First Parish Church

First Parish Church
186 York Street
York, Maine 03909
Telephone (207) 363-3758
email office@firstparishyork.org

Oh, The Places You’ll Go!

Linda B. Hirst, October 29, 2006

This past month we’ve been highlighting the ten most important verses and then the most important chapters in the bible - verses like.... chapters like...

Today, I want to highlight something slightly different - a theme, if you will - that is found throughout the bible and in our lives as Christians, as Christ followers, as children of God.

It’s the theme of moving forward, of stepping out on God’s word, so to speak and then seeing what happens.

Again and again, people in the Bible, like Abraham and Sarah, Jacob and Leah and Rachel, Moses and Aaron, great figures in the Old Testament and those in the New: men like Zacchaeus and Bartemaeus and the rich ruler and women, like Mary and Martha, the woman at the well, the woman who touched Jesus’ cloak in order to be healed, again and again, these men and women show movement - of going forward - towards healing, towards wholeness, towards Jesus, towards God and God’s promises, towards faith, and this made all the difference... in their lives, and in our lives, in God’s plans for the world.

So I want to share some of their stories with you, beginning with these two scriptures:

The first is from Genesis 12:1-9, the call of Abraham and Sarah

The second is from the gospel of Mark, healing of Bartimaeus, Ch. 10:46-52

Oh the places you will go! is the title of my sermon my favorite Dr. Seuss book: I’ve always been a big Dr. Seuss fan, even as an adult because I think there are biblical lessons woven throughout almost every story.

Take Yertle the Turtle - It’s about a turtle who’s king of a pond and all the turtles; are happy until Yertle decides his kingdom is too small.

"I"m ruler, said Yertle, of all that I see.

But I don’t see enough. That’s the trouble with me."

You can guess what happens next - Yertle commands all the turtles climb on each other’s back so he can stand on top of them and be king of all he surveys - because only then will he truly be happy. And though the turtles complain that they’re suffering, they’re hungry, their shells hurt, Yertle does not listen. He just calls for more turtles so he can be higher, yet no matter how high he goes, it’s not high enough.

When he decides he needs to be as high as heaven, Mack, the plain little turtle on the botton of the stack burps, which shakes the throne and dumps everyone, including the king back into the pond - where they all live again, happy and free, as turtles should be, except for Yertle of course.

And in that one story you can see the Tower of Bable, trying to reach to heaven to be greater than God, and Jesus telling his followers that the first shall be last and the last shall be first.

And then there’s Horton Hears a Who, a classic, where Horton, an elephant hears a voice from a tiny, little dust speck, a very faint sound.

That’s funny, thinks Horton. "There’s no one around."

Then he heard it again. Just a very faint yelp

As if some tiny person were calling for help.

So Horton helps the voice, which happens to be an entire village living on this tiny speck of dust - while all the other animals in the jungle think he’s crazy. But Horton has committed himself to protecting them and moves heaven and earth to do so after the other animals try to dispose of the dust speck, because as Horton says: A person’s a person. No matter how small.

And in the end, all the animals see that he’s right

Because everyone, as you know, is equal in God’s sight

Now, Isn’t this fun? You can find God anywhere if you look hard enough.

I can even find theological significance in Green Eggs and Ham. You can ask me about that later.

But back to my favorite: Oh the Places You’ll Go! I love this book because it’s a story about what happens when we take a step, when we move forward, when we embark on a journey, because when we do, that’s when things start happening. And a lot of what happens to us is good and amazing and great, but not all of it, because in life there are challenges, and problems, lonely times, scary times, confusing times and long, long, long waiting times, and sad times, too.

One of my favorite parts in the whole book is this because it’s so true:

And this is the way the book goes - sometimes you’re up, sometimes you’re down and when you’re down, you may be really down, but that’s just the way life is sometimes. And while it’s not easy extricating yourself from all these situations, if you just keep moving forward, oh the places you’ll go!

I was part of a church once that gave this book to graduating seniors signed by as many church members as possible with words of wisdom, good wishes and blessings. And when we’d give it to the kids they’d say things like: Oh, Dr. Seuss, how nice. And we knew as soon as they got home the book was tossed underneath their bed

But we also knew, as the kids packed for college, that that book would be quietly taken out from underneath the bed slipped into into a box by their mom or their dad, who knew it was important that it go with them.

And there would come a time, late at night, when our sweet college freshmen would be sad or home sick or going through a tough time, and they would pull that book out from wherever it had landed during its unpacking, and they would sit on their bed and read...especially all the stuff their church family had written to them; words of hope and encouragement and perseverance - words of God’s hopes and promises to them and when they were done, they’d know they were held safely and securely in God’s hands, and as they stepped out into the world, they’d step out with God and oh the places they’d go.

That’s what we like to think happened anyway.

When Abraham and Sarah received the call from God to go...it was a bit of a shock to be sure. They were older, in their 70’s, living in the land of Abraham’s father, they were settled, probably even retired, when God said to Abram:

Go...from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed." Oh the places you will go.

So Abraham and Sarah set off to the land of Canaan, not knowing what they would find there, how long it would take, what their journey would be like - would it be difficult or easy, would they be welcomed along the way or treated like foreigners. And what exactly did God mean about these promises? How could they be a great nation when they had no children? There were a lot of unknowns ahead of them.

And no one would have blamed them if they had hesitated a little bit, or asked for specifics or even said no. But they didn’t. They just went, as the Lord had told them, they stepped out on God’s word, and that’s when things really started happening.

They went to strange lands, lived with strange people, at the age of 90, Sarah and Abraham became parents for the first time. Their journey was up, it was down, there were challenges, and problems, lonely times, scary times, confusing times, waiting times, and sad times, too. Still, Abraham and Sarah kept going and as they did, they began to see God’s promises come true - land, descendants and blessings.

Because that’s what can happen when you move, when you go forward, when you step out on God’s word.

Bartimaues, blind Bartimaeus, a beggar, was sitting by the roadside when Jesus comes through town. Jesus hears his shouts and says to him:

What do you want me to do for you? Bartimaeus says, "My teacher, let me see again."

Bartimaeus knew something about this Jesus of Nazareth, knew he was special. He called him the Son of David, proclaiming him the King of the Jews, the Messiah. He knew Jesus could give him something no one else could give him, could do something for him no one else could.

So he moved. He threw off his cloak, sprang up and came to Jesus. He took a step forward, towards healing, towards wholeness. And that’s when things started really happening.

Jesus said: "Go; your faith has made you well." And immediately he regained his sight and followed Jesus on the way. A different person.

Oh the places we’ll go when we move, when we go forward, when we step out on God’s word.

We often end up doing new things, things we never thought possible, never thought we could do. Or thinking things, and feeling things, maybe even being the kind of person we never thought we could be. When we move toward healing and wholeness, toward God, toward Jesus, toward faith, toward a stronger faith, that’s when things really start happening.

Think of our high school kids who go on the mission trip for the first time. It’s big and scary and unknown and many of our first -timers have second, third and fourth doubts the night before the trip - what illness could they possibly come up with at the last minute that their mother might believe - some are even in tears as they get on the van - already they’re home sick but still they go. They move forward because they’ve made a promise to themselves, to us, to their friends, they’ve heard God calling, and as they do they discover that serving God and their neighbor is amazing and filled with mountain top experiences and a few in the valley, but there really is nothing else like it, nothing better, and they can’t wait to go back.

It’s the same with adults - trips to New Orleans, to Honduras, to Boston, to Machias. These trips are unpredictable, they take a lot of planning, they’re exciting and exhausting, they’re challenging and joy-filled and tear filled, and those who have gone wouldn’t trade the experience for anything. And they’re already making plans for next year’s trips.

It’s even works with stewardship campaigns and pledging - just watch - watch how I do this. It’s fascinating. We can go for years feeling like we just don’t have enough, we don’t have enough for ourselves and we certainly don’t have enough for the church, at least as much as they seem to want. We find ourselves living with an attitude of poverty - worrying about every little thing and it’s hard to feel good, to feel joy when we’re living like that.

But once we realize that God’s blessings do abound, that God will not fail us, that all good things come from God, and we shouldn’t worry but give thanks in all situations, and be good stewards of God’s gifts, once we move from an attitude of poverty to an attitude of abundance, giving...pledging becomes a very different experience. It becomes joyful, even a spiritual experience. All because we’ve moved forward in our thinking about stewardship. (P.S. Don’t forget to fill out your pledge cards when they come in the mail!).

Of course moving forward, whether it’s emotionally, spiritually or physically is not always easy. Sometimes we need help from our friends, people we trust, and always we need help from God. Sometimes we just need to be brave and do it (grit your teeth, and brace yourself and take a tiny step - kind of like how most of us over a certain age get into the water at Harbor Beach in the summer time) Sometimes we just need to be brave and sometimes we just simply need to make the effort.

But remember that it is God’s word you are stepping out on, and God’s word is true and steadfast and sure. And though you may not know exactly where you’re going or what will happen to you when we get there, know that as you move forward you will find excitement and challenges, adventure and problems, joy and of course tears. Because that’s just life. But that’s o.k. Move forward anyway.

Whatever you feel God calling you to do, to be, to think to feel. Step out on God’s word and move...

Move towards healing and wholeness,

Move towards Jesus

Move towards God

Move towards faith

Move toward life.

And watch what happens. But, oh the places you’ll go when you go with God.

Let’s pray:

Loving and merciful God, we thank you that you call us to do new things, to follow you, may our lives be changed for the better, may your promises be realized in our lives and in our world, may we always be held safely and securely in your hands and we never be the same for following you.

Amen.