WALK, DON’T RUN!
Sermon by Rev. Patty Farr
Based on Acts 9:1-6 and 2 John: 4-6, 9
April 10, 2016
Emmanuel Congregational Church, UCC
119 S. Hamilton St., Watertown, NY 13601
315-782-2650
Email: [email protected]
Website: www.emmanuelchurchucc.org
On Sundays after worship as I make my way to coffee hour, I often hear the pounding of
little feet sprinting down the hallway, or racing through Anderson Hall to make another
dive at the Cookie Table, and I will call out, "Kids, you know the rule: walk, don't run!"
It’s one of those strange paradoxes of life that we are so eager to see our children walking
for the first time, but as soon as they get the hang of it, they seem never to stop running
and we must tell them to slow down. Nobody likes being told to slow down. Maybe
that's why Aesop wrote his fable about the tortoise and the hare.
The tortoise and the hare line up at the starting gate to compete in a race. With the
starting shot, the hare takes off at breakneck speed, quickly outdistancing the plodding
tortoise. Soon the hare gets over-confident; after his initial mad dash from the starting
gate, he thinks he has all the time in the world, so he decides to lie down and take a little
nap - from which, of course, he wakes up too late. The tortoise just keeps plodding along,
step by step, until he reaches the finish line, and ends up the winner. As Aesop points
out, the moral of the story is: Slow and steady wins the race.
You'd never guess that, living in our modern culture – we place great value on speed. We
eat in fast-food restaurants, we drink instant lattes and gulp down instant microwave
dinners, finishing with instant desserts topped off with instant whipped cream, all the
while watching instant replays on TV. Then we frantically sign up for instant weight-loss
programs, paying for them with instant credit or instant cash out of our instant ATMs. But
with all these convenient shortcuts, we are in danger of losing the race. We have become
so addicted to the quick fix, the speedy result, the immediate reward, that we lose our
respect for the things that take time. We may even imagine that we can take short-cuts on
our way to God.
John in the New Testament spoke of this temptation to run rather than walk in faith.
Speaking to a little community of brand new Christians, he uses the word "walk" three
times in the span of one paragraph: "walk in truth", he says, "walk in obedience", "walk in
love" (2 John 4-6). He cautions eager new converts that if they try to go too fast in their
faith, they are bound to fall flat on their faces. "Anyone who runs ahead," he warns, "does
not have God."
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What about you? Have you found that this Christian path has been a lot steeper and
longer than you ever expected it to be? Just because we’ve been on a spiritual journey for
awhile, this doesn't mean we have been miraculously transformed into perfect human
beings. In fact, just the opposite: those nagging bad habits and selfish tendencies still
linger even after we’ve tried to stamp them out and leave them behind. How can these
humiliating weaknesses possibly have anything to do with following Christ?
A great deal, as it turns out! We heard this morning about Paul’s spectacular conversion;
he was literally knocked off his feet and blinded by a dramatic vision of the risen Christ
on the road to Damascus (Acts 9). But not even this sensational experience turned Paul
into an overnight success as a Christian. From what we learn in New Testament accounts,
Paul didn't just jump up after this encounter with Christ and start changing the world. He
underwent a slow, arduous maturing process that prepared him to carry the message of
Christ far into the Roman Empire. But even after many years, listen to what Paul said
about himself: "I do not understand my own actions....I do not do the good I want, but the
evil I do not want is what I do" (Romans 7:15). What a sobering confession, from one
whose life was on fire with Christ!
Aren’t there times when we feel just like Paul? When we continue to doubt God and to
feel thrown off center by all the suffering, greed and cruelty in the world and in
ourselves? When we still find ourselves judging and condemning others, rather than
building them up? It is frightening to realize just how imperfect we still are. We may
worry that God holds the same disappointed view of us that we hold of ourselves; we
may think that God must get just as impatient with our failures and our shortcomings as
we do.
But you know what? Those moments when we honestly face ourselves and our limits are
actually some of the most important moments we are ever going to have on our walk of
faith. These moments humble us, they slow us down, they make us face reality, they
make us realize our egos don’t run the show. These are the moments when we grow.
Death Valley, the stretch of desert that straddles California and Nevada, blooms a little
every spring. But on very rare occasions, every decade or so, it exhibits what has become
known as a superbloom. Scientific American Journal tells us that “when conditions are
right…the desert becomes carpeted with wildflowers. This year the conditions were just
right. Rains were gentle and penetrated deeply into the soil to germinate dormant seeds.
The ground warmed slowly, allowing roots to develop. A moist, El Niño weather pattern
kept the flowers watered as they grew. About once every ten years, these superblooms
start in the valleys and work their way up to the tops of the mountains through the spring
and early summer, covering the hottest and driest place in North America with a carpet of
color, attracting tourists from all over the world and enchanting visitors with a stunning
display from nature's paint brush” (excerpted from Scientific American and Phys.org].
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This, of course, is a picture of you and me. Maybe we have been feeling stuck in the
Valley of Death for months or years or even decades, trying to be good Christians in soil
that feels hard, dry and desert-like. We may have become frustrated and impatient with
ourselves, with all the obstacles, the nagging doubts, the dark uncertainties that remain.
We think we should be more perfect by now. Why aren't we more changed? But
meanwhile, without our even noticing, we are changing; we are beginning to blossom. If
you doubt this, just ask someone who truly loves you – they’ll tell you that they’ve seen
these good changes quietly taking root within you.
I am reminded of a very dear old friend whom I knew all through grade school and
beyond. Matthew was an extremely high achiever, president of his high school class, top
honors through college, captain of the soccer team. He married the girl of his dreams, but
soon that dream began to shatter due to the ravages of alcohol in his life. His wife left
him, and his life fell apart.
Up to this time, Matthew had always been so capable, so gifted, that he had gotten away
with relying on his own devices to see him through any obstacles. It took an addiction to
alcohol and the failure of his marriage to bring him up short. He had to slow down and
take a long, hard look at his human limits. These limits, rather than destroying Matthew,
became the means by which he was brought back to God. First he stopped drinking and
went into a 28-day recovery program; then he went for counseling and attended AA
meetings. His life began shifting. He started going to church regularly; he joined the
choir, he led a discussion group on Sunday mornings, he began coaching soccer and
volunteering in his community.
Now, years later, things aren't perfect for Matthew by any means. But his humility at
facing his limits has never left him. It radiates like a beautiful light, in the way he talks
and acts. He is someone who has learned the beauty of walking, not running. Slow and
steady wins the race.
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Jesus never promised that it would be easy to walk the path of faith. But the reason we
must walk instead of run is that we are carrying something sacred on our backs – the
cross. That cross we carry is the burden of our limits and weaknesses. But because Christ
walks beside us, the burden is light. Our faith is not yet complete, but it's going to be.
Our lives are not yet perfect, but we're getting there. And the walk we take with God is
sacred, no matter how long or steep the path may be.
In an old, classic TV commercial for Gallo Wine, famed director Orson Welles holds up a
glass of burgundy and proudly pledges, "We will sell no wine before its time." Good and
worthwhile things take time. How much more important than a bottle of wine are you!
The wine of Christ's life-blood was poured into your heart when you first became a
Christian. Christ's life-blood even now is coursing through your veins.
So even if the finish line is not yet in sight, you can be sure that in good time, you will
complete the race. You are here on this earth because you are meant to be. You are God’s
beloved, and you have your own unique place in this universe, and in this church. We
each have a destiny to fulfill, however long it may take. Be patient. God is not finished
with you yet. It takes time to be holy.
Let us pray. God, we have all the time we need to finish the race, walking at the perfect pace that
you set for us. Thank you, in Christ’s name, AMEN.
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