Getting Started on the Right Foot
Luke 6:27 – 49
Gettysburg Presbyterian Church
Rev. Lou Nyiri
December 30, 2007

You know what I love about Christmas? – Poinsettias!
Now, I’m not a flower guy and I can’t tell you if poinsettias are flowers or vegetables, but I did discover something about them last Christmas. 
Something I was reminded of this Christmas.
Namely, poinsettias are resilient. 
They can look like they are on the brink of becoming garbage can liners and come back to life with just a little water.

Take for instance the poinsettia on our Communion Table this morning.
I found it Thursday afternoon among the myriad of poinsettias on the table in fellowship hall.  It looked atrocious.  The green leaves and red flowers were hanging off the stem of this plant in a wilted and withered fashion.  As I proceeded to take this one to the garbage, I remembered last year how a little water would bring the poinsettias came back to life.  So I watered it, set it in the fellowship hall kitchen and let it play out. 

Honestly I thought for sure I’d be throwing it away.
Well, I came in Saturday morning and this is what I found.
Sure, there are still some wilting leaves and flowers; and there are some leaves and flowers that didn’t make it and had to fall off this plant, but looking at it now and knowing where it came from, I am amazed at how good it looks.
The resiliency of poinsettias amazes me.

II

You know what else amazes me? – The resiliency of relationships.
How a relationship can be almost over or be over when something happens and new life is spilled into that relationship and it comes back from the brink of extinction.
I read somewhere that if you want to make just one major change in your life – one that will impact the rest of your life in a more positive and productive way – then think of one relationship in your life that is hurting or scarred or broken or wilting and work to heal it.
In the words of the church we would say, we seek restoration to hurting relationships through reconciliation.

There is a great story I heard about a mother and her daughter who were in the kitchen of their home.  And as the mother did her daily tasks, her daughter began to do what it is kids do so well, she began to push her mother’s buttons.  And just as the tension hit its highest point the daughter played right into the hand she had dealt and she did so according to the usual pattern this child would do with either parent.  She went into the living room and grabbed her favorite toys, wrapped them in her blanket and stomped out of the house declaring, “I’m running away.”

Well, her mother knew she would make it no further than the front steps before she sat down and waited for her mother to come get her because that is how this particular dance step went.  So, the mother went about finishing up what she was doing and in the course of that time received a phone call.  About fifteen minutes into the phone call she was interrupted by her daughter who stood tugging at her shirt tail.  When she looked down she saw her daughter sobbing and tears streaming down her face.  Alarmed she dismissed herself from the phone conversation quickly and took the little girl onto her lap and asked what was wrong.

The little girl could barely get the words out through the tears and heaving sobs, but her mother heard her loud and clear.  This little girl said, “Momma, why didn’t you come after me?  Don’t ever not come after me.  Always run after me.”

We are loved by a God who has never and will never stop running after us.
No matter what we’ve done. 
No matter where we’ve been. 
No matter who we are. 
God will always come after us.
For God knows how to bring restoration and reconciliation into hurting relationships.

Today we baptize into our Christian family Aubrey William King – son of Michael and Nicole King – but more than that earthly family we remember how his baptism declares that he is now also God’s child. 
AND his baptism also reminds us that we too – all of us – are children of God.

You see long before any of us were able to understand – long before Aubrey is capable of understanding what this day means for his life – God has already declared He will never stop coming after us. 
God has done what God needs to do to reconcile and restore that broken relationship caused by sin.
When we begin to think that God can’t love us – remember those are not thoughts from God AND remember the waters of baptism remind us that no matter where we think our relationship with God might be – it is NEVER beyond God’s reach.
God can’t love us anymore that He already does AND
God can’t love us any less than He already does.

III

And it is because of God’s love that we too have the ability to love others.
And it is also the reason why Jesus’ words to us today – while they may be tough to hear – are also possible.
You see what Jesus is challenging us to do today is to change our lives…To get started on the right foot in 2008…To build on the right foundation.
For Jesus it’s not all about hearing the message…it’s about what we do in and through our lives in response to the message.
Jesus’ words challenge us to not just listen BUT to hear them AND put them into practice in our lives.
And they are a challenge.

Love your enemies…pray for them.
Do not judge…do not condemn…forgive, and you will be forgiven.
Now he’s not telling us to be door mats. 
We’re not being called to sit idly by and let life happen to us while other people call the shots.
We are called to take our cues from God – to let God shape our actions.
We are not called to stay in any relationship that is continuously abusive either physically or emotionally – don’t forget the tucked away line in there – “Do to others as you would have them do to you.”  (v. 31)
The reality of that statement is we all really want and deserve to be treated as unique creations of God.
Every person in this world is a God-given gift to this world and deserves to be treated as such. 
A God-given gift is better and different from a store-bought gift – we don’t use and abuse it until it breaks and then throw it away or sell it on Ebay once we’ve tired of it.
God-given gifts are to be taken care of and respected.

Doing to others as you would have them do to you says to me that when I act in unjust, unloving, un-Christlike ways I’m usually blinded to the God-given gift in front of me and I need someone to care enough to let me know when I’ve hurt that relationship. 
Earlier I mentioned one way to impact our lives in a productive way is to think of one relationship in our life that is hurting, scarred or broken and work to heal it.

Renowned British novelists William Thackeray and Charles Dickens once had a vicious quarrel.

Just before Christmas in 1863 they met in London, but refused to speak with one another. Pricked in his conscience, Thackeray turned back and seized the hand of his friend, saying he couldn’t bear the coldness between them.

Dickens was touched, and the old anger and jealousy gave way to reconciliation.

Shortly afterward, Thackeray suddenly died. Reflecting on this incident, a man who knew both Thackeray and Dickens wrote in his memoirs, “The next time I saw Dickens he was standing at the grave of his rival. He must have rejoiced, I thought, that he had shaken hands so warmly a few days before.”

Think of one relationship that is important to you.
One that is in need of restoration.
One that could use a little water to bring it back to life.
Now commit to making that relationship restoration a priority in your life for 2008.
And if we can’t commit right now, then at the very least, commit to praying for that relationship.
Commit to working on that relationship by allowing God to work on us.

Now, I know a common thought here could be, “It’s not my fault though.” Or “I haven’t done anything wrong.”
Committing to working on a relationship though doesn’t mean admitting it’s your fault.
It means admitting you prefer having health and wholeness surrounding your life rather than death and decay.
Think about it?  How many people do we know who have unhealthy lives because they would rather run from the truth rather than face the truth?
Much of our addictions and poor health I believe stem from an unwillingness to work through the problems of some of our most important relationships.

Relationships are like this poinsettia here (the one I found on Thursday afternoon).
They can be on the brink of devastation but with a little water they can come back.
It doesn’t happen over night.
When I put the water on this plant the water had to soak into the soil.
And from the soil…into the roots…from the roots into the plant and then life came back into this flower. 
Sure, some petals and leaves were lost because they atrophied so much they could not receive the water and nourishment to come back.
And there are still some leaves and petals that are wilting and will most likely fall off never to be put back onto this plant again.
But seeing where this plant was Thursday afternoon it looks remarkable.
And for you who did not see this plant on Thursday it looks healthy…and it is healthy…for it is growing once again.
Broken relationships can once again become healthy and growing if we take time and invest in them.

IV

A story is told of two unmarried sisters who had so bitter a fight they stopped speaking to each other. Unable and unwilling to leave their small home, they continued to use the same rooms and sleep in the same bedroom.  To settle their dispute, they drew a chalk line down their room and divided the sleeping area into two halves that ran through the front doorway and all through the house, so that each could come and go and get her own meals without trespassing on her sister's domain.  At night, each could hear the breathing of their bitter foe. For years they coexisted in grinding silence. Neither was willing to take the first step to reconciliation.

All over America chalk lines have been drawn that divide households, churches, marketplaces, neighborhoods and ethnic groups - and it's time for those lines to be erased.

If we are thinking, those are great stories, but they don’t apply to my life.
This stuff is nice on paper, but this can’t work…this wont’ work…I can’t do this.
Let’s not forget all things are possible through the grace of God at work in this world.
But it takes great care, great attentiveness and great determination because all it will take is to leave this plant alone, without water and there will come a point when it cannot be brought back because too much time has passed.

God has so come into this world to restore our broken relationship with Him.
And God came into this world to help us restore broken relationships with one another.
Let’s get 2008 started off on the right foot by allowing God’s grace into our lives so that relationships may be restored and life may be lived.
And may we begin doing so today.  Amen and Amen.

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