NOTE: I am putting my weekly sermons on the church website. It will be on for two weeks (usually posted on Friday) and then placed in the Archives area by date. You can download in a matter of seconds.
Let me know what you think. The church Email is: SLUMC@att.net, Phone: 480.895.8766
Sunday, January 30, 2005
Sermon: “My Life”
Scripture: Micah 6:1-8
Reverend Larry Gerbre
The search for meaning in life has inspired lawyers to become priests, and real estate agents to open leather crafts factories. But the shift to significance has always involved walking in the path of discipleship.
Take a moment and ask yourself: “What am I doing with my life?
It was an afternoon that changed a life forever. Here’s the story:
Rick Olson stood with his son Patrick on a hill overlooking a panoramic view of downtown Pittsburgh with its three rivers and tall buildings. As they gazed over the railing on the Mt. Washington observation deck, Patrick pointed to the barges floating up and down the three rivers, a blue-and-gold bridge and a host of other scenes there laid out in front of them, all the while asking questions — “What kind of boat is that? How do they get the sand out of the railcars and into the barges? Which river goes south to north? Is it that one or that one?”
Rick had been living in Pittsburgh for 22 years and had never really paid attention to things like that. For two hours Patrick made observations, asked questions, and Rick could only say, “Hmmmm.”
Then Patrick asked his dad to point out the building where he had been working every day for five years as a corporate lawyer specializing in radio station mergers. There in that steel and glass edifice Rick was known as “The Mechanic” for his ability to close the deal, even though he wasn’t very good at bringing in business. Well, at least Rick knew where his building was and pointed out the downtown tower.
“What’s the building next to it?” asked Patrick. Rick didn’t know. He had walked past that building nearly every day for five years and he had no idea. How could he not know?
When they returned home, Rick made his son dinner, played with him, read him a story, put him in bed and kissed him goodnight. But when Rick came downstairs and plopped down on the couch, he had an epiphany. One thought kept gnawing at him: “I’d been here 22 years and never noticed all those things. What else have I been missing?”
Rick realized that he was unhappy as a corporate lawyer. He had been passed over for partner and wasn’t making much money. His whole life was scheduled around work, and it began to overwhelm him. He remembered the time his wife (now his ex) was scheduled for gallbladder surgery and on the way to the hospital one of the partners gave him a cell phone and suggested he make calls to clients while in the waiting room, or the time that his son Patrick had to sit in his office all night while his dad met with clients.
He was multi-tasking his life and still not making it. It was time for a change.
That night Rick was 80 percent sure that he wanted to quit, but he needed to find the other 20 percent to be sure. That came in the form of a serious leg injury he sustained playing recreational hockey that forced him out of action for quite a while.
When Rick woke up in the hospital and was told by the doctor that his foot and leg were broken in at least 11 places, Rick’s response was to laugh. “They just unlocked the gate. This is my chance to walk away.”
The doctor replied, “You won’t be walking anywhere for quite a while.”
“That’s fine by me,” said Rick.
Ironically, in the midst of his 10-month rehabilitation, Rick had found the courage to move on with his life. For 20 years he had said that when work got frustrating he would “rather drive a truck.”
So that’s what he did.
Rick now spends 60 percent of his time driving an over-the-road tanker truck, working 10 days on the road and then getting at least four days to spend with Patrick uninterrupted by his job. “I needed to do something different,” he explains. “I didn’t anticipate that I’d fall in love with the job.”
Rick is just one of the people profiled in Po Bronson’s book What Should I Do With My Life? Bronson calls the book title “The Ultimate Question” — the question that nearly all of us wrestle with at some point. But rather than write another “how-to” book or a treatise on finding your purpose, Bronson simply spent time with people, hearing their stories, watching their transformation, seeing them “facing up to [their] own identity and filtering out the chatter that tells us to be someone we’re not.”
What are you doing with your life? Are you happy? Are you spending time loving and caring for others? Do you find satisfaction at the end of the day? Does tomorrow look exciting to you?
Bronson gathers together stories of transformation from pointlessness to purpose, from success to significance, including:
• A mother torn between an Olympic career and her adolescent daughter.
• The OB/Gyn physician who walked away from her lifelong “destiny” of being a doctor and was trying to make sense of it all.
• A high-powered IT saleswoman who gave up the certainty of salary to be a massage therapist because she missed a close connection with people.
When I was a wee little lad, I was asked: “What do you want to be when you grow up?” I dreamed of being a farmer and volunteer fireman, like my Dad; a soldier, like my favorite Uncle, or, even President of the United States. I had dreams that could not be fulfilled, but I could dream.
Finally, I had to make a decision. I went to college in order to get a degree that would land me a good job and lots of money. I majored in Business and Economics, yet felt uneasy with the corporate world as my vocation…. God called me to consider ministry. Yes! That is it. Seminary was to follow….Study of God’s Word was fascinating and exciting. My observance of everyday life in and around Atlanta, Ga. in 1966-67, showed me that the average person was not leading a God ordained, loving and caring life.
Jane and I, now in our eight month of marriage, found ourselves desiring to move back north, where we would not be confronted with segregation. I entered seminay in Rochester, NY, only to find bigotry and racism there, as well as on the streets. I could not see myself making a career in the ministry, where God’s word was not lived out.
I chose to use my college degree to land a corporate job, where I could use my skills, be promoted, and make a good living. It was a tough decision, but felt right. During that 4 year period, we began a family, bought a house, and seemed happy. Yet, inside of me, there was a restlessness, unfulfilled desire. I prayed about it, and one night on the way home, I knew what I had to do. I told Jane that I had to go back into the ministry, fearing her reaction. Fear changed to joy and delight, when she threw her arms around me, and said: “I have been praying and waiting for this day!” The rest is history..
The prophet Micah is a kindred spirit to those pursuing The Ultimate Question. As he wrote about the people of Israel in crisis, Micah’s focus was to simply — remind the people of their purpose. Like an executive on a corporate treadmill or a doctor who’s given all she had to give, the people of Israel had been relying on their busyness, their ritual, their status as chosen people to make meaning of their lives. Their offerings to God were simply the fruits of their frantic labor.
Micah brings the picture into focus. The answer to The Ultimate Question is really quite simple. Our purpose is found in the larger purposes of God. “What does the Lord require of you?” asks the prophet. What really matters?
What is God’s purpose for us? It’s not about spending more time with the kids, or finding fulfillment in driving a truck across America’s fruited plains — although perhaps that could be a piece of it for some.
Like the people in Bronson’s book, the people of The Book would find that what really matters is relationship — relationship with God and with each other, relationships not quantified by dollars or organization charts, by ritual or good deeds. What really matters, says the prophet, is “to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God” (6:8).
At the end of the day, we’re not so much judged on what we accomplish in a career or even a religion, but on how much we loved. Have we simply loved people enough to act justly, to be kind, and to give ourselves over to walking humbly with God and following God’s lead in our lives?
Our lives matter because we matter to God. Not because of what we can or cannot do, but because God simply loves us. If we love God in the same way, we can’t help but find real meaning and a new way of looking at life through the lens of relationship.
Yes, there is that question we all get asked when we’re about 5 years old — “What do you want to be when you grow up?” It’s a great question, but soon enough we begin to turn be into do and get stuck cranking out life instead of creatively living into it. We become human doings rather than human beings.
I am thankful that I listened to God, and became an answer to Jane’s prayer as well, when I knew it was time for me to become a human being. As a human doing for four years, I was climbing the corporate ladder, but found myself existing, rather than living.
Micah’s words remind us that life can be simple if we’ll only be willing to make some hard choices — if we’ll choose to love God and others and let the rest take care of itself.
Says the lawyer become driver become dad, “He asks more interesting questions than anybody I’ve ever worked with.”
It’s his son that brings Rick happily home, and that boy is the answer to his Ultimate Question: “What am I living for?”
We all can’t be lawyers. We all can’t be Dr’s. We all can’t be professional ministers. We all can’t be truck drivers. BUT, we all can be human beings in the midst of our human doings. The question might rather be, who are you living for rather than what are you living for.
Let me know what you think. The church Email is: SLUMC@att.net, Phone: 480.895.8766