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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