I was blessed enough to be asked to deliver this weeks sermon as my last sunday with my congregation. And what a coincidence that this week lectionary comes from the 12th Chapter of St. Luke.
32 “Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has been pleased to give you the kingdom. 33 Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven that will never fail, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. 34 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.35 “Be dressed ready for service and keep your lamps burning, 36 like servants waiting for their master to return from a wedding banquet, so that when he comes and knocks they can immediately open the door for him. 37 It will be good for those servants whose master finds them watching when he comes. Truly I tell you, he will dress himself to serve, will have them recline at the table and will come and wait on them. 38 It will be good for those servants whose master finds them ready, even if he comes in the middle of the night or toward daybreak. 39 But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have let his house be broken into.40 You also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.”
I felt it only appropriate to share that sermon with everyone, enjoy!
In the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, Amen.Well when i was asked if i would be interested in giving this weeks sermon, i honestly can't tell you what my initial reaction was. Im sure there was some sense of nervousness, slight sense of being overwhelmed, and well of coarse an accompanying feeling of incompetence, cause i mean come on, i am by no means a theologian. But I've been planning and leading worships all summer up at Christikon, i thought to myself, it can't be that different from that right? But putting all those mixed emotions aside, the more i thought about it, the more excited about it i became. And the more that feeling of excitement began to take over and completely mask all the other feelings id previously had. A chance as a 22 year old to stand up here and deliver a sermon to my congregation……wow. I know for a fact that there are plenty of other young adults my age who will love to have this opportunity. But still there was even more there then a simple feeling of excitement as well. Because the more i thought and the more excited i became, the more i became aware of how i truly, and genuinely wanted whatever it was i was going to say to you today to stick. I wanted you to be able to unpack it and take it with you when you stand up from the pew you're sitting in and walk out that door.
So as i sat and thought of how i wanted to go about trying to accomplish this after reading through todays gospel lesson, i couldn't seam to shake one story in particular from my mind. That story goes like this.
Barrington Bunny - Martin Bell
Once upon a time in a large forest there lived a very furry bunny. He had one lop ear, a tiny black nose, and unusually shiny eyes. His name was Barrington.
Barrington was not really a very handsome bunny. He was brown and speckled and his ears didn't stand up right. But he could hop, and he was, as I have said, very furry.
In a way, winter is fun for bunnies. After all, it gives them an opportunity to hop in the snow and then turn around to see where they have hopped. So, in a way, winter was fun for Barrington.
But in another way winter made Barrington sad. For, you see, winter marked the time where all of the animal families got together in their cozy homes to celebrate Christmas. He could hop, and he was very furry. But as far as Barrington knew, he was the only bunny in the forest.
When Christmas Eve finally came, Barrington did not feel like going home all by himself. So he decided he would hop for awhile in the clearing at the center of the forest.
Hop. Hop. Hippity-hop. Barrington made tracks in the fresh snow.
Hop. Hop. Hippity-hop. Then he cocked his head and looked back at the wonderful designs he had made.
"Bunnies," he thought to himself, "can hop. And they are very warm, too, because of how furry they are."
(But Barrington didn't really know whether or not this was true of all bunnies, since he had never met another bunny.)
When it got too dark to see the tracks he was making, Barrington made up his mind to go home.
On his way, however, he passed a large oak tree. High in the branches there was a great deal of excited chattering going on. Barrington looked up. It was a squirrel family! What a marvelous time they seemed to be having.
"Hello, up there," called Barrington.
"Hello, down there," came the reply.
"Having a Christmas party?" asked Barrington.
"Oh, yes!" answered the squirrels. "It's Christmas Eve. Everybody is having a Christmas party!"
"May I come to your party?" said Barrington softly.
"Are you a squirrel?"
"No."
"What are you, then?"
"A bunny."
"A bunny?"
"Yes."
"Well, how can you come to the party if you're a bunny? Bunnies can't climb trees."
"That's true," said Barrington thoughtfully. "But I can hop and I'm very furry and warm."
"We're sorry," called the squirrels. "We don't know anything about hopping and being furry, but we do know that in order to come to our house you have to be able to climb trees."
"Oh, well," said Barrington. "Merry Christmas."
"Merry Christmas," chattered the squirrels.
And the unfortunate bunny hopped off toward his tiny house.
It was beginning to snow when Barrington reached the river. Near the river bank was a wonderfully constructed house of sticks and mud. Inside there was singing.
"It's the beavers," thought Barrington. "Maybe they will let me come to their party."
And so he knocked on the door.
"Who's out there?" called a voice.
"Barrington Bunny," he replied.
There was a long pause and then a shiny beaver head broke the water.
"Hello, Barrington," said the beaver.
"May I come to your Christmas party?" asked Barrington.
The beaver thought for awhile and then he said, "I suppose so. Do you know how to swim?"
"No," said Barrington, "but I can hop and I am very furry and warm."
"Sorry," said the beaver. "I don't know anything about hopping and being furry, but I do know that in order to come to our house you have to be able to swim."
"Oh, well," Barrington muttered, his eyes filling with tears. "I suppose that's true-Merry Christmas."
"Merry Christmas," called the beaver. And he disappeared beneath the surface of the water.
Even as furry as he was, Barrington was starting to get cold. And the snow was falling so hard that his tiny, bunny eyes could scarcely see what was ahead of him.
He was almost home, however, when he heard the excited squeaking of field mice beneath the ground.
"It's a party," thought Barrington. And suddenly he blurted out through his tears, "Hello, field mice. This is Barrington Bunny. May I come to your party?"
But the wind was howling so loudly and Barrington was sobbing so much that no one heard him.
And when there was no response at all, Barrington just sat down in the snow and began to cry with all his might.
"Bunnies," he thought, aren't any good to anyone. What good is it to be furry and to be able to hop if you don't have any family on Christmas Eve?"
Barrington cried and cried. When he stopped crying he began to bite on his bunny's foot, but he did not move from where he was sitting in the snow.
Suddenly, Barrington was aware he was not alone. He looked up and strained his shiny eyes to see who was there.
To his surprise he saw a great silver wolf. The wolf was large and strong and his eyes flashed fire. He was the most beautiful animal Barrington had ever seen.
For a long time the silver wolf didn't say anything at all. He just stood there and looked at Barrington with those terrible eyes.
Then slowly and deliberately the wolf spoke. "Barrington," he asked in a gentle voice, "why are you sitting in the snow?"
"Because it's Christmas Eve," said Barrington, "and I don't have any family, and bunnies aren't any good to anyone."
"Bunnies are, too, good," said the wolf. "Bunnies can hop and they are very warm."
"What good is that?" Barrington sniffed.
"It is very good indeed," the wolf went on, "because it is a gift that bunnies are given, a free gift with no strings attached. And every gift that is given to anyone is given for a reason. Someday you will see why it is good to hop and to be warm and furry."
"But it's Christmas," moaned Barrington, "and I'm all alone. I don't have any family at all."
"Of course you do," replied the great silver wolf. "All of the animals in the forest are your family."
And then the wolf disappeared. He simply wasn't there. Barrington had only blinked his eyes, and when he looked-the wolf was gone.
"All of the animals in the forest are my family," thought Barrington. "It's good to be a bunny. Bunnies can hop. That's a gift." And then he said it again. "A gift. A free gift."
On in the night Barrington worked. First he found the best stick he could. (And that was difficult because of the snow.)
Then hop. Hop. Hippity-hop. To beaver's house. He left the stick just outside the door. With a note on it that read: "Here is a good stick for your house. It is a gift. A free gift. No strings attached. Signed, a member of your family."
"It is a good thing that I can hop, he thought, "because the snow is very deep."
Then Barrington dug and dug. Soon he had gathered together enough dead leaves and grass to make the squirrels' nest warmer. Hop. Hop. Hippity-hop.
He laid the grass and leaves just under the large oak tree and attached this message: "A gift. A free gift. From a member of your family."
It was late when Barrington finally started home. And what made things worse was that he knew a blizzard was beginning.
Hop. Hop. Hippity-hop.
Soon poor Barrington was lost. The wind howled furiously, and it was very, very cold. "It certainly is cold," he said out loud. "It's a good thing I'm so furry. But if I don't find my way home pretty soon I might freeze!"
Squeak. Squeak. . . .
And then he saw it-a baby field mouse lost in the snow. And the little mouse was crying.
"Hello, little mouse," Barrington called.
"Don't cry. I'll be right there." Hippity-hop, and Barrington was beside the tiny mouse.
"I'm lost," sobbed the little fellow. "I'll never find my way home, and I know I'm going to freeze."
"You won't freeze," said Barrington. "I'm a bunny and bunnies are very furry and warm. You stay right where you are and I'll cover you up."
Barrington lay on top of the little mouse and hugged him tight. The tiny fellow felt himself surrounded by warm fur. He cried for awhile but soon, snug and warm, he fell asleep.
Barrington had only two thoughts that long, cold night. First he thought, "It's good to be a bunny. Bunnies are very furry and warm." And then, when he felt the heart of the tiny mouse beating regularly, he thought, "All the animals in the forest are my family.
Next morning, the field mice found their little boy, asleep in the snow, warm and snug beneath the furry carcass of a dead bunny. Their relief and excitement was so great that they didn't even think to question where the bunny had come from.
And as for the beavers and the squirrels, they still wonder which member of their family left the little gift for them that Christmas Eve.
After the field mice had left, Barrington's frozen body simply lay in the snow. There was no sound except that of the howling wind. And no one anywhere in the forest noticed the great silver wolf who came to stand beside that brown, lop-eared carcass.
But the wolf did come.
And he stood there.
Without moving or saying a word.
All Christmas Day.
Until it was night.
And then he disappeared into the forest.
"Barrington was not a very handsome bunny"
"But as far as he knew, Barrington was the only bunny in the forrest."
Well if you're living in the same society i am, filled with social media, celebrity beauties, and designer clothes labels telling us that they don't want ugly people wearing their line, then I'm sure you can relate to how Barrington saw himself. We all have times when we enter into that dark place in our lives. A place that feels like everyone around us has abandoned us. A place that there feels to be no hope and no sign of light anywhere. All little Barrington wanted was to be included in someones Christmas celebrations, and after multiple attempts for acceptance and repeated failures, it becomes easier to simply just sit idle in the snow.
Sitting idle in a slump…….sound familiar??
But then something happens that Barrington never expected. The grey wolf appears and completely changes how Barrington has been perceiving the world around him.
"Bunnies are, too, good," said the wolf. "Bunnies can hop and they are very warm."
"It is very good indeed," the wolf went on, "because it is a gift that bunnies are given, a free gift with no strings attached. And every gift that is given to anyone is given for a reason. Someday you will see why it is good to hop and to be warm and furry."
Well for me that day is today. Its taken me a long journey and a rough road, by i think I've finally started to understand and embrace my "warm and furry" gift. A free gift.
Every last one of us sitting here has been blessed with their own "warm and furry" gift. Absolutely no strings attached. The trick for many of us, like Barrington, is realizing what those gifts are. And not only realizing them, but embracing them.
Todays gospel lesson tells us " Do not be afraid, little flock". Now idk about you, but that can be a lot easier said then done most of the time. You have work, kids, bills, the list goes on and on. And to top it all off we live in a completely fear driven society. If you don't have the best job, with the best benefits, or drive the best car, and live in the best house, you have failed in the eyes of society.
But i promise you this, when you put all those things and fears aside, and listen. Simply and truly listen, the response you receive is overwhelming. And all of a sudden things that use to seam terrifying become a lot easier to face. Its ok to not be on top all the time, its ok to have less, its ok to step outside the social norms and live for something bigger.
Its this crazy mystery at the heart of the universe, its the call to be loved by a heavenly father that has such an unconditional love for us that we can't even begin to grasp it. We get to choose whether or not we answer that call. Through our love, through our gratitude, through our sharing, through our faith, and through our day to day living.
My response to this call has lead me to a small South African village half way around the world to teach small children at this junction of my life. Where it may lead me tomorrow i have absolutely no clue, but thats ok with me. Im not afraid. Because i know that i have been gifted by our heavenly father who loves me completely unconditionally and that as long as I'm listening to and using those gifts, non of the rest matters. That is what is the wonder is that is at the heart of the universe, that is what christian living is about.
But the wolf did come.
And he stood there.
Without moving or saying a word.
All Christmas Day.
Until it was night.
And then he disappeared into the forest.
Amen
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