My Sermon

I thought I would take a page out of Professor Kraus' blog and post my sermon. So here it is...

I am reminded of a time, which to me seems so long ago, when I was quite a few inches shorter than I am today. I am reminded of lunch tables filled to capacity and of hall passes. I am reminded of a time when I slow danced so far apart from the girl I had a crush on, that we may have well have stayed on our own side of the auditorium. I am reminded of the living nightmare that is middle school. When I wasn’t busy doing my best to avoid any and all social deathtraps, I sat through classes which long ago have faded out of my memory. I can recall, however, a particular history teacher that I once had; Mr. Porter. It seemed as though everyday of class, Mr. Porter would lean back in his chair, curl his arms up and behind his head, and say “today is the first day of the rest of your life.” At the time, I remember thinking, “Mr. Porter has been working here a bit too long.” Today, as a student at Wheaton College, I am beginning to understand what Mr. Porter was expressing to us.

Everyday, we wake up to a world that seems more cold and perilous than the one we shut on eyes on the night before. We live in a time of war, of world-wide poverty and famine, and in a time in which the sex trade has become a bigger industry than illegal drugs. Even within the realm of our Wheaton bubble, we face issues of race, gender inequality, and homophobia. Sometimes it is so hard to believe that on this campus, it is possible for a woman to be held at knifepoint and sexually assaulted, but it is.

As college students on one of the nations preeminent liberal arts colleges, we are called for something more. The world that we live in is a world with an infinite potential for love and for united friendship. For every headline of despair, there are hundreds of moments filled with happiness and hope. If we allow ourselves to be molded by God, we will see His unending goodness and works in this world. Paul says in Romans 12:1-2, “Therefore, I urge you, my friends, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the patterns of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing, and perfect will.”

God is a living God. A God who warms us, a God who lifts us up, and a God who believes in us. It is time for us to accept God’s trust and become vessels for His great works in this world. For each of us sitting here today has the opportunity to take this day as if it were the first day we have ever lived. The opportunity to step outside into our world and be an example of change, of morality, of love, and of God. Paul goes onto say in Romans 12:4-5, “For just as in a single human body there are many limbs and organs, all with different functions, so we, who are united with Christ, though many, form one body and belong to one another as its limbs and organs.” Together, as members of one body, we can defeat the malicious urges that so often jeopardize our potential for greatness. Let us live in such a pure and good way, that this campus will begin the journey of awakening to a better world.

I want to reassure all of you that though this world we live in can be cold and full of suffering, that even now, we have the promise and potential of a perfect world. As Paul says in his second letter to the Corinthians in chapter 5, verse 1, “Now we know that if this earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands.” As living sacrifices, we have the opportunity to transform this earthly tent into a building befitting of the people of God.

I pray that we can all live lives which encourage positive changes in this world. Lives that will touch the governments of mighty nations as well as the individual lives of those with whom we share this earth. I tell you this morning that today is the first day, of the rest of your lives; go out and live it.