Ephesians 3:20-21 "Now to him who by the power at work within us is able to accomplish abundantly far more than all we can ask or imagine, to him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen." (NRSV)
Have you ever seen something so preposterous you wondered if it was real? Have you ever shaken your head because life can be stranger than fiction? My young son Tom had that experience several years ago. And it took quite a bit of convincing from parents and grandparents that the God of all creation often shows up in an "As Seen on TV" moment.
Recently, the pastors at Arborlawn wrapped up a sermon series entitled "Days of Distinction." Acknowledging the reality of the sameness in the midst of Covid-19, sermons focused on being generous with time, love, forgiveness, and money. Corona means it was a hard time for pastors to ask people to make a commitment to their church, not knowing what the economy may look like for each household in 2021. Ephesians 3:20-21, used for the last Sunday of the Days of Distinction sermon series, reminded all of us that our God is an imaginative God...and perhaps our generosity of time, love, forgiveness, and money will be used by God to do far more than we ever could imagine.
When my children graduated from baby cartoons about tigers named Daniel or cats wearing hats, they discovered the wonderfully creative and fun Disney cartoon about two stepbrothers named Phineas and Ferb. Phineas and Ferb spend their entire summer vacation(s) creating and carrying out elaborate plans and schemes. The stepbrothers have a pet platypus named Perry. Unbeknownst to them, Perry has a secret life as the undercover Agent P, attempting to thwart the evil plots of his arch-nemesis Dr. Heinz Doofenshmirtz. Plausible plots, right? Doesn't matter, it's a fun show.
You can imagine my surprise, can't you, when I learned that my young son Tom thought that a platypus was a cartoon invention? No matter how hard we tried to convince him that there are platypuses (platypi?) IRL (In Real Life), he stubbornly insisted it was just a figment of the cartoonist's imagination. You have to admit, a duck-billed platypus does indeed look like God had some left-over parts and shoved them together all on one weird animal. In fact, a quick search on Wikipedia will remind you that the platypus is a semi-aquatic (???) mammal; the only mammal that lays eggs instead of giving birth to live young.
But, that's how our creative, big-imagination God works. I am thankful for Tom who reminded his whole family that some things are just weird and crazy. I hope you have been reminded that the same God who made the duck-billed platypus that can wow a child can make the sameness of these days uniquely distinct when you generously give of your time, love, forgiveness, and money? Sometimes I limit God by not giving my all, not giving enough, not remaining faithful. But the duck-billed platypus continues, in it's weird, wacky, warm-blooded, egg-laying way to remind us that God's imagination can do far more than we will ever dream.
How did we convince Tom that platypuses are real? YouTube. Lots and Lots of YouTube.
Written By: Christie Robbins