Sermon 9-2-07

Ha! God hates me... gotta preach again. So the background of this is the lectionary didn't give me much to preach on, so I literally opened the bible and picked a passage. Numbers 22: 20-35. Balaam and the talking donkey.

Here's the background info and my plug for the FUMC puppeteers. They do a better job of creating these puppets than I do.

Balaam is a prophet. His job is to connect the people with God. Someone has a prayer request, Balaam takes it to God. God gives Balaam an answer and then Balaam takes it back to the person requesting. Balaam is known as a corrupt or wicked prophet.

Balaak is the king of Moab. Think small town. The Isrealites as they are wandering in the desert, stop near Moab. Large mass of foreigners that just stops near the city. Moab didn't have a department of tourism for the Isrealites. Moab simply didn't have the means to support the large influx of people. How quickly would they run out of food? Supplies? Would these people take over? Balaak needs to get rid of these people before they become too powerful for the city. Who should he call... the prophet, so God could curse them and make them leave.

This story goes something like....
Balaak call Balaam to come curse the Isrealites... "yo, man, I got these pesky foreigners in my backyard, can you talk to the big guy and hook up a little curse" Balaam thinks... oh, the king is calling me, this is good for business... Balaam being the upmost business man never known to pass up an opportunity... "sure I'll see what I can do"

So... Balaam talks to God... "Hey big guy, Balaak needs a curse on the Isrealites."
God says "DO NOT CURSE THE ISREALITES... THEY'RE MY CHOSEN PEOPLE"
Balaam says... " But dad..."
God says.... NO

So... Balaam goes back to Balaak... Sorry, God said no. Don't shoot the messenger...

So... Balaak bribes Balaam... Hey, what if I throw in a nice bonus for you... $20k....
Balaam....well... God said no, so sorry.
Balaak... $50k?
Balaam... umm...
Balaak... $100 K
Balaam... ignores him

Thats how we get to todays passage. God finall tells Balaam. Go, only if they come back again. But we see Balaam going anyways. He doesn't wait... he goes. On the way there, his donkey breaks down 3 times because the donkey sees God and responds to God and yet Balaam is obvlious. I can just see Balaam thinking... $100K.. a nice big screen TV, save a little for retirement, oh, I'd give a litte to the church, and buy a new donkey- what is with this donkey. Balaam is so focused on the going and planning and doing, that he misses God in all of it. Then the donkey starts to talk to him, and it doesn't faze him that the donkey is talking to him, but responds as if this is a normal everyday thing.

I think we all feel like Balaam sometimes. We are so focused on the going and doing, that we miss God in all of it.

It was January of 2006 when I was living in Eau Claire. I had worked in the non profit sector since Sept of 2004, and the entire time, God was calling me to ministy. I was at the point where I needed to focus on either working or volunteering in a ministry setting to see if I could do it and sick of living in Eau Claire. Its a great place to raise a family, but not a great place to be young and single. After spending most of the 6 months prior, looking to move to Minneapolis / Milwaukee. Interviewing with no success. Thinking I was moving to Milwaukee to take care of my grandmother to only have her die the weekend I was here interviewing for jobs. I hit a point where I knew I needed to leave Eau Claire, and find out if I was really suppose to be in ministry or go back to school and get a job I would make money in. I spend the first weeks of January interviewing for any job anywhere-Ohio, Washington, Minneapolis when I was walking home from the computer lab, and it hit me. I was moving to Milwaukee. I was let down, because I did the Milwaukee thing, I wanted something new. I still continued to look for jobs, focusing on Milwaukee and to some extent Mineapolis or St Paul, it made sense. After about a week of this. I had another knowing feeling. The job would find me. I thought I was tired, so I went home that night thinking of the unlikely possibiliy of a job finding me. I was talking to my co-workers, who pretty much knew I wanted to move, and told them about my feeling. I tried to ignore it, but two days later, I checked my email after lunch and received an email... we have this position open for a youth minister, would you apply. From Kaye Glennon.