Sermon On The Flysheets Of Life

Marilyn Monroe, a former American actress and model once remarked: “I believe that everything happens for a reason. People change so that you can learn to let go, things go wrong so that you appreciate them when they're right, you believe lies so you eventually learn to trust no one but yourself, and sometimes good things fall apart so better things can fall together.” 1 Corinthians 11:1-5 reminds us: “Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ. Now I commend you because you remember me in everything and maintain the traditions even as I delivered them to you. But I want you to understand that the head of every man is Christ, the head of a wife is her husband, and the head of Christ is God. Every man who prays or prophesies with his head covered dishonors his head, but every wife who prays or prophesies with her head uncovered dishonors her head, since it is the same as if her head were shaven.”

One of the definitions of a flysheet pertains to an additional outer covering of a tent that provides extra protection against bad weather. It is considered a shield against many external influences. In Christian beliefs, God protects people from external influences through the presence of the Holy Spirit, divine intervention via angels, the power of prayer, God's Word, and the strength of faith and community. Believers are encouraged to stay spiritually focused and rely on God's love and promises of protection to guide their decisions and strengthen them against negative pressures and temptations. Some protections require an element of change. The state of being protected itself represents a change in an object's capabilities, preventing it from being targeted, blocked, damaged, enchanted, or equipped by a specific type of source.

The story of Moses in the rushes, or bulrushes, highlights how his mother placed him in a tar-coated basket in the Nile River to save him from Pharaoh's decree to drown Hebrew baby boys. Moses' sister, Miriam, watches to ensure his safety, and he is discovered by Pharaoh's daughter. She takes him in, names him Moses because she "drew him out of the water," and arranged for his own mother to be his nurse, according to the Book of Exodus. Exodus 2:1-10 reminds us: “Now a man from the house of Levi went and took as his wife a Levite woman. The woman conceived and bore a son, and when she saw that he was a fine child, she hid him three months. When she could hide him no longer, she took for him a basket made of bulrushes and daubed it with bitumen and pitch. She put the child in it and placed it among the reeds by the river bank. And his sister stood at a distance to know what would be done to him.

Now the daughter of Pharaoh came down to bathe at the river, while her young women walked beside the river. She saw the basket among the reeds and sent her servant woman, and she took it. When she opened it, she saw the child, and behold, the baby was crying. She took pity on him and said, “This is one of the Hebrews’ children.” Then his sister said to Pharaoh’s daughter, “Shall I go and call you a nurse from the Hebrew women to nurse the child for you?” And Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Go.” So the girl went and called the child’s mother. And Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Take this child away and nurse him for me, and I will give you your wages.” So the woman took the child and nursed him. When the child grew older, she brought him to Pharaoh’s daughter, and he became her son. She named him Moses, “Because,” she said, “I drew him out of the water.”

Flysheets are a regular feature of camping and may be regarded as an extra outer skin of protection. Certain choices in life can be deemed as a similar metaphorical "outer layer" that rejects external factors and influences, much like the skin protects the body from the environment. While the skin is a physical organ with protective functions, choices are actions or decisions that can be shaped by societal expectations and group influences, making them an outward manifestation of internal and external pressures. No one initially knows for sure whether individual choices will bear fruit in life. Some may be relatively mundane, others important. Shunning sin, may be by personal choice and others at the instigation of God. When Moses was placed in the basket and set adrift on the Nile, his mother could not have envisaged the final outcome and changes that Moses would eventually succeed in achieving.

Choices are extremely prevalent in life, and may even become life-changing. They form the foundation of our daily experiences and shape who we become through both conscious and unconscious decisions, from simple preferences to major life decisions. While external factors can limit options, every person has the fundamental power to choose their perspective, responses, and the meaning they assign to their circumstances.