You Can Be A Dinosaur

Sermon, Luke 1:26-38

You Can be a Dinosaur

Pr. Paul Cannon

Grace and Peace Bethany Lutheran Church, from God our Father, the Holy Spirit that connects us, and our Lord Jesus Christ, AMEN.

Do you remember when you were little and anything was possible?  When you were in preschool, or elementary school, grownups would come up to you and they would ask you the question, “What do you want to be when you grow up?”

The beauty of being a little kid is that when you are that age, you really can do anything.  If you said you wanted to be an astronaut, adults would look at you and enthusiastically say “Ooh, that’s nice dear.”

But if I told my wife today I wanted to be an astronaut, she would say the same thing - except sarcastically - “Oh yeah, that’s nice dear.”  When you are little the whole world is in front of you - nothing is impossible.

When people asked me as a young child what I wanted to be when I grew up, I would tell them that I wanted to be a “Policeman ... and a Donut Maker.”  BOTH.  Because...you know, it’s the perfect combination.

Kids don’t really know any boundaries yet, so when they imagine their future, they think they can be anything.  On Bethany Lutheran’s Facebook page a while back, we shared with you a video from a Christian comedian named “Michael Jr.”  On the video, Michael Jr. is talking about his four year old son, who came up to him one day and said, “Dad, I want to be a doctor.”

Of course, that’s what every parent wants to hear, so Michael Jr. gives a fist pump and says “Yes!  Yes!” And then the son looks up at his dad again and says, “Or a dinosaur.” Or a dinosaur! I love it! He either wants to be a doctor or a dinosaur and the kid doesn’t see anything wrong with that.

You see what I mean don’t you?  To a young child, anything is possible.  Anything!  You can be a donut maker and a policeman.  You can be a doctor.  You can be a DINOSAUR!

But then you start to grow up and begin to discover your limitations.  At some point, we all come up against the harsh realities of our world that tell us what we can’t do.  You’re not smart enough, the world tells you. You’re not charismatic enough.  You’re not strong enough. You’re not educated enough.  You’re not funny enough. You’re not pretty enough. You’re not talented enough. You’re not brave enough.  The older you get, the more walls you discover.  Reality sets in as we learn the boundaries of our world.  

But then we arrive at our gospel story today.  Mary, a virgin, is visited by the angel Gabriel.  And Gabriel says to her, “Mary, you’re going to bear a son.”  Mary was young, but she was old enough to know that wasn’t possible..

So Mary asks the angel, “How can this be?”  And the Angel Gabriel tells her, that God was going to create a baby in her womb, and that she should name this baby Jesus.  Then Gabriel gets to the heart of Mary’s question and says this:

For nothing will be impossible with God.

Nothing will be impossible.  Anything can happen.  With God, the whole world is in front of you - just like when you were a kid.

Believing is the hard part for us adults, because even if we wanted to, I’m not sure we could just turn off the so-called rational parts of our brain.  No matter how hard you try, there is always going to be a part of you that will ask the question “Really?  Was Jesus really born to a virgin?  Did he really walk on water? Did Moses really part the Red Sea?”

You could run yourself ragged asking these questions.  We are pretty much all aware of the boundaries of science.  Water doesn’t turn into wine.  Virgins don’t get pregnant.  People can’t walk on water.

And yet, this story asks us to reorient our entire frame of mind.  The angel Gabriel says to Mary “Nothing will be impossible with God.”  Nothing!  

I can’t stress how important that is, because if it’s true that all things are possible through God - if it’s true that Jesus could have been born to a virgin and Moses could have parted the Red Sea, and the dead could stand up and walk - if it’s true that these things are possible with God, then who knows what other possibilities are out there that we haven’t dared to imagine since we were kids!

In a world where all things are possible through God, then maybe you can be a dinosaur!  Maybe the Cubs have a chance at winning the World Series (next year). 

We could get more serious about it too. Maybe with God, there’s a chance for peace in the Middle East. Maybe with God, there is a chance you to reconcile with your loved ones. Maybe with God, the hopeless alcoholic has a chance of getting sober. Maybe with God, those Pakistani school children will be reunited one day with their parents. Maybe...there is no limit to God’s possibilities.

There’s one more possibility I want to mention. Maybe those barriers that tell you aren’t good enough have never been true with God. Maybe you already are enough to God. Maybe it’s possible that you don’t have to become something else. (That’s grace) Maybe God’s love for you is already so great that he would send his son into the world - born of a virgin in the messiness of a barn.  

I’m not asking that you uncritically believe everything you’re told - even if it comes from the Bible or the pastor - or that you should abandon all reason and thought.  God gave us brains for a reason people!  Please use them.

What I am asking you to do this Christmas season, is to allow yourself to believe in the God in whom all things are possible.   It doesn’t mean that everything you want to happen will, and it doesn’t mean that everything that should happen does.  

But it does mean that you can hope for all good things in this God.  It does mean you can pray for all good things to God and to ask for all good things from him. In your life with God, it means that all things are possible  - all those things that you were too afraid to believe could be possible ... are.

One more thing:  I want you to find a scrap of paper - maybe tear off the bottom of the Tall insert, or the back of a receipt, and write the words “You can be a dinosaur” - not because that’s something that literally could happen, but as a reminder that with God, we can hope and pray for all good things.

Then fold it up and put in your pocket or your wallet or your purse and the next time you take it out, remember that with God, nothing will be impossible.

Thanks be to God,

Amen