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It being father’s day… I thought I’d tell a little story about my Dad. There were many things in this life that my Dad loved. My Mom. My brother and sister and I. Black-eyed peas and cornbread. And of course… his chair. There was this chair in our den, and it was his. No one else’s… his. For my entire life, I never saw him sit in any other piece of furniture in that room. I mean we did have other stuff—a couch, another chair, a chaise lounge. But, he didn’t sit on those. Nope. He only sat in his chair. Never strayed. Never varied.

I never really understood his love for that chair. It wasn’t even that nice. It was this really OLD rocking chair. One of the legs was cracked and he had put a big steal clamp on it and wrapped it with duct tape. On top of that the springs in the seat would kinda poke at ya when you sat down and worst of all, it was covered with this random, brown, pleather stuff. But, he didn’t care. He loved that chair. In fact, he lived out most of his adult life in it.

He raised my brother and sister from it. While burping me, I threw up on it. From that chair, he watched Walter Cronkite report the news from Vietnam where his son was fighting. From that chair, he watched CNN broadcast the trade towers falling with his daughter in midtown. When he retired, the chair became his lookout station from which he monitored all the neighborhood goings on, and in his last few weeks at home with hospice, a trip to the den to sit in his chair was the highlight of the day. It was his comfort zone. It was a familiar place, a safe place, a place he knew.

So why am I telling you this story about this chair? Because we all have that same chair. No, we may not own a broken rocking chair, (actually, I hope you don’t). But we all have those same comfort zones. Those places that are known and familiar and safe. Maybe it is a chair that you just won’t let go of. Maybe it is a restaurant that you just love and go to all the time. Since I have moved into the parsonage, I have eaten at Bella Napoli (the Italian restaurant across the street) probably 127 times. Could be close to 130. Every time I think about going to a “new” place or eating somewhere different, I find myself walking right across the street and not only going to Bella Napoli everytime, but ordering the same thing. Penne Bolognese and garlic knots, please.

We all have our comfort zones. It may be a restaurant, it may be a job you have been in for a while, it may be a class where you don’t have to study very hard, or a relationship where you have fallen into a comfortable, predictable pattern. It also may be our spiritual lives where we’ve just stayed in the safe known places. We all have our comfort zones.

But, my message today is this—we weren’t put here in on this earth to be comfortable. Contrary to our western sense of entitlement, life is not meant to be spent in a lawn chair on a beach. We have work to do. We live in a world that screams out for our help, we have people in our lives that need our healing. There is work to be done. And in order to do it, we have to step out of our broken rocking chairs, our comfort zones.

Sometimes easier said than done. Once we get locked into a pattern, years of a pattern, it is hard to break out. Its like that old saying--some minds are like concrete: thoroughly mixed up and permanently set. My Mom grew up on a farm and she used to talk about these mules they had. Now while the mules were supposed to pull the plow, most of the time they’d just stand there… or worse, just sit down and not move. Eventually, in order to get them to move, my grandfather would build a brush fire under them, and in a minute they’d jump up hee haw hee haw! (Probably not a story I would share with animal rights activist.) But, the point is that sometimes we just have to build a brushfire under ourselves to get going. It takes courage; it takes a bit of vision and perspective to change. The great theologian… Reba McEntire once said “To succeed in life, you need three things: a wishbone, a backbone and a funny bone.” It ain’t easy… no one said it was… but to truly live our greatest potential, we have to step out of the safe places.

There are a couple of reasons why I say this. First, when we step out of our comfort zone is when we truly grow. The big thing in athletics these days is cross training. It is believed that if you do just one sport, or just one exercise over and over, the body becomes accustomed to that motion, it figures out how to do it with the least amount of energy and finally it ceases to have any benefit. Without some variance of motion, our muscles can atrophy—they can shrink and weaken and even die. Sound familiar? Many times we find ourselves in a place where we have been doing something so long, that it has become easy. And while it is ok to rest in a place of easy for a while, our lives, like our muscles, can begin to atrophy—we can begin to shrink and weaken and even die.

Think about the last time you left your comfort zone. Maybe it was something that was your choice—you traveled to a new place, you auditioned for something, you met someone new, you joined a new group. Or maybe it was not by choice. This week marks my one year of being cancer free. Lets talk about being forced out of your comfort zone. But, you’ve all crisis in your lives. Maybe it was a medical issue, maybe it was a loved one getting sick, maybe a relationship fell apart. Whatever it was, think on those times where you have left or been forced out of your comfort zone. Most of all, think about the other side of the experience. What did you learn and how did you grow. I wouldn’t wish cancer on anyone. But, I also know my life changed forever with that diagnosis and you know what… most of it was for the better.

We have to leave our comfort zones. We have to leave them in order to grow, and most importantly, we have to leave them in order to truly follow our call as Christians. Our scripture today is from the Sermon on the Mount. Familiar words. Blessed are the meek, blessed are the merciful. But, one of my favorite lines comes at the end of our scripture in verse 14. Jesus says:
 
14 "You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill cannot be hid.
15 No one after lighting a lamp puts it under the bushel basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all in the house.
16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.

Jesus is saying to stay in your safe place—to hide under your bushel basket—is not where you are called to be. Where you are called is to a place where your light is able to shine for all to see.
We are all given gifts in this life. And where those gifts are needed are not in the safe places, not hidden under the bushel basket, but out in the world, where the need screams out. Hiding the gift does not honor the giver. Nelson Mandella put it another way. He said “you are a child of God. Your playing small does NOT serve the world!”

We all have our comfort zones. Perhaps we create them out of fear. Perhaps we create them out of self doubt. Whatever the reason, Jesus is saying you are the light of the world. Do not hide that gift. Break out of your safe places. Get out of the broken rocking chair and try the couch for goodness sake. Do something unfamiliar. Do something scary. You are the light of the world. You are the light of the world. Break free and live that legacy!

Remember that. Remember that as you leave here today and remember it as you go throughout your week. Remember these words in Matthew: “No one after lighting a lamp puts it under a bushel basket, but on the lamp stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your father in heaven.”

And the people said… amen.