Rev. John A. Fleming

I want to start this morning by telling you that my Saturday morning routine is not what it used to be. It used to be that I would try to sleep as late as I could, and if I was still in my pajamas at noon, then that was all right with me. A little over a year ago, my schedule suddenly changed. Now I am trying my best to convince my daughter, Annie Grace, that there is a difference between Saturday morning and Friday morning. I have told her that her folks would like to sleep late on Saturday mornings. This morning I want to share with you when I was a little boy, I used to like to get up on Saturday morning just as early as I could. My parents liked me to sleep a little later on Saturday mornings. But I loved getting up early on the sixth day of the week. On Friday mornings, I had to be nudged out of bed. But on Saturday mornings I loved to get up early. I would slip past my parents’ bedroom door. I would tiptoe down the hallway. I would close the door ever so gently to the hall, and then I would go through the den and into the kitchen. I did all of this around six o’clock. When I arrived in the kitchen, I would reach for my favorite cereal bowl and my favorite cereal. At the time, I loved Frosted Flakes. My mother never let me eat Frosted Flakes. She preferred that I eat Cherios or Rice Chex, but I loved Frosted Flakes. Then I would go to our refrigerator and reach for the milk. I would pour milk onto my cereal. To be honest with you, most of the milk and some of the cereal ended up on our kitchen’s floor. Then I would go into our den. I would turn on our television, making sure that the volume was down, and I would watch Saturday morning cartoons.

Can you remember watching Saturday morning cartoons? I want you to know that for the past three or four weeks, I have been doing research on Saturday morning cartoons. These cartoons are not what they used to be. I looked for Bugs Bunny, Daffy duck, Tweety Bird, Elmer Fudd, Pepe LePew, but I could not find them anywhere. I did discover there is a cable channel devoted to these kinds of cartoons. The channel is called the Cartoon Network. The great thing about this channel is that you can watch cartoons whenever you want to watch them. On these past Saturday mornings, what I have noticed is that you can watch the Power Puff Girls, or the Rugrats, or Pokemon. If you want to watch Pokemon for four straight hours, I am sure that you would be able to do that. I like the classics. I like Bugs Bunny, and I like Elmer Fudd. I like all those cartoon characters. Let me ask you this. Did you secretly, in your heart, want Wild E. Coyote to catch the Roadrunner? You did, didn’t you? It never occurred to me that if the Roadrunner was caught, the cartoon would be over, and that would be it. Secretly in my heart I wanted the Roadrunner to be caught by Wild E. Coyote.

I liked Saturday morning cartoons, but there was one particular show that was my favorite. This cartoon can no longer be found on any show. This cartoon was called Super Friends. In this cartoon, all of the super heroes gathered in one place. I believe that their headquarters was called Freedom Hall. All of the great super heroes were there. The Flash was there. I liked The Flash. He could run around the world in just seconds. Spiderman was there. All of the super heroes were there. Wonder Woman and her invisible plane were there. And then there was my favorite of the super heroes. Batman and Robin were not favorite super heroes. I liked Superman. Superman could leap tall buildings in a single bound. I used to think that if I would just put my fist out, I could fly.

One Saturday, I went into my Mother’s linen closet. I got what I thought was an old towel (it turned out not to be), wrapped it around my shoulder blades, got a clothes pin, and pinned it. I knew that I was Superman. Because I was convinced that I was Superman, I went to John Woodall’s house. Behind the Woodall’s house was the best hill in our neighborhood. I stood on top of that hill. If I could leap tall buildings in a single bound, I thought that this hill would be no problem. I lifted my hand out, got a running start, and I flew! I landed on my head, which might explain something to you about me. I just knew that I could fly. I knew I could fly.

I heard this story about a man who lived a century of two ago. He told his friends one day that he had conquered the art of flying. Flying, not on an airplane, but personally flying. He said that anyone that wanted to see him could come at noon, and watch him do this. At noon, he got on top of his house. With a crowd gathered there, he jumped off his roof and began to wave his arms furiously. He landed on his head. And when he came to, his friend said, “I thought that you said you had conquered flight?” He said, “I have. I have conquered flight. It’s my landings that need a little work.” The truth is that the world teaches us to soar to the heights, to do the very best, to fly to the greatest heights. But, the world also tells us that we need to know how to land.

A girl was raised in a wonderful family. When she was born, her mom and dad knew she was special. There was no doubt about that. They knew that she would do great things in her life, and they wanted to protect her. So, when it came time for her to go to school, they left her at home. They only let her watch the best of television shows, and she never read the newspaper, not ever. When she was 18, after having private tutors her entire life to home school her, she left home for college. For the first time, she discovered what the world was really like. She discovered how hard and awful life can be. She wrote home, she called her parents, and she talked about her struggles. She talked about how hard life was. And her parents listened. This girl got married and then quickly divorced. Then one day, the car that she was driving went around a turn too fast. She lost control of the car and she died in that accident. In the months that followed, the mother of this very smart young lady read her daughter’s diaries. She turned to her husband and said, “Honey, I know we taught our daughter to fly. There’s no doubt about it. We taught her to be the very best; she got the best training. But, I’m not really sure we taught her how to land.”The Bible says that you had better know how to land if you are going to soar to the heights. Life is structured in such a way that you will fall, and you will fail, and when you do, you had better know how to pick yourself up.

A year or so ago, I was flying home from a conference in another town. When we neared Little Rock, I was excited about being home. It was then that I heard the word from the flight attendants. “The captain has turned on the fasten your seat belt sign. Please put your tray in it’s upright and locked position.” Do you know what her words were? Her words were landing instructions.

Our scripture lesson for today, from the prophesy of Isaiah, we get a different kind of landing instructions. The prophet is writing to the people that have known what it is like to fly to the highest height. They are the people of God who have done more, and maybe accomplished more than any other people. They soared high and did well. Their temple was the most glorious one. Then the Babylonians came in, destroyed their city and their temple and sent the Israelites into exile. Friends, do you know what it is like to be taken into exile? When Susie and I first married, she thought we were in exile when we moved to Arkansas, but found it to be promise land, and a land of promise. The Israelites are in exile. They are there, not because they soared too high. I love this line in our sermon. Are you listening? The Israelites are there not because they soared too high; they are there because they stooped too low. What sent the Israelites into exile were their sin and their behavior. Like us, when we are in a land of exile, the Israelites call out to God and ask, “God, do you not care? Do you not know what is happening to us? Do you not realize that we are here?” Then we have these wonderful words from the prophet. One of the messages of the Bible is that no matter what happens, when you fall, and when you fail, God is there to pick you up. I think that is one of the main messages of this wonderful passage of scripture. “Have you not known? Have you not heard? The Lord is an everlasting God. He gives power to the faint, and rest to the weary, and picks us up.”

Now, what are we to do with these words of scripture this morning? Have you ever felt like the people of Israel? Have you ever thought or said, “Lord, do you not care? Do you not know what I am going through?” I am struggling here!” Sure you have. Sure you have. And because you have, then you know these words of Isaiah. Here is what I think. I think that there is a tendency to stay on the ground once we have fallen. Winston Churchilll, I am told, once preached a commencement address at a college. He stood up when it was his time to give the address. He walked to the podium and said,. “Don’t give up. Never give up. Don’t give up.” Then he sat back down. Winston Churchill was an expensive speaker, I am sure. The president of the college looked over at Winston. His look asked, “Aren’t you going to say something else?” So Winston got back up. He walked back to the podium and he said this, “Don’t give up. Never give up. Don’t give up.” Then he sat back down. Do you suspect that that college graduation class ever forgot that commencement address? I have graduated from high school, college, and seminary, and I don’t remember a word anyone said. But those who heard Winston’s words will never forget them.

In an interview with the president of the Rolls Royce car company (do any of you drive Rolls Royce’s? If you do, I’d like to speak to you about your pledge!), an interviewer asked this question: “Sir, do your cars ever break down?” He thought about it a minute, then he said, “No, but sometimes they fail to proceed.” I like that. That is the danger here, friends, that is the real danger. Something happens. Something terrible, maybe something not so terrible. Life hits us and we fall. It is easy just to stay on the ground, and not to get back up. “Have you not known? Have you not heard? The Lord is an everlasting Lord. He gives power to the faint. Yes, even youth shall be weary. You shall mount up with wings like eagles. You shall run and not be weary. You shall fly to the heights, and you will soar.” Maybe, when you are there, in that kind of a state, you will be able to hear the words in your heart. “We are nearing Little Rock National Airport. Please put your lives in upright and locked position because we are not only going to land, we are going to land well.” Is there anything better than a smooth landing? I love smooth landings.

This week, I want to encourage you with Winston’s words. “Don’t give up. Never give up. Don’t give up.” And with the words of Isaiah, “You shall run and not be weary. You shall fly to the heights.” Let us pray.

(Special thanks to Rev. Mark Trotter for the idea for this sermon and for two of it’s stories. Thanks to Warner Brothers who helped my childhood enjoyable with cartoons such as Bugs Bunny and Friends. Special thanks to my parents who taught me to fly and who did not get upset when I borrowed one of their best towels. Thanks also to God who encourages me to fly and to land well. I am not sure where the Winston Churchill story originated, but it is a wonderful story of encouragement).

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