The Three Rules of Life
Ecclesiastes 3: 1-13 (NIV)
There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens: a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot, a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build, a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance, a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them, a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing, a time to search and a time to give up, a time to keep and a time to throw away, a time to tear and a time to mend, a time to be silent and a time to speak, a time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace. What do workers gain from their toil? I have seen the burden God has laid on the human race. He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end. I know that there is nothing better for people than to be happy and to do good while they live. That each of them may eat and drink, and find satisfaction in all their toil—this is the gift of God.
Luke 2: 22-40 (NIV)
When the time came for the purification rites required by the Law of Moses, Joseph and Mary took him to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord (as it is written in the Law of the Lord, “Every firstborn male is to be consecrated to the Lord” ), and to offer a sacrifice in keeping with what is said in the Law of the Lord: “a pair of doves or two young pigeons.” Now there was a man in Jerusalem called Simeon, who was righteous and devout. He was waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was on him. It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not die before he had seen the Lord’s Messiah. Moved by the Spirit, he went into the temple courts. When the parents brought in the child Jesus to do for him what the custom of the Law required, Simeon took him in his arms and praised God, saying: “Sovereign Lord, as you have promised, you may now dismiss your servant in peace. For my eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared in the sight of all nations: a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and the glory of your people Israel.” The child’s father and mother marveled at what was said about him. Then Simeon blessed them and said to Mary, his mother: “This child is destined to cause the falling and rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be spoken against, so that the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed. And a sword will pierce your own soul too.” There was also a prophet, Anna, the daughter of Penuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was very old; she had lived with her husband seven years after her marriage, and then was a widow until she was eighty-four. She never left the temple but worshiped night and day, fasting and praying. Coming up to them at that very moment, she gave thanks to God and spoke about the child to all who were looking forward to the redemption of Jerusalem. When Joseph and Mary had done everything required by the Law of the Lord, they returned to Galilee to their own town of Nazareth. And the child grew and became strong; he was filled with wisdom, and the grace of God was on him.
Friends, this is the last Sunday of the whole year.
Liturgically, this Sunday is the first Sunday of Christmas. To some of us, this Sunday is that Sunday that's after Christmas but before Epiphany. Some of my minister friends will joke that this Sunday after Christmas is "cannon ball Sunday": the Sunday when there's so few people at worship that you could fire a cannon ball into the pews and it won't hit anyone.
To our community at Vine Valley, this Sunday is the last where we'll be together in this space until Spring.
And, for all of us, this is the end of the year. The end of 2014. A time to think about all that's gone on for you and your life and your family this year, to give thanks for the blessings of this year, to be grateful for the tough moments because you made it through, and maybe even to think about what you want out of 2015. What are your goals for next year? Do you have any New Year's Resolutions? Is there anything you want to change in the next year?
It's a good Sunday to just take stock and reflect on where we are and where we're going. And it's a good Sunday to think about how God has been at work in our lives in 2014, and how we'll remember to appreciate and take time for God in 2015. It's a good Sunday to just remember what it's like and what it means to be the people of God.
While we're thinking about that, we hear King Solomon's very familiar words from the third chapter of Ecclesiastes, appointed by our lectionary for New Year's. And King Solomon in all his wisdom reminds us that we can find incredible comfort living as God's people if we remember that there's three general rules of life walking hand in hand with God:
Rule #1: God is in charge.
King Solomon tells us for everything there is a season, and a time for every purpose under Heaven.
I'm not saying that God has already decided the day and time of everything that will ever happen in your life. Your future hasn't been written yet. I'm also not saying that your own choices don't make a difference,
The reality is that you have a lot of control to decide how your life is going to play out. You have the free will to decide what you'll do from day to day, what kind of person you're going to be, what kind of values you'll have, and what goals you'll work toward.
But at the end of the day, when it comes to the big stuff, God's in charge, and he makes the rules--not us. God has decided that we're born, and we die. We can't help that. There will be war and peace in our lives, there will be love and hate. It's up to us to make choices that will help swing the pendulum closer to love and peace than to war and hate, but it's part of the rhythm of life that there will be hard times. We won't always build, we won't always gather, we won't always laugh, we won't always embrace. In order for us to have meaningful times of joy and celebration, in order for us to appreciate the good times, there has to be bad times, too. That's just part of nature.
It's also part of nature that sometimes we'll be productive, and build and plant and gather and keep, and sometimes we'll take a break. Sometimes we'll progress, and sometimes we'll go back a few steps. That might not feel so great while we're going through it, but that's what it's like to grow in this world. That's how God intended for things to work. And even though sometimes we'll suffer and fail, God has a plan for a prosperous future for us. And that's because, above all else,
Rule #2: God loves you.
Even when it's not your time to love, and build, and gather, and heal, and embrace, and find peace. Even during those times when you have to see hate, and war. Even when you have to let go, and pluck up, and throw away. Even when people and things you love die.
God loves you.
We simply don't understand the big picture. God is looking down at the whole book, but over here, earth-side, we can only see one page at a time. We can't see the careful, delicate balance of our world, and we can't see all the wonder of God's works. In short, we don't get it.
Because we don't get it, because there's so much we don't know, and because we can't see the big picture of the plans God has for us, we have to just trust the simple truth that God loves us. In the end, it'll work out. In the end, all things will be worked for good. In the end, all the earth will see God's glory.
When King Solomon wrote these words in the book of Ecclesiastes, he had wisdom enough to see a slightly bigger scope of God's works in this world than we usually can. And he was able to see that God has made us to live in this incredibly intricate world, where, at the end of the day, the good things balance out with the bad things, and create the delicate order of God's creation. If we can appreciate that at all, even a little, then there's only one thing we need to do:
Rule #3: Give thanks to God.
Just acknowledge how much he loves us. Just try to see even the smallest part of the beauty of God's plan for us and our world.
A lot of times, this is as simple as noticing the small stuff. Finding the beauty in something pretty ordinary and saying thanks to God, because even the simple, ordinary things are a gift from him.
This is what both Simeon and Anna do in this morning's Gospel story. They witness something pretty common--Mary and Joseph just had a baby, and they took baby Jesus to be presented in the Temple. That's just what you did when you had a baby. Special to the family, but common.
But Simeon and Anna were both so struck by how special this baby was, that they both felt compelled to bear witness. Jesus was days old and hadn't even done anything yet, but they just knew that this baby would change the world.
To God, the little things are the big things. God sent us a Savior in the form of a baby, and when this Savior grew up he went to the least of these to bring forth the Good News of God's Kingdom.
We don't have to understand everything about God's plan for us. We don't have to understand why the world works the way it does. We can get frustrated and disappointed during the low moments, when we see death and war and loss and don't understand why. God welcomes our frustrations, our doubts, and our questions about why things are the way they are. It's what compels us to act to make our world a better and more loving place.
But understand that even when you can't quite see it, God's grace and love for us abound in this creation of his.
Thanks be to God.
Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment