Sermon No. 1

On Eagles Wings

"Don't you know? Haven't you heard? God sits above the earth and looks at us, like grasshoppers . . ."

Isaiah imagines God as he looks at his creatures, the "grasshoppers" hopping thru life!

Our Old Testament reading stands at the beginning of the second part of Isaiah. It is the introduction to the message of the anonymous prophet of the exile. It is the announcement that God is about to free his people.

But before they would or could follow God out of the desert which had become their home for so long, they needed a reminder. Did they get the message? "Look to the heavens. Who created you?"

With their simplistic vision of God, one who manipulated kings and nations to suit his fancy, it should have been easier for them to believe than it is for us. After all, we have split the atom. We have examined ancient fossils. We have been to the moon.

But here they were, in exile, feeling more forsaken than lost. Where was God? Have you ever felt forsaken by God? Have you ever felt like Job, sitting on a manure pile, shaking your fist at the heavens? I surely have!

Where is God? Does he care about me? Here I am, hopping thru life, a mere grasshopper, Where is God ? if there is a God? Isn't my faith supposed to carry me when everything else fails?

Grasshoppers are an appropriate metaphor. They are completely at the mercy of the moment.
Grasshoppers are vulnerable, no way to protect themselves. All they can do is hop around. They have no skill except jumping. They are clumsy. They are easily crushed.

Perhaps the image of ourselves as grasshoppers makes sense when we feel powerless against life's circumstances. We simply aren't significant enough to matter to the God who created all things.

Then comes a change in the metaphor. "He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak . . . but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles . . ."

Up they fly, without even beating their wings, soaring thru the heavens on the breath of God.

Have you ever wondered why Utah has road signs, "Watch for eagles on highway"? We don't usually picture eagles walking down the highway. We picture them as Tennyson wrote,

"He clasps the crag with crooked hands;
Close to the sun in lonely lands,
Ringed with the asure world, he stands,
The wrinkled sea beneath him crawls;
He watches from his mountain walls,
And like a thunderbolt he falls."

When we, like Israel, feel deserted by God - confined to a wheelchair or a bed or a hopeless life situation - then we don't feel much like soaring. That's when we feel like a Utah eagle walking down the highway, lucky to just get one foot after the other!

Does God really care? Does anyone care? Has God lost my address and my phone number? Has God given up on me? Or should I feel God's hand leading me?

Suddenly, like a baby eaglet falling thru space, I feel the assurance of the Mother Eagle's wings bearing me up and lifting me above the depressions of life.

As we move toward the end of the season of Epiphany, we feel the glow of God in the mundane events of a faithful walk. As we experience the metamorphosis from grasshoppers to eagles, we should begin to feel exuberance of a new life in Christ.

Most of you remember the story by Nathaniel Hawthorne - The Great Stone Face. There was a legend that someday someone would come along and look like the "face" which was suggested by the rocks of the cliff.

A young man grew up in that community. He stared at the "great stone face" for long periods of time. Yes, as you would expect, he became the image of the great stone face. By beholding, he became changed!

There is another legend about a prince who had a very crooked back, the cause of much despair and depression. Finally, he went to a sculptor and asked him to create a statue that would portray him as he would look if his back were straight. The sculptor created a magnificent statue. "We will put it in front of the palace gate!" he suggested to the prince.

"No, I want it placed in the garden, where only I can see it."

Once the statue was in place, the prince spent many hours staring at it, dreaming of the man he might be if his back were straight. People in the village noticed a change in the prince. He was standing a little taller. He was walking a little straighter. A change was definitely taking place. As the prince perceived himself with a straight back, he began to measure up to that image. "By beholding we become changed."

The day before the 1980 New York City Marathon, Alberto Salazar said, "I feel confident that I can go the whole distance . . . If anybody runs 2.10 tomorrow, I'll run 2.10." The next day he came in first ... at 2 minutes, 9.41 seconds!

Bill Rodgers had won each of the previous 4 years. A few days before the race he had said, "I'm afraid I'm due for a fall . . ." He came in fifth!

"As a man thinks, so is he." "Beware of what you want, for you will get it." (Emerson)

"Attitude determines aptitude!" There was a song back in the 40's which included the lyrics: "Accentuate the positive, eliminate the negative, latch onto the affirmative, and don't mess with Mr. In-between."

Michelangelo said, "I criticize by creating." The best way for a Christian to criticize the unchristian world is by demonstrating what Christ can do and has done in his life.

We could also say the best way to criticize other Christians with whom we disagree is to accentuate the positive, eliminate the negative, latch onto the affirmative. Demonstrate love.

I taught music and speech for many years, and saw the relative value of so-called native ability and determination in developing musical or speaking talent.

There are, of course, people who seem to have a proclivity for mechanical or artistic or mathematical or some other skill which is or becomes what we call talent.

Isn't it interesting that we rarely hear a good secretary described as having a natural talent for typing, filing or whatever?

We rarely hear of a talented mechanic, a talented teacher, a talented nurse or physician. We consider them as people with skills ... acquired skills! But a competent painter is a talented artist. An accomplished musician is a talented performer.

I am reminded of the old man who was tending his garden. A minister walked by and said, "Sam, that's a lovely garden you and the Lord have there."

"Thank you, preacher. You should have seen it when the Lord had it all to himself!"

The great pianist was approached by a gushing young lady, "I'd give anything to be able to play like you do!"

He answered, "Everything, young lady, not anything!"

Or as he answered another young music enthusiast who admired his talent, "I spend 8 hours a day for 30 years, and you call it talent!"

Not for a moment do I negate the influence of the Holy Spirit in preparing us for our life ministry. But dear saints, don't ever forget Longfellow's description of success:

The heights by great men reached and kept
Were not attained by sudden flight,
But they, while their companions slept,
Were toiling upward in the night.

Here we are, at the start of a new year. We've a world to warn, we've job to do.

Work, for the night is coming;
Work thru the morning hours.
Work while the dew is sparkling,
Work 'mid springing flowers.
Work while the day grows brighter.
Under the glowing sun;
Work, for the night is coming,
When man's work is done.

Fellow grasshoppers, if you want to fly on eagle's wings, stretch your faith, your imagination, your determination. The purpose of God for you and me is that we fly on the wings of eagles.

Let us pray . .



		On Eagles Wings
		"Don't you know? Haven't you heard? God sits above the earth and looks at us, like grasshoppers . . ." Isaiah imagines God as he looks at his creatures, the "grasshoppers" hopping thru life! Our Old Testament reading stands at the beginning of the second part of Isaiah. It is the introduction to the message of the anonymous prophet of the exile. It is the announcement that God is about to free his people. But before they would or could follow God out of the desert which had become their home for so long, they needed a reminder. Did they get the message? "Look to the heavens. Who created you?" With their simplistic vision of God, one who manipulated kings and nations to suit his fancy, it should have been easier for them to believe than it is for us. After all, we have split the atom. We have examined ancient fossils. We have been to the moon. But here they were, in exile, feeling more forsaken than lost. Where was God? Have you ever felt forsaken by God? Have you ever felt like Job, sitting on a manure pile, shaking your fist at the heavens? I surely have! Where is God? Does he care about me? Here I am, hopping thru life, a mere grasshopper, Where is God ? if there is a God? Isn't my faith supposed to carry me when everything else fails? Grasshoppers are an appropriate metaphor. They are completely at the mercy of the moment. Grasshoppers are vulnerable, no way to protect themselves. All they can do is hop around. They have no skill except jumping. They are clumsy. They are easily crushed. Perhaps the image of ourselves as grasshoppers makes sense when we feel powerless against life's circumstances. We simply aren't significant enough to matter to the God who created all things. Then comes a change in the metaphor. "He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak . . . but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles . . ." Up they fly, without even beating their wings, soaring thru the heavens on the breath of God. Have you ever wondered why Utah has road signs, "Watch for eagles on highway"? We don't usually picture eagles walking down the highway. We picture them as Tennyson wrote, "He clasps the crag with crooked hands; Close to the sun in lonely lands, Ringed with the asure world, he stands, The wrinkled sea beneath him crawls; He watches from his mountain walls, And like a thunderbolt he falls." When we, like Israel, feel deserted by God - confined to a wheelchair or a bed or a hopeless life situation - then we don't feel much like soaring. That's when we feel like a Utah eagle walking down the highway, lucky to just get one foot after the other! Does God really care? Does anyone care? Has God lost my address and my phone number? Has God given up on me? Or should I feel God's hand leading me? Suddenly, like a baby eaglet falling thru space, I feel the assurance of the Mother Eagle's wings bearing me up and lifting me above the depressions of life. As we move toward the end of the season of Epiphany, we feel the glow of God in the mundane events of a faithful walk. As we experience the metamorphosis from grasshoppers to eagles, we should begin to feel exuberance of a new life in Christ. Most of you remember the story by Nathaniel Hawthorne - The Great Stone Face. There was a legend that someday someone would come along and look like the "face" which was suggested by the rocks of the cliff. A young man grew up in that community. He stared at the "great stone face" for long periods of time. Yes, as you would expect, he became the image of the great stone face. By beholding, he became changed! There is another legend about a prince who had a very crooked back, the cause of much despair and depression. Finally, he went to a sculptor and asked him to create a statue that would portray him as he would look if his back were straight. The sculptor created a magnificent statue. "We will put it in front of the palace gate!" he suggested to the prince. "No, I want it placed in the garden, where only I can see it." Once the statue was in place, the prince spent many hours staring at it, dreaming of the man he might be if his back were straight. People in the village noticed a change in the prince. He was standing a little taller. He was walking a little straighter. A change was definitely taking place. As the prince perceived himself with a straight back, he began to measure up to that image. "By beholding we become changed." The day before the 1980 New York City Marathon, Alberto Salazar said, "I feel confident that I can go the whole distance . . . If anybody runs 2.10 tomorrow, I'll run 2.10." The next day he came in first ... at 2 minutes, 9.41 seconds! Bill Rodgers had won each of the previous 4 years. A few days before the race he had said, "I'm afraid I'm due for a fall . . ." He came in fifth! "As a man thinks, so is he." "Beware of what you want, for you will get it." (Emerson) "Attitude determines aptitude!" There was a song back in the 40's which included the lyrics: "Accentuate the positive, eliminate the negative, latch onto the affirmative, and don't mess with Mr. In-between." Michelangelo said, "I criticize by creating." The best way for a Christian to criticize the unchristian world is by demonstrating what Christ can do and has done in his life. We could also say the best way to criticize other Christians with whom we disagree is to accentuate the positive, eliminate the negative, latch onto the affirmative. Demonstrate love. I taught music and speech for many years, and saw the relative value of so-called native ability and determination in developing musical or speaking talent. There are, of course, people who seem to have a proclivity for mechanical or artistic or mathematical or some other skill which is or becomes what we call talent. Isn't it interesting that we rarely hear a good secretary described as having a natural talent for typing, filing or whatever? We rarely hear of a talented mechanic, a talented teacher, a talented nurse or physician. We consider them as people with skills ... acquired skills! But a competent painter is a talented artist. An accomplished musician is a talented performer. I am reminded of the old man who was tending his garden. A minister walked by and said, "Sam, that's a lovely garden you and the Lord have there." "Thank you, preacher. You should have seen it when the Lord had it all to himself!" The great pianist was approached by a gushing young lady, "I'd give anything to be able to play like you do!" He answered, "Everything, young lady, not anything!" Or as he answered another young music enthusiast who admired his talent, "I spend 8 hours a day for 30 years, and you call it talent!" Not for a moment do I negate the influence of the Holy Spirit in preparing us for our life ministry. But dear saints, don't ever forget Longfellow's description of success: The heights by great men reached and kept Were not attained by sudden flight, But they, while their companions slept, Were toiling upward in the night. Here we are, at the start of a new year. We've a world to warn, we've job to do. Work, for the night is coming; Work thru the morning hours. Work while the dew is sparkling, Work 'mid springing flowers. Work while the day grows brighter. Under the glowing sun; Work, for the night is coming, When man's work is done. Fellow grasshoppers, if you want to fly on eagle's wings, stretch your faith, your imagination, your determination. The purpose of God for you and me is that we fly on the wings of eagles. Let us pray . .