted, some parts are deleted, and some parts are changed to make the story cohesive.  But did you walk away from it with a better understanding of the monumental accomplishment these women performed?  Yes, you did.  Did you get a better idea of the racism and sexism and poor living conditions they had to suffer through and overcome just to serve their country?  Yes, you did.  Did the fact that not everything was exactly the way it happened in real life detract from the film?  Not at all. Now, if you sat there with a fine-tooth comb and picked it apart, you’d find those inconsistencies.  But if you’re focusing on the nitty gritty, you’re missing the point.  You’re losing the forest for the trees.  The Bible is many things, but it’s not a history book.  Paul shares with us very clearly what it is supposed to be, “For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through the endurance taught in the Scriptures and the encouragement they provide we might have hope (Romans 15:4).”  Don’t lose the forest for the trees.  Use your eyes and ears to understand what God is trying to tell you.

Long ago, I came to the conclusion it just doesn’t matter how the Earth was created.

I believe God is the ultimate creator and I believe he created the Earth and everything in it.  How he did it?  I don’t care. Because it’s not important.  If he chose to do it through evolution, great!  If he spontaneously created everything all at once, great!  How God did it doesn’t change my faith in him, and I hope it doesn’t change yours either. The Bible is our own understanding of the story of God and the bottom line is this.  Love God, love one another.  If we could hold on to those truths and stop arguing about the rest, we could possibly become the kind of people God keeps hoping we will be someday. Remember, it isn’t about history. It’s about His story. 

[1] Some say 371 but close enough. https://www.gotquestions.org/how-long-was-Noah-on-the-ark.html  This site says around 450 days: https://ncse.ngo/yes-noahs-flood-may-have-happened-not-over-whole-earth Regardless, it was a really long time!

[2] Adam Hamilton, Making Sense of the Bible, p. 188.

[3] Notes on Young Earth Creationists and evolution come from Hamilton’s boo

[4] https://carm.org/is-christianity-anti-science

[5] http://content.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1895284,00.html Also, https://biologos.org/

Where would we be without our moms?

Nowhere.  Even if you didn’t have the best mom, you could at least say one thing – she brought me into this world.  That alone should be an accomplishment worthy of recognition.  Giving life to a child, enduring not only labor but the nine months leading up to it is a sacrifice we don’t often appreciate as much as we should.  I know our moms do it out of love, but still, it’s a pretty amazing sacrifice.  Now the truth is, most of us believe we have the best mom or at least right up there in the top 10.  Just for putting up with me alone, my mom deserves top 5 status.  Growing up I thought I knew everything, but I look back now and wonder how my mom didn’t strangle me on a daily basis.  I guess I can credit that to a mother’s love, too.  And it is amazing how most parents seem to have a never-ending supply of it.  Having more kids doesn’t deplete the well.  Instead, the well just grows bigger.  In that way, our love for our children mirrors God’s love for us.  Just as God is our parent in Heaven, so our parents share that same love with us. It’s the strongest kind of love there is. 

If you look in the Bible, you see so many examples of this type of motherly love.

In Genesis we see Jochebed, the mother of Moses not only giving up her child for the chance for him to live, but then purposely making herself a servant in the princess’ household so she could be with him.  Naomi loved her two daughters-in-law so much, she released them from their duty to her when her sons died tragically, even though it meant she would likely live in poverty for the rest of her life.  She knew their best chance was to abandon her and she wanted what was best for their lives over her own.  Then there’s the story about the woman in King Solomon’s court.  Her child was stolen from her by a jealous and bitter woman whose own baby passed away in the night.  Without a clear way to tell who was lying, King Solomon tried something tricky and offered to settle their dispute by sacrificing the child so that neither one could have him.  The mother instantly said she would give up her claim if only the king would allow the baby to live.  And in the New Testament we hear the story of the Canaanite woman who comes before Jesus, crying out for mercy.  Her daughter is suffering, and she comes begging for help.  Eventually, Jesus recognizes this woman’s great faith and takes mercy on her, curing her daughter.  All of these mother’s stories have a similar theme – self-sacrifice.  They were willing to sacrifice their own security, happiness, or well-being for the sake of their children. 

Mary was the same way.

Mary had a lot to lose becoming the mother of Jesus.  We look back now and see what an amazing honor it was to be chosen for this role, but back then there was a lot at stake.  Right before Mary is pregnant, we read that Mary’s cousin, Elizabeth, was also pregnant, itself a miracle considering Elizabeth’s advanced age. But God had graced Elizabeth with a son, and she would soon give birth to the man we know as John the Baptist.  Mary, however, had no immediate plans to be pregnant.  So, everything that’s about to happen is going to come as a big surprise. 

²⁶ In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, ²⁷ to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. ²⁸ The angel went to her and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.”

29 Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. ³⁰ But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God. ³¹ You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. ³² He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, ³³ and he will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; his kingdom will never end.”

³⁴ “How will this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?”

³⁵ The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called^[b] the Son of God. ³⁶ Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be unable to conceive is in her sixth month. ³⁷ For no word from God will ever fail.”

³⁸ “I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered. “May your word to me be fulfilled.” Then the angel left her. – Luke 1:26-38

This would have been a tremendous burden for Mary.

To be willing to carry a child that was not from her husband would be a disgrace in the eyes of the community.  And since they had never been together, Joseph would know it was not his child and would have every reason to leave her, and from Matthew’s version of the story, Joseph originally intended to do exactly that but was convinced to stay by an angel of the Lord.  Still Mary couldn’t count on an angel to come and intervene.  If Joseph had left her, it was likely she never would have been married.  Because of the society they lived in, she would probably have been destitute and would need to rely on the mercy of others to provide her with food and clothing.  Her life as she knew it would take a drastic turn for the worse.  But she accepted her role with grace and trusted in God to make everything right. That’s what makes this story so amazing.  She was willing to sacrifice so much for this child and her faith in God.    

It’s that kind of sacrifice that reminds us of Christ.

Just as a mother is willing to sacrifice her life for the child she loves, so too does Christ love us.  That he was willing to give his life for all of us is a testimony to the love we see from parent to child.  A mother’s life is often one of sacrifice. When we look again at Mary’s life not only did she risk much to give birth to Jesus, but she stood by him even at his death.  She was one of the few who remained by Jesus’ side in his final moments, and despite the ridicule he suffered, the abandonment of even his closest friends, she would not abandon him.  The pain and difficulty of seeing her son in those final moments must have been heart-rendering.  But she did it out of love for her child. Because that’s what a mother does.  She is willing to sacrifice herself for her children just as God does for us.

Mary fittingly is one of the cornerstones of our faith.

Not only because she was the mother of the Christ child, but because of her own example of faithfulness and self-sacrifice to God.  Looking through the Bible and reading through the history of the church, mothers have been vital in the development of the faith, both on a personal level and as a mirror of the self-sacrifice of Christ.  Think about the mothers we talked about today – not only Mary, but Jochebed, Naomi, the woman in King Solomon’s court, and the Canaanite woman.  Their actions were all based on love and self-sacrifice.  The same kind of love and self-sacrifice that God has shown to us through his son Jesus.  As parents, when we are at our best, we are a reflection of the love of Christ. 

When the Bible says we are created in his image, this is what it meant.

That we are built for love.  That it is in our nature to love and in its purest most Christ-like form to think of others before ourselves.  A mother’s instinct for love and self-sacrifice is because we are created in his image.  But as creatures of free choice, we don’t always make the wise decision.  Not all of us are blessed to have a mother who loves us the way we deserve or that she was created to be.  So, if you have a mother in your life who has given you this kind of love, whether she is your biological mother, your adopted mother, or your surrogate mother, remember to give thanks to her and thanks to God for the way he created us.

The most successful people in the world are unafraid of change.

To be fair, they may have been afraid, but they overcame their fear in the hopes of something better!  They dared to be different.  To do things outside of what others considered “normal.”  By the way, “normal” is overrated.  Different isn’t always popular.  Different can be risky.  Different means going against the status quo.  But it also means looking at a situation in a new way.  It means approaching a problem with a fresh attitude.  And often that’s what it takes to make the next big step, to evolve into something MORE.  Because when the old tried and true methods no longer work, we need the courage to do something different.  Take for example, Billy Beane. Billy Beane was different.  As general manager of the Oakland A’s, he threw nearly a century of “baseball wisdom” out the window and recruited a group of players using a system called sabermetrics which relied on data instead of traditional scouting techniques.  He was ridiculed, criticized, and belittled in the press.  The fans, other owners, even his own scouts were against him.  They said it would never work. But under his leadership the Oakland A’s were able to field a tough, competitive team with comparatively very little money. In 2002, the year they implemented the system, the A’s had the third lowest payroll in all of baseball with only $39.7 million.[1]  Yet they won an American League record 20 consecutive games and tied for most wins in all of baseball with a record of 103-59.  The only other team with as many wins was the New York Yankees whose payroll was more than three times that of the A’s.[2]  What Billy Beane did changed the face of baseball and still resonates today. When they make a movie of my life, I hope they get Tom Cruise.  Brad Pitt is great, but I think me and Tom have more in common.  There are still some who cling to the old ways of scouting, but most teams today incorporate at least some of the principles Beane adopted nearly 25 years ago. It even helped the Boston Red Sox break the Curse of the Bambino in 2004 to win its first World Series in 86 years.  Billy Beane did things differently and it worked.

Today, in our reading, we’re going to look at another person who did things differently.

That would be King David.  Or David as he is simply known at this part of his story.  This is a story you are familiar with.  Even if you’ve never read the Bible, you probably know about this event in David’s life.  We’re going to read a portion of the story of David and Goliath. At the beginning of the story, the Israelites and the Philistines are gathering for war.  The Israelites are on the top of one hill and the Philistines on another.  And in the midst of this, a man named Goliath comes forward from the Philistine’s camp and issues a challenge to the Israelites.  If one of the Israelites can best him in one-on-one combat, the Philistines will become the willful servants of the Israelites.  But if Goliath can beat the Israelites’ champion, they must become the willful servants of the Philistines.  Probably neither side would just give up that easily, but Goliath’s taunt did exactly what he hoped for.  It created fear in the hearts of the Israelites.  Not a one of them thought they could go toe-to-toe with Goliath.  As you know Goliath was one of the Philistine’s champions and he was HUGE!  Guinness Book of World Records huge.  Early manuscripts have him at about seven feet tall, but the Bible says he stood at 9’ 9” which would beat any other record by about a foot!  For forty days, Goliath came out and waited for someone from the Israelites to come challenge him.  That’s where David comes in.  Jesse sent David to the front lines to bring supplies to King Saul and to see how his sons were doing.  When David gets there, he sees the Israelites in fear of Goliath and when he is brought before the king, David volunteers to fight Goliath.  Saul tells David he doesn’t stand a chance and that’s where we pick up our story today.

³⁴ But David said to Saul, “Your servant has been keeping his father’s sheep. When a lion or a bear came and carried off a sheep from the flock, ³⁵ I went after it, struck it and rescued the sheep from its mouth. When it turned on me, I seized it by its hair, struck it and killed it. ³⁶ Your servant has killed both the lion and the bear; this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, because he has defied the armies of the living God. ³⁷ The Lord who rescued me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will rescue me from the hand of this Philistine.” Saul said to David, “Go, and the Lord be with you.”

³⁸ Then Saul dressed David in his own tunic. He put a coat of armor on him and a bronze helmet on his head. ³⁹ David fastened on his sword over the tunic and tried walking around, because he was not used to them. “I cannot go in these,” he said to Saul, “because I am not used to them.” So he took them off. ⁴⁰ Then he took his staff in his hand, chose five smooth stones from the stream, put them in the pouch of his shepherd’s bag and, with his sling in his hand, approached the Philistine.

⁵⁰ So David triumphed over the Philistine with a sling and a stone; without a sword in his hand he struck down the Philistine and killed him. ⁵¹ David ran and stood over him. He took hold of the Philistine’s sword and drew it from the sheath. After he killed him, he cut off his head with the sword. When the Philistines saw that their hero was dead, they turned and ran. – 1 Samuel 17:34-40 and 50-51

David did what was different.

But maybe not the way you’re used to looking at it.  We see this story as an incredible testament to the faith that David had in God, and it is.  It’s a story of great faith.  Here is this young man with basically no training whatsoever who comes to the battlefield and decides to take on this nearly ten foot giant because he insulted the people of God.  Now, everyone else in Saul’s army heard these same insults, but only David was moved enough to go out there and face Goliath.  In all honesty, Saul probably thought this might be what was needed to motivate the troops, the death of a young Israelite at the hands of this giant.  Maybe it would be enough to shame them into action and to find the bravery to face the Philistines.  Or maybe he really did believe in David and that the hand of God was upon this young man.  But either way, it was a testimony to David’s faith in God.  But David did something else that is a lesson we need to hear.  To make a difference, we have to do things differently.  Take a look at this passage we just read and you can see that’s exactly what David did.  David finally convinces Saul to let him face Goliath and after giving him his blessing, Saul gives David his very own tunic.  Being the king, it was probably the best protection money could buy.  He gave him armor and a helmet, but David told him, “I cannot go in these because I am not used to them.”  Saul’s probably wondering what kind of protection David was going to wear since he didn’t come into camp with any.  As it is, David would NEED some kind of protection if he hoped to survive even the first blow Goliath gave him.  But David shed the armor and instead picked up a few stones and his slingshot and went into battle.  And that’s it.  Stones and a slingshot. Traditionally, men in one-on-one combat would bear down on each other in their armor and weapons and trade blows until one of them fell.  It would be slow.  Like two tree trunks swinging wildly at each other.  Which is why David should have needed armor.  But he knew he couldn’t defeat Goliath the traditional way.  He would be slaughtered.  So, David it differently.  No armor meant he was extremely agile which he used to his advantage.  He ran at his opponent, fired a stone at his head, the only part of Goliath’s body not likely covered with some sort of protection, and killed the giant.  Had he been wearing armor he likely would have been so slow Goliath could easily have defended himself and killed David with a single blow.  But David did it differently.

Ecclesiastes says “there is a time for everything and a season for every activity under the heavens.”

The trick is realizing when that time is up and when it’s time to do something different.  Because as the world around us changes, we need to change, too.  We need to adapt.  We need to adjust to new circumstances.  That’s not always easy, but sometimes it’s necessary.  Look at the example of David.  Had he fought Goliath in the traditional way, he almost surely would have been killed.  But because he did things differently, he found a way to beat the odds.  Businesses do this all the time.  They are always trying to find something BETTER.  Even when they are succeeding, they are always looking for that competitive advantage. Failure to adapt leads you to failure.  Odds are its difficult to find any product the same way it was when you were a child.  Even if the name is the same, it’s probably “new and improved.”  Take for instance, Oreos or should I say the Oreo Chocolate Sandwich Cookie – its official name since 1974.[3]  The Oreo cookie has saturated the market. Today they are the number one selling cookie in the world selling over 3 BILLION dollars worth per year – more than three times the amount of the next leading brand (Gamesa if you’re wondering).[4]  But never one to rest on their laurels, Oreo has branched out and done any number of varieties of Oreo cookies.  Double Stuf was the earliest variation coming out in 1974, Oreo Minis came out in 1991, and since then the flavors and varieties have kept on coming.  They even released Gluten Free Oreos in 2021!  Why bother when you are the number one cookie in the world?  Because they want to stay that way.

In the same way, we need to examine where it is in our lives we might need to do things differently.

What isn’t working the way you hoped?  What do you need to do differently to make it work?  Maybe it’s something simple like our food choices.  Maybe it’s how we relate to other people.  Maybe it’s the path our career is taking us.  Or maybe it’s where you feel God is calling you.  Are you doing all you can to follow where God is leading you in your life, or do you hide behind the comfort and security of the familiar?  Isn’t that so easy to do?  It’s hard for us to step out in faith and do something different.  We like staying with the tried and true – even if it’s not so tried and true any longer.  But then we look at God’s example.  God is the ultimate “doing something different” type of person.  Jesus took death on the cross and turned it into new life.  He took the symbol of utter despair and hopelessness and turned it into a symbol for life and hope instead.  When Jesus was resurrected, he showed the disciples and ultimately the world that death was only a new beginning.  The Israelites thought the savior of the world would come in triumph to destroy their enemies and lead them into a new existence.  And he did.  But not in the way they imagined.  Jesus, like David, did something different.  What will you do differently?  This is a question we need to ask ourselves – both personally and even as a church.  Churches all over the world are growing smaller, especially in countries like the United States.  Often, it’s because the world around us keeps changing and we struggle to keep up.  We fight against change because we like the comfort and security of the familiar.  But without change, without growth, we fail to meet the needs of the people around us – the people who need to see God is alive and relevant to who they are.  How can you contribute to God’s Kingdom?  Maybe inviting a friend.  Maybe by giving more of your time, talent, gifts, service, and witness.  Pray on it and ask God what he would like you to do differently – and do it.  Personally, I want to challenge you to do something different.  Try a new vegetable.  Exercise more.  Eat a new food.  It may make little difference, or it could change your life.  Who knows?  You won’t…until you do something different. 

[1] http://www.baseballchronology.com/Baseball/Years/2002/Payroll.asp

[2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2002_Major_League_Baseball_season

[3] https://www.thoughtco.com/history-of-the-oreo-cookie-1779206

[4] https://www.statista.com/statistics/420561/global-cookie-market-sales-of-the-leading-brands/

The Game of Life is insidious.

At least it was when I was growing up.  Today’s version is a lot more friendly, and I love how there are different ways to win.  It still has those rolling hills, white buildings, and magical spinner, but now you have all sorts of choices you didn’t have in the old game and to me it’s even more fun than before.  But the old game?  While I had fun playing it, I didn’t like the message it sent – “Money is the only important thing in life.”  Did you know that the Game of Life was the first game ever created by Milton Bradley?[1]  Yes, THAT Milton Bradley.  The company that brought you Battleship, Yahtzee, Connect Four, Candy Land and so many more.  But the foundation for his success was The Game of Life that he invented back in 1861.  And in his game, it wasn’t about money either.   Milton Bradley thought that you could teach important life lessons through play, so his game focused on living a long and happy life.  But over time, the game changed, and it focused instead on acquiring money.  In fact, if you got to the end of the game and you were behind, you could spin the wheel for a chance to win, but if you failed, you were destined for the Poor Farm.  The game’s attitude changed from living a good life to success at all costs, and success was measured only by money and things.  But do you really think money can buy you happiness? 

Stuart Scott is one of the most famous anchors to ever hold the position on SportsCenter.

Bear with me.  It all makes sense.  If you watched ESPN in its early days, you know his name and if you don’t you might have heard some of his famous catch phrases.  He was one of the most famous and groundbreaking sports anchors in the business and he was well known for the things he would say on TV.  Some of my favorites were, “Cool as the other side of the pillow.”  Or “He must be the bus driver cuz he was takin’ him to school!” But the one everyone knows best is just two short syllables, “Boo-yow!”[2]  Stuart Scott was one of those influential people who changed the way we watch television.  He also defined SportsCenter for an entire generation of viewers.  But at the young age of 49, Stuart Scott passed away from cancer.  He had been battling it for nearly 8 years beginning in 2007 when after an appendectomy it was discovered he had the deadly disease.  He battled it back numerous times but finally died because of it in 2015.  Still, he approached life with an amazing attitude.  While being honored in 2014 at the ESPY awards, he said about his battle with this horrible disease, “When you die, it does not mean that you lose to cancer. You BEAT cancer, by HOW you live, WHY you live, and in the manner in WHICH you live.” Some really deep thoughts.  We do tend to think of life as a game in which there are winners and losers, but winning and losing the game of life isn’t about money or fame or achievement.  Winning and losing the game of life is about what you do with the time you have.

This is a lesson God has been trying to teach us all along.

We’re going to read this morning from a passage you’re probably familiar with. Life isn’t a game to be won or lost, at least not in the traditional sense.  Normally, when you play a game, there are winners and there are losers.  In basketball, in baseball, in football.  We are taught that winning is a zero-sum game. But to win at life, is different because it’s a game you play by yourself.  Whether you win or lose has nothing to do with scores or money or ratings or any kind of metric we traditionally use to define ourselves with.  And in this game, when we win, others win too.  And when we lose, so do they.  Here is what Jesus said to the crowds about this in Mark’s Gospel. 

³⁴ Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. ³⁵ For whoever wants to save their life^[b] will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me and for the gospel will save it. ³⁶ What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? ³⁷ Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul? ³⁸ If anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of them when he comes in his Father’s glory with the holy angels.” – Mark 8:34-38

When we value the same things God values, we become winners in life.

Both in this one AND the next.  That’s what Christ means when he says we must deny ourselves and follow him.  We must be willing to let go of the part of us that clings to the world and its values and instead admit to our weakness (by bearing our cross) and follow him.  When we do that, we become alive in a new way.  We are a new creation in Christ, and we belong to something greater and more noble than anything on Earth.  And more importantly, we are saying our eternal life is more important to us than our mortal one.  That’s why Jesus’ words are so powerful when he says, “What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul?  Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul?”  There is nothing we can earn in this lifetime that could ever match the promise of the next.  There’s no amount of stuff we can gain that can redeem our soul other than giving our life to God.  To the outside world, that sometimes seems like we’re giving up a lot.  But when you know the peace of God in your heart, it’s really giving up very little.

Have you seen the movie, Field of Dreams?[3]

There’s a part in that movie that really touched me when I saw it.  It’s a scene between Ray Kinsella, played by Kevin Costner, and Doc Graham played by Burt Lancaster.  In the scene, Ray comes to visit Doc to see if he can make his wish of batting in the major leagues come true and he tells the Doc that he knows of a place where this could happen.  Doc Graham is obviously moved by Ray’s gesture, but he says, “If it means leaving Chisholm…” and shakes his head ‘no.’  Ray looks at him and says, “But your wish…” And the Doc responds, “It’ll stay one.  I was born here, lived here, and I’ll die here.  That’s okay.  I’ll have no regrets.”  But Ray can’t let it go.  Doc is willing to sacrifice his dreams to hit in the big leagues for a life in Chisholm, Minnesota?  He says, “But sixty-five years ago – for five minutes – you came THIS close. It would kill some men to get that close to their dream and never touch it.  They’d consider it a tragedy.”  But Doc looks at him with a soft look on his face and says, “Son…if I’d only gotten to be a doctor for five minutes…now that would’ve been a tragedy.”  Those words just touched me in a deep way the first time I heard them and every time thereafter.  I think I’ve seen the movie twenty times and I still love it.  But Doc’s words drive home the point that Christ told us in our passage this morning.  It’s not fame or fortune that defines our life.  It really is about this sense of fulfillment that we derive from living our best lives and as Christians we believe that our best lives come from Christ.  When we live our lives according to HIS values and HIS direction, we find that peace that so often eludes the world. 

As I keep getting older, I think more and more about what it means to live a “successful” life.

In 2008, one of my high school friends, Darryl Ishii passed away.  He was barely forty years old.  He was much more fit than me.  He exercised regularly and had a passion for basketball.  We weren’t that close, but I knew him enough to consider him a friend.  We went to high school together and played basketball together when we were kids.  And he died.  Suddenly.  From a heart attack while on the court playing basketball.  He left behind a wife and two kids.  Stuart Scott, nearly the same age as me suddenly found out he had cancer.  He also was fit, and famous, and had a family who loved him.  And then there are others who live to be 100 for no particular reason.  They don’t take care of themselves any better or worse than my friend Daryl did or Stuart did.  So was Daryl’s life or Stuart’s life any less of a success for having been so much shorter?  I don’t think so.  I don’t think we can take a standard measurement like money, or fame, or long life even as the measure of success.  I see many people who spend the last year, 5 years, 10 years of their lives not quite themselves and wonder how they view their life.  For me, watching different people come to their end in different ways, I believe that the success of your life is wholly dependent on you and God.  Not your circumstances.  Not the years you have.  Not the awards or accolades you accumulate.  Not whether or not you get your name in the paper.  All of that is short-lived.  The success in your life is dependent on the peace in your heart, the knowledge that you’ve lived your best life, that you are loved and that you love others, and that you have done everything you can to be deserving of that love.  And all of that comes into place when we walk closely with God.  Only God can give us the peace and contentment that we so desperately seek.  As we approach Easter and the resurrection of our Lord, let us resurrect in ourselves a renewed spirit to live our best life.  For ourselves, for those we love, and to honor the gift God has given us.  With God, we give meaning to the HOW, and the WHY, and the manner in WHICH we live.  God bless you all. 

[1] Information on The Game of Life came primarily from an article from The Vox and Wikipedia.

[2] Great article on Stuart Scott.  Read it and was surprised myself to find out that what I always thought was “Boo-yah” was actually “Boo-yow!” http://espn.go.com/espn/story/_/id/12118296/stuart-scott-espn-anchor-dies-age-49

[3] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y9yrupye7B0

I must not fear.
Fear is the mind-killer.
Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration.
I will face my fear.
I will permit it to pass over me and through me.
And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path.
Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain.

The Bene Gesserit “Litany Against Fear” from the book Dune.

A powerful reminder that fear, as powerful as it can be, isn’t real.  Fear can be conquered.  Fear is simply a label we put on a feeling we have when our body is warning us about a possible threat.  And that’s the key word – “possible.”  We can be fearful of things that pose no threat or danger to us at all.  But if our minds perceive it as a threat or even a potential threat, we CAN react with fear.  We can take a nugget of information and turn it into a snowball of fear that spurs us to do hurtful, irrational, illogical, and sometimes downright stupid things.  When I was six years old, my mom told me that laundry detergent could kill you.  Technically, she’s right.  If I swallowed a box of laundry detergent, and didn’t get help, it could kill me.  But there are 20 steps in-between she failed to mention; the result of which had me holding my breath and RUNNING down the detergent aisle every time we went to the grocery store.  I’d stand there at the other end, wondering how in the world my mom could so casually walk down this aisle of death!  With my little sister Karen no less!  I’d be pleading with my mom from the other end to hurry up and get out of there and heaven forbid she should actually BUY a box of death.  I’d be holding my breath any time I was near the shopping cart!

Fear is like laundry detergent. 

Its purpose isn’t to hurt us, but to help us.  Like the cute little guy in the movie Inside Out, Fear is meant to be our body’s warning system.  It puts us on high alert to potential danger so we can respond quickly if something turns out to be an actual threat.  But if we let fear drive us, if we let fear consume us, it can become a threat.  It can change us and alter the way we look at the world.  The internment of the Japanese during World War II is a prime example of fear running amok.  Despite absolutely no evidence of any actual threat by any person of Japanese ancestry, our government decided to lock up every person (including my parents and grandparents) of Japanese heritage.  They forced innocents to move to remote locations in conditions worse than most prisons without any compensation for their loss.  And although we were at war against the Germans and the Italians, people with ethnic ties to those countries were not typically rounded up.  It was fear that drove that decision.  The same thing happened after 9/11 with the Muslim community.  Hate crimes against people who looked Arabic (whether they were Muslim or not) skyrocketed.  Abuse, violence, and even death just for LOOKING like someone with Arabic heritage.  Similar things have happened in the LGBT community, the Mexican community, and pretty much any group you can think of who have been labeled as “different.”  In the “Litany Against Fear,” they describe fear as the “mind-killer” and the “little-death that brings total obliteration.”  And that rings true on so many levels.  Fear erodes at our being.  Fear turns us into the worst versions of ourselves.  That person who normally would be kind-hearted and caring, can turn into a rabid hate-monger.  It’s the “little-death” because it happens without us consciously being aware of it.  It’s a “mind-killer” because it erodes logical thought.  We don’t suddenly say, “Today I’m going to be a hate-monger.”  Fear gnaws away at our character and we develop prejudices and negative attitudes that don’t align with the truth at all.  Instead, we develop our own “truth” and convince ourselves that our actions are not prejudiced or hateful but are done for our “protection” or the protection of those around us.  But when you peel away the layers of it all, it comes down to fear. 

Fear can be overcome.

It does not have to dictate our actions and it does not have to erode away at our character.  In this letter to Timothy, Paul is trying to encourage him to boldly proclaim Jesus to the world.  I don’t know if Timothy actually has a fear about doing this, but since Paul is in jail at the time, maybe he was trying to bolster Timothy’s spirits?  Most of us would feel scared or downhearted if our mentor who we believed in was captured and put in jail.  Paul is trying to encourage Timothy to carry on in his absence.  After a few pleasantries, this is how Paul begins his letter. 

⁷ For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self-discipline. ⁸ So do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord or of me his prisoner. Rather, join with me in suffering for the gospel, by the power of God. ⁹ He has saved us and called us to a holy life—not because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace. This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time, ¹⁰ but it has now been revealed through the appearing of our Savior, Christ Jesus, who has destroyed death and has brought life and immortality to light through the gospel. ¹¹ And of this gospel I was appointed a herald and an apostle and a teacher. ¹² That is why I am suffering as I am. Yet this is no cause for shame, because I know whom I have believed, and am convinced that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him until that day. – 2 Timothy 1:7-12

We are not a timid people!

At least we weren’t designed that way.  God created us to be bold.  He created us to be strong, so that we could endure when life was tough.  That we would have the strength to hold on to our faith and our beliefs even when the world turned against us.  He wanted us to move beyond our fear – our fear of the unknown, our fear of the unexpected, our fear of rejection – and boldly show the world the love of Christ in tangible ways.  Not just the people who make us feel comfortable.  Jesus said it himself in Luke chapter 6, ³² “If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners love those who love them. ³³ And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners do that. ³⁴ And if you lend to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, expecting to be repaid in full. ³⁵ But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked.^...”

But how often do we do that?

How often are we willing to step outside our comfort zone to do what’s right?  Too often our fears overcome us and make us timid.  We don’t do give as generously as we know we should or even could.  We don’t speak up when we someone gets bullied or when people are gossiping about them behind their back.  We don’t intervene when we see something wrong happening right in front of us and we allow our fear to convince us that it’s too dangerous to get involved or “not our business.”  But that is how evil works – through our fear.  It erodes our character, diminishes who we are supposed to be, and convinces us that the cowardly, cruel, and mean things to do are the right ones.  God did not create us to be a “careful” people.  He taught us to be wary of those things that might cloud our judgment or separate us from God, but God did not create us to be “careful.”  We are supposed to be a bold people.  The true test of a person is not how he or she behaves when things are good, but when things are at their worst.  Do we hold onto our beliefs, or do we give in to fear?  When we give in to fear, like we did after 9/11 and during World War II and to the LGBTQ community, we give in to the evil that is in the world.  If we stand strong in our faith, we honor the Spirit God gave to us and we create a better world. 

There are ways to fight fear![1]

According to Dr. Theo Tsaousides, we first have to respect and understand fear.  Knowing our reactions are sometimes based on fear and not on reality can help us make better choices when fear enters into our lives.  We need to understand where our fear comes from.  Some things we fear are instinctive like giant bears and poisonous snakes.  Sometimes fear comes from our own past experiences.  If you nearly drown in water, you’re probably far more likely to be afraid of swimming than someone who has never gone through that experience.  And sometimes we can stir ourselves up by the stereotypes, assumptions, and prejudices that lie beneath the surface of our minds.  We start projecting what MIGHT happen and the fear of the possible drives us into making poor decisions.  We need to be aware of what Dr. Theo calls “forecasting.”  Just because something is possible, doesn’t mean it’s likely to happen, and we have to learn to differentiate between the likely and the unlikely.[2]  Fear can be conquered, but if we don’t acknowledge our fear, if we don’t work toward overcoming it, we are likely to keep heading down a destructive path.  And that is true not just for our lives, but our community, our society, and our country as well.  We cannot let fear rule us.  And we can be certain God did not create us that way.

Today, I can walk boldly down the detergent aisle.

I even buy the stuff on my own.  That seems to be such a childish thing because it is.  But so is being afraid of people because of the color of their skin.  Or because they are gay.  Or because they eat different foods than you do.  Fear isn’t always rational.  And for us to be the people God created us to be, we have to recognize our fear and grow beyond it.  We cannot allow for fear to dominate our way of thinking.  Fear can be a great tool to warn us, to heighten our senses, but it can also be a “mind-killer” and the “little-death that brings total obliteration.”  There is nothing wrong with being afraid.  The most brave, courageous people in the world are afraid at times like all the rest of us.  The difference is they recognize the fear and don’t let it overwhelm them.  Stand up to fear.  Use it as the tool it was meant to be, but don’t let it use you.  In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

[1] https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/smashing-the-brainblocks/201512/7-ways-fearless-people-conquer-fear

[2] Dr. Theo actually has “Seven Ways Fearless People Conquer Fear” but we only cover the first few. Definitely encourage you to read the rest.  Very insightful article.