Dandelions (Five Iron Frenzy)

WWTW- Joshua

Introduction- Last one?

I’ve been to plenty of rock concerts to know how this goes:

The band plays most of their set list, and finishes with what most folks would consider their second best song.

Then the band goes and hides backstage, while the crowd cheers together:

One more song! One more song!

And so they come out and play a few more songs as an encore!

So this is probably the encore of the Finding God in the Music Series for this year.

And I’ve gone off script just slightly again!

My hope with this series was to do “secular” bands if you want to make that distinction.

To show that there is gospel messaging even with bands who would claim no relationship with Jesus.

But…I did say that this year I wanted to cover all my favorite bands.

And that list would be incomplete without a band from Deven Colorado, who happens to be a Christian Ska Punk band (yes, that’s a thing) called Five Iron Frenzy.

All about Five Iron Frenzy

I was introduced to Five Iron Frenzy in this very building actually, right down stairs.

I’ve lost count somewhere along the way, but I still think they are the #1 spot when it comes to bands that I’ve seen live in person.

They are for sure the band that I’ve met the most frequently, and all 8 of them are remarkable people and just genuinely kind.

They broke up for about 10 years or so, but have since gotten back together.

Personally, I think their new stuff is even better than their old stuff.

But today, we just have to do this song, because this song is Sarah’s favorite.

It’s called Dandelions, and they have said before that they intended this one to be a worship song.

So…let’s enjoy!

Dandelions

Weeds

It is remarkably true that if you are alive, you have weeds in your life.

I know that I myself at least have a few failure stories, ranging from the patently absurd to the tragic.

Failure Stories

Broken Glass Ornaments

I think I’ve told this one before, but I so love the stupidity behind it.

My friend and I used to be youth leaders.

And every Christmas we played a game where we divided the kids up into teams, and gave them 9 tasks they had to finish.

You had to finish the tasks in order, and the first team to finish their tasks was the winner.

This particular year:

Task one: Take off everyone’s shoes, put them in a box, and wrap it like a present.

Task two: steal someone else’s present.

Task three: Decorate someone on your team as a Christmas tree.

It was about the time that the third glass ornament fell to the gym floor and shattered that my friend and I looked at each other…Oh no!

We’ve created a sea of broken glass and no one knows where their shoes are!

Weeds I tell ya!

Accidentally Telling a Kid their Grandma had Passed

I used to work with a guy who’s kids were in my youth group.

One day I got the message that his mother had passed away, and that he would be taking the day off of work.

Unthinkingly, I grabbed my phone, and texted the girls from my youth group and said I’m so sorry for your loss.”

They responded with “What are you talking about?”

I had completely forgotten that they would be in school, and that their parents hadn’t told them yet.

Weeds.

Failing to show up when I said I would.

A bit more when I was younger than today (though this tendency is still alive too) I really wanted to please everybody.

So I would just say yes to whatever someone asked me to do.

You want my band to play at your birthday party? Yup!

You want me to help you move a couch in the middle of February? Absolutely!

You need me to teach a three night Bible study at your camp gig? Wouldn’t miss it!

You know what happens then, right?

First of all, frequently I would discover that I had accidentally double booked myself, and so I would inevitably let somebody down by not showing up for them.

But then, part of why that was a part of my younger years, is because when you have kids, you start to realize that every yes you say to someone else is ultimately a no at home.

They shouldn’t bear the brunt of my inability to let people down, right?

Weeds. Weeds. Weeds.

Most of what we offer to God is imperfect.

Imperfect Worship.

We sure try, but let’s be honest.

Sometimes we’re more focused on what we didn’t like about a service than about what that service did for us.

We’re more focused on what we’re getting out of it than what we’re giving to God.

Sometimes we’re in this room in body, but certainly not in mind or spirit.

Weeds.

Imperfect Mission.

I’m frequently trying to gut check my work in mission.

Am I doing this trip because it’s what’s best for the kingdom, or because it’s a good fit for my lifestyle? (GAP ride anyone?)

Are we supporting this mission partner because we can help them, or because it’ll help us feel better about ourselves?

Are we doing this work because it will build the kingdom, or because it builds our egos?

Weeds.

Imperfect Lifestyle.

Sometimes I wonder how in conflict the American Dream and the Kingdom Culture are.

Is my endless desire for more more more the way Jesus would want me to live?

Is my effort to keep up with the Jones’ getting in the way of my ability to live like Jesus?

Has my decision to divide our culture into waring political parties clouded the reality that all are God’s children, regardless of who they vote for?

Weeds. All these weeds.

We have to acknowledge the reality of that.

Our lives have plenty of weeds in them.

But like Five Iron says, God sees plenty of Flowers in these weeds.

Flowers

Paul understood this when he wrote about the Spirit in our passage today.

The Spirit

Knows our weakness.

I kind of love when we have our time of confession here in church.

Sometimes when I sit in that silence and confess to God, I can almost hear the Spirit whisper back to me:

I know.

How comforting is that?

You don’t have any secrets before the Spirit!

The Spirit knows all of our weaknesses!

And in the lyrics of another famous worship tune, that same Spirit sees it all and loves us just the same.

When I think about how exhausting it can be to keep up the facade that absolutely nothing is wrong with me, that there are absolutely no weeds in this garden, it’s a beautiful place to start with the Spirit’s knowledge.

“I know” says the Spirit, “and you are loved.”

But knowledge isn’t enough.

Intercedes for us.

This is a fantastic word in Greek, I’m going to butcher it for you:

Hyperentynchano

Oh, that’s fun!

It means to intercede sure, but it also means to plead, to beg, to advocate.

The Spirit knows all about our weeds, and keeps right on advocating for us.

With groanings far too deep for words, the Spirit of God is advocating on our behalf.

When that garden is so full of weeds we don’t even know how to pray, we don’t even know where we stand, we’ve lost our understanding of our place as Children of God,

The Spirit gets in the game in a way that language can’t contain.

Come on now Paul!

Works it all for our good.

This doesn’t mean it’s all good.

It’s not good to subject barefoot kids to a sea of broken glass.

It’s not good to break the news of a loved one’s passing inadvertently.

It’s not good to be such a people pleaser that you let down the people closest to you.

It’s not good to be a liar.

It’s not good to have an affair.

It’s not good to steal.

It’s not good to judge others.

It’s not good to do whatever broken hearted things we sinners are so good at doing.

But it’s sure working in that direction.

God is always coming alongside us to tell us that it’s ok.

God is always finding flowers in the weeds.

God is always reminding us that our past failures are not held against us at all.

And in fact, God is always inviting us to allow our past failures to teach us, to help us grow, to let us learn.

We got plastic ornaments the next year!

I’ve learned to ask “May I share this news” any time someone tells me something sensitive.

I’ve learned to value my family first, and to be a little bit less (just a little) of a people pleaser.

We can learn to tell the truth.

We can learn to be faithful.

We can learn to be honest.

We can learn to set judgement aside.

All things can work for the good.

There are plenty, plenty, plenty of flowers in these weeds.

If only we have eyes to see them.

All of this goes by another name in some circles:

We might call this grace.

And we should be careful to understand what Grace is not first:

What Grace is Not:

Grace is not our ability to earn our own salvation.

Grace is not our ability to out perform our neighbors.

Grace is not our righteousness.

Our efforts would be too full of weeds anyway.

What grace is:

Grace is a dandelion in the vase of a loving mother.

Moms, and dads too for that matter, you know why this song brings tears to our eyes.

Because we’ve been given that dandelion bouquet.

And whatever the rest of the world might think of it, to us that thing is absolutely beautiful and precious.

And we do this because on some level, we’re made in God’s image, and this is the kind of Grace God is offering us day after day after day.

Grace is when our hearts are in the right place, even when we screw it up.

So often my biggest screw ups come from the very best of intentions.

I don’t mean to mess up, it just happens, right?

In fact, I’ve come to see that this is most people.

With subtle few exceptions, there aren’t many people who are Lex Luthor level villains who are singularly focused on evil.

More often than not, we’re good hearted people who are just horrible at the execution.

Coming to this realization is helpful on both sides of the equation I’ve come to discover:

For starters, when I realize that I am capable of failure even when my heart is in the right place, I can carry a good bit of humility around with me.

But then when I see that my neighbor is wired the exact same way, when they wrong me I can be a little more open to forgiveness.

I can start to see flowers even in their weeds.

This is grace.

Grace is when God accepts us as we are, not as we could be.

There is some kind of perfect version of J out there in the future.

I can’t even name all the things that are right about him, but that guy’s awesome!

He always works out.

He’s never late.

He’s got a perfect credit score.

And everyone remembers every single word of every single sermon he’s ever preached, because he’s that good!

And who knows, maybe I’ll get there some day.

A guy can dream.

But grace is coming to the realization that your relationship with God doesn’t require you to be the perfect version of you.

God loves you right now.

God accepts you right now.

Heck, God likes you right now!

There is a vast difference between loving someone and liking someone, and God does both!

Grace is allowing yourself to be loved in the now, rather than waiting to have it all together first.

You might never get it all together, sad to say.

Don’t give up, but let’s just be real right?

So don’t for another second put off allowing that love from God to grab a hold of you.

Don’t for another second hold back on the dandelions you have to offer because you think they’re not good enough yet.

He sees love where anyone else would see weeds.

So today, open yourself up to grace.

Offer God those dandelions with a child-like reckless abandon, and sit back and bask in his joy over you.

Take a look at the dandelions that your neighbors in this world are offering too, and realize that God sees flowers in those too. Maybe it’s time for us to share that joy!

Take time to see grace and mercy in the world around us.

Find the flowers in those weeds. No matter how hard we have to look.