Let me shift a few things here.
I was told by a good friend, Chris, here
that I needed more stickers to show where I work
and went to school and love.
It's a little confusing to get.
Yeah.
So you missed me.
Yeah.
I want to thank Pastor Greg and the church
for allowing me the opportunity to speak to you guys today.
It is truly an honor to be able to do so.
Well, exactly a week ago, we as a world
experienced the yearly phenomenon called the New Year.
Our calendars show that just over 2,000 of these
we have celebrated.
But of course, history, science, literature,
and your run of the mill paleontologist
will tell you that perhaps a few billion of these years
have come and gone.
Another annual celebration that comes along with the New Year
or at least annual ritual is the quest
to begin anew in some way, to resolve to become something
more or less, to pursue something greater,
to pursue to become something greater
than what had previously been practiced.
Whether it is to become healthier or read more books
or get better sleep or manage your money better,
we often use the New Year as a springboard
to achieve newness in some way.
For some, a resolution for the New Year
comes in the form of either establishing or renewing
their faith.
Perhaps we return to a church or practice we used to experience
or we take up an offer from a friend or family member
to attend a church they've been talking years about that they
said would both be uplifting and fulfilling in all
of the most important ways.
The one thing about resolutions, though,
in order for goals to be reached,
there has to be action taken, a series of acts,
sustainable acts, over a significant period of time.
Oftentimes, months, even years must
be spent to achieve our desires, whatever the original goal was.
I'm 52 years old.
And 30 years ago, I was visiting my cousin's church
on the south side of Chicago.
I went because she loved her church,
and she had been asking me to visit for quite some time.
It was a large, beautiful, and predominantly black church
that had all the bells and whistles.
Large congregation, charismatic pastor,
an elaborate choir and band, way too many deacons,
and women in every row of the pews wearing hats.
On this day, there happened to be a call to the congregation
for those who desire to be baptized
in the name of the Lord.
While I sat and watched others rise,
suddenly a warm, compelling sensation completely
took over my body and mind.
And I stood up to be counted among God's children.
Here at the house, when we quote the Bible,
we like to show respect by standing,
if you're willing and able.
2 Corinthians chapter 5, verse 17 says,
therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.
The old has passed away, behold, the new has come.
You may be seated.
When my baptism was done some time later,
I walked out of the church anew.
But I remember feeling no different than I had prior
to entering the church.
I still felt hungry, and I still had
to get on the bus to get home.
I don't know what I expected, but I
thought there would be something like perhaps maybe
a visible glow surrounding me, or maybe I would float
over the ground instead of walk, or if anything,
electricity would spark from my fingertips,
occasionally perhaps conveying a new power of some kind.
Supposedly, I was new in the world, born again,
and I was waiting for evidence of said newness.
Come on, super speed.
What I found over time, however, was an ever-present perception
of appreciation.
And what I mean by over time was years.
I started looking at my life and my experiences
and marveling at the wonders I had encountered.
I thought about my youth growing up
in a single-parent home in a challenging neighborhood
and enjoying the memories of my mother's love,
the success I had in school, the joy I
had playing basketball in both high school and in college,
though my dribbling, shooting, and defense
were average at best, if not downright mediocre.
I noticed I could still laugh at hilarious things that
happened years before, and I could be moved emotionally
by music and movies, even if I hadn't heard or watched them
in a while, just by their memory alone.
Everybody wants to rule the world by tears for fears.
To this day, stirs delightful nostalgia in my youth
every time I hear it.
And recently, I'm pretty sure I'll
be laughing at this for the rest of my life,
I could be stirred by something my wife said,
where she's an alum of Michigan State.
So of course, she's not a fan of anything Michigan,
University of Michigan.
So of course, they're also in the national championship game,
which happens on Monday.
So while watching one of the games this year, she said,
and I quote, Michigan's offense is so boring,
it's like watching basketball play with only five centers.
I saw.
Oh, ho, ho, ho.
Ow.
It's true.
But that was an opposite.
At that time, again, being a new,
I began to appreciate my friends and family a lot,
more than I had prior to.
Cherishing the love they had all showered upon me
over the rest of my lifetime, I realized
that what I had experienced possibly was not
experienced by everyone.
How many hugs and pats on the back and words of encouragement
had I experienced?
How many miracles had I witnessed?
A blackboard from the South Side of Chicago
being given opportunities to excel and achieve,
knowing and believing so many of my culture
were not to be as fortunate, even in my own family.
How blessed I had been treated to how blessed I had been,
had to be in order to be treated so well.
To sum it all up, I've been on a journey
to appreciate all of my experiences,
all of what I had seen and enjoyed,
but also what I survived.
For no life exists without peril and pain.
No life goes without tears shed and skin torn.
Nose broken, jaw broken, and if I put the microphone down
by my knees and my ankles, you would hear rice crispies
and milk.
Despite, yes, snap crackle pop, yes.
Despite any pain, loss, or disappointment
I had experienced over the course of my life,
I believe knowing of God's existence and presence
allowed me to actually be more rational.
For some, believing in an almighty power
is irrational or super fantastic.
But for me, it has allowed me to see what the world is
in all of its facets.
Sad, exciting, painful, dangerous, loving,
and extremely mundane.
Think about this.
Most of our waking moments are uneventful.
We brush our teeth every day.
We make a sandwich of some kind.
We sit at a desk at school or at work.
We watch TV.
We look at our emails.
And every now and then, we help somebody do something
real simple like put on a shirt.
None of that is exciting or causes
a rise in your heart rate.
Most of us aren't professional athletes performing
in front of millions or ER nurses in a major city
or construction workers who stand on a scaffold.
What we do daily, for the most part, is quite manageable.
My rationale gave me the opportunity
to find peace and beauty in all things, especially sandwiches.
From that time in my early 20s, I
began to notice little beautiful things all around me.
A father lovingly holding their children's hands
on the street, hardened athletes consoling each other
in difficult moments, the cheerful sounds of birds,
even the pleasant hum of a train somewhere in the distance.
And then there are the extremely beautiful moments
we all have that leave scars or beauty marks, perhaps,
on the soul.
I was once on a truck in Southeast Iowa visiting family.
I was with Uncle Jimmy, a farmer.
And we were driving to his mother's house about a mile
and a half down the road.
We were on a gravel road and we were surrounded by farmland.
For miles in any direction, all you saw
was earth and its natural splendor.
On this short trip, Jimmy noticed
out in the middle of a green pasture
to the west a very large black bull.
The property we were driving by was Jimmy's,
about 300 acres worth.
And all of his livestock was on the other side of a fence
about half a mile away.
So he knew it wasn't his.
I think that's the Johnson's bull, he said,
although I'm uncertain about the name of the family.
And he got out of his truck.
With the sun beginning to set directly in the location
we were looking, Uncle Jimmy opened a gate
to a barbed wire fence and started
to trot towards the bull running and yelling and waving his hands.
The animal gets startled, then turns away
and runs in the direction towards some tall timber
to the north, possibly where it had wandered out from.
And that wasn't the most amazing part.
With the sun, a stunning orange setting directly
at where we were looking, you didn't
have to squint at the sun.
Through the trees came three people on horseback,
straight out of a lonesome dove movie.
Jimmy waved at the riders.
The riders waved back at him and the bull trotted right past them
into the timber as they all disappeared.
Jimmy then walked back through the pasture,
opened the gate, closed it, got into the car,
and we proceeded to drive.
My jaw, the entire drive, actually his mother's house,
was right around here in the middle of my chest.
At the time watching him chase a bull,
I watched a human chase a bull.
That was arguably at the time the most beautiful moment
I had ever experienced.
And it was my rationale, my understanding of God's love,
my knowing what the world was with all of its flaws,
corruptions, and blemishes that allowed me
to experience such amazement.
If I could give you time, could you
imagine a moment in your life?
If not several, you were fortunate enough
to be part of something that was awe-inspiring,
if not completely spiritual, and maybe even heart-rending.
Could you not be moved emotionally and appreciatively
at those thoughts where perhaps it
would be difficult for you to speak at the moment?
Or maybe you'd be so moved that you
want to tell every single person about that moment in your life,
perhaps where it might have left a mark on your soul.
I know the world is harsh, and evidence of that harshness
is ever present.
When we watch the news, the first seven segments
usually supply these subjects not necessarily
in this order, car accidents, political scandal or intrigue,
fire, death, war, governmental discord, illness.
If we spend too much time on the internet,
we can find so many examples of the world's pain
just by listening to all the doomsayers, skeptics,
and bullies, and or watching the videos they promote.
And then there are the numerous historical examples
of leaders and important people, many of whom
being devoutly religious, causing the greatest
atrocities, war, slavery, prejudice.
So much is their impact that many of those who would possibly
seek God's love and hope would abstain because the examples
displayed by those we are supposed to follow,
those that are supposed to show us God's love and mercy,
have done so many terrible things.
Back in 2008, I had the pleasure of attending
the presidential inauguration in Washington, DC.
And as I was walking the street and enjoying the city
and the mood, there was a religious group
standing by the road trying to get people to come over to them
and hear God's word about, trying
to help folks figure out what God's path was
and purpose would be for them.
The problem I had with this group, as did many others,
was the gigantic sign they held aloft behind them that said,
you're going to hell, in big bold letters and in all caps.
Also, there was one guy with a bullhorn
shouting and pointing directly at people saying the same thing.
It took much strength from me not to go over there
and yank the bullhorn from his hand
and tell them that they were the example of why
many people avoid religion in pursuit of God
as intolerance and labeling often
appear within the verbiage of devout Christians and others.
We must be careful in our relations
so that we may provide them opportunities
to be and feel new in God's love so that they may know
of his wonder and his fulfillment.
All of this pain I have witnessed and learned about
and will continue to do so because we are not
perfect as people.
And our individual experiences will shape
how we view the world.
But I will say there is so much evidence of love and beauty
and grace and opportunity and hope in everything, everywhere,
all at once.
See what I did there?
See how's the movie reference?
OK.
I think it is important for each of us
to become anew, not just in baptism,
but also in how we see our own lives and the world as it is.
Can we seek out the beauty presented to us
and appreciate what we have despite our own shortcomings
and those of the world?
Life is what we have.
For however long we have it.
And to go through our days loving and listening, feeling
and dreaming, seeing and appreciating
is the best formula for me to understand
God's love and purpose for my life
and possibly for all those who believe in him.
Try your best to appreciate all there is, for all there is
is all we have.