Creating Your Own Mask

9^th Sunday after Pentecost

2^nd Sunday in “Behind the Mask: Our Christian Identity”

Spider-Man and Accountability

July 26, 2015

Exodus 4:1-17; Canticle of Christ’s Obedience; Galatians 6:1-5; Luke 12:48b

            This morning we continue our summer sermon series on superheroes, focusing on Spiderman.  Now, Spiderman is the one comic book character whose comics I’ve actually read because they used to be in the comics section in the newspaper!  Growing up we got the local newspaper delivered every morning to our house, and while my parents read pretty much all the sections, from late elementary school through high school I read two sections: the sports page, to check on last night’s baseball scores, and the comics.  I’m not sure what drew my eye to Spiderman, along with Peanuts and Garfield and Family Circus, but it was one of the comics I read on a regular basis.  And I remember learning in the Sunday paper that Mary Jane, Peter Parker’s girlfriend, and then wife, is a redhead, since the Sunday funnies are in color!  I also remember when the first live action movie came out, in 2002, because I went to see it with a guy who’s tall and skinny, and his comment was that he liked Spiderman because the hero isn’t a muscular, chiseled, super-handsome guy but a scrawny kid with acne.  And that was the main distinguishing mark between Spiderman and all the superheroes who came before him.  When Stan Lee and Steve Ditko first floated the idea for Spiderman to their editor, they were shot down for three reasons:[1] One was that the hero, Peter Parker, was a teenager, and teenagers had only ever been a sidekick before, never the main superhero.  Two, was the problem with spiders.  Most people don’t really like spiders.  And three, that Peter Parker is this scrawny, pimply, nerdy high school student who doesn’t know how to talk to girls, and their editor said, “Don’t you understand what a hero is?”  However, they went with it, and Spiderman was such a huge success that he became the comic book company’s flagship character. 

            The reason for Spiderman’s success was two of those three reasons the editor didn’t think the concept would work.  First, in 1962, more and more teenagers were reading comic books, more than ever before.  Previously, it was an adult market, and even the comic book Spiderman was published in, Amazing Adult Fantasy, was renamed when Spiderman was added to Amazing Fantasy.  So the authors had a good idea of their audience.  Second, teenagers and adults liked Peter Parker because he was someone they could relate to.  He isn’t godlike, like Superman.  Instead, he works to help his Aunt May pay the bills, like many teenagers do.  He is the first superhero who has flaws and personal problems.  He doesn’t have it all together.  What was original about Spiderman weren’t his superpowers, but the fact that his real identity was a nerdy high school student.  And because of that, people like the guy I saw the movie with, could identify with him.  Spiderman is the flawed superhero with everyday problems. 

            Now, part of the flaws you see is that he doesn’t know what to do with his superpowers when he first gets them.  Unlike other superheroes, he isn’t born with his powers, he doesn’t create or invent them, and he doesn’t choose them.  In stark contrast, his superpowers are thrust upon him.  Peter’s bit by a radioactive spider, and all of a sudden, he can do amazing things.  And at first, he does not use his powers wisely.  In the movie we gathered to watch this past week, the first thing he sets out to do is take vengeance on the high school jock who beat him up.  He shows him up on the basketball court, flaunts his powers and gets payback.  As Christians, we know that God says, “Vengeance is mine,” and we are not to seek revenge.  God will take care of that for us.  Instead, Jesus says if someone strikes you on the cheek, we are to turn the other cheek, and if someone takes your shirt, to offer them your coat as well.[2]   We don’t repay evil with evil, but respond to evil with a blessing.[3]  Or, if you need a third bible quote, check out Romans, where Paul writes, “Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everyone…  Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave room for God’s wrath. It is written, ‘Revenge belongs to me; I will pay it back,’ says the Lord. Instead, if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him a drink; for by doing this you will heap burning coals on their heads.  Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.”[4]  So, in case you’re bit by a radioactive spider, just keep that in mind. 

            Peter’s initial response actually reminds me of lottery winners who spend all their cash and then, just a few years later, have to declare bankruptcy.  “It’s not uncommon for lottery winners to end up with even less than they had before their windfall and sometimes they even end up with nothing at all,”[5] because they flaunt it and blow it all.  It’s also pretty common among many professional athletes when they get that first big signing bonus, and they spend the money freely, and then something like an injury happens, they end up broke as well.  These pro athletes and lottery winners act irresponsibly and then they have nothing left.  In the Bible, Jesus tells the story of the prodigal son, who takes his half of his inheritance and blows it traveling and partying and doing what he wants.[6]  Being irresponsible is a good way to go broke.  Peter doesn’t go broke, but he does lose his Uncle Ben.  Peter is an orphan being raised by his aunt and uncle, and one of these early nights when he first got his powers, he sees robber running away and he doesn’t stop him.  That robber, later in his getaway, runs into Peter’s uncle and kills him.  Peter could have prevented it. 

            The last panel of the first Spiderman comic had the quote that Uncle Ben says in the movie, “With great power comes great responsibility.”  Put a different way is our Gospel verse this morning, “from everyone to whom much has been given, much will be required; and from the one to whom much has been entrusted, even more will be demanded.”[7]  Jesus said it, after relating a story about responsible and irresponsible servants.  To whom much has been given, much will be required.  What are you doing with what you’ve been given?  It’s like another parable Jesus tells, the one about the talents, or the bags of gold.[8]  The master gives them out to his servants before going on a trip.  When he comes back, he wants to see what the servants have done with the money they were given.  Two servants invested and used it wisely and earned even more money.  A third servant buried the money in the ground and so at the end had to show the exact same gift he’d been given at the beginning.  The master says, “You could have at least put it in the bank where it would have earned interest!” and is extremely displeased.  He takes away the money from the third servant and throws him out.  To whom much has been given, much will be required.  What are you doing with what you’ve been given? 

            Now, it may be that you don’t like the responsibility you’ve been given.  You don’t want it, it’s uncomfortable, it’s not what you would have chosen for yourself, it’s not the hand you would have dealt yourself. It may even be literally painful.  Some responsibilities are joys to carry out; other responsibilities feel more like crosses to bear and you chafe at having to carry it.  Why, God, do I have to be the one to do this?  Couldn’t you have asked someone else?  Why me?  Please ask someone else.  I don’t want to.  I can’t.  Peter Parker isn’t really sure he wants his superpowers, at least not all the time.  And Moses in our Old Testament reading this morning certainly does not want to be chosen.  He did not have his hand up for God to call on him.  What we read this morning was the end of the conversation between God and Moses at the burning bush, where God calls Moses and tells him he’s going to set his people free and Moses says, no thank you, you can call someone else.  Moses has a whole list of excuses: the people won’t listen to him, he can’t speak well, who is he to lead his people? Moses actually tells God no, and says, “Please send someone else.”[9]  It’s not a job Moses wants.  It’s not a responsibility Moses wants.  He’d rather continue on with his life as usual, not a very exciting one, under slavery, but it’s safer than risking it all and completely changing his life.  Moses is too worried about the risks.  But it’s God who’s calling, it’s God who’s giving him this responsibility.  To whom much has been given, much will be required, and Moses knew that.  He knew it would be hard.  He knew it would be a cross to carry, leading the people out of Egypt, away from the powerful Pharaoh, into the wilderness, he knew it was going to be a huge responsibility, and he tried to say no.  However, God’s call is compelling, as we talked about last week, and eventually Moses agrees to do what God asks him to do.

            What are you doing with what you’ve been given?  Are you burying it, like the one servant?  Are you flaunting it, like Spiderman first did?  Or do you try to use it wisely?  There may be some trial and error, and that’s ok.  Don’t be flippant and arrogant about your responsibilities, and don’t do someone else’s job, either.  We’re not all called to the same tasks.  We’re not all called to sing with the choir or to be a trustee or to mow the lawn.  We have different gifts and graces and God calls us to use them as we’ve been given them.  If you haven’t been given a beautiful singing voice, then I don’t expect you up here in the choir, although you’d certainly be welcome.  You are to use and be responsible with the gifts that you have been given.  Figure out where your gifts and passions meet the needs of our community.  We’re not all called to the same thing, and that’s ok.  Some gifts that we have, we’d rather not have, yet when we figure out how to use them for God’s service, they become something we can enjoy and appreciate.  Peter Parker didn’t want his superpowers.  He had to come to accept them and figure out how to work with them, and eventually came to embrace them and all the responsibility that having those powers entailed.  He designed and created his own costume, and doing so was symbolic of that acceptance.  He had to learn to accept his powers, because they weren’t going away.  He had to learn to use them responsibly, fixing mistakes, asking forgiveness.  They did change his identity, and perhaps your new responsibilities change yours as well.  You can grieve the old, if you need to; grieve what no longer is.  But we don’t stay there.  As the 23^rd psalm says, we walk through the valley of the shadow of death, we don’t pitch a tent or build a house there.  New responsibilities, new roles can be hard to adjust to.  They can feel like a cross to bear.  And yet Jesus says, “Take up your cross, and follow me.”[10]  If you need to make shoulder pads to rest your cross on, or web slingers or a mask to help you shoulder your responsibility, let us know.  It’s your responsibility, but you are not alone.

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[1] http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/story?id=101230&page=1&singlePage=true

[2] Matthew 5:39-40

[3] 1 Peter 3:9

[4] Romans 12:17, 19-21

[5] http://www.therichest.com/rich-list/poorest-list/10-lottery-winners-who-went-broke/

[6] Luke 15:13

[7] Luke 12:48b

[8] Matthew 25:14-30

[9] Exodus 4:13

[10] Matthew 16:24

It’s Not an ‘S’

8^th Sunday after Pentecost

1^st Sunday in “Behind the Mask: Our Christian Identity”

Superman and Hope

July 19, 2015

Jeremiah 29:10-14; Psalm 71; Romans 5:1-5; Luke 24:13-27

            We are changing things up a little bit this summer and having some fun, and so for the next four weeks I’ll be preaching on comic book superheroes.  Today we begin our summer superhero sermon series with the very first comic book superhero and one who has become an American cultural icon, Superman.  We hear people say, “I’m not Superman (or Superwoman),” and they mean that they can’t do everything.  The term ‘brainiac’ today means super intelligent, but the word started out as the name of a villain Superman faced.  And Kryptonite has become synonymous with someone’s Achilles’ heel, or their weak spot.  Since 1938, Superman has seeped into our common vocabulary, even for those of us who have never read a comic book, and that includes myself.  I’m actually not completely sure the first time I learned about Superman.  My guess is it was from marketing merchandise related to the Christopher Reeve movies in the 1980s.  Either way, Superman is the most obvious superhero to start our series with, and I want to focus on the letter ‘S’ that is part of his costume. 

When Superman comic books first hit the shelves in 1938, the ‘S’ on his chest quite obviously stood for Superman.  However, over time the letter evolved into a symbol.  With the first Superman movie in 1978, the S-shield becomes the coat of arms for Superman’s family of origin, the House of El back on the planet of Krypton, and you can see each member of the Kryptonian council wearing their own coat of arms on their shirt.  When the Superman: Birthright comic book series came out in 2003, the ‘S’ became not just the family coat of arms, but the Kryptonian symbol for hope.  Now, coats of arms originated as a design worn by medieval knights overtop of their armor to cover and identify them, and so many of them have fierce colors and fierce animals, like lions and bears.  Benjamin Franklin’s family coat of arms even has a dolphin.  So, what would it mean for your family coat of arms to symbolize hope?  And why would hope be what Superman’s creators wanted him to stand for? 

Let’s look for a minute at Superman’s back story.  Unlike other superheroes, Superman is who he really is, his true identity; Clark Kent is his alter-ego, or his false identity. When his home planet is about to be destroyed, his parents send him, as a baby, to Earth.  He lands in the middle of a cornfield in Kansas and is adopted by the Kent family, who give him the first name, Clark.  Superman does not actually have superpowers on his home planet; somehow the combination of his alien DNA in our solar system is what causes them.  His adoptive parents hide his superpowers and teach him a strong sense of what’s right and wrong, valuing truth and justice and obeying the law.  In fact, Superman’s commitment to operating within the bounds of the law distinguishes him from just about every other superhero and he often gets referred to as a big blue boy scout, a bit of a goody two-shoes.  So, Superman is here to help his adopted world, righting wrongs, fighting injustice, saving children who fall off the edge of Niagara Falls, and fighting bad guys who want to rule the world. 

Now, what’s important here is his motivation.  He doesn’t fight out of vengeance, he doesn’t save people for the publicity or because of what’s in it for him; he fights for good simply because it’s the right thing to do.[1]  He does the right thing for the sake of doing the right thing.  That’s what compels him to act and what guides his actions.  Is it the right thing to do?  And with that question there is hope for us, because you don’t need superpowers to do the right thing.  However, as Christians, we don’t do the right thing simply because it’s the right thing to do, we are compelled by God’s love, as Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 5:14.  God calls us, and when we answer, or if we answer, we are compelled to act justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with God.[2]  Superman can do the right thing, and so there is hope that we can, as well.  I read an article that said that “Superman isn't good or special because he's an alien who crashes on Earth and ends up being incredibly powerful. He's special because after all that he becomes someone who always does the right thing because he was raised by a couple of decent people from Kansas.”[3]  He was raised right.  There is a proverb in the Bible that says, “Teach a child the way she should live, and she will remember it all her life.”[4]  That was certainly true for Superman.  And in that, there is hope for us and for our children. 

            As people who follow God, we know that hope in God does not disappoint us.[5]  Let’s hear that sequence from Romans 5 again, “We boast of our troubles, because we know that trouble produces endurance, endurance produces character, and character produces hope. This hope doesn’t [disappoint us or] put us to shame, because” of the same reason as the motivation for our actions: “the love of God, [which] has been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.”[6]  This hope doesn’t put us to shame, because why?  Because of God’s love.  Why are we compelled to do the right thing?  Because of God’s love.  I’m seeing a theme here, are you?  God’s love.  In Iowa last weekend we saw a banner from the highway that was next to a church and it said, “Celebrating 150 years of God’s love.”  [pause]  Now, do you see a problem with that sign?  Every time we drove past it, I wanted to add a word, and I had a mental list of words that could be added: sharing God’s love, showing God’s love, witnessing God’s love.  It didn’t matter which and I’m sure there are other good words.  The point is the love of God is not exclusive to that community of faith and has existed for far longer than 150 years, and I wanted some way to broaden God’s love, because we do know that the love of God is broader and wider and deeper and higher than we can possibly begin to measure.  In fact, the love of God is so all-encompassing that nothing can separate us from it.[7]  Talk about something that gives you hope and a hope that does not disappoint. 

            In fact, God’s love is so great, that even when you feel you are in exile or suffering or in the midst of those troubles that eventually produce hope, God promises that he has “plans to bring about the future you hope for.”[8]  The future that you hope for.  The most commonly heard translation of this verse from Jeremiah is “Surely I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a future with hope.”  It’s become quite a common verse found on graduation gifts these days, as graduates are at a transition point in their lives.  However, I think we are still also in the midst of a transition point.  And to use the phrase that is found in the Good News translation, the version Cowenton has in its pews, rather than “a future filled with hope,” and instead “the future you hope for;” what is the future you hope for?  What is the future you hope for yourself?  For your family?  For your job, if you’re not retired?  What is the future you hope for this church?  Do you have a clear picture of it?  Or a fuzzy picture?  If you have no picture at all, then it’s possible you may have lost hope.  But if you have at least a fuzzy picture, an idea, or a couple pieces you can make out, then let’s share them and combine them.  Once you have a vision, you know what you want to work toward, and then you can work toward accomplishing it.  We have a future with hope, both individually and together, and I’d guess each of you has a future you hope for.  What is the future you hope for? 

And what is the future you’ve hoped for from your youth?  I realize some of us are closer to youth than others, but that’s what our psalm says, “You, O Lord, are my hope, my trust, Lord, from my youth.”  Has God been your hope from your youth?  Have you trusted in him your whole life?  And for those of you who have, has he ever let you down?  Or can you testify that he is a hope that does not disappoint?  You see, you have to be at the end of the story to know that he does not disappoint.  In the middle of our Gospel this morning, on the road to Emmaus, you hear the disappointment in the two disciples’ voices as they tell the story of Jesus as they know it so far: “That Jesus was a prophet, and powerful, and then he was sentenced to death and crucified.  We had hoped that he would be the one to redeem to Israel.  That was three days ago and now his body is missing and we don’t know what to believe. We had hoped, but it appears that we were wrong.”  However, those two disciples were only in the middle of the story.  They had hoped for the redemption of Israel since their youth, they had hoped Jesus was the Messiah, but here, three days after his crucifixion, they think they must have been wrong.  Have you been there?  I had hoped for this, but it appears I was wrong.  Beloved, when you hope in Jesus, it is a hope does not disappoint! You may just have to get to the end of the story first. 

            In Superman II, the movie some of us gathered to watch Wednesday night, Lois Lane thinks she’s figured out that Clark Kent is actually Superman, and is so sure she’s right, that she jumps into a flowing river, thinking that Clark Kent will have to turn into Superman and come save her, thereby proving that she’s right.  However, Superman doesn’t reveal himself and he doesn’t swoop down into the river to save her.  Instead, he indirectly helps her find a branch to grab hold of and float to shore.  Lois Lane had hoped Superman would save her, but when all she saw was bumbling Clark Kent, she thought was wrong.  It wasn’t until later when Clark Kent’s hand didn’t get burned in a fire that she learned she was right.  Superman DID save her.  She had hoped, it appeared she was wrong, but at the end of the story, she learned that her hope did not disappoint.  We, however, don’t have Superman.  He is a symbol of great hope, but at the end of the day, when the credits are rolling and the movie is over, he isn’t real.  Beloved, we have the true hope of the world right here in our midst at church, we know the love of God, which led to the salvific work of his Son, Jesus the Christ, who is actually the Messiah, the Savior of the world.  This is not just something we had hoped when we were young and foolish.  At the end of the story, it is a hope that does not disappoint.  If you think God is disappointing you, then you’re not at the end of the story yet.  Continue to hold out hope.  Because once everything has been revealed, then you will see that God is faithful and does not disappoint.  Thanks be to God.  Amen.

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[1] http://www.businessinsider.com/no-one-gets-superman-anymore-2015-7

[2] Micah 6:8

[3] http://www.businessinsider.com/no-one-gets-superman-anymore-2015-7, emphasis theirs 

[4] Proverbs 22:6, TEV

[5] Romans 5:5, NRSV

[6] Romans 5:3-5, CEB

[7] Romans 8:39

[8] Jeremiah 29:11

When I’m Weak, Then I’m Strong

6^th Sunday after Pentecost

July 5, 2015

Psalm 48; 2 Corinthians 12:2-10; Mark 6:1-13

            Our epistle lesson this morning always reminds me of the end of my time in Nicaragua.  Many of you know that before seminary I served with a mission agency in Nicaragua for a little more than a year.  Towards the end of that time I got really sick and was put on bed rest for ten days.  I was really weak, and I learned this paradox that Paul writes about in 2 Corinthians, “When I am weak, then I am strong.”  “When I am weak, then I am strong.”  It doesn’t seem to really make sense, which is what makes it a paradox, because it’s not possible to be weak and strong at the same time.  Except that with God, all things are possible.[1]  And so somehow it is possible that weakness can make you strong.  To quote Paul’s letter to the Philippians, “I can do all things through him who strengthens me.”[2]  And that is the key.  When we ourselves are weak, whether physically or in other ways, then there is less of us, and more space for God.  When we’re not claiming all the credit, all the ownership, when we place less value on self-reliance and pulling ourselves up by our bootstraps, then there’s more room for God.  When I am weak, then God is strong.  How does that work? 

            First, because when I am weak then I am more likely to find myself within God’s stronghold.  We hear about this place in our psalm this morning: the heavenly city of Mount Zion, where “God is in the fortifications and reveals himself as a place of safety.”  When you are weak, then God will keep you safe.  Psalm 91 says that God gives his angels charge over you, to guard you in all your ways.[3]  We are much more likely to recognize our guardian angels when we are weak.  When we are strong, then we think we can take care of ourselves, thank you very much.  We don’t need help.  We got this.  We don’t need anyone else.  But when we recognize that we can’t guarantee our own safety, then we turn to God to provide it.  When I am weak, then I am strong because I’m relying on God’s strength and God’s protection and God’s fortifications.  “We can say with confidence, ‘The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can anyone do to me?’”[4]  When God is our sanctuary, our haven, our safe place, when we recognize our weakness, then we are strong.  When we are weak, then we are strong, because then we are behind God’s ramparts.  Our psalm this morning says that “God has shown himself a sure defense.”[5]  Knowing that God is our sure defense, not just in times of trouble but at all times, is how we’re strong when we’re weak.  God is how we have gotten through the rough times and God will lead us home.  To quote a contemporary Christian song by Chris Tomlin, “The God of angel armies is always by my side.”[6]  When we are weak, then we are strong, because then we are more likely to recognize that God goes before us and stands behind us and is always at our side, keeping us safe. 

So, when I am weak, then I am strong, because then I’m relying more on God.  In our Gospel lesson this morning Jesus sends out the disciples in a position of vulnerability.  He sends them out with no food, no bags, no money, no extra clothes; they are to take nothing but a walking stick, go in pairs, and with the authority that Jesus gives them.  They receive no special training and don’t take any fancy equipment.  They don’t even know where their next meal is going to come from!  What they know is that they have to rely 100% on God to provide food, shelter, and a change of clothes or water for a bath for them.  They were sent out in a position of weakness, which made their witness and authority all the more stronger because of their complete reliance on God to survive this mission.  They had to trust God to provide, and because God is faithful and keeps his promises, God did provide.  God will make sure you have the tools you need to do what God is calling you to do.  There’s a saying that God doesn’t call the equipped, he equips the called.  However, I say that sometimes God calls the equipped and sometimes he equips the called.  In my previous church I was the associate pastor and the senior pastor I worked with was a big guy, 6’5” and had a booming voice to match; a voice that is a great preacher voice.  In his case, God called the equipped.  Now, you know that without a microphone you can’t hear me, I do not naturally have a preacher’s voice and need the tool of a microphone to do what God has called me to do.  Sometimes God equips the called and sometimes God calls the equipped.  Either way, God makes sure you have what you need to do the work he’s given you to do.   And when you don’t have the tools ahead of time, when you’re out in a situation where you don’t know where your next meal’s coming from or how you’re going to provide a meal for someone else; when God calls, and we answer, he will make sure we have what we need, even if we don’t know where it’s going to come from.  That’s how when we are weak, then we are strong, because we have to rely on God to provide and see us through. 

Finally, when we are weak, then we are strong, because then we learn that God is enough.  His grace, his unconditional love, is enough and is all we need.  God loves you, no matter what.  No exceptions.  And he tells us “My grace is all you need.”  This isn’t quite the Beatles’ “All You Need Is Love;” it’s more like God’s unconditional love is all you need and we learn that best in the moments when we’re down.  We learn that best in the hospital room and at the accident scene.  We learn it best when we are stripped away and left with nothing but a walking stick and a friend and Jesus’ authority over us, like the twelve disciples.  We learn it best when we know and admit that we are weak and powerless to do anything.  When we are weak, then we are strong, because then we are relying solely on God.  When we throw up our hands, or fall down on our knees, and cry out to God and acknowledge that God is God, and we are not, and we have nothing that did not come from him, then God answers.  In fact, that’s what God’s been waiting for us to do all along.  He waits for us to quit striving, to quit trying to do it ourselves, or as my daughter says, “I do it!”  He waits for us to quit complaining and griping.  He waits for us to come home and confess that we can’t do it by ourselves, that we are not strong enough, smart enough, rich enough, perfect enough, enough like the popular kids in school, enough like the church down the road.  He waits.  Not because he wants us to be weak, not because he wants us to suffer, not because he wants to see us despair.  He waits for us to stop struggling on our own and turn toward him.  Whether you’re struggling to get out of a hole or struggling to get to the top of a mountain, God waits for you to be still and know that he is God.[7]  And he is a God with limitless, exception-less, condition-less love.  When we are weak, then we are strong, whether individually or as a family or as a church, because when we are weak, then we recognize that we wouldn’t be here if not for God.  Whether God kept you from drowning as a kid or kept you safe in a fire or healed you when you weren’t expect to get better or prevented you from getting in an accident, many of us here know that we wouldn’t be here today, if not for God.  God is enough.  And, unfortunately, it’s something we recognize most often in our times of weakness.  God is all you need. 

For God says, “My grace is all you need, for my power is made perfect in your weakness.”[8] Paul writes then that, “I am most happy to be proud of my weaknesses, in order to feel the protection of Christ's power over me.  Therefore, I’m all right with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and difficulties for Christ's sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”[9]  So, whatever weaknesses, insults, disasters, harassments, abuse, accidents, opposition, bad breaks, or other stressful situation you find yourself in, whatever it is, let God’s power shines through.  His power is made perfect in weakness, because when we are weak, then he is strong.   That’s how the paradox works.  When there’s less of our striving and trying and doing and claiming and busy-ness, then there’s more room for God.  And when we allow more room in our lives for God, then he gets to do all kinds of amazing things, things beyond our wildest imagination that we can’t even dream of.  We are strongest when we let God work through us.  And God works through us best in our weakness.  It’s like what Paul says about the Holy Spirit and prayer in Romans 8, that when we don’t know what to pray, when we can acknowledge that we don’t know what to say, then the Holy Spirit intercedes for us with groans too deep for words.  What Paul actually says in that passage is that the Spirit helps us in our weakness, because we don’t know how we should pray.  When you don’t know what to pray, feel less worried about it, take a deep breath, relax, and let God provide the words through you.  It may or may not sound great to you, but let God guide your prayer, because he knows what you’re trying to say in your heart.  When you are weak, then you are strong, because then God is strong.  Thanks be to God.  Amen.

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[1] Mark 10:27

[2] Philippians 4:13

[3] Psalm 91:11

[4] Hebrews 13:6

[5] Psalm 48:3

[6] Chris Tomlin, “Whom Shall I Fear (God Of Angel Armies)”, 2013

[7] Psalm 46:10

[8] 2 Corinthians 12:9a

[9] 2 Corinthians 12:9b-10