9 Pentecost 2007 Zion, Washington

29 July 2007

Things have conspired in such a way as to inspire me to put my life in clearer order. As you know, the Bishop has asked me to oversee the Sunday staffing of San Mateo while their Deacon is on sabbatical. That has expanded into empowering the congregation there to do those things for themselves that do not require the services of an ordained person - whether they are resident or not.

 The job search continues. There are certainly enough things related to life here at Zion that need attention. And a week ago, I completed a week-long retreat at Trinity Center's Pelican House on "A Benedictine Experience" which was all about order and "set times" for "set duties", all with the one and only purpose of focusing our attention on God.

But it came to a head Wednesday: I decided to water my garden. As I turned on the hose in the driveway, I looked over at my car and decided it needs washing. As I started toward the carport, I noticed mail on the porch table that I brought over from the mail slot earlier in the day. I decided to go through the mail before I washed the car.

I laid my car keys on the table, put the junk mail in the trash can under the table, and noticed that the can is full; so I decided to put the bills back on the table and empty the trash first. But then, I thought, since I'm going to be near the mail slot when I'm emptying the trash, I might as well pay the bills first; so I took my check book off the table and saw that there was only one check left.

My extra checks are in my desk in the study, so I went inside the house to my desk where I found a can of Coke I'd been drinking. I was going to look for my checks, but first I needed to push the Coke aside so that I didn't accidentally knock it over. The Coke was getting warm, and I decided to put it in the refrigerator to keep it cold.

As I headed toward the kitchen with the Coke, a vase of flowers on the counter caught my eye - they needed water; so I put the Coke on the counter and discovered my eye-glasses that I'd been looking for all morning. I decided I'd better put them back on my desk, but first I wanted to water the flowers; so I set the glasses back on the counter, filled a contained with water and suddenly spotted the TV remote. Someone had left it on the kitchen table.

I realized that when we went to watch TV that night, I'd be looking for the remote, but I wouldn't remember that it was on the kitchen table, so I decided to put it back in the den when it belongs, but first I'd water those flowers. I poured a little water in the flowers, but a lot of it spilled on the floor; so I set the remote back on the kitchen table, got some paper towels and wiped up the spill. Then I headed down the hall trying to remember what I was planning to do.

At the end of the day: the car wasn't washed, the bills weren't paid, there was a warm can of Coke sitting on the counter, the flowers were starting to wilt for lack of water, there was still only one check in my check book, I couldn't find the remote, I couldn't find my glasses, and I couldn't remember what I did with my car keys.

But I realized that, although nothing got done, I was busy all day long and I was really tired. All of which is to say, things have conspired in such a way as to inspire me to put my life in clearer order.

Fifty years ago, the "futurists" in this country were convinced that with the advent of "modern conveniences", people would have more leisure time and the work-week would be substantially shorter. But, even retired people are as busy as they were when they were working; and, at least in this country, the work-week certainly hasn't gotten any shorter. In fact, more work is getting piled on fewer workers every day.

And it's not any better for children. The schedules of school, work, and extra-curricular activities means that more than a few kids have a full schedule throughout the week... and the week-end; even with things that sometimes conflict with "church time".

Our lives are now defined by the advice the Red Queen gave to Alice in Through the Looking Glass. She told Alice "In this country, you have to run very fast to stay in one place; and if you want to get ahead, you have to run even faster." So we all dash around like blue-tail flies. To quote Jesus, "Martha, Martha, you are worried about many things, but only one thing is needful."

Putting our lives in order is the only way to get things done effectively, because it requires that we determine what's important, what's not important; what's urgent and what's not urgent; and then we have to determine whether to attend to what's important or what's urgent, because a lot of urgent things aren't very important and a whole lot of important things aren't urgent... things like prayer; things like exercise; the list goes on.

So the Gospel for today is that portion of Jesus' teachings according to St. Luke that St. Matthew gathers into the three chapters known as the Sermon on the Mount; first about The Lord's Prayer, and then some things about prayer in general; and the implication that we do not have, because we do not ask; we do not find what we want, because we do not seek; and things are not opened to us, because we do not knock.

All this is about giving our lives clearer order and doing those things that are important, rather than dashing around doing those things that are apparently urgent, but are ultimately not so important.

The Good News is that Jesus makes the assumption that, even though we are sinners, we are good enough that we try hard to give good things to our children. The assumption is that even God the Son doesn't see our sins as evidence that we have drifted so far from our created state that we are no longer "good"; in the sense that when God created our First Parents, God proclaimed us "good." (That's very important to know; because there are all sorts of forces in this world who would try to convince us that we, each of us, are not good-at-heart. Over the years, I've only met a very few people who had been so mangled by their lives and their choices that they really were not good people. But they are very few... and some of them are very bad, indeed.) But the most of us are, as Anne Franck wrote, "good at heart."

Anne Franck wrote, "its really a wonder that I haven't dropped all my ideals because they seem so absurd and impossible to carry out. Yet I keep them because, in spite of everything, I still believe that people are really good at heart."

Jesus said, "Who among you, if your child asks for a fish, instead of a fish will give that child a serpent; or if that child asks for an egg, will give that child a scorpion?" As St. Matthew puts it, "How much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!"

The chaos around us is only an illusion. God is happy to point out the way to the abundant life that we seek; the serenity and happiness for which we strive; the purpose, direction, and meaning that we seek. God only wants our lives to be substantial, sacred, and full of meaning.

Even forgiveness is stunningly accessible. Just look at that "shaggy dog" story that composes today's First Reading. Abraham shamelessly bargained with God for the salvation of Sodom and Gomorrah. How much more willingly does God want to forgive our sins? How much more willingly does God want to grant us salvation and eternal bliss in heaven?

The Collect for today prays that we may "so pass through things temporal that we lose not the things eternal." It's simply a matter of our attending to the things that are really important - that is, focusing on God and thereby be equipped to do all the work God has given us to do.

There is the story of a Benedictine monk who was giving spiritual direction when the chapel bells rang, for the monastery to assemble in the chapel for prayer. But his spiritual directee protested, "Father, we're just now getting to the reason why I came today. You can't leave now!" To which the monk replied, "I can't do this if I don't do that." God calls us to place the important things above the urgent things.

What's important? The important thing is to remember that, without God, nothing is strong, nothing is holy. And everything else is secondary to our focus on God; and the foundation of our focus on God is nothing other than Gratitude for our blessings, and gratitude for God's mercy.

Blessed and forgiven, we have no need to fret over the things about which St. Paul warns the Colossians. We will not fall prey to philosophy or deceit or human traditions that are contrary to God's teaching, because we have been sealed by the Holy Spirit at baptism and marked as Christ's own for ever.

Reflect on your priorities; upon what's urgent and what's important. Make the necessary distinctions and, by the grace of the Holy Spirit, reaffirm yourself as a beloved child of a