Sermon - 2013-06-30 - Daniel in Exile

Daniel is one of those famous characters of the Old Testament because of his true faith.  Since these are rather popular stories, I want to dive in deeper into how they remind us of our own time and the world around us today.  Daniel was willing to stand up to the king who had enslaved his people, brought them out of their lands and made them destroy their past.  Taking away someone’s language, history, and their story was what the King of Babylon was trying to do.  Most of the people at that time had a language and story that defined them.  There was a reason for being Amalekite, an Ammonite, Philistine or Hebrew.  Your story, comprised of the past and the current events formed who you were.  By doing this, the king had hoped that you would abandon your story and pick up their story, the Babylonian story.  

There was only one problem, the creator of all the world and author of all time is still with the Hebrew people.  However, they had forgotten about him.  The people being completely surrounded by Babylonians, made up mostly of other nations that had been defeated.  With all of these conquered nations, the people needed something that would unite them together. The king was the uniting factor.  The king dictated what you would do, how you should worship and what you should worship.  Oh, and if you would not do this, you would either be punished as in beaten, you would be killed with  your entire family.  All so that you could be made an example to anyone else, what would happen to you if you went against the King.  

Thank goodness we live in a much better, more civilized time.  And yet within our modern time, we are confronted with similar problems. Your children, and your grandchildren today, are faced with so many stories about what their life could be, what it should be and why they should even question the past.  Yes, with a click of a mouse, they are taken into the world from their very homes.  They are able to learn and understand about the different denominations of Christianity.  What it does mean to be a Hindu, Buddhist, Muslim, Baha'i, Satanist, or even join the church of Atheism.  Along with that, people have so much more information that they do not need to look to the past for understanding.  For a person, within our modern time receives more information within a day’s time, than a person would have within their lifetime just 100 years ago.   Not only that, but with all our modern conveniences, we have more time not to be with family but instead to run around for more activities and things to entertain us, to work more hours, and save for that future that could possibly be.  

There was once a businessman who was sitting by the beach in a small Brazilian village. As he sat, he saw a Brazilian fisherman rowing a small boat towards the shore having caught quite a few big fish. The businessman was impressed and asked the fisherman, “How long does it  take you to catch so many fish?” The fisherman replied, “Oh, just a  short while.”

“Then why don’t you stay longer at sea and catch even more?” The businessman was astonished.

“This is enough to feed my whole family,” the fisherman said.

The businessman then asked, “So, what do you do for the rest of the day?”

The  fisherman replied, “Well, I usually wake up early in the morning, go out to sea and catch a few fish, then go back and play with my kids.  In the afternoon, I take a nap with my wife, and evening comes, I join my buddies in the village for a drink — we play guitar, sing and dance  throughout the night.”

The businessman offered a  suggestion to the fisherman. “I am a PhD in business management. I could  help you to become a more successful person. From now on, you should  spend more time at sea and try to catch as many fish as possible. When you have saved enough money, you could buy a bigger boat and catch even  more fish. Soon you will be able to afford to buy more boats, set up your own company, your own production plant for canned food and distribution network. By then, you will have moved out of this village and to Sao Paulo, where you can set up HQ to manage your other branches.”

The fisherman continues, “And after that?”

The  businessman laughs heartily, “After that, you can live like a king in your own house, and when the time is right, you can go public and float your shares in the Stock Exchange, and you will be rich.”

The fisherman asks, “And after that?”

The businessman says, “After that, you can finally retire, you can move to a  house by the fishing village, wake up early in the morning, catch a few fish, then return home to play with kids, have a nice afternoon nap with your wife, and when evening comes, you can join your buddies for a  drink, play the guitar, sing and dance throughout the night!”

The fisherman was puzzled, “Isn’t that what I am doing now?”

We are getting so focused on a future of what could be, that we are not even paying attention to the world around us, enjoying it or taking care of it.  And yet, God is also not part of the our planning for the future.  God and the Church seems to be an  “if I have time, I will come.”  In talking with several clergy from different denominations and areas of the country, the new regular attender is someone who comes to church once a month.  They do not fully understand what all the ins and outs of church really mean because they are often busy with so many other things.  

Now, have no fear, we did not only name the problem but we also have a solution.  Those who are weekly regular attenders, yes you who have “your pew” and I know exactly where you are going to sit, this work is for you.  The greatest thing that you can do is share your faith and your reason for why the church and faith are so important to you.  Share your story with your kids and grandkids.  Have them over for dinner, a picnic and share the family story.  But don’t do this just once, do it several times.  Along with that, LISTEN. Hear their story and help them realize that faith is something that matters within their daily life as it does with yours.  

Now don’t get me wrong. The world is not a terrible place to live.  We enjoy the most bountiful time within our nation’s history and we are on top of the world.  However, we need to remember to include God within our lives or we will turn away from God.  Our story, will be forgotten.  Remember Daniel, prayed three times a day.  Daniel reminds us that God is the God of the past, present and future, yet sometimes we need a reminder.  We need a reminder that someone cares about us, our life, our faith, and our journey.  As Lutherans, as Christians, we want to come to church because this is the place that we know that people genuinely care about us.  Amen.