Reorientation

Good Morning! This is a very good morning.  We’ve been talking about Noah for a few weeks now.  It seems the hard part is over.  Noah was living a good life, God called him, Noah responded then the world fell apart, he was left adrift for months with his wife and sons and their wives. It must have been very disorienting to have to go through that experience.

You ever notice that when life gets predictable, maybe even comfortable something happens that upends everything?  The illusion of control is shattered. Sometimes I wonder why I even make plans beyond tomorrow because life offers such unpredictability. 

The unusually-calm waters of Lake Michigan as seen from the top of the
lighthouse at the entrance of the Ludington Harbor. 

The calendar is predictable. We frame our lives around seasons and events in those seasons. In December when the nights are longest we celebrate the Birth of Christ, the light of the world. In Spring when the earth awakens from its winter sleep we celebrate Easter, the triumph of Jesus over death.

This is one of the High Holy Days of the Church.  This is Pentecost Sunday, the day we participate in the celebration of the giving of the Holy Spirit and therefore a celebration of the birth of the Church.

But all of those things, all of those events around which we frame our worlds were, at first very disorienting events.  A baby born in a stable that will be the king of everything is very disruptive.  Death that is defeated is very disrupting to the very order of our understanding of what is and what is supposed to be.  And the Holy Spirit giving power to people to be transformed into something new has disrupted many a lives over the centuries including my own.

Before Pentecost, before his time traveling with Jesus the apostle Peter was a fisherman. Imagine his life. He and his brother working together, having an understanding that this is the way life is and will always be.  Then came the rabbi Jesus and all that happened with him. Then came the crucifixion of Jesus, his resurrection. The many appearances of Jesus over the next several weeks and then the day that the Holy Spirit came and rested on the gathered apostles and Peter spoke to the people and thousands came to believe that Jesus was Lord. What a change! What a transformation!

Where are you on that journey?  Are you waiting for Jesus to show up and call you? Or are you implanting the word of God in the people around you such that they come to believe that Jesus is Lord? Or are you somewhere in between?

If you have come to believe that Jesus is Lord you are on that journey.

Half of our task on that journey is to know Christ all the more. We are to ever open more of ourselves and let the Holy Spirit take up residence and take control for our transformation and God’s glorification. To do that we have to allow for a certain amount of disorientation in our lives. We have to relinquish control so that God can point us in the right direction.

Now is the day.  Always: now is the day. It’s just a matter of when you want to start receiving the blessings of God.  When do you want God to be in control? When you put the Kingdom of God first in your life.  When you make God the number one priority and trust fully in Jesus Christ to be your Lord, You will be guided into abundant and eternal life.

But you cannot serve two masters.  Either you will Love Jesus and work for his glory or you will submit yourself to the impermanent and ultimately unsatisfying pursuits of this world.

It can be a frightening thing, to give up the thought of being in control of your life.  But those who have done it can testify to the fact that when you get through being disoriented, God will reorient you and you will begin to see very clearly the path to shalom, the path to peace, wholeness, and well-being.

When God reorients us, our priorities change and when our priorities change so do our behaviors. 

Give me a list of what you do and I will tell you what you believe.  You can be taught what it means to believe like a child of God and you can even teach it to others. But if our behavior is contrary to what we teach, do we really believe it?

Noah was a man who obeyed God.  He obeyed God and did his life get easier? No. did God give him life and salvation because of his obedience? Yes.

Noah endured the storm.  He endured the storm of criticism from family and neighbors when he was building a giant boat.  He endured the storm of rain and flood waters took away his control.  He endured the devastation of the loss of everything and everyone he knew. He endured the storm of waiting for God’s promised blessing when it seemed to be infinitely delayed as he floated upon the water for months and months.

You’ve endured the storms of life haven’t you? More than anyone here can possibly know. But it happened for Noah: The flood waters dried up. Noah removed the covering of the ark, and looked. He saw that the surface of the ground was dried. God spoke to Noah, “Go forth from the ark, you and your wife, and your sons, and your son’s wives with you…Be fruitful and multiply.”

Did life suddenly get easy at that point? My goodness no! There was nothing.  They had to start from scratch. But they had life. They had opportunity to build and to grow and to live a life devoted to the one that saved them from the storms of life.

I said earlier that half our task is to know Christ all the more.  If half of what we are to do in this life is to know Christ what is the other half?

To make him known.  To make Jesus Christ known to others.

That’s where we stand.  We stand on the shore where we have been delivered from all the storms of life to the dry land where we are given the great opportunity to plant the word of God in people’s lives so that they can come to know the life-giving, the all-loving, the saving love of Jesus Christ.

So how is it with you today?  Have you survived the storm? How is God now calling you to make Jesus know to others?  WHO is God calling you to plant the word of God into today?  We only have two jobs in life, to know Christ and to make him known.  Everything else supports or detracts from that mission.  Would you pray with me?