Sermon No. 4

Statue In The Garden

There is a 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 build 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. As time passed, 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.

Most of you remember the story by Nathaniel Hawthorne -- The Great Stone Face. It is a story about a community in which there was a legend that someday someone would come along and look like the "face" which was suggested by the rocks of the cliff on the mountainside.

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.

Emerson said, "Beware of what you want, for you will get it."

You and I pretty much become what we envision ourselves becoming. We become an image, a reflection of what or whom we admire. We become very much what we expect to become.

The day before the 1980 New York City Marathon, Alberto Salazar said, "I feel confident that I can go the whole distance . . . If somebody 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!

"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, concern.

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 special talent for typing, filing or whatever?

We rarely hear of a talented mechanic, a talented teacher, a talented nurse or physician. We consider those people 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 statue in the garden was the medium of transformation for the prince because he stared at it, desired it, worked at standing tall and walking straight. Perhaps the story over-simplifies the process, but the principle is valid.

You have an enormous amount of talent. There's not a person here today but who, regardless of age or status or present ability, can become a successful painter, sculptor, musician . . . or mechanic or typist or cook . . . or social worker or teacher or counselor.

For the past few weeks we have talked about God's call. Being a real Christian is using the talents you have. That, of course, was the whole point of Jesus' parable about talents. If you use the abilities you have, you develop more abilities. If you do not use them, they atrophy.

One of the talents stressed by Paul is the talent of hospitality.

Abraham and Sarah welcomed strangers. Martha diligently prepared for Jesus' comfort. Jesus did not scold her for her preoccupation with the homemaker's tasks; he just told her that her priorities were twisted.

You have heard church leaders castigate those who do not use their talents in the work of the church. Too many are "too busy" to help in the Vacation Bible School. Singers are "too busy" to sing in the choir. Too few helpers show up for the rummage sale and the craft show.

It surely is unfortunate that so much talent is unused. So many worshippers are robbed of the blessing of a better choir because so many good singers are "too busy" to participate. (You wouldn't believe the excuses I've heard during the past 50 years!) So many folks have to work overtime because others are "too busy" to help in the craft show and the rummage sale.

My attitude toward nonparticipants has changed over the past few years. It seems to me that God only wants willing workers. Cheerful givers. Enthusiastic stewards.

I really don't think anyone should should or ought to ought to! If I sing or play or teach or clean or do anything because it is my duty . . . because I really should . . . because I ought to . . . then my motive precludes my being a genuine Christ-like steward. Then I am a slave or servant of conscience, or of society, or of my family, or of my reputation.

God doesn't need me so much as I need God. You need God. As a sick person needs a physician, I need Jesus. But if the sick person is too stubborn or too insensitive to see a physician, he is hurting mainly himself.

My plea to you today is to build a spiritual statue, a picture of what you would like to be. Keep always aware of what you would like to be. That is what you will become!

You have seen the pictures in my office. There are four pictures of a laughing Jesus. I have them there because most pictures of Jesus are of a sad, anemic-looking Jesus. The laughing Jesus in no way means he was not serious. Jesus hurt with and for the hurts of the world. But Jesus was also a happy man, else he would not have been so popular with children and those who wanted to be near him -- street people, if you please!

The other pictures are portraits of men I admire, and take as heroes. They include Albert Einstein. He was a man of great intellect, but he was also a man of responsibility. He opposed violence of all kinds.

Another is Albert Schweitzer. With a doctor's degree in music, another in philosophy and still another in theology, he decided when he was in his 30's that he should repay the world and society and God for all the benefits, blessings and advantages he had enjoyed. He got still another doctor's degree, in medicine, and spent the rest of his life serving humanity in the name of Christ.

Abraham Maslow is there. He is a founder of the movement which emphasizes our individual abilities and particularly our "self-actualization," the very concept behind the statue in the garden idea.

Abraham Muste is also there. He was in his 70's when he was picketing a war plant. A reporter said, "Dr. Muste, do you really think you are going to change the world?"

"No," he answered, "but I am not going to let the world change me." What an ethic. "The greatest want of the world is the want of men who will stand for the right though the heavens fall."

Ralph Waldo Emerson is so famous I probably don't need to explain his portrait. He is quoted so often, even in today's sermon --"Beware of what you want, for you will get it."

Beside him is Henry David Thoreau, famous for refusing to pay taxes to support what he considered an unjust war. Of course, he tho't all war was unjust. Among his many sayings is one apropos for today's sermon: "All things invite this earth's inhabitants/To rear their lives to an unheard-of height."

His maternal grandfather was a Congregational minister. Like his friend Emerson, Thoreau was brilliant, but a free-thinker. In his Phi Beta Kappa address he challenges his fellow Harvard graduates to follow him in espousing spiritual and "moral affections" in place of the "commercial spirit."

He was an outspoken opponent of slavery, and an avid spokesman for civil disobedience -- for which he became a hero for Gandhi and Martin Luther King.

My favorite story from his life is when he went to prison rather than to pay taxes to support the war. Emerson came to see him, "Henry, what are you doing in there?"

To which he replied, "Ralph, what are you doing out there?"

The picture you may not recognize is of Clarence Jordan. With a doctor's degree in Greek, he was a popular preacher in the Baptist churches around Americus, Georgia, where he founded Koinonia Farms. But when they discovered that black and white people lived and worked together on his farm, the church threw him out!

Because of his social action, he was invited to speak at Harvard Divinity School. When he spoke, they discovered he was a Bible-thumping fundamentalist. He believed in living and teaching the commands of Jesus in a literal way. I hope that explains why he is my hero. We need to be social reformers, and we need to be faithful Jesus people!

You and I live in a better world today because there were men and women like that who "stood for the right," who lived by the principles taught by Jesus.

If you really admire the Jesus way, the Christian life-style, the second-mile philosophy, the love-your-enemies theology, then that kind of spiritual thinking will gradually take over your life.

If we behold the characters and characteristics of great men and women we will become like them. If they are the "statues in the garden" of our minds and hearts, we will tend to exemplify those characteristic in our lives. That is what Jesus calls us to do as lights of the world and salt of the earth.

We live in a great country because men and women chose to make it great by dedicated service. We have a successful congregation because there are men and women who were willing to say Yes when they were asked to make it successful.

A responsible Christian doesn't say Yes to a nominating committee or a social committee or a missions committee only when he feels like it. But his Yes is a response to the Jesus who said Yes to his need. It is a response to love. "We love him because he first loved us." He knows it will take hours of time and hard work. Those who don't want to be involved need to remember we are what we are because of responsible members down thru the years. Next Sunday is the 125th anniversary of the founding of St. Paul's church. Think about it!

The "magnificent obsession" of Henry Van Dyke's great novel was a literal interpretation of the dicta of Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount. If you will take it seriously, it will change your very essence and you will become one of those to whom Jesus will someday proclaim, "Come, inherit the kingdom . . . for I was hungry . . . thirsty . . . a stranger . . . naked . . . sick . . . in prison . . ." You used your abilities, your interest, your time, your soul, your talents to worship, to heal, to teach, to preach the good news of my love.

You may choose different heroes than I chose, but I urge you to stare at the statues in the garden. Dwell on the positive virtues, the talents entrusted to you.

It was Edison who said talent is 2% inspiration and 98% perspiration. Every one of you has talent. The more you use your talent, the more talent you will develop. Then when Jesus asks, "What did you do with the talent I gave you?" you will answer in a way that he will follow that with, "Enter into the joy of the Lord." Heaven is ready to welcome you.

Let us pray . . .


	Statue In The Garden
	There is a 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 build 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. As time passed, 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. Most of you remember the story by Nathaniel Hawthorne -- The Great Stone Face. It is a story about a community in which there was a legend that someday someone would come along and look like the "face" which was suggested by the rocks of the cliff on the mountainside. 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. Emerson said, "Beware of what you want, for you will get it." You and I pretty much become what we envision ourselves becoming. We become an image, a reflection of what or whom we admire. We become very much what we expect to become. The day before the 1980 New York City Marathon, Alberto Salazar said, "I feel confident that I can go the whole distance . . . If somebody 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! "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, concern. 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 special talent for typing, filing or whatever? We rarely hear of a talented mechanic, a talented teacher, a talented nurse or physician. We consider those people 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 statue in the garden was the medium of transformation for the prince because he stared at it, desired it, worked at standing tall and walking straight. Perhaps the story over-simplifies the process, but the principle is valid. You have an enormous amount of talent. There's not a person here today but who, regardless of age or status or present ability, can become a successful painter, sculptor, musician . . . or mechanic or typist or cook . . . or social worker or teacher or counselor. For the past few weeks we have talked about God's call. Being a real Christian is using the talents you have. That, of course, was the whole point of Jesus' parable about talents. If you use the abilities you have, you develop more abilities. If you do not use them, they atrophy. One of the talents stressed by Paul is the talent of hospitality. Abraham and Sarah welcomed strangers. Martha diligently prepared for Jesus' comfort. Jesus did not scold her for her preoccupation with the homemaker's tasks; he just told her that her priorities were twisted. You have heard church leaders castigate those who do not use their talents in the work of the church. Too many are "too busy" to help in the Vacation Bible School. Singers are "too busy" to sing in the choir. Too few helpers show up for the rummage sale and the craft show. It surely is unfortunate that so much talent is unused. So many worshippers are robbed of the blessing of a better choir because so many good singers are "too busy" to participate. (You wouldn't believe the excuses I've heard during the past 50 years!) So many folks have to work overtime because others are "too busy" to help in the craft show and the rummage sale. My attitude toward nonparticipants has changed over the past few years. It seems to me that God only wants willing workers. Cheerful givers. Enthusiastic stewards. I really don't think anyone should should or ought to ought to! If I sing or play or teach or clean or do anything because it is my duty . . . because I really should . . . because I ought to . . . then my motive precludes my being a genuine Christ-like steward. Then I am a slave or servant of conscience, or of society, or of my family, or of my reputation. God doesn't need me so much as I need God. You need God. As a sick person needs a physician, I need Jesus. But if the sick person is too stubborn or too insensitive to see a physician, he is hurting mainly himself. My plea to you today is to build a spiritual statue, a picture of what you would like to be. Keep always aware of what you would like to be. That is what you will become! You have seen the pictures in my office. There are four pictures of a laughing Jesus. I have them there because most pictures of Jesus are of a sad, anemic-looking Jesus. The laughing Jesus in no way means he was not serious. Jesus hurt with and for the hurts of the world. But Jesus was also a happy man, else he would not have been so popular with children and those who wanted to be near him -- street people, if you please! The other pictures are portraits of men I admire, and take as heroes. They include Albert Einstein. He was a man of great intellect, but he was also a man of responsibility. He opposed violence of all kinds. Another is Albert Schweitzer. With a doctor's degree in music, another in philosophy and still another in theology, he decided when he was in his 30's that he should repay the world and society and God for all the benefits, blessings and advantages he had enjoyed. He got still another doctor's degree, in medicine, and spent the rest of his life serving humanity in the name of Christ. Abraham Maslow is there. He is a founder of the movement which emphasizes our individual abilities and particularly our "self-actualization," the very concept behind the statue in the garden idea. Abraham Muste is also there. He was in his 70's when he was picketing a war plant. A reporter said, "Dr. Muste, do you really think you are going to change the world?" "No," he answered, "but I am not going to let the world change me." What an ethic. "The greatest want of the world is the want of men who will stand for the right though the heavens fall." Ralph Waldo Emerson is so famous I probably don't need to explain his portrait. He is quoted so often, even in today's sermon --"Beware of what you want, for you will get it." Beside him is Henry David Thoreau, famous for refusing to pay taxes to support what he considered an unjust war. Of course, he tho't all war was unjust. Among his many sayings is one apropos for today's sermon: "All things invite this earth's inhabitants/To rear their lives to an unheard-of height." His maternal grandfather was a Congregational minister. Like his friend Emerson, Thoreau was brilliant, but a free-thinker. In his Phi Beta Kappa address he challenges his fellow Harvard graduates to follow him in espousing spiritual and "moral affections" in place of the "commercial spirit." He was an outspoken opponent of slavery, and an avid spokesman for civil disobedience -- for which he became a hero for Gandhi and Martin Luther King. My favorite story from his life is when he went to prison rather than to pay taxes to support the war. Emerson came to see him, "Henry, what are you doing in there?" To which he replied, "Ralph, what are you doing out there?" The picture you may not recognize is of Clarence Jordan. With a doctor's degree in Greek, he was a popular preacher in the Baptist churches around Americus, Georgia, where he founded Koinonia Farms. But when they discovered that black and white people lived and worked together on his farm, the church threw him out! Because of his social action, he was invited to speak at Harvard Divinity School. When he spoke, they discovered he was a Bible-thumping fundamentalist. He believed in living and teaching the commands of Jesus in a literal way. I hope that explains why he is my hero. We need to be social reformers, and we need to be faithful Jesus people! You and I live in a better world today because there were men and women like that who "stood for the right," who lived by the principles taught by Jesus. If you really admire the Jesus way, the Christian life-style, the second-mile philosophy, the love-your-enemies theology, then that kind of spiritual thinking will gradually take over your life. If we behold the characters and characteristics of great men and women we will become like them. If they are the "statues in the garden" of our minds and hearts, we will tend to exemplify those characteristic in our lives. That is what Jesus calls us to do as lights of the world and salt of the earth. We live in a great country because men and women chose to make it great by dedicated service. We have a successful congregation because there are men and women who were willing to say Yes when they were asked to make it successful. A responsible Christian doesn't say Yes to a nominating committee or a social committee or a missions committee only when he feels like it. But his Yes is a response to the Jesus who said Yes to his need. It is a response to love. "We love him because he first loved us." He knows it will take hours of time and hard work. Those who don't want to be involved need to remember we are what we are because of responsible members down thru the years. Next Sunday is the 125th anniversary of the founding of St. Paul's church. Think about it! The "magnificent obsession" of Henry Van Dyke's great novel was a literal interpretation of the dicta of Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount. If you will take it seriously, it will change your very essence and you will become one of those to whom Jesus will someday proclaim, "Come, inherit the kingdom . . . for I was hungry . . . thirsty . . . a stranger . . . naked . . . sick . . . in prison . . ." You used your abilities, your interest, your time, your soul, your talents to worship, to heal, to teach, to preach the good news of my love. You may choose different heroes than I chose, but I urge you to stare at the statues in the garden. Dwell on the positive virtues, the talents entrusted to you. It was Edison who said talent is 2% inspiration and 98% perspiration. Every one of you has talent. The more you use your talent, the more talent you will develop. Then when Jesus asks, "What did you do with the talent I gave you?" you will answer in a way that he will follow that with, "Enter into the joy of the Lord." Heaven is ready to welcome you. Let us pray . . .