Sermon written and delivered by Judy Pike
Covenant Presbyterian Church (PCUSA)
Bisbee, Arizona
July 6, 1997

Scripture:  Old Testament--1 Samuel 3:1-18
            New Testament--Matthew 28:16-28

THE STARFISH 

One day, an old man was walking along the beach in the early morning and
noticed what appeared to be thousands of starfish washed up on the
shore. Up ahead in the distance, he spotted a boy who appeared to be
gathering up the starfish and tossing them, one by one, back into the
ocean.
 
Overwhelmed by the sheer multitude of the suffering creatures, the old
man just stood and watched as the boy picked up another starfish, and
yet another, releasing them in the healing safety of the cool green
water.  Finally, he approached the boy and asked him why he spent so
much energy doing what seemed to be a waste of time. 

The boy replied, "If these starfish are left out here like this, they
will bake in the sun, and by this afternoon all of them will be dead."

The old man gazed out as far as he could see and responded, "But, there
must be hundreds of miles of beach and thousands of starfish. You can't
possibly rescue all of them. What difference is throwing a few back
going to make, anyway?"

The boy then held up the starfish he had in his hand and threw it to 
safety in the waves and replied, "It made a difference to that one!"

In the Bible and throughout the history of the Church, Christianity has
talked of people being called by God, or called by Christ, or called by
God's Holy Spirit--called to make a difference.

Within Christianity, the term "called by God" or "called by Christ" is
used in several different ways.  One is the spiritual guidance a
Christian might receive through prayer, or meditation, or Bible study,
or by reflecting on the biblical portrait of Jesus. Here, Jesus'
example, Jesus' voice, or Jesus' spiritual presence are experienced as
being out in front of us, encouraging us to live in a faithful way.

Another kind of spiritual call is the call of the interests, passions,
and capacities that are already within us--what it is often referred to
as our own "gifts and graces.” 

The third kind of call--the kind that Samuel, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel,
Peter and Andrew, James and John and the Apostle Paul knew came from
outside, was addressed to them personally, was disruptive or life
changing--calling them to leave one kind of life for another kind of
life, and seemed to come with what can only be called the 
authority of God. To them, it was as though God had reached into their
lives, picked them up, given them new marching orders, and turned  them
around. 

Such a call was heard in our century in the Central American city of El
Salvador.  There, a conservative, passive, sixty-five year old,
don't-rock-the-boat monsignor was chosen to be the new Archbishop of El
Salvador during a time of war between the peasants and El Salvador's
fourteen ruling families. It was expected that Oscar Romero would
maintain the status quo, but he heard Jesus Christ calling to him
through the assassination of some of his priests by death squads and
through atrocities that were committed on many of the poor.  When he
heard that call, Romero left the traditional archbishop's role behind.
He decided that no matter what price was required of him, he would stand
beside the poor--he would do
his best to be the voice of the voiceless. He did this with grace, and
courage, and steadfastness until the day of his own assassination.

The Bible says that the gifts and call of God are irrevocable.  Jesus
called his first disciples to drop what they were doing and follow
him.  Later, he instructed them that if they would truly be his
followers, they must deny themselves, take up the cross and follow 
him daily. God never lets go of us once he has called us. Yes, we may
let go of him and we may not recognize his voice, but he bids us to 
come and follow him and it is a matter of responding daily, being open
to opportunities to make a difference each day of our lives.  Some may
say,  “Follow your destiny.”  Others may say, “Follow the example of
others.”  Jesus calls and says,  “Follow me.”

The Latin word for call is vocar ( we get our word voice and vocal
from the same word).  God calls us to a vocation, to a job, to do
something for him.  Our life's work may be part of that call.  Our
call in Christ always involves being and doing something for
the kingdom. If you are a boot maker, be the very best boot maker you
can be for his glory.  Use that as an opportunity to serve Christ, to
make a difference right where you are. It is a call to the church--to be
a part of his body--and to function in a meaningful capacity by using
the gifts and abilities he has given each of us. 

We all go through periods of time when we wonder if our lives and the
things we have done have made any impact on others. We may feel that we
have not been successful because we have never gained great riches, fame
or championship status.  We may wish that we could have it to do over so
that we could make different decisions, or 
do things more significantly. 

Younger people who are still in school are looking ahead and wondering,
“Will what I do make a difference?  Will I succeed? Will I be
fulfilled?  Will I achieve great things or accomplish anything
significant? 

I found several quotes which speak to this line of thinking: 

“God does not so much need people to do extraordinary things as much as
God needs people who do ordinary things extraordinarily well.”  (William
Barclay) 

“The place where God calls you is the place where your deep gladness and
the world's deep hunger meet.”   (Frederick Buechner)

“No one is useless in this world who lightens the burden of anyone
else.”  (Charles Dickens)

All of us have stories to tell of people who have made a positive
difference in our lives whether it be loving parents, a listening,
caring teacher, a neighbor who helped during a time of need--few of
those stories are of earth shattering proportions such as a life being
saved, but as small as they may seem, they have made just as great an 
impact on our lives as something more earth shattering.

Whatever God has called us to do,  we must do with passionate faith.
By faith in Christ, we can do anything God has designed for us to do and
we can be anything God has designed us to be.   We can make a difference
right where we are.

A.C. Green is a two time NBA champion, NCAA All American and a high
school allstar. His autobiography is entitled, "Victory: Principles of
Championship Living."   He states, “As much as I love basketball and
work hard to excel in it, I have to say that the greatest victories in
life are not scored on the basketball court or playing fields. Winning
on the court is great but it leaves many players miserable in other
areas of their life. A true champion achieves his or her life's purpose
as designed by God.” 

That is who we are.  We are God’s workmanship created to make a
difference in this life.

Madeleine L’Engle writes in her book, WALKING ON WATER, that we are 
all asked to do more than we can do.  “Every hero and heroine of the
Bible does more than he or she would have thought it possible to do, 
from Gideon to Esther to Mary.  Jacob certainly wasn’t qualified--he 
was a liar and a cheat; and yet he was given the extraordinary vision of
angels and archangels ascending and descending a ladder which reached
from earth to heaven.  Moses wasn’t qualified--he was past middle age
when God called him to lead his children out of Egypt, and he spoke with
a stutter.  Moses was reluctant and unwilling and he couldn’t control
his temper.  But he saw the bush that burned and was not consumed.  He
spoke with God in the cloud on Mount Sinai, and afterwards his face
glowed with such brilliant light that the people could not bear to look
at him.”  She goes on to say that, “In a very real sense not one of us
is qualified, but it seems that God continually chooses the most
unqualified to do his work, to bear his glory.  As someone once said,
“God never asks about our ability or our inability--just our
availability.”  

If we are qualified, we tend to think that we have done the job
ourselves.  If we are forced to accept our evident lack of
qualification, then there’s no danger that we will confuse God’s work
with our own, or God’s glory with our own.  To be a human being is to
know clearly that anything good we do is sheer gift of grace, that 
God’s image in us shines so brightly that its light is visible.

Madeleine L’Engle also believes that the Kingdom is built on the little
things that all of us do.   We can’t all be martyrs such as Stephen, 
Oscar Romero or Joan of Arc.  As we saw in the fable of the Lion and the
Mouse,  and as the old southern phrase has it, size makes no never
mind.  A simple prayer for someone in need may seem an awfully small
thing in comparison to the giving of thousands of dollars to charity
but--

“Little drops of water, 
Little grains of sand
Make the mighty ocean 
And the pleasant land.  

A single drop can’t make even a puddle, but together, all our little
drops and God’s planning can make not only a mighty ocean but a mighty
difference.  Jesus didn’t feed all the poor, only a few.  He did not
heal all the lepers, or give sight to all the blind, or drive out all
the unclean spirits.

The butterfly effect is a concept that states that if a butterfly 
winging over Bisbee should be hurt, the effect would be felt in galaxies
thousands of light years away.  Perhaps what we are called 
to do may not seem like much but the butterfly is an awfully small
creature to affect galaxies thousands of light years away.

One of the characters in a recent novel, TROUBLING A STAR by Madeleine
L’Engle, sings the following words:

All things by immortal power,
Near or far,
Hiddenly
To each other linked are, 
That thou canst not stir a flower
Without troubling of a star.

Those words and the concept of the butterfly effect inspired me to write
my own poem entitled “To Trouble a Star”:

To trouble a star or make it sing, 
To crush a butterfly underfoot
        or send it fluttering joyfully into a
        field of flowers touched with golden sun--

With each breath, a choice is made.

A frown, a sneer--      
        Or a loving smile;
A hateful word, a sharp retort--
        Or words of healing;
A slap--
        Or a caring touch.

With each breath, a choice is made--
        To crush a butterfly--
Or send it joyfully on its way;
        To trouble a star--
Or make it sing.

We are all linked, and our actions, large and small, make a difference
in this world.  God asks us to make a difference and He asks us to do
more than we think possible but He doesn’t ask us to do anything alone.

“I am only one, but I am one.  I cannot do everything, but I can do
something; and what I should do and can do, by the Grace of God I will 
do.”  or, as someone else said, “O, Lord, help me to understand that 
you ain’t gwine to let nuthin’ come my way that you and me together
can’t handle.”

Let us each be ready to make a difference in this world, saying as
Isaiah said,  “Here am I!  Send me.”  while remembering that Jesus also
said, “and lo, I am with you always, to the close of the age.”  And
then, in the words of Victor Hugo “...when you have laboriously
accomplished your daily task, go to sleep in peace.  God is awake.” 
Amen.  

Return to the Madeleine L'Engle WWW Resource

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