Western Hills United Methodist Church, El Paso Texas

There have been two hummingbird feeders on our back patio all summer long.  They hang at my insistence, partially because those little flyers fascinate me.  I am convinced though, our basis for combat helicopters came from someone sitting on a patio watching hummingbirds hover, dance and dive with each other.  Though they fascinate me, I’ve done little research in order to know if all of what they do with each other is play or territorial protection.  The larger, louder and more colorful birds seem to be the sheriffs of the feeders, making sure only certain birds are left to feed at untended feeders.  At times, they seem to sneak off to a cottonwood tree in order to give watch and hold fort over intruders who would come drink.  The irony is, there are about a dozen birds and sixteen ounces of food takes at least a week to empty, and the birds seem to have no ability to understand from where the food comes.  They simply seem to ride herd on it as long as it is there.  Frankly, they act a lot like people, and especially Christians.

Our irony is often like the birds’.  We rarely think about from where our resources come and when we do, we usually decide they have come from our work, our abilities, our wisdom and even our luck.  We live as practical atheists, rarely acknowledging the God who has given us all of what we have in the first place.  What’s more, when we live this way, we are often anxious about everything, because we don’t know if our luck will run out, if our wisdom will pay off, if our abilities will stay intact, or if our work is really all that secure.  We take the credit and often try to place the blame elsewhere.  I certainly don’t want our little birds to acknowledge us or thank us, but I am certain God does.  And I am certain that God may allow events into our lives to teach us just how certain God is about that.  And still, God continues to provide.

We made the decision long ago to give up our practical atheism, acknowledge God as our source of everything, and share what God has given us.  Last week, Chrisie Reeves’ father stayed with us while Chrisie moved and got back on her feet after her accident.  We didn’t share because we have always been close to the Reeves family, in fact, we barely know each other except as UM colleagues.  But I find that the more I share, the less I am concerned about what I have to lose, and more focused on how what I have can be used to help another.  It does help me acknowledge God as our source and keeps me fearless about what can happen in life.  There is no territorialism in that kind of living, and no atheism either.  It is all JOY!

I do know the danger of making yourself the hero of your own stories.  But this is a lesson I come back to over and over again in order to help all of us better trust God in all things. He seems to put a great deal of trust in us as stewards, why would we not trust Him in return?  See you Sunday in the place where we can trust God’s presence, always.

Pastor Mark