| January 10
Providence, Rhode Island - January 10, 2010
A new year is like an unspoiled page in the ageless book of time; our next chance to refine the art of living; so we don’t repeat the same mistakes we made last year. All the things we attempted and didn’t achieve, these slumber lightly, waiting to be awakened by a new-found sense of determination and purpose. Turning the page is an opportunity to renew our allegiance to the One who said “Behold I make all things new.”
So while the new year is still young, I want to share with you a new understanding of an old text from the Philippians 4: “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” The King James is familiar, but not realistic. I prefer J. B. Phillips’ version: “I am ready for anything through the strength of the one who lives in me.” Anyone can see the difference between thinking we “can do all things,” and being “ready for anything.” Paul wasn’t bragging about what he could do. Nah he’s talking about something that makes folks dance all kind of jigs: how to deal with the unexpected. Like ol’ Yogi, who said: “I never said the things they said I said.” But this one sounds like him: “I never make predictions -- especially about the future!”
This much we know: twelve months await each of us in 2010. Some things we can safely predict. Babies will be born. Others will die. “The poor we always have with us.” You know there’ll be “wars and rumors of wars.” And surely some shocks when life ambushes us. Mostly though, it’ll be the same old boring, repetitious stuff of our lives. Because the future is the future there will be surprises. But all of it will be unexpected because only God knows what’s coming. All we can do is live into it and through it as life flows from the future, into the past.
So rather than boasting, “I can do all things,” which we can’t, a more appropriate reading of Paul’s intention is grasped by Phillips: “I am ready for anything.” What a fine way to embrace the unknown! When you consider how over the centuries and in our day of terrorism, people have fought more wars, spent more money and sweat more blood, just to protect themselves from the unexpected, Paul’s rendering ought to perk up our ears.
Every era has its Nostradamuses, who’ve never lacked for easily-duped clientele, anxious for somebody to assure them of protection from the unexpected. It doesn’t matter how often the crystal-ball-gazers are wrong, (100% rate now), fortune-tellers, like funeral directors, will always be in business. The church has its own problem with gullibility, perhaps her greatest sin. And hard times produce a culture of horoscopes and end-of-the-world-charters because of our desire to be protected from the unexpected. But we can never get rid of the uncertainty.
In the sequel to “Back to the Future Part II,” Marty McFly and the nutty professor take an almanac back to the past with information that can make Biff the bully rich. Might as well move to Las Vegas, right? But we need the Bible, not an almanac, because life eventually bushwhacks all of us. And that’s why sfolks have a hard time with the capriciousness of God’s creation. Because we can’t verify reality ahead of time, about the best we can do is listen to Paul, and “be ready for” it.
Phillips’ translation lends integrity to Philippians because it treats the Bible not as a road map, forecasting the future but a concrete way to get a handle on the unexpected. Paul just relies on common sense: if we can’t control our destiny, at least we can “Be ready” for whatever comes. Get ready to move, God told Abraham. Be ready to liberate the Hebrews, he said to Moses from a burning bush. And to Joseph of Nazareth, prepare to take Mary as your wife, in spite of how scandalous it seems. The millennialist experts wanted Jesus’ take on the “end of the world” once. And he repudiated them. “I don’t know. Nor does anybody else, except God.” And you know, that’s all we need to know. All that’s given for us to know, is the only thing we can know: whether we’re ready or not. And that’s just not enough for people in love with certitude.
It’s not about power or ability, but preparation. People who promise they can do anything, find out sooner or later that they have “feet of clay,” when they’re brought back down to earth. Nobody can do anything. Not even Jesus, who said there are some things even he didn’t know. But God knows and that’s enough to know. Paul holds before us not something we can know but something we can do, and that is, “Be ready for anything.” That’s what we do here at The Meeting House, week after week, year in, year out. The worship of God is always “in season,” preparing our spirits for whatever life bowls down our alley. Like our sign out front that reads: “what life does to us depends on what it finds in us.” Too many people are assaulted by life with nothing on the inside to meet it, because we’re unprepared for it. We get thrown off by our expectations, which are more often than not unrealistic.
Because the people of God weren’t expecting Mary to be expecting the Messiah, they missed him when he showed up at the back door! Christmas was totally unexpected. “Mary’s little Lamb” was born in a barnyard stall because there was “no room in the inn.” Now if they’d known it was God’s kid out back ... but nobody was expecting him out there. Caesar’s taxes, that we expect. Shallow religion is always with us. Some of them were expecting God to come, but not like that. Old Simeon and Anna were the only two people who showed up the first time Jesus went to church, because they were “ready for anything.”
So they bumped into Jesus on the 8th day of his life in the temple, where they’d been praying and waiting in ... great expectation. Day after day, worshiping and praying, and then one day, their prayers were answered! These two knew how to celebrate the unexpected. “Now let thy servant depart in peace, for mine eyes have seen thy salvation!” Consider what happened to that child when he grew up. If unexpected is the word for his birth, how much more so was his life? Here was a religious man who avoided the righteous to eat with sinners. Instead of leaving Zacchaeus the tax collector perched up a sycamore tree, isolated from the rest, Jesus invited himself for “dinner with the sinner!” Expected to preach profound sermons, Jesus told pithy stories. “You’ve heard how they did it in the old days, But I say unto you ...” Messiah was expected to lead huge crowds, but Jesus needed only twelve.
Just when you’d expect Jesus to get his goose cooked, handcuffed in the praetorium, he stared Pilate down. And he’s holding the gavel! The last thing Simon Peter expected was a crucified Christ. You know it blew Mary Magdalene away when she encountered his unexpected rising from the dead on Easter. All followers of Jesus have to be ready for anything. Everything about him is unexpected, even his success.
The gospel that flowed from this unlikely intervention of God into human affairs was spectacularly successful in the Roman world. Nero tried to burn them at the stake, but it only spread like wildfire. No one could foresee how the good news of a crucified, risen Nazarene carpenter could capture the hearts of millions of slaves to emperors, in a few decades. Among all the cults and religions of the ancient world, the Judaeo/Christian faith survives because it works! It provides us with something on the inside to meet the future; the resources to “be ready for anything.” It continues to inspire because men and women have found in the gospel an inner strength to meet the trials and temptations of life, even in a time as volatile as ours. When St. Paul encountered the risen Christ on the Damascus Road, it was the most dramatically unexpected turnaround in sacred story. “Who are you, Lord?” “I am the Christ, whom you are persecuting.” Instead, he was persecuting the God he claimed to serve. Paul wasn’t expecting that!
What we read at the end of the Philippian correspondence is no self-righteous moralizing about what “Paul can do.” Rather he provides us with a moving confession of what Christ can do to enable us to “be ready for anything.” Amazing words for a man locked up in jail. But this one had a pen! And even though he was trapped behind bars, he still had a future. Anybody does who can say “I am ready for anything, through the strength of him who lives within me.” And with these words, Paul gives us God’s secret for greeting the unexpected in our lives. With the New Year still fresh, but with the same old problems, I hope ya’ll will be “ready for anything” that comes along. Notice how Paul closes his letter with these confident words: “And my God will supply your every need according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus...” (V. 19).
The story of "Rich Young Ruler” is an example of what getting the rug pulled out from under us can do. He is well-off, with high morals and faithful to his religion. “What shall I do?” And Jesus gave him something to do: “keep the commandments.” That was expected. But when he suggested that he “Sell all he had and give it to the poor.” That was not expected. Rules, he could keep. We don’t even need God for that. But when Jesus said he go without life insurance, to protect us from the unexpected nature of death, or without a pension program, to protect us from the unexpected foibles of aging, or be without a savings account, to protect us from unexpected emergencies! Well that’s just too much to expect.
But when Jesus required that he live without job security, financial security, social security, eternal security and follow him, the rich young ruler’s most cherished idol was threatened. The gospel says “He went away sad.” Jesus was offering him the chance of a lifetime. He was inviting him to be one of his disciples. But he respected his apprehensive hesitation and let him go. No rules or wealth or status can take away life’s uncertainties. Minimum protection. Maximum support. That’s all Jesus got from God. How can we expect more? The best we can expect this side of heaven is to live fully, by being “ready for anything.”
Nobody ever learned to swim by clutching to the idol of security. Nobody ever fell in love without giving up on a sure thing. Jesus said, “Launch out into the deep,” because you can’t have security and love or security and anything else worth having in life. They just don’t go together. What the Bible offers us is creative insecurity. People who take time to worship in the year ahead, will be better prepared to look for the hidden Christ in unexpected places and all possible seasons. For our faith teaches us: where Christ is least expected, there shall you find him.
Providence Prayers: (1-10-10)
In this first prayer of many to follow in the coming year, dear Father, enable us in the next twelve months to walk by faith as well as by sight. Deliver us from making the same mistakes again. Prod us to grow in our knowledge of the scriptures. Instruct us to establish life-enhancing priorities. Prohibit us from mean-spirited narrow-mindedness in our relationships and our beliefs.
We praise Thee for the good in this church that has seen us through another year of living, adding to the many years that keep piling up in this special place. For our ups and downs, for lessons learned and growth and change, for good health and bad, our failures and victories, our gains and losses, for prayers answered and unanswered, we give Thee our thanks.
Revitalize Thy vision for this church so that when despair threatens, “Be Thou Our Vision,” and bring Thy grace to bear on our errant ways. When in this year to come, the going gets rough, “Be Thou Our Vision,” and remind us of Thy faithfulness. When in this year to come, we inevitably encounter grief and loss, when life ebbs for those we love, even then we pray, “Be Thou Our Vision,” and remind us that our God never run out of life.
Intermingle Thy spirit in all the stuff of our lives, so that throughout this coming year, we will have the courage to trust and the discipline to prepare and celebrate our faith. At the dawn of this new year, O God, strengthen our grip on Thy promises so we have no need for assurances. We renew our determination to follow Thy guidance in faithful obedience the rest of our days. So doing, we dedicate this new year to Thee, through Christ our Lord. Amen. |
