Title:                “Used and Confused”

Text:                Amos 7:7-15

Day:                Pentecost 10B

Date:   July 12, 2009

 

            It has been a little over a year since Eryn and I moved into our house, and though I am still not a fix-it kinda guy, I feel like I have grown in my abilities at least marginally.  I now know how to prepare and paint entire rooms.  I know how to unclog drains.  I know how to replace circuit breakers.  But just a few weeks ago I tackled something much bigger: my sprinkler system.

You see, one of the zones wasn’t working properly and it was up to me to fix it.  I spent a few hours digging up the pipe, looking for leaks.  I dug out and replaced the sprinkler head, following someone else’s good advice, but still no luck.  After a few hours, I had to admit that it had me beat.  I had to call in reinforcements (meaning, my dad) to help.  As a good instructor, he took some time to instruct me on how a sprinkler system works.  And I’m happy to say that I now understand what, at the time, sounded like gibberish – but I came to understand it in a very unorthodox manner.  I related my sprinkler system to something I DO understand: the structure of a sermon.

You’ve got your Backflow preventer, the device that ensures that the water only flows in one direction.  This is your emergency fall-back; you hope you never have to use it.  In sermon lingo it is like communion because, even if the sermon bombs, Jesus is still present to us in bread and wine a little while later.  Then you’ve got your main valve, the mechanism that opens or closes the water to the rest of the system.  This is like the introduction to my sermon; it sets up the entire system.  Pipes come out of the main valve going to the different zones around the yard.  This is obviously like the body of the sermon.  They should be sturdy, allowing whatever is inside (be it water or information or the Holy Spirit) to flow freely.  And finally, you’ve got your sprinkler heads, at which point the water beautifully spouts out.  In sermon-ese, this is the response to the sermon.  It is an outward response to something (or someONE) powerful at work beneath the surface.

It may sound funny to you, but it works for me.  And for a guy who doesn’t have a clue when it comes to fixin’ stuff, I have to relate these things in a way that makes sense to me.  If Amos were here today, I’m sure he would understand.

Just imagine it: Amos is a thirty year old man, living down in rural Judah.  We are told in our text today that he used to make his living as a herdsman and a dresser of sycamore trees.  This means that he knows plants, for instance; which ones are good and which ones are bad for eating.  He knows weather patterns, and how it will affect his day.  He knows where the greener grass can be found for his herd to munch on.  He knows how to use his shepherd’s crook to herd his sheep.  He also knows all about sycamore-fig trees.  He knows how to make the fruit ripe.  He knows how to harvest the fruit.  He knows the tools of the trade.  He knows the best time of year to harvest this small crop.  For Amos, the work of a herdsman and a dresser of sycamore-fig trees is not too difficult.  Amos knows how to live and work in this place, his home.

But then God comes, and everything changes.  God takes Amos away from his pasture, away from his herd, away from his sycamore-fig trees, away from his home and places him in Israel – a place that is similar to home, but not quite the same.  Then God tells Amos to prophesy to Israel, its king and its religious leaders.  This is his new mission.

“Umm…what?”  Can’t you just imagine Amos asking that?  “What do I do?   Where do I start?  Who do I talk to?”  In a blink of an eye, Amos finds out that for this job there are no tools to make the job easier.   There are no good spots or bad spots to prophesy; all of them are bad.  There is not a good time of year to prophesy; it’s never a good time.  In short, Amos quickly finds out that he has no idea what he’s doing.

Now this rings true for me.  There are many times when I have felt a little bit like God has given me an impossible task for which I am ill-prepared.  Let’s take the Guam mission trip, for example.  Here we were, a group of people from all walks of life: a pastor, some teachers, a few students, a construction safety inspector, an elder care provider, and a former economist.  (Sounds like the beginning to a bad joke!)  We, too, were in a place that was similar to home (since it is a US Territory), but it was not quite the same.  We, too, were people that God plucked out of Albuquerque, New Mexico, and placed on this little tropical island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.  It kinda felt like God was telling us, “This is where you’ll be working to spread the good news of the gospel through your hands and feet and voices.  Have fun.”  In some ways, we felt like we had no idea what we were doing.

Soon our tasks were given to us: we were to deconstruct and rebuild a chain link fence along the front property line of PIBC; we were to build additional fencing to contain some new guard dogs; we were to strip the paint off of the doors in the women’s dorm room, then repaint the entire dorm building; we were to power wash the roofs of the buildings to rid them of mold; and…oh yeah…do it all with a generous, loving attitude that conveys the love of God to everyone you meet!

“Umm…what?”  For a person who is very much NOT a Mister Fix-It type, this was pretty intimidating.  I can preach, but I don’t know anything about building fences.  Others in our group could build, but they didn’t know how to put their faith into words.  Others in our group could start wonderful conversations with people, but they didn’t know anything about stripping paint without any tools.  In short, we quickly found out that – though we were excited to be on Guam – we had very little idea of what we were doing.

Have you ever felt this way about the Christian life?  Have you ever felt like you have a great skill set to be a teacher, or a nurse, or a police officer, or a painter, but you have no idea how to go about living the life that God has set out for you, too?  Have you ever found yourself wishing that you could be more useful in proclaiming the good news to a world in need of it, but you didn’t feel like you had the ability to do it?  If so, I can guarantee that you’re not alone.  God has called all of us to a pretty demanding job.  It is not easy.  It is never ‘done.’  It is not something that can only be done halfway.  But Amos’ story might prove to be helpful to you: Amos’ story shows us how God calls us to this task of discipleship, but then uses our talents to get it done.

You see, Amos knew how to herd wayward sheep, and now God was calling him to bring THIS herd – the nation of Israel – back into God’s fold.  They had strayed by not taking care of orphans and widows.  They had taken advantage of the poor.  They had forgotten the one God, and instead worshipped other false gods.  They need to be brought back, and Amos was the man who could show them the way.

Amos knew how to yield the best fruit from those sycamore-fig trees.  He knew that in order to get good fruit, he had to go around and make a small incision in each individual fruit so that it could release its toxins and mature properly.  And now God was calling him to make these people yield good fruit, and he had to do it by carefully cutting through their tough flesh, so that their toxic ways of life could be exposed.  Only then could they begin to grow as God intended.

In other words, God used Amos and his skills to accomplish his mission.

And the same goes for us.  Teachers know not only how to educate people, but they also know how to move people from simple knowledge to meaningful action.  So, perhaps you are being called to empower your Brothers and Sisters in Christ to move from simply acknowledging their faith to enacting their faith.

Doctors know how to identify illness and protect life.  Perhaps you are called to publicly identify one of our society’s illnesses and instead work to promote life.

Students know how to make connections between one subject and another.  Perhaps you are called to make connections between people you meet, so that relationships might flourish around you.

Economists know how to see patterns in resource and financial management that show the effectiveness or ineffectiveness of a particular ideology.  Perhaps you are called to point out the patterns that you see in our world today that point out the radical good news seen in the Kingdom of God.

The point is this: you may have no idea how to go about living the life to which you have been called.  You may feel tremendously inadequate in the face of the daunting task that lies before you and each Child of God.  You may think that – after 80 years of life – you have nothing to offer any longer.  But God will not be stopped by our self-imposed limitations.  God uses us at all times and in all places with whatever skills we have to be bearers of his love, peace, joy, and mercy.  NO MATTER WHAT!

So today may you feel God opening the main valves of your heart, encouraging you to GO spread the good news.  May you let God’s gospel of love course through your veins, like water through pipes.  And when the timing is right, I pray that that power of love flowing within you might open up to glorious expression in your own unique, beautiful form – be it a flowing sermon, a spritz of service, or even a simple shower of prayer.

Amen.