Once one of my favorite articles of clothing had a name. I called it my "Elect-me-to-be-a-bishop-because-everyone-says-I-look-good-in-purple" sweater. Maybe I do look good in purple. That's for others to decide. As long as what I wear makes me look thinner, I'm satisfied. All someone has to say is "That outfit makes you look fat," and it gets taken to Goodwill immediately.
The last reason anyone should be elected a bishop is that the person looks good in purple. Clothing is not even skin deep. Yet there are those whose episcopal veneer is all you get. We've elected people to be bishops -- and rectors and presidents -- for all the wrong reasons. And we've paid dearly for our folly. Yet we did not start out to wind up looking foolish. We wanted to do what was right. We still do.
In wanting to do what is right, what we often do is look for a sign, even a sign from God. Moses' burning bush was a sign to him that God had chosen him and would be with him as he fulfilled God's call. In the important decisions of our lives we all would like some sign from God, some burning bush that tells us that this is God's will. We usually don't get it, not a clear sign anyway. Looking good in purple is not a clear sign. Well, maybe not. Since it is the dumbest reason for electing someone a bishop, it is a clear sign not to.
Every day we have to make decisions. Most are not momentous, only merely mundane: what to wear, what to eat for breakfast, what route to take to work, and so forth. In fact, there are probably few decisions in life that are life-changing, that almost cry out for a burning bush so that we can have a clear indication of God's will for us and God's blessing upon us. But even then, we are rarely privileged to come upon that bush. What we usually get is a purple sweater: either a mixed message or no message at all, and even worse, the wrong message.
So how do we know what to do, whom to choose, what is God's will for us? Most of the time we never know for sure ahead of time. It is only in hindsight that we can determine if we made the right choice, that God was with us when we took that leap of faith. That, however, is only one side of the problem we have when making a decision. The other side is that we simply fool ourselves into believing we are doing what God wants us to do because that is really what we want to do in the first place.
We all need help in discerning what to do. Only a fool would think and act otherwise. We need the wisdom and support of other people. We need the grace of God. And we need the continued presence of the Holy Spirit. We need all of this to help us make those life-giving, faith-filling, even life-changing decisions in our lives.
We may never know for sure, never see that burning bush, but at least we won't be so foolish to believe that the call comes from the purple sweater. Our friends, our faith community will be our burning bush, unless, of course, we don't listen. But if we listen, if we support one another in our faith community in our faith journey, more often than not we will make the right decisions and do what God would have us do.
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