Follow the Rabbit

DATE: 29 August 2014
TO: CHM Discernment Team / MdeG New Church

Modern Text: Web rumor suggests either Dr. Suess or Gabriel Garcia Marquez
"Don’t cry because it’s over… Smile because it happened"
"No llores porque ya se terminó… sonríe, porque sucedió."

Alice In Wonderland: Lewis Carroll
Alice was beginning to get very tired of sitting by her sister on the bank, and of having nothing to do: once or twice she had peeped into the book her sister was reading, but it had no pictures or conversations in it, ‘and what is the use of a book,’ thought Alice ‘without pictures or conversation?’

So she was considering in her own mind (as well as she could, for the hot day made her feel very sleepy and stupid), whether the pleasure of making a daisy-chain would be worth the trouble of getting up and picking the daisies, when suddenly a White Rabbit with pink eyes ran close by her.

There was nothing so very remarkable in that; nor did Alice think it so very much out of the way to hear the Rabbit say to itself, ‘Oh dear! Oh dear! I shall be late!’ (when she thought it over afterwards, it occurred to her that she ought to have wondered at this, but at the time it all seemed quite natural); but when the Rabbit actually took a watch out of its waistcoat-pocket, and looked at it, and then hurried on, Alice started to her feet, for it flashed across her mind that she had never before seen a rabbit with either a waistcoat-pocket, or a watch to take out of it, and burning with curiosity, she ran across the field after it, and fortunately was just in time to see it pop down a large rabbit-hole under the hedge.

In another moment down went Alice after it, never once considering how in the world she was to get out again.

Leader: This is the Word of God for the people of God.
People: Thanks be to God.

Follow the Rabbit!

Could there be time then, to stand still and also to move on?! Have you ever sat down and thought about the concept of time?

I mean usually when I think of time, I think of the fact that there are ONLY 24 hours in a day. I wonder if there is anyway to accomplish all that I want to do in the amount of time that I have left…

Ecclesiastes 3
1 There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens:
2 a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot,
3 a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build,
4 a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance,
5 a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them, a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,
6 a time to search and a time to give up, a time to keep and a time to throw away,
7 a time to tear and a time to mend, a time to be silent and a time to speak,
8 a time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace.

It seems as though time is something of which we never have NOT enough. And unlike most things in life, time is something that you can’t BUY more of.

So, imagine if you were sitting in a garden comfortably minding your own business. When suddenly out of nowhere you see a rabbit rushing along. Now imagine that as you look at the rabbit it pulls a watch out of its pocket and begins to mutter “Oh dear! Oh dear! I shall be too late!”

Would you question the rabbit? Or would you, out of a purely unadulterated sense of curiosity FOLLOW THE RABBIT?

Now, when we left the rabbit, he was running along concerned about being late. Today, as we met we talked about some of our concerns and our emotions and five words that we shared were: hopeful, anxious, worried, tired and at peace.

Sometimes when we curiously follow that White Rabbit that led Alice to Wonderland we do it:
Hope-filled, with the expectation that something new is about to happen.
Anxious/Worried might be emotions we are also feeling as those expectations may not be met
Or, maybe like me, you are tired at the thought of what it means to follow a rabbit all over the that peacefilled garden…

BUT we are tired… How can we arrive at Peace when we have been tired for so long? When we are tired we tend to stay still, not move, not be excited.

But, we also said we are left with those other emotions too: hopeful, anxious, worried… That is a tough place in which to sit: tired but worried

See, if we view that Rabbit as an analogy for the work that God has put into our hearts we may also find ourselves with some of those emotions, hopeful, anxious, worried…

But there is a Peace that comes from the knowledge that God is with us in those circumstances.

Manantial de Gracia, Steering Committee, mi Gente, God did not say easy, God did not say rested…

We read in Ecclesiastes that for everything there is a season… a time.

Tonight we say, we follow that Rabbit with his clock, knowing that we will exercise as we follow Him. That even as we follow Her out of New Britain there is a vision and a mission that God has in store for us. Today is not about platitudes or innuendos, today is about saying that we will Dance before our God with all that we are, because people will talk about us like they talked about David, but if the Spirit of God is leading us, we need to sit back, relax and follow.

Worship: Yo Danzo Como David!

September 1, 2014: This sermon was preached on Friday night…that Monday morning I headed back to school…with a bit of anxiety knowing that this should be my final year.

As I walked out of my door to begin packing up the car (alone), i had never felt quite so lonely…and as I opened the door I saw this face looking up at me… And I smiled knowing that God really has a sense of humor when it comes to handling me!