God of the Snowflakes
The Church of the Wayfarer
Dr. Norm Mowery, Pastor
January 30, 2010
Psalm 27:1, 4-9
I will never forget the excitement I felt as a child when the first soft fluffy snow flakes of the winter started falling.
It has been a long time since I have done that. Living here I have one rule of life in regards to snow—if I have to put on chains I don’t go!
I have wonderful memories of playing in the snow—
Snow angels
Snow forts
Snow ball fights and more.
Some years ago Linda’s aunt and uncle visited from Hawaii. Auntie Marge had never seen snow so we went for a drive to Reno. On top of the Sierras we all had a good laugh when she asked, “What is all that ‘white stuff’ out there?” It wasn’t long till she experienced quite enough of that ‘white stuff’.
Like snow flakes each of us is a miracle of beauty, a masterpiece of design — but also vulnerable to meltdowns.
Recently I learned about a man named Wilson Bentley who lived in Vermont and was fascinated by snow. He found a way to put snowflakes on black velvet and photograph them, testing the hypothesis that no two are exactly the same.
He photographed more than 5,000 individual snowflakes, and today you can see his work at the Buffalo Museum of Science. Because of his obsession he was given a nickname “Snowflake.” Bentley, who lived from 1865 to 1931, examined snowflakes under a microscope and discovered that they were all miracles of beauty.
“Every crystal was a masterpiece of design,
and no one design was ever repeated,” he wrote.
“When a snowflake melted, that design was forever lost. That beauty was gone, without leaving any record behind.” Bentley was especially fond of snowflake number 892 and wrote, “It’s a bit irregular but beautiful.” Irregular but beautiful. I think that that could be said of each of us. We are all a little irregular but beautiful.
Each of us is a miracle of beauty,
a masterpiece of design,
and no one design is ever repeated.
We have all kinds of irregularities —
physical,
mental,
emotional,
spiritual,
you name it.
We are irregular human beings but still miracles of beauty,
shaped in utter uniqueness by a loving and creative Creator. Our God is the God of the snowflakes. Psalm 27 begins with the words,
“The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear?
The Lord is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?”
If we are, in fact, God’s snowflakes — precious, unique and transient we need a Lord to preserve us and act as a stronghold for us.
Otherwise, we’re going to melt, disappear and be lost forever. 1. The opening line of this Psalm challenges us to make a choice between faith and fear.
Either we make the faith choice, seeing God as “my light and my salvation,” Or, we make the fear choice, looking for the answer to the question, “whom shall I fear?” As snowflakes, we don’t have to go far to find something to fear. We know we’re vulnerable to
physical illnesses,
emotional distresses,
relational breakdowns,
economic stresses
and spiritual crises.
Sometimes we feel as delicate and transient as snowflakes — quick to melt down and disappear forever. But if we make the faith choice, our future looks very different. We aren’t so vulnerable if we put our trust in God because we discover that the Lord is our light, our salvation and the stronghold of our life.
The key is to put our trust in God, not in ourselves. 2. When we live in God’s light, we’re living in the Lord’s presence. In the Biblical narrative God’s face often appears as light, or shines upon people, such as in the classic Old Testament blessing,
“The Lord make his face to shine upon you, and be gracious to you”.
The faith choice reveals that the Lord is the stronghold of our life.
That’s good news for snowflakes like us.
When we choose faith over fear, we receive the assurance of God’s power and presence through all the challenges of life.
This is expressed when the psalm-writer says that he wants “to live in the house of the Lord, all the days of my life”.
To live in the house of the Lord was to be in God’s presence. We talk today about looking for a house in “the best ZIP code.” This means living where the schools are good, crime is low and property values are on the rise. The writer of Psalm 27 knows that the best ZIP code is where God’s presence is felt in a powerful and permanent way. As snowflakes, we cannot afford to live anywhere else. But you have to wonder: What does God actually do for those who choose faith over fear? Psalm 27 says that God “will hide me in his shelter in the day of trouble; he will set me high on a rock”.
Challenges will still arise, and crises will come. But God’s promise of protection and deliverance means we’ll never be destroyed by adversity — we will never melt and disappear, like a snowflake in the sun. Patricia Dahlgren experienced a horror that would cause most people to melt down: the murder of her mother.
Twelve years after the killing, Dahlgren, spent an entire day in an Oregon prison with the killer. Dahlgren told the killer about her emotional journey after losing her mother, and the killer told her exactly what he had done, admitting that he was sorry for it and ashamed of it. The meeting led to healing, for victim and offender. Dahlgren told the killer she forgave him, which stunned everybody in the room. 3. The promise of God’s protection and deliverance doesn’t shield us from suffering or pain. But it does mean the Lord shields and guides us as we move through life’s horrors so that we’ll emerge with healing.
That’s probably how Dahlgren was feeling after her day in prison. And that’s how we can feel as well, if we choose faith over fear. Each of us will feel like a snowflake from time to time,
blown around by the wind and in danger of melting.
But when storms hit us we’ll find light and strength surrounding us.
When illness strikes us we’re going to feel weakened and discouraged. But Jesus will say, “Your faith has made you well”. Death is going to threaten us but Jesus will say, “Do not fear, only believe”. We’ll face enormous personal challenges, as the disciples did when they encountered a crowd of 5,000 hungry people. But Jesus will say to us, as he said to his disciples, “Give them something to eat”.
If we choose faith over fear, all will eat and be filled. Bentley photographed more than 5,000 individual snowflakes. Each was a miracle of beauty, a masterpiece of design, and no one design was ever repeated. Or was it? In 1988, two identical snowflakes were discovered and photographed, disproving the hypothesis that no two are exactly the same.
Human beings can still be miracles and masterpieces while having important things in common.
4. There are consequences of choosing fear over faith.
Three men founded the hugely successful Apple computer company — Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak and Ron Wayne.
Wayne left the firm after only 12 days because he was afraid of losing money in a risky venture. His original 10 percent stake in the company would be worth more than $22 billion today — if he had held on to his investment. Now at the age of 76, he’s living off Social Security checks.
Living in a world filled with all kinds of artificial light, it’s hard to appreciate the full impact of light on the human soul. Fear mounts when you cannot see the danger.
I have found this to be true when waiting for a diagnosis or word of a loved one. The God of light exposes and overcomes all that is hidden from us. We can walk on in trust.
Don’t look down. That’s what they say when you’ve a long way to fall. It’s because, of course, looking down leads to thoughts of the really bad things that could happen.
When we stop to ponder how steep the climb, how far we have to fall and the sharpness of the rocks at the bottom, fear takes hold. What if my foot slips or I lose my grip. What if I make a mistake and lose my way or run out of strength before I make it to the top. There’s never a shortage of things to fear. In fact, if we set our minds to it, we can probably all come up with a substantial list of reasons why we cannot overcome the challenges God has set before us.
Sometimes the reasons have to do with the problem.
It’s just too big, too hard, too complicated.
Sometimes it’s us. We’re not strong enough, not smart enough, not up to the challenge. These things cannot be disputed.
Rocks are hard.
Problems can be enormous.
Human beings are human.
Fear then seems a reasonable response — fear and despair. But then there’s God. And that’s the key.
The key to successfully climbing mountains doesn’t actually have to do with the difficulty of the mountain or the skill of the climber.
It’s about the one who made both mountain and climber.
God is bigger than our biggest problem and God is not limited by our weaknesses. When we believe that, it doesn’t matter how high the mountain or how weak the climber. If we focus on God instead of our troubles and shortcomings we can do whatever it is God has called us to do.
I was never much of a hunter though as a teenager I had a 12-gage shot gun with the end of the barrel cut off. I only shot it a few times but when I did it kicked so hard it knocked me to the ground.
When I was old enough to get my first big game hunting license I asked my Dad to drive me ten miles down the road to the top of a mountain so I could hunt for deer as I walked home.
I will never forget the moment that Dad drove away and I was alone on the top of the mountain on the first day of deer hunting season. There was no trail and it was cold.
After only walking about a hundred feet into the woods I was so overcome with the beauty that I sat down on a rock to enjoy the ice covered trees shining in the early morning sunlight.
My eyes filled with tears as I worshipped God in that moment. It was one of the most beautiful moments in my life.
I never did shoot a deer. Even if I had seen one I would not have shot it. The only thing I ever shot was a groundhog that I proudly took home for my mother to prepare for dinner. She refused to cook it saying it was too ugly.
As I walked home along the top of the Kittatinny Mountain I was scared of snakes, bears, getting lost and being shot by other hunters.
At one point I came upon some other hunters who ordered me off their land. I was glad when I got home and never went hunting again.
As we face our fears today I hope that we can exclaim with power and strength, “The Lord is my light and salvation, whom shall I fear.”
Prayer
God of all peoples, we come before you this day as The Church of the Wayfarer, asking for your blessing upon us.
As we give our lives to you we ask that you show us your ways. Where there is sickness, bring healing.
Where there is hurt, bring comfort,
Where there is separation, bring resolution for health. In this place, we lift our own concerns to you in a moment of silence. Grant us the insight to know when you speak to us.
Help us not to drown out your message.
May we know the movement of your Spirit when we experience it?
And then, may we know what you would have us do.
Praise to you, O Creator. Amen.
