A young and successful executive was traveling down a neighborhood street, going a bit too fast in his new Jaguar S-Type Sedan. Who could blame him, with his Jag boasting a 3-liter, 6-cylinder, 240-horsepower engine, with 5-speed automatic transmission? He was watching for kids darting out from between parked cars, however, and slowed down when he thought he saw something.

As his car passed, no children appeared. Instead, a brick smashed into the Jag's side door! He slammed on the brakes and spun the Jag back to the spot from where the brick had been thrown.

He jumped out of the car, grabbed some kid and pushed him up against a parked car shouting, "What was that all about and who are you? Just what the heck are you doing?"

Building up a head of steam he went on. "That's a new car and that brick you threw is going to cost a lot of money. Why did you do it?"

"Please, mister, please. I'm sorry, I didn't know what else to do," pleaded the youngster. "I threw the brick because no one else would stop ...." Tears were dripping down the boy's chin as he pointed around the parked car. "It's my brother," he said. "He rolled off the curb and fell out of his wheelchair and I can't lift him up." Sobbing, the boy asked the executive, "Would you please help me get him back into his wheelchair? He's hurt and he's too heavy for me."

Deeply moved, the driver tried to swallow the rising lump in his throat. He lifted the young man back into the wheelchair and took out his handkerchief and wiped the scrapes and cuts, checking to see that everything was going to be okay. "Thank you," the grateful child said to him.

The man then watched the little boy push his brother down the sidewalk toward their home. It was a long walk back to his Jaguar ... a long, slow walk. He never did repair the side door. He kept the dent to remind him not to go through life so fast that someone has to throw a brick at you to get your attention.

God whispers in your soul and speaks to your heart. Sometimes when you don't have time to listen, he has to throw a brick at you.

Choir member Anne Tarzier shared this story with me, and I thank her for it. I don't know where the story came from, or when the incident happened, but soon after I finished this sermon I saw a Jaguar on Burke Centre Parkway with a brick-sized dent in the side.

Spooky.

The message for us is that we have a choice, each and every day: Listen to the whisper -- or wait for the brick.

The four friends in today's Gospel account heard the whisper, which is why they took the drastic action they did. They learned that a healer named Jesus was in the town of Capernaum, so they put a paralyzed friend on a mat and carried him to Jesus' house.

When they arrived, however, they found that the house was packed, and the crowd was spilling out into the street. There was simply no way that they could elbow their way inside, especially with the human load they were carrying.

So they grabbed some bricks of their own. Climbing to the roof of the house, they punched a hole through the roof and lowered the paralyzed man down on his mat. When Jesus saw their faith, he proclaimed to the paralytic, "Son, your sins are forgiven." Then he said to the man, "Stand up, take your mat and go to your home." And he stood up, picked up his mat, and walked out through the front door, amazing everyone in the house (Mark 2:1-12).

God whispered in the souls of those four friends and spoke to their hearts. He inspired them to seek out Jesus, using whatever means necessary, and to trust him to heal their paralyzed friend. When the foursome dug through the roof, Jesus looked up at their dusty faces and saw their faith shining through.

Would he see the same in us?

Tragically, most of us are moving too fast and making too much noise to hear the gentle voice of God. We are focusing so much on stock market updates, homeland security alerts, and inclement weather reports that we have little chance of hearing the whisper.

We don't pay attention until we get hit by a brick.

Right after the terrorist attacks of 9-11, professor of World Christian Studies Miriam Adeney described the events as a "wake-up call" -- a wake-up call to become Global Christians. For too long, she insisted, we ignored the rest of the world except when we needed to make connections for business, tourism, or short-term mission. September 11 was the brick that brought those days to an end. The terrorist attacks hit us hard with the truth that we are globally connected and cannot be cut loose.

If only we had heard the whisper. Did you know that before the World Trade Center bombing in 1993, where six people were killed and more than 1,000 injured, the FBI was in possession of some of the plans? The agency held videotapes, manuals and notebooks on bomb-making that had been seized from one of the plotters. They also had taped phone conversations in which one terrorist told another how to build the bomb.

"There was one problem," according to New York Times reporter Diana Schemo: "They were in Arabic. And nobody who understood Arabic listened to them until after the explosion at the Trade Center."

Back in the year 2000, all the colleges and universities in the U.S. graduated only nine students who majored in Arabic. Yes, that's right: Nine students. We had been living in isolation, failing to see that we are now, and always have been, globally connected. (Miriam Adeney, "A Wake-Up Call to Become Global Christians," Christianity Today, September 12, 2001, www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2001/137/35.0.html)

But let me be clear. This talk of a "wake-up call" does not mean that the brutal brick of the 9-11 terrorist attacks came from God. Not at all. But it does mean that everything that happens to us -- everything, even truly evil events -- can be turned around and used by God for good. Check out the story of Joseph and his siblings in Genesis. "Even though you intended to do harm to me," says Joseph to his once-bloodthirsty brothers, "God intended it for good" (Genesis 50:20). God can transform even evil into good.

Listen for the whisper, says our loving Lord. Don't wait for the brick. As truly Global Christians, we can befriend the foreigners who live in our city ... we can develop strong relationships with our denominational missionaries, such as Sherron George in Brazil ... we can go to George Mason University and find out whether there's a group of local "friends of international students."

"Yet we can do all this," warns Professor Adeney, "without ever leaving the security of our own turf. Loving our neighbors means something more. It means being vulnerable. It means entering into their pain. When God in Jesus came to live among us, He shared our troubles and felt our hurts. Do we feel the pain of those in other countries?"

We will hear the whisper only when we are willing to feel the pain of our global neighbors. When we become vulnerable enough to share their troubles and feel their hurts, and then take actions that show that we love our neighbors every bit as much as we love ourselves. Our love is not just a warm and wonderful feeling, but must be revealed in concrete actions if it is going to reflect our Christian faith. For if "a brother or sister is naked and lacks daily food," observes the letter of James, "and one of you says to them, 'Go in peace; keep warm and eat your fill,' and yet you do not supply their bodily needs, what is the good of that? So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead" (James 2:15-17).

Faith without works is dead, says James, and that's why the foursome in Capernaum had to punch through the roof to get their paralyzed friend to the healer. It was only when there was dust on their faces and dirt under their fingernails that Jesus looked up and saw their faith.

So what are you going to do to make YOUR faith visible?

The young executive in the Jag lifts the hurt boy back into his wheelchair, takes out his handkerchief and wipes the scrapes and cuts. That's active faith. Another person spends a day each week reading and singing with patients on an Alzheimer's unit. That's visible faith. A volunteer devotes an afternoon a month to working at Fairfax's Lamb Center for the homeless. That's faith in action. An individual visits a homebound church member, and acts as a caring presence in the life of someone who is feeling alienated from friends and from God. That's faith you can see. Still another person meets fellow believers on a youth mission trip, and another works on issues of social justice. That's faith combined with works, in a vital and world-changing way.

The key is to listen for the whisper, and then act. To get up, get moving, get lifting, get carrying, get climbing, and get digging ... whenever you hear the gentle voice of God calling you to do some work on behalf of others. Sure, there may be some barriers that separate you from Jesus, and from people around you. But like the fearless foursome of Capernaum, you can break through them.

When you place the needs of the world in front of Jesus, amazing things can happen. The paralyzed can be healed. The hungry can be fed. The oppressed can be freed. The poor can be helped. Peace can break out, justice can be done, and hope can replace even the most desolate forms of despair.

It all starts with hearing the voice of God, and taking action.

Quick. Before the next brick hits. Amen.

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