Sunday Readings

No Bother

How many times have we heard people say that they are caught in a situation and they “never wanted to be in the middle of it?” How many times have said this ourselves? It is an inescapable reality that human beings find themselves facing obligations and challenges they would prefer to avoid. And God knows how good we are at doing just that. We shield ourselves from anything uncomfortable. We are loathed to allow children to face the difficulties of life. We medicate anyone who seems to refuse the soma of luxury.

In today’s Gospel, Philip finds himself in the middle of such a situation. People are hungry and Jesus sets him up because he is from this area. Imagine how we would have handled this. “Why didn’t they bring their own food? Do you really expect me to deal with this? With these type of people?” No, we do not want to be in the middle of this because human needs are not allays pretty. If we hand out a piece of bread, we have the image that humble peasants will extend their hands as they kneel before us with heads bowed in quiet gratitude. Well, anyone who has ever been inside a soup-kitchen knows this rarely happens and that beggars are choosers. Who wants to be the point person for the ugly side of desperation? Who wants the hassle of exposing ourselves to the demands of the needy?

But there is a deeper level to this strategic placing in life. God has revealed, in no uncertain terms, that we are the ones who answer each other’s prayers. We address our prayer to God but usually we are the answer. It is the undeniable will of God that He uses us to accomplish His will. His ways are mysterious and who He chooses is absolutely ridiculous. His will allows us to be put into things that we are able to solve if only we are actually there.

Bingo! That’s it! We get caught up because we are chosen. It is not a matter of luck or fate or just they way things are. Sure we would prefer it to be otherwise, but this is the will of God. We may not handle it well, but being there is good. We hope to find satisfaction in the assistance we offer, but God is more interested in satisfying others. We may not feel good about it, but God is operating way above our feelings.

Does this mean that there is nothing in it for us? No, there is serious growth in grace and nature. Until recently, the teen-age experience was defined by ordeal. Whether natural or fabricated, something arose that challenged the developing person to be more than the child they were. The ordeal brought naturally self-centered children into adulthood that let them see beyond themselves. Today, we live in a society of adolescents without ordeal. We hand-off the basic human needs to the professionals who deal with that type of thing. We insulate our lives from anything that smacks of it. We are anxious to make sure that human needs are kept safely somewhere else and are someone else’s responsibility.

But try as we might, we get stuck. Since we do not live on a desert island, what do we do? If these need lead us and others to cry out to God, where does that leave us?

Being a Christian, then, is a matter of doing the will of God as Jesus Himself did the will of the Father. It may be God’s will that we do some little thing for a neighbor. And it may also be that our neighbor has been asking God for help to get it done. It’s a mirror of the Trinity and a fulfillment to love God and our neighbor as our self. The Christian who finds themself in the middle of something needs to find the will of God right there. Because they are in it, they listen to the need they see and in answering it, become the divine action for which the person prayed.

This is not easy but this is the meaning of “being there” for some one else. We hear of some one who was “there for me” at so many funerals. You cannot be the “answer to my prayer’ if you are not there. And you cannot be there if you are not aware. If our entire energy is spent on planning our escape from this pesky situation, we are not involved in its solution. Remedy does not permit running away.

Since we are Christians by grace and human by birth, our vocation and our sanctification have to be in both. Over the next week, if not over the next few hours, we are going to encounter human need. We will face a house of hungry people, an office of struggling providers and those troubling characters who never seem to disappear. How are we going to meet their apparent and hidden need? How is God asking us to do this? Can we detect when He is?

You know, we could be in worse situations. It’s not a guarantee, but it is really wonderful to be an active part of how God brings comfort to a world that often denies it. God isn’t even looking for success since all He requires is that we are faithful. We have the permission and the opportunity to do God’s will even if the ways we try and be of assistance are flawed, infective and even wrong. But as we all engage in this we discover how truly essential we are in the answer to our neighbor’s prayers. And never doubt that the opposite is true as well.

Perhaps an image to wrap this up is one we have often seen. An elderly relative needs help getting out of the chair. The 4 year old runs over with a serious look on their face and stands next to them. As the person stands, the child ‘helps’ by bearing down on their arm. No, they were no help. In fact, the child added resistance and made the situation worse. But the relative is delighted beyond words at the effort and attitude of this little philanthropist. We are often the same even if we do not do the same with such glee. But when we do, when God gives us the moment, we become a co-worker with the greatest Miracle Worker of all.

And that, in the end, is no bother.

Sunday Readings

Do Nothing

Forgive me for being personal here, but it is hard to hear the words of Jesus today to “come apart and rest a while” now that my vacation is over. And since we are on the subject, vacation is something we focus on with great effort. We put a lot into doing as little as possible. We constantly go through ideas, brochures, and suggestions for the limited time we have.

So what is it that we are doing? In the secular world, we are trying to get some rest from the tiring obligations of daily living. In the Christian domain, we are doing the same thing. We are imitating the icon of recreation we find in the Sabbath rest – we pattern our need to regroup for a higher reason. And none of this new to us; you’ve heard it and I’ve preached it before.

Instead, today we look at Jesus who brings rest to our souls. It sounds so pious doesn’t it? Faith says that the grace of God brings a comfort no vacation or cruise ever could. And most of us would agree with that - in theory. But we say to ourselves, that this is the privilege of the very religious. They seem to find renewal in the busiest of lives. We exempt ourselves from this by saying that we are too busy with the small stuff and we grab what we can to slow things down. In other words, we see the Apostles laying about after preaching and healing but some one has to keep things going.

Rest is for the weary and keeping things going can weary us. So if Jesus promises rest and renewal it should apply to us as well as the Apostles.

And it does. But as with so many of the blessings and graces God offers us, we have to be vigilant for their arrival. We know our need to just pause. But do we also see that God is looking as well? Do we see that God offers us in His own way the chance to just stop for a while? Often we miss this because we are aiming for the grand tour or premium package when all God offers (and all we need) is a moment or two in a park or sitting on the deck.

Yes, God offers us mini-vacations. These can even be daily for the 5 minutes we can make for ourselves. They are times of recharging the batteries and they are the will of God with our cooperation. Perhaps they will even be longer: an hour or even a day. Despite the heat, remember the ‘doing nothing’ during the blizzard last winter? Was it all that bad? A God who cares for us also cares how we live. When we are too busy, we can neglect our relationship with God. And when that starts, the rest will go with it. We can be too busy to spend time with others and even ourselves. We can’t run on empty.

And this is why we need to be people dedicated to vacation. We need to oblige ourselves to some mechanism in life to empty our hearts in order to be filled in grace. Sabbath rest is one of the 10 Commandments. The God who said, “do good” also said, “for some time, do nothing.” We convince ourselves that we are superior to our cell phones and iPods. We are superheroes whose batteries never need to be recharged. I wish that was true but it is not.

Our God looks at us with a compassionate heart. He sees that we can be like sheep without a shepherd, wandering in our busy way without completion or fulfillment. So head the word of God and make time to do nothing. Find the grace of vacation and recreation in your days. Make room for the opportunity to recharge and rest a while.

And when they asked you why you are wasting time, tell them God told you to.