Faith Like a Child

Rev. Frank Harmon December 7, 2016

At that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” He called a child, whom he put among them, and said, “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever becomes humble like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me. ~Matthew 18:1-5

I know it is the Christmas season and I should have something “Christmasy” to write about. I will get there, but you’ll have to bear with me…because I want to start off by talking about a little girl. Those who come to the 10:00 am service might notice her. Every time she enters the sanctuary I can’t help but watch and smile.

I remember the first time I noticed her entering the sanctuary because she came running in, not like most kids running crazy to the playground, but ran in with an eagerness and joy in her eye. As she entered worship, I looked to see where her mom was, as I did not see her. Sure enough, a few seconds later her mom came following behind. I didn’t say anything, but for some reason it made me smile. The next week the same little girl came running into the sanctuary with the same joy and eagerness in her eye, and a few steps behind her was her mom.

For the next few weeks I found myself looking for her to enter the sanctuary, and one week I finally had to say something to her mother. So, I stopped her and said, “I just want to let you know how much joy it brings me to see your daughter enter worship. I wish everyone entered this space with the same joy and excitement each week that she does.” Her mom responded by saying, “Every week she is so excited to come to church. She can’t get enough of it, whether on Wednesday night or Sunday morning, she just loves being here and learning about God.”

Every time I see this little girl I am reminded of Jesus’ words to his disciples, “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” Often times we hear this or read it and think, “This is not me - I am not a child, I am an adult”, or, “I don’t have time to act like a child.” We think this way because we confuse being like a child with being childish. See, there is a huge difference in being like a child and being childish. I know many children as well as adults that are good at being childish. Childish is being selfish, self-centered, and having a feeling of entitlement - things appropriate for children. When we read Jesus’ teachings, we learn that being childish is the furthest thing away from what He teaches.

However, to be like a child means to see everything with joy and excitement. It is as a child on Christmas morning, seeing the spender and magic of what took place the night before. To be like a child means not being cynical or feeling like we have to know it all. Children aren’t born with a sense of fear or hate - it is something they learn. To be a child means to have big dreams, to believe that God can do anything, to not fear judgment, ridicule or even failure.

So, when Jesus tells us to be like a child, He is telling us we should love more than hate, dream more than fear, trust more than be cynical. Being like a child means that when we come to worship, we come in awe and wonder of a God who created the heavens and earth - not to be entertained, out of a sense of obligation or because it is routine.

I had a pastor friend who would randomly ask youth and children, “Do you know what today is?” and without fail, they would say, “Monday” or “Sunday” or whatever day of the week it was. To that, he would say, “No…today is the day that the Lord has made, so we should rejoice and be glad in it.” As Christians, every day is the Lord’s day and we should live every day filled with wonder and joy. We get to live our lives in relationship with the creator of the universe, who was born in a manger and died on a cross, all so we might know Him and love Him.

Let us be more like a child and less childish in our relationship with God and in our relationships with each other. If you need help figuring out what I am talking about, I would encourage you to come early to the 10:00 service and look for the little girl running into worship with a sense of joy and excitement on her face Then you will know.

Category: Children, Faith, Advent, Joy, Jesus

Easter

Serious Joy

Dr. Wesley Avram February 16, 2016

Back in 2011, I began my Easter sermon at Pinnacle with a joke:

A passenger in a taxi leaned over to ask the driver a question and tapped him on the shoulder. The driver screamed, lost control of the cab, nearly hit a bus, drove up over the curb, and stopped just inches from a large plate glass window. For a few moments everything was silent in the cab, and then the still shaking driver said, 'I'm sorry but you scared the daylights out of me.' The frightened passenger apologized to the driver and said he didn't realize a mere tap on the shoulder could frighten him so much. The driver replied, 'No, no, I'm sorry, it's entirely my fault. Today is my first day driving a cab.... I've been driving a hearse for the last 25 years.'

I don't remember where I got the joke, nor do I really want to remember. But I do remember why I told it, because there's an old tradition about Easter in some parts of the church, that on Easter believers should go out of their way to laugh.

We're supposed to laugh the laugh of resurrection in the face of death, which is meant to be a laugh against the Devil.

I'm told that Martin Luther once said that the best defense against evil (or as he said it, the Devil) is healthy laughter. There's something to that, so much so that even a bad joke can get a belly laugh on Easter.

We're still in Lent, though, which is meant to be a more solemn, reflective, even quiet time. I hope you find Lent that way, but I also hope that if you're taking the time to experience all that Lent can offer your spiritual life you're also remembering—deep in your spirit—the joy that waits for you.

So now, even in Lent, this might be a word about Easter worth remembering.

Embrace the joy of life in Christ even through the harder parts of your life—not to deny pain or difficulty, but to remember that Christ is sovereign and raised from death, and that he is with you every moment. He is Risen!

Let's live that truth—with a quieter chuckle now, and a hearty laugh on Easter!

Category: Easter, Joy, Laugh, Lent

Christmas

Pure Joy

Rev. Frank Harmon December 17, 2014

In those days Mary set out and went with haste to a Judean town in the hill country, where she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the child leaped in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit and exclaimed with a loud cry, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. And why has this happened to me, that the mother of my Lord comes to me? For as soon as I heard the sound of your greeting, the child in my womb leaped for joy. ~Luke 1:39-44

This week I was able to drive up to Williams to look at the camp for next years All Church Family Camp. When I take these sort of road trips, I typically take one of my children with me. One reason for this is to provide a little stimulation for me while I drive, and another reason is to let them experience something new and exciting. This trip to Williams was no different, and the child of choice was my youngest, Jude, as he was the only one not in school.

After dropping off my older two at school, Jude, my father (he wanted to see some of Arizona he hadn’t seen before too), and I headed up to Williams. As we prepared for the journey, we grabbed light jackets in preparation of the slight change in temperature from Scottsdale to Williams. As we were driving north on the 17, it didn’t really hit me until it was too late that it had rained in Scottsdale this past weekend, meaning there would probably be snow on the ground in Williams.

Although I have not lived in a place where it has snowed in over 10 years, growing up in the Mid-West snow is something I am accustomed to. It is something that is nice to look at from a distance, and even nicer to drive to when you want to enjoy it, but snow is not something that really excites me as much as it did when I was a kid. When I was a kid, snow brought joy because it often meant a snow day. In Indiana, we didn’t get a lot of snow days, a day it snows so much they cancel school, but when we knew it was going to snow, we would wait up late at night to see if our school had been canceled the next day. Finding out that it had been canceled the day before was the best because it meant you could sleep in the next day. However, it was no less spectacular to get up in the morning and see that your school day had been canceled.

My kids they have never known this joy. Of my three children, only Trey, my oldest, has been in real snow before. They have been in the man-made kind at parks or winter festivals, but only Trey has seen the real stuff. Snow, for my children, is often looked at as a mythical creature, something that they have only heard stories and rumors about, but haven’t ever witnessed for themselves. Because of this, my daughter has made me promise to take her to see real snow this year.

When we first pulled into the camp, Jude was asleep so he didn’t notice the snow we passed on our drive. So when I woke him up to get out of the car he was taken aback to see snow on the ground. When he got out of the car the first thing he did was run over to the snow - and the smile on his face was priceless. He poked it at first. Then he grabbed it in his hand. Then he proceeded to throw a snowball at Grandpa, then at Dad, and then at a tree and a rock. It wasn’t too long before the realization of how cold snow is started to sink in, as his hands started to get cold. Do you think that stopped him? No. I warmed them up for him and back off he was to play in the snow. The pure joy that snow brought to Jude brought joy to me in a way that snow hadn’t since I was a kid. Snow was once again was something that I no longer took for granted, but something I looked forward to seeing again.

After the angel of the Lord told Mary that she was going to have a child, the first thing she did was go she her cousin Elizabeth. Elizabeth, who was much older than Mary, and who was barren, was also going to have a child. Despite the excitement that Elizabeth had for her own pregnancy and planning for the birth of her own child, John the Baptist, when Mary arrived she didn’t make it about herself. Elizabeth made it about Mary, and we are told that she was excited for Mary. She didn’t let her own life distract from the importance of what was happening through Mary in the birth of Jesus. In fact, we are told that even Elizabeth’s unborn baby leapt with joy at the sound of Mary’s voice.

Often in the hustle and bustle of being adults we lose sight of the joy that surrounds Christmas. We get busy making travel plans, buying presents, going to parties and we get distracted. As we get older, we often start to take Christmas for granted and it becomes something else to add to our to-do list. The “joy” of Christmas often gets replaced by the reality and the busyness of our lives leading up to Christmas. We find ourselves looking forward - getting beyond Christmas to a time when things settle back down and become less hectic. But that is not what Christmas is about.

This week we lit the Advent candle of Joy in anticipation of the joy that Christ’s birth will bring. As we approach Christmas, don’t let what is going on in our lives take away from the joy that is Christmas. No matter how many times you have heard the Christmas story, I hope that this year you will find joy as we celebrate the birth of our Savior.

Category: Christmas, Joy, Snow