Defining Moments
Gettysburg Presbyterian Church
Deuteronomy 6: 1-9 & Philippians 2: 5-11
November 13, 2011
Rev. Lou Nyiri

Defining moments – we all have them and they are all different for each and every one of us.  

Many of our veterans faced defining moments as they risked their lives in service to country.  I am reminded of the opening scene in the movie Saving Private Ryan when the older James Ryan turns from a grave stone with name “Miller” on it and as he turns to face his family, he says to his wife, “Tell me I have led a good life.”  “What?” his wife asks.  “Tell me I’m a good man.” he says to her.  “You are.” she replies.  And then the movie unfolds to show the story of how a group of soldiers risked their lives, many of whom died in the process to save his life because his brothers had all been killed in the war and he was to be discharged to go home and care for his mother and family.  The dying words spoken to him by Captain Miller, the one who led the men to find him were, “James, earn this…earn it.”  That is a defining moment.

“The difference,” one person has said in her blog, “[for me is] I listened, I learned, and I took action.  It’s what you choose to do with those powerful defining moments that make the difference between the mundane and the extraordinary.”

Kevin Costner, in the movie Tin Cup, plays golfer, Roy MacAvoy, he’s been out of the game for a while, he’s down on his luck, he gets a chance to play in the PGA, though in a scene early in the movie, he’s talking with his friend and caddie, Romeo Posar, played by Cheech Marin, he’s talking about a shot he once took and why he would take it again, he says, “I hit [it] because that shot was a defining moment, and when a defining moment comes along, you define the moment... or the moment defines you.”

Defining moments are those moments in our lives – those actions or events in our lives or in the lives of those around us which serve to teach us something about who we are and what we are called to be.

June 15, 1996 & July 20, 2000 are two defining moments in my life.
The first is my wedding day when I married the love of my life, Candace Veon.
The second is our son’s birth.  An eleven year old boy whom we tuck into bed most nights (though at eleven year’s old he probably doesn’t want his father or mother talking about tucking him in anywhere) though we put him to bed with these words, “Of all the boys in all the world, we’re so glad God gave us you.”

There is not a single person in this area who does not know what I am talking about with regard to understanding how moments can define who we are or what we become.

All one needs to do is look at the front page of newspaper or watch the evening news or turn on ESPN Sportscenter and he or she will see how the choices which were made within the administration and leadership at Penn State have become defining moments in so many lives.  And I’m not talking about losing a head football coach – I’m talking about the lives of those young children and their families who have had to live for so long wondering if anyone cares what happened…

As one who grew up in State College and received his undergraduate degree from The Pennsylvania State University, I have found myself resonating this week with two posters held by protestors on campus.  Maybe you’ve seen them:
“JoePa is not the victim.”  & “We are Penn State…We are Ashamed.”
Right now there are so many lives which are so tragically turned inside out and upside down because of cruel, sick choices which were made and the cover-up which followed those choices.

“You define the moment…or the moment defines you.”

While the last few days have reminded us that we live in a messed up world.  We live in times when you wonder if anything you do matters.  We live in a world where tragic things happen.  Hopefully, we’ve not forgotten that we also live in a world where good things happen too.  It is into such a world that parents still bring their children.

We remembered this very fact this morning when we baptized into the family of faith, William “Liam” Mosser V – son of Brandy and Will Mosser. 
That baptism was and is a defining moment in young Liam’s life and in his family’s life too.
They have declared that though the world in which we live is so unpredictable – it is also a world in which they place their faith in the God of the universe – the Son whom they call Lord & Savior and the Holy Spirit by which they will be guided and take their lead.

They have promised in this moment to live into that faith with their child.
They have promised to live out those words we just read from Deuteronomy – the SHEMA – they will seek to pass the words of faith on to the next generation – “To love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might.”
And their promise helps us to remember our promise to do the same – that we too will “love the Lord with all our heart, soul and strength” – regardless of life’s unpredictability.

Recently, I read an article by Heidi Husted Armstrong who is pastor at the Bethany Presbyterian Church in Seattle.  The title of her article is “When ‘stuff’ happens.”  (The Presbyterian Outlook, October 30, 2011, p. 31.)

What do you do, she asks, when, as the sanitized form of the bumper sticker puts it, stuff happens?  Especially when the stuff happening these days seems to be increasingly random and absurd.

She goes on to convey the words of Old Testament theologian, Walter Brueggemann and his observations surrounding the God of the Bible.  Brueggemann speaks of this God in the following way, “a God who is with God’s people and for God’s people.”

The Apostle Paul speaks of this when he writes those words found in Philippians 2 which describe this One: 
“Who emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, and being born in human likeness. 
Who humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death. 
Who was highly exalted by God and given the name above every name – so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bend, and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord – to the glory of God the Father.”

The God revealed in Jesus Christ is our sanctuary, our safe place, our security, the one who holds our struggles and sorrows, the one who holds us. 
When life happens to us, then, there is Jesus.
It’s more than Christianity or even the Christian response. 
It is an encounter – a person – a relationship to experience.

Our hope is not simply that circumstances will change – our hope isn’t even that certain things won’t happen – our hope is that our lives will be guided by this one called Jesus – our future is in his care.
Paul speaks of this when he gives us those words filled with the promise and hope to create positive possibilities in our lives – the defining moments, if you will – “Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus.”

Armstrong goes on to write in her article, “Sometimes I wonder if the greatest evidence of our trusting Christ [is seen most clearly] in how we respond when stuff happens to those we love the most, especially our kids.”
She shares the story of Columbine High School, 10 years after the tragedy which rocked that community, the school’s principal recalled how the students who survived were reluctant to talk with their parents.
It wasn’t because they didn’t have questions – they had big – they had huge questions.
Questions like:  “Why didn’t I die?”  “Will it happen again?”  “Will it happen to me?”
But these students kept their questions to themselves because they knew that asking them would upset their parents – and they didn’t want to freak them out.

When our children have fears and questions, do we freak on them?
Or, do we tell them something like, “Don’t worry.  It won’t happen to you.  I won’t let it happen to you.”
Or, do we help them to understand the reality of life, by saying something like, “Well, in life, in this world, bad things can happen.  And sometimes those bad things are very, very bad things.  And sometimes those bad things happen to good people – even people who have a relationship with Jesus because faithful people are not exempt.”

Then do we go on to talk about how God is our refuge.
Do we talk about how in this one whom we call Lord and Savior we have a promise that we will never be alone – for the incarnate one is with us always, “even to the end of the age.”
Do we talk about how since Jesus Christ as Lord and Ruler of the universe is also our security.
Do we talk about how sometimes in life it is not until we get to a place where God is all we have that we come to realize maybe God is all we need?
Do we talk about how God – even in the midst of the messiness of life – can and is working to create positive definitive moments in this world and in the life of those around us – and that very often the way God creates those definitive moments is through people like us – people who agree to work with God to bring about transformation – for the good?

Today is just such a defining moment for us – today is a day when we have the opportunity to tell the world who it is we are called to be as we commit to working with each other and with our God to share the good news of God’s grace.

And yes, while this could be considered a shameless plug for pledge Sunday and the Christmas Fair, let us not forget that it is so much more than that – it is also a reminder that as people of faith some of the greatest defining moments we have come as a result of our participating with God to create a little bit of God’s Kingdom here on earth.  When we support things like: 
mission trips and missionaries;
the Homeless Shelter and Adams Rescue Mission;
our youth ministries from kids club to youth club to middle and high school fellowships;
our Sunday School & Christian Education opportunities;
our fellowship groups and small groups;
our worship and music ministries;
our upkeep of the facilities so that we can offer all these programs in a safe sanctuary – one that is not falling down around us – a place set apart from the outside world where we can offer these life changing; life transforming events;
our outreach ministries from welcome and outreach to deacons to Stephen ministry to Write from the Heart – those notes you get that you wonder who wrote them and where they came from and how’d they know what was going on;
When we make our financial pledge of support to the ministries and missions of this congregation, we are supporting these and many other places like these –which can become defining moments in the lives of those to whom they minister.

Because everybody has defining moments and we either define the moment or the moment defines us.

So, let us live with courage, refusing to limit the loving kindness of God only to the people who look and think like us.
Let us pray and work together for the coming of God’s kingdom.
Let us create defining moments in this world by proclaiming out loud who we are and what we are called to be.
Let us define this moment.

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