Ruddy
and Ready
Sermon preached by Rev. Brad Beeman
June 18, 2006
Scripture:
I Samuel 16:4-13; Mark 4:26-34
Two
questions have plagued me as I prepared for this morning both centered
in these two very different scriptures. The questions: How in the
world does a young, ruddy, unknown and obscure shepherd boy become
someone who could with such great confidence face and slay a giant,
become a king, recover from his own struggles and ultimately unite
a nation which had never been united before? And how does a dry and
seemingly dead seed, once planted become something so alive? Those
are the two questions. And, as dissimilar as they may seem, I believe
the answer to one is also the answer to the other. Let’s see
where this goes on this day when we celebrate fathers and Scholarship
recipients.
To
begin, we have to go all the way back to the beginning, always a good
place to start. Over these past couple of months, the Men’s
Bible Study breakfast has been studying Genesis. Studying Genesis
means studying the first understandings of God with questions like,
who was God and how did God function? Also, why did people seem to
follow this one rather than the many other gods that seemed available
at the time? What we’ve found is that the God described in the
Old Testament was different from any of the other gods. How? Literally
in every one of the surrounding cultures of the world gods were seen
as destructive, angry, warlike, even mean. Stories of creation were
often described as violent battles where one god would defeat another
and out of the death of the defeated came the world of humans. Many
of those cultures believed that their gods required child sacrifices,
other forms of violence, even wars to prove their power. Most of the
cultures believed in multiple gods, each of which played a role in
the world. They believed that humanity was almost like a toy to be
manipulated. None of these gods was interested in a relationship with
humans. Instead, they required these sacrifices and in return offered
good crops, needed rains, or success in battle. Then comes the God
of Israel.
The
God of Israel was different. This God created, not out of violence
or war but out of the raw materials at hand. This God took what was
formless and made something functional – even beautiful, took
what was chaotic and made order, took what was without potential and
made something organic, growing, changing and with potential for life.
This was a God of construction not destruction. This was a God of
relationship not requirement, a God of providing possibility not of
manipulation. Particularly in Genesis we see this over and over again.
But that’s
not all. This God changed the way chosenness happened. In a world
that believed (continued...)
"Ruddy
and Ready" by Rev. Brad Beeman, June 18, 2006
that children should be sacrificed, this God showed that instead, children
should be protected. In a world where tribal or cultural leadership
was always passed from firstborn son to firstborn son, this God seemed
to go out of His way to choose leaders that were the smallest, most
obscure or even ruddiest of individuals. Instead of choosing the most
powerful, the toughest, the most noble, this God seemed to always choose
the least powerful, the weakest and least noble. Finally, this God didn’t
choose those who were well established, living in cities with good jobs,
good families, good credit and a consistent income. This God chose wanderers,
nomads, and those who were fully dependent on the creation, promises
and covenants of this God – for their very survival. Given all
of that, other cultures looked at the followers of this one God as weak,
easily conquered and as the least of creation. Isn’t it interesting
that, as you look at each of the surrounding cultures and their warlike
and manipulative gods, none remain. It is this God of relationship,
this God of hope, this God of provision, this God of continual and ongoing
creation that has remained throughout these thousands and thousands
of years of history. Why?
It
goes back to the two questions I asked at the beginning of this sermon.
How could a shepherd become a king? How do seeds grow into plants and
trees? The God of Israel continually did something that no other God
did. This God transformed the ordinary into the extraordinary. God took
the raw materials available and created an organic order. What began
with seeds and plants continued into humanity. This is the God of creation
– the one who made it all…the God we seek to follow. But
what about our role in all of this – we who are the created?
To
answer that let me introduce you to my new favorite book. I picked it
up a couple of weeks ago knowing that this sermon was coming. The title
caught my attention. The title is: Profiles in Audacity – Great
Decisions and How They Were Made. Alan Axelrod profiles forty-four unusual
people and the singular decisions made by each that changed the world
or at least the way the world viewed life. He profiles decisions by
people like the Wright Brothers, Sir Edmund Hilary, Gandhi, Lewis and
Clark, Beethoven, Galileo, Rosa Parks, Daniel Ellsberg, even Todd Beamer
on flight 93. Beyond the title and the individual names and stories,
what caught my eye was that the book begins with an overview of “The
Rubicon Factor,” something I’d heard of before but never
associated with these individuals. In a nutshell, the Rubicon factor
has to do with human will, something that may be inherent in each of
us but that sometimes gets played out in exceptional ways. It is more
than courage and more than inspiration. The Rubicon Factor has three
basic elements. It is the ability to see and define situations in ways
that others may not be either able or willing. In other words, it is
first the ability to name the realities with courageous clarity. It
then moves into the ability to make a decision that could change everything.
Finally it is, often in spite of what others may be saying, the ability
to move ahead into an action that potentially puts it all at risk. That
is the Rubicon Factor – something inherent in each of God’s
creations.
It
is what we saw in young David, that shepherd boy chosen by God. You
remember the story…David was the youngest of Jessie’s sons.
He was selected by a prophet of God who then becomes the armor bearer
of the king. The country had entered a war and three of David’s
brothers, including the oldest, are soldiers. (continued...)
"Ruddy
and Ready" by Rev. Brad Beeman, June 18, 2006
David
goes out to the battlefield, not to fight but to bear the king’s
armor. He sees a terrified army, his army on the verge of defeat.
A laughing and taunting Goliath is mocking the Israelites, David’s
people. David makes the decision – a Rubicon Factor decision
– in spite of those around him and takes charge with what he
knows and has – a slingshot. He sees the reality of the situation,
makes the decision and takes the action. How can this young boy take
on such an action? David answers that question as he responds to Goliath’s
taunts. David says, “You come to me with a sword, a spear, and
a javelin, but I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the
God of the armies of Israel, whom you have taunted. This day the Lord
will deliver you into my hands…so that all the earth may know
that there is a God in Israel, and that all this assembly may know
that the Lord does not deliver by sword or by spear; for the battle
is the Lord’s and He will give you into my hands.” And
you know the rest of the story. David, with one confident throw, changed
the history of Israel.
Something
was inherent in him as a child of God, was then nurtured in him, continued
to grow in him and finally blossomed in such a way that through his
action history was changed. We see this kind of thing over and over
again throughout scripture. Call it Rubicon Factor or something else.
Whatever it is, change happens when humans are infused by God and
out of it greatness is born.
But
one more point has to be made. “Great” in God’s
eyes may be and often is different than what “great” may
be in our estimation. It’s easy to look at those in Axelrod’s
book and call them great. Most of us are not Gandhi, Carnegie, Eisenhower,
George Washington or Thomas Edison. It’s easy to separate them
out and identify the consistent Rubicon Factor in them. But we’re
Mike Olsson, Michael Lamb, Char Smith, Adam Eskridge, and Linda Diane
Anderson. We’re Debbe Adamson, Ben Beeman, Dave Roper and Marilyn
Hedges. We’re normal, everyday folks. We’re fathers who
just want the best for our sons and daughters. We’re scholarship
winners just trying to make our way through life. We’re a church
trying to make a difference in the community. That’s who we
are. But we are also people – creations of God, and a church
that believes in a God who continually seeks to take the stuff of
creation – us – and make us into what we were intended
to be – infused by a God. We are the ordinary with the potential
for the extraordinary. So what seems to be missing in us? Why aren’t
we who God has intended us to be yet?
I
think it is a couple of things. First, it’s the need for a little
more ruddiness. Ruddiness is an earthiness, an understanding that
we are God’s and fully dependent on God for all that we are,
all that we have and all that we could be. We are a part of this creation,
of God’s creation, of this earth. We are organic as individuals
and as a church we need to stay rooted in those things that will bring
us health. Ruddiness is a kind of rosy glow – a glow that comes
from health and I believe we can get healthier as a church. We’re
working on it right now. Like the Rubicon Factor, ruddiness in God
allows us to see the challenges before us in a different way –
with God’s eyes and God’s potential, not just our own.
We need to be more ruddy, but that isn’t enough. We
also need readiness, recognition – like David – of the
potential within us. As odd as it may sound, it is like the potential
of a seed – mustard seed or any seed. What happens to (continued...)
"Ruddy
and Ready" by Rev. Brad Beeman, June 18, 2006
seeds
when they are planted in good soil is that they become transformed.
Seeds are always ready to take root, and when nurtured properly they
become transformed into shoots, they push their way through the hardest
of soils. Once they’ve broken through, they strive toward the
sky with everything they’ve got. They take in the air and it
makes them stronger. They take in the sun and it both strengthens
and nurtures them and allows them to grow even stronger. And it is
the same for us.
This
is the season of Pentecost and we need to be reminded, particularly
this morning, that on the day of Pentecost one hundred and twenty
disciples – seeds ready for transformation – were gathered.
God’s breath or wind infused them and brought to life. God’s
warmth and light (the fire) allowed them to take root, sprout and
grow. The world was changed as a result. They became what God had
intended them to be – disciples now ready to transform the world.
Friends,
if we allow ourselves to be filled by God – by God’s breath
and fire – we too become ready for transformation. Not because
of anything we’ve done, but because of God’s Spirit moving
and creating within us. It was so with David, it was so with the disciples
at Pentecost, and it is so with us. Some of us are seeds. Some shoots.
Some full-grown plants. We all, however, need to be more ruddy, even
more ready. God is filling us. You in all of your normalness have
been chosen. Are you willing to be further transformed and to become
great in the eyes of God? Are you willing to then become instruments
of God that could transform the world? I believe you are and I believe
we can.
So,
scholarship winners – congratulations. May the checks handed
to you today be part of what will help you grow, help you move forward,
and assist you toward the recognition of and potential for world transformation
through you. But don’t forget that these came from a church
– this church; an organic, ever-growing, Spirit-centered, Spirit-filled,
transforming, growing group of believers. Believers in a God who takes
even us, even you and seeks to create something great. Fathers, this
is also your day, a day of remembering that ours is to keep nurturing,
keep motivating, keep recognizing the strengths in our children so
that they might become all that God intended them to be. What a special
privilege – to be a father who can help our children grow. Do
it well, my brothers, and allow God to work through you. And to you,
this church – may you see yourselves as ruddy and ready to be
continually infused by the power of the Holy Spirit, motivated to
be transformed by water and the Word, believing yourselves to be members
and participators in God’s ongoing creation, ruddy enough to
believe that with God all things, even transformation, is possible.
We
are disciples of this God who was seen most fully in Jesus Christ.
We are filled with the power of God’s Holy Spirit so that we
might show love, offer acceptance, give and receive forgiveness and
create balance. That is the kingdom of God. God took a shepherd and
made a king. God takes seeds and creates life. So, what will be your
role in furthering God’s creation? Let’s keep exploring
together, making appropriate decisions together and moving out into
action together. Amen? Amen!
©Brad
Beeman , 2006. Permission is given for brief quotation with attribution.
All other rights reserved.
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