~Transcript...
Where do you build
your nest?
We just finished up VBS this week. The kids learned stories and songs every day
to learn a specific lesson each day…
God Creates
God Helps
God Loves
God Calms
And finally… God Sends
Our reading from Psalm 84:3 reads… Even the sparrow finds a
home, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may lay her young, at your
altars, O LORD of hosts, my King and my God.
Entrusting your children to the Lord. VBS, SS, FK, etc.
A show I used to watch chronicled the mis-adventures of a
misfit crew at a community college. The
sitcom featured a study group made up of broken dream stories… a lawyer who had
faked his college credits, a high school athlete who lost his scholarships due
to injury, a recovered drug addict, a poor immigrant, a hippie without
direction, a stay at home second career mom, and a retiree.
In one particularly moving episode, the young poor
immigrant, a young man with Asperger’s, expressed a desire to take a film
course. His falafel salesman father did
not want his hard earned money to go to such trivial pursuits and forbade
it. Despite the counsel of the lawyer
(father to the study group), the well-meaning hippie offered to pay for the
course so he could follow his dreams.
Not being a parent herself, she was dismayed when he spent the money not
just on the course, but new camera equipment, props, and so forth. He had completely exasperated his study group
parents by the end and caused a major head to head between his real father and
his adopted study group surrogates.
The main thrust of the story was an argument over who had
Abed’s best interests at heart, and whether he should be allowed to choose to
follow his gifts and talents to where he felt called. And there was no clear right answer. Until the end. Abed shared his final project, his film. In it, he captured the arguments of his
adopted parents, a story clearly repeated from his childhood with his
biological parents, a story of how people could not accept Abed for Abed, a
very unusual and challenged, but creative boy.
His real father cried. He turned
to the study group parents and said, “My boy has trouble expressing
himself. If movies help him to do that,
I will pay for the classes. With medical
school as a backup!” You see, Abed’s
father knew the risks. The risks of
stifling his son’s calling. And the
risks of a world in which he’d worked so hard to provide for his own son.
Question is not where your children will/should go after
they leave the nest.
Where do you build your nest?
We build our nest where we nurture our young, where we spend
our time and where they learn.
Is your nest at school?
Is it on a ball field? A
theater? In your car? In front of a screen?
(Graphic – nest pie chart)
Building your nest on the altar of the Lord or the Altar of
something else?
Who or what will they serve after their time there? Who or what will they serve after their time
there?
Building your nest on the altar of the Lord is not without danger…
Any altar you build your nest on carries risk… If it is only
the altar of education, they run the risk of pursuing a career that is
overcrowded or becomes obsolete or is a bad fit for them.
If it is only the altar of athletics, they run the risk of
severe injury, or sudden elimination, expulsion, failure, or fatigue.
If it is only the altar of recreation or relaxation, they
run the risk of never contributing to the needs of others with their resources
and time, prioritizing themselves.
Now, the expectation of our God is not that we have no
interests or involvements outside the faith community. Education is highly valued among us
Presbyterians for our ability to critically think, to study scripture and our
world and to grow in understanding and wisdom and obedience. Athletics provide ways to appreciate and
nurture our bodies, to teach us a sense of competition and fair play,
cooperation and teamwork, and to strive to reach our own greatest
potential. And recreation and relaxation
can give us time to gather with loved ones, to regain our energy and
inspiration for the callings God gives us.
But when we give them too much power and priority through
our commitments, or let them crowd out tending to our faith and our callings to
serve, we trade involvement for idolization.
We build our nests on other altars.
Now here’s where it gets really hard. We Presbyterians don’t use the word altar
very much. Anyone know why? Where is our altar in here? Our youth can tell you.
We don’t have one!
WHAT is an altar? It’s where a
sacrifice is offered. Christ was the
final sacrifice. We don’t make offerings
of animals or plants any more. We have a
table. Not an altar. So the idea of the Lord’s altar in
metaphorical sense may need to be put into context. It’s a place of sacrifice.
We either sacrifice our time or energy or money or imagination
and effort or our very bodies. And when
we sacrifice those things, we sacrifice ourselves, our loyalty. God asks for all our heart and mind
and strength. And we demonstrate that
loyalty by giving a portion of our resources and time. When we squeeze out that 10% tithe because we
budget in more expenses… when we squeeze out our one day out of seven to fit in
more activities… when we relegate God to our leftover money, and part of a
Sunday or one or two mornings a month… we build our nests on other altars.
But to make those sacrifices on the Lord’s altar does not
eliminate risk. Our children at VBS this
week learned that God creates, God Helps, God Loves, and God Calms. But then God also sends. God sends us into our world to be a light in
dark places, to confront our enemies and our friends in the poor decisions they
make or want us to participate in, to fight injustice when we see it, and to
look for it, to think others first and ourselves last, to travel to the places
and people of need, no matter the peril, and to invite those in need into our
lives, into our homes. In point of fact,
the altar of the Lord may be the most dangerous place to build your nest.
So why on earth would the swallow build her nest on the
altar of the Lord??? Why should you? Because this is not all that there is. Because we are people of eternity not bound
for this world only, but a home and a life and a love beyond this world and the
altars in it.
Because your children are builders for eternity. Because when you build your nest on the altar
of the Lord, it will guide them when they leave the nest. It will be the biggest influence on their
future nests and where they build them.
Where have you built your nest? How can you build your nest on the altar of
the Lord, how can you be like the mother swallow who offers her young to the
Lord? Every parent or grandparent or
neighbor who brought a child to VBS has gathered twigs to build a part of their
nest. When parents bring their children
consistently to worship and to First Kids and Youth, and not just when it fits
into a hectic schedule or leftover time, they are building their nest on the
altar of the Lord.
Some of you have empty nests, some of you are parents and
mentors to the children of this place.
Some of you help parents build their nest on the altar by teaching
Windows to Worship or Confirmation. Some
of you cook meals every week for children who come to First Kids. You are people who know that every family
needs help to build their nest. In this
world, it’s too hard to build it alone.
You know that shouting across the park to other parents to do a better
job is not the way to help them. They
need this place and space. They need
childcare and meals and financial resources and words of encouragement to build
their nests where their children will learn of God’s love and God’s call on
their lives to every broken place.
It's summer, and this year’s VBS is over. But the TWAM mission trip is approaching, and
when the fall arrives, there will be weekly worship and weekly gatherings for
our children and youth. In order to
build a firm foundation of faith for the rest of our children’s lives and to
build our nests on the altar of the Lord, those of you with children will need
to bring them each week. And everyone
will need to volunteer as there is need, to pitch in, and… to pray daily for
the children and families of our children and youth ministries. Can you all commit to that? Don’t say yes unless you mean it. Where will you build your nest? [On
the altar of the Lord] Tell your
neighbor. Where will you build your
nest? [On the altar of the Lord]
The next time you’re asked to change your priorities or make smaller
your offering to God in time or energy, tell someone you are building your
nest… on? [On the altar of the Lord]
