A NEW YEAR’S RESOLUTION

It is certainly a fact of life and thus should be a serious concern for our life of faith that we can seek too much pleasure. We can eat too much, drink too much, become so angry or so jealous that we cannot think straight or act sensibly. We can and we do, each one of us, at times in our lives. That does not mean we are gluttons or sexual perverts or anything like that. It simply means that we can go overboard, overindulge, on occasion. We have. We also know the harm even such momentary outbursts can cause others and cause even ourselves.

When we do not maintain some sort of self-control, when we allow our passions and desires to grab hold of us and then gain control over our human appetites, it can be a long and difficult journey back to normalcy. We do not become gluttons, for instance, overnight nor do we become self-controlled in the area of food intake overnight. The road back from perdition is as long as the road to perdition, and we should make no mistake about it. And it is a very difficult road at that.

Just as vice has to be fed to become vicious, so virtue has to be fed to become victorious. Neither happens automatically. It would be wonderful if we never had to worry about our passions taking over and getting the better of us. It would be even more wonderful if a virtuous life were standard operating procedure for each and every human being. But passions being what they are and the pleasure attached to succumbing to them being what it is, virtue is in for a battle even if it is more natural for us to be virtuous than not, which it truly is, child of God that each of is.

In order for us to live a good and godly life, we have to work at it. In order to stay strong when passion rears its head, we have to work at it. It is always easier to give in, which is why we sometimes do. It takes grace and strength to resist those temptations that push us to go too far. Saying “no” to pleasure, God-created pleasure, when that pleasure is misplaced or misused is difficult, even when we know what we are doing is wrong. Such is the nature of what has now become a beast.

We know that the fruit of the Holy Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. We know that when our passion to do what we know is wrong kicks in, the fruit of the Spirit can easily take a beating and, often and unfortunately, lose.

We also know that good intentions to live in the Spirit are not enough, especially when they are placed face-to-face with those passions that would turn good into bad. Yes, we have to be intentional about being self-controlled, kind, loving and all the rest. But we also have to be intentional about doing the work necessary to make virtuous living our standard operating procedure, one that flows naturally from us. But even then, we can never let down our guard, never, ever.

Perhaps beginning each day asking the Holy Spirit to help us eat of the Spirit’s fruit will keep us on the straight and narrow that day. If we do so, we will be well fed.

THE NON-SENSE OF THE GOSPEL

Paul reminds us that the gospel is certainly not of human origin (Galatians 1:11). If the gospel were of human origin, it would make much more sense. There would be no hero being killed but rather the hero conquering the world. There would be no miracles as these are beyond human capabilities. There would be straightforward talk and not convoluted advice by way of parables that asked more questions than they answered.

There certainly would not be commands about turning the other cheek, walking the extra mile, having care and concern for those in prison, forgiving always, and on and on. All that may make one kind and caring but it certainly would not be of assistance in making one successful in this world. As Paul would opine later, the gospel is truly foolishness for those who do not believe. In other words: nonsense.

Of course that is also why Paul had a very difficult time preaching that gospel. It was and is not of human origin. No sensible person could make it up and no sensible person could or would believe it. And that was Paul’s constant message. If what he preached was true, that truth had to come directly from God and, even more, Paul himself had to believe that that is from where this gospel proceeded.

Today we receive the gospel message from ordinary human beings, people who have not received the same kind of revelation that Paul did. Nevertheless, like the people to whom Paul was sent to preach, we believe this gospel to be of divine origin even though it has been handed down to us through people just like us. The truth is that the gospel Paul preached makes no more sense today than it did in his day. In other words, once again, nonsense, nonsense, nonsense!

So why do we believe this gospel to be true? Why do we model our lives on the messenger of this gospel? Why do we take his words to be the commandments we use to guide our lives? Why do we believe that what seems like nonsense is not? Why?

The answer is quite simple: we have had a divine revelation no less that the one Paul had. No, we did not see visions or hear God’s voice. Ours came in a much less observable manner. In fact, we probably did not even know that we received a revelation when it was taking place. It was non-sensible. We may not even know when it took place. Unlike Paul, the fact is that most of us do not.

Somewhere in our life’s journey we came to believe in this gospel. That was our divine revelation. That is the moment when we came to believe that all this foolishness is not so foolish after all. In fact, far from being foolish, it makes total sense and it is the way we have chosen to live our lives. Faith is a gift from God, a revelation of God to us that the gospel is true, is believable and must be followed.

Our faith makes sense out of nonsense even though we never sensed when that change came about, understand how or why it happened, but it did and we are thankful. Now to live it each day even when it might seem like nonsense to do so.

YOU MIGHT AS WELL LOVE IT

We visit Arlena’s Mom on a regular basis, every two weeks or less. We do some housework, make sure her meds are taken care of, take her to lunch and do some grocery shopping. Depending on how she feels, there is a trip to the mall that is included, especially is she’s seen an ad for some kind of sale. Even at ninety-five one never has enough clothes or shoes or purses.

The last time we were with her, I stayed around to wait for the people who were coming in from Columbus to install a new rain-protection, gutter-guard system while mother and daughter went shopping. On the way to their various destinations, one of which was to Kroger’s, Arlena’s Mom said, “I really love grocery shopping.” Arlena was somewhat taken aback.

“Really, Mom?” she asked. Her Mom replied: “Well, you have to go grocery shopping so you might as well love it.” Really? Love taking out the garbage, scrubbing the floors, mowing the lawn and all those other chores that go with owning a home? Love going to work? Love going to school? Love cleaning your room or doing homework? No matter how old or how young there are always demands on us that we would rather not fulfill but have to and, at the same time, we should love doing?

Well, yes. If we look upon them as simply drudge work, we will hardly ever do them well or certainly not as well as we could or should. If our heart is not into what we are doing, we are likely to make a mess of it. Half-heated attempts are better not begun than begun at all. We all know that from first-hand experience. Yet we still go through life half-heartedly doing what needs our full attention if not love.

What would happen if we actually looked forward to doing those things that we think as drudgery, whatever they may be? What if we would put heart and soul into it? Whistle while we work, as the old song has it? Whenever what we are doing becomes something we look forward to, even as mundane as scrubbing the floor, it makes what we are doing so much easier and we’ll even do a better job.

It’s all a mindset, of course. Scrubbing floors will never be on par with relaxing on the beach. Nor should it. My wife has a Honey-Do List for me on the counter most every day. I get pleasure out of crossing of each chore as it is completed. I am even getting to the point of looking forward to see what she has next in mind for me to do. I have not yet gotten to the place where I can say that I love doing what is on the list.

That will take time. I suspect it took Arlena’s Mom quite a while before she came to love grocery shopping but she is there and that’s what matters. Changing our mindset, changing the way we look at life, does take time. Imagine what our life would be if we learned to love everything we do! Yes, imagine!

CHILDREN UNDER 12 AND ADULTS OVER 60

My wife and I spent a few days in the Allegheny Mountains about two hours from us. (I know, calling them “mountains” to our friends in Spokane would give them a hardy chuckle. Having lived there, I know what a real mountain looks like.) It was good to just get away, really relax, take some long walks, breathe in the fresh “mountain” air. We could have stayed longer but our walking trail around the golf course was interrupted by the sound of gun shots from deer hunters in the nearby woods. But it was enough.

On one of our walks we trekked around Little Flipper Lake, a place set aside for fishing for, as the sign read, “Children under 12 and adults over 60.” Fifteen years ago when I was 60 I probably would have taken that as sort of a slap in the face. I wasn’t decrepit, slow of foot, needed help in any way. And even though my body is slower to heal, when sitting too long causes me to groan when I stand up, when I am slower of foot because of three hip surgeries, I now take that sign as a compliment.

I am not too old to play. And, in fact, maybe that is what part of aging is to be about: playing, especially playing with children under 12, being a grandparent to your own grandchildren if they don’t live too far away and being a stand-in grandparent to those whose grandparents are too far away or who have none. I know one of the privileges I missed growing up was not having a grandparent to play with me.

I survived, of course, because I had great parenting. But grandparents, real or substitute, are special. Ask any grandchild. Our youngest, Carter, thinks I hung the moon. But then, the feeling is mutual. Being with children under 12 keeps us young. They also open our eyes to realities we have often shut them to as we grow older. For Carter, who is three, the world is wonderful. Everything is interesting and he can’t get enough of it.

Even more so, everyone is equal. Carter’s daycare class is filled with kids of all races and mixed races. He doesn’t see color. He sees someone just like him: a kid to get to know, to play with, to learn with and learn from and even to do some teaching himself. The only way Carter will think he is or they are different is if his parents tell him so, and they will not, that is for certain.

We were all that way once. We did not recognize differences or, if we did, we didn’t think they mattered very much. We knew our parent’s car was different from the car our friend’s parents drove, but a car was a car. Differences didn’t matter. They still don’t even though, sadly, we, as a nation and world, seem to think and act as if they do, much to our sadness and loss, a very real loss.

That sign at Little Flipper Lake made me smile. It also made me thankful that no matter how old we get, no matter how much our steps slow or our muscles weaken, we have a real and important place in this world. We always have even though we sometime lose that place. And, lest we forget, so do children under 12. They have so much to re-teach us, lessons we have forgotten, lessons this world needs to re-learn and put back into practice. Thanks, Carter, for your continual reminder.

SHALL WE DANCE?

Glad you asked. Wish I could. But I have two left feet. I took dance lessons once, back in fifth and sixth grade. They were held in the evenings at the public school I attended. In hindsight, I think there were two reasons why I took the lessons. First, all my buddies did. Second, it was a chance to dance with Myrtle Lou Fritz, my and all my buddies' heartthrob back in elementary school.

I was half successful. I never really learned how to dance -- anyone can learn the "box step." But I did get to dance with Myrtle Lou. Made my year. I wonder what ever happened to her. What happened to me is that I never got any better. So when on those rare, very rare, occasions when my wife and I dance, I move slowly and try not to step on her feet. If the tempo speeds up, I sit.

There are times, however, when I don't have a choice, when I can't sit this one out, when I have to get out on the floor and do my best, hoping I don't make a complete fool of myself. Those are the times when I have to be part of the dance of life, if you will. Actually, I, we, do have a choice. We can refuse to dance. We can sit this one out if we so choose, for the choice is always ours. No one can make us join the dance.

           

A church, a Christian community, can be likened, in a way, to a dance. And as Christians, both as individuals and as a community/church, we are asked to dance all the time. Even more, we ask others to dance with us, or certainly should. We are to reach out a hand and reach for theirs and ask, "Shall we dance?" At that point it is out of our hands for the offer can be refused or accepted.

There are many reasons why we turn down the offer to dance or are turned down ourselves. Sometimes the reason is that we believe we have to know all the steps before we can get out onto the floor. Sometimes we refuse because we are afraid to make a mistake. Sometimes we refuse simply because we are stubborn or lazy or both. The reasons, the excuses are many and almost always seem valid.

Forming and shaping Christian community, be that community a family (like yours and mine), a church (like the one of which we are a member) or The Church (like The Episcopal Church), involves risk. It involves getting out onto the dance floor and knowing ahead of time that we may step on someone's toes; that we may trip, stumble and even fall.

It also involves sharing and learning, humility and patience, every human emotion. And it is work. And it takes practice. Before the dance instructor allowed us to pair up, we had to practice the step over and over and over again until we got it right. It was a pain, but I was thankful. God forbid I would step on Myrtle Lou’s delicate toes! But it was worth it.

So, too, for us in the dance of life. If we are willing to take the risk, in the end, it is worth it. It always is.

Shall we dance? Why not?

NO MARGINS

The sad truth is that most of us, or at least too many of us, are too exhausted to enjoy life. We don't have enough time to do what we would like to do and need to do and that is time to delight. If there is any free time to delight in the day, the moment, we find ways to fill that time rather quickly. As someone has said, what has happened is that there are no margins left in our lives. We've filled them in. And we brag about and delight in the fact that we find little or no delight in life.

Even those of us who are retired seem to leave no or little margins. If I’ve heard it once, I’ve heard in a hundred times from people who are retried: “I’m busier now than when I was working.” I’ve said it myself. I don’t know if it is true about those others, but I know it’s true about me.

When there are no – or very little – margins in our lives, there is little time for rest, for Sabbath and for Sabbath-keeping. Keeping Sabbath doesn't mean going to church and then filling the rest of the day with other activities: cutting the grass, painting the house, weeding the garden. Sabbath is a time for rest. It is family time.

Growing up I remember my Sabbaths, my Sundays, always being the same. We went to church on Sunday morning; had a light lunch at home with the family around the kitchen table, and then went to Grandpa's house for the afternoon to visit, to eat, to be with family. When we came home, it was time for bed. There was no going to the mall -- there was none. There was no shopping: the stores were closed. And there was nothing to do on Sunday evening even if you were an adult: the Blue Laws kept everything closed. It may have been an enforced Sabbath rest, but at least there was some rest.

Not anymore. Most of us have our Sundays filled. And if they are not filled, we wonder if there is something wrong. The idea of a day of rest has gone the way of the Blue Laws and a Sunday afternoon drive to the park or to get ice cream. And I wonder how many people go to Grandpa's any more for Sunday dinner. The problem is not that Grandma and Grandpa live across the state or across the country. The problem is that Grandma and Grandpa aren't home. They're out filling in the margins of their own Sundays.

We're never going to bring back the 50's (or before). Times and society have changed. But we do not have to be the victims. We are in control of our own lives. We can keep Sabbath, erase the filled-up spaces, make room for margins in our lives. Rest, leisure, is not a sin, no matter what our Puritan genes try to tell us. And we all have them. It may be true that an idle mind and an idle body are the devil's workshop. But the devil has a better chance when we are exhausted than when we are well rested.

Jesus always made it a practice in his life to not only take time for Sabbath rest, but he made and took time for longer periods of rest. It was the only way he could do his ministry. We are no different. As long as we keep filling in those margins in our lives, leaving no time for real rest, then we will continue to be exhausted and incapable of finding the delight there is in and to life.

RESIDENT ALIENS

In one way or another we are all strangers in a strange land, resident aliens, if you will. Our faith tells us that our real citizenship is in heaven; until then we are residing in alien territory. So what we do while residing here is to make this strange land hospitable, even habitable. It is often a struggle.

One of the basic human drives is to look for rootedness, to find a home. Once we have found a home, once we discover roots, we are often very reluctant to pull up those roots and move, even if the move is a promise of a better place and life. If we have never moved before, we quickly discover how deep those roots are, how difficult it is to be uprooted.

What we also discover when we have moved on, picked up those roots, is that trying to be re-rooted is not always easy. It's like gardening and medicine: transplants are not always successful; and even if they are, they often come only after a long and hard struggle.

What the transplanted looks for is that hospitable climate where new roots can quickly find support and nourishment, find a safe home, a shelter. While the "alien" may reside in a new place, the alien does not wish to be the stranger, the newcomer, for long. It/he/she wants to become part of the new environment, as if there had been a life-long, or certainly long-time residence. But for that to happen, the old-timers have to welcome the newcomer with open arms. While rejection is an option, it is never desired. Yet it is the fear of rejection that makes being uprooted so frightening.

What is interesting is that the word "stranger" in Greek also means "guest" and "host." Thus, there is a mutuality there. There is, and must be, a mutual reaching out. The stranger reaches out for new roots. The host reaches out to the stranger's roots to pull him in. The host can refuse, of course, but at the risk of the host's own death.

The body can refuse the new heart; the garden can refuse the new plants. Rejection is always a possibility. But, again, rejection means eventual death. Thus, what both stranger and host are each looking for is new life. The stranger wants to find new life in a strange land; the host wants the new life the stranger can and does bring.

It is frightening; no doubt about it. Being uprooted, accepting new roots is a venture into the unknown. Resurrection, new life always is. But that is also what hospitality is: an opportunity for resurrection, for new life -- for everyone.

When a stranger comes into our community, that stranger brings new life to us and new life for himself. To be sure, we do not always, if ever, know what that new life will look like, only that it will be new and different and, hopefully, better for every one of us. But we never know for sure. That is why there is that reluctance in us to be hospitable to strangers. Yet we all are, all resident aliens, strangers, foreigners. We need one another and need to reach out to one another even if it is with trembling hands.

DID YOU SEE JESUS?

A funny story one of the guys told at our men’s breakfast: A drunk was wondering by the river when he came upon a preacher standing in the river dunking people into the water. He waded into the water and came up to the preacher who asked him if he wanted to be baptized. He said that he would. So the preacher dunked him under the water, said a few words and then asked him after he shook of the water, “Did you see Jesus?” He said that he had not.

The preacher dunked him again while holding him under a bit longer. When he came sputtering to the surface, the preacher asked him again if he had seen Jesus. Again he replied in the negative. So the preacher tried one more time holding him under for what seemed like almost too long. He asked the same question about seeing Jesus. The man said “No.” But then added, “He must have fallen in somewhere else.”

There’s a lesson there and it is obvious that it is not about the third time being the charm. It is, however, about seeing Jesus. For that same question could be asked of each one of us being stone sober every day of our lives. “Did you see Jesus today?” we are asked. If we respond in the negative it is not because Jesus must have been somewhere else when we were looking for him. The reason is that we weren’t looking for him.

All we have to do is open our eyes and we will see Jesus, see Jesus in every person we meet, pass by, think about, see on television, communicate with on Facebook, converse with by tweeting, etc., etc., etc. Jesus is in every person, including and especially us, because each one of us is a child of God. That being said, it means that somehow in some way we can see Jesus in every person.

Granted, that is sometimes very hard to do especially when the person we are encountering has done or said something horrific, ungodly, obscene. Nevertheless, Jesus is somewhere in that person. It is up to us to find that Jesus and, even more so, to help that person to see the Jesus living inside.

Jesus spent his whole ministry finding the good even in those whose actions were not good at all, in the people who were out to get him and in the people who were putting him to death. When he forgave them from the cross, he hoped they would hear his words, look inside themselves and see that good for themselves. He could not make them see. They would have to see for themselves. All he could do was tell them that it was there. Now it was up to them to search their hearts for it.

The same is true for you and me. When others see us living out our faith especially when it is difficult, our actions prod them to look inside themselves. When we see others living out their faith, their actions prod us to look inside ourselves. The question always remains to be asked of us each day: “Did you see Jesus?” What will our answer be?

BLATANT BLASPHEMY

The greatest blasphemy of all, according to Jesus, is to assert that God, in and through the work of the Holy Spirit, has no place in our life. For to deny the necessity of the Holy Spirit to be part of our lives is to assert that we can live a life without God. Even more, it is to deny God’s existence and, in effect, make ourselves to be God. It is to say that we need no one and nothing. We are self-sufficient. To believe that and live like that is surely blasphemous.

It is blasphemy because it is so wrong. Perhaps there are times in our lives when we, for whatever foolish reasons we may have at the moment, try to live such a life. We go it alone and never ask God’s help nor ask anyone else for help. We are self-sufficient, we say or want to believe and certainly act that way. Foolishness, to be sure; but sometimes we do play the fool, don’t we?

It is only when we are overwhelmed by the mess we have made or find ourselves in that we come to our senses and realize that we cannot live this life alone, that we need not only the love and support of others, but also and more importantly the grace and strength of our God that comes through the Holy Spirit,. So often it is only then that we begin to repent of our foolishness, our stubbornness and blasphemous ways and thoughts, and return to the Lord.

To believe in God for us who call ourselves Christians means to rely on the grace and strength of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is manifested in our lives, is made alive in our lives. How is that done? For the most part most of the time is done and manifested in and through the love and support of the Christian community, our brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ, that’s how.

Those who believe in Jesus and try to live the life he has taught us to live, who gather as the Christian family, the church, the fellowship of believers, they are those who make the Holy Spirit alive in the world. Moreover, our being part of this community is what helps and enables us to live our lives as we know we should live them and as we would want to live them. Without the support of our faith family, without the grace of the Spirit living in and working through each one of us, we would not be able to make it in this life in this world. And, again, to insist that we could would be blasphemous.

It is easy, at times, to forget the importance of the faith community in our lives, even to assert that we do not need that community to live out our life of faith, especially when we seem to have life by the tail. But, again, to think or act that way is truly blaspheming the Holy Spirit. If we say that we do not need others, we are also saying we do not need the Holy Spirit – and that is blasphemy!

We need to put away blasphemous thoughts and actions and be thankful for being a part of the Christian community that surrounds us. We need to be mindful of and thankful for their love and care and support in helping us live out our life of faith. We also need to be as loving and caring and supportive to them as they are for us.

DOES FOLLOWING JESUS EMBARRASS US?

From the very beginning of his ministry it is obvious from the Gospel accounts that Jesus was an embarrassment to his family, or at least to some members of his extended family. For whatever reason, they wanted to stop him from doing what he was doing. Jesus had quickly attracted a crowd of followers or at least a crowd of hangers-on who were hanging on to his every word and action. Why they were hanging around only they knew. His family obviously had no clue as to why he was so popular. After all, he was only the son of a lowly carpenter, a carpenter himself with no formal education to be considered a leader of people in any way, shape or form.

Some, perhaps, were following Jesus because they felt he could do something for them: work a miracle, give the needed word of encouragement, whatever. Others, perhaps, were hanging around because what Jesus was saying and doing made them believe that perhaps, just perhaps, Jesus might really be the Messiah and they wanted to be on his side when he came into his power. Still others stayed close by because they were truly being fed by what Jesus was giving them.

All these people were so wrapped up in their own wants and needs that oftentimes they did not even give him the courtesy to eat a meal in peace or to spend some time with his family let alone to go off by himself to spend time in spiritual and physical refreshment. They were in need and they believed that Jesus could take care of their needs and they were just not going to go away or even give him any time to himself until he responded to their pleas for help.

Times have not changed nor have the reasons changed why people hang around Jesus even today, have they? Our hanging around, of course, takes on different forms but not for different reasons. Some of us, like those beating a path to Jesus’ door and almost beating the door down, beat up on Jesus, if you will, with our own agendas. We beg; we plead; we may even rant and rave, demanding that Jesus not only give us his attention, his immediate attention, and not only listen to our needs but respond to them as we would have him so respond.

Some of us hang around the fringes of faith in Jesus, doing the minimal, professing belief but not much more, because, just in case it takes faith in Jesus to get to heaven, we don’t want to be left out. Come judgment day there are those of us who want to be able to say that we were baptized or confirmed, went to church on occasion, never denied our faith even if we were not all that particular about it. At least Jesus could not say he did not know us even if what we said and did hardly gave a clue to that kinship.

And some of us hang around Jesus because we know, as Peter would profess later on, that Jesus has the words of eternal life, and that not only eternal life, but life itself flows from Jesus. Even so, and we trust that it is so, we must never take our faith for granted but live it and live into it more and more fully each day. What that means, of course, is that we never feel embarrassed when we live out our faith and especially never so embarrassed that we do not.

BEAT PITT IN ‘22

There are some future events in life that, I guess, are really worth waiting for. The other day when Arlena and I were back in our old stomping grounds of West Virginia, she having been born there and I having served there for over 17 years, we saw a huge sign in one of the store windows that read “Beat Pitt in ’22”. You had to be a part of that rivalry to really understand.

Years ago, and not too many at that, the game between the University of Pittsburgh, near where I grew up and where we now live, and West Virginia University was called “The Backyard Brawl.” It was that and sometimes more than that. What made it even more interesting was that many a player from each team grew up in their now-rival’s backyard. It was always a fun time for the alumni.

But Big Money reared its ugly head. West Virginia went off to the Big 12 where its closest rival is half a continent away in Oklahoma, the majority of the rest being in Texas. Pitt is now in the Atlantic Coast Conference composed of almost all southern universities. No more backyard brawls and none in the offing as no university for either of them will ever be considered to be in their backyard.

The leveler heads in both schools decided that something important was going on when there was a true rivalry, something that one could not pin down but knew it was important just as it happened when that other backyard brawl, Pitt vs. Penn State was dissolved when Penn State went packing to the Big Ten because of financial considerations. It’s always about that, isn’t it?

Well, Pitt and Penn State are back at each other’s throats and it’s been good for both schools even if the head coaches hate giving up a patsy to play a meaningful game that a loss might cost them when bowl bids come a begging. But the Pitt and Mountaineer fans will have to wait until 2022 to renew the backyard brawl. And for some Mountaineer fans they just can’t wait. So up went the sign.

Now one might consider waiting almost five years for a meaningless football game to be silly, but one would not be a Mountaineer fan. I tend to think Pitt fans might be a little blasé about that game, but not by very much. That game will not be meaningless for either university even if, God forbid, both teams were truly awful. God forbid even more at that thought! Doesn’t life revolve around football?

Sorry about that. But just think: wouldn’t it be something wonderful if we Christians could get as excited as football fans when it comes to living out our faith? Yes, there are some things in life that are worth waiting for, some more than others, even football games for many. But wouldn’t the world, and we ourselves, be so much better if we couldn’t wait for the next opportunity to live out what we believe?

CONFRONTING THE TRUTH

If someone were to ask me, I would assert that my favorite part of the Bible is the first part, namely the first eleven chapters of Genesis. I read them as parables that speak to our humanity and are a reminder that we are all one and the same, no matter who we are, where we live or even when we live or have lived. Take the story of Adam and Eve after they have eaten from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. (By the way, there was no apple. Look it up is you don’t believe me.)

It is an excruciatingly painful experience to be caught red-handed, or, in the case of Adam and Eve, caught naked, literally and figuratively, which they were. No one wants to stand naked before anyone else, again, literally and figuratively. We all have flaws and would prefer that those flaws be seen only by ourselves. If another must see them, that other must be someone who loves us, as we are, unconditionally, flaws and all. Yet even then, we are often uncomfortable exposing those flaws, those failings and shortcomings, be they physical, personal or spiritual. For there are some truths about ourselves that we find are simply too painful to expose.

That, I think, is the message of this short parable. The writer is employing a very understandable simile to get across a very important message. When we are caught doing what we know we should not be doing, it is similar to standing physically naked for the entire world to see. To be sure there may be some exhibitionists who couldn't care less if anyone saw them in all their glory, which is how they would see it. The rest of us would be too embarrassed just as we are embarrassed when others sees us doing what they and we know we should not.

I suspect that it is more the fear of being caught naked that keeps us on the straight and narrow than it is our moral principles. Yes, we know what is right and wrong; but if we knew we could get away with doing wrong without anyone catching us in the act or ever discovering our deed, we would go ahead and do the wrong and enjoy the pleasure of it all. In fact, we do it all the time. Most sins we commit, the vast majority of them, are done with the belief that no one will ever know and that we can get away with the sin without ever being seen or caught.

But because we know we might get caught or because we are afraid of being caught, because we do not want to be exposed, and only because of that, do we refrain from doing what we are so often tempted to do. In the biblical story Adam and Eve never thought they would be caught. What was even worse was that they had no idea about how they would feel after they did what they did - and they only caught themselves, which, I think, is the point.

No one has to catch us in sin. We catch ourselves and are often surprised about how badly we feel afterwards. The truth is that standing in front of a mirror and confronting our own nakedness (sinfulness) is the most painful experience of all. Sometimes not wanting that feeling and only that keeps us on the right path. Sometimes but not always.

THERE'S ALWAYS THE HUMAN ELEMENT

 It was many years ago during the Offertory of the Family Eucharist on Christmas Eve. MacKenzie, who was always forthright and to the point was sitting next to his Mom. The ushers were taking the collection. When they came to MacKenzie, he turned to his mother and said in a stage whisper, "Mom, why do we have to pay to go to church? Our oldest, Christy, who was sitting with Arlena and her sisters in front of MacKenzie, overheard MacKenzie's question. She so wanted to turn around and answer: "So that my sisters can go to college."

There is always the human element, isn't there? When we get to the subject of money, there is always the human element, perhaps especially when it comes to the subject of money. Sometimes I think humanity doesn't get any lower than it does when it comes to that subject. Our lowest, basest instincts come to the fore when we are talking about money: how it is raised, how it is spent, what it is to be used for, and so forth, and not just any money: our money, my money.

And as MacKenzie so innocently and so honestly noted, even in church we are not immune to the baseness of the reality of money. It is not only Congress, Legislatures, School Boards and County Commissions who have to argue about and grovel over money, so do churches, although groveling and arguing are unseemly in church settings. We just beg and pass the plate. But, again, it is the human element from which we cannot escape.

This is not a plea to support your local parish. That would be unseemly of me! It is simply a reminder that no matter how spiritual we may think we are or are to be, and no matter how spiritual we believe the church is and is to be, we can never escape the human element. Nor should we. If we could or should, Jesus would never have come among us. But Jesus, the Son of God, became one of us, immersed himself in our world and in our life, in the human element, not to condemn it but to sanctify it and to remind us that we can't encounter the divine without first encountering the human. Rather, the human and the divine are two sides to the same coin.

It is another way of saying that we can't get there from here. As a church we are always confronted with the human element. Whether that element is as base as money or as majestic as a bricks‑and‑mortar edifice, we are surrounded by the human, the earthly all the time. The only escape is eternity, which most of us are not in that much of a hurry to encounter. In the meantime our encounters are very much of this world and very much of the human variety. And they are as simple, as earthy and as base (as in basic) as Christy's wanted‑to‑say words to MacKenzie.

There is no escaping the human element in everything we think or do or say, in everything we are, even in the midst of a celebrating profoundly spiritual event as the Eucharist, and the Christmas Eucharist at that. I don't know if MacKenzie was shocked, surprised or scandalized by having to "pay" to go to church. I hope he was merely amused. Come to think of it, so was Christy, so was I when she told me the story and so should we be when we realize that the human element follows us everywhere. Smile.

GOODNESS IN ALL

Sometimes we Christians are accused of seeing everything through rose colored glasses. We want to see good in everything that happens and see the good in everyone even when it is at times most difficult to do. To tell the truth, it is indeed very difficult sometimes to see good in what is obviously evil, to see the good in a person who has just committed a heinous action. Yet we know and believe that nothing and no one is completely and totally devoid of goodness.

Why? Why is there nothing that is pure evil, no one who is totally corrupt no matter how evil he seems? The reason is simple: God. God is the creator of everything and every human being. As a result there is goodness, Godness in all. And while we good people sometimes do some very bad, very evil, very ungodly deeds, God still remains in us. God’s Holy Spirit never abandons us completely.

Granted, it sometimes seems that there are those for whom evil is a way of life and that nothing good will ever come from them. And that is true, as long as they persist in their evil and sinful ways. But because they are now and always will remain God’s children no matter what kinds of evil they perpetrate, there is still the possibility for them to turn from their evil ways and repent.

Thus, no matter how evil someone seems, we know there is some good in that person somewhere and that it is our responsibility to discover that goodness and help the person himself discover it as well. We may not be successful because our love and concern can be rejected. But it will not go entirely for naught. The one whom we are trying to turn around has experienced our love and love is the antidote to evil.

We know all this to be true because we have been on the other end. Whenever we take the time to reflect upon those moments in our lives when we had been very, very selfish, when what we had done was truly detestable and disobedient, we realize that we never truly lost our bearings. Something or someone somehow in some way saved us from ourselves and got us back on the straight and narrow.

Perhaps it is only through those rose colored glasses that we are able to see what we should see even when we would rather not, when we would like to simply walk away and leave the one who hurt us so badly to go to his personal hell. But because we can see the good that is still there, buried as it might be deep within that person, we need to do all we can do to bring that good to the surface.

It begins by our trying as best we can to see the goodness and the godliness that is in everyone. That may not be easy to do especially if we have been hurt by that person. It may even seem impossible at that moment and probably is. But that moment will pass.

It will indeed take work to forgive but we will not be working alone. The God in that person will work with us, just as the God living in us brought out the goodness in us after we came to our senses because of the love of someone else.

GOD DOES NOT ACT LIKE US, THANK GOD

One of the reasons, perhaps the main reason, why we sometimes have so much difficulty in understanding God and God’s infinite love and forgiveness is that we think God acts the way we do. Sometimes we think, and perhaps secretly hope, that God treats others just as we treat others. This is especially true when it comes to our own sinfulness, when we deliberately hurt others, often for what we believe are justifiable reasons. We have been hurt and we believe it is all right to hurt in return.

We do not deny that we are sinners even as we try to find reasons to excuse our selfish actions. We know we have sinned and we know we have offended our God. That is a given. But what we, at least somewhere in the back of our minds, also consider a given is that God should and will punish us for those sins. Again and after all, is that not the mindset we have when we deal with fellow human beings when they selfishly hurt us? We want those who have caused us pain to have to suffer pain in return. That is only fair and just, is it not?

That is a very human emotion and reaction. We want to get even. We often attempt to get even. Because we cannot undo the harm that has been inflicted upon us or erase the pain and suffering that we endured, we feel we have to get some measure of revenge. We simply cannot allow the sinner to get off scot-free. Unconditional forgiveness is almost if not beyond the pale of our imagination.

What is unfortunate is that we transfer this human way of behaving and thinking to God. If we cannot simply forgive and forget, how can God? Why should God? Sinners that we are, how can we ever stand before God, especially in death, “holy and blameless and irreproachable”, to use Paul’s words. We know we are not holy. We sinned and sinned often. We have no one else to blame but ourselves and we know it. And irreproachable? Get serious!

And yet we will indeed be able to stand before God in just such a state. Our sins will not only be forgiven but they will not even be remembered. They will be erased from memory and we will stand before God with a clean slate. The only problem is that as much as we want to believe that truth of our faith, we find it quite difficult to do so. Why? Again, I believe the reason is that we think God thinks and acts as we do even as we hope God does not. Thankfully God does not.

Now none of this means that we have a blank check to do whatever we want, sin as much as we desire, because God always forgives us. That is nonsense. The reason why we stop hurting those we love is that we hurt ourselves in the process. The reason why we stop doing anything selfish and sinful is that we finally come to grips with how much pain we have caused.

What it does mean is that our response to God’s ultimate graciousness and forgiveness is to live a life of loving thanks as best we can, knowing we will often fail each day of our lives but resolving to be better the next day. That is all we can do and all God expects.

THE WILL OF GOD

THE WILL OF GOD

 “The will of God”: we use that term almost offhandedly, even rather blithely at times, even as we have not the foggiest notion of what we are talking about. Yet when something happens that we cannot understand, that makes no sense whatsoever to us – or to anyone else for that matter – whether good or bad, whether to someone else or to us, we conclude that it is the result of the will of God. This may or may not be true, but how else to explain it?

Taken to the ultimate, if everything is the result of God’s will, both good and bad, especially bad, the very, very bad, then we have no will, no free will. We are simply automatically doing what God has programmed us to do since our inception. What is worse, if this were true, then the obvious conclusion is that we are not and would not be held responsible for anything we do. It would all be the result of the direct will of the God who created us.

We certainly do not believe this to be the case even though at those times when we have done something very wrong and sinful, we wish it were it so. If it were so, we would be off the hook as far as guilt and responsibility are concerned. In all truth we also certainly do not want that to be the way it is. We do not know that to be the way it is. Because we do not in any way know God’s ways. We simply believe it is not God’s way to have created us God’s robots. We believe God gives us free will and because of that, we are held responsible for our actions.

And yet, and yet: even though we understand we must take responsibility for our actions, both good and bad, what about those other events that defy explanation, any explanation, other than they must be the result of the will of God? Actions like hurricanes (Harvey) that devastate, epidemics that wipe out thousands, stillborn babies, paralyzing illnesses: how do we explain these events other than that they are the will of God?

The truth is, try as we might, we do not understand and we cannot explain why, to put it simply, that bad things happen to good and innocent people. Sometimes we cannot even explain why we do bad things to good and otherwise innocent people. It is the problem of evil all over again. Whenever something bad happens that cannot be explained by the free will of human beings, because of our sinfulness, the only one we can blame is God. And sometimes we do especially when that bad has happened to us or to someone we love dearly. We have to blame someone, don’t we?

As people of faith we do not like blaming God for the evil in this world. We do not want to blame it on the devil either because the devil doesn’t commit any sin. We do. We certainly would like to blame much of the evil we do on someone or something else, but we cannot. We simply do not understand God’s ways. Even more, sometimes we do not even understand our ways.

We do not have all the answers. “The will of God”: it often causes more problems than it resolves. 

FINDING THE RIGHT PARTNER

The first human being according to the creation parable in the first book of the Bible was not happy. S/he (does it matter the gender?) discovered that one can have all the possessions in the world, can live in Paradise, can win the lottery of life, whatever that means and whatever it would entail, and still not be happy. Something was missing from all this abundance, all this pleasure, all this. What was missing, was not something but someone.

It did not take long, again according to the story, for this first human being to realize that unless s/he had someone to share Paradise with, it all amounted to a hill of beans, if even that. Material possessions cannot compensate for loneliness, for being alone. It never has and it never will given who we are as human beings. Sometimes we are seduced into thinking that it will, perhaps even trying by accumulating more and more, but we soon discover it won’t.

Material possessions, even great wealth, only give monetary pleasure. The joy of the new thing, the latest gadget, the biggest and best whatever lasts only for a short time. Then we have to move on to something else to substitute for what we are really wanting and needing and that is another person to share, not our possession, but our life. Sadly, all too often it seems that we only appreciate the other when the other is absent from us and not until then.

What we also discover is that we can be as poor as the proverbial church mouse and still be happy, satisfied, fulfilled simply because we have someone to share our life with, someone who loves us and cares for us just as we are and who we are and not because of what we do or do not possess materially. Young couples who struggle together when finances are tight find that their love for each other grows deeper every day in that mutual struggle.

Perhaps that is what the biblical writer was getting at when he tells us that these two people were naked. They were saying to each other, “This is who I am. Love me as I am. Share my life just as I am. Anything I add – clothing, possessions, wisdom, talents – won’t change who I am. I am not ashamed for who I am or for what you see, for what you see is me. Be my life partner.”

One does not have to be married to find a life partner. One’s life partner does not have to be of the opposite sex and physical sex is only one small and insignificant and not necessarily a necessary part of the relationship. What is important is the mutual sharing of life and love. All else is add-on and for the betterment of the relationship. But it is and always will remain an add-on, good but not necessary.

Finding the right partner, the best friend, the blood-brother/sister, makes us want to say, even shout, to God, “Lord, thank you, thank you, for giving us one another to share this life with, its joys and sorrows, its ups and downs, yesterday, today and all the tomorrows to come. Amen.”

NOT JUST ANOTHER BRICK IN THE WALL

The rock group Pink Floyd was wrong back in 1979. They wrote Just Another Brick in the Wall to protest what they believed was a poor educational system in England that treated the students as “just another brick in the wall.” In other words, the students were really nobodies whom the system didn’t much care about. If they received an education, well and good. If not, well they “don’t need no education” anyway.

No one is just another brick in the wall. Not only are we one as a people the world over, no matter where we find ourselves and no matter what configuration we are in we are not just another brick in the wall. Whether we are with only one other person or as a member of a family or grouping, no matter how small or how large, we are not just another brick in the wall.

Perhaps the students Pink Floyd was protesting for believed they were nobodies in the eyes of the educational powers to be and even if they were actually treated as such, nevertheless, they were somebodies and were important. Every one of us is. There are no exceptions. The problem is that as individuals we don’t seem to understand this truth both when it comes to how we are treated or how we treat others.

Let me explain by drawing a mental picture: a wall, a wall made of bricks. It does not matter how small or how large that wall is: two bricks (you and me), ten bricks (my family), 150 bricks (my church community), 30,000 bricks (my community), 300+ million bricks (my country, 600+ billion bricks (my world). Each brick is vital to the strength of that wall. Pull one brick out and the whole wall is weaker.

The point, of course, is that no one of us is a nobody no matter where we are, who we are, the amount of education we have, the income we earn, where we live, the color of our skin – the list is endless. Nothing about us lessens who we are and the importance of who we are wherever we are, wherever we find ourselves at the moment, in whatever wall we happen to be at the time.

Sometimes that truth is so easy for us to forget when we are treated as if we are unimportant or when we treat others as if they are unimportant, as if they or we are just another brick in the wall. Somewhere along the line we have lost sight of the truth that no one is unimportant. No one. And no one is better than anyone else. Just as each brick is vital to the strength of the wall, so each one of us is vital to the strength of whatever wall/community to which we belong.

At this time in the life of our county I think that is a message that we not only need to hear but to begin to live out. Unfortunately, what I am hearing are too many voices shouting to others that they are just another brick in the wall. No one is just another brick in the wall, no one. When will we learn? Will we ever learn?

LONG TIME PASSING

There is one thing, actually more than one, that I miss about my college and theology years and that is the voices of the folk singers who would not allow us to disregard or ignore the many injustices that were taking place in our country. Pete Seeger, Bob Dylan (who won a Nobel Prize for literature because of his poetic truth-telling), Peter, Paul and Mary – the list is long – spoke to my generation.

I did not march or protest as I was secure behind seminary walls and was almost immune to what was happening in the world beyond those walls. And even if I was not personally affected by the racism they sang against, the war they knew was really unjustified, and the divisions among us, I knew what they meant. In hindsight I regret my non-involvement other than simply praying that their voices would be heard.

A long time has passed and some of them have passed into the next life. But we need them today. We need voices who will speak out against the injustices we see all around us, the bigotry and racism that is still very much present. There are those who say we are a Christian country and that they are Christians all the while preaching hatred and division. We are not and they are not.

Peter, Paul and Mary sang this in River of Jordan. “There is only one river. There is only one sea. And it flows through you, and it flows through me. There is only one people. We are one and the same. We are all one spirit. We are all one name. We are the father, mother, daughter and son. From the dawn of creation, we are one. We are one.”

The problem, of course, and the issue at hand is that we don’t act as one. That does not mean that we agree on all issues or even the way to resolve issues like health care and taxes and all those political issues that divide us. What it does mean is that we recognize, when we deal with these issues that do need to be resolved that we take into account that we are indeed one people and that what hurts one of us hurts all of us.

We live in the greatest country on earth. It does not need to be made great again. It is already great. But it needs to be and become better. So do each and every one of us. That is what Dylan and Seeger and their kin tried to get across in their music. That was Jesus’ constant message. It still is and always will be.

Many listened back then and did something about it to help bring us together. The question today is “Is anyone listening?” Even more, where are the voices today that will bring us to our senses? I have been listening but I have not heard any such voices coming from our political leaders. I have not heard it loud enough from our religious leaders. They especially need to speak up, from every denomination and race and creed and speak as one. I am waiting. I am listening.

INSPECTION TIME

One cannot drive a car in Pennsylvania unless it is first inspected. Thank God. As financially painful as it sometimes may be, thank God.  I want to know that my car is safe to drive. And the other drivers want to know that I am driving a safe car, not so much because they might be concerned about my safety but because you are concerned about their safety. They don't want me crashing into them because of faulty brakes, for instance. Whether I like it or not, getting my car inspected is the most important thing I'll do for my car this year.

These yearly automobile inspections are also a reminder that a yearly, at least a yearly, inspection is necessary as far as our personal lives are concerned. Sometimes, like yearly automobile inspections, yearly personal inspections can sometimes be quite painful. Yet we simply do need to take the time, at least once a year, to inspect our lives as Christians. The problem is that we probably do not take that time. It is not on our agenda. And there is not a patch on our arm with a number, like the number 8 on my windshield – that reminds us to take some times out (like in July) to go over the systems. Oh, we know it is a good idea, but we have better things to do -- all much less painful.

Those personal inspections are intended to plumb the depths of our psyches, to dig deeply into our inner being to see if we are really living out our faith or if we are just playing at it. We can look good on the outside but the inside of us is a mess. Giving ourselves a quick-glance once-over won't work. We may want to slap a sticker on our forehead and say "okay for another year;" but if we do, disaster may be just around the corner.

It's like that car inspection. Time-wise, money-wise, pain-wise I want the man to give my car the once-over very quickly. I certainly do not want him to find anything wrong with my car, even if I feel he probably will. But deep down I also want to be sure that my car is safe to drive around for another year. I certainly don't want to worry about my car breaking down somewhere between here and somewhere on a snowy winter's night. Thus, as painful as it might be, I need, not just the State, I need to insist on a complete inspection for my car.

And for myself: the spiritual breakdown can take place anytime, anywhere and, usually, as with a car, when it is most inconvenient. Cars never break down right in front of the service station, never run out of gas next to the pump. Our faith never gets into a crisis situation when all is going well. Our faith gets shaky when everything else also seems to be falling apart. To prevent that breakdown, we need a yearly inspection, like it or not.

These summer days are good for that inspecting. We can usually find the time, make the time, to be by ourself to take a good, close look at our life of faith: really give it a good, close inspection; see what parts need tightening, what areas need repairing, what has to be replaced. Chances are we don't need a complete overhaul. But chances are also that a tune-up is necessary. Take time for that inspection. Give ourselves a good tuning-up physically, mentally, spiritually. It will probably the most important thing we do for ourselves all summer, maybe all year.

WHAT REALLY COUNTS

Contrary to an old, old commercial it’s not what’s up front that counts. Being up front, visible, seen, isn’t always, if ever, what is most important. As with a really beautiful woman: beauty lies not in what’s up front – face and figure—but what’s inside. What’s up front may be enticing. But often what’s up front conceals rather than reveals.

It is very tempting, of course, for us to put on false fronts so that we seem other than we are. We want to because we somehow seem to feel that that is what is expected of us or that that is what is necessary to get ahead, to succeed. And it may work for a while. But sooner or later the charade has to cease. When it does, the real person will eventually emerge, perhaps much to our immediate dismay but certainly to our everlasting relief.

We are who we are. We cannot hide it forever or for long. The real person comes to the fore sooner or later, and the sooner the better. And that real person is the one deep inside us: the one with all those good qualities, and some bad faults as well. For no one of us is perfect. We are all equal as people. And that is what really counts, not what is up front.

But that is only for starters. For we cannot begin to become what we have the potential to become until we realize that, even with our failings and shortcomings, we are fantastic people: God’s children. Behind that false front, underneath that mask is a child of God.

I know: we’ve heard all that before. Pious words, encouraging words, but words nevertheless. And words simply do not do it sometimes. We can all preach a good sermon. Living it is another matter. We can all profess a great faith. Living out that faith is much more difficult. We can all believe that the internal is much more important that the external; but sometimes we are not so sure.

We are constantly bombarded by hucksters selling us their brand of success, their formula for success, be it through personal enrichment courses, wearing the right clothes, or even turning to Jesus and having him as our personal Lord and Savior. The solutions to success all seem easy, simple and the thing to do. They are not.

The only way we are a success is by being the person God created us to be; not by listening to Madison Avenue – or to anyone else who would like to make us into their own image and likeness. We can’t be like someone else. We can only be ourselves.

We can’t even be like Jesus. We can learn from him but we cannot be like him. That may sound heretical if not pure hogwash. But I don’t think it is. You see, trying to be like someone else prevents us from being and becoming the person God created us as. For what our faith teaches us, what Jesus taught us – and still does through the Scriptures – is that we are to be who we are and not who or what someone else is or wants us to be. . And that’s what really counts.

THE FIRST TIME IS THE CHARM

When I was growing up my siblings and I all had chores to do around the house. We had to do them before we could do anything else, like go out to play or even do our homework. They were never very difficult and, as we grew older and there were more of us to share the chores, each of us had less to do. Yes, they were a pain in the neck for me especially when my buddies were at the front door telling me to hurry up so that we could get the ballgame started.

My first chore, being the oldest, before I moved on to washing the dishes, was sweeping the kitchen floor after supper. It was no big deal. Our kitchen, even if it was an eat-in, was not very big. There was not much of a floor to sweep. But I still remember when my Mom made me sweep the floor six times before she was satisfied that it met her requirements. Six times!

When I finished with sweeping for the fifth time and complained, she said very kindly and calmly, “Billy, if you would do it right the first time, you wouldn’t have to do it again.” Enough said. I also would like to say “Lesson learned;” but, reflecting back on that time in my life, I cannot. And, in all honesty, reflecting on life now, it is still a lesson I sometimes forget to follow.

Do it right the first time and you won’t have to do it again. Common sense. It’s certainly not rocket science. It is a lesson that once learned should be put into practice from then on. Yet, we human beings, seem to have a very difficult time not putting the lessons we have learned into constant practice. Why else is it that history always seems to repeat itself? We keep sweeping the floor over and over again and never seem to get it done right. Why?

That would be the question, would it not? It is a personal question and a societal one as well. The first time we learn a lesson should be the charm. It so should enamor us that we remember it always and follow it always as well. But it doesn’t and we don’t and we pay the price over and over again, personally and as a world.

We are supposed to learn from our mistakes. Sometimes we do. Sometimes we do not. I would like to say that after that six-time floor-sweeping incident, I always did it right the first time. But I can’t day that. My Mom, The Inspector, still found times when I was in too much of a hurry to get the job done that it needed to be done again. The guys had to wait for me a little longer, much to my chagrin and their displeasure.

But that’s the point, isn’t it? When we fail to follow up on the lessons we have learned, we displease ourselves and we displease others. We make our life more difficult and we make the lives of others, especially and usually the ones closest to us and the ones we do not want to displease, more difficult. When will ever learn or will we ever learn?

IT HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH SEX

There are those who maintain that the first sin had something to do with sex, given the fact that the writer says that they, Adam and Eve, were born naked and not ashamed and once they were caught in their sins, they became embarrassed and had to clothe themselves, especially their sexual organs. Such an assertion makes some sense, if we think putting on clothes somehow shields us from the embarrassment of admitting to our sins and discretions.

Yet, as the story goes, Adam’s and Eve’s sin had nothing at all to do with sex; nothing. If you don’t believe me, read the story again. Besides, and more importantly (and it should go without saying) by its very nature sex is good because without it none of us would be here today to reflect on that biblical story and its implications and meaning.

Rather, I think, the very first sin was the one from which all other sins flow. The serpent in the story, sky and crafty creature that he was, understood human nature better than the humans themselves did. The serpent did not need to tempt these humans to do something so much as it had to just scratch the surface of that which spurs humans to eat too much, drink too much, misuse our sexuality and desire more than we need. That first sin was the sin of greed.

Think about it: these two people were living in Paradise. They had all their hearts could desire. They were never sick, never in pain, had all the food they ever needed or wanted. They had everything but it wasn’t enough. They were not satisfied. They thought or were induced to believe there was something missing that needed to be sated. They wanted more than enough.

Then when they were caught in the act, they put on clothes to hide themselves, not because they were embarrassed by their nakedness but because they were embarrassed because of the fools they had just made of themselves. Their greed had gotten the better of them and led them down a primrose path that was now and forever would be covered with thorns, thorns aptly called “greed”.

As with Adam and Eve in the story, so with each and every one of us: all greed has to do is scratch the surface and all hell can break loose. We know the stories, and they are legion, stories about people whose lives have been ruined and who, in the process, ruined the lives of countless others all because greed took over and sanity got submerged under a ton of lies.

Greed is so powerful because it is so insidious. It masquerades as somehow good. It convinces us that we need what we now desire, that we deserve what we now want. It convinces us that what we are doing is good and is good for us and is good for others and will do no one any harm. But, in truth, greed is the Father and Mother of all lies. It is only after learning the hard way, after we are suffering the consequences of our greed and seeing the harm that it has done to others, especially those whom we love, that we rue the day we gave in to it --- and we want to hide but cannot, especially not from ourselves.

NO NEED TO WALK ON WATER

We read in Matthew's Gospel that Jesus walked on water. No one, not even the world's greatest magicians and illusionists, has been able to duplicate that. To be able to walk on water one has to be divine.

That's one way to look at. Those who believe that Jesus is divine, that Jesus is God's Son, believe that Jesus' walking on water is proof positive that he is who he said he is: the Son of God. On the other hand, those who do not believe or do not wish to believe or cannot believe, Jesus' walking on water is written off as so much hokum: the product of the fertile imaginations of those who desperately wanted to believe that Jesus was someone he was not, namely, God's Son.

But both are wrong. Belief does not come from the miraculous, from the extraordinary. Belief in another, even if that other is the Son of God, belief in another comes not from the miraculous but from the mundane, the ordinary. The Apostles came to believe Jesus and to believe in him, not because of his miracles, not because he walked on water or raised Lazarus from the dead but simply because he always loved and cared about them.

It is the little things we do for the ones we love that matter. The big things are icing on the cake. We may be impressed by expensive gifts and we usually are. Walking on water, making a blind man see, giving clean skin to a leper can almost, if not in fact, overwhelm the receiver and the beholder. They almost demand belief, the big things do.

But we don't and dare not fall in love with the gift giver because we are impressed by his or her magnificent generosity. We fall in love with the gift giver because of all the little, everyday gifts of love. Not the big but the little. Not the extraordinary but the ordinary. Not the out-of-this-world, not the you'd-have-to-see-this-to-believe-it, but the mundane.

And we prefer it that way, too. The dozen roses are less important than the held hand. The glass of water is more important than box of chocolates. The size of the gift does not matter. What matters is the gift-giver, the person, the one who loves us by his or her presence rather than his or her present. Faith in another, love of another, comes and grows. It flourishes little by little, day by day. We sprinkle another, God sprinkles us, every day. The water to grow comes drop by drop and not by bucketfuls. Trying to overwhelm the other usually results in drowning the other.

In any relationship – God with us, us with God, one with another – it is never the size or the cost of the gift that matters, really. It never is. What matters in the beginning, in the end, and all along is the love behind the gift. If love is not there, or if the love is selfish rather than for the other, the gift, no matter how impressive or miraculous, will mean very

little.

Jesus did not need to walk on water for us to believe in Him. We need not walk on water to demonstrate our love for God or for another. Like Jesus all we need do is wade through the water with them.