Read Psalm 85
Does anyone ever have more than one thing going on at the same time? Does anyone not?
Does anyone ever forget the thing they started out to do and move on to something else and then remember what it was and go back to it only to be distracted by someone or something else?
I have been on a mission this year to sharpen my focus… Popcorn, who made popcorn?
I have put all of my effort in to avoiding distractions… Look who posted pictures from the beach. Man I love the ocean and beach.
Paying attention to the task at hand is so…Oh, I need to add that to my grocery list or my bucket list, I can’t remember which. Man, I sure hope that my grocery list doesn’t become my bucket list. That would not be good.
Is this not the age in which we live? Have we ever been more distracted and subject to being overwhelmed by information and disinformation and fully engulfed in the conundrum of discerning between the two?
There was a term that came into usage over half a century ago. It was narcotizing dysfunction. It was an attempt to put a word to what was happening in western society. The volume of information then was overwhelming and it has progressed to near exponential measures.
Television, internet, podcasts, downloads, texts, emails can lead us to be stressed out beyond measure or drugged to dysfunction. Many are enslaved in both camps.
Life has always had trials, trouble, temptation, and turmoil, but this century, this new millennium, seems out of control.
Humankind couldn’t deal with the trials of the world when things moved at a snail’s pace. We are high-maintenance creatures. We take a lot of attention.
Fortunately, we are made by a God who is love and gives us plenty of attention. His love never runs out. His love never fails. His love for us is forever—it is everlasting.
Within his love is his peace. It is peace that comes from his strength. It is peace that goes beyond our human understanding. It is peace that overwhelms our trials in this overwhelming world.
God’s peace transcends the world’s turmoil. Maybe you like our president or you can’t stand him. Maybe you think marijuana should be legal for people who have a medical need for it or for recreational purposes or classified as a harmful drug and illegal to use or sell or grow as a cash crop or for personal use.
Maybe you think that North Korea really wants to be a responsible nation or that they are just looking for an opportunity to launch a nuke or two at us.
Maybe you think that there is a vast agricultural conspiracy when the price of corn goes from ten cents to seventy-five cents overnight, then back to six ears for a dollar. We seek the rhyme and reason of a thing and sometimes find neither.
When I was in the Marine Corps, I frequently went to our base at 29 Palms, California. It is in the middle of the Mojave Desert and there is not much to the town. It did have one taco fast food joint. One time it had a special: 3 tacos for a dollar; limit 8.
If making sense of the world was a jigsaw puzzle, it would be one of those round ones, so you couldn’t even look for the straight edges to make the border.
I have told many of you this story a couple of times; perhaps it will be new to some of you, or long enough that some of you have forgotten. Speaking of forgetting things, if that gets really bad with me, don’t worry. I have hard copy notes of all my sermons. I’ll just preach them all again and they will be new to me.
At the end of the Gulf War, I was assigned as a United Nations Observer in Iraq and Kuwait. Damage was quickly being repaired in Kuwait City and construction equipment was everywhere. At the end of one 10-15 day period in the DMZ, I was driving 3 other officers back to Kuwait City for a 2-day break. I asked the Indian Officer who had just arrived in country and was seated next to me where his contingent stayed in Kuwait City and he said, “Next to the big crane.”
I said, “I think that’s Rumaithia.” The Russian Officer in the back seat immediately disagreed and said he thought it was Salmiya. The Polish Officer added that it was near the end of Third and Fourth Ring roads. All of these areas were very close to each other and as none of us were native to the area, we didn’t know where one suburb began and another ended; but they were all in the same vicinity.
The Indian Officer was very uncomfortable with not knowing the names of Kuwait City’s suburbs and he emphatically repeated, “Just go to the big crane!” Realizing we had made him feel uncomfortable, we dropped the subject and continued our drive in an uneasy silence for about ten minutes. That is, until the Indian Officer realized the temporary nature of his landmark and blurted out, “I HOPE THEY DIDN’T MOVE THAT CRANE!”
Sometimes we think we have the world figured out then find out that the construct that we were using was temporary or has been replaced, sometimes without notice. It seems like that our world went from harmony to completely out of sync.
Sometimes things make perfect sense and at other times they are completely out of sync.
In June of 1994, I was at a San Diego Padres game. Fans in San Diego are pretty laid back, but at the same time will do the wave for ten minutes straight without missing a beat in any seating section. The Padre players have come to expect a different breed of fan at their home games. On this summer evening, however, the fans were extremely distant. The Padres were making some good plays on defense without much response from the stands. There was a good crowd in attendance, but few had their minds on the game. Again, the culprit was the portable radio and people were listening attentively to a slow speed chase of a Ford Bronco some 50 miles to the north.
I'm sure that the players involved in both of these events eventually figured out what had occurred. But for those brief moments, thousands of people sitting the stands had unknowingly transported them to the Twilight Zone.
Sometimes, everything just goes perfectly. Sometimes it seems as if we are out of sync with everything we know and do and try to do again.
We are high maintenance creatures. What are we to do? What are we to do to please God?
We know some of those answers. Seek justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with your God.
Be the salt of the earth. Let people taste God’s goodness every time they come across us.
We know these things and try to do these things and still sometimes it seems as if we are swimming in a whirlpool. The maelstrom doesn’t seem to let us make any headway. The vortex of events that we call our lives seems to overwhelm us.
What do we do? We have decided to follow Jesus but things are still a mess.
We accept God’s peace that comes from his strength.
We accept God’s peace that transcends our understanding.
We accept God’s peace and do better today that we did yesterday.
We accept God’s peace and do better this month that we did last month.
We accept God’s peace and do better this year that we did last year.
We accept God’s peace and do better this time than last time.
We accept God’s peace and do not return to our folly of yesterday. We do not return to the folly of yesterday. We get better.
We can only live this day. We can’t relive yesterday, though many try. We can’t jump a week ahead and live those days, though that’s all some can think about.
We can live today. God want’s us to live today in his peace, doing better than we did before. He wants us to learn from our mistakes.
Today can be a repeat of yesterday’s mistakes or a chance to get better.
Today can be a repeat of yesterday’s struggles or a chance to be an overcomer.
Today can be a repeat of yesterday’s missed opportunities or a chance to make the most of every opportunity.
God says, Take my peace and learn from your mistakes.
Jesus said, My yoke is easy and my burden is light. He wants us to learn from him, but he will not heap heavy burdens on us.
We are high maintenance people, but it’s not a 75,000-mile overhaul. It’s more like brushing your teeth every day. It’s like washing the dishes. It’s making the bed.
What are we to do?
Accept the Lord's peace. Don’t make yesterday’s mistakes. Get better.
Will we make new mistakes? I am sure that we will, but we will not return to the folly of yesterday. We will grow in God’s grace.
We are called to carry our own load, ask for help if we need it, and give help where we can.
I don’t know if this world will ever make sense in this age. I don’t know that I will get everything right today.
But, I have a chance to not make yesterday’s mistakes. I have a chance to do better today than yesterday.
I have been given today—a day not promised—but this day has been delivered to me and I have a chance, an opportunity, to make this day better than yesterday.
I will do it in God’s peace, without anxiety, without heavy burden, and without making yesterday’s mistakes again.
And if I am out of sync with the world because I am in sync with God, that’s a good thing even if the days seem contrary to our path. The world still wants to have a grip on us, but this world is not our home. Things will always be a little out of sync as we continue to grow in God’s peace and his grace.
We take a lot of effort and maintenance. That’s who we are. God has invested so much in us. He is love and grants us peace—his peace—not the peace that the world knows.
This is the day that the Lord has made. I will rejoice and be glad in it and do my best to make this day better than the one before.
This is the day that the Lord has made. I will rejoice and be glad in it and do my best not to return to the folly of yesterday.
This is the day that the Lord has made. I will rejoice and be glad in it, and I will receive the Lord’s peace.
Amen.
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