The Tide will come and will go
sermon by Manfred Schreyer

As I was standing by the ocean with my youngest son, Jeremias, he was asking me about the cycle of the tide.

As Jeremias has always lived in the beautiful Midwest of Ohio, he knew very little how the tide works.

Everyone learns about the tide in school, but only certain parts of the wonder stay with us. The only reason he wanted to know was because the water recedes and fishing was bad. As I was explaining to Jeremias how the tide works, that it was changing ever six hours, the ocean water was coming in for six hours, it was holding its own for six hours and was then receding for six hours. Jeremias looked at me and was still unhappy about the fishing situation. I was further explaining to him that the tide is very much depending on the moon .

The following diagram shows how the moon causes tides on Earth:

During the day, the Earth rotates 180 degrees in 12 hours. The moon, meanwhile, rotates 6 degrees around the earth in 12 hours. The twin bulges and the moon's rotation mean that any given coastal city experiences a high tide every 12 hours and 25 minutes or so.

And as I was explaining all of this God reminded me of His great wonders in this "tide process" and in the universe. We often take everything for granted . . . like fishing, etc. but we are often not reminded about the great wonders that God left for us. Sure we can explain everything with science, but please be reminded that science is just one thinking process and does not explain by far everything that surrounds us.

When you look around you there are not too many people anymore which who will acknowledge the wonders which are around us.

I believe that science has robbed us in many areas of wonders.

It is not that science has opened up all wonders and explained mysteries things that are around us. It is often that science has told us that they one day will bring an explanation to us.

And somehow we have bought into the idea that there are really no wonders and everything is or will be explainable.

The idea is that we somehow try to make things explainable so that we can believe in ourselves rather then in an amazing God.

So today I would like to remind you of wonders. Let us start with the wonder of life itself. Ask yourself: What is life? Is there a single organ that motivates life? Is there a genetic code that plans life like a calendar? What makes life? Life form is NOT explainable. It is a mystery. It is wonderful, it is amazing, it is God given.

Think of joy in your life. Joy that may be motivated by many things. Joy is a great mystery. Joy cannot be bought, it cannot be artificially created, it just comes to us by wonderful moments given to us by our loving God.

Think of love. What a mystery. Ask those who are married for decades what kept them together. All of them will tell you that this awesome feeling of belonging together, of feeling safe with each other, the feeling of being faithful maintains a love for each other. You can’t imitate love, each love is special . . . the love for your children, the love for your neighbors, the love for your God . . . the list goes on.

Think about a beautiful melody that stays with you for a long time that touches your emotion so wonderfully.

Think about a beautiful sunset. Think of the peace that this picture gives you when you find yourself in the midst of that moment.

Tell me these are not wonderful mysteries of God. And now tell me that you can explain them only scientifically.

While I was explaining the mysteries of tides to my son, I thought to myself that tides have come and gone as long as humankind has existed. There is nothing new. All mysteries have been here for a long time. Some were recognized and some we have neglected to recognize.

I am telling you all of this because I do not want us to ever forget about the masteries of God and the wonders. I want us to be thankful for life as a gift. I want us to be thankful for the feeling, giving and receiving of love, the mystery of feeling joy, of love, of sensing a deep wonderful feeling of a song, etc.

You see the problem is that when we take everything for granted, then we forget what we are supposed to be thankful for. Often in life we remember our God when we are down and have painful experiences, but when God leads us to wonderful moments and places in life we run away from God . . . we forget that it was He who led us to a truly thankful moment.

I would like for us today in this worship to enter into a time of thankfulness. I would like for us to tell God loud and clear what we are thankful for. So one by one I would like for us to get up and thank God what we are thankful for. Please remain standing. If you feel uncomfortable with sharing your thankfulness specifically, then I invite you just to say: "God I am thankful" and then I would like to lead us into a prayer of thankfulness.

I will start us off: "I am very thankful that God has brought new moments in my life which I have missed for a long time. Moments of happiness and belonging. Moments with new friends and hope for a wonderful future.

I also thank you God for this congregation their support and their love for me and my boys."

Creator and Sustainer:
We are grateful
for all the pure and loving blessings
we have received in our lives
We are grateful You have come to us
through the caringness of our friends
and that You have worked through our caring actions
for the comfort of our friends

We are grateful

You have inspired us

to look for more than meets
physical, mental, and emotional views
by providing disappointments in those areas
That we may seek out Your presence
in that quality that can never
be taken from us
Infinite Lovingness
Lovingness for our family, friends, and the creation
which are manifestations of Your Self
Your own lovingness

We am grateful
to be always able to reach
for your hand of guidance
by following the direction of our conscience
we are grateful
to feel unconditionally loved by You
as we love unconditionally
We are grateful to be able to tune our inner heart
to Your divine music whenever we choose
Letting ourselves rise within Your
uplifting presence

We are ever grateful
for our time as a human
To be able to love and feel love
body, mind
heart, soul, spirit

Prayer by Susan Kramer (modified to plural by Manfred Schreyer)

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