I'm going to start off this sermon with a written assignment. Now that may make some of you unhappy, because you may just like to sit and listen and even daydream during a sermon. But don't worry: I won't be collecting your papers, you won't have to share, and it's very easy. If you can't write yourself you can ask your parents to write for you, or you can even just think.
Does everyone have a piece of paper and pencil or pen? If you need either one raise your hand, and Lucy and Cullen will bring them to you.
Your assignment—I'm going to do it too—is to make a list of some of the many things you would like to learn. They can be big, life-long, important things, like learning how to make friends; or they can be small, concrete things, like learning how to program your cell phone or hit a baseball. They can be things you might learn at home or work or school or in the park, through reading, talking or playing or any other way. [OK? Any questions? You'll have a few minutes.]
...I know you may have more things to add to your list, but please stop take a minute to look it over and think about WHY you would like to learn those things. You can write down those reasons, if you like.
Now in a minute, I'm going to invite you to share your list, or some of the things on your list with people near you, if you like. But first I'm going to share some things from my list, because I'm the preacher.
I'll start with a big thing: I'd like to learn to love my sister more. Now, I love my sister, many of you have met her, but I sometimes find it hard to BE loving. Other people with sisters and brothers have told me they sometimes find it hard, too. The truth is, my mother and father let her get away with more. And ever since she was little, she's done annoying things. Now, it's OK to be angry or annoyed sometimes, and I'm sure she has complaints about me. But I know my big sister jealousy or irritation can get in the way of loving her. So I'd like to learn to love her more.
I'd like to learn to pray better. Sometimes I'll be praying and thanking God for all the blessings in my life, and I'll even feel the presence of the Holy Spirit. But then I'll start thinking about what I have to get at the grocery store, or I'll remember the annoying thing my sister did the other day and my prayer will go out the window. So I'd like to learn to pray better, so I can feel closer to God and hear what God is saying to me.
I'd like to learn how to make a lemon chiffon pie that turned out right. A smooth, fluffy lemon chiffon pie, not a lumpy, runny lemon chiffon pie. It's not that important, I can keep making brownies instead, but one day I'd like to learn how to make a lemon chiffon pie that turned out right.
I'd like to learn more about Iraq and other countries in the Middle East. In their prayer, Lily and Trey lifted up the soldiers who are there and the children who are suffering. I'd like to better understand what is happening in Iraq so that, with other people, I can be a peacemaker.
So! That's some of my list. Now you can share yours with someone sitting near you—or you can move around if you like. [Would anyone like to share something from their list?]
Learning new things is so important. We need and yearn to learn big things about how to love and lead our life, and little things that can be fun and exciting. But it's also hard. We don't always learn things as quickly as we'd like. It takes courage and patience to stick with something that's hard for us, whether it's learning to read or riding a bike or speaking a language or something on our job. It takes imagination: if you've ever studied an instrument you know it doesn't help to repeat the same 5 measures and make the same mistake over and over again—you have to figure out a different way to do it. And when we learn new things we need help: from teachers and parents, coaches and teammates, tutors and babysitters, friends and neighbors. And this is where Jesus comes in.
Jesus knows how much we want to learn new things.
In today's story from Mark, the disciples of Jesus had been traveling to different villages, teaching people about God. They were exhausted when they got back home, so Jesus said, come, let's go to a quiet place by ourselves and rest awhile. They all got in a boat, but some people from the village recognized them and told their friends, and soon people from all the different towns were running ahead to the quiet place where they were going. They reached it before the disciples, and it was no longer a quiet place. Now when Jesus saw them, he had compassion for them, even though he was very tired. He saw how much they wanted to learn. So he began to teach them many things. Later, he gave them bread and fish, but first he taught them.
And Jesus still teaches us today. He's no longer here with us like he was with the disciples, that's true. But Christ's Spirit is here. And the Spirit teaches us in many ways:
One way is through the Bible. When we come to church and read the stories of Jesus and Moses, when we listen to the words of the prophets and pray the psalms, Jesus, through the Spirit, helps us to understand them. They're not always easy to understand. And that's an understatement. There's lots of wild and crazy stuff in the Bible—but if we come to church and pray and study the scriptures, Jesus promises to help us learn what it means to love God and our neighbor.
But Jesus doesn't only teach us through the Bible. Not everything we need to know is in it—there's no recipe for lemon chiffon pie, for example. Jesus also teaches us by giving us patience, the patience to try something over and over again. Jesus teaches us by giving us courage, when we are trying to learn something hard and making lots of mistakes and maybe even feeling embarrassed in front of other people. Jesus teaches us by opening our hearts, so we can let new people and new ideas into them. Jesus teaches us just by just being with us, through the Holy Spirit, and encouraging us when learning is hard and we're discouraged.
I'm going to end with another story, the story that Khalil read about Jesus in the temple. That story is the only story in the whole Bible that we have about Jesus during his childhood. And in that story we learn that even though Jesus was the Son of God, he had to learn things, too. He needed to learn about God and the Bible, so he went to the Temple and sat among the teachers, listening and asking them questions. And he also had to learn—like every child—to listen to his parents. You may remember that in the story he had his family had traveled to Jerusalem from their home in Nazareth. They were traveling by foot in a big group of family and friends. So when they started back home, the parents of Jesus assumed he was walking with his cousins or his friends. After all, he knew they were leaving and he was twelve, they didn't need to be watching him every minute. But when they didn't see him at the end of the first day, they got worried and returned to Jerusalem to look for him. And do you remember what his mother said when they finally found him, after three days? "Child, why have you treated us like this? Look, your father and I have been searching for you in great anxiety!" Well, Jesus said they should have known where he was, in his father's house. Now that may be true, but if you ask me, that sounds kind of smart-alecky. And you know how the Bible leaves things out? I wonder if they left out a part where Mary and Joseph said, "You're grounded." ...Because it says that when he came home, he was obedient to them. So even though Jesus is our teacher, it's good to know that he had to learn things, too, just like us, sometimes the hard way.
Let's end with the prayer that Khalil read at the beginning, Psalm 25, verses 4 and 5. Please join me in prayer:
Make me to know your ways, O Lord;
teach me your paths.
Lead me in your truth, and teach me,
for you are the God of my salvation;
for you I wait all day long. Amen.