Advent Lutheran Church

"You Are the Butterfly Effect (Pentecost 10)"

            Grace and peace to you from God the Creator and the Lord Jesus.  Amen.

            “As in one body we have many members, and not all the members have the same function, so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually we are members one of another.”

Relationship.  We hear it a lot, don’t we; “It’s all about relationship.” Well, it’s always been about relationship.  The Bible tells us that we are connected, you and I and all of us, so that we can have an impact far beyond our individual limitations, and so that our impact can be multiplied many times over.

For example, back in the mid-1800s, a couple of settlers named Moses and Susan Carver were farming a plot of land in Newton County, Missouri.  They adopted an orphan, a little boy named George.  As George grew and helped work that small farm, he developed a fascination for the study of plants.  George Washington Carver would grow up to become a famous botanist, scientist, educator and inventor.  And along the way, he took under his wing a young man named Henry Wallace, who adopted Carver’s love of plants.  Wallace would go on to become a vice president of the United States, and one of his accomplishments was to establish an office for the development of a hybrid seed that would thrive in especially dry climates.  To run that office he picked a man named Norman Borlaug, and Borlaug would go on to development extremely disease-resistant corn and wheat.  It is now estimated that because of Borlaug’s work 2 billion people worldwide have been saved from starvation.

I doubt that Moses and Susan Carver, as they scratched out a living on their few acres in Newton County, Missouri, had any idea that they would have such a dramatic impact on the world’s population. 

In science it’s called the Butterfly Effect.  It’s part of Chaos Theory, and it’s the principle that says that tiny variations in one place can have enormous effects in another.  Theoretically, a butterfly flapping its wings sets into motion air molecules, which in turn set into motion other air molecules, and so on, until at some point that initial flapping of the butterfly’s wings results in massive changes to whole weather systems on the other side of the world.

The writer of our Second Lesson this morning never heard of the Butterfly Effect, but he does a good job of describing it – not in terms of butterflies but in terms of you and me, the Body of Christ.  Let’s step back in time for a moment.  It’s 23 years after the death and Resurrection of Jesus.  The Christian message – that this Jesus of Nazareth was the Son of God who gave his life for the sake of the world – was flowing out from Jerusalem.  Small groups of Christian believers were beginning to form in various parts of the Middle East and Europe.  One such church was taking shape in Rome.

But the new Christians in Rome were having trouble defining themselves.  The church there was composed of two distinct groups.  One group was Jewish; they brought with them their own rich history and tradition, and all their expectations and assumptions about what constituted “church.”  The other group was non-Jewish, and they brought with them all of their assumptions and expectations as well.  Paul was trying to re-ground both groups in the same reality: the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

He tells them that they are connected not by tradition, or political belief or social status; but rather they are connected in the person of Jesus Christ.  That is their primary identity, and because they are so connected each member has an impact on the whole body; each member has an impact far beyond their limited awareness. 

As I said, Paul had never heard of the Butterfly Effect, but he describes it well.  Actually, it had been in operation for centuries before Paul; in fact, it’s involved in one of the oldest stories in the book.  When the Israelites were slaves in Egypt, life was good – for the Egyptians, not for the Israelites.  But the Egyptians noticed a disturbing trend: the birth rate among the Israelites was continuing to rise unchecked.  They became fearful that one day the Israelites would outnumber the Egyptians and rise up in revolt.

So Pharaoh, the leader in Egypt, came up with a simple solution: kill the male infants when they are born.  The word goes out to the midwives, telling them that when they attend a birth, if it is a male child, it is to be killed.  But the midwives, Shiphrah and Puah, decide on their own that they cannot comply with this order to murder.  So they don’t.  Pharaoh notices that the Israelites are continuing to multiply, and he calls the midwives on the carpet.  What happened?  Shiphrah and Puah do what any of us would have done in their place: they lie.  “When we arrive at the place of the birth the child has already been delivered and then taken away.  We’re simply too late!”

One of the male infants who were spared because of Shiphrah’s and Puah’s action was a little boy named Moses.  He would go on to lead the people of Israel out of slavery in Egypt, through the wilderness and to the Promised Land.  The Butterfly Effect.

Fast-forward to today.  This last Tuesday, Spencer Duncan came home.  Spencer was one of the 30 American servicemen who were killed with their Chinook helicopter was shot down in Afghanistan on August 6.  Spencer was from Olathe, and went to Olathe South High School.  So his body was flown back here for burial.  When the motorcade bearing his casket traveled from NewCentury Airport in Gardner to the funeral home, there were thousands of us lining 151^st Street between Ridgeview and Blackbob to pay our respects to this one who had given his life for his country, for us. 

We were there because of a tragic event, but there was something else in the air besides sadness: amid the flags and the tears there was a positive sense of patriotism and commitment and respect that was almost tangible.  And I couldn’t help but wonder how many of the people – particularly young people – who had been able to turn out on Tuesday morning were inspired by Spencer’s dedication and willingness to sacrifice for the greater good.  Spencer had no intention to inspire any of this, I’m sure, when he stepped into that helicopter on August 6; he was just doing his duty, as he had so many times before.  But because he did, because he did his duty, he served as an example that will continue to have an impact well into the future.

I saw another example of a powerful impact last month in the Dominican Republic.  Eight of us who sponsor children through Children International traveled to Santo Domingo to visit our sponsored children and also to lay the groundwork for a possible work trip next spring.  While we were there we toured a couple of Children International’s community centers, met the staffs, visited with the kids and their families.

One of the community center staff members is a doctor named Delhi Mayerlin Lopez, and I wish I could show you a picture: she is absolutely vibrant as she goes about her duties.  In an average week she sees about 260 children, giving medical exams and treating them for dysentery and other infections and dispensing antibiotics.  It’s clear from the way that she does her job that she loves those children.  But she was not always Dr. Delhi Lopez, of course; in fact, she started out as one of those children who come in for treatment – for seven years she was a sponsored child herself.

Because of her sponsorship she was able to finish high school, get a scholarship to attend college and then go on to medical school.  What an impact her sponsor had on her!  Now she gives back by giving of herself.  And what impact is she having on the children of today and the adults of tomorrow?  Here’s her attitude: “I’m glad to be able to play a small part in the life-changing process of our children, now that I have the opportunity to give back what I used to receive.  I thank God for the chance to work in a place that I see as my home, surrounded by family members.”

Brothers and sisters in Christ, you and I are able to have an impact that is far beyond ourselves because we are connected one to another in the Body of Christ, which is not bound by time and space but is eternal.  It’s a connection that we acknowledge every time we say the Creed; every time we stand and say, “I believe,” we acknowledge that, as we see in our First Lesson, God is the rock of our foundation.  It’s what Peter acknowledged when Jesus asked him, “Who do you say that I am?”  He was asking all of the disciples, and Peter, as he often did, responded as the group’s spokesman.  But Peter also responded for himself, personally, when he said, “You and the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”

That question comes to each one of us – it is unavoidable, this question, “What do you believe?”  To answer in words is one thing, and relatively easy; to answer with our actions is another matter, and considerably more difficult.  We were talking about this yesterday morning in Men’s Ministry, about how difficult it is to be consistent, to have our actions line up with our best intentions, our principles.

The same can be said of Peter.  Chances are that he didn’t realize the full implications of his answer to Jesus, but the power of Jesus in his life would continue to reveal itself as his life unfolded.

That’s the power that we share, the power to impact people and events far beyond our awareness.  One final example.  It’s a small one, but maybe not.

Last week one of our members came into the office, and as he came in he spotted Sherry Owens, one of our staff members.  He walked over the Sherry and said, “You know, you’re the reason that I’m here.”

“Oh?”, Sherry said.

“Yes.  When I came here on my first visit I was feeling what probably many first-time visitors feel: a little apprehensive, unsure if the people would be welcoming or if I would fit in.  But within 10 seconds of me walking into the narthex, you came up to me, smiled and stuck out your hand and said, ‘I’m glad you’re here; welcome to Advent.’  And I’ve been here ever since.”

You want to know Sherry’s response?  “Really?  I said that?”  She had no clue.

Here’s my point: Sometime in the week ahead, you are going to change the world.  For better or for ill, your choices and decisions and actions will either help to build up or to tear down the world.  Some of your actions might be big and loud and dramatic; some of them might be so small and (to you) insignificant that you forget about them 10 minutes later.  But make no mistake: You are going to change the world.

The only question is, “How are you going to do it?”

Amen.