Dreamers, Starters and Finishers

Pentecost/Confirmation Service
Readings: Genesis 11:1-9, Acts 2:1-21,Hebrews 12:1-6, Luke 14:28-33
Preached at First Presbyterian Church, Baldwin, NY, Sunday, May 19th 2013

A printable PDF file can be found here

Luke 14 verses 29 and 30
“This man began to build and cannot finish the job”
“And all who see what happened will laugh at him”

It has been said that in life there are three groups of people. Dreamers, Starters and Finishers.

First off there are DREAMERS.

Dreams can be good. Martin Luther King Jr. preached one of the most famous sermons ever preached with the words 'I have a dream...” The musical 'South Pacific' has a song with the refrain; 'You gotta have a dream, Cos if you don't have a dream, How you ever gonna make your dreams come true'

Scripture is full of dreamers. In the Old Testament Joseph (known for his technicolor dreamcoat) has a whole life defined by dreams.

We all have dreams. We all have aspirations. We all have things we want to be or see.  There's nothing wrong in being a dreamer. Some years ago somebody dreamed that there could be a Presbyterian Church here in Baldwin.  Now here are some of you desiring to be members of it... buying into the dream.

God has a lot of time for dreamers. So dream on!

But, as I learnt from watching Sister Act 2 'If you wanna go somewhere, and you want to be someone, you gotta wake up and pay attention'. There's more to life than just being a dreamer.

We also need to be STARTERS.

I'll let you in on a secret. When I was young I didn't dream of being a preacher. I didn't even dream about being confirmed or joining the church. I had a far more compelling dream. I wanted to be a racing driver. Just like Dana Patrick! Well... no not really like her, I'm not talking Nascar, I'm talking Formula One, Grand Prix racing, the fastest, most exotic racers in the world. Monaco,  Red Bull and Ferrari!

I cherished this dream. In school I learned all about how to be a driver you had to know the insides as well as the outsides of a car, so you should train as a mechanic. Despite my lack of mechanical skills, even this did not curb my enthusiasm!

My dream faded when I became old enough to drive on the local Go-Kart track. I'd watched the movies, I'd sat on my bed and practiced,  VROOM - VROOM, I was excellent on my slot car racing track, making those little cars go round and around. But first time I got behind the wheel of a Go-Kart... well... call me Mr Tortoise! It didn't take me long to realize that I did not have the natural skills of a racing driver. To be honest I discovered speed, far from being exhilarating, was a little scary. Particularly the stopping bit... but that's another story!

I had purchased a book about Motor Racing. In it, it said 'Some people are 'thinkers' and some people are 'Doers'. The reason why 'thinkers' don't become 'doers' is that they just don't know what is involved”

Remember our Bible story.  A story about a man who didn't consider what was involved. Luke 14 verses 29 and 30 “This man began to build and cannot finish the job” “And all who see what happened will laugh at him”

I'm glad that those of you who are being confirmed have moved from being dreamers to starters. I hope you'll also make the move from being 'thinkers' to 'doers'.  You see there is a cost involved. There always is. We only get out of life, what we put into life.

In Luke13:44 Jesus tells His disciples 'None of you can be my disciple unless he gives up everything he has.”  To put that in a different way, He is telling us that we can't go around saying He is Lord of our lives when we are really living only for ourselves. That the most important thing we can do with our lives is figure out how they can be lived for the glory of God.

God wants to have that conversation with us because otherwise, our words are just a bad joke. Otherwise our confirmation and church membership are about as useful as the house the man began to build but couldn't finish. Just a laughing matter. 

Confirmation does not mean you have arrived. It means that some time in your life somebody had a dream that you would become a disciple of Jesus Christ. They sprinkled you with the waters of baptism. Confirmation is about you claiming that dream for yourself. It's about starting.

And you know that starting isn't enough! The man who started to build became a joke because he never reached the most important thing.  Finishing. There are dreamers, there are starters and there are;

FINISHERS

When the Olympic games were held in Mexico City the Gold medal for the 26 mile marathon was won by Mamo Wolde of Ethiopia. Also running in the race was John Stephen Akhwari from Tanzania. Akhwari cramped up due to the high altitude of the city. He had not trained at such an altitude back in his home country. Half way through the race, there was jockeying for position between some runners and he was hit. He fell badly, dislocating his knee and hurting his shoulder on the pavement. He however continued running.

By the time he reached the stadium people were leaving. The medal ceremony for the winners had already taken place. The sun had set. When word was received that there was one more runner about to finish, people started to file back into the stadium. Even the TV cameras returned to watch John Akhwari hobble over the line. It is said that the crowd greeted him with more enthusiasm, urging him onward, then they had done for any of the medal winners.

After the race, they asked him, why, when he was so far behind, he didn't give up? He replied, "My country did not send me 5,000 miles to start the race; they sent me 5,000 miles to finish the race."

The Christian calling in not just to be dreamers and starters, but to be finishers. Hebrews 12: verses 1 and 2 instruct us;  “Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us,  fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith.” 

Friends of all ages, do not allow your faith to be a laughing matter. 'This man' said Jesus, 'Started to build but could not finish, and all who see it will laugh at him”.

Carry on dreaming. 'You gotta have a dream'.

You have made a great start in your faith journey. You were baptized.
Now you come to claim the baptismal promises for yourself. You are a starter.
But now it's up to you to be a finisher. To 'Fix your eyes upon Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith'.

And if you openly and honest come before God, seeking His leading and guiding, laying your life before God and pledging to be a Kingdom person, you will not be disappointed.  God loves us more than we can ever fully realize. God's promises are true. As we place our trust in God, amazing things can happen in our lives.

May God help us all to run with perseverance the race of faith that is laid before us. AMEN!

REV. ADRIAN J. PRATT B.D.