Williams House Chapel Service, 13 June 2010
Sermon: Sam Tipping
Theme: Making Choices
Most of us in this Chapel were born with a good head start and many privileges. Our lives are filled with great things and it is our choice as to how we use them. If we make bad choices, our privileges will be deprived; if we make good choices we can regain or enhance existing privileges.
Sometimes the outcomes of our choices can be blatantly obvious and the consequences of wrong choices can even be fatal.
An example of this was when Celia Lashlie came to our School and talked to us about adolescence and the choices we make. She told us a story about a teen driving over the speed limit with his best mate beside him. He heard a siren and saw that the cops were wanting them to pull over. He turned to his mate and said, “Let’s have a bit of fun”. He quickly sped up and was playing a game of ‘catch me if you can’ with the Police. Because he was speeding he eventually slid off the road and nudged into a tree, just enough for a couple of hundred dollars’ worth of panel beating, nothing major. He laughed to himself and turned to his friend and said, “Well that was fun.” His friend didn’t reply. He was dead. The nudging into the tree was not even a minor crash, yet it was enough to kill his best friend. Because of that split second decision that he made to have a bit of fun with the cops he killed his best friend. Every time he closes his eyes that image appears in his mind. He regrets making that choice every day and wishes he could turn back time.
Like the teen in the story, we’ve all made discussions that we regret, some more serious than others. I know I have. I also know it’s what we learn from these mistakes that makes us better people and allows us to react in a positive manner. Surrounding ourselves with people who tend to make the right decisions and who are supportive of good behaviour gives us a stronger conscience. A stronger conscience means that when those split second decisions are required, when we no longer have the luxury of time, we will naturally swing in the right direction.
An example from one of the readings that we are all familiar with is Eve’s choice to eat the forbidden fruit, despite knowing what the consequences were. When God asked her what had she’d done, Eve blamed the snake for tempting her into eating the fruit when she knew that God had told her not to. Not only did Eve disobey God, she made the wrong choice and then refused to take the blame.
In our theme song “4 u n I” it says that “there is a whole lot of learning in the circle of life”. This means that we make mistakes because of bad choices and that we learn from them. “There is no time for hate, there is no time for shame.” We’ve all heard it before, but I believe we cannot hear it too many times: make the best choices you can, don’t abuse your privileges and when you do make a mistake, learn from it, and be accountable, so you can rise to the challenges life throws at you and hold your head up high.