Below you will find a short sermon I used while with the Boy Scouts in Boundary Waters. I hope you will enjoy.
As we gather today at the Boundary Waters, I get an awesome sense of God’s majesty. So much of our days are spent in hustle and bustle. But here, at the Boundary Waters, we get to see what God has designed for us. In Genesis Chapter 1, it says that God created the heavens and the earth. He has created all we see today. I cannot think of a better time or place to have a worship service. To be one with God and his splendor.
After God created all we see, the water, the plants and animals, he then created man and woman in “their” image. See Genesis 1:26-27. He gave us dominion over all earthly things. With that however, comes great responsibility. As we can see here today, and the days to come on this trip, much of what we will experience will be much the same as how God created, and what he intended the land to look like. The Boundary Waters, have been kept up, and essentially not changed. We as Boy Scouts know that we should put things back in better shape than how we found it. This is nothing to be taken lightly. No, this is a duty and honor and our responsibility as charged by God himself. As we travel, travel in prayer to God and see what he has in mind for you. God will surround us the entire time.
God knew long ago that he had many plans for his people, you and I. As a Christian, we believe in the Holy Trinity. God the father, through his Son and the Holy Spirit with in us and through us all the times. While in the Boundary Waters, God’s Land, as he created it, be aware of the Spirit. He will come and visit. Be mindful of God and look for his prescience.
As a Christian, we were given a model of how we should act. If we follow and do as Jesus did, we can please God at all times. Jesus, God mad flesh is our guide, even today. God loved and loves us so much that he reduced himself to human form. He lived among us for 33 years. He experienced what we have and what we will.
There is only a limited number of molecules in the world. So, what does that mean to us? It means that today, we could be breathing the same molecules that Jesus did. It means that the water we cross, bath in and swim in, could contain the molecules that once touched Jesus. Jesus is present in all living things. Through prayer this week, keep a watchful eye for Jesus. You never know when you might see him.
Jesus’ love was so great that he willingly put himself in situations that were going to cause him great pain, and eventually be nailed to a dead piece of his father’s own creation, a tree Jesus was nailed to and left to die. Jesus allowed this, not for his sake but for ours, so what when he rose, we would know that we to had an eternal life. Jesus had the power to stop his own death, but had the compassion and love to allow his death. “and Jesus cried again with a loud voice, and yielded up his spirit”, Matthew 27:50.
In Matthew 14:25 Jesus walks on the lake. Take an opportunity to be open this week, and see Jesus walking on the waters this week. See the awesome things that God has made for us. Pray, and keep right on praying. As we paddle, as we look upon what God has created, look and feel for the Holy Spirit. God, Jesus and the Spirit are waiting on us. They are reaching and looking for us. Make ourselves available for all that they have in store for us.
Amen