WHAT DAY ARE YOU EXCITED ABOUT?
Psalm 113
Colossians 3: 9B-17
November 18, 2018
Every year as the day arrives when I will rest my eyes in a cardboard box out in the open along one of Atlantic City’s streets I am struck by the stories of the survivors but I am also privileged each year to hold in my hands the names … names of those young people who didn’t. Names that will be shared as others raising money … some with friends all with strangers who will be sleeping within ear shot gather with candles.
And, I know that I will wake up … stretch; get a cup of coffee listen to the debriefing and then get in my car to drive down the highway with Atlantic City’s skyline quickly morphing into my next day.
These are amongst the names who didn’t reach their potential … these are amongst those who have no new day to be excited about … these are the lost; lost for many reasons we can be held at fault for some others it was no one’s current fault because the structures of these young lives were built along days when help wasn’t available, Sunday School was not on their path of life; church was not made appealing, welcoming nor essential; drugs got in their way or family wasn’t family.
By the way … what day are you excited about? Holiday season you know … Pancake breakfast today … Eagles later and tomorrow; oh the tomorrow’s.
So, hear just four names from a list of 40 … I realize that they are meaningless collections of letters that form names of the unknown … unknown who are no longer breathing. It’s easy to neglect, reject, and not care about the unknown amongst us. Even as people of faith … if we don’t see someone, hear their voice, and actually know them it is so easy to create a caricature that suits our purposes.
To hear the psalmist, “God lifts up the poor from the dirt and raises up the needy from the garbage pile to seat them with leaders … with leaders of his own people! PRAISE THE LORD!” Praise the Lord church, as this Thanksgiving week begins are you identifiable amongst the throngs of humanity out on the streets as someone who praises the Lord with all of your energy, all of your heart, and that you … your image on the street … what some of my friends would call your street CRED … is one of a person of God who stands today lifting up the poor with the rich? Declaring that the Lord is above all nations as the psalmist did? That every day … every single day you find God’s glory being higher that the skies?
And, what day in this holiday season are you most excited about? Thanksgiving? Black Friday or Early Shopping Thursday? Small Business Saturday? Cyber Monday? And, yes once again this year our church will truly need you to help us raise money on Giving Tuesday … oh yes, Christmas is coming I saw a woman carrying two larger than life candy canes yesterday at a shopping plaza … What Day? What holiday? What day on the schedule?
He’s 19 … Brandon is his name. National Honor Society student after spending some time with the Boy Scouts. Nice looking young guy with a great haircut and smile. Could have come out of the perfectly formed child destined for success book but Brandon was out on the streets at 17. Slept in a car he had bought with his working money until one day it was towed away when he came back to it after sneaking into a hotel that offered a free breakfast buffet for guests. He lived off of those complementary “meals, snacks, and coffee” for a while or he stole food from convenience stores. He spent 3 months wandering sleeping in 24 hour laundromats or in stairwells not traversed by feet when he could he washed himself and his clothes in public bathrooms in gas stations or other locations. Wandering … each day one of fear and truly none were good but if you saw him cleaned up you’d say there’s a good boy from the burbs.
Truth is he is a good young man … he is rescued now and with excitement he told those of us gathered together that he has already saved $3000 from his job at Target. Someone cared … the goodness inside someone made a difference for Brandon.
I heard a speaker say friends that the “goodness is in ourselves.” The problem is how we figure out the means to release the goodness. How in the world do we find the same level of value in our potential goodness that we find in our excitement over BLACK FRIDAY specials at the mall? How we find the same enthusiasm that we find in our sports team to “bless the Lord’s name from now until forever from now; from sunrise to sunset do we find value in praising the Lord’s name? Do we agree that no one can be compared to the Lord our God” or friends do we allow our special days, our special times, our special somethings that we identify for us to matter more?”
If you saw her … if you came close enough to her to hear her laughing with a friend … her bright shining eyes … her face still in that transformative time from child to woman … you’d smile and walk by. But, if you sat and listened … your smile would turn to tears she didn’t succeed at taking her own life but she tried. Thankfully, there was a better day in front of her but this young lady who would look perfectly suited for one of the all too many empty spaces available in this beautiful church of ours as a child came home daily in fear … you see this beautiful young girl’s father was addicted to drugs.
And, just to wonder for a moment because I do get challenged in life. At my age I have not figured it all out. I have often heard today’s words of Paul, “whatever you do … WHATEVER YOU DO CHURCH … whether in speech or action , do it all in the name of the Jesus and give thanks to God the Father” but I wonder who buys into that because this week the United States Coast Guard seized 18.5 tons of cocaine destined for our shores. $500 MILLION dollars worth of cocaine that our neighbors are using. We have allowed ourselves as a society to spin downwards … FIVE HUNDRED MILLION DOLLARS 18.5 tons of white powder … it’s a sermon for another day but it comes back to our days, how we choose to live them, who we reflect and what days we are excited about.
So, in order to raise enough money for his drugs. I sat and listened on Friday night as she quietly whispered … ‘he put me in the trade’ … to make money. Not a stranger … not a movie image but her real life father sold her body regularly to get money for his drugs. And, she ran … she escaped but she was and frankly still is troubled. Thankfully when she wanted life to end she failed but now people who care wrap their arms around her and she smiles. She lives for today and looks forward to tomorrow. She was laughing with a friend in the hallway of a church when I left her behind … a young woman with a future ahead of her.
And, today the sun rose my friends. Was today the day you were excited about as you went to bed last night? Is today that very day … not the one where Santa’s production line has to meet expectations … not the one, that is frankly my favorite of the year, that is coming up on Thursday where turkeys still need to be purchased … today, was and is today the day you are excited about because you were coming to worship the LORD our God whose glory is higher than the skies? Yes, we get to share in fellowship afterwards by enjoying pancakes but its here in worship … hear the psalmist again, “PRAISE THE LORD!! You who serve the Lord — PRAISE!! PRAISE THE LORD’s NAME!!”
I need to hear an AMEN … frankly I need to hear what Kirk Franklin refers to as “Holy Ghost Crazy Noise” … can we give God some credit for God’s love this morning? If we cheer our teams … if we celebrate our meals and special days … this morning right here can we make that kind of noise for God and shout HALLELUJAH … raise the noise level because we are hear to worship God with all that we have … today is a day to be excited about because how special … we are not on the streets hurting … we are not running from those who would harm us … we know; we understand; we have it within us to know what matters and the psalmist said it with clarity … not worrying about this afternoon, tonight, tomorrow or Thursday, Friday or even that day in December where the tree’s hidden packages are the concern but today is our day to worship God!
Church today is a day full of joy … we can easily sing JOY TO THE WORLD THE LORD has come … because friends Jesus Christ died on the cross … rose from the dead and brought salvation to us … we are challenged to be God’s people and to make each day God’s special day bringing light into the world; wrapping our arms around those who hurt no matter what they look like nor where they come from … we aren’t here to blame people for their circumstances nor for their history but we are to lift them up with the saints because when the times end the needy from the garbage pile will be seated with the rich and powerful leaders God’s love … God’s love … God’s love crossed all lines … God’s line never establishes a border with two sides God’s love is universal … and I truly believe … I truly believe that even on those Sunday’s when the pastor’s sermon does nothing for us … even on those Sunday’s when we are under the weather or hurting (Evelyn Dallas) … that we need to come together and head into the world praising God with all that we have. And, that those of us in God’s churches … those of us with Jesus in our hearts … those of us whose goodness is ready to be released from deep inside we can put on compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patients. We can be tolerant with each other … being tolerant is not a sin it is a command of God and friend we are to be forgiving.
And, as a new day dawns … friends as your next day starts … Put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity. Let the peace of Christ control your hearts; that peace that calls us into one body not into thousands of divisions.
And, remember that while you are to regain and showcase your excitement in the Lord God through your praises and positive energy … in your songs and words and actions … whatever you do friends whether in speech or action … whatever … everything you do … do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus and give thanks.
GIVE THANKS to God … make every day a day of thanksgiving. Every day a day of praise. And, remember and care for the hurting … they might be right there in front of you hoping for someone who cares, someone willing to help, and someone willing to make a difference. Set the goodness within you free and teach your children that sharing their goodness is the essence of our call in life.
And when you go to bed at night pray that your next day is the day that you are most excited about living leaving your yesterday’s behind knowing that God is where you go and God’s love will over power the world’s weakness … God’s love will carry us through the tough moments and then as God’s children use the excitement you have in your tomorrow to let someone discover that you live each day praising God and knowing Jesus Christ as Lord, Savior, and Master over your life offering them something to get excited about in their days ahead.
AMEN
Watch a video of today’s worship service: