October 18, 2009
The 20th Sunday After Pentecost
Pastor Brad Davick
Psalm 91:1-16; Mark 10:35-45

Eagle's Wings Moments

Grace and peace to you.

I'm a bit of a news junkie. When I'm home, I watch the news in the morning, dinner time, and again at 10:00 p.m. I check the headlines online. I listen to talk radio in the van, at least until I pick up Ellie and she asks for "show" which means play School House Rock show tunes.

Of late, the news has been rather discouraging:

Goldman Sachs will pay out another 3 billion dollars in bonuses to top executives; this is along with the 16.7 billion dollars in bonuses paid to the same executives earlier this year
After being dropped from the investment group bidding to buy the St. Louis Rams, the conservative talk-show host blamed his ouster on President Obama saying,
"This is not about the NFL, it's not about the St. Louis Rams, it's not about me. This is about the ongoing effort by the left in this country, wherever you find them, in the media, the Democrat Party, or wherever, to destroy conservatism, to prevent the mainstreaming of anyone who is prominent as a conservative. Welcome to Obama's America."
Of the five teens who allegedly doused a classmate with rubbing alcohol, then set him on fire, leaving him with burns over 65% of his body, only one showed any kind of remorse upon their arrest, the other four were "laughing about it" said Sgt. Steve Feeley, an officer involved with the arrests.

It's easy to understand why we grow weary...

My sense of it is that there are times when we all grow weary of the headlines, just as there are times when we grow weary of things happening even closer to home:

- Husband and wives grow weary with one another

- Children grow weary of their parents

- We grow weary of the communities in which we live

- We grow weary of our employers and our vocations

- We grow weary of our teachers

- We grow weary of striving to live a life of faith

- We grow weary of God's work done by our hands

Sometimes I grow weary of doing God's work with my hands, particularly because I don't always see the results right away. Many things I just mentioned involve a host of intangibles, and if you're like me, you miss seeing the fruit of your labor.

I used to work construction; specifically, I was on a concrete crew. Eight hours a day I shoveled concrete into column pads and foundation footing and floor slabs. At the end of every shift I could see the fruits of my labor, the work of my hands. There was sense of satisfaction in being able to immediately see what I'd helped build; to see what a difference my shoveling each day made to the totality of the project.

I miss that.

What about you? What makes you weary? What makes you sit back and wonder if what you are doing... the life that you've been living... the faith that you're sharing... really makes a difference?

When such discouragement comes, those are the days when I need to hear the words of today's psalm; Psalm 91, a Psalm of Assurance of God's protection. I need to be reminded that it's not MY work I'm doing, after all. It's God's work. I'm only using my hands. Then... out of the blue... the words of this psalm come to life. God lifts me up... bears me as on eagle's wings... renews my spirits... restores my weary soul. And every once in a while I'm provided that which I need, a glimpse of the fruit of my labor, the work of my hands... I'm "shown salvation" as verse 16 says.

What does such a glimpse look like?

His name is Dan. When I first met Dan he was in 6th grade; he was just beginning confirmation and I taught the 6th graders. Dan was hard to miss; goofy yet gregarious, talented yet a trouble maker, hilarious yet humble.

During that 6th grade confirmation year, Dan and I became very close. Not a Thursday went by without Dan having to stand beside me in front of the other 6th graders and hold my hand. (That was a little trick I used to squelch inappropriate behavior.) And it worked!

As a freshman in high school, Dan had a life changing moment. He had begun to hang out with the wrong crowd, those who wanted to drink, do drugs, and break into cars. Riding with a new driver one afternoon, there was a terrible accident. The small Rav 4 Hyundai rolled over multiple times before coming to a stop on it's side.

Thankfully, no one was hurt except for a few bumps and bruises. Once home, Dan did something he still can't explain... he found his confirmation bible, opened it up and the words that he read were ones that God intended him to read that day.

From that day forward, Dan was an active member of the youth ministries; he rarely missed a Sunday evening youth activity, he become one of the youth on whom I could always call upon to get things done.

In a sense, Dan and I grew up together. He taught me about suburban teens, their wants and desires, their fears and frustrations, their faith and their doubt. I taught Dan what it meant to be a young male Christian, that being faithful was more important than being religious. That church was his home, a place he would be safe. That God requires of him only two things, namely to love God and love the neighbor.

We're still close; he'd email me from El Salvador where he was serving as an interpreter. Together with his best friend Graham, another 6th grader who taught me a thing or two, they put together a weekend ski trip to Devil's Head, called me and insisted that I was going.

Dan just recently concluded his second mission year as an interpreter in El Salvador. At present he is a newly hired youth director in Youth and Family Ministries; in other words, except for pastoral duties, Dan is doing my job!

Dan's story is one of many when God has lifted me up as on wings of an eagle and given me a glimpse of the work my hands have been privileged to.

What are your eagle's wings moments? When you've grown weary, what glimmer of salvation shows you that it's all God's work done by your hands?

Let us pray.

St. Paul's Lutheran Church § 824 N. Lewis § Waukegan IL