Ordinary People sermon: 7.6.2014 Sandy Ward
Good morning.
This is a story about a very
ordinary person, in a very ordinary life. There is nothing glamorous, and no one is
going to write an epic drama mini-series depicting this life. But in this ordinariness there is something very
awesome and very empowering…
It was a blustery fall day, in fact
it was Halloween, and the doctor was trying to finish his obligations. I was one of his obligations – or rather my
mother and I were his obligations. I had
to be born so he could go out of town. I
was both a trick and a treat that night in Moline, IL.
Over the next seven years, my older
brother and I were joined by another sister and brother. It was the 60’s and my dad went to work each
day at his job as a tool and die maker, and my mother stayed home and raised
the children. We were… a very ordinary family. We walked to our school two blocks away, went
to lessons and after school activities, and on Sundays my mother took us four
kids to Sunday School and church service at the Watertown Baptist Church. I remember it being a medium size church with
one male pastor, and a male youth pastor that was hired later. This was the church my mother’s entire family
attended, 3 aunts, 3 uncles, 9 cousins, grandma, mom and my 3 siblings.
I grew up memorizing bible verses
and the books of the Bible. John 3:16,
King James style, was the central verse of this church’s ministry, long before
churches had mission statements and ministry plans. The minister lived in a parsonage that was
connected to the church. Worship was
every Sunday morning, Sunday night and I think there was a mid-week
service. When I was in high school, we
had youth group on Sunday evenings. It was a …very ordinary church.
I was an ordinary middle child, who went to an ordinary school and ordinary
church. I even went to Normal,
IL for college. In the years that followed college I moved to
Chicago, worked in corporate America and went to grad school at night. I was living the dream of the 80’s – working
in corporate America, getting an MBA. I
had a nice car, a condo in the city, By
some folk’s standards, I had it all… but after about 10 years of that I wanted
something more meaningful.
I was growing restless; I drifted
in and out of church attendance, not really finding a downtown church to latch
onto. I was struggling with how to live in a self-absorbed, fast-tracked world
while really wanting to make some sort of social contribution. I had growing need to serve others.
In July of 1989, I met my husband on
a boat in Wilmette Harbor. We were sailing
together on a mutual friend’s boat in a regatta on Lake Michigan. Two years later we were married outdoors at
Windpoint Lighthouse in Racine, Wisconsin.
Our son, Cameron, was born a year and a half later. It was 1992, and by this point I had left
corporate America and was working as the Marketing Manager of a hospital, starting
to make some contribution to
society. And with a new baby, it was
time to get serious about getting back to church. (How ordinary
is that story?)
In 1994 we moved to Ames, Iowa, we
began to find a family routine and values around worship, mission and
fellowship at the First UMC in Ames. With
a one year old in tow, and another baby on the way, now my identity was as a
wife and mother. When we moved again to East Lansing, Michigan,
it was easy to connect with a new church. Now we had 2 preschoolers (Cameron and Blake),
my husband was in law school and I was working at Michigan State
University. At church I was a Sunday
School teacher and my husband ran the sound board, and we chaired the outreach
committee, and many of our neighborhood friends were also our church friends.
Fast forward ten years. We had been raising our children with Church
attendance and activities as a regular part of our lives, when we moved to
Columbia, MO. We found a new church and
it was easy to connect because now we had school age children. I was employed working for the church – first
in a more regional setting then later at the church we attended and were
members of. My oldest son graduated from
high school, my husband had a good job, my younger son was growing up, and life
should have been savored and appreciated. But I knew there was something more. Thoughts of attending seminary had floated in
and out of my mind, and I had this very compelling feeling that each job and
each experience had been building to something greater. This was my call and I either had to live
into it, or forget it. I knew I had to
be true to myself and my God. So, like
many of our household business discussions, I decided to bring it up with my
husband over lunch. I said “hey, I want
to talk to you about something”… and he said “you want to go to seminary”. I was shocked! “yeah… how did you know?” He said “I thought you should have gone years
ago”. What a gift that was to me. I felt peace, and a solid sense of
direction.
The story doesn’t end there. It’s actually a new beginning. Because, through this journey, I began to
discover that even the most ordinary people are something special. And through my own Bible study, this is one
of the scriptures that has really really embraced and empowered me;
Psalm 139:13-14:
“For it was you who formed my
inward parts;
you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
14 I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
Wonderful are your works;
that I know very well.”
you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
14 I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
Wonderful are your works;
that I know very well.”
In this passage, the psalmist is David, and he
is writing in praise for the formation of each and every person -- unique and
not of ourselves or our parents, but of God.
Think about it, each and every muscle, bone, organ and blood vessel is
in place to work together in exact symmetry and proportion and is designed
exquisitely to deliver energy and function when we need it. These verses transcend the scientific concept
of humans as merely biological happenings. David is so eloquent in making the
case that each human is a deliberate and intentional work of our omnipotent creator. Our very being, our self, wholly and complex,
is the will of God and we belong to God in every aspect of our being.
Look
especially at 3 words in this passage:
formed, fearfully and made:
First, the word “formed”, from
verse 13 ““For it was you who formed my inward parts”: Albert
Barnes,( in his article in Sacred Texts),
comments that the literal translation of v.13 should be “Thou hast “woven”
me in my mother’s womb”, “meaning that God had put the psalmist’s parts
together, as one weaves cloth – God made us human, forming our parts and
uniting them in a bodily frame and form.” [1]
Second, the word “fearfully”,
from verse 14, “I am fearfully and wonderfully made”: Dr. C.
John Collins, a theologian at Covenant
Theological Seminary, writes that when you interpret verse 14 from the Hebrew, it
is better translated as “I am fearfully (or even better, awesomely)
wonderful”. Fearfully is derived from
the root word “yara”, In today’s culture, fear is usually associated
with the instincts to run, defend or retaliate.
But “yara” actually
encompasses a larger meaning of awe, reverent respect, and honor. At its root, the word denotes obedience to
the divine will, so another meaning might be “reverently”. Albert Barnes provides a translation of
“fearfully” as things suited to produce fear or reverence – things in creation
which are suited to inspire awe”. [2]
Third, look at the word “made”,
also from verse 14: The common Biblical
translations usually say “I am fearfully and wonderfully made…”, but actually,
the word “made” translates closer to
“be separated, distinct”, with a
nuance based on the Hebrew verb that means “set apart for God’s gracious attention.”[3]
Putting it all together, using
the wisdom of Barnes and Collins, a better interpretation might be ‘God put me together in my mother’s womb,
uniting all of me together in a human body.
I am revered as an awesomely distinct being, set apart for God’s
gracious attention.’
We are living proof of God’s wonder, wisdom
and knowledge. We are created in the
image of God, according to Genesis 1:27 “God created man in His own image, in
the image of God He created him; male and female He created them”.
When I first began
this journey of exploring a call to ministry, I was asked to tell my
story. I told a humble, “Readers Digest”
version and a colleague said to me, “you have something to shout about – you are the daughter of the King”. What
a conviction! God created me and gave me
exactly what I need, to be able to do what I am called to do. I am created to share the good news of the
love and grace of our Lord and do good works.
I am created to serve as Jesus served, lead as Jesus led, pray as Jesus
prayed and love and Jesus loved.
And I think we all
have a call to serve God in one way or another.
God has created you uniquely,
formed and framed by God. Each of us was
reverently, wondrously, strikingly, remarkable, differently made, in ways
beyond human explanation. We are to know
God, just as God knows us. God has given
you exactly what you need to be able to do what God calls you to do. You are empowered to live a God filled life,
by virtue of the wondrous creation you are.
While I may have had a pretty ordinary life by
most people’s standards, I am far from ordinary in God’s eyes. I AM the daughter of the King! And there is nothing ordinary about any of us
– we are all children of our living and loving God – each of us uniquely
created to live out our own faith, our own call, our own identity in the
world. You are sons and daughters of the
King!!
On this weekend when we are
celebrating our country’s independence, we remember all those who have done a
part to protect our freedom -- many of them from very ordinary walks of life,
but all of them courageously stepping up.
But in each of us, ordinary or not, God has created us with beauty and
purpose. Remember that you are the daughter or son of the
King, and that each and every one of us
is an “awesomely distinct being, set apart for God’s gracious attention and
reflection.
[3]
C. John Collins. “Psalm 139:14: “Fearfully and Wonderfully Made” Presbyterian: Covenant Seminary Review
25:2 (Fall 1999): 115