Potty Training and M&M's

The reason for not posting lately was because I was working my sermon for this week. The readings for today were Lamentations 1 : 1-6, 2 Timothy 1 : 1-14, and Luke 17 : 5-10. It is not really necessary to read the readings, but it will help to see some of the references. Here it goes my first sermon in Omaha:

“If you go to the bathroom on the potty, I’ll give you an M&M”. These were the words my Mum said to me when I first began potty training. Let me give you a little background to the whole situation. For those of you who don’t know, I am a triplet, which means I have a sister and a brother my age. And since we are the same age, we crossed many of the same hurdles at the same time, getting three toddlers to using a fork and knife, having three little ones learning to walk, and training three little individuals to use the potty all at the same time. To say the least, my parents had their hands full.

As you can imagine situations were somewhat complicated. Here is a little more background information, both of my parents are teachers, which means they had a few tricks up their sleeves in order to guide us in the direction they wanted us to go. So parents get your pencils and pads ready, what was their trick for potty training all three of us, positive reinforcement.

If you don’t have children, training a pet is a similar situation. When a good behavior is performed, give the pet a treat, and repeat, over and over again. In my case, the treat was an M&M. “Alyse go on the potty, and I’ll give you an M&M.” Done! After a few M&M’s, I got the hang of the whole going on the potty thing, and training was over. My siblings, on the other hand, were a completely different story, but you get the picture.

I was rewarded for doing what was right enough times that eventually I no longer needed to be rewarded for it. For pets and their owners, it’s when your pet stops making a mess in the house and learns to go outside, without giving them a treat. The trainee is now obedient, and there is an expectation that certain actions will be performed.

Obedience is what lies beneath the surface of this mornings’ gospel. Upon first glance, reading through the entire passage, there seems to be a disjointed message between the two paragraphs. But there is one unified message after looking beyond the surface. Let’s start with the second paragraph. Jesus teaches the apostles about obedience through the example of a slave and its master. It was the slave’s duty to serve the master’s needs, and that is what the master expects. We can relate to this same idea in today’s society with house chores. In my family, there was an expectation that the children wash and dry the dishes after dinner. It was our duty to perform this task for the family. It was also expected that we keep our rooms clean. And when we did these things, it was good. But if when we didn’t, we were reminded to do them over and over again. And performing these chores was not as if we were going out of our way to do something. It was our obligation to the household, which is why a thank you after each time we did our chores it was not truly deserving. These chores were what OUGHT to be done.

Knowing this, makes the first part of the reading more unified with the second part. The apostles asked Jesus to increase their faith. And Jesus replied, “If you had faith the size of a mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you.” I can imagine the apostles looking at each other very confused hearing these words. But keep listening, there are two points that Jesus made with this statement.

The first is that it isn’t the amount of faith that matters, as long as you have faith at all. A wee bit of faith accomplishes unbelievable tasks. The second part is more subtle and not really written in words, but is more of the tone I picture Jesus saying this phrase. Because the apostles were missing his point about faith, which is why he used the example of the slave and the master. The subtlety here is that faith is not always a rewarding task. Faith is not always a rewarding task.

In the Epistle, Paul writes, “join me in my suffering for the gospel”, obviously Paul was not a marketing major, and I can say that because I was one. This idea of suffering for the gospel doesn’t make me immediately want to risk my life. But continue reading the statement, it says, “Join me in suffering for the gospel, relying on the power of God.” Paul knows that preaching the word of the Lord is not going to be easy. He understands that he must forgive when he has been trespassed and love in the midst of hatred, but he can suffer through with faith.

Faith is having a belief in something against all odds, but trusting in it anyway. That’s why we have the phrase taking a leap of faith. We jump, and don’t really know where our feet will land, but as long as we have faith, God will catch us. And Paul understands this concept. He knows that spreading these ideas were unusual at the time, but he spreads God’s word anyway. Because Paul lives his life by trying to see the face of Christ in everyone he meets. Why, because it is what he ought to do and has faith in God.

Even a wee bit of faith, no larger than a mustard seed, will achieve greatness. And keeping faith in the midst of difficulties is hard, especially if we expect a reward after every time we forgive one another or love unconditionally. But fear not because God will eventually give us an M&M.