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I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, beg you to lead a life worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all lowliness and meekness, with patience, forbearing one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. Ephesians 4:1-3
What do - Charles Barkely, my garden and being a Christian have in common?
Well, listen to this sermon and my hope is that you will have figured it out.
Growing up, my dad loved to talk about Charles Barkely. He loved to watch him from his College days and on through to his days with the Rockets. The remarkable thing about Charles is that he is short, doesn’t look like any other traditional basketball player – nor does he have any good genes in his family for ‘basketball. All he had was desire, and discipline. His college coach used to say that Charles was the one player on his team that he loved and hated. Charles, the coach would say was obnoxious, and small, and overweight. He would run you down with his mouth until you started making mistakes. He was just persistent. He was a walk on in college and might as well been label a no-body.. Except that he had desire and discipline. When no one else was out on the court, or at the gym., Charles was there pushing himself to the limit. He had great discipline. He could taste success and wouldn’t let go. Over time he worked and distinguished himself. And now – we rank him with some of the greats of the game. This short, stocky, no-talent kid from Birmingham that all he had going for him was a mouth.
I have had recently a lot of new parents and parents to be ask me how they might teach their children to be Christians.... It is a challenging thing to learn to be a Christian. It isn’t something that comes from reading one self-help book, or taking a workshop or a class. Being a Christian is something that you have to desire – something that you have to have discipline with. It is not something that happens over night – but it is something that you must commit to every morning.
Normally I frustrate new parents by telling them if they want their children to be Christians then they themselves will have to want to be Christians too. They will have to have the desire and the discipline to want to be formed by God into a Christian.
Actually, families are the best place to get a good start. A lot of people when they find out that both myself and my sister are ordained Methodist Ministers, and that both my brother in law and my wife hold seminary degrees as well... they ask if my father was a minister. And I always tell them no. In fact my sister and I are the first ministers in our family. So what did my parents do differently from others that made both of their children turn out this way. I have thought about it long and hard and come to the realization that all they did was be faithful to bring us to church – week in and week out – no matter who was tired, or whiney or sick we were brought to church. My parents were methodical. There was a tradition, a discipline, a rhythm to the week on Sundays the routine was to get dressed in your Sunday best and head to Sunday School – after Sunday School it was on to Church. After Church it was out to lunch – at Luby’s of course – I am convinced that Luby’s must be Chuck E. Cheese for Senior Citizens and then home to nap, watch a Basketball game or play outside. I truly believe that his was the gift that my parents gave me – was the routine of going to Church. We didn’t always like it – we didn’t always learn something – but if it was Sunday then it was a day to go to Sunday school and worship. Unlike Barkley – I didn’t have desire – but I did have discipline.
How many of you have ever planted a garden or grown plants for school?
Last year I decided to plant a garden I picked easy things – Wildflowers.. I figured if I couldn’t grow wildflowers – they should be renamed ‘pretty weeds’ then I should hang up my gardening gloves ... But I also grew chives and sunflowers.
Gardening is not the most exciting thing to do. My grandmother used to garden – she was habitually obsessed with walking through the garden and weeding, watering, and touching each plant to see if there were any new tomatoes, onions, or corn. She was a marvel at gardening. I have come to realize that she did not have a magical green thumb, nor did she have some magic knowledge for vegetables. What she had was time, desire, and discipline. She took the time every day to walk through the garden and remember what was growing there, she had the desire to give each seed the best chance possible for it to grow into a plant, and she had the discipline, to water, prune, fertilize, till, water, and fertilize and water some more. She was patient.
Now a days I am trying bigger ore exciting things in my garden, tomatoes, onions, bell peppers, banana peppers, and lettuce. And I am finding that my grandmother’s ways still work – but I have to still do it. I have to have the time, the desire and the discipline.
Friends – the way to become disciples of Christ, the way to raise your children, or the way to raise your parents as disciples is to have the time, the desire, and the discipline to see your lives change. If you want those around you to be Christian – then you must model it for them by your actions. We don’t need anymore Christian Charles Barkleys out there. Not with your mouth but with your life.
We need routines of worship. Where else do you have the opportunity to pray, and praise, listen and learn as you do in worship. This is the place where parents can show their priorities to their children. This is the place where we all remember the basics of being a Christian..
Some people have asked me why we have weekly communion every Sunday at 10:30 in the Chapel. Let me tell you a story to remind you.
A Chinese boy who wanted to learn about jade went to study with a talented old teacher. This gentleman put a piece of the stone into the youth's hand and told him to hold it tight. Then he began to talk of philosophy, men, women, the sun, and almost everything under it. After an hour he took back the stone and sent the boy home. The procedure was repeated for weeks. The boy became frustrated--when would he be told about jade?--but he was too polite to interrupt his venerable teacher. Then one day when the old man put a stone into his hands, the boy cried out instantly, "That's not jade!" (From H. Robinson, Biblical Preaching, p. 102)
The answer to why do we have communion every Sunday is so that we begin to learn slowly of what it means to be disciples who are thankful to God for everything they are given. The reason we worship is to remind us who we are and who God has called us to be so that we will be able to now what is faithful living and what is not when we see it." Lastly – remember the lesson of the Sequoia trees ... Even though the sequoias grow to hundreds of feet their roots grow only under the surface. Their strength lies in growing in groves. Sequoias grow together and intertwine their roots so that when the strong winds blow through the grove they rely on each other to stand.
This lesson reminds us that as families of faith we must learn to allow God to intertwine our roots of time, of desire, and of discipline as we grow into strong trees of faith for him.
So, what do Charles Barkley, my garden and being Christian have in common? Time, desire, and discipline.
In the Name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.