Historic First Lutheran Church of Pasadena

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, Amen.

Our three Scripture readings today remind me of a story I heard a number of years ago. The story is about a boy and his father. In their front yard, the family had a large , decorative rock garden, a huge pile of boulder-like rocks that the family had collected from different places, arranging them into a large mound. On the top of that mound was one particularly large rock, a real monster. For some reason, the six-year-old boy one day decided that he wanted to move that one rock. The father watched through the living room picture window as the boy tried just about everything. First he pushed the rock from one side. Then he pushed from the other side. Then he tried standing on a corner of the rock to tip it. He then got a big stick and tried to wedge the rock from its obviously stuck position. He even tried wrapping a rope around the rock and tied the rope to the back of his bicycle. Finally, he gave up. He disgustedly walked into the living room and plopped down on the couch next to his father. The father asked his obviously frustrated, tired son, “So, what are you doing?” The son answered that he was trying to move the rock. The father didn’t ask his son “Why?” but instead asked, “Any luck?” “None,” the son answered. “Have you tried everything?” “I sure have. I’ve pushed and pulled. I’ve jumped on it. I’ve tried to wiggle it with a stick.” “No. You haven’t tried everything.” “I sure have.” “No you haven’t. You haven’t asked me to help.”

That cute little story actually plays itself out in the lives of many Christians. How many problems have you faced in life that have been like that rock? How many problems have you pushed and pulled and jumped on and whacked with a stick, all to no avail? Let your Father help. That’s why He’s there, always by your side.

But there is a deeper meaning to that story and its application, as well. The story’s not just about our pains and problems and how we often go it alone. The story is also about our total lives as the daughters and sons of God.

I can’t tell you how many times I hear a Christian say, “I can’t do that.” Maybe they’ve been approached to help teach a Sunday School class. Maybe they’ve been asked to help plan an event. Maybe they’ve been asked to lead a prayer at a gathering. Maybe they’ve been asked to serve on a board. Maybe they’ve been asked to share their faith with a non-Christian friend or family member. I can’t tell you, as I have approached some people with some of those very same requests, that I have heard those words, “I can’t do that.”

You know what I am going to say the next time I get that answer? I am going to say, as loud as I can, “That’s ‘bull pucky,’” whatever bull pucky is. That’s what I am going to answer. Now I certainly know that if you walk with a walker you can’t be expected to run a marathon or to get down on your hands and knees and scrape the candle wax drippings from the tile floor, but I don’t think I have ever asked anybody to do either of those things nor do I intend to.

So often we use those words, “I can’t do that” to hide our real answer, “I don’t want to do that” because as the children of God, there is nothing we can’t do in His service. That’s exactly what St. Paul was getting at when he wrote to the Philippian Christians about “God [being at work] in you, God Who said, “Let there be” and there was, God Who gave a baby son to Abraham and Sarah even though they were both older than two of the women we today honor, God Who made the walls of Jericho that has withstood many fierce battles fall simply by the human blowing of trumpets, God Who put back together and brought back to life those dry bones simply by Ezekiel speaking the Word of God to them, God Who Himself became flesh and incarnated Himself in Mary’s womb, God Who was born in Bethlehem’s manger, God Who would carry the sins of the entire world, suffering and dying and being laid in a tomb, God Who faced a massive stone of His own, the stone sealing the entrance of His tomb. Imagine if Jesus had done what that six-year-old boy did or what many of us do, if He simply gave up, if He simply said, “I can’t do that.” Thanks be to God He didn’t do that. Thanks be to God He knew the power was His and He used that power, the power of God.

If I can brag for a second, that’s exactly what I see when I look at each of our three honored women this morning.

The last time I visited Claudia Proctor a couple weeks ago, I found her sitting in her wheel chair at her care facility reading her Bible. With no family and honestly only a couple friends who visit her, most people would have given up at 95 years of ago, but not Claudia. She still stands on the power of God, His living and active Word that speaks to her, “I will never leave you. I will never forsake you. I have you engraved on the palms of My Hand.”

Dorothy Martin, well, where should I start? You just look for a second at this crowd gathered to celebrate along with Dorothy and you know full well that Dorothy doesn’t say “I can’t do that” to anything. Here at Historic First Lutheran, Dorothy has been a leading lady for many years. She allowed her husband, Dallas, to be a Godly leader both here in this congregation and also in our greater church body. But Dorothy herself has been involved here. She was superintendent of our once-substantial Sunday School program. In that role, she was responsible for some of you becoming members of this congregation. She also served on our Board of Directors and Board of Trustees, both as director of our evangelism department and as secretary of the Board, even though she doesn’t type but would instead faithfully deliver perfectly and beautifully hand-written minutes to the church office. How has she been able to do it? Through the power of God, through God at work in her.

Vesta Jamerson. Talk about God at work! Vesta also has served on our Board of Directors as our Financial Secretary, receiving and counting and posting contributions from you. That despite her problem, like many of you, of arthritis. A few years ago Vesta pitched in and helped with our Summer Camp program. She wasn’t content to simply sit to the side. She had to be in the action. When the kids sat on the floor, Vesta amazed me as she was there on the floor next to them. To this day, Vesta regularly volunteers at a public elementary school, reading to a class of children. God at work in her.

My friends, today is not just a day to honor these three women, although they are all certainly worthy. Today is also a day for each of us, no matter our age or infirmities, to plop down on the couch next to our Heavenly Father, to share with Him our failings and frustrations, to admit to Him that we have often tried everything except asking Him to help us, then it’s time to step out once again, to put aside the mantra of “I can’t do that” and instead know that it is “God at work in you.”

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, Amen.

Pastor Christopher Schaar
Historic First Lutheran Church of Pasadena