Creekside Church Sermon of December 28, 2003 "Yesterday, Tomorrow, Today" I Samuel 2:18-26	Ginny Haney
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I have here a list of events that have happened over the years on December 28. What makes these events special enough to get on this list, I'm not sure. I can understand a 6.8 earthquake in Japan in 1828 that killed 30,000 people making the list. I can understand Spain recognizing Mexico's independence in 1836 and Iowa becoming a state in 1846. But why would we want to remember that in 1969 Dallas Cowboy kicker Mike Clark, attempting an on-side kick against Cleveland, missed the ball or that in 1976 Genie Francis joined "General Hospital" as Laura Vining (Now that one means something to me because I watched General Hospital for years. I probably even watched that very episode.) What causes things to make an impact important enough to be remembered? As I think about it, I have easily remembered the very good and the very bad and not so much of the in between.

How many of you remember the old song by the Beatles, "Yesterday - all my troubles seemed so far away, now it looks as though they're here to stay, oh I believe in yesterday." Nice song: very popular in its time. But what would happen if we lived the way the song said and only believed in yesterday? Do you ever dwell on something that took place in the past that you wish you could either go back to, or change altogether?

Last Spring, when I was taking a class, I spent every spare moment, and then some, studying. Every lunch hour was accompanied with a side of reading. When the class was over, I felt lost with all the "spare" time I had. Playing around on the internet one day, I found some Solitaire Card Games you could try for free for 30 days. My favorite was "Fred's Spider." I got pretty good at it. One of the features of the game was the fact that you could hit the back button and undo the play you just made. It made the game a lot easier. As the 30 day trial period came near, I kept getting messages that said it was time to buy the game. I didn't really want to, so I just kept playing.

About the time the message said, "This is day 35 of your 30 day free trial," something interesting happened. I went to undo a play, and a message popped up that said, "this feature has been disabled. Please purchase full version." The first time that happened, I was stunned. It changed the whole dynamics of the game! Suddenly, I had to be more careful about what plays I made, because I couldn't undo them. Life is like that! Much as we would like, we don't have a back button to hit. Every play we make is for keeps and we can't go back.

We hang on to a lot of things from our past for the sake of nostalgia. Our attics and garages and sheds are full of stuff we can't bear to part with because it reminds us a yesterday we wish we could have back. And if that's not enough, people make the rounds of garage sales and collect things that are somebody else's yesterdays. The yesterdays get all blended together and someday, these items will be passed on to somebody else to become part of their yesterdays.

I ran across a website from the Smithsonian Institute titled "Yesterdays Tomorrows." The subtitle was "Past Visions of the American Future." It was representations of what we thought today would be like, yesterday. (Sounds a lot like "Who's on First" to me. But just wait - it will get worse) We can anticipate all we want about the future, but, when it gets here, we find ourselves longing for the past. It's not that we should forget about our yesterdays - they are part of our history. It's just that we shouldn't spend so much time longing for them that we lose sight of our todays and our tomorrows.

Hannah didn't look back. She sewed up Samuel's little robes; I get this picture of her sewing his name on the inside, and sent him off to Eli. She got to see him once a year. Hannah was so grateful for the birth of her son that she didn't even think twice about going back on her promise to God. The part we didn't read was that Hannah had other children. God rewarded her for her faithfulness and gave her more children to fill the void left by Samuel, the one she had prayed for. And the result was that Samuel grew up in favor with the Lord and with men.

While we can't always really know what happened in the past, the important thing is the effect of yesterday on today. How does what we know about yesterday affect our decisions and our actions? We can all only hope that our yesterdays are filled with whatever we need to help us grow, in favor with God and with others. There's this nifty new product called "Magic Eraser." It works great. Removes all kinds of marks I never thought would come off. Too bad we can't use it on our past. It is impossible to put a word back in your mouth after it comes out. You can't put the peel back on the banana. You can't put the spilled milk back in the carton. You can't put the baby back in the womb. And you can't hit the back button! You can't undo what you have already done. But the good news is - we do have a Magic Eraser. It's called grace. Whatever words we wish we had never said - gone. Whatever it is about our yesterdays that we don't like - gone. Whatever we wish we could erase from our past - gone. Like the Eskimo Proverb printed in your bulletin says - yesterday is ashes.

"Tomorrow"
Luke 2:41-52

After listening to this passage from Luke, does it seem to you like we barely have the manger scene packed up and put away till next year, and we have fast forwarded to the childhood of Jesus and the next thing we know, it's Lent and Easter time is upon us. We tend to cram the thirty-three years of Jesus' life into one, tidy, neat little schedule on a calendar that runs from Advent through Lent. I realize, those yesterdays have to be taken out of the perspective of the past in order for them to be meaningful to us. But we seem so anxious to move on to the next part of the story. How much do we miss by pushing ahead to tomorrow?

Tomorrow at this time, I will be on a plane - to somewhere. This is the "Gift Certificate" that I gave my husband for Christmas this year. It says the gift certificate entitles Steve Haney
"To a relaxing, romantic, New Year's get-away with his wife. Bearer should be prepared to leave at 3:45 a.m. on Monday, December 29 and return at approximately 8:30 p.m. on Thursday, January 1, 2004. Pack lightly for temperatures from 30 degrees to 65 degrees. Bring Photo ID. Interrogation will void this offer."
At the bottom, it says:

"Not redeemable for cash. Redemption value not to exceed $00.00 Non-refundable, non-returnable. One size fits two."

It also has a picture of an airplane and a kind of beachy looking scene. He still has no idea where we are going. I have never done anything like this before, but it has been the most fun I have ever had giving a gift.

At first, he said, "This isn't going to work." Even though his workplace is shut down next week, he volunteered to work on Monday. When I replied, "Oh, yes it is," he simply replied, "OK." He has been trying to trick me into telling him where we are going. He says stuff like, "When we get home from, where is it we're going?" and "Will I need to take my bathing suit where we are going?" or "Do I need to leave my pocket knife at home wherever we are going?" Each time I respond to a question that gives him another clue, I see a look on his face that says, "Aha! One more clue. Maybe I'll figure this out yet." Other people that know where we are going have played along with me and it has turned into a big game - stringing him a long and making speculations about the trip.

But I have seen a change in his whole demeanor. I did this partly because he got bumped to second shift and has been very down about it. I did it because our usual trip to Florida for my niece's birthday in January got shortened from a week to a weekend because of a class I am taking at Bethany Seminary. I did it because he works very long hours and deserves it! And the anticipation and excitement of the unknown has given him the boost I had hoped it would. Now, I fear that he may be disappointed with where we really are going. I couldn't afford the exotic places I really would have like to have gone. So, I settled for something that was, maybe not as exciting, but still a chance to get away.

I think another reason I did this, is that, having turned 50 this year, the fact that my tomorrows are fewer really hit home. We all know phrases like: "Never put off until tomorrow what you can do today." Matthew 6:34 says, "Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself; let the day's own trouble be sufficient for the day."

The song that came to mind instantly for this part was:

The sun'll come out Tomorrow!
Tomorrow Tomorrow!
Bet your bottom dollar I'll love ya tomorrow
That tomorrow It's only a day away.
There'll be sun!

Donald Rumsfeld was the lucky winner of the "Foot in Mouth" Award this year. He was quoted as saying, "We also know there are known unknowns; that is to say we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns -- the ones we don't know we don't know." Huh? As confusing as it sounds, and as much as we shake our heads at the political rhetoric it brings, it is absolutely true. No matter how much we plan for tomorrow - we can't possible know what exactly will happen.

You are probably aware of the prayers that were requested for Sherwood Waggy last August. Sherwood is the brother of Norman Waggy, sister-in-law of Carol, and son of Arlie and Naomi. He was critically injured in an automobile accident and not expected to live. He was at our church recently and I got to hear the story from him. The doctors in Fort Wayne were going to get permission from his wife when she got there to unplug all the machines. She got lost on her way to the hospital and by the time she got there, his vital signs had improved. Go figure! Sherwood said, he wasn't afraid to die, but in the early days after regaining consciousness, he wasn't sure he really wanted to live, either, in the shape he was in. He said that God talked to him - not with audible words, but more like letters scrolling across his eyes. When Sherwood asked God how he was supposed to live with such impairments, God told him he had a plan for him. God told him he knew what he wanted Sherwood to do.

Sherwood doesn't know what that plan is, but he is totally content in just knowing that God is in control. When we first got the news on the prayer chain that Sherwood had been injured, his parents made it clear that they wanted prayer for God's will to be done. It is obvious what God's will was. Sherwood's recovery has been touted by the doctors as nothing short of a miracle. Only Divine intervention could have caused the speed and level of recovery Sherwood has experienced. Sherwood's tomorrows are still uncertain, just like the rest of us, but Sherwood has a renewed faith in his very existence that few of us ever have.

Like Hannah, Mary didn't look back. She lived in the faith that God would care for her and her unborn child no matter what. When Jesus was eight days old, Joseph and Mary took him to the Temple to be circumcised. When the Holy Man, Simeon, blessed Jesus that day, he told Mary a sword would pierce her heart. All mothers know that their children might cause them pain. But few of us are given such a declaration so early in motherhood. Do you suppose when Jesus was lost for three days Mary was wondering if this was the sword she had been anticipating? Do you suppose she wondered every day how many more tomorrows would come in the life of her son? Mary lived her faith and like Samuel, Jesus "grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men."

All of our tomorrows should be anticipated as if it were an exciting unknown gift. We can ask for clues about what is going to happen, but still be totally prepared for whatever does happen. We may have to settle for the things that are "less exotic," still knowing that it is part of God's plan for us. Tomorrow may be "only a day away," but tomorrow never comes. The minute you wake up each day, it's already today. So why do we spend so much time anticipating something that never really happens? How many times are we so anxious to get to an event scheduled for "tomorrow," and when we get there, we want time to stand still so we can enjoy it longer and then we wish we could go back to yesterday when it's over? Why does it take a traumatic experience like Sherwood's to get us to be so comfortable in our faith? Like the Eskimo Proverb says, "Tomorrow is wood."

"Today"
Hebrews 13: 1-2, 6-8

Today is December 28 - half way between Christmas and New Year's Eve. The traditional New Year's Eve song is Auld Lang Syne, which means "times gone by."

Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
And never brought to mind?
Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
And days of auld lang syne?

Such a note is just right for New Year's Eve, when the mind hovers between retrospect and anticipation and we think equally of days gone for ever and days to come. We often view the passing into the New Year as, "out with old and in with the new." So just what do we do with today? The past is past and the future isn't here, yet. Frankly, today is the only thing we really have. Yesterday is gone and tomorrow never comes.

Remember the saying, "Today is the first day of the rest of your life"? I ran across some others:
Abe Lincoln - The best thing about the future is that it only comes one day at a time.
Babutunde Olatunji - Yesterday is history. Tomorrow is a mystery. And today? Today is a gift. That's why we call it the present.
And put differently by Kay Lyons - Yesterday is a canceled check; tomorrow is a promissory note; today is the only cash you have; so spend it wisely.
Dale Carnegie - Remember, today is the tomorrow you worried about yesterday
Benjamin Franklin - One today is worth two tomorrows
Sanskrit poem - Each today, well-lived, makes yesterday a dream of happiness and each tomorrow a vision of hope. Look, therefore, to this one day, for it and it alone is life.

I think we tend to do think about things like this at this time of year when making New Year's resolution. We think, "I'll just keep on acting like I'm acting for now and as soon as the clock strikes midnight on January first - presto chango - I'll be a new person; turn over a new leaf. How many of you ever actually kept a New Year's Resolution? It sounds good for a while, then we lose interest or patience or commitment and we're back to our old selves again.

The passage in Hebrews Angi read a few moments ago said in verse 7,"Remember your leaders, who spoke the word of God to you. Consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith." Hannah - Mary - Samuel - and Jesus himself. They are all part of the past that has shaped our yesterdays, our todays and our tomorrows.

And we never know what we may encounter - Many of the things in the world, the agonies, the heart breaks, the hunger, the war, the fear, the hate, the strife, the injustices, the prejudice, the uncertainty of job future, the fear of a medical diagnosis, the concern for a wayward child, the long list of things that for some seem so far away… But they're not really. And while you can't help every situation and you can't champion every cause, you can do something, for someone, everyday - for as the Eskimo Proverb says, "Only today does the fire burn brightly."

How brightly will your fire burn in 2004? How will you grow in favor with God and with Man? Will you make the most of your todays? You've got 366 this year. Will you look upon the extra day as the gift it is? The grace of our faithful God has lasted through the years and gives us strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow. Plan for your tomorrows, treasure your yesterdays, and show the world Jesus today - "for Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever." Amen.

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