I Corinthians 3:1-9/10-23
One of the best Christmas
presents I ever received was the year when I was 8. The gift was for my brother,
sister, and I….. all three of us would have to share it. It was a record player
and three records…..my record was the Disney recording of the Three little pigs
narrated by Sterling Holloway….anyway the story went like this.
Once upon a time, there were
three little pigs who left their mother to build homes of their own. The first
little pig built his house of straw. The second little pig built his house of
sticks. The third little pig built his house of brick. And the pigs would sing;
“Who’s afraid of the big bad wolf, the big bad wolf, the big bad wolf. Tra, la,
la, la la…..
Soon the Big Bad Wolf came
to visit the three little pigs. When the little pig in the straw house would
not let him in, the Big Bad Wolf huffed and he puffed until he blew that house
in. When the little pig in the house of sticks would not let the wolf in, the
Big Bad Wolf huffed and he puffed,,,,and then he huffed and he puffed until he
blew the house in. When the Big Bad Wolf came to the pig in the house of brick,
he huffed and he puffed, but he could not blow that house in. For his house was
made of brick.
Old stories like this one
endure from generation to generation because there is a kernel of truth in them
that every generation can learn from. In our second reading from I Corinthians
it says, “We are God's fellow workers, we are God's building."
Everybody has a house to
build. Our houses hold our lives. Every moral is a beam; every window is a
dream; every door is an opportunity; and every roof is protection from the
storm. We all have a house that we have buil.
THE FOUNDATION IS
CRITICAL
God, the master architect
has given us the gift of Baptism as a foundation. Through baptism frail and
weak humans are transformed with love, faith, hope, and grace. We use this as
the foundation for our house of faith. As we live and grow, the foundation will
built upon. We ought to choose with care how to build on it. Sometimes we
do….sometimes we don’t. We are not perfect…
Jesus is a blueprint for
life. the death of Jesus proved the redemptive possibilities of death. The
resurrection of Jesus is the assurance that life wins.
BUILDING MATERIALS
MAKE A DIFFERENCE
The first little pig built
his house of straw. It was cheap, quick, easy and it did not take much effort.
It worked on the bright. sunny, perfect days….it worked for awhile.
Perhaps the first little
pig substituted luck for grace. maybe he
had never heard, or maybe he learned about it in Sunday School and
forgot. Possibly he no longer believed in the grace of God. So consequently he
gravitated to luck and took a chance that he would never need the strong house
of hope.
The second little pig
built his house of sticks. Sticks are not a bad building material. A stick
house could offer security. It would keep the pig dry when it rained. It could
stand up to some wind. But the dry sticks can burn easily. The second pig saved
so much time, talent and energy….that he could easily collect all kinds of
stuff. The second pig had all the latest gadgets and gismos.
Comedian George Carlin
once said, “The essence of life is trying to find a place to put all your
stuff," the cars, the boats, the houses, the land, the stocks, and the
bonds. Life is more than stuff, even good stuff.
The third little pig built
his house of brick and precious stones, he used some other strong materials
like iron, granite, and gold. The little pig insured that he had taken his time
to find land that was solid. He had made an investment in the foundation and
building materials. He had found a treasure to use as building materials.
When we build faith we do
so with the treasures of practices and disciplines. Faith practices of prayer,
worship, inviting others into the community, encouragement, giving, service,
study, and forgiveness.
Even when there is a
strong foundation, awesome faith practices, and strong building materials, we
can not prevent the wolf from coming….
Paul's writes in I
Corinthians 13 “There are three things that abide. They are faith, hope, and
love." Perhaps these things are the plaster and the nails that hold
everything together……(pause)
These are three things
that we live into and need to be attended to with and by the grace of
God…faith. Hope. And love.
You all know that Last
year I was diagnosed with cancer, worst day of my life…... a week later I went
to the initial consultation with the oncologists. I have to admit I was afraid.
I was confused, I tried rationalizing and minimizing the whole thing…… the word
cancer had rocked my world and shook my faith and not in a good way.
Swirling around my head
were a lot of questions such as, why me? How do I deserve this?
The doctors reveled the
results of the tests, asked if I had any questions, and then came the words
that silenced the room and sent me to the place of defeat…..The words were:
“you have a 50/50 chance. I immediately thought about the question from
philosophy class….is the glass have full or half empty?
I searched through the
words to find the good news, it was going to be hard to find hope among all of
the uncertainties. The room continued to be silent as all of us grappled with
the reality of the glass could be half empty.
Until Dr. Benvarnsen (incorrect spelling) from
Iceland spoke up and said the words that I needed to hear, the words that you
need to hear when confronted by “the wolves of life”….he said:
”People who tend to do
well in these situations are people who have three things.
1. They have a positive
outlook about people and life.
2. They have a strong support
system and relationships with people who love them.
3. And three, they are people
who live a life of faith."
Building a strong
foundation and using strong building materials is not going to prevent the Wolf
from coming….Living a life of faith using faith practices is not going to keep
the bad stuff from happening.
What faith does/ is allow
us to reveal our part in God’s story. It allows us to find hope, to find love. It allows us to be in a relationship of a caring community of believers.
And let us not forget, that it helps us to
remember that things did not end well for the wolf….In the end, no matter what
happens, if it turns out well for us, or not. In the end, God Wins!
And that allows us to live
in the sure confidence of a kingdom that is here, but is yet to come.
