St. Johns Ev. Lutheran Church, Mahoning, Lehighton, PA

SERMON • 5th Week of Epiphany
Isaiah 40:21-31; Psalm 147:1-11, 20c; 1 Corinthians 9:16-23; Mark 1:29-39
Pastor Chris deForest • St. John’s Ev. Lutheran Ch. of Mahoning • 02/05/12

Have you ever walked along a busy street, on a busy sidewalk, with a 3-year old? A toddler? You hold their hand tight, for a couple of reasons. First, it’s cool to hold that little hand, hold onto that little one we love so well. Second, it’s a safety issue, right? If you turn loose, they may go running into the road, right into oncoming traffic. Plus, there might be a lot of people on the sidewalk who are strangers. There can be big dogs, or sharp rocks to fall on, holes to fall into.

A third reason might also be, if you don’t hold on, and keep them moving forward, they might get distracted by stuff that might harm them. They might sit down on an ant hill, or walk all over someone’s flower garden, or they might EAT something off the ground, something they should not even touch!

Finally, I can think of one more reason we hold on to that toddler’s hand. There might be some really amazing things going on all around them, that they might miss. “Look, a butterfly. Or a cardinal. Or a weird worm on the sidewalk.” There’s so much to show them and to share with them, as you walk along the way. I remember when my kids were little, and the weather was nice, we might stop for a while and pick dandelions, or lay down in the grass and look up into the sky to find animal shapes in the clouds.

Isn’t that great? Those are moments you cherish. But they don’t last forever. Our kids grow up, and those kinds of hand-holding moments become fewer and farther between. Even as toddlers, they sometimes struggle to let go of your hand – especially in those busy street moments when you need them to hold on the tightest! Then they become pre-teens, and teens, and young adults. Every kid is different, every parent is different – sometimes they will still come and take your hand, just out of love. But at 15, or 20, or 30, they certainly don’t need you to hold their hands when they cross the street.

And this is a good thing, really. We know it is. We know our role and our goal, as parents. We raise them up, then we have to let them go. We turn them loose. That’s our job. To push them out of the nest. Of course, sometimes they come back. In fact, surveys show that with our horrible economy and the high cost of housing and high unemployment, a lot of grown children are forced to stay with, or move back in, with their parents and other relatives. We take them back in, and it’s even nice to have them home for a while.

But we know, it’s not really how it’s supposed to be. It worries us. Our role, as parents, is to turn them loose. Why? So that they can make their own way in the world. They can find their own place, make their own life. And one more reason. One undeniable fact. We will not be here forever. If it goes the way it’s supposed to go, they will be here on earth a lot of years after us. One day we will be gone for good, and they will be on their own. So we have to turn them loose.

This reality is what makes it confusing sometimes, when we think about God as our Father. God the Father works as an idea, when we think of all the good things about parenting. God the good parent holding our hand tight, when we’re about to run out into the street – that is, protecting us when we are about to do bad or stupid things. God the good parent leading us by the hand towards the tasks and people that will help us, love us, work well with us – good friends, good relationships. God the good parent holding our hand when we’re sad, and comforting us. Or leading us by the hand to lie down in the grass and look up at the clouds – that is, calling us to enjoy our life and take time to smell the roses.

This is all good. But thinking of God as a parent can also get confusing, when our relationships with our parents get complicated or go in a bad direction. Seeing God as Father is not always helpful for people who were abused, neglected, or abandoned by their parents.

But even if your parents were practically perfect – better than the Let It To Beaver Dad, or Cliff Huxtable from the Cosby Show, or … I don’t know…who is a good father role model on TV today? Even if you think and feel fondly about your parents, we must still acknowledge, that there is a fundamental difference between your earthly parents and your heavenly Father. The goal of your earthly parents is to turn you loose. To let you go. To send you out. That’s good, and necessary, because they can’t always hold your hand. They can’t always be there to help you out. And they won’t be with you on this earth forever.

How is it different between you and your heavenly Father? Well, God never wants or needs to turn you loose. He is always there to help you out. And he is never going to go away. What does the prophet Isaiah say to us in our reading this morning? “Have you not known? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or be weary.”

What Isaiah reminds us in these beautiful words, is that God is with us every day, at every moment of our lives, from before the cradle, to beyond the grave. His hand is always there. Pulling us up. Nudging us forward. Carrying us when we collapse. Clapping for us, patting us on the back, when we do good. Tapping us on the shoulder when we doze off. Pointing and leading the way. And always, always, always, reaching out to us and drawing us close.

Here’s another fundamental difference, between the two kinds of parents. Our earthly parents teach us things, so we can learn to do them on our own, because they won’t always be there to do them for us. Our Heavenly Father lets us try things on our own, so we can realize that we really CAN’T do it all on our own. One of my favorite comics, Brian Regan, has a stand up routine in which he asks: “Why is it, when we’re little kids, it’s a good thing when we say, ‘Look Daddy, I did it ALL MY MYSELF. Let me do it, Mommy, ALL BY MYSELF.’ But then, when we grow up, it all changes around. And we have that sad song (singing) – ‘ALL BY MYSELF, don’t wanna be…ALL MY MYSELF ANYMORE.’”

He’s got a point there. We go through life, from childhood, to adulthood, working towards greater and greater independence. But it’s not what we really want. Not what we really need. And in fact, one of our greatest fears is being all alone. Facing the world all my ourselves. Many of us find ourselves forced to go it alone. We’ve lost parents, or spouses, to death or divorce. We’ve outlived the rest of our family and friends. We’re single parents, trying to make ends meet. Or we’re facing situations that no one knows about, and we’re suffering silently behind fake smiles or stony faces. And we begin to believe, we buy the lie, that nobody cares, and we’re supposed to be tough, we’re supposed to be silent, we’re supposed to be the grown-ups, all self-reliant and self-sufficient.

But it’s not true. God speaks to us directly in this text from Isaiah this morning. God says, I’m right here. Take my hand. Dwell, right now, in the shelter of my love and my strength. Abide in my shadow for life, because I’m standing right there next to you. God is casting his big shadow all around you, not to condemn you, or blame you, but to embrace you and lift you up. He’s right here, not just standing, but walking beside you, every day, wherever you go. Not just walking, but running ahead of you, to run interference for you, like a big ol’ linebacker. Not just running ahead – he’s there to carry you, when you are feeling weak and weary, and can’t put one more foot in front of another.

God is your father. Your everlasting father. He’s never going away. He’s never going to hurt you. You are his kid, now and forever. As a baby he bathed you, in the waters of baptism. A few years later, he fed you his holy meal, this same Holy Communion we eat today, his own body and blood give for you, to sustain you and bear you up on the wings of eagles. He promises to nourish you and wash you clean and lift you up, every day. And on the last day, to lift you up from the grave, when he returns and raises us all from the dead, so we can actually walk beside him, our own God, and hold his real hand, and hold the real hands of all our loved ones, and walking and running all along these beautiful hills of Mahoning Valley, alive once again, alive in his new creation, his good, green earth, our father’s world, forevermore.

Hold on tight, to this promise of your Everlasting God, your everlasting Father. He will raise you up on eagle’s wings. He will bear you on the breath of dawn – his breath, his Spirit, giving you strength for a new dawn, a new day. He will make you to shine like the sun. And most of all, every day, he will hold you in the palm of his hand. The hand he is reaching out to you, right now. Take it. Let him lead the way. Let him bear you up, and take care of everything that bears you down.