Footprints at the Door

When my granddaughter Arden was four years old. We were on vacation in northern Ontario far away from the lights of the city. It was a clear evening, and so I said to her, “Arden, after it gets dark out tonight, do you want me to get you out of bed and we can go outside to see the stars?"

You know what it’s like when you get away from the lights of the city. You can see thousands of stars, and the faint shimmering band of the Milky Way running across the sky ... it's breathtaking …

She was thrilled ... just so excited to be able to go and look at the stars with grandpa ... "Yes, yes! please wake me up grandpa!"

It was around ten-thirty or eleven, and I went into her room, and I woke her up, wrapped her in a warm blanket - carried her outside – a little way away from the cabin, and we stood out there in the darkness looking up at the stars.

For a few seconds she looked up at the sky, then all of sudden she buried her head in my shoulder, and she started to whimper and tremble, "What's the matter Arden?"

"I'm scared ... I want to go back up to the cabin ... grandpa, will you lie down with me in bed? ... I'm scared ..."

And I looked at this little girl who climbed trees like a monkey, and fearlessly enjoyed the highest and most dangerous equipment in the playground … and not a moment of fear.

And I looked up at the sky, and suddenly I knew why she was afraid. In one fell swoop the size of her universe had expanded a million times. Her little universe of mommy and daddy, grandma and grandpa, aunts and uncles, cousins and friends, had taken a leap beyond her ability to understand or comprehend. With one look at that view, inspiring awe and wonder in me, she had been displaced from the center of the universe.

Do you ever feel that way in this universe – small and insignificant – one person amongst the teeming billions who populate this planet ... a rather ordinary planet orbiting an average reliable sun ... but our sun is only one of two hundred billion stars in our galaxy.

God has created vastness beyond our ability to comprehend.

I wonder if that troubles us sometimes … the very size of God?

I wonder if it troubled those early disciples of Jesus as well?

During the course of his ministry, the disciples of Jesus were gradually but steadily being introduced to the immensity of what Jesus is about. Do you think those disciples – Peter, James, John and the others – do you think they’re beginning to get the size of it? They start out as twelve Galileans just following Jesus, and pretty soon he's embracing lepers, babies, unclean people, sinners, poor, lame, blind, deaf, rich people, Roman soldiers ... he reaches out ... tax collectors. This thing is getting too big. When we keep it small I know how to pray, I know what to wish for: "Lord bless me, my family, and all that are in this church. Amen."

And then this morning, we come to the story of Pentecost – tongues of fire, people from every corner of the earth hearing the story of the crucifixion and the resurrection, each one in their own language … and the story comes to a climax with the revelation “and there were added that day about three thousand souls.”

I can’t help wondering, “What was the discussion over dinner that night when those original disciples gathered together to talk about the events of the day?” … wonder, amazement, surprise … fear? … the responsibility of it all?

This movement is now bigger than they could ever have imagined – a church with thousands of members, but each one to know they are valued and treasured by God – “How are we going to do this!?”

“How are we going to do this?” … that’s still our calling today – empowered by the Holy Spirit to speak the Good News of Christ in a way that people can understand, while at the same time ensuring that each member of the church is important and significant to God. “How are we going to do this!?”

Is it possible that’s the question the Apostle Paul was addressing in the passage we read today from the Letter to the Romans. Here was a man who, during his lifetime, brought the message of the Gospel to thousands of people. He sometimes passed through a city, established a church and moved on within a matter of weeks. Yet he writes these words, "Let love be genuine. Love one another with mutual affection ... be ardent in spirit, serve the Lord.” – a personal message, a personal God – Paul convinced that each person had a special gift to offer in service to God, "We, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually we are members of one another." And it's in that fellowship - it's in the way the church, the community of faith, lives out its purpose ... that’s what makes it possible to be the church …

You see, Paul says in Romans, "do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed ..."

So, the church runs itself in a way far different from the world ... or at least it should! In the world people are judged: you're a success or a failure, you've made it or you haven't made it. The world judges us on the basis of how much power, wealth and pleasure we're able to acquire.

The Apostle Paul says, "Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed.”. And he may be talking about a lot of things, but I can’t help feeling, he's certainly talking about how we live and act as members of the Church of Jesus Christ:

That we commit ourselves to the task of growing towards spiritual maturity ... and that within the church, no matter how big or how small … We do this together.

We're there for one another ...

We find fellowship and friendship within the church ...

We're honest with one another instead of being hypocritical or false ... that we celebrate together – we laugh together and we cry together ...

That we support and care for one another, and also that we care and pray for all those in need - the sick and the people who are carrying heavy burdens.

And finally this, that our worth and value is judged on our identity as beloved sons and daughters of God ... each one of us precious - loved by God as if there was only one to love.

Within God's family, there are no worthless or throw-away people, for each individual soul is essential, needed, wanted and appreciated in their service to Christ, and as each individual person reflects the image of God which dwells within us.

That’s essential to the message preached on the Day of Pentecost – 3000 souls may have been baptized on the day of Pentecost – and that’s a great New Member’s Sunday! … but we are never to forget the words Jesus spoke to his disciples at the Last Supper, "Love one another, as I have loved you."

Unfortunately, it doesn't always work out that way. A friend of mine told me a story about something that happened at the church where he attends - an unusual thing.

There was a young woman in this church. Her story was very painful.

She'd been happily married, and then they'd had their first child. But he was born with brain damage, and he died before he reached the age of two. As often happens, the circumstances, the tragic situation, caused a rift between husband and wife. He couldn't take the emotional demands, and he left the marriage. They were divorced.

Some time passed. Everyone thought she was back on her feet. She got a good job. She looked professional - like she had everything together.

Then one Sunday at church, at the end of the service, she walked down the center aisle to the front of the sanctuary and stood before the gathered people. They all thought this was maybe something the minister had arranged. Maybe she wanted to thank the congregation for their support and for their prayers.

She stood and faced the people, and she said, "I wish today to un-join the church. I don't know if there is a ceremony for this. I don't know if there's any way our church can practice this, but I want you to know, that all the things that attracted me to this church, no longer exist. I don't believe a word of it!"

Then she walked out ...

The minister fumbled for his benediction and managed to get through it. The people were standing there - bumping into the furniture ... "Somebody has just un-joined our church!"

My friend saw her minister after it happened. He talked to the minister, because he didn't know if he knew the whole story as well as he did.

My friend said, "Have you talked with her lately?"

The minister said, "I haven't talked with her at all!"

"You haven't?"

And this minister said, "It's her decision. Let her go. I don't go chasing after anybody!"

But isn’t that what the church is supposed to do – be there for others – show our care and concern, especially to those who are hurting and broken.

That's what God did. God didn’t look on from afar saying, "I don't go chasing after anybody!" No ... the Son of God came down to this little speck. This tiny backwater planet at the edge of a rather ordinary galaxy, in the midst of this vast universe. God came to live amongst us ... to chase us down to the ends of the universe ... to say, "I want you ... I care for you ... I love you!" - to establish a community of people – empowered by the Holy Spirit - who would grow to know God - who would share God’s love in a hard and often uncaring world.

Today is Pentecost – the birthday of the church. And the message is two fold – the Word of God is like wild and powerful tongues of fire – transforming the lives of women and men. But it’s also this – that each one is appreciated and valued in the work God calls us to accomplish together – our loving work for the world.

I want to tell you a story about my mother …

When I was growing up, my mother used to do a lot of baking. She'd make cookies, cakes, pies, sometimes she'd even bake her own bread and rolls. It seemed like there was always something baking in the oven ... the aroma of it permeating the house.

We kids – all five of us - would just be drooling to dig into her latest creation. Only a lot of times, there'd be this little problem. You'd go to take a piece of cake or pie, only to hear those fateful words, "Don't touch that, it's for the church!"

Or there'd be a whole loaf of sandwiches, and … oh … you’d want one … but then … "Leave those alone, they're for the mission to the homeless."

Or she'd pull a casserole out of the oven and put it into a cardboard box, and she'd turn to me and say, "Wes, I want you to take this over to Mrs. Smith. She just lost her husband, and there'll be a lot of people there, and she won't have any time to bake something for all of them to eat."

And Mrs. Smith may have gone to the church, or maybe she was a neighbour.

And I’d take the box, get on my bicycle and ride over to the Smith home with it. I'd knock on the door and someone would come along, and I'd say, "This is from my mom ... we really wanted to eat it ourselves, but my mom said I had to bring it over ..."

And they'd say, "Oh, thank you so much." And when I'd turn away to leave ... I'd look down at the sidewalk leading up to the house, and if I looked real carefully, I could see the invisible footprints of all the other church people who'd been to the door throughout the day, carrying something in their hands - a loaf of sandwiches, an apple pie, another casserole ... the church it cares ... it lives and embodies the love of God - I know, because over and over again, I've seen the footprints of God's people at the door of those who needed to know and experience the love and comfort of Christ.

I’ve seen those footprints, and if I’m not mistaken, I think some of those footprints might have been yours…