Sermon

Family camp 2010
Sunday morning sermon
James McTyre
Lake Hills Presbyterian Church (USA)

But ask the animals and they will teach you;
the birds of the air, and they will tell you;
ask the plants of the earth, and they will teach you; and the fish of the sea will declare to you.
Who among all these does not know that the hand of the Lord has done this?
In his hand is the life of every living thing and the breath of every human being. (Job 12:7-10)

One thing that really irks me about Camp John Knox is that the cell phone coverage is so weird here. In some places you get no bars at all. Step 10 feet to the left and you get five. One of the strangest things happens because we're very close to the dividing line between the Eastern and Central Time zones. If I stand on one side of the Dining Hall, my phone says it's a certain time, say, 10:00, Eastern. But I walk to the other side of the hall, and I get a signal from a tower across the lake, in Central time. Now it's an hour earlier, 9:00, and I have bent the laws of time. It's weird, but also very cool, in a sci-fi superhero kind of way. Everywhere else, I'm just an average preacher. Some would say very. But here at John Knox, I become, Time Traveler Man. "Aw, Dad, can we stay here one more hour?" "Here, let me step to the side. Yes. Yes we can." "Thank you, Time Traveler Man!" I remind myself that with great power comes great responsibility.

If you didn't have a phone, or one of those wristwatch things, what time would it be? Kind of like, if you didn't know when you were born, how old would you be? If you didn't have a cell phone to get calls, texts, and friend status updates, how important would you be? How would you know the time, and your space in this time, if you didn't have other people or other devices to tell you?

The Book of Job, one of the most impenetrable books of the Bible, gives some advice about how to get a status update on life and your time, a big tweet on your time in this life. It says,

But ask the animals and they will teach you;
the birds of the air, and they will tell you;
ask the plants of the earth, and they will teach you;
and the fish of the sea will declare to you.

So, wanting to take the Bible at its word, I decided to do an experiment. We happen to have an animal living at our house, a Yorkshire Terrier named, "Bear." So, one day (when everyone was gone) I asked him. "O, good and wise Bear (I figured it couldn't hurt to address him formally), can you tell this lowly student what time it is?" The great master Bear chooses not to communicate using words, so it makes taking the Bible literally a bit of a challenge. But after several hours following my teacher around, I learned a few of his secrets. In unmistakable signs and gestures, Bear spoke. And he said, "It's time... To scratch my tummy." "It's time... To get me a doggie treat." "It's time... For me to go outside and pee. (Is it ok for your preacher to say, "Pee?" Don't get mad at me, the dog's the one who said it.)

But ask the animals and they will teach you, says scripture. What did I learn from this experiment? No offense to him, but I think my dog is a little self-centered. But I'm kind of responsible, because I tell him all the time he's a good boy. But here's the main thing. As Kristen and the girls will tell you, I really am crazy about the little guy. And its not because he fetches my slippers or brings me drinks from the fridge. I wish he could, but he's too short to reach the handle. All he has to do is just be himself. Wag that stubby little tail and greet me when I come home. So when I ask the little critter what time it is, his answer is it's simply time to enjoy being together, being here, wherever here might be. What time is it? It's time to be glad that we're part of this creation, part with the birds of the air, part with the fish of the sea, part with the plants of the earth. And, we add in faith, it's time to be glad that we're part along with the Creator of all this glorious menagerie. What time is it? It's now.

But ask the animals and they will teach you;
the birds of the air, and they will tell you;
ask the plants of the earth, and they will teach you; and the fish of the sea will declare to you.
Who among all these does not know that the hand of the Lord has done this?
In his hand is the life of every living thing and the breath of every human being. (Job 12:7-10)

The animals, the birds, the plants, the fish - ask them and they'll tell you, not with their words, but with yours. Simply by being who and what they are in the dance of creation, they'll tell you it's time. It's time to enjoy our time. It's time to be who we're intended by our Creator to be. It's time to set ourselves free from clocks and calendars and coverage. Those things don't make us who we are, any more than telling a dog he's a good boy makes him good. We are good, we are who we are, we where we are, we are when we are because the hand of the Lord has made us so. And in his hand is the life of every living thing and the breath of every human being.

James McTyre
865-268-9628
jamesmctyre@usa.net