2010 LENTEN SERMON SERIES, posted on N-0500
December 6 2009 -"A Visit with Elizabeth" -Rev. Vicky Ney, posted on N-0500
October 11, 2009 - "It's Hard to be Humble" - Rev. Victoria Ney, posted on N-0400
October 4, 2009 - "Hunger Pangs" - Rev. Victoria Ney, posted on N-0400
"Read the Instructions!" - September 27 2009 - The Rev Vicky Ney, posted on N-0400
September 20 2009 - "Pass The Salt" - The Rev Victoria Ney, posted on N-0400
September 13 2009 - "Calendar Confusion" -The Rev. Victoria Ney, posted on N-0400
September 13 2009 - "Calendar Confusion" -The Rev. Victoria Ney, posted on N-0400
September 6 2009 - "Dangerous Jobs" - The Rev. Victoria Ney, posted on N-0400
May 31 2009 -"Spirit Guide for Dummies" - Rev. Vicky Ney, posted on N-0400
May 10 2009 - The Touch of the Master - Rev. Vicky Ney, posted on N-0400
May 3 2009 - "More Than Enough" - Rev. Vicky Ney, posted on N-0400
April 5 2009 - "Being A Christopher" - The Rev. Vicky Ney, posted on N-0400
March 29, 2009 “Lo-Cal Prayer” - The Rev. Vicky Ney, posted on N-0400
March 22, 2009 - “A Costly Bargain” - The Rev. Vicky Ney, posted on N-0400
February 1, 2009 - "Fourth and One" - The Rev. Vicky Ney, posted on N-0500
Januaray 25 2009 - Hooked! - Rev. Vicky Ney, posted on N-0500
December 14 2008 - How Can It Be? - Rev. Vicky Ney, posted on N-0500
December 7 2008 -Holidays or Hollow Days?- Rev. Ney, posted on N-0500
November 9, 2008 "You Want Me to Do What?"-Rev. Vicky Ney, posted on N-0500
"Water Marks" October 12, 2008 - The Rev. Vicky Ney, posted on N-0400
July 20,2008 "The Runaway" - Rev. Vicky Ney, posted on N-0400
"Dare to Be a Daniel" July 27, 2008- The Rev. Vicky Ney, posted on N-0400
July 13, 2008 - "Between a Rock and a Hard Place" - Rev. Vicky Ney, posted on N-0400
April 13 2008 "There's a Tiger in My Boat!" -The Rev. VickyNey, posted on N-0400
March 9, 2008 - "Running in Reverse" - The Rev. Vicky Ney, posted on N-0400
March 2, 2008 - "Meet Mrs. Zebedee" - The Rev. Vicky Ney, posted on N-0500
February 10 2008 - "Who, Me?" - The Rev. Vicky Ney, posted on N-0500
"That Sinking Feeling" - January 27 2008 - Rev. Ney, posted on N-0500
January 13, 2008 - "Who Are You Wearing?" - Rev. Ney, posted on N-0500
"Wise People" - January 6, 2008 - The Rev. Vicky Ney, posted on N-0500
Christmas 2007 Homily - The Rev. Vicky Ney, posted on N-0500
How Can I Be Sure? - Rev. Ney - December 02 2007, posted on N-0500
"Skipping Christmas" - Rev. Ney - November 25 2007, posted on N-0500
"Thanks and Living" November 18, 2008 - Rev. Ney, posted on N-0500
"Your Money or Your Life!, posted on N-0500
"Taking Goliath Down" October 7, 2007 - The Rev. Vicky Ney, posted on N-0400
"When the Ark Got Parked - Oct. 21, 2007 The Rev. Vicky Ney , posted on N-0400
"Looking for Godzilla" -Rev. Vicky Ney Sept. 30 2007, posted on N-0400
"Parked In Dopey" Sept 23 2007 The Rev. Vicky Ney, posted on N-0400
The Rock, The Roll, The Resurrection. Text: John 20:1-18, posted on N-0400
"Does God Go On Vacation?" - The Rev. Vicky Ney, posted on N-0400
"Perfect Freedom" - The Rev. Vicky Ney, posted on N-0400
"Talk Like a Pirate" -The Rev. Vicky Ney, posted on N-0400
"A Visit With Martha" - The Rev. Vicky Ney, posted on N-0400
"It All Depends on What You're Listening For", posted on N-0400
Sheep and the Shepherd , posted on N-0400
Following Jesus in a “Hokie” World, posted on N-0400
“A Bout with Doubt” , posted on N-0400
Carpe Diem , posted on N-0400
The Physics of Falling Toast, posted on N-0400

The Physics of Falling Toast

The Physics of Falling Toast Proverbs 3:1-6 March 4, 2007 Rev. Vicky Ney Has this ever happened to you? You’ve gone to a great deal of trouble to fix a wonderful breakfast, buttered a perfectly browned piece of bread, and then watched that masterpiece fall from the plate and land butter side down on the floor. If it had landed butter side up, you might have been able to brush it off and go on to eat that warm, wonderful breakfast. I can’t speak for anyone’s house but my own, but my kitchen floor has never been the type people refer to as “clean enough to eat on.” Crumbs, fuzz, dog hairs that were nearly invisible a few seconds earlier are now fully visible—stuck to the butter on that piece of toast. Totally ruined! Evidently many other people have noticed this phenomenon as well. According to an article in the NJ Star Ledger, writer Faye Flam reported that a British physicist, Robert Matthews, looked into this annoying occurrence. Dr. Matthews said he used to think toast would land butter-side up half the time—you know, an even split with butter side up half the time and butter side down half the time. Matthews thought that people were probably negative and tended to dwell on the times their toast fell face down and the butter picked up carpet lint. So he decided to test the idea experimentally. After sacrificing many pieces of toast and doing some aerodynamic calculations, Matthews demonstrated that bread does land butter side down more often. He even traced the reason for this phenomenon to the 4 basic laws of physics—2 atomic-scale forces, electromagnetism, and, of course, gravity. Dr. Matthews admitted, though, that his toast study was part of a more ambitious effort to test the so-called Murphy’s Law—you know—everything that can go wrong, will go wrong. This Murphy’s Law is really quite negative, but, unfortunately, it seems to apply to many circumstances. Over the years, I’ve heard many Christians use phrases like Murphy’s Law and apply them to the negative things happening in their lives. Phrases like: “I’m not a lucky person.” “Something always goes wrong.” “Things never turn out the way you want them to.” “Everything goes from bad to worse.” “Why is it every time I try to do the right thing, it turns out wrong?” It seems as though many people prefer to dwell on the negative in their lives. Or maybe even believe that luck has something to do with their lives in general. Of course, that would mean that there are impersonal forces that impact our lives for good or for evil. I know it can be easy to dwell on the negative parts of our lives when life gets difficult. Since Richard and I moved away from South Jersey some years ago, we found ourselves in a few difficult situations. Richard had worked as a utility executive for 20 years. He suddenly found himself in the middle of corporate chaos—deregulation, downsizing, reorganization—you name it—which forced us to move with 2 sons, 4 times in 8 years. While I was in seminary, my father became life-threateningly ill and was hospitalized the week of final exams. This past year, while I was in the middle of talking to the PNC and in the middle of a busy Christmas season, my mother had another stroke and we needed to make immediate decisions about her future care. I’ll be honest and tell you that at times, when life seemed like it was careening out of control, it was extremely difficult to focus on the positive. I know my family is certainly not alone in troublesome times in the recent past. How many of you faced problems such as serious illness, loss of a loved one, financial difficulties, broken relationships, any number of things? But even when it’s difficult, the task of Christians is to try to look for the good in situations, and to remember that God is still in control. The apostle Paul reminded the ancient Roman Christians of that very thing. They were having a terrible time, facing real hardship, persecution and death. But in chapter 8 in his letter to the Romans, Paul wrote these words to them—and to us: “All things work together for good for those who love God and are called according to God’s purpose.” Not – everything that can go wrong will. But - all things work together for good. For Christians, then, Murphy’s Law is the exact opposite of what we believe. As far as life is concerned for Christians, toast always falls butter side up—the right way—not the way that makes the bread dirty and useless. What we really need is confidence in God’s goodness and wisdom. God can work in all situations—not just isolated incidents—for our good. I certainly don’t believe that means that everything that happens to us is good. Many people go through difficult and sorrowful times. Jobs and relationships disappear. People get sick and die. Accidents happen. I think Jesus addressed those things in Matthew 7:24-27. Jesus said, “Whoever hears these sayings of mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man, who built his house upon a rock: And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the wind blew, and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on a rock. And evey one that hears these sayings of mine, and does not do them, shall be likened to a foolish man, who built his house on the sand: And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat on that house; and it fell and great was the fall of it.” I believe Jesus was saying that the storms of life hit everyone. The rains fall on the just and on the unjust. The winds blow on the good and the bad. Hardships hit those who walk with Jesus and those who do not. Floods surround us all at one time or another. Bad things DO happen to good people. What is different about Christians is that we are grounded on the rock—which is the promise of God. Christians find in Christ a firm foundation that enables them to survive the storms. When they are battered by life’s circumstances, Christians do not have to collapse. We can be like the house built on the rock. We can endure knowing that God is able to turn circumstances around for our long-range good. That’s where we come to the big “T” word—TRUST. Five letters. Easy word to spell. Hard thing to carry out. Even Bible heroes had problems trusting God—even someone like Moses. Now there was a guy who watched God free the Israelites from slavery, part the Red Sea, and destroy the Egyptians all at one time. And Moses still had trouble trusting God. In Numbers 22, scripture records that Moses questioned God about God’s ability to feed 600,000 men in the Israelite army. Do you know what God said to Moses? God asked, “Is the Lord’s arm too short?” I think the questions for us really are: “How strong do you think God is? And “What exactly is God’s success rate?” It is easier to trust God when we see God’s mighty and wonderful acts, but after awhile, in the routine of daily life, God’s strength may appear to diminish. God doesn’t change, but our view of God often does. The monotony of day-to-day living lulls us into forgetting how powerful God is. As Moses learned so long ago, God’s strength is always available. That strength, plus all of God’s actions on our behalf for our good, is there 100% of the time—a success rate of 100%--certainly not like the failure rate of falling buttered toast! I must say, I like the reliability of the “Laws of God’s physics” a lot better than the reliability of the statistics for falling toast! Back to those toast experiments for a moment. The British experiments made the toast flip in multiple somersaults. Dr. Matthews found that when he slipped toast off plates (which is what happens in most kitchens) the toast only had time to flip over once before landing butter side down on the floor. The gravitational torque caused the toast to flip over once, but there wasn’t enough time for it to flip back again. There wasn’t enough time to flip back again. Aren’t you glad you’re not buttered toast? When we’re in free fall—going the wrong direction—heading for a real mess—isn’t it great that God gives us the opportunity to flip back over again? Those long arms of God, that so easily hold us up, reach out to welcome us back if we’ve gone the wrong way. There is probably no more vivid description of God’s love and forgiveness than in Jesus’ parable of the Prodigal Son—which could just as easily have been called the “Parable of the Father’s Love.” You remember that story (in fact, I’ll be preaching on it in 2 weeks)—the story where the son was in a hurry to get his inheritance and then went off and squandered all of it. The father, though, watched and waited for the son to come to his senses. This father was dealing with a human being who had a mind and will of his own—certainly not an inanimate object like toast bread. Still, that father was ready to greet his son when he returned. God’s love is just like that—constant and patient and welcoming. Like the father in the story, God throws loving arms around us and calls us his child. This is the God we believe in: a parent who, from the beginning of creation, has stretched out arms in merciful blessings, never forcing himself on anyone, but always waiting; never letting his arms drop down in despair or frustration, but always hoping that His children will return, so that God can speak words of love to us and embrace us. Jesus' whole life and preaching had only one aim: To reveal this inexhaustible, unlimited Motherly and Fatherly love of God and to show the way for that love to guide every part of our daily lives. We will be reminded at the table this morning that that love had no limits—that Jesus was willing to die for us. Unlike buttered toast, we have time to flip our lives back out of sadness, cynicism, morbid speculations, and waves of depression. Unlike Murphy’s Law and the physics of falling toast, with Christ, our lives don’t rely on chance and luck. We rely on God. The writer of Proverbs pointed it out so long ago: “Do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways trust God.” And God will continue to direct your path—straight into God’s waiting, loving arms. Will you pray with me? We thank you for your promises to us. We thank you for the Lord Jesus who proved once and for all how much you love us. Remind us this morning, as we come to your table, that we can trust you with our lives and that you welcome us with open arms. It is in Jesus’ name that we pray. Amen.

N-0400 by Admin 0 comments

Warning: Division by zero in /mnt/w0206/d18/s20/b02a945f/www/news/inc/functions.inc.php on line 259