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

"Looking for Godzilla" -Rev. Vicky Ney Sept. 30 2007

September 30, 2007 “Looking for Godzilla” The Rev. Vicky Ney Text: I Samuel 16:1-13 Someone once said, “You are what you eat.” There is a certain amount of truth to that. Our bodies are assembled from the nutrients we consume. Good, healthy food helps our bodies grow, renews us, and strengthens us. This is not a new idea, but it differs a little from what our ancient ancestors believed long ago. There are stories and myths of ancient peoples who believed that to have the strength of a bear, one needed to eat bear meat. To run swiftly, one ate deer. I never did hear, however, that if you wanted to swim better, you ate fish. But, oh well, I guess it didn’t work for everything! This idea that certain foods give people almost magical powers, was popularized some time ago in cartoons by a chuckling, romantic sailor named Popeye. You remember—“I’m strong to the finish, ‘cause I eats me spinach, I’m Popeye, the sailor man. Toot, toot!” In those old cartoons, Popeye often gulped down an entire can of spinach, sometimes practically inhaled it through his pipe, and swallowed it without chewing, This caused a humungous lump to travel down his throat, that went miraculously straight to his “mus-kuls,” which looked like andirons, or army tanks, or steaming locomotives. Newly empowered, he’d defeat and beat up Bluto (or later Brutus) to rescue lovable Olive Oyl from that big, nasty thug. Yes, I did watch those cartoons. Popeye’s love for spinach, though, did not encourage me to like spinach—nor did it do anything for the taste buds of other children either. Mothers continued to say, “Eat your spinach. It’s good for you (which it is). It will make you strong like Popeye (which it never did.) Now a new version of this muscle food is showing up in Japan. Godzilla, Japan’s best-known exported monster, came to food store shelves a couple of years ago in a tin can—processed and ready to eat. Really. “Godzilla Meat” is actually 3.5 ounces of corned beef packaged by the Tokyo toy maker Takara Company. It’s packaged with a picture of the stomping, fire-breathing monster.950’s. The idea now is that you can eat Godzilla meat and become energetic and powerful. Unfortunately, just like the kids of 40 or 50 years ago who learned that Popeye’s spinach was a myth, a new generation is finding this out about the Godzilla meat. We all soon discover that what’s on the outside doesn’t always show up on the inside. And that old adage is true—you can’t judge a book by its cover. Thousands of years ago, Samuel—judge, prophet, head guy in ancient Israel, the person we read about in our scripture passage this morning—also found that out. He thought he knew all the signs of strength of character and leadership ability just by looking. He thought he could discern the power of a man by taking the measure of his biceps, triceps and abs. Let me tell you how that day came about. First of all, years before this, Israel wanted a king. They had been kind of a loose federation of 12 tribes—rather like states—who really only united together when there was a common enemy that needed to be fought. God told them they didn’t need a king—that God was their king—and he would provide them with everything they needed through judges—or prophets—God appointed. This was not good. The people complained. They said that when their neighbors asked if they had a king, they had to say, “Yes,” but that he was invisible. And then their neighbors laughed at them. They wanted a human king—someone they could see. They wanted to be like everyone else—like other nations. So God relented and Samuel was told to anoint Saul to be the first king of Israel. Saul was a great looking guy—tall—head and shoulders above the average person. He looked like a king. He was someone they all thought they could look up to—literally and figuratively—someone they all could be proud to show off. He was perfect. Well, not quite. It didn’t take long for Saul to mess things up. He stopped seeking God’s direction and began taking things into his own hands. BIG MISTAKE. So God needed to choose a replacement. That’s where our story begins today. We’re told that God spoke to Samuel and told him to go to the house of Jesse in Bethlehem. Notice the name of the town—Bethlehem, a small town in the smallest tribe. But it’s the same place where Jesus was born about a thousand years later. That’s because Jesus is from the family of David—one of his ancestors. I can imagine that Samuel was rather nervous about this assignment. What if Saul finds out Samuel is out looking for a new king. What if Saul tries to kill Samuel? So God tells Samuel to make up a story about a sacrifice so that he can get into town and look at Jesse’s family. When Samuel sees Jesse’s family, his spirits start to rise. These sons of Jesse looked like leadership material to Samuel. Huge hunks, macho men who could’ve stepped into the WWF ring any day of the week. They were manly men, men’s men. They killed wild animals. They signed up for special army duty. Strong. Type-A personalities. Assertive. Aggressive. Surely any one of them would make a great leader. You see, Samuel was thinking just like we do. We like to judge inner character by outward appearance. The labels on clothes, the name plates on cars, the houses, the bank accounts, the degrees on the walls, the looks—all the things we and our culture take, or mistake, to indicate inner character. Samuel is sure the first boy that was presented, Eliab, was the one. But God said, “Don’t look at his appearance or his height because I’ve rejected him.” You can’t give him spinach or Godzilla meat and make him into something he is not. God says, “I don’t see as mortals see. You look on the outward appearance, but I look on the heart.” One by one, Jesse presented his other six sons. Somehow God communicates the same message to Samuel about every one. I can only imagine Samuel’s confusion when the last boy was presented and God still said “no”. Samuel turns to Jesse and says, “Is this all? Do you have any more sons?” Well, there was one more, but he was out in the fields taking care of the sheep. Notice that Jesse hadn’t even thought to bring him in. He certainly wasn’t king material in his dad or brothers’ estimations. David was the sissy of the bunch. He was singing songs, writing poetry and playing with the lambs. Besides, he was just a kid. Jesse had this eighth son relegated to do the kind of work where he couldn’t mess anything up or get in the way—tending sheep in the back forty. You see, David’s God-zilla strength lay somewhere else. He was someone who looked weak to the world, but was strong in the eyes of God. You know, it seems as though God is always choosing the foolish and the weak things of the world to confound the wise (I Corinthians 1:27-28). God chose a boy to do a man’s job, but a boy who had spiritual strength. If you study Scripture, you’ll start to detect the pattern. First it was Moses, a man who stuttered. God picked him as spokesperson to Pharaoh. Later the prophet Jonah ran in the opposite direction. God caught him, and then sent him to save Ninevah anyway. Sarah couldn’t have children. God made her the mother of a nation. Jeremiah was speechless. God made him a prophet. Matthew was a social outcast. God made him a writer and apostle. A little boy had only two loaves and five fish. God fed a multitude. Peter was a fisherman. God made him a great evangelist. Paul was a terrorist. God made him a theologian. Jesus appeared to be just a man. God made him our salvation. We just don’t see as God sees. Our criteria for making choices is quite different from God’s. God has a whole different set of guidelines for making a choice. People tend to make decisions based on the outward and the obvious, God always looks deeper. Talents, good looks, or high I.Qs. do not impress God. God’s choice has more substance than that. God’s choice is based on who and what a person is, not how they appear. Here is one other interesting thought. God doesn’t so much look at what we are doing as how we are doing it. God chooses certain people for certain tasks because God values their will, not their ability. God isn’t interested in how much we can accomplish; what God is most interested in is whether we’re willing to do whatever it takes to serve him. If you remember, when it was time to bring David forward to see Samuel, David’s family needed to send for him out in the fields. But they knew exactly where he was and what he was doing—faithfulness, dependability, commitment—all on the inside of David. Basically God says, “I have been watching Jesse’s sons. I’ve been observing them and learning the way they think and the way they act, and who they are when no one is watching, and I have selected the youngest one, David, to represent me. I’ve selected David because I can see his heart. The good news here is that God sees possibilities when others do not because we confuse appearance with reality. We serve a God who sees possibility in us when everyone around us tells us we can’t! As David was in the fields tending the sheep I’m sure he had no idea what his future would bring. That reality is the same for us: We have no crystal ball to know the future. The whole story of David, I believe, points to the truth that God has a plan for our lives no matter who we are—no matter how old we are—no matter what kind of education we have—no matter what has happened in the past—no matter what our problems are—and no matter what other people say about us! Someone once said, “God is attracted to weakness. The genius is that God works through us. Jesus could have chosen 20 rabbis to do his work. Instead, he chose fishermen, tax collectors—all people without formal training—ordinary people. Can you think of a more unlikely group?” No. And most church congregations have a very “ordinary” appearance to them. Some people may have said in the past that we are an “unlikely” church. That’s precisely why we’re dangerous—in a good sense! We’re the Davids God is looking for! It is not people who know the most, who have the most, who’ve been educated the most—but people who love the most, who will change the world. The strength to achieve what God wants isn’t within us; it comes from God. David knew this. He must have been thinking about that when he wrote Psalm 121. The first verse says, “I will lift up my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come? My help comes from the Lord.” There’s a copy of this Psalm on a small card in your bulletin today. Take it with you as a reminder of what God can and will do through you, if you will place yourself in God’s hands.

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