Thursday, August 8, 2019

It Ain't Over (Reflections on Pentecost 9, Year C)


Image result for images of stars in the sky
This month a bunch of my former confirmands will be heading off to college. I’m always amazed by how quickly the young stop being quite so young. I look at these young men and think it was only yesterday they were goofy-looking fourteen-year-olds. Now they’re tall, handsome young adults who still have the glorious adventure (and misadventure, too!) of their whole lives ahead of them.

Remember when you were that age? Life seems a little less adventurous now, doesn’t it? I’m staring down the barrel of the Big 6-0 and I’m pretty sure I’m not going to get any better looking from here. I’m probably not going to get any more physically fit either. For that matter, I have serious doubts I’ll ever make a fortune or become world famous or run a marathon. Nope. Those ships left port a long time ago. It’s all pretty much downhill at this point.

Do you ever feel like Abram in the First Lesson appointed for Pentecost 9 this year (Genesis15:1-6)? You start to think about old age and death and all the cool stuff you may have missed out on and you wonder if you have anything to look forward to. Ever get like that? Poor Abram thinks God has forgotten the promise, but God gets Abe to see things in a different light. In this case, starlight. That’s a whole new perspective.

A few nights back I came home from a church council meeting and I took a few minute just to look up at the night sky and see the stars. I couldn’t count as many as Abram could in his day—what with light pollution from the city and all—yet I still found the sight astonishing. Those whirling balls of flaming gas are millions and millions of miles away; nevertheless their light still reaches us. The light we see left those stars millions of years ago. It almost makes your brain explode to contemplate the enormity of the universe. All I could think as I looked at the stars was, “How great is our God.”

In both the Hebrew and the Greek scriptures appointed for this Sunday in Pentecost, God’s people are given comfort and assurance. In this week’s Gospel (Luke 12:32-40) Jesus tells us, his “little flock,” to have no fear. The Kingdom is ours. It’s pretty reassuring to know that the God who created the vastness of the universe still has a blessing planned for us—even though we might think the final score is announced, the season is over, and all the players have hit the showers. It ain’t over ‘til it’s over, as the saying goes, and we’re enjoined to keep alert for what God has planned next.

Jesus’ first piece of advice is to forget about the material things (v.33). The older I get, the more I understand that stuff is just stuff. There’s so much we can do without. Don’t you think it’s much more satisfying to know that we’ve stewarded the blessings God’s entrusted to us for the benefit of others? Jesus tells us,

“Sell your possessions and give alms. Make purses for yourselves that do not wear out, an unfailing treasure in heaven, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys.” (V.33)

That’s something we can do at any age, right?

Jesus also tells us, just as the Father tells Abram, to keep watching and to be ready. The image he gives us, that of servants preparing for the return of the master, is an active image. We don’t just sit around playing Angry Birds on our cell phones and saying, “Gosh. Wonder when he’s going to get back..?” We’re supposed to be doing. There’s the fire to be lit and the table to be spread and the food to be prepared. There’s a house to be cleaned and snow to be shoveled off the walk and lamps to be lit outside. Jesus is urging us to look for the joy of God by being active.

What does that mean for you? I’d say a good start is by committing to spiritual discipline. My dentist told me I had to floss because my gums are getting too loose. If I give myself a good flossing one day and neglect to floss for a week, I’ll probably be on the road to a root canal. If I work out extra hard at the gym one day, and then don’t go for a month, the one-day workout won’t do me any good. I have to be consistent.

And so it is with our spiritual lives. Prayer is a daily activity we can do at any age. Worship is a weekly activity through which we keep learning and growing. Generosity is a habit which breeds wisdom in our lives. Fellowship with others and sharing our faith challenges us to examine our beliefs, gain understanding, and delight in the gift of each other’s company. To use Jesus’ metaphor, should a thief try to break in—illness, death of a loved one, loss of income, retirement, or anything that drastically changes our lives—we’ll be ready for him. We’ve prepared.

We have a really BIG God. We have a God who is calling us to keep looking toward tomorrow with hope. We have a God who keeps calling us out of ourselves to astronomical possibilities.

Keep looking up. God bless you!

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