"Storm Home and Launching Pad"
Pastor Bill Chadwick
May 2, 2010
Oak Grove Presbyterian Church
Confirmation/Commissioning Sunday     
Acts 2:42-47; Luke 9:23-25

This is a two-pasrt sermon.  The first is borrowed from my favorite theologian, Garrison Keillor. 

When I get scared now, one way that I have of quieting myself down is to think back to when I went into the seventh grade and so didn't go to Sunnyside School anymore, but caught the school bus into town to go to Lake Wobegon High School.  And Mr. Hedmann was the principal then.  And though it was September, he was already thinking ahead to winter and to the blizzards we had every year.  And on the first day of school, each of us children who rode the bus in from the country was handed a little slip of paper that said, "Your storm home is..... and then the address.  And we were each of uf assigned to someone's home in town, where if a blizzard came during the school day, they wouldn't try to ship us home on the busses but we would go to our storm home and spend the night there.

Mine was the Kruger's -- my storm home was the Kruger's.  The old couple, back then, who lived in a little green cottage that was down by the lake.  And I can see it now, because I walked past it so many times, looking at my storm home over the years.  It was a beautiful green cottage and everything was so arranged about it, and so neat and so delicate.  On the lakeside there was a rock garden and terraces of alyssum and pansies and petunias rose up to a statue of the Blesses Virgin seated with marigolds around her feet.  And there was a burd bath in the center of the back yard and two steel lawn chairs.  And on the trellises the ivy just seemed to march up in formation.  And all the edges on the lawn were so neat.  And the two cast iron deer grazing peacefully out in the front yard.  It was the kind of house that if you were a child and you were lost in a dark forest and you came across it in a clearing, you would know that there was a kindly old couple living there who would take you in and rescue you and that you were a lucky child who had gotten into a story with a happy ending.  They became very big in my imagination, Mr. and Mrs. Kruger.

And there were many times I walked by their house and I felt like introducing myself to them.  I felt like saying, "I'm the kid, who if there's a blizzard, I'll come and stay with you," see, because we seemed to have some relationship in the world.

Now, my family would have been a little bit shocked to know that a Catholic home was my storm home.  Because we were suspicious of Catholics.  We were quite capable of believing that maybe the Pope had ordered all Catholics to take in little Protestant children during blizzards and put little crosses around their necks and make them say the Rosary for their supper.

But I didn't care, that was my storm home and I liked to think that it wasn't just by chance, but that the Krugers, that they had come down to school and they had picked me out of the crowd.  And they had said, "Him, we want him, we want that skinny kid, over there, we want him, in the case of a blizzard, to stay with us."

I often dreamed of going to see them when things got hard.  Blizzards aren't the only storms, you know, and not necessarily the worst thing that can happen to a child.  And I often dreamed about going and knocking on their door.  And she'd open the door.  And she'd say, "Aahh, it's you, I knew you'd come someday, I'm so glad to see you, won't you come on in, get out of those wet clothes, come on into the kitchen, sit down, I'll make you some chocolate.  Would you like an oatmeal cookie or something?"  She'd say, "Aahh, it's terrible outside, isn't it?"  I'd say, "Yes."  She'd say, "It's going to get worse, they say."  "Yes, probably is."  She'd say, "Carl, come on down here, see what's in the kitchen."  He'd say, "Is it our storm child?"  She'd say, "Yes, he's sitting here, in the flesh, as big as life."  We'd play cards or go up to bed, or something.

I never did go there.  We didn't  have any blizzards that came during the day that year, or the year after that, they were all convenient blizzards, evening, weekend blizzards.  But they became a big part of my imagination and I always thought that I could go to the Krugers.  And I didn't, I guess, because all of my troubles were bearable troubles.  But I'm certain that they were more bearable for imagining that the Krugers were there, my storm home, and that I could go see them.  Whenever things go bad I'd think, well there's always the Krugers, my storm home.   (“Storm Home” from Winter)


And for you guys (confirmands), whenever things get bad there’s always Oak Grove.  I am very touched that so many of you talked in your faith statements of Oak Grove as being a “safe place” for you.  That’s HUGE in an often-scary and always challenging world, to find a place of sanctuary.  It means the world to me as a parent for my daughter, Anji, to have a storm home away from home.  A “storm home” is an important part of the picture we see of the early church in Acts chapter 2.  “They spent much time together in the temple, they broke bread … and ate their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having the goodwill of all the people.”

And I urge you to provide a storm home for the kids coming behind and for people not already in the Oak Grove family.  You can join the VBS team this summer, welcome younger kids and outside kids into various activities and groups and continue the welcoming and safe presence that Oak Grove is.

But…that’s only part one. 

There’s an old saying, “A ship in a harbor is safe.  But that’s not what ships are for.”

Today you are welcomed into membership with its privileges.  And you are commissioned to discipleship with its responsibilities.  The ceremony you are soon to participate in is called confirmation and commissioning.  Confirmation in that you are confirming the baptismal vows that were made on your behalf.  Now you are saying them for yourself.  You are saying, “Yes, I claim my place as part of the faith family and I want to follow Jesus.”  And then we commission you in that journey. 

You know doubt have seen cartoons in which a huge ship is being launched for the first time and some lovely woman is supposed to smash a bottle of champagne across the bow and the ship is let loose into the sea to begin its service.  That’s what we’re doing here today, but instead of smashing a bottle over your head we are laying hands on your head.  And we are commissioning you to a life of faithful service.

My fear is that too often in our American Sunday Schools and youth programs we give kids just a little taste of what it means to follow Jesus.  We inoculate them with a little bit of Christianity.  We give them just enough so they don’t catch the real thing.  It’s easy for kids to think that being a Christian means merely going to church, unless there’s hockey practice to attend or a football game to watch, and giving a little money, working a few hours at VEAP and that’s pretty much it.  The picture of the Christian life we get in scripture is a bit fuller than that.

You’ve all seen the TV commercials for the Marines.  Do they say, “Come join the Marines because we have the cushiest facilities, the most pleasant working conditions and we pay the best and have the longest vacations; all you gotta do is show up;  everybody’s welcome”?  No.  The commercials focus on the challenge involved in being a Marine.  They show danger, intense physical activity, mud, sweat—and excitement—and the tag line is very powerful, “The few, the proud, the Marines.”

Jesus invitation to join his club is very similar: “Any who would follow me must deny himself or herself and take up a Cross daily…”  In Jesus’ day that meant, “Know what you are getting into!  Saying yes to me may cost you your life.”  As one of my pastor friends likes to say, “Before you head down this path (of following Jesus) you’d better make sure you look ‘good on wood’.”  (John Schramm)

To this day following Jesus costs people their lives.  Around the world people are still killed for their Christian faith each year.  How many?  Some estimates are as high as an average of 171,000 people per year are martyred, executed for their faith in Jesus.  (The Voice of the Martyrs)

According to the World Evangelical Alliance, over 200 million Christians in at least 60 countries are denied fundamental human rights solely because of their faith.

But you live in Minnesota…Land of Lutherans.  How much persecution will you run into for following Jesus?  Perhaps not that much.  But I guarantee you, if you are serious about following Jesus there will be a cost.  When the other kids are making fun of someone, what does Jesus want you to do?  When someone asks you to help them cheat on a test, what does Jesus want you to do?  When you have a choice between a job that pays a bundle and a job that uses the gifts God has given you to make the world a better place, what does Jesus want you to do?”

Now you might be thinking, “Sheesh, what a downer, Pastor Bill!”  But in fact, just the opposite.  I love you guys, one of you in particular.  And I deeply desire for you to be happy, not just momentary happiness, but a deep-seated joy in life.

And here’s the deal, what the world tells you will make you happy is a pack of lies.  A brighter smile and minty breath are not going to make you happy.  A lot of money is not going to make you happy.  A bigger house and a faster car are kind of cool and will bring momentary happiness, but not a long-lasting joy.  Jesus tells us the truth.  He said, “I have come that (my disciples) might have life and have it abundantly.”  The key to joy is following Jesus all the way.  The rewards of Christianity come on the far side of halfway.

I’ve shared this a couple times already, but I know not all of the confirmation kids have heard it.  Philip Yancey is a wonderful Christian author.  He writes about having the privilege of interviewing hundreds of people of all walks of life, movie stars and football players, people who work in homeless shelters and soup kitchens, and ordinary folks like you and me.  He says, “The saddest people I’ve ever met are the folks with huge amounts of money and fame.  Most of them are miserable.  And the people on the other end of the scale, the folks who are living lives of lowly service, working in foodshelves or as missionaries around the world…well, I was prepared to admire them, but I was not prepared to envy them.  They are the happiest people I’ve ever met.”

Let’s go back to the early church for a minute.  What did the rest of the world say about the early Christians?  Over and over they said two things:  “See how they love one another” and “They have turned the world upside down!”  Storm home and radical discipleship.  So know this, Clayton and Elizabeth and Anji and Emma and Brandy and Micala and Andrew, and every one of you out there in the pew, God has an assignment for each of us to perform, as a part of the kingdom.  And as you follow Jesus faithfully you will know a great sense of satisfaction, and a joy, a deep-seated joy, as you are living out God’s dream for you and as you bring healing to this world that God cherishes.  Amen and amen.