“Because I Hold You In My Heart”
Preached on June 18, 2023 - last Sunday
I want to talk to you this morning about beach glass. Although I lived in Vermilion for 6 years, I really only started collecting beach glass about a year ago, when my daughter was old enough that spending several hours on the beach was the best way to pass the afternoon. And, as I collected beach glass, I’ve thought about looking for beach glass as the perfect sermon example.
I have been thinking about beach glass as a sermon metaphor for a long time now but a lot of preachers will shoe horn examples into sermons. You know what I mean, we’ve all heard it. The example that kind of fits but not really. The preacher wants to tell a story and so they tell it, no matter how loosely it fits to the sermon theme. So I’ve held on to this idea of preaching on beach glass until the sermon was right. But as it is my last week preaching on the shores of Lake Erie, and preaching to people who - well, how many of you here have beach glass in your home or collect beach glass or regularly look for beach glass or have a family member who does? Hands? Yeah, almost all of you. So as it’s my last week preaching to all of you here, I started to think about beach glass again. Now, there are a lot of things about looking for beach glass and faith that don’t fit the theme of my sermon today.
We could talk about the process of making beach glass - of taking trash and taking something ugly (littering) and making something beautiful and prized and wonderful out of it - and that’s what God can do in our lives.
We can talk about how looking for beach glass is a lot like looking for God in our lives: You know it's right there, it surrounds you...and sometimes you see it easily and other times you look and look and look and don't see what is right in front of you. When you see it, it sparkles and shines - but sometimes we can get distracted by other things - a rock that shines, a piece of trash, a rotting fish…But the more we look for it, the more we train our eyes to spot it amidst everything else…
We COULD talk about those things…but that would be shoe-horning a sermon example in.
But what fits my sermon this morning, what I want to tell you about beach glass is this jar… When I first started collecting beach glass, I kept it in the upper cup holder of the stroller…until one day a big Lake Erie wind came and blew the stroller down a hill (no kid in it) - and the first beach glass collection was lost (there is a sermon example there too but we’re not gonna delve into that any deeper.)
So then I moved my beach glass collection to a mason jar - a very small one. Like this. And of course, that filled up quickly. And then I filled up a second. So, naturally, I decided to go ahead and move my beach glass collection to this, much larger, mason jar. And I poured it in and realized - wow. That’s not as much as I thought. (There is a sermon example there too but we’re not gonna delve into that any deeper.)
And then I found out I was moving. Methodists are itinerant preachers, going back to 1771 when Francis Asbury, one of the first Methodist bishops, went to America and ordained circuit rider preachers, riding their horses from church to church, preaching and administering the sacraments and then moving on to the next church on their circuit. Asbury himself rode his horse enough miles across America that he could have circumnavigated the world 10 times. And when I was ordained, following the tradition of Asbury and generations of Methodists in-between, I took a vow of itinerancy to go where sent. And so, after six wonderful and blessing filled years in Vermilion, I got the call to move. That was January. Not beach glass finding season. And so I said, I am not going to even worry or think about this until after Easter - which is beach glass finding season…give or take the ups and downs of early Spring weather in Ohio. And so, as the weather warmed, and I started thinking about transition a lot more, I felt this insatiable need to go to the beach and look for as much beach glass as I could.
And as I searched for beach glass, I thought and prayed a lot. About my faith, my relationship with God, my relationship with all of you, my family, where God was taking me, where God was taking you…admittedly, I also did a lot of listening to audiobooks. And I would come back from the beach, and I would put my beach glass in this jar and I would think, “if I could only fill up this jar before I leave…” I would think that time and time again and yet, I couldn’t finish that sentence. If I could only fill it…then what? Everything would be magically okay? There wouldn’t be any grief or pain in leaving? What?
So this week I was looking for beach glass and praying and processing and I realized - why do I need to fill this up all the way now? There will be future times at the beach. It’s not like I move from Vermilion and all beaches everywhere cease to exist. I have a whole life ahead of me - this jar will be filled…and maybe another one too.
But it’s not really about the beach and beach glass, is it?
It’s about my trust in God for the future.
How many of us have thought, “If I could only…fill up this jar of beach glass. If I could only…get it right. If I could only…pray more, pray right. If I could only…do more.” If I could only…then everything would turn out alright. If only we could… then we won’t go through the grief and pain of transition. If we could only… then our spouse would be healed. If we could only… then our relationships would be fixed. You get the idea. As if God was some kind of magical vending machine and we just have to push in exactly the right code to get exactly what we want…
We know God doesn’t work that way. Prayer doesn’t work that way. Life doesn’t work that way. It’s not about filling the jar of beach glass. It’s not about praying more or right. It’s about trust in God for whatever the future holds - that whatever the future holds, God will never abandon you. God will always be with you. God will always love you - and there is nothing we can do about that. And that’s a good and wonderful thing.
It’s that deep trust in God for the future that, in the words of St. Julian of Norwich, “all shall be well, all shall be well, and all manner of things shall be well.” “Well” - not that the future won’t hold grief or change or loss of hard things…but “well” as in, we shall always be with God.
So it’s not about beach glass, it’s not about filling this jar - it’s about trusting in God that there is still work to be done. Good work in my life. Good work in the life of the Church universal. Good work in the life of this church, of Grace United Methodist. Good work in the life of Pastor Mikayla.
In the words of Paul from our reading this morning: “I am confident of this, that the one who began a good work in you will continue to complete it until the day of Jesus Christ. It is right for me to think this way about all of you, because I hold you in my heart, for all of you are my partners in God’s grace.”
And another reminder from Paul, from 1 Corinthians, as we think about continuing good work and trust in God during this time of pastoral transition: “What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you came to believe, as the Lord assigned to each. I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. The one who plants and the one who waters have one purpose, and each will receive wages according to their own labor. For we are God’s coworkers, working together; you are God’s field, God’s building.”
Or, in the words of cliche Facebook memes: Don’t put a period where God puts a comma.
Moving forward, instead of seeing this not quite half-filled jar of beach glass and thinking of “there was more beach glass to be found..” “There was more work to be done..” “If only we did this…” Instead I want to look at it and give thanks. In the words of Paul, again, from this morning’s Scripture: “I thank my God for every remembrance of you, always in every one of my prayers for all of you, praying with joy for your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now.” I can give thanks because I hold you in my heart. I can give thanks that we were and are partners in the Gospel. I give thanks for the ways you all have enriched me - helped me grow as a person and a pastor. I give thanks for the Good Works you have done. I give thanks for the Good Work that I know God will still do and bring to completion within you. I give thanks because while this is the end of a chapter, it’s not the end of the story. For Grace or for me - God has so much in store for us. Let us trust God that all shall be well.
I know that there will be beach glass in all of our futures - but it’s not really about the beach glass. It’s about love and beauty and trust and God’s love that will always be present.
Thank you. I love you all.
And to close, my prayer for all our you is the prayer that we heard from Paul today: “And this is my prayer, that your love may overflow more and more with knowledge and full insight to help you to determine what really matters, so that in the day of Christ you may be pure and blameless, having produced the harvest of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ for the glory and praise of God.”
Amen.
But what fits my sermon this morning, what I want to tell you about beach glass is this jar… When I first started collecting beach glass, I kept it in the upper cup holder of the stroller…until one day a big Lake Erie wind came and blew the stroller down a hill (no kid in it) - and the first beach glass collection was lost (there is a sermon example there too but we’re not gonna delve into that any deeper.)
So then I moved my beach glass collection to a mason jar - a very small one. Like this. And of course, that filled up quickly. And then I filled up a second. So, naturally, I decided to go ahead and move my beach glass collection to this, much larger, mason jar. And I poured it in and realized - wow. That’s not as much as I thought. (There is a sermon example there too but we’re not gonna delve into that any deeper.)
And then I found out I was moving. Methodists are itinerant preachers, going back to 1771 when Francis Asbury, one of the first Methodist bishops, went to America and ordained circuit rider preachers, riding their horses from church to church, preaching and administering the sacraments and then moving on to the next church on their circuit. Asbury himself rode his horse enough miles across America that he could have circumnavigated the world 10 times. And when I was ordained, following the tradition of Asbury and generations of Methodists in-between, I took a vow of itinerancy to go where sent. And so, after six wonderful and blessing filled years in Vermilion, I got the call to move. That was January. Not beach glass finding season. And so I said, I am not going to even worry or think about this until after Easter - which is beach glass finding season…give or take the ups and downs of early Spring weather in Ohio. And so, as the weather warmed, and I started thinking about transition a lot more, I felt this insatiable need to go to the beach and look for as much beach glass as I could.
And as I searched for beach glass, I thought and prayed a lot. About my faith, my relationship with God, my relationship with all of you, my family, where God was taking me, where God was taking you…admittedly, I also did a lot of listening to audiobooks. And I would come back from the beach, and I would put my beach glass in this jar and I would think, “if I could only fill up this jar before I leave…” I would think that time and time again and yet, I couldn’t finish that sentence. If I could only fill it…then what? Everything would be magically okay? There wouldn’t be any grief or pain in leaving? What?
So this week I was looking for beach glass and praying and processing and I realized - why do I need to fill this up all the way now? There will be future times at the beach. It’s not like I move from Vermilion and all beaches everywhere cease to exist. I have a whole life ahead of me - this jar will be filled…and maybe another one too.
But it’s not really about the beach and beach glass, is it?
It’s about my trust in God for the future.
How many of us have thought, “If I could only…fill up this jar of beach glass. If I could only…get it right. If I could only…pray more, pray right. If I could only…do more.” If I could only…then everything would turn out alright. If only we could… then we won’t go through the grief and pain of transition. If we could only… then our spouse would be healed. If we could only… then our relationships would be fixed. You get the idea. As if God was some kind of magical vending machine and we just have to push in exactly the right code to get exactly what we want…
We know God doesn’t work that way. Prayer doesn’t work that way. Life doesn’t work that way. It’s not about filling the jar of beach glass. It’s not about praying more or right. It’s about trust in God for whatever the future holds - that whatever the future holds, God will never abandon you. God will always be with you. God will always love you - and there is nothing we can do about that. And that’s a good and wonderful thing.
It’s that deep trust in God for the future that, in the words of St. Julian of Norwich, “all shall be well, all shall be well, and all manner of things shall be well.” “Well” - not that the future won’t hold grief or change or loss of hard things…but “well” as in, we shall always be with God.
So it’s not about beach glass, it’s not about filling this jar - it’s about trusting in God that there is still work to be done. Good work in my life. Good work in the life of the Church universal. Good work in the life of this church, of Grace United Methodist. Good work in the life of Pastor Mikayla.
In the words of Paul from our reading this morning: “I am confident of this, that the one who began a good work in you will continue to complete it until the day of Jesus Christ. It is right for me to think this way about all of you, because I hold you in my heart, for all of you are my partners in God’s grace.”
And another reminder from Paul, from 1 Corinthians, as we think about continuing good work and trust in God during this time of pastoral transition: “What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you came to believe, as the Lord assigned to each. I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. The one who plants and the one who waters have one purpose, and each will receive wages according to their own labor. For we are God’s coworkers, working together; you are God’s field, God’s building.”
Or, in the words of cliche Facebook memes: Don’t put a period where God puts a comma.
Moving forward, instead of seeing this not quite half-filled jar of beach glass and thinking of “there was more beach glass to be found..” “There was more work to be done..” “If only we did this…” Instead I want to look at it and give thanks. In the words of Paul, again, from this morning’s Scripture: “I thank my God for every remembrance of you, always in every one of my prayers for all of you, praying with joy for your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now.” I can give thanks because I hold you in my heart. I can give thanks that we were and are partners in the Gospel. I give thanks for the ways you all have enriched me - helped me grow as a person and a pastor. I give thanks for the Good Works you have done. I give thanks for the Good Work that I know God will still do and bring to completion within you. I give thanks because while this is the end of a chapter, it’s not the end of the story. For Grace or for me - God has so much in store for us. Let us trust God that all shall be well.
I know that there will be beach glass in all of our futures - but it’s not really about the beach glass. It’s about love and beauty and trust and God’s love that will always be present.
Thank you. I love you all.
And to close, my prayer for all our you is the prayer that we heard from Paul today: “And this is my prayer, that your love may overflow more and more with knowledge and full insight to help you to determine what really matters, so that in the day of Christ you may be pure and blameless, having produced the harvest of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ for the glory and praise of God.”
Amen.
Thank you for this post. We trust Him, because he is trustworthy. Here in south Florida, we collect beach glass as well. My brother has a huge old glass water jug full of it. Sharks teeth as well. Your post at times reminded me that like those jars we attempt to fill with beach glass and sharks teeth, we are also called to fill up those around us who will listen to the Gospel the Lord has placed in each one of our hearts. Thank you for this post. For more on Asbury and his moving about in England before coming to America, consider the website for the book series, The Asbury Triptych. The opening book in this trilogy, Black Country, details Asbury's early years in England where he was told to move several times. Some times against his wishes. The best of the Lord's blessings on this and your future moves.
ReplyDelete