MICROCHIP FAITH: How
to develop a Positive Mental Attitude
(Rev. Dr. Fred Vergara. Sermon at St James Church, Elmhurst,
New York. 10/15/2013. Text: Luke 17:5-10)
Let me start with
something funny: Three men died and went to heaven. St Peter met them at the Pearly Gates and
gave them instruction. “Gentlemen, here in heaven you are free to do what you
want except one thing, do not step on a duck. Whatever you do, don’t ever step
on a duck.” Well, they discovered that there are many ducks in heaven and it
was very difficult not to step on one. They go quack, quack, quack and multiply
rapidly. So the first man stepped on a duck. “What did I tell you not to do;
Peter said, I told you not to step on a duck.” And with a click of his finger,
the man was chained to a very ugly woman, the ugliest woman he has ever seen in
his life. The second man was a bit careful but in one unguarded moment, he
stepped on a duck. Again Peter said, “Didn’t I warn you not to step on a duck?”
so in an instant, he was also chained to a very ugly woman he had ever seen in
his life. The third man was very careful; he has avoided stepping on a duck for
almost three years. But one day, all of a sudden, he found himself chained to a
very beautiful and gorgeous woman he had ever seen in his life. So he thanked
God and said, “What have I done to deserve such a beautiful reward?” The
beautiful and gorgeous lady said, “I don’t know what you have done; but for me,
I stepped on a duck!” (Note. this is a joke and too far removed from the biblical image of heaven. Fred)
Faith---our subject matter for today is faith. Jesus said in
this gospel, “If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this
mulberry tree, ‘be uprooted and planted in the sea’ and it will obey you” (Luke
17:6) The mustard seed is the smallest seed there is but when it is planted it becomes
big tree where the birds can rest and build their nests.
Jesus was speaking to the Jews in the 1st century
Palestine and so his imagery is agricultural. He was explaining the power of
faith. But if He were preaching in the 21st century America, his
imagery will change. Maybe he would look at one of the smallest element in the
computer age, which is the microchip. The microchip is essential to the working
of an electronic devise for it carries many integrated circuits. It is a very
tiny element on a semiconductor plate (like silicon) but it has potential power
in infinitesimal degree. So if he were speaking to his disciples in Silicon
Valley (Santa Clara County, California), Jesus would be saying, “if you have
faith as small as a microchip, you can say to this rocket ship in NASA, ‘fly me
to the moon and let me play among the stars’---and it will be done for you.”
Faith is a gift or a virtue so essential to our lives. As
St. Paul said in 1st Corinthians 13, faith is one of these three
gifts (along with hope and love) that will remain. Faith is the opposite of
fear; it is the opposite of doubt; the opposite of indecision. As people of
God, we are called to live by faith, meaning to live with boldness and courage
and even risk. As people of God, we are called to increase our faith, to use
our faith, to develop our faith. How do
we develop our faith?
1.
First
step to develop your faith is to change your thinking. The Bible says, “Do
not be conformed to the values of the world but be transformed by the renewal
of your minds.” It means that in life,
we must always have a positive mental attitude. Whatever is true, whatever is
good, whatever is excellent, whatever is worthy of praise, these are the things
that we must always think. Push out negative thoughts, pull in positive
thoughts. Do not fill your mind with worries and fears but it with faith, hope
and love. Someone said that you will know you are a pessimist or an optimist by
simply looking at the doughnut. If your eyes always focus on the hole of the
doughnut, then you are a pessimist. You will always find problems to worry
about, you will always find people who are difficult to deal with, and you will
always find something to be fearful about. And so you will not try because you
are afraid to fail, you will not risk because you always see danger. Even before you do something, you already
failed because your mind says, “I can’t do it” even before you try. So renew
your mind; ask God to give you a faith even as small as a microchip. Be not
afraid. Failure is success turned inside out. If at first you don’t succeed,
try and try again. Failure is never final. You are defined not on how you fall
but on how you stand up after every fall.
2.
The
second step to develop faith is to change your words. Words have power. Two ladies were
diagnosed with advanced stage of breast cancer and both were given prognoses to
live for three months. The first one said, “I am going to die” and she died
after three weeks; the other one said, “I am going to live forever.” She did
not live forever, because she is not immortal but her words have given her the
inner strength to cooperate with the healing process and so she went into
remission and got healed.
When I was in school, we had a classmate
who had a sickness called hypochondria or hypochondriasis. An individual
suffering from hypochondriasis is known as a hypochondriac.
Hypochondriacs become unduly alarmed about any physical symptoms they detect,
no matter how minor the symptom may be. They are convinced that they have or
are about to be diagnosed with a serious illness. So when someone tells him,
“Oh you look sick,” and then he will get sick. One time I saw a rash on his
skin and I pointed it to him and he got so upset that he might get cancer of
the skin, and we went to the doctor. Our
school physician who already knew his sickness, just gave him an injection of
distilled water (I think), and said, “You’re OK now” and then he got well
immediately.
So words have power. One of our songs says,
“Give thanks with a grateful heart. Give thanks to the Holy One. Give thanks
because He’s given Jesus Christ, His Son…And now let the weak say I am strong,
let the poor say I am rich, because of what the Lord has done for us. Give
thanks.” So let your words speak peace, speak healing, speak joy, speak beauty,
speak inspiration, speak encouragement, speak life. I like the words from
Proverbs 25:11 “Words aptly spoken are like apples of gold in a setting of
silver.”
3. The third and final step to develop faith
is to change your attitude. The
great Winston Churchill once said that “attitude is a little thing that makes a
big difference.” Ronald Dahl also wrote, which I paraphrase:
“If
a person has ugly attitude, it begins to show on the face. And when that person
has ugly attitude every day, every week, every year, the face gets uglier and
uglier until it gets so ugly you can hardly bear to look at it. A person who
has good attitude cannot ever be ugly. You can have a wonky nose and a crooked
mouth and a double chin and stick-out teeth, but if you have good attitude they
will shine out of your face like sunbeams and you will always look lovely.” Now, would you prefer to be ugly or lovely? The choice is yours.
My
favorite ice-skater, Scott Hamilton has suffered testicular cancer, pituitary
gland cancer, and brain aneurysm and survived them all. As a result of these
many trials, he lost a full vision of his right eye and was reckoned be
disabled. Yet this is what he said:” the only disability in life is a bad
attitude.” One of his best friends, Brad Paisley said, “Scott is a hero to me in
the way he handles adversity and his positive outlook in life, no matter the
circumstances.”
Conclusion
The moral of the
story of faith is “change your attitude and you will change yourself and you
will change the world.” Here at St.
James, we are engaged in changing things. We are engage in changing the future
of this church. Once it was in decline and now we are being revived; we are
experiencing a revival because we are changing our thoughts, our words and our
attitudes.
Our goal for 2014 is to have 300 Sunday attendance and 150 pledging
units. I tested this vision among some members. One adult said to me, “Father
Fred, from 25 to 300? That is very ambitious!” I asked one youth, and she said,
“Father Fred; that’s ambitious but not very ambitious.” I think I will talk
with more young people. Anyway, I am gauging the faith-level of the
congregation and I’m glad that none said the negative seven last works: “We’ve
never done it that way before.” Yes, when
I arrived last April this year, the average attendance was 25 but today we
already have 90 or so. Nothing is
impossible with faith. Let us have it, even as small as a microchip. Amen.
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