More Than Meets the Eye. A Father s Day sermon preached by Timothy J. McIntire. Text: 1 Corinthians 13:9-13. June 16, 2013

Transcription

1 More Than Meets the Eye A Father s Day sermon preached by Timothy J. McIntire Copyright 2013 Timothy J. McIntire All rights reserved. Text: 1 Corinthians 13:9-13 June 16, 2013 Hope United Methodist Church Eagle & Steel Roads, Havertown, PA Phone: Web: Office: HopeUMCHavertown@verizon.net Pastor: HopeUMCPastor@verizon.net 2

2 I begin today with a question, a prophetic inquiry even. What kind of car did the apostles drive? A Honda. It says in Acts 2:1 "They were all in one accord." Over the past 28 years, my dad has taught me many things, including how to begin a speech with a quote and how to tell a really bad joke. One of the most important things that he taught me is how to find God everywhere. I didn't come to realize this until a few years ago. It may come as a surprise, but I've always considered myself to be like Doubting Thomas. In the book of John 20: Thomas says "Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe." I have always felt the same way. Unless I can be shown that God exists, I find it hard to believe. Granted, there is quite a bit of irony in that; to consider myself similar to one of the disciples, while doubting at the same time. But for yourselves, then you will become known, and you will realize that it is you who are the sons of the living Father." From the cartoons I watched when I was a child, to the movies and music I enjoy as an adult, God and Jesus are there. And I thought back, as hard as I could, to when it began. The earliest I can remember is June 1, We were in Washington DC for the Stand for Children March with our church at that time, The First United Methodist Church of Germantown or as we refer to ourselves, FUMCOG. I had wandered off to find something to eat. In my defense, I did not wander off alone. I was with a friend from school, who just happened to be an older blonde girl. I worried my parents to death. When I came back I didn't think I had done anything wrong. "You should have known I'd wander off with the cute blonde looking for food." I thought. "Why were you searching for me?" Jesus asked Mary and Joseph in the Gospel of Luke "Didn't you know I had to be in my Father's house?" Jesus was there. Personal discoveries like take quite a bit if time. But as Thomas wrote, "Readers of these sayings are advised to continue seeking until they find what will enable them to become rulers of their own lives and thus to know themselves and their legacy of being the children of "the living Father"." It took me almost two decades of seeking to realize that a 4.3 metric ton truck that transforms into a 32 foot robot is a modern day representation of Jesus. In the most recent movie, and the

3 cartoon, Optimus Prime sacrifices himself to protect the other Autobots. He is then resurrected in order to defeat the evils, known as Megatron and the Fallen. The etymology of his name is also a hint. The literal translation of Optimus Prime is "Noble One" or one of exhausted moral or mental character or excellence... Sound familiar? Jesus was in the cartoons I grew up watching. Maybe it's just a coincidence; but as Einstein stated, "Coincidence is God's way of remaining anonymous." Jesus was in my Dad's favorite movie. Who can forget the ever religious Matrix. There is so much God in that movie it could take a while to explain, and there's a Phillies game at 4 that I'd rather not miss. And I wasn't aware that eating 50 hard boiled eggs makes you show your connection to Jesus. 50 you ask? "It was a nice round number" says Paul Newman in Cool Hand Luke. After he eats all 50 eggs, he sprawls out the table, arms spread wide and legs crossed, very similar to the crucifixion. And of course, there is Luke with his prayer, where he refers to God as Old Man, asking if god is home tonight and if he can spare a minute. I'm not sure, but I do not think that would go over too well in the gospel of Luke; Old Man into your hands I commend my spirit. In the end of the movie, the camera pans out to reveal an intersection of road, which is oddly similar to a cross. Outside of media, I have learned to find God in my life. On the sad day of September 11, 2001 I had just turned 16. My dad and I had gotten into an argument about me going to school, and I ended up staying home and turning on the television just in time to watch the second plane impale the Twin Towers. Later on that day, I got a call from my friend and fellow Boy Scout, Eric. He tells me, "We're going up to give blood." OK cool I thought, going up to Northeast Philly to donate blood to the Red Cross. "No," he tells me, "We're going to New York to do whatever we can to help." When I think back to that day, I am wowed. A group of teenage boys was going to drive, from Philadelphia to New York, to do whatever they could even, if it was to bear silent witness to the atrocity that had just happened. 5 6

4 I, unfortunately, was not able to go, and from the stories I heard they were able to make it to North New Jersey. But there was God, in his voice, in his eyes, and in his mind. From the age of 14 to the old age of 18, I took five different trips to five very different places. I stood where Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. spoke to congregations; I looked into the eyes of the father of Denise McNair, one of the four girls killed in a church bombing by the Ku Klux Klan in 1963 Birmingham, Alabama. I walked the hills of Fondwa in pre-earthquake Haiti, and helped level a hill so the residents could build a new school and community center. Sadly the building was destroyed by the devastating earthquake. I put a tin roof onto a house and remodeled a bathroom with the Appalachia Service Project in what seemed like a third world country within our borders. 7 Finally I spent time in Taize, an international youth gathering at a monastery in the Burgundy region of France. In all of these places I found God. But in only one of these places I found God in myself. It wasn't until much later that I realized it. A very close friend of mine was going through a very rough time. While we were worshiping at Taize, she abruptly left the chapel and walked outside. It was late, and I didn't want her to walk around in the dark by herself in a foreign place, so I followed. I found her sitting on the curb crying. Without saying a word, I sat down next to her. We just sat there, saying nothing. Again, she abruptly got up, picked up whatever small stones she could find and threw them as hard as she could. I got up and hugged her, as tightly as I could. She later told me that she saw God in me, in my eyes that night. Along with teaching me how to tell a really bad joke, my dad also taught me how to laugh: at myself, at bad jokes, at good jokes. Dad and I were driving on Route 1. While we were merrily on our way, he was munching on a nice crisp apple. As he takes his last bite, he asks me if my window is open. With it being a little warm in the car I had cracked my window, so of course I said yes. Next thing I know... thwap... the apple core smacks into my slightly open window leaving a nice juicy mark. With tears in our eyes and gasping for air laughing as hard as we could, he says "I thought you said the window was open." IT IS, I reply, THIS MUCH. It seems that dad and I have a lot of good stories involving the car. Another beautiful day we were driving around, he asked me to find his car charger. I begin looking around the car for his coiled car charger. "I found it" I told him pulling it towards me. "It's stuck 8

5 under your foot" still pulling it; and he lifts his foot just slightly. Thwap... right in the forehead; again, with tears in our eyes and gasping for air, we laughed. F or the past year and a half I have had the most amazing, eye opening experience. I have been a dad, to the most amazing son. I have been there for the first steps. I have been there when he tells my wife and me that he wants see-we-all for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. I never truly understood what I saw in my dad's eyes when I did one of my many musicals, or got an award. It was pride. I understand it now. I look in the mirror and I see it in my own eyes. When I found out I was going to be a dad I did what every dad does; I bought instruction manuals. OK well maybe not every dad does that, but I did. I had no idea what to expect, not just for caring for an infant but what about the future. How am I supposed to raise a kid in my world? To explain, my world is filled with punk rock and anti-authoritarian thoughts. I listen to bands like Rise Against, Rage Against the Machine, and Bad Religion. How am I supposed to raise a child to obey the rules, when I don't? body and spiky hair? The answer that Lindberg gives? Just be who you are. During my time of self discovery, I read a book that I thought would be enlightening. I found a book that I thought would be interesting. In reading just the description, I knew that I had found the right book for me. Greg Gaffin is the front many for the punk rock band Bad Religion... he also has a PhD from Cornell University. Preston Jones is a history professor at a John Brown University, a Christian college. Greg believes that there is insufficient evidence for God's existence and Preston believes in God. Their correspondence was published in the book Is Belief in Is Belief in God Good, Bad or Irrelevant?: A Professor and a Punk Rocker Discuss Science, Religion, Naturalism & Christianity. One of the books that my dad generously bought for me, when we found out I was going to be a dad, is Jim Lindberg's Punk Rock Dad. In the book Jim, who is the lead singer of the punk rock band Pennywise, examines the exact same thing that I was going through. He explains, "Just when we had successfully rebelled against our parents, we became them." While most dads are dying their hair to brown to hide the grey, which my dad hasn't done, Lindberg is dying his blue or green. How can we be on the PT A with a mural on our 9 How could this not be the perfect book for me? It was everything that I was looking for. In the book they discuss everything that I was feeling and everything that I was questioning. This book now sits on top of my Masonic Bible next to my bed. As I was writing this, the event that happens to all great writers happened to me. The dreaded writers block. The point in time where it feels like every good thought has escaped from your head. I reached out to my loving wife in a worry, "what else can I write." She says what should be the easiest answer. "Write about how you two are similar." So I start thinking. We're both short, we have names that rhyme, we have the same last name, we are dads. We are dads, of course, that's what I should include. But then I remember, I have no clue what happened when I was 17 months old. 10

6 And then I remembered a song that I grew up listening to. Harry Chapin's Cat s in the Cradle. The song is about a son growing up from the father's point of view. Harry Chapin actually said that the song scared him to death when he wrote it. To me it makes sense, I wanted to grow up just like my dad. I don't think I'm doing too shabby. Having a dad such as mine, has been the best experience I could ever ask for. He has taught me so many things. In the Gospel of Mark, we are able to see the humanity of Christ when he refers to God not as father but as "Daddy". "And he said, Abba, Father, all things are possible to you; take away this cup from me; nevertheless not what I will, but what you will." The word Abba translates from Aramaic to a more informal name for father. In times of struggle and suffering from when I was a young child until now, I have found myself, like Jesus calling out to my Daddy for help. Sadly, Abba is also the name of a wonderful Swedish pop singing group from before my time that have nothing to do with God, except you pray for the songs to be over. Corinthians teaches us: "When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child; when I became an adult, I put an end to childish ways. For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then we will see face to face. Now I know only in part; then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known. And now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; and the greatest of these is love." My dad has taught me how to have faith, how to have hope, and how to love. But the most important thing my dad has taught me is how to be a dad. Amen The book of Proverbs, which was written to young men, like me, transitioning into adulthood, offers this tidbit on fatherhood: "The father of a righteous man has great joy; he who has a wise son delights in him." As Willy Wonka would say, "Stop, reverse that". A child who has a righteous father has great joy; a child who has a wise father delights in him