June 1, 2008 - "Life as a House"

Crescent Hill Baptist Church
Louisville, Kentucky
Pentecost 3
June 1, 2008
W. Gregory Pope

LIFE AS A HOUSE
Genesis 6:9-22; 7:24; 8:14-19; Psalm 46; Matthew 7:21-29

In the movie “Life As a House,” Kevin Kline plays George, a divorced and dying father in his mid-forties trying to rebuild his relationship with his son by tearing down his own old shack of a house and together building a new one.

As they build together and grow closer, they adjust to living in the garage of the house, the open bathroom ten feet from the kitchen, sleeping in quarters too close for comfort. By the time the house is complete, the ex-wife and a few of the neighbors have pitched in to help.

When the house is built and his relationship with his son repaired, he offers this reflection:

I always thought of myself as a house. I was always what I lived in. It didn’t need to be big. It didn’t even need to be beautiful. It just needed to be mine. I became what I was meant to be. I built myself a life. I built myself a house.


Your Life as a House

Think for a moment about your life as a house in which you live. We all of us have to some degree built ourselves a life.

What kind of house is it?
Is it a run-down shack needing to be torn down and reconstructed?
Is the foundation strong but the walls a little shaky?
How bad is the stench?
Are there any wide open spaces in which to spread your wings and grow?
Do you feel at home within your own life?
Is the house that is your life becoming what it was meant to be?

We are all of us going to come to the end of our lives, and unless death strikes suddenly, we will be given the opportunity to reflect. We will, each of us, have built ourselves a house we call our life. What kind of house will it be?

In the Gospel lesson for today, Jesus uses the image of a house when he talks about a strong life. He talks about building your house upon a strong foundation, on rock rather than sand, so that when the floods and storms come, the house that is your life will not fall.

What is the difference between a strong house built on rock that will not fall and a weak house built on sand that crumbles? The difference, Jesus said, is the difference between acting and not acting upon his teachings. We can spend our lives and raise our kids in church, but if we do not embody the teachings of Jesus we learn here, our lives and families will be none the stronger for it.

The finest capsule we have of Jesus’ teaching is in the portion of Matthew’s gospel from which today’s text was read. The words of Jesus we’ve read today come at the conclusion of what we call the Sermon on the Mount, a gathering of Jesus’ teachings that, Jesus said, if we act upon them, the house that is our life will grow strong and stand strong when the floods and storms come.

How do we build such a life? As we read through the Sermon on the Mount Jesus talks about the building materials of:


hungering and thirsting after righteousness
living lives of mercy
being peacemakers
reconciling with those who have something against us
controlling our emotions, our thoughts, and our bodies
being faithful in marriage
speaking truth, letting our yes be yes and our no be no
refusing to retaliate
loving our enemies and praying for them
giving more than is asked of us
giving without others knowing
looking upon others without judgment, concerned first with removing the sin in our own lives
praying not as a public spectacle but as a spiritual practice moving us toward transformation
seeking and praying for the kingdom of God to be real here and now on earth as it is in heaven
fasting not to seen by others
but to draw near to God as our life’s bread and living water
storing up kingdom treasures not the ones that rust and decay
trusting our lives into God’s good care

That Jesus says is how you build a strong life.


The Home Within Our House

It is the life we seek to embody and teach in the home within our house.

God told the people of Israel:


You shall put these words of mine in your heart and soul . . . [and] teach them to your children, talking about them when you are at home and when you are away, when you lie down and when you rise. Write them on the doorposts of your house. (Deut 11:18-20)

In the home within our house, what are we teaching our children by the way that we live and the things that we say? Get a good education, work hard, be independent, take care of your family? Those are all good qualities to have, but Jesus didn’t teach any of that. Those things were not of primary concern to Jesus.

He was more concerned with the heart and character of a person, characterized mostly by prayer and generosity, faith and mercy, love and forgiveness, peacemaking and reconciliation.

One of my favorite parts of being a pastor is participating in the dedication of babies. It’s one of the few things that makes almost everyone in the congregation smile. (That and a short sermon). And we smile because of a baby’s innocent beauty. Perhaps more than anything else, babies help us believe in the miraculous. They are symbols of hope that the world will go on. And if the church does its job, who knows what a child may grow up to be.

Baby dedications are one of the most joyous and serious things we do as parents and as a congregation. As a Christian parent we are saying not only have we chosen to walk in the way of Jesus but we are promising to raise our children in the way of Jesus. And we are acknowledging that we need the help of the congregation to do so.

As a congregation we are saying we will seek to make of the church not just a place for our own spiritual growth, but we will make of this place a true spiritual home for children. By prayer, word, and example, and by the giving of ourselves and our resources in the nursery and in ministries for children and youth, we will help parents raise their children in the way of Jesus.

The father in the movie I spoke of earlier, upon realizing his time was brief, began to rethink his relationship with his family, particularly his son, and what kind of life he had built for him.

What kind of life have you and I built for our children? What kind of house do we live in? How strong is its foundation? Is the brick and wood held together by Jesus’ teaching?

It’s important because storms and floods are going to come.


The Ark of Safety: Home and Church

Noah was told that a flood was coming. He was also told how to keep his family safe. So he reoriented his life around the words of God and built an ark of refuge. And when the floods came, they survived.

The ark is a symbol of safety in the midst of life’s storms. It can symbolize the home when the outside world is threatening. It can symbolize the church, our family of faith, when home life is difficult and the walls of our houses are shaky.


God As Refuge and Strength

And from time to time, home life is difficult for us all and the walls of our houses are shaky. Just like the recent storms across the American Midwest and China and Burma have destroyed houses, crises come into every life that threaten our foundations. Physical houses may crumble in the face of tornadoes and earthquakes and cyclones. It can also be true about the house that is our life?

The house that is our life, for us all, they are not perfect. All of them are in need of some repair. All of our houses need help. They are not and never will be perfect places. From the outside some of them may look that way, but they are not. There are cracks in the ceiling. The plumbing needs to be fixed. Termites are doing secret damage. All of us need help.

So when our houses and families and churches show cracks and perhaps even fall in, we remember the words of the psalmist: God is our refuge and strength; a very present help in time of need. Therefore we will not fear. God is our rock and our fortress. We can be strong and let our hearts take courage. The Lord is with us as parents and builders of houses and homes and lives.

The psalmist says, “God makes wars to cease.” If we will listen and heed God’s words, wars can cease between nations and enemies and friends, between parent and child, husband and wife, in-laws and out-laws. God can make the wars to cease inside your own house, even within your own skin, offering the word and way of grace and reconciliation.


What Kind of House Will Your Life Be?

We are all of us going to come to the end of our lives, and unless death strikes suddenly, we will be given the opportunity to reflect. We will have built ourselves a house we call our lives. What kind of house will it be? Will we have become what we were meant to be?

You can start today, you know, rebuilding and repairing, word of Jesus by word of Jesus - praying, giving, loving, forgiving. And the good news is, you don’t have to do it alone. There’s an ark full of people called the church and we’re here to help each other build and rebuild a life. And keeping the ark afloat in the midst of floods and storms is the God who is our refuge and strength. And from time to time you can look up and see a rainbow and be reminded of God’s covenant promise: You are not alone. You are not alone.

I invite you now into the silence to reflect upon the house that is your life. May you meet God in the silence and begin the process of whatever repair and renovation is needed. And then allow the words of “The Prayer” to be a prayer of safety and help for your life, for your family, for us all. Let us enter into the silence of God’s transforming grace.