Sermon from March 9, 2008

Sermon: March 9, 2008 Girl Scout Sunday

I Peter 4: 7-11
7 The end of all things is near; therefore be serious and discipline yourselves for the sake of your prayers. 8 Above all, maintain constant love for one another, for love covers a multitude of sins. 9 Be hospitable to one another without complaining. 10 Like good stewards of the manifold grace of God, serve one another with whatever gift each of you has received. 11 Whoever speaks must do so as one speaking the very words of God; whoever serves must do so with the strength that God supplies, so that God may be glorified in all things through Jesus Christ. To him belong the glory and the power forever and ever. Amen.

This coming Wednesday, it will be the 96th Anniversary of Juliette Low’s founding of the Girl Scouts of America. I wished I could have met this lady. In the first edition of the Girl Scout handbook, apparently she taught how to do things like tie up a burglar with eight inches of cord and how to stop a bucking horse.

But there is a legacy behind all the adventures that she wanted for girls to undertake. We have those listed in our bulletins. The Girl Scouts have a promise, a law, a slogan, and a motto. These condense into a few words what has developed from an initial group of a dozen and a half girls 96 years ago to two and a half million today. And when these words are spoken, they are the background for an incredibly wide ranging and rich heritage for every girl who experiences them.

I want to turn from that legacy to a legacy left to us in Scripture. In Peter’s first letter, he is giving advice to the people he is writing to on living as God’s children. In this passage, that service is expressed in five specific things, first, serious, disciplined prayer, second, love for one another, third, being hospitable to one another, fourth, serving one another, and fifth, speaking to each other. I want to talk about those five this morning.

First, Peter says to be serious and disciplined for the sake of your prayers. Why? Consider, what is a prayer? A prayer is a conversation with God, our Creator, our Redeemer, our Sustainer. God is all powerful, all loving, the giver of all good things. So if you are going to pray to God, you want to be serious about it, you want to be focused about it. This is something that you really want to do.

It also takes discipline to pray, to get into the habit of prayer. You can pray once, maybe when someone you know is sick, or maybe before a big test. But prayer, talking to God everyday, that takes a determined effort, applying to get it done each day.

It sounds like Girl Scouts. If you want something from Girl Scouts, you have to be serious about it. I mean, you can just show up at the meetings, you can hang out with your friends, but if you are going to be responsible for your community, if you are going to respect others, if you are going to do a good turn daily, that takes practice. And it takes discipline to practice, to do something each day until it becomes a part of your routine.

The second thing Peter talks about sounds easy, maintain constant love for one another. You know why? Love covers a multitude of sins. You all have friends, right? Some good friends? Do they ever annoy you? Have they ever hurt you, by accident of course? What do you do? Do you annoy them back? Well, maybe. Do you hurt them back? I hope not. Forgiveness is part of the Girl Scout way. You forgive them and they forgive you and your friendship continues. That is love overcoming the bad. Love in the good times is easy. Peter knows that. But he also wants us to know that love is important, no, its necessary for the bad times too.

The third thing is that you have to be hospitable to one another. That means you have to show hospitality. That means showing warmth, welcoming someone, showing kindness and generosity. And then Peter adds something, do it without complaining. Do something nice for someone without complaining about it. How many of you have little brothers and sisters? Have your mom or dad ever told you to watch them? Have you ever said something like “Do I have to?”

And if you do watch them, are you nice to them? Or do you sit on them to make sure they behave? That is not very hospitable, even if they are royal pains in the backside. Lets go back to Girl Scouts. Have you had new girls come into the troop? Have you been the new girl? Have you shown hospitality? Included them in the games? Shown them how to do things? See, there are a lot of places you can do this. And it takes discipline, you have to practice it.

Fourth, you serve one another with the gifts God has given you. And these are the gifts that God has given to you. We have any good joke tellers in the group? Any good story tellers? Do you share your jokes? Do you share your stories? Does anybody specialize in silliness here? Are there other special things you can do? Do you get to share those with your families? With your friends?

You know why it is so important to share your gifts? The bible language is a little thick, it says to be like good stewards of the manifold grace of God. Well, what does that mean? It means when God has put something in your heart or in your mind or in your body that you can do for someone else, you are the steward of that gift. You are in charge of that gift. And it is your responsibility to use that gift to serve other people. You good in some subject at school? Serving someone else may be helping them with their schoolwork. You a good athlete? Serving someone may be helping someone who is not as good as you to get better, to teach them, to practice with them.

The last one Peter talks about is speaking to one another. He says whoever speaks must do so as one speaking the very words of God. Here are a few things that God does not do when God speaks in the bible. God does not call people names. God does not lie to people. God does not use bad words against people. God does not play mean jokes on people.

We talked about love a little earlier and I asked if anyone had ever hurt you. Who here has ever had something really mean said to them? Maybe the words were so hateful you even cried, or felt like crying. Words can hurt if used badly. That is why Peter says speak the words of God. The words of God are loving, they are respectful, they lift you up, they forgive you, they are kind.

Finally, how do we do all this stuff? There seems to be so many rules, so many things to remember. Well, you have the Girl Scout promise to help you. How does it start? On my honor, I will do my best to serve God. Well, in our passage, Peter has something to say about serving God. It says whoever serves must do so with the strength that God supplies.

This means we are not by ourselves. When we do good things, God gives us the strength to do them. In the Christian faith, we believe especially that Jesus took all the bad things we do onto himself when he died, so that we can be forgiven when we do bad things, sinful things, instead of the good stuff.

But when the good stuff goes on, when we pray or show love, when we are hospitable, serving each other, speaking good things, that makes something beautiful. And that beauty we make here makes our God more beautiful, more glorious. And we celebrate one example of that this morning. Juliette Gordon Low, Daisy, wanted these good and beautiful things for the girls of her community. From her, we have received the gift of the Girl Scouts where good and wonderful things happen, all in service to God.

May the words of Holy Scripture and the words and actions of these blessed women show us the beauty of God today.

Amen.