Leaving an Impression

Sunday July 15, 2012

Text: Deuteronomy 6:1-9
Sermon: "Leaving an Impression"

I've shared with several of you that a few weeks ago when we met to go pick up Vacation Bible School supplies, I couldn't for the life of me figure out why we needed so many helpers. As you know, this is my first VBS experience here, so I didn't know what to expect. Actually, I thought I knew what to expect...and what I expected was a poster or two, maybe a few props, but nothing that needed a dozen people and a trailer. So you can imagine that when we go to our sister church in Kent, I was shocked! I couldn't believe the elaborate sets they had created. Or how the hallways just kept going, swimming in a sea of underwater murals and ocean creatures. And that was before I saw the sixteen foot boat, the boat that took a little imagination and bold deconstruction to get here. But I am glad that we got it here. All I could think was, "wow, they really went all out!" Alright, I was really thinking, "Wow, they really went OVERBOARD!" Needless to say, I was impressed.

Flash forward to this week and I have carried this same sentiment with me---I am still impressed. I might even be more impressed as I watched the sets come to life and transform our own space. Which just might explain why when I sat down to read the Scripture for the week, one phrase in particular jumped out at me. "Impress them on your children." Oh, we've got that covered, I thought, I mean, just wait until the kids see these sets and the fun that is in store for them. Impress your children? CHECK!

But then, I stopped and re-read the passage. That's when I realized that verse seven says "impress them on your children." Put another way, teach your children. That is very different than "impress your children." Or at least it can be. There are, of course, those beautiful moments when our children are both impressed and impressed upon. Which is our hope for this week. That our children will learn about how great God is and how much God loves them. While at the same time being in awe of the fun and imagination that Vacation Bible School offers. Yes, this is going to be an impressive week, one that we should rejoice in!

But when the celebration of this week ends, I began to wonder where we will be. You see, we live in a society that overall seems more interested in impressing our children, rather than being careful about what we impress on our children. It makes sense, we are so busy. Remember all those calls we talked about last week? It's no wonder we strive to impress people, we're always fighting through a constant stream of inputs. We are always vying for people's attention, even for our children's. It seems we need a big extravaganza just to cut through the noise of TV or video games. We need some big to do just to compete with school or sports and overloaded schedules. Something massive...just to catch people's attention before it slips out of our grasp. So we seek to impress. We think we have to.

Although, if you've been around children you know that isn't always the case. It could be the smallest detail, the most mundane event that catches their curiosity. For better or worse, it is the everyday conversation that catches their ear. Country artist Rodney Atkins wrote a song called "Watching You" that captures this point. Let's listen to what really makes an impression:
Watching You-Rodney Atkins

Did you hear how just watching his father left an impression? I imagine this is a truth that we all know. We already know that we don't need to impress our children to teach them. We already know that they learn best just by watching what we do and listening to what we say. Maybe that is why Deuteronomy goes on to say, "talk about the commandments when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up."

We just need to talk to our children about God. We really need to talk to everyone about God, but we'll start today with our children. Everywhere we are can talk about God. We can tell God's story, we can stop our children to point out God's presence all around them. God's presence in their friendships. God in the trees and the grass and the sky. God in the arms that hold them when they fall. God in the warm bath that makes them clean. God in the rest that makes them ready for another day. God's provision in their meals and God's abundant bounty in their snacks. God everywhere! That's part of my hope with the box, to help point out God's presence with us. Believe me, I know, sometimes it's difficult, even a little scary to find God in what's in the box. The more we try though, the more we break our box apart.** Until eventually we are left with this, a cross, reminding us that God can't be left in a box, or even in our box--the four walls of this church. For God is everywhere. That my friends, is very impressive!

That, is the Good News for today. We don't need to be impressive. God's story is impressive enough. We just need to tell it. As Rodney Atkins reminds us, our words and actions will leave an impression on our children. So when this fun-filled week at Vacation Bible School is over, and we collapse in exhaustion and joy, we don't need to worry about "now what do we do?" "How will we top that?"

We just need to keep telling the story. In church. In the car. In your home. In the morning and at bedtime. Or as Doctor Seuss might suggest from his famous book Green Eggs and Ham, we need to talk about God "in a boat with a goat, in the rain, or in the dark" (especially in the dark times!) "on a train, or in a car. or in a tree. or in a box with a fox. or in a house with a mouse. Talk about God here and there, talk about God anywhere!" And, friends, if we can do that, that will be quite impressive and leave a deep impression.

**This will make more sense (hopefully!) when the video is posted. In the meantime, notice that if you unfold a box that is made of one sheet of paper, the original shape is a cross.