This Too Shall Pass (OK GO)

Scripture Reading

New Revised Standard Version: Updated Edition 2 Corinthians 4

4 Therefore, since it is by God’s mercy that we are engaged in this ministry, we do not lose heart. 2 We have renounced the shameful, underhanded ways; we refuse to practice cunning or to falsify God’s word, but by the open statement of the truth we commend ourselves to the conscience of everyone in the sight of God. 3 And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. 4 In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing clearly the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. 5 For we do not proclaim ourselves; we proclaim Jesus Christ as Lord and ourselves as your slaves for Jesus’s sake. 6 For it is the God who said, “Light will shine out of darkness,” who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.

7 But we have this treasure in clay jars, so that it may be made clear that this extraordinary power belongs to God and does not come from us. 8 We are afflicted in every way but not crushed, perplexed but not driven to despair, 9 persecuted but not forsaken, struck down but not destroyed, 10 always carrying around in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be made visible in our bodies. 11 For we who are living are always being handed over to death for Jesus’s sake, so that the life of Jesus may also be made visible in our mortal flesh. 12 So death is at work in us but life in you.

13 But just as we have the same spirit of faith that is in accordance with scripture—“I believed, and so I spoke”—we also believe, and therefore we also speak, 14 because we know that the one who raised Jesus will also raise us with Jesus and will present us with you in his presence. 15 Indeed, everything is for your sake, so that grace, when it has extended to more and more people, may increase thanksgiving, to the glory of God.

Kids to the Knowing Place

Introduction: The hardest music video ever to make.

We are continuing our Finding God in the Music Series.

And I’m excited, because this is the last time you hear from me!

We’re going to hear from lots of other voices, including Wayne Younger, and our very own Alex and Kelly, excellent musicians all!

I can’t wait to hear how God speaks to each of them through the music of our world!

But this week, we’re going to look at a song that is not extremely popular.

It’s a song called This Too Shall Pass by the Indie Rock Band “OK GO.”

And I’ll be honest with you, I’m almost more interested in the music video that goes with this song than I am the song itself.

What you are about to see:

Is all one shot, no cuts or edits.

Took 6 months of planning, by 60 people, including NASA engineers.

Contains 200 household items, but no motors or computers at all.

Took 89 attempts to get right!

Only three attempts actually made it to the end, including this one which was filmed at 2:45 in the morning.

After every failed attempt, it took 30 people roughly one hour to reset after every take.

In other words, this was a huge project!

And so let’s enjoy it together!

<Play This Too Shall Pass by OK GO>

Give up?

I wonder how many times they thought about giving up?

89 attempts, only 3 were successful.

That means that 86 times something went wrong.

The band said that a lot of times, the piano that falls near the beginning of the video would set of other elements like mouse traps a bit father down the course.

Sometimes a bowling ball would miss its target.

Something as tiny as a single lego piece could threaten to undo the whole enterprise.

86 times…something like that went wrong.

And then it took a full hour to reset the thing.

And then they started over again.

I think you can see this in their faces in this take as they get toward the end.

“Please oh please oh please oh please...”

Life can be kind of like that, can’t it?

Life can sometimes feel like it’s just hanging on by a thread.

Like a single lego out of place could bring the whole thing crashing down.

Fragile Jars of Clay

Building Legos

The other night, Sarah purchased a lego car for Joshua.

The box said good for ages 6 and up, and I think that was a little optimistic.

I spent the better part of 15 minutes looking for a piece that I had mistakenly used in the wrong place about 56 steps ago...

If you want to talk about some words floating through the Pastor’s head that we ought not repeat in church...

But at some point in that, I caught myself.

Is a lego set worth getting that frustrated over?

It happens, doesn’t it?

One thing goes wrong and we feel this darkness enter our spirits.

Because this thing is fragile.

Collapsing Trail

A few weeks ago I was riding my bike on the Great Allegheny Passage, getting ready for a particular fundraiser ride coming up.

And as I came around the corner at some point, I heard a pretty loud crash.

I came around the corner and saw this: <insert photo>

The whole hillside had collapsed one the trail, blocking off access.

I spent the next couple of minutes helping folks carry their bikes over the rubble before I turned around and went to my car.

And on that part of the pedal I had this thought:

45 seconds earlier, and I would have been under that pile of rubble.

I guess it’s a good thing that I’m slow!

It was way too big to escape.

So sometimes you find profound moments of gratitude.

Because this thing is so fragile.

Other Examples

I have known folks who have gone in to the hospital for a routine appointment and wound up playing symptom whack-a-mole: every time the doctors thought they’d found everything, they find more, because this thing is so fragile.

I have watched folks gather for a funeral service who haven’t seen each other in years, and almost without fail they leave the sanctuary saying “We really should keep in better touch,” because this thing is so fragile.

I have seen new parents go from over the moon excited to absolutely petrified, because now they have to look after this little one and figure out car seats and cribs and baby bouncers and all the little safety features that go with a little one, because this thing is so so very fragile.

Paul knew this

The treasure we have is immaculate!

Paul knew that we were the carriers of an extremely important treasure.

Paul knew that all of us were beloved creations of God above.

Paul knew that all of us were claimed and named by Jesus Christ, even those of us who cursed his name and persecuted him in our early days.

Paul knew that all of us had our sins wiped out in the precious blood of Jesus.

In short, Paul knew that all of us had the treasure of God’s grace.

The light that shines in the darkness? Paul says that’s shining in our hearts.

We have to hold it in a super fragile clay jar.

For as much as that grace is in us, we hold on to in these super fragile bodies and lives and spirits that can come undone at the slightest hint of a problem, or a stray lego on the floor in the middle of the night.

So what do we do?

We try to protect the jar.

Bigger bank accounts

I have known folks in my life, good Christian folks, who do everything they can to amass as much wealth as possible.

And not because they want to make a difference in the world.

But because they have the sense that if they have enough cash, they can pad the clay jars.

They can earn enough that they never have to worry about the jar cracking, or the mouse traps getting set off at the wrong time.

But…somewhere deep down we know the truth, right?

That no matter how big your bank account is, the clay jar is still pretty fragile.

Gruff exteriors

Some people try to hide behind a mean demeanor.

They’re just grumpy at everything, and every one.

Maybe for them the most fragile part of the clay jar is the part that beats within their chest, and they don’t want anyone to get too close to that.

And in a master of irony, they isolate themselves so much that their heart becomes bitter, and they are even more fragile than they would have been otherwise.

Sheer denial

Me? Fragile? No way.

I’m going to live forever.

This is particularly prevalent in anyone ages 14-34.

But, we all have a touch of this at times, don’t we?

…But this is lame

No matter how we try to protect the jar, it’s a really lame exercise.

Imagine that in this video, the band set up the machine, got it perfectly ready to go, and then stood back and made sure that no one ever touched it.

That would be a very boring music video!

And yet, that’s what a lot of folks who are protecting the jar are doing.

And it’s just not a very exciting or compelling life.

That’s because we were never called to protect the clay jar.

We were called to lean on the treasure with in, the grace that God gives us.

What grace lets us do

Afflicted, but not crushed

Have you ever known someone who has suffered so many medical maladies and afflictions, and yet somehow manages to be a person of character and charm and…hope?

They can be afflicted but not crushed because they’re leaning on the grace of God.

Perplexed, but not driven to despair.

I have watched folks I know struggle to find solutions to their problems. They sit perplexed at how they’re going to make ends meet, or get the kids through school, or get the car back from the shop, but they never, ever despair.

They can do that because they know the grace of God.

Persecuted but not forsaken

I have had the honor of meeting some brothers and sisters in Vietnam who have experienced real persecution.

Just to clarify, getting blocked on Twitter (or whatever we’re calling it now) isn’t persecution.

I have met Christians who have had their houses bulldozed because they profess faith in Christ.

I have met Christians who have been arrested and held without trial because they profess faith in Christ.

I have met pastors who were beaten by a family member during worship, left to die in their house church.

And yet all of them would tell you they’re not forsaken.

In every case they showed up and kept worshipping the next day they were able.

Because they know that no matter how fragile the clay jar is, the treasure is so much stronger.

In other words, they could be

Struck down, but not destroyed.

Grace resets the machine.

Grace tells us that yes, there will be attempts at this thing called life that are going to go wrong.

A mousetrap is going to go off at the wrong time.

A piano is going to feel like it’s dropping in on us at exactly the wrong time.

We’re going to say something we wish we hadn’t.

We’re going to offend someone.

We’re going to be offended by someone we love.

We’re going to get this wrong.

And the grace of Christ is enough to come alongside us and reset the machine.

Grace allows us to say we’re sorry.

Grace allows us to pick up the pieces and keep moving.

Grace allows us to make amends when we were in the wrong.

Grace allows us to enjoy these fragile lives, no matter what might get thrown at them.

Take it home!

Drop our defenses

If you have been spending untold amounts of energy and effort to defend this fragile clay jar, let it go.

Let go of the endless need to accumulate.

Let go of the gruff exterior to keep people at arms length.

Let go of the denial.

Let go of the defenses.

Let it go. This too shall pass.

I recognize that this can be scary.

But know that you’re not just letting go of your defenses.

You’re making room for God’s grace to do a work in you.

Enjoy the process!

To quote the prophets, yes, these clay jars are fragile.

But you can’t keep letting it get you down!

The point of the machine in that video was not to try to protect it.

It was to enjoy it!

It was to take wonder when it finally did come together.

It was to have fun.

The life of faith can be tricky, that’s for sure.

But when we know that we carry this treasure in clay jars, we can more accurately live in to what Brennan Manning said:

We should be astonished at the goodness of God, stunned that he should bother to call us by name, our mouths wide open at his love, bewildered that at this very moment we are standing on Holy Ground

We can be astonished that this machine works when it is fueled by the grace of God.

Refuel on grace!

Today, here around this table and out in our community as we do home communion, we remember.

We remember that no matter how fragile this life may seem, Christ poured love over us.

No matter how many cracks the clay jars might hold, Christ covers us in forgiveness.

No matter how many defences we might try to throw up, Christ gets through them all.

We gather here to remind ourselves of the treasure that each and every one of us carries in these clay jars.

We gather to be refueled on grace.

We gather to reset the machine.

And then we go from this place to enjoy it.