If you’ve spent a bit of time
with me,
asked me questions about where the Church is going,
you’re aware that I think very highly of Richard Beck,
a psychologist and
prison chaplain who spends a lot of time thinking about secular habits
—or disenchantment as he calls it.
He uses the example of the Selective
Attention Test to get to the heart of the matter.
Participants watch a video of people passing a ball to each other, and are told
to be ready to write down who has the ball at the end of the video.
What they don’t know, is that a man in a gorilla suit is going to walk
through the game of catch…
and because the observers are so focused on the ball, most people never notice
the gorilla. So too, Beck says, modern people
—the day-to-day habits we have, mask our ability to notice God in the world.
We’ve traded meaningful things for measurable things
and the mystical for moral.
That’s why we mark:
God Conversations,
Praying for People,
and now Invitations to Church, with
marbles…
it helps us notice the gorilla in the room…
it helps us move beyond the “Secular Frame”
and see a bit of what is going on outside the picture,
outside the box…
And the thing about Beck’s
framing of all this, is that it isn’t “vile secularists” out “there” trashing the
faith or something like that,
instead it is Christians who don’t believe our own story!
In addition to marking God
moments,
one of the ways we can express and experience and share our faith in our secular
world is to name “The Ache.”
The smallness of measuring without meaning,
and morality without the mystical…
the loss of Beauty and friendship,
poetry and prayer,
reflection and gratitude
—that all are part of the secular package.
The Ache
—not only an experience of our present moment,
but in every age,
every human way of life,
has its own ache…
-In Jesus’ day, “I believe… help my unbelief.”
-In Augustine’s, “We are restless until we rest in you.”
In Shakespeare’s, “There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than
are dreamt of in your philosophy.”
The Ache causes us to whisper plaintively,
“Imagine… I wonder… what if?”
Prayer
The ache broke out in Isaiah’s
soul…
serving at the pleasure of princes and tyrants,
captured there in Babylon.
Imprisoned, snatched from home, hopeless…
The Ache broke out and asked, “What
if?”
What if that story of the
exodus from Egypt
—Moses’ movement through the desert to the promised land…
what if it means something now?
-What if a
return is possible?
-What if
Nourishment is normal,
-What if thirst
can be slaked, even in the desert… even as you return!
Imagine, a road in the
desert
—a highway hastening our return!
Imagine unkosher animals
—jackals and ostriches
—ostentatiously greeting our return!
Imagine…
The former things
—this generation’s captivity
—forgotten, overcome!
I wonder if God…
I wonder
if God has a future for us!
Yes, our way of being the people of God is dying, but look!
What
if God is doing a new thing!
What if God is the one who makes all things new!
The ache broke out differently
for Paul, the author the Philippians letter…
his was an ache of fullness,
of having something!
That can hurt too, can’t it?
The Ache broke out and asked, “What
if?”
What if you lost it all?
That’s the tragic question that prods so many of our decisions
—especially the bad ones, right?
Its why we buy insurance,
on our cars and health and homes and appliances, and even our life. “What if
I lost it all?” Insurance, an assurance that we won’t be left with nothing!
An assurance that at least some of what we lose with be retained.
But imagine, if there was
something…
something more,
something greater than the mystery of one’s birth,
the zeal of one’s convictions,
greater than the violence with which we defend ourselves…
I wonder what would make
giving it all up
—every last thing
—transformative
loosing it all
—a triumph, not a tragedy?
I wonder,
would I then press on,
keep going through suffering…
in the face of this decaying world
—trusting that a new creation is possible,
is coming to birth?
What if it is not a something
—this precious something, but a someone?
The one who is righting, redeeming, the whole world
—I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection!
The ache broke out at that
strange banquet in Bethany.
Mary and Martha and Lazarus coming to terms with death and life.
Judas judging extravagant generosity based on its ROI
—Return on Investment.
The Ache broke out and asked, “What
if?”
What if Judas had known the
gift of that moment—priceless…
present with his Savior for a meal
—as one of his followers
—still a disciple,
still six days to be with him!
A supper that isn’t the last one
—isn’t charged with the awful electricity of betrayal.
“Judas lean here beside me, while you still got me!”
Imagine Charity…
not this beautiful word now broken,
cheapened until it is nothing more than a tense transaction
—maybe you get a tote bag afterwards
—that’s Judas’ sense of it…
but
instead charity faithful flowing from it’s origin
—Charitas
—love, a generous sacrifice that is not a sacrifice but a joy
—that’s what Mary’s gift was!
I
wonder at that room…
its brave example is stunning…
instead of hiding from the frightening specter of Lazarus’ recent time in the
tomb,
hiding from death—they leaned into it!
Martha take that that shade lurking in the corner and pour it out as an
offering.
The scent of the tomb becoming the celebration of the meal!
What
if the revived Lazarus gets to see a foretaste of the feast to come,
that banquet we all yearn and wait and ache for
—and taste every Sunday?
This whole scene is a sign of it!
Death’s wicked scent met and matched by an anointing.
New life lived with family and fellow disciples.
A gracious meal, a gracious host
—all pointing to the Resurrected One,
in whom we have life!
The
ache breaks out here among us,
just out of the frame, a flicker in our peripheral vision,
in our yearning and our loss,
in our hunger and our love.
The
Ache breaks out and asks, “What if?”
Amen.
