Return to Sermon Page

August 15, 2004; Proper 15, Year C
    The Rev. Harold "Skip" Comer, Rector

THE COMFORT ZONE (sound effects).  It sounds like something that Rod Sterling should be narrating – The Comfort Zone.  Aside from fear and effort, nothing keeps people so firmly anchored in one spot.

Several years ago, Karen Morgan,[1] a social worker, wrote about our comfort zones and how they affect us.  I was reminded of this article because of the Parish Forum that we had on Wednesday evening.  Many people had reservations about having the forum because of what could have happened – a big explosion over the issues.  What did happen, is something that I am very proud of, friends willing to share their opinions and feelings, and at the end of the forum, friendly good-byes and hugs.  I don’t believe that anyone’s mind was changed, but we were willing to sit down and talk about issues, even if it made us uncomfortable.  So our “comfort zones’ we challenged, first in deciding to attend, and then in our listening and talking.

A comfort zone is exactly what it says.  It is a zone – a set of ideas or positions, or a place where we feel comfortable.  We have comfort zones in every area of our lives – career, finances, emotions, physical abilities, relationships, and spiritual life.  How much we grow in any or all of these areas depends upon our willingness to step our of our comfort zones.

Growth does not occur without effort.  Learning to eat solid food was one of our first experiences in which we were forced out of comfort and security, and into another stage of our life.  Can you remember how hard it was to give up your bottle?  It this case there was probably more effort, or at least more endurance on the part of our parents than us, because we gave up the bottle.

I remember the first time that I rode a two wheeled bicycle.  It was my sister’s bike and I climbed onto it with her help, she then gave me a shove, and I rode right into a telephone pole.  We the bike was ok, but I rolled around on the ground in pain for a while.  I wanted to immediately go back to my tricycle where I felt more confident that I would not get hurt, in other words I sought my comfort zone.

We all have reasons for everything that we do.  The question is – how much of what we do is motivated by a need to stay within our comfort zones?  People generally stay within their comfort zones because of the safety and familiarity that it provides.   At seven years old I was certainly more familiar with my tricycle, than my sister’s bicycle.  Sometimes we want safety and the familiar more that we want the opportunities that present themselves to us.

It is important for us to realize that everything comes at a price.  It is up to us to choose whether we want to pay the price or not.  As the saying goes, “you give up some things in order to get others.”  Choosing to remain comfortable and safe carries with it the price of missed opportunities and growth.  Twenty-five years ago I was very comfortable because I was in familiar surroundings and was successful at what I was doing.  If I would have stayed in Goshen, Indiana, as a policeman, I would not be here today. 

Sometimes our growth can come at a very high price.  Jesus talks of division being created within families because one or more of their members makes the decision to follow him.  This is not necessarily the picture that we have of Jesus.  Why would he want to split up a family or cause conflict to take place?  It is because the decision to follow Jesus, or better said, to accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, is going to take us out of our comfort zones, and quite possibly out of the comfort zones of our families.  To become a Christian demands that we move out of the comfort of this world and our human desires, and into the kingdom of God.  Many people thought that I had lost some of my marbles when I decided to quit the police department after having just been promoted to Detective Captain.  Selling our home and moving to seminary was traumatic, and for a time I was not to sure that my family and some friends weren’t right.  This is an extreme example, but it does help to convey that becoming a Christian means our lives will, or at least they are suppose to, change.

From a human perspective, Jesus would have probably been more comfortable in the Messiah that the Jews wanted, rather than the Messiah of God.  And that is what makes the difference.

We live in a world that has a great deal of influence upon us, the church, and Christianity.  Remember Jimmy Baker and how after he had spent some time in prison he had a change of heart on his “Prosperity Gospel”?  I remember when I heard this, I thought “right,”  “I’m going to wait and see if he really has changed.”  Jimmy Baker is just one example of how the values of this world, or maybe I should say our values, have influenced and even infiltrated the church, religious leaders, and our own faith.  Too often we can bring what we are comfortable and familiar with into our religious beliefs and our relationship with God.

Certainly we are more comfortable with that which surrounds us.  And many times when a choice is presented we will naturally lean toward the more familiar.  Perhaps that is the real struggle that we have.  The world in which we live is too familiar, too comfortable, and God is, well less familiar, and at times we get an uncomfortable feeling about God.

It takes effort to maintain any relationship, I have said that many times before.   We can fall in love by accident, but the relationship that develops after that is an intentional effort on the part of those involved in the relationship.  Jesus and the Holy Spirit are the intentional effort of God to develop a relationship with us.   Are we willing to move out of the comfort and familiarity of what we know and experience everyday, and into a different experience of being a devoted follower of Jesus Christ?

The choices that we make have a price, and we will pay either way.  Jesus made his choice, and I dare say that he was not as comfortable physically because of it.  He paid the price for being true to who he was, the Messiah of God.  Do we want to remain a part of this world forever and eventually become dust, or are we willing to step out in faith, away from many of our comfort zones, and become an inheritor of God’s kingdom.

Return to Sermon Page