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

"Water Marks" October 12, 2008 - The Rev. Vicky Ney

October 12, 2008 “Water Marks” Rev. Vicky Ney Text: Romans 8:1-11 We live in a time when people make up all kinds of names for conditions and maladies. There are a lot of folks, including me, who think some of these syndromes and conditions are perhaps just excuses for bad behavior—ways of not taking responsibility for our actions. So, having said that, I want you to know that I think I am afflicted with one of these hypothetical “syndromes.” I call it “Only Child Syndrome.” I got this affliction as a child. (And no this is not “Spoiled Child Syndrome”—that’s an entirely different affliction—that I do not have!) You see, “Only Child Syndrome” comes from being the one and only child living in a house with all adults. There were three adults in my house as I grew up—my mother, father and grandmother. This is how the syndrome came upon me—whenever anything “untoward” happened, the question would inevitably be asked: “Who did this?” And simultaneously all three adult heads would turn in my direction. Whereupon I would immediately feel driven to say emphatically, “I didn’t do it.” The truth is, sometimes I did, but a lot of times I was actually NOT the culprit! But no matter what, I always immediately said, “I didn’t do it!” And to this day, no matter where I am, no matter what I’m doing, no matter what the context, if I hear the question: “Who did this?” my immediate response is: “I didn’t do it.” That, I believe, is “Only Child Syndrome!” Believe it or not, that whole little introduction about my persecution complex brings me to the title of today’s sermon—Water Marks. Anyone who has wood furniture or floors, that are not laminated or polyurethaned, knows you never want to have water on wood for any length of time. It leaves a mark. I can remember my first experience with this phenomenon. One time, when I was about eight years old, I had a glass of soda with ice in it. Without thinking, I put it on one of the old wooden tables at my parents’ house, walked away, and forgot about it. One of the adults in the house found it, picked it up, and there it was: a water mark—a circle with the exact dimensions of my glass! Of course THE question was asked: “Who did this?” My only child syndrome led me to say, “I didn’t do it”—but this was one of those occasions when, of course, I did, and so I confessed to my crime. I remember getting a long lecture about the difficulty of EVER removing a water mark from a lovely wooden table. There are other types of water marks that come to mind. I remember watching a news show on TV after a flood in the Mid-West last year. By the time the news crew was doing this story, the water from the river had receded. But a water mark, that was nearly waist high, was clearly visible on the inside wall of someone’s house. I remember similar pictures from Hurricane Katrina and other disasters, where the water marks were even higher. Being from the shore area, I’ve seen hundreds of water marks on the pilings of piers. Every day at low tide, the water mark of the high tide is on the piling. It’s actually not a pretty mark. It looks dirty and green and sometimes moldy. People we know are building a dock on their property and they chose yellow pilings. (Don’t ask! They wanted to match the siding on their house!). The dock is not even finished yet, but the pilings already look dirty and ugly. Water itself is so good. My goodness, we need water to survive. Scientists tell us that about 3/4 of our body weight is made up of water. Seventy percent of the earth’s surface is water. It’s an important part of our life and the life of the whole planet. Water is good, and yet, water marks don’t seem to be good things at all. Unless, of course, we’re thinking of the water of baptism and the wonderful mark it leaves on us. That’s what the Apostle Paul was talking about in the scripture passage this morning. In fact, he is telling us that the water of baptism is supposed to leave a mark on us—a life changing mark on us. This is God’s gift to us. Let me tell you what I mean. First of all, Baptism is one of only two sacraments of Reformed churches such as the Presbyterian Church. The word sacrament itself means “something holy.” And we have only two sacraments—Baptism and the Lord’s Supper. One of the favorite phrases to explain a sacrament is that “it is an outward sign of an inward grace.” In other words, we do something we all can see, that signifies something that happens to us on the inside, something that only God can initiate. During his Baptism this morning, we believe that little Karon received the gift of the Holy Spirit and that he was marked by the water of baptism as a member of God’s family forever. In fact, he added a new last name to his name. He added “Christian” to his name—Karon Williams Christian. As Baptized believers, we all have that same last name—Vicky Ney Christian, Margaret Smith Christian. We’ve all been adopted into God’s family—so that we are all brothers and sisters through Christ. And the best part is, we can never be unadopted. Nothing in this life or the next will be able to separate us from God’s love in Christ Jesus. (Romans 8:39) Perhaps you noticed that I put water on Karon’s little head in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Then I placed the sign of the cross on his forehead and said, “You have been sealed by the Holy Spirit and marked as Christ’s own forever.” That is such a wonderful promise; it almost brings tears to my eyes every time I get to say it. When my son Michael was confirmed, the minister teaching the confirmation class tried to explain Baptism to the class. He explained it by saying that the sign of the cross placed on your forehead at baptism was an indelible mark that could never come off. One of the other boys in the class said he couldn’t see it—it must have washed off! Roger, the pastor, answered that it was like a stamp that gets put on your hand when you enter an amusement park. You usually can’t see it with your own eyes. But if you put your hand under a special light, it shows up very clearly. Roger said that’s it’s the same for us as baptized Christians. God shines his special light on us and sees the indelible mark that says we belong to him forever. WE ARE HIS. There are some parts of the Scripture passage I read this morning that don’t make a lot of sense in our context when we baptize babies. The Scripture talks about being dead to sin, being buried with Christ and rising to a new life. Well, goodness, little Karon is living a new life. He’s brand new—just born last July. And what sins could he have committed in only 3 months? Did he keep his mom and dad awake a couple of nights? That’s not a sin! He was telling them the only way he knew how that he needed something. But you see, St. Paul was speaking to churches who usually baptized adults. And those adults were fully immersed in water—dunked, so to speak. The idea was that while they were under the water, it was like being buried. And when they were pulled up, they were rising to new life—a new life in Christ. Paul said the same things in some of his other letters to other churches. To the Corinthians, he said, “Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things are passed away; behold, a new life has begun.” (2 Corinthians. 5:17). To the Christian Church at Galatia, he wrote, “For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.” (Galatians. 3:27) You see, our Baptism is not one time, that’s it, done experience. It’s a gift that we are to continue to utilize. We put on the compassion, love, kindness, concern, goodness of Christ. And we’re supposed to watch for opportunities to use Jesus’ example every day of our lives. There’s a story that Evangelist Tony Campolo tells of an old guy in the backwoods of Kentucky who could be counted on to show up at just about every revival meeting whenever an evangelist came to town. At the end of each service when the invitation was given, he would come down the aisle, get down on his knees, raise his arms to heaven and cry out, “Fill me, Jesus! Fill me! Fill me, Jesus!” Then, within a matter of a week or two, he would slip back into his old ways of living. But when the next round of revival meetings was held, he would once again go to the meetings, walk down the aisle, and say the same prayer again and again. One time, when he was down on his knees yelling to the ceiling, “Fill me! Fill me, Jesus!” a voice suddenly came from the back of the church. Some lady yelled, “Don’t do it, Lord! He leaks!’’ Well, in certain negative ways, I guess we all leak! We all forget, at times, that we are filled with God’s Spirit—that it has been sealed in us. In order to “stop the leak” we sometimes we need to recharge our spiritual batteries. We can do that by praying, our reading our Bible, or by attending Bible Studies (that’s a commercial for our Bible Study this Wednesday!). We do those things in order to have a closer walk with God. But maybe we ought to think of “leaking” in a positive way. Letting God’s Spirit- led love and compassion “leak” out of us on others—letting some of our Baptismal water splatter on people around us. The truth may be that we’re scared—too afraid to let our baptism leak out into the world for others to see. We may be embarrassed to let others see that we are disciples of Jesus Christ. Well, God has a word for ordinary people like us. It’s an ancient promise that he gave to struggling people—and gives to us today. God said, “When you pass through the waters, I will be with you. And the rivers will not overwhelm you. Fear not, for I am with you. You are precious in my eyes and honored, and I love you.” (Is 43:1-4) Fear not in your every day life. Fear not if you go against the grain of our culture today. Fear not as you give to others. Fear not when you are called upon to serve God. You don’t have to be a Mother Theresa or a Martin Luther King, Jr., or a Billy Graham. You don’t have to be a clergy person or a member of a church board. But be assured that God has something special for you to do. You have been marked as God’s own for the benefit of others. Your baptism was a commissioning to service—to do some ministry of love wherever you are now. In other words, if you are a baptized Christian, you have been drafted. Consider yourself conscripted into the most high-powered special forces the world will ever know. Whether or not you choose to show up for active duty is totally your decision. But ready or not, God HAS called you by name! So splash around your Baptism water. Make a water mark—and see if it doesn’t change the world. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Tony Campolo, Let Me Tell You a Story, Word Publishing.

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