What Counts In Your Life

Sermon-Year C-Advent 3 December 13, 2009
The Cloud of Unknowing, "O God, our great companion, lead us ever more deeply into the mystery of your life and ours, that we may be faithful interpreters of Life to each other, through our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
I was in Meijer’s this week. Actually I wind up in Meijer’s just about every day for something or other, and I like to go to those self-scanners. So I go through and the machine keeps asking me if I am using my own bag. Then it says that I will need assistance. So the lady comes over and says that this is really a special case and she will need to call someone with a special key. I had four items. So she called. And we waited. The special person never came. I finally asked if I could just use a different machine. On and on. Nothing was allowed, I couldn’t move-the special person wouldn’t come. Finally, I said, “well, forget it, I don’t have time to…” And then I heard my own words from the last two weeks, and I said, “that’s ok, I’ll stay here-I’m working on my waiting skills.” And the special guy with the special code eventually came, very harried and rushed, and I told him that it was ok, there was no hurry.
I was one place, and realized that I could be someplace else. It’s called Advent. It’s the season when we realize that we can be someone different, we can prepare, we can grow, we can change, we can make room in our hearts for someone new. It’s not easy-but for me, it starts with waking up-hearing the words.
Two weeks ago I asked you to spend some time this season waiting, watching, being quiet, slowing down. Last week I asked you to look for surprises. Did you see any surprises this week? Did anything happen that shocked you? astonished you? Woke you up? Once I started waiting for surprises, I was taken aback how often it happened.
Advent is about waiting. Advent is about preparing to be surprised. And Advent is about the journey. The journey from who we are-to who we will be. Meister Eckhart, the great medieval theologian, once wrote: “He who would be who he ought to be must stop being what he is.”
Several years ago, it dawned on me that Jesus was always on the move. He never seemed to be in one place very long. He didn’t travel to exotic places, but he always seemed to be going to new towns, seeing new people. The more I thought about it, the more I saw the gospels as a journey. It starts with Mary and Joseph traveling by donkey even before the birth, and the gospels end with Jesus again riding on a donkey-this time into Jerusalem. In between he’s always on the move. And then, after pondering this for a while, the next realization for me was that Jesus’ moving was more than just physical. He was also on a spiritual journey. And when that finally sank in, I started thinking about myself. Am I moving, too? Am I going from who I am, to who I am called or meant to be? This may seem simple and obvious to you, but it was a real revelation to me.
Three times in this morning’s gospel people plead with John, “what should we do?” The crowd, the tax collectors, the soldiers. “What should we do?” They want to be different, they want to be better. But they are unsure, unclear about which direction to go. They need the wake up call.
There is a special new version of the Bible called, The Message, a paraphrased version by Eugene Peterson. This is how he translates verses 8 and 9 from this morning’s gospel "It's your life that must change, not your skin….What counts is your life.' What counts is your life.
What should we do? I think I have to care enough about my life to go on a journey. I think I have to care enough about who I am to wake up and be surprised. I think I have to want my life to count. There is a great AA saying, "Fake it 'till you make it." It means, act like the person you want to become, until you become that person.
So if the first week of Advent was about preparing, and the second week was about being open, then this week is about caring enough about our lives to want them to matter. What counts is your life.
“What should we do?” the people keep asking John. Act like your life matters, he tells them. Act like your faith matters. I was one place, and realized that I could be someplace else. It’s called Advent. It is a journey. I can wait and watch and be still. I can be open to surprises, and see things anew. I can become a different person. I have to wake up and want my life to count. There is a great quote from that famous book of theology, "The Princess Bride", that goes like this:
Courage is not the absence of fear but rather the judgement that there is something more important than fear. The brave may not live forever, but the cautious do not live at all. In traveling the road between who you think you are and who you can be the key is to allow yourself to make the journey.
Jesus was always on the move. Not just geographically, but spiritually. He was always growing, always becoming. So are we. Sometimes we have to fake it til we make it. Sometimes we have to just keep moving. But I think the first step is to hear the words, and believe that what counts is our life. It can happen when you’re standing in line at a store. We can wake up anywhere. The key is to allow ourselves to make the journey.