|
First
Reading
|
Psalm |
Epistle |
Gospel |
| Leviticus 19:1–2, 15-18 |
Psalm 1 |
1 Thessalonians 2:1–8 |
Matthew
22:34–46
|
I would like you to picture a narrow unpaved road through a forest. There are two tracks in the sandy soil, separated by a humped median strip of grass. You are driving a big yellow school bus full of young children as tree branches brush by on either side. The front windshield is covered by cardboard. The only view you have of the road is by looking up at your rear view mirror to see where you have been. It’s difficult enough when the road is straight. When there are curves, you notice the increased sound of branches hitting the side of the bus, or perhaps you notice the vibration from the front tires going off the sandy track or up on the median strip. Sometimes you have to stop and back up and then turn the steering wheel a different way.
Most of us have never done it, but I would imagine that driving a school bus under any circumstance is challenging. Certainly not being able to see out the front windshield would be even more so. Yet, that is often how the way of discipleship is for people of faith. We bravely get behind the wheel, but we don’t know where our road will take us, and quite often we find that God has guided and supported us in our lives after the fact. Somehow we got around a sharp curve and avoided a ditch, but only by reversing or modifying our direction and gingerly, by trial and error, trying again.
At St. John’s we get an incredible amount of junk mail in the form of advertisements trying to sell all sorts of things to churches. Sometimes I wonder if the sales staffs behind these advertisements were once used car dealers who were kicked out for unethical behavior. Many appear to assume that most church committees are pretty naive and gullible when purchasing items for their church and the ad copy can be pretty amusing. For example we do get ads that will claim to be able to install bodiform pew cushions for heavenly seating. Yes, we are assured, these cushions will especially conform to the bodies of Episcopalians who, after all, are discerning people and who are demanding more comfort from their churches. No longer do we merely have to claim that we are the friendliest church in town. With bodiform pew cushions we can rightfully claim that we are also the most comfortable church in town.
Well, perhaps these bodiform cushions are comfortable, and yes, we all can get away with demanding more comfort from our church, but we won’t get away with such nonsense with God. That isn’t what living as disciples in a community of faith is about. We can easily delude ourselves into a very limited and self-centered belief that God’s grace means comfort for our bottoms, instead of spiritual energy for our life. Delusions, however, turn out to be empty calories, and ultimately provide no nourishment.
The biblical tradition is quite clear. “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your mind.” There are many opportunities around us that offer the illusion of truth instead of truth itself, and there are many advertisements for spiritual comfort food that offer an illusion of food rather than real food itself. God never promises that living as a disciple will put us behind the wheel of the world’s fastest car with a clear view of the open road of the future, and the most adjustable and comfortable seat to boot.
The reality of God’s presence surely works among us. Again sometimes it is apparent at the very moment, but quite often it reveals itself upon reflection. However, the reality of God’s presence is not experienced secondhand or by offering God substitutes for our own hearts and minds. That is why, as much as I don’t like to think about it, God’s parking lot won’t have a lot of Ferraris, and Corvettes in it. It will be filled with beat up yellow school busses with dented fenders, and even some branches caught in some of the windows.
And I offer this to you in the name of the Living God, Amen.
