The Reverend John E. McGinn, Rector
Saint John’s Episcopal Church
Sandwich, Massachusetts 02563
September 9, 2007 Pentecost
15
Today’s sermon is taken from
Luke, chapter 14, verses 25-33.
A few years ago when I was an
assistant at Christ Church in Westerly, Rhode Island, there was a member of the
parish who was a teacher of music the University of Rhode Island; he was a
professor there, and he also was an accomplished violin player. One of his hobbies was that he enjoyed flying
airplanes. I can’t say that he was the
best pilot that I have ever known, but he did fly an airplane, and one day he
coaxed me on his plane and he said, “I want to take you out for a little
flight.” So we got up in his
single-engine Cessna out of Westerly Airport, and he said, “You know, where I’d
like to go is to Long Island, and I know it is in a southwesterly
direction.” And he said, “Just sit back and relax and enjoy your trip. The view is great up here, isn‘t it?” I don’t know…would you have relaxed on the
flight? Wouldn’t it be better if he had
planned ahead, or at least had some idea of where he was going. He didn’t seem to at all!
It has been said that the
average American spends more time planning their vacation than they do planning
their life. Jesus certainly believed we
should have a plan for our lives.
On one occasion, in this
morning’s Gospel, he told his disciples:
“Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Will he not sit down and estimate the cost to
see if he has enough money to complete it? For if he lays the foundation and is not able
to finish it, everyone who sees it will ridicule him saying, ‘This fellow began
to build and was not able to finish.’ Or
suppose the king is about to go to war against another king, will he not first
sit down a consider whether he is able with ten thousand men to oppose the one
coming against him with twenty thousand.
If he is not able, he will send a delegation while the other is still a
long way off, and will ask for terms of peace.”
Jesus is asking us to reflect
on our lives and not simply react to our lives.
People sometimes just react to certain situations. Many people live their lives this way. They do not
plan their lives. They do not
reflect on their purpose and the means they are taking to achieve that
purpose. They simply react to events as
they unfold. Living on the edge is what
they might call it. For some of them it
is the edge of disaster. Failing to
plan, as the old adage goes, is planning to fail. And it is true whether we are talking about
starting a business or finishing a life.
There are probably a couple
of reasons why some people refuse to plan.
One is a feeling of helplessness.
You probably have heard the cry of despair that goes like this: “If you want to make God laugh, show him your
calendar.” That is, you have made plans,
then, whack! Out of the blue, an event
occurs: a crisis with your health, or the loss of a job, or the loss of a loved
one, or a divorce, or a problem with one of your children; and all of your
well-made plans are knocked askew. It
happens to all of us.
It is like the story, I
think, of the two explorers who are on a jungle safari when suddenly a
ferocious lion jumped in front of them.
“Keep calm,” the first explorer whispered. “Remember what we read in that book in wild
animals. If you stand perfectly still
and look the lion in the eye, he will turn and run.” “Sure,” replied his companion. “You’ve read the book, and I’ve read the
book, but has the lion read the book?”
And that’s how some of us feel about long-term planning. Why make plans that you will probably not be
able to see them through to fruition.
And it is true that life does have a way of knocking us off course, and
that’s why part of our planning and preparation should take into consideration
life crises, for surely they will come.
A second reason I think that
many of us fail to plan is that we simply do not want to change. That is, if we plan for such things as
financial security, marital happiness, good health and a meaningful legacy to
our community, we might have to change some of our present habits. And we do not like to change. If that is your attitude, you do not want to
hear Jesus’ words about sitting down before you build a tower or before you
engage an enemy, because planning for the future implies changes and how we
live in the present.
I trust that few of us are
that foolish, however. We would like to
think our lives count for something. We
would like to fulfill our dreams and to believe that our best days lie ahead.
So where do we begin? Let’s begin with the end in mind. That’s what Stephen Covey encouraged people
to do a few years back with his best selling book The Seven Habits of Highly
Effective People. When we get to the
end of our lives, will we do so with a lot of regrets? What will our friends say about us? Our family?
Will we have the resources to meet the challenges of our final years? Not only financial resources, but emotional
resources, relational resources and
spiritual resources.
There is a little book titled
Lifefocus by Jerry Foster that introduces people to a concept that I
hope you will take seriously. He calls
it “lifewealth.” Lifewealth refers to
each of the important areas of our life:
our finances, our health, our relationships, our spiritual life. These are our assets. All four are necessary to our well
being. “How do you want your life to
end?” asks Jerry Foster. “With your
final breath, do you want to utter, ‘what a satisfying, fulfilling and
meaningful life I have lived.’ Do you
desire your relationship with your spouse and children and friends to grow
closer and stronger right to the very end?
Do you want to leave a rich legacy of material and non-material
treasures for your heirs? Do you hope
that friends and coworkers who attend
your memorial service are filled with gratitude for your contribution to their
lives? If you answer in the positive to
each of these questions, then you need a plan for bringing these to fruition.”
Foster suggests a very
practical plan which he calls the “vector principle.” Now some of you probably know about
vectors. For those of us who don’t, a
practical application of vectors will help us.
Let’s suppose, like myself, being in an airplane, and in this case, not
flying to Long Island, but to Europe.
But somehow, right in the beginning of our flight, we are knocked off
course just a few degrees. As we keep
flying, that little discrepancy in our direction is amplified over time and
distance. And so we don’t arrive in
Europe at all. We arrive somewhere in
North Africa. Just a few degrees at our
point of origin produces a large variation in our final destination. That, in essence, is the vector principle. Small changes at one point in your life,
produce major life-affecting results later in life.
Let’s suppose that a person
decides at age thirty-five to jog two miles every day, and she keeps this up
day after day. Can you see that the
small change in this person’s lifestyle might have major ramifications for her
health thirty-five years later…a small change, but with major
consequences. The same might be said for
taking up walking two miles every day at age sixty. I’m trying that.
You can see that putting
one-hundred dollars every month into a mutual fund when you are thirty-five can
produce significant income when you reach retirement age. A small change, but the rewards can be
significant. And some of us are far
beyond thirty-five, but it is never too late to begin some financial habits.
And what might happen if you
begin today finding a way daily to paying more attention to your spouse, or
your children, or a friend. Might it not
strengthen your relationship in such a way that you will be able to count on
each other’s love and loyalty right until the end of life?
And then is what I think is
the most important: our relationship
with God. What would it mean for your
spiritual life if you began spending a little time each day in God’s presence,
listening for God’s guidance and how you should lead your life, and committing
yourself daily, unconditionally, to walking in the way that God would have you
go. The vector principle: small, doable changes at one point in your
life which produce major life-effecting results later in your life.
As someone has noted, the
mighty Mississippi begins with the bubbling of a spring somewhere in
Minnesota. We are told that vast areas
of Holland have been covered by floods that began in areas of the dykes no
larger than your hand. You don’t have to
have a blinding, Damascus Road type experience to make your life more pleasing
to God and more satisfying to yourself and to those who you love. Sometimes all it takes is a small change in
your daily routine.
I want to challenge you today
to begin making some small deposits in your lifewealth account. Take each of these four areas in your
life: your finances, your health, your
relationships, especially your relationship with your spouse and your children,
and your relationship with God. What is
one thing you can do to improve each of these areas of your life? This is not a frivolous thing. This could be the most important day of your
life if you could make a few small changes that would change your final life
destination just a few small degrees.
Now, I read a story about a
woman who underwent a very delicate form of brain surgery. In removing the tumor, the doctors were
concerned that the slightest miscue would cause the loss of either her memory
or her eyesight. So they asked the woman
to choose which side of the brain tissue they would enter with their
scalpels. In other words, if she would
have to lose one of those senses, which would she prefer to lose. Wisely she said, “Let me think about it
overnight, and I want to pray about it.
I will tell you tomorrow which sense is more important to me.” And the next day, she told the doctors, “If I
had to lose either memory or eyesight, I would prefer to lose my memory.” When asked how she arrived at her decision,
she calmly replied, “I’d rather see where I am going than remember where I have
been.”
I want to see where you are
going and to see you make changes that are required to get you there. I believe that is God’s will for all of
us. Now, “Suppose one of you wants to build
a tower. Will he not first sit down and estimate the cost to see if he has
enough money to complete it? For if he
lays the foundation and is not able to finish it, everyone who sees it will
ridicule him saying, ‘This fellow began to build and was not able to finish,’
or suppose, a king is about to go to war against another king, will he not sit
down and consider whether he is able with ten thousand men to oppose the one
coming against him with twenty thousand?
If he is not able, he will send a delegation while the other is still a
long way off and will ask for terms of peace.”
Jesus, I think, was warning
his followers to carefully consider the cost of discipleship, but his words
also carry a very practical message about living. Think about your life. Where are you headed? What will it take to get you to where you want
to be and where God wants you to be?
Start today making the changes that are necessary to take you where you
want to go.
Amen