I did it!!  I gave my very first sermon this past Sunday!!!

I was asked to help with the service a few weeks ago, the day I made the decision to go in to ministry, actually. I'm not sure what was behind being asked, whether it was me speaking in church that day about how I love my church but don't feel it always gives me what I need, or if she knew I was thinking about going to seminary. But I agreed, little knowing it would lead to me doing the sermon. I did not want the responsibility of doing the entire service so I told Mary Lee I would be happy to leave everything else up to her. I won't go in to more details about the process leading up to writing the sermon. I've already covered that pretty well in an earlier post. But I will tell you what it was like that morning.

I was incredibly nervous. I was afraid that nobody would like it. What if they didn't agree with what I was saying? What if someone was upset that I chose to take a different interpretation of the passage than what you usually heard? My mom couldn't believe I was nervous considering the countless times I had stood on a stage as an actress in high school and college. But this was different. Standing in front of people and saying words somebody else wrote is not a problem for me. I love doing it. But to stand in front of people and say words that I had written, words that came from a place inside me..... This was nerve-racking. I was also worried that I would start thinking too much about the enormity of doing my first sermon. This was something that was another huge step on my new journey. I was afraid I would let the emotion overwhelm me and burst in to tears halfway through. I did find if I didn't look too long at anybody, especially my mom, I was fine. I was afraid I would talk too fast as well. I can do that when I get really passionate about something.

The feedback has been positive. Everyone at church seemed to take it really well. My pastor looked incredibly proud. I felt such a huge relief when it was over, but also a sense of wanting to do it again. I can't wait to be in the situaiton where I can share what I'm thinking and feeling with a group of people. I also can't wait to take a class on preaching so I can learn how to hone what I've done already.

God Makes the Impossible Possible by Summer Sattora

We all know this story, and in fact have probably grown up having some idea of "The Rich Man." It's not surprising since this parable can be found in three of the four gospels. But how often do we take the time to really sink our teeth in to it and examine what it may be trying to tell us? Probably not very often since it can be really hard to hear. "Go, sell what you own, and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me." I can say that certainly doesn't sit well with me. I start thinking, "Well, gee, Jesus, you know, I don't have much to begin with. Now you want me to give it up and have even less and follow you? Let me find a different parable. Maybe one that says singing in the choir is good enough...." But as I was reading (and reading) this parable to prepare for today that actually was not the part I kept returning to. Instead it was the one phrase in this passage that I've often repeated to myself at many different times in my life, as I'm sure many of us here have as well. The one phrase I've used to comfort myself when I'm in those low places. "For God all things are possible." All things are possible. All things. In fact I've tried reminding myself of it as I've faced my own personal camel through the eye of the needle: writing this sermon.

There was a story I remember hearing I think when I was a teenager. It was probably told in youth group or on a retreat, although I don't remember the circumstances. It told of a man who fell off the edge of a cliff and was holding on to a branch. As he was struggling to keep his grip a voice from out of nowhere could be heard saying, "Let go and I will keep you safe." The man didn't let go and the voice kept telling him to trust in him, that it was God, and nothing would happen to him. I don't remember how the story ended, and maybe it didn't. I'm sure the point was to make us youth start thinking about how much we actually trusted in God. Would we have the faith to let go and trust that God would catch us? Could we let go and trust in the impossible? I don't know if I could. Could you? Our human minds start wondering, well, how would God save us? A giant invisible hand to catch us? A wind to blow us back up to the top of the cliff? Or maybe like in Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers a giant eagle would swoop in and fly us off to safety. We simply can't fathom the idea of just letting go. We're certain we would fall to a painful and certain death. It would be impossible to survive. But God is asking us to do that. It's not impossible for him to save us. Don't we hear stories all the time about people surviving accidents they shouldn't have? Don't we have an example sitting in our congregation of a young boy playing Spiderman out a second story window and surviving with only a few scrapes and bruises? Wasn't his family told it was impossible that he didn't break bones at the very least? God achieved the impossible.

If you think of it, the Bible is full of God achieving the impossible. In fact, look at the Old Testament. Countless examples stare us in the face. When Abraham and Sarah were convinced they could never have a child, God said to them "Is anything too wonderful for the Lord?" And Sarah gave birth to Isaac. And what about Job? Everything that happened to him would make it seem impossible to overcome. He lost everything: family, friends, wealth, health, and yet he still believed. He believed that no matter how impossible his life got God would still be with him. "I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted," is what he says to God. How many of us could say the same thing? Don't forget about the New Testament. When Gabriel visits Mary to tell her she will bear a child, God's son nonetheless, and her relative Elizabeth is also going to have a child when she thought she was barren he tells her "For nothing will be impossible with God." The loaves and fishes. Jesus walking on water. The Resurrection. The Bible is full of the impossible being made possible. So why is it still so hard for us to imagine?

Put yourself in the shoes of the rich man. You think that everything you're doing is enough to get in to heaven. Then Jesus tells you it's still not enough. Everything you've worked your whole life for you need to give up. Whatever you've done, whatever commandments you've been following, are not enough. You must do more. This isn't so hard for us to do. We've all had times when we feel that God is asking the impossible of us. Is it any wonder that, like the rich man, we go away and grieve rather than give up what we're comfortable with. But what would the rewards be if instead of grieving we rejoiced and followed him? The site manager on the last house I worked on in New Orleans is an example of what happens when we trust in the impossible. She heard God telling her to leave Pennsylvnia, her family, her grandchildren, her job, her home and go to a city she didn't know to do a job she didn't know how to do. I imagine this could not have been an easy decision for her. How simple it would have been to merely walk away, to mourn what could have been. But instead she trusted in her faith and in God and earned a far greater treasure than any she had here. When I listened to her tell her story I began to wonder if I would have had the guts to do what she did. If I could walk away from everything I knew and risk the chance of having nothing to follow Jesus and what he wanted of me .Every time I would think that I had gotten myself to that point, my brain would kick in and I just couldn't conceive of a situation where I was capable of that. I don't imagine I'm alone.

But pretend for a minute that you're one of the disciples. That you had the guts and imagination to put down your nets and follow Jesus. You've been brought up in a time when you were taught that if a person was rich this meant that they were blessed and therefore guaranteed a spot in eternal life. This made your decision even harder, but you believed so strongly in this man and what he was teaching that you were willing to take that risk. What would that feel like? What would the possible feel like? How would it consume you and infuse every fiber of your being, every last cell, every breath, every thought? How much would you struggle with the continuing existence of the impossible? When Jesus told you that it would be harder for a camel to walk through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter Heaven, would your mind be able to wrap itself around that? The beliefs ingrained in you since childhood have just been challenged. Maybe you already weren't sure what the future held for you or at least assumed eternal life would be a struggle, but holy cow, if a rich man who is supposed to be guaranteed entry is going to have a rough time, what does that mean for you? Who can be saved?

We all have our "who can be saved" moments. Someone we love dies. The job we've held for thirty years is suddenly gone. A hurricane has wiped out the home we've lived in for generations.Our spouse has been offered a fantastic job opportunity but it will take us 3,000 miles away from everyone and everything we've ever known. We wonder how we can keep moving forward. The future is a giant black cloud, looming over us, overwhelming us until the only option seems to be doing nothing. Life seems impossible. Then Jesus stands before us. For God all things are possible. We just need to trust. We just need to believe. We just need to sacrifice our fear of the impossible and open our eyes to the possible. And Jesus assures us that when we do, "there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields, for my sake and for the sake of the good news who will not receive a hundredfold now in THIS age- houses, brothers and sisters, mothers and children, and fields, with persecutions- and in THE AGE TO COME eternal life." He knows it won't be easy for us. It will be a struggle at times. But God makes the impossible possible. All we have to do is let go of the branch.