Sermon: "The impossible possibilities"
It is simply a fantastic sermon text today.
There is so much food for thought and so much to preach about, yes, - that there is enough material for a month's sermons. But do not worry: the pastor will try to focus on the essential among all the essentials that Jesus says.
So instead of digesting all the letters in the long text, take a moment at the front page of the church bulletin.
"For all things are possible with God."
All things are possible with God, even the impossible. Even getting a camel through the eye of a needle or making man understand both his blessings and limitations.
All things are possible with God, and much seems impossible for us.
I have called today’s Sermon: The Impossible Possibilities, and that is a paradox, because how can impossible possibilities be found.
Possibilities mean that something is doable, plausible, and possible.
Adding the small "im" makes everything impossible, right? When something is impossible, it cannot be done.
There is indeed so much that cannot be done.
It seems impossible that Danes can ever agree on whether there should be raisins in the Kringle or not.
It seems impossible that the impending elections would bring us closer together as a country.
It seems impossible to find a solution to the Israel-Palestine conflict, or the war in Ukraine.
We know that the camel cannot get through the eye of the needle.
But it is possible to hope for the opposite. To hope against better knowledge and hope with faith. To hope and believe the best. Believing in the impossible possibilities. To believe that everything is possible with God.
Johannes Møllehave has written a lovely morning hymn called "This Morning's Opportunity."
This morning's opportunity
WE breathe air in our lungs.
Hands, eyes, ears, tongues
Vibrant and happy kids.
This morning's opportunity.
Even though our children may be impossible, it is a daily joy that they are possible, living, happy kids of all ages, right? That we are blessed to embrace, love and be with these impossible possible lovely kids.
This morning's love
Fruits of the Joy We Sow
All things were given to us by grace.
Here are answers to the meaning of life.
This morning's love.
Yes, love is the answer: it is the meaning of life. What we sow in love comes back as the fruits of love. Love believes all things, hopes all things, and endures all things, as Paul so beautifully writes.
This morning's cheerfulness
Here where the darkness of the night is broken.
Where the Creator of Light Sounds
See how cheerfully everything rejoices.
This morning's cheerfulness.
Cheerfulness is an opportunity and possibility opener. Cheerfulness can make the impossible possible so that we can laugh together, be together, meet at a table, and meet in the possibility of cheerfulness despite everything that separates or divides us. As Victor Borge said, the shortest distance between people is a smile.
This morning's opportunity.
Stuck in forgotten days.
In a past that can nag
Everything is given back.
This morning's opportunity.
How often are we stuck in the past and the lost opportunities? In all the things we cannot let go of or forget, in all the impossible and mistakes, lies, and deceits?
Christianity is the very breath of the possibility of forgiveness: that we can be set free to live again, to try again, yes, to find a new way forward. To forgive others, to forgive oneself, and let this possibility of forgiveness provide room for something new. We cannot always put everything hurt behind us, but we can try to leave it in oblivion and not in bitterness.
Look at the picture on the front page again.
To me, it looks completely impossible to step out and cross this swinging, floating, uncertain bridge. I suffer from a fear of heights, and therefore my desire to conquer the wildest dares and highest peaks is small.
When I was younger, there were no wild dares and high peaks to stop me. As a child, I wore my Pippi Longstocking pajamas and could therefore do most things from climbing on the hayloft, jumping from the 10-meter diving board, and standing at the edge of the ferry. I could do that until I became a mother.
Then all the possible and impossible possibilities became my limitation. I could no longer walk to the edge or even enjoy Tivoli's roller coaster or jump from cliffs into blue water in Corfu like when I was 18.
For me, it became impossible when I became a mother. All worries were possible. I could worry and imagine all possible and impossible scenarios. And challenging life with reckless behavior was no longer an option.
The Pipi Longstocking pajamas were put away, and the worried mother hen was born.
"For with God, all things are possible."
What freedom is to be found in this statement. What hope. I should dare to be Pippi Longstocking again and give myself into the daring places of life?
This past week, I heard this week a very moving interview with an Israeli rabbi who was asked about the terrible day of October 7 last year, when Israel was attacked and many families lost loved ones.
Amid all the hopelessness, he spoke of hope as the only possible way. No other way was possible, even though hope might seem impossible.
The Rabbi mourned what had happened, but he also mourned the thousands of lives lost in the war that is now still raging in Palestine and Gaza.
Hatred is not an option if you want life.
If you love life and believe in God, hope is the only answer.
The rabbi talked about the beautiful day that he had shared with representatives of other religions in the days leading up to Yom Kippur.... The Day of Atonement.
They gathered at the Ocean, and they threw stones into the sea, all their lamentation and despair, all their pain, - and gathered with their feet in the same water in a prayer for peace and hope.
The impossible hope is the only way if one loves life and believes in the God of life.
Today's text began with this exchange between a zealous young man who so wants to be good and righteous. So, he asks Jesus how.
Jesus lists all the commandments: the 10 commandments in a row. And the young man claims that he has adhered to them all his life, right from his youth.
Jesus then says, "You only need one thing.... Go and sell and give away all your possessions to the poor, and then come and follow me."
How sad he was the young man. He just wanted so badly to be good, righteous, and better than everyone else, - and then he gets this impossible task.
You almost feel sorry for him.
And that is exactly what Jesus did for us. Felt sorry for us. Caring and loving, he gave us the possibility to live despite our faults and shortcomings, yes, to live with the hope that with God everything is possible; to forgive us our inadequacies and to give us a second chance.
The former Danish bishop Tine Lindhardt said the following:
"God has all the power, and nothing is impossible for him. We can do a lot, but there are significant limitations in our lives, not least the border of death. But also, our pettiness and self-centeredness can cause life to shut down around us. We often think in terms of something for something and not something for nothing. God is, generous. For him, anything is possible. Even when we shut down life, He opens it up - opens the world, creates space so that life arises where we do not think it possible:” Tine Lindhardt
One of the countless books that is found in our Library is the funny and glorious almanac by Hella Joof: "Days of Meekness, Adversity and Miracles."
The book shows us that there are days for everything. Days for smiles, days for tears. Days where everything succeeds, and days that go awry. Days of miracles and bad hair days. Doomsday and dream days.
There are 4 miracle days in the book.
April 25 Miracle Day 2:
There are only two ways to live. One is as if nothing is a miracle. The other is as if everything is a miracle.
7 October: Miracle Day 3
Today, miracles happened. It does every day, but today you notice it. The sun rises. Love blossoms, and Things succeed.
So let this day be a Miracle Day where we hope and believe that everything is possible with God – and where the impossible possibilities surprise us, delight us, challenge us and strengthen hope. And opens our world up as only God may. Amen