03/10/2024 ~ Fourth Sunday in Lent ~ Numbers 21:4-9; Psalm 107:1-3, 17-22; Ephesians 2:1-10; John 3:14-21 ~ VIDEO OF SERVICE— NOTE: DUE TO A POWER OUTAGE THE FIRST TEN MINUTES OF THE SERVICE WERE NOT RECORDED: https://vimeo.com/showcase/7960701/video/922532027

Not of Your Own Doing

“For we are what God has made us, God’s work of art, created in Christ Jesus to do the good things, which God prepared for us to do beforehand, from the beginning, to be our way of life.” — Ephesians 2:10.

I admit it. I am a planner. In 2015 I had a sabbatical and planned an eleven week cross country trip by car. Bonnie and I crossed the nation. Planing that was challenging. But as we used to say right after we got married when we went on a trip somewhere— “adventures with Bonnie and Joe.” And an adventure it was.

Of course, each Sunday I do some planning— prepare prayers, introductions to scripture, stuff not in the bulletin. And, oh, yes— there’s that sermon thing also. Do I ad-lib? Yes.

But a colleague once said I did more preparation for a service than anyone else he knew. My response? “The only way you can ad-lib readily is to be well prepared.”

Indeed, you may have seen a TV show whose premise is comedians are given a situation. They then seem to respond spontaneously, appear to ad-lib in a humorous way. Show Business people know calling this exercise ad-lib is a stretch.

These performers have a prodigious comedic, situational memory. For the most part they simply pull out a bit, a routine from their memory bank, perhaps string two or three together, and apply it to the situation.

Does it seem like it’s done totally off the cuff. Yes. Is it? Only sometimes. How do they make it seem like it’s off the cuff? They are prepared. It’s that simple.

To put planning in a different light, translated from the light Scot dialect, poet Robert Burns wrote “The best laid schemes of mice and men / Go often askew.” Steinbeck named the famous novella Of Mice and Men after that line in the poem.

A mouse is involved because the poem is about how planning can be reduced to meaningless futility by the shear folly of the unforseen. The whole poem says a mouse has survived in a frozen field through the depth of winter in a borrow only to have it ripped apart in the Spring by a plough. “The best laid plans…” And if the weather today doesn’t say something about the best laid plans I don’t know what does. (Slight pause.)

So, what are plans? What is organization? What do plans and organization mean, really? After all, isn’t full fledged disaster lurking around the corner most of the time? Ask the mouse. (Slight pause.)

This is what is recorded in Ephesians: “For we are what God has made us, God’s work of art, created in Christ Jesus to do the good things, which God prepared for us to do beforehand, from the beginning, to be our way of life.” (Slight pause.)

When we look at Ephesians, the passage from today and also when we take this writing as a whole, it is clear the writer insists God, the artist, is active in the life of the world. That might lead us, especially those of us to like to plan, to say, ‘Yes, God may be active in the world but what kind of plans does God have?’

You see, I think generally most of us want to know where things stand. We want to plan but we also want predictable results. Tell me, is that the reality of life, predictable results? (Slight pause.)

To address planning in another way, my opinion is despite all the polarized divisiveness we hear about today we humans have more in common than we realize. Yes, those on opposite poles generally see themselves as adversaries.

Why? Both ends of the poles tend to picture things in a deterministic, inevitable way, even see the world in apocalyptic terms. For example one side will say life as we know it will end unless we do x, y, z. No other cause/result is available. The other side says, no! Life as we know it will end because of a, b, c. No other cause/result is available.

I think unwavering attitudes— x, y, z verses a, b, c— these my way or the highway attitudes— diminish the reality of human complexity, diminish the complex reality of life. Perhaps our real failing— pardon the expression, our original sin— is reductionism. We try to make things more simple than they really are.

At least in part, I think polarization is a symptom of reductionism, simplification. Polarization— and it is real— is a symptom of trying to simplify the world, simplify reality. Perhaps people do this also. They even try to simplify Scripture.

One side, for instance, says Scripture can only be taken literally. The other side claims if it’s in Scripture it doesn’t matter at all. Either way, it’s simplification.

But simplification, reductionism is not the reality of what we find in Scripture or the reality of our experience of life. In truth I think complexity and mystery describes both Scripture and life.

The very fabric of the Biblical text is complex. Complexity, mystery are descriptions of things difficult to fully know and/or things beyond our knowing. Complexity and mystery describes real life. Complexity and mystery describes God.

And God is the One with Whom Scripture calls us to grapple. We are called to grapple with God Who is both complex and mysterious. I think grappling with complexity or mystery is something we do not like to do. Why? We like things kept simple.

Unfortunately an option too often employed is to insist the world is not complex, reality is not complex. But insisting that reality is not complex, not, mysterious, will not change it. The world will remain complex and mysterious. (Slight pause.)

And so… the writer of Ephesians tells us things are not of our own doing. And the very idea— that things are not of our doing— that is complex. Or we at least perceive that which is not of our own doing as complex.

Why? If God’s gifts to us— if God’s gifts to us are not of our own doing, we have to grapple with the complexity of the concept that we are not in control. And guess what? We like things kept simple. We like control. (Slight pause.)

This passage states we are (quote:) “God’s work of art,”— God’s work of art— an amazing phrase. So I suggest we all think about a basic premise of Christianity: God is a mystery. I think this passage reflects God as a mystery, complex beyond our understanding. And thereby the passage also tells us life is mysterious and complex.

Paradoxically, that presents us with a very simple challenge. We need to realize God is there, God with us, in all the complexity of real life. Another simple challenge is for us to realize God loves us. God loves not just each of us but all of us. And God loves each of us and all of us— that seems simple but I think it is really, really complex, really, really hard to understand.

Indeed, the idea that God loves each of us and all of us simultaneously— that tells us life is mysterious and complex. After all, if we follow the instruction of Jesus that we humans should love everyone, even our enemies, it presents us with a tall hill to climb, especially in a polarized world. (Slight pause.)

I think we all need to realize the concept that God loves everyone is a simple idea and, yes, tells us life is complex. Further, I think we need to realize it’s possible some people are not comfortable with a God Who loves everyone— hence polarization.

And complexity? I know I’m not always comfortable with complexity. After all, I like to plan. I like to be in control.

So perhaps the real key here is I need to have a true sense of humility, need to remember I am God’s work of art. Perhaps we all need to have a true sense of humility, need to remember, we are all God’s work of art. Amen.

03/10/2024
Elijah Kellogg Church, Harpswell, Maine

ENDPIECE: It is the practice of the Pastor to speak after the Closing Hymn, but before the Choral Response and Benediction. This is an précis of what was said: “The opening sentence in one of my commentaries on this passage says, ‘The Bible is a cloth of many colors and textures…’ I think that’s what I was attempting to say today. And I’ve said this next thing here a number of times. It bears repeating. Theologian Walter Brueggemann says the picture of God painted in Scripture is drawn with intentional artistic illusiveness. Another way to put that is the Bible and life, they’re both complex. Life is a mystery. Life, itself, is or should be a work of art. At least that’s what I think”

BENEDICTION: There is but one message in Scripture: God loves us. Let us endeavor to let God’s love shine forth in our lives. For with God’s love and goodness, there is power to redeem, power to revive, power to renew, power to resurrect. So, may the love of God the Creator which is real, the Peace of the Christ which surpasses all understanding and companionship of the Holy Spirit which is ever present, keep our hearts and minds in God’s knowledge and care this day and forever more. Amen.