It's Good to not Always Find What You Are Looking For

from my Easter Message, April 20, 2014, from John 20:1-18

She went to the tomb early.  Mary only was looking to do what's right, to take care of her dead friend's body.  But the stone had been rolled away!

It reminded me of the Rolling Stones.  Maybe you have heard of them?  They had some wisdom for us in this regard:
(Sing) You can't always get what you want,
no, you can't always get what you want,
no, you can't always get what you want,
but if you try sometimes, you just might find,
you get what you need.

It's Good to not Always Get What You Are Looking For.

I want to tell you a story of what happened at Broadway UMC in Indianapolis.  The pastor Mike Mather reported that his congregation would have prayer meetings during the season before Easter.  This particular Wednesday, it had snowed, so only 6 people showed up.  They read some scripture.  They were meditating quietly when Mike heard some voices at the side door of the sanctuary.  Three youth were there.  The oldest might be 13 years old.  "What's going on?"  "We're having evening prayers."  "Can we come in?"  "Sure."

The 3 sat down.  The congregation started singing, "It's me, it's me, it's me, oh Lord, Standing in the Need of Prayer."  Mike hear more voices at the door.  Three more youth were there.  "Are our friends in here?"  "Yes."  "Tell them to come out."  "No, but you are welcome to come in."  They did and sat down with the other 3.

They were whispering amongst themselves, obviously trying to get their leader to leave.  Mike started to explain how the praying went.  "Someone can offer a prayer.  Then say, Lord, in your mercy.  Then everyone responds, Hear our prayer."  The silence was broken only by the youth chattering amongst themselves.  Mike started to intervene, when one of the members of the church asked a prayer, and said, Lord in your mercy.  Mike was watching the 6 youth. Their got big when everyone said, Hear our prayer.

A dam broke. ONe of the youth said, Pray for my cousin Booder who got killed last year.  He rushed to say, Lord in your mercy.  Everyone responded, Hear our prayer.  The youth prayed.  There was a lot of violence in their lives.  The congregation prayed.  There was violence in the community, in the world.  Lord, in your mercy.  Hear our prayer.

One of the youth prayed, For the schools to stop expellin' people.  Lord in your mercy.  Hear our prayer.  Then the leader prayed, For me and my grandma, cuz my dad is trying to take me away from her.  Lord in your mercy.  Hear our prayer.

Mike then had them turn to the Lord's Prayer.  They sang, "I want to walk as a child of the light.  I want to follow Jesus."  They shared the peace of Christ amongst themselves.  And 6 youth left a prayer service just a little bit quieter.

The youth were expecting to find that inside the church.  The 6 church members weren't expecting to find those youth needing prayer.  It's good to not always find what you are looking for.

That's a good story. But the rest of the story is that 18 months later, Broadway UMC find that its ministry with youth on the streets had grown tremendously.  Youth had found a safe place.  And Broadway UMC received a grant from the national church so that they could share their experience with others.  They found a ministry that was waiting for them.

It's good to not always find what you are looking for.

Mary saw Jesus, but she didn't recognize him.  She thought he was the gardener. She was looking for her dead friend's body.

Another story comes from my addiction to Netflix streaming video.  I have gotten into another series, Call the Midwife.  I never thought that I would be hooked on this show.  It is set in the East end of London in the late 1950's.  There is an order of Anglican nuns whose ministry is being nurse-midwives.  They also lead other nurse-midwives who are not a part of the religious order.  I love the faith angle of the programs.

Every episode is going to have the delivery of a baby.  Trust me on this one.  When a show is named, Call the Midwife, there is going to be a baby born.  Every episode will have a difficulty.  It is the second season, episode 5, where the main character, Nurse Lee, attends the birth of a baby boy.  The boy has spina bifada.  That means that nerves protrude through the vertebrae out the back.  It can be not very serious to extremely serious.  This one was severe.  It was crushing to the parents.  They refuse to hold the baby.  Nurse Lee finds herself doing all of the care of the child, feeding it, dressing it, and changing its diaper.  She is wearing herself out while the parents are depressed and do nothing.

The mother superior advises Nurse Lee to take the parents to St. Gideons, a home for children with birth defects.  Only the father goes inside with Nurse Lee who is still carrying the baby.  The father is talking with the matron of the home about what it's like there.  Children are all around them carrying on with their lives.  Two young men serve them tea and biscuits.  Don't you love England?  No matter what the situation is, you are going to have tea.  One of the young men who is serving them has difficulty walking and talking.  The father asks matron, "What happened to him?"  "Jacob has spina bifada like your son."  "Why?"  "We don't know why; it happens in 1 out of 1,000 births."  Jacob brings the tea and biscuits over to the father and nurse Lee.  Jacob makes a little joke when no one drinks the tea, "It's not poison, you know."  The father asks Jacob, "What's it really like here?"  "Oh, it's quite lovely.  There's a biscuit factory next door.....we get the broken ones."

So do we.  We still get the broken ones.  I don't know what you are looking for today.  If you are looking for a perfect church or perfect people or perfect pastor, you won't find that here.  We get the broken ones.  We follow Jesus who was broken for us.  If you are only looking for death and destruction, you won't find that here either.  Jesus has been raised from the dead.  He has joined us in all of our brokenness and somehow brings hope and healing out of it.

The father and Nurse Lee return to the car.  They drive home with the mom.  The mom and dad start packing up the baby's clothes.  They are going to take the boy to the home it seems.  The father says, "I have got his things.  You carry it."  The mom takes the boy into her arms for the first time.  She says, "This is our son, not an it.  This is Danny, Jr. We are not taking him to that home."

It's good to not always get what you are looking for.

Mary went to the tomb to find a corpse.  She left saying, "I have seen the Lord."  That's the good news I have to share today.