Episcopal Church of the Messiah

Worship Service Sermons

January 31, 2010

I read an interesting thing not long ago about a little boy who was born in Port Huron, Michigan. His parents enrolled him in school at the normal time but just three months later, they found that they had to withdraw him because the school officials told his parents that he was what they used to call "backward" and that he was having a very hard time in school. They told the parents they estimated that his IQ was probably 80 and that they shouldn’t expect very much from him.

And if that wasn’t enough to struggle with, during the next two years this little boy got scarlet fever and had constant respiratory infection. which kept him from getting any kind of formal education for the next two years. On top of all of those problems the parents also discovered that he was going deaf. It’s not surprising that his emotional health was also poor and that he was stubborn and withdrawn. One thing that he did like, however, was anything mechanical. And yet, in spite of all of these severe limitations, limitations that would make almost anyone give up, this little boy insisted that when he grew up he was going to be either a railroad mechanic or a scientist. And that’s exactly what he did. Port Huron, Michigan is now quite proud to let the world know that this boy grew up there because his name was Thomas Alva Edison.

Did you know that scientists say that even the most brilliant and productive of us only use about 5% of the power and capacity of our brains? Only 5%, one twentieth of what God has given us to make us who we are called to be. If you really think about that it’s hard not to ask ourselves how we can make better use of what we have been so freely given? In other words, how can you and I tap into the powers and possibilities the Creator has placed within each one of us? What is it that holds us back from becoming what we’re truly capable of being?

All of us can think of things that might keep a person from achieving his or her potential; things that might hold a person back. But in most cases, whatever reasons you come up with, they’ll more than likely all boil down not necessarily to realities but rather to an attitude. An attitude that’s expressed in words and ideas that destroy and build barriers than restrict our possibilities.

In this morning’s Old Testament lesson we have an example of that kind of attitude which destroys possibilities and holds one back. Jeremiah spoke those kind of words about himself when he received a call from God who told him, "Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you and before you were born I consecrated you. I appointed you a prophet to the nations." Jeremiah’s immediate response to that was "Oh no God, not me! I’m not good at speaking" And then he said the words that destroy, "I AM ONLY." .Jeremiah’s primary reason why he couldn’t be what God intended him to be was because, "I AM ONLY A BOY!"

What reason do you think you’d come up with if God were to speak to you and give you a vision of your potential for God’s kingdom? Would you use I AM ONLY words to defeat yourself before you even tried? I suspect some of you might say, "But I’m only a senior citizen. I couldn’t do that."

In the Wall Street Journal several years ago there was a story about a lady who sued the City of New York because a drunken police officer had struck and killed her 71 year old husband with his patrol car. The City decided to fight her in court figuring that the earnings potential of a 71 year old man was considerably less than the damages his widow was seeking. But when they came to court they discovered that the widow had hired a lawyer by the name of Harry Lipsig to handle her case. Mr Lipsig had recently left the law firm he had built to start out again on his own. Mr. Lipsig was 88 years old. Eventually the City of New York settled out of court for 1.25 million dollars.

Now some others of you might say, "I’m only a woman." I hope there aren’t too many of you who would still say that because somewhere I recently read that the two highest IQs ever recorded on standard intelligence tests belonged to women. And yet it usually hasn’t been intelligence or ability or competence that have held women back. It’s primarily been those three deadly words I AM ONLY. We need to stop teaching those words to our little girls .and our little girls need to stop listening to them when they’re spoken.

A man who was attending a business conference found himself standing next to a pleasant motherly looking lady at the opening reception. Trying to make polite conversation with a stranger after a while he asked her what she enjoyed doing as a hobby. The lady responded, "Oh I like to talk to my plants". The man didn’t pursue the issue any further because he figured the lady was a wee bit off center to say the least. Later that evening he was shocked to discover that she was the keynote speaker at the conference and the plants she talked to were her plant in Chicago her plant in Detroit and her plant in Los Angeles.

Some of you might say what Jeremiah said, ."I’m only a teen-ager." Let me give you an example of a teen-ager who didn’t know the words I AM ONLY . He came up with an idea and ended up starting his own company by turning his parents’ garage into a factory. Within a decade and a half he’d changed the way the entire world works. That teen-ager’s name was Steve Jobs and the company he started in his folks’ garage is Apple Computer.

You know we even take those I AM ONLY words and we apply them to other areas of our lives, to other places and situations where you and I have tremendous potential to make a difference if we didn’t give in to those words that destroy that hold us back and keep us sort of paralyzed. One of those places is when we find ourselves saying as a community of Jesus’ followers, "But we’re only a small inter-city church. How can we compete with those big churches out in Tustin in getting new members to join our church?" How many possibilities have we ignored? .How many opportunities have we lost because we didn’t have the nerve to try? How many times have we failed to be what God intends us to be because we began our response to God’s call with the words "BUT LORD, WE’RE ONLY!"

This morning’s Old Testament lesson is calling on each one of us to get rid of all of the "I am onlys" that prevent us from following God’s will for our lives which God has known since each one of us was in our mother’s womb. Let’s stop thinking, much less saying, "But I’m only a handicapped person." "I’m only a widow or a widower." "We’re only a middle class family." "I’m only one person." For the truth is that you and I can be anything God calls us to be. And whether we like it or not God is calling you and me in the same way God called Jeremiah.

And it’s very important to remember that when that happened Jeremiah did exactly what you and I would do. Jeremiah told God, "I am only a young boy." But what was God’s response? God said, "Do not say I am only a boy for you shall go to all whom I send you and you shall speak whatever I command you. Do not be afraid of them for I am with you to deliver you." And then God reached out and touched Jeremiah’s mouth. God had to do that because Jeremiah’s mouth was filled with those words which paralyze us. It was filled with all the "I’m onlys" which had to be removed and replaced with God’s own words. And there wasn’t an "I’m only" in the bunch. Instead God told him, "Now I have put my words in you mouth. See today I appoint you over nations and kingdoms to pluck up and to pull down to destroy and to overthrow to build and to plant."

There’s no question that God had great plans for Jeremiah and he wasn’t a bit worried about the fact that Jeremiah was a teen-ager. But before Jeremiah could begin to live into God’s plan for his life the "I am only" had to be removed from Jeremiah’s lips. You know what? God also has great plans for your life! All you have to do is get rid of the "I am onlys."

One day in an elementary school art class the children were working with clay. One little girl did a very nice job of molding a person with wings. And then she held it up for everyone to see. Look," she said, "I’ve made an angel!" And then she took her angel and quickly molded it back into a ball and asked everyone, "Okay, now what’s this?" Most of the kids thought it wasn’t much of anything but one good sport did guess "a ball?" "Nope," she said, "it’s hiding an angel" The next day was Parent’s Day at the school and as the children were showing their parents around the classroom one little boy passed the bench where the ball of clay from the day before was sitting. He pointed to it and tugged on his mother’s sleeve and said, "Do you know what that is Mom? It’s hiding an angel!"

We all have hidden angels within us which are just waiting to be released. But the only way that they will ever get released is if like Jeremiah we’re willing to let go of all of the "I am onlys" and in their place we’re willing to learn to trust enough to have the courage and faith to say, "I am a child of God. Before I was formed in the womb God knew me .Before I was born I was set apart for something good and beautiful and true. God has touched me. God has empowered me. And I can become what I am really meant to be. God will not only guide and guard me but has also promised to deliver me!"

To believe this about ourselves is to open wide the doors of tremendous power and possibility. No one would ever have predicted that good things would come from Thomas Edison and I suspect the words "I am only" never came from his lips. So don’t worry if anyone would ever predict that good and powerful things would come from you or your family or our parish. God has assured us that there is purpose to our lives and to our life as a community of faith together.

So let God touch your lips so that once and for all those words that hold you back can be removed. And most of all make a promise to yourself that you will never again say to anyone especially yourself I AM ONLY and instead learn to say, "I am a child of God! And because of that with God’s help anything is possible!"AMEN