A Life Worth Leading†                        Pastor Sue Briner                                            Exodus 8:8-15

Another Night with the Frogs                                                                                   Romans 8:1-17

October 21, 2007                                                                                                        John 20:1-18

Grace to you and peace from God the Father and our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

Many of you may remember the movie “Groundhog Day”

            With Bill Murray

                        It’s the story of a self-centered, bitter man named Phil.

He gets stuck going to Punxsutawney, Pa.,

To cover the groundhog's annual appearance.

                        And he’s so mean and obnoxious

That fate intervenes,

And he begins to relieve that same Groundhog Day

Over and over again.

So each day the alarm clock turns over to 6 am,

            And the soon to be dreaded Sonny and Cher song

                        “I got you Babe” comes on the radio.

And each day Phil tries to figure out what he can do

            To get to Feb. 3^rd -- tomorrow,

                        But each day he keeps waking up back in today.

Maybe you can relate to this.

            Oh, we’re not literally trapped redoing the same day,

                        But we often fall back into the same routine

                                    And the same struggles daily,

                                               And we may wake up each day

Wondering if tomorrow will be any different.

We are tomorrow thinkers.

            Jesus said “do not worry about tomorrow,

                        For today’s troubles are enough for today.”

                                    And that’s our problem.

Our daily lives are often consumed with struggles, doubts and anxieties.

            We may wrestle with fears of failure or inadequacy, or the future.

                        We may be drowning in bitterness or anger or despair.

                                    We may feel stuck in a job, or a relationship,

                                                Or a situation and there seems to be no way out.

We may struggle with how to keep all the balls

That we are juggling in the air.

Our daily difficulties may be financial, or relational,

            Or significant health concerns,

                        Or some addiction we can’t seem to break free of,

                                   Or overwhelming grief.

Like Phil on “Groundhog Day,”

            We may feel stuck reliving the same day over and over again,

                        Wishing tomorrow might somehow be different.

Maybe today is just too much to deal with,

            So we avoid thinking about our problems

                        And we figure we’ll just deal with them tomorrow,

                                    Or we hope that if we wait till then, they’ll magically fix themselves.

Of course, we’re not the first people to deal with life this way.

            In today’s first lesson, Pharaoh is a “tomorrow thinker.”

You remember the story from the book of Exodus.

            All God’s people are down in Egypt;

                        Slaves to old Pharaoh.

And God sends Moses,

            Who brings a bunch of plagues.

                        The first one was turning the Nile into blood,

                                    So that all the fish died and the water was undrinkable.

That was pretty bad.

But Pharaoh didn’t listen to Moses;

            His heart was hardened.

So then God sends a plague of frogs.

            And they are everywhere!!

                        Frogs in all the houses.

                                    Frogs all over the roads.

Frogs in the beds.

                                                            Frogs EVERYWHERE!

And eventually Pharaoh gets sick of the frogs,

            So he calls Moses and Aaron over,

                        And asks them to pray to their God to take away the frogs,

                                    And he promises to let the people go.

And Moses says –“Sure.  When do you want me to pray?”

            And Pharaoh answers “tomorrow.”

You think he would have said “right away” now that he had made the decision.

            But no – Pharaoh was a “tomorrow thinker.”

Even though he’s up to his eyeballs in “ribbets”

Pharaoh decides he’d rather spend another night

Trapped with those frogs in his life.

                                   Go figure.    

When tomorrow comes, God kills all the frogs,

But then Pharaoh changes his mind

                        About letting the people go,

                                   So the cycle of plagues continues for him.

Pharaoh was a tomorrow thinker.

            And the longer he put off making changes,

The bigger the messes became,

                                    Until it cost him his son.

The Old Testament is full of stories of tomorrow thinkers,

            People who are trapped in cycles of  destruction and despair.

God’s people wandered in the wilderness for 40 years

            Grumbling all the way,

                        Not trusting that things would ever be different,

                                    And so they weren’t!

A whole generation of Israelites died out

            And never got to experience the promised land

                        Because they were tomorrow thinkers.

Or read Judges, or 1^st & 2^nd Kings.

            They tell the story of God’s people and their leaders

                        Continually falling into the trap of fear

                                    And anxiety and bad behaviors,

                                                Over and over again.

But it doesn’t have to be that way for us.

            We don’t have to be tomorrow thinkers,

                        Trapped in endless cycles of fear and struggles.

In our gospel reading today

It seemed as though Jesus’ followers were trapped

In their own Groundhog Day of despair.

They had thought things would be different when Christ came to earth.

            And for a while, they seemed to be.

For Christ went around healing the sick,

            Restoring the outcasts to community,

                        Caring for the people of God in a way they had not experienced

                                    For generations.

                                                Things were looking hopeful again.

But then came that fateful Friday,

            When Christ was hung on a tree,

                        And all hope seemed lost.

But three days later, Mary Magdalene found the tomb was empty!

            The stone had been rolled away!

                        It was resurrection day!         

                                    And so everything was different.

                                                A new day had finally come.

Of course, Mary didn’t realize that right away.

            She was so used to the way things were,

                        That at first she couldn’t grasp what had happened.

So she went and got the other disciples.

            And they looked in the tomb.

                        And the beloved disciple seemed to get it,

                                    But then he and the other guy just went home

                                                They decided to spend one more day with the frogs.

But Mary stuck around. 

            And Jesus came to her

                        And transformed her sorrow into joy.

                                    And then she couldn’t wait to go tell the others about it!

In the resurrection Jesus Christ

            Showed us that he has both the power AND the desire to overcome anything

                        That would get in the way of the life He wants us to lead.

He secured abundant life for us,

            Not just for tomorrow,

                        But for today, and each day of our lives.

In our baptisms

            We were adopted as God’s children,

                        And the Holy Spirit was poured into us.

So we don’t have to live as tomorrow thinkers.

            We don’t have to stay trapped in the cycles of fear

                        Or addiction or anxiety or mediocrity.

Paul talks about this in our 2^nd lesson.

            He tells us that the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set us free

                        From the law of sin and of death.

He tells us this Spirit of God lives within us ALL the time,

            And when we allow this Spirit to lead us, we will live abundant lives.

Paul reminds us that we don’t need to fall back into fear,

            Because the Spirit we received does NOT tie us to death,

                        But to life, a life that is worth leading.

The question is, do we believe this?
            And if so, are we willing to do something about it,

                        Or would we rather live another night with our frogs?

Are we willing to be led by the Spirit of God,

            Or do we continue in our old patterns

                        Of being led by the ways of the world,

                                    The ways that ultimately lead to death, Paul tells us.

There’s a story that’s told about an old Cherokee,

Who tells his grandson about a battle that goes on inside each person.

“My son,” he says,

“The battle is between two ‘wolves’ inside us all.

One is Evil.

It is anger, envy, jealousy, sorrow, regret, greed, 

Arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies,

False pride, superiority, and ego.

The other is Good.

It is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness,

Benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion and faith.”

The grandson thinks about it for a minute, then asks his grandfather:

“Which wolf wins?”

The old Cherokee replies, “The one you feed.” 

Commit yourself to drawing closer to God in Jesus Christ

            Through the practices of worship, fellowship, discipleship,

                        Ministry and evangelism.

That’show you feed the good wolf inside you,

            That’s how you open yourself to being led by the Spirit of God.

                        God has both the power AND the desire to drive out your frogs.    

                                    Give them and yourself over to Him.

I’ve given you some suggestions each week for how

            To do that,

                        As Pastor Eric has in his book we’ve been studying.

Don’t wait until tomorrow –

            Start today.

                        You don’t want to wake up to that same old

                                    Sonny and Cher song tomorrow!

Or maybe you have been living the life God intends for you.

            I pray this continues for you each and every day.

But maybe you know of someone who’s a tomorrow thinker,

            They don’t believe that God’s promises

Of abundant life are already theirs,

Or maybe they’re waiting until tomorrow to do something about it.

So they’re stuck reliving their bitterness,

            Or anxiety, or despair.

                        They want to keep their frogs another night.

I invite you to pray for them,

            And let them know you’re doing that.

                        Pray that God would open their hearts and give them

                                    The courage to let go of their tomorrow thinking

                                                So God can pour His peace and His joy into them today.

God never stops inviting us to live a better, frog-free today.

            When will you start claiming it?        

                        Don’t wait till tomorrow.