Don Friesen
I think of myself as a practical person who, given enough time, can fix things. I know that there are some things I cannot fix — cars, for example — but before I take my car to the garage I like to lift up the hood and take a look around. For all I know, the trouble is somewhere in the back of the car, but looking under the hood gives me a good feeling, and when I can't see anything obviously wrong it's off to the garage I go!
When I was young, however, I was willing to tinker with anything. I have already told you about my experience with a motorcycle I bought when I was twenty. When it blew a piston, I decided to replace the piston myself. I took the motor apart, took out the old piston and put in the new, but when I was done I had several pieces left over. I didn't mind a few extra parts, but the motorcycle did, and it sat in the garage for some time as a testament to my ineptitude.
Thirty five years later I have a lot more experience under my belt. I stick to simple things, like replacing a light switch. I decided our bathroom fan needed a timer switch, and after switching off the power — fruit of my years of experience — I replaced the switch. When I turned the power back on, I burned out both the new switch and the fan! I bought a new fan, and a new switch, only to discover it was the wrong kind of switch. I bought the right switch — my third new switch — but first I had to replace the old fan. My attempt to do so did considerable damage to the ceiling, and as I took out the old fan a lot of granular insulation rained down upon me. I fixed that problem, but when I put in the new switch it didn't fit all the way into the receptacle, and so it sticks out from the wall, it's faceplate noticeably buckled. But it works! Except that I noticed a draft the first time I took a shower and discovered that the fan is blowing air into the bathroom instead of drawing it out!
Our Little Systems Have their Day
I should probably stick to things I know, but as I indicated at the beginning of this series of alphabetic sermons, I wasn't sure I would finish the series. My series on the Ten Commandments floundered when I got to the commandments that directly impinged on the lives of people in the congregation! And my daughter contends that I never really finished the series on the Seven Deadly Sins, though I was sure I had!
You have been very patient with this present series, with nothing but an alphabetic gimmick to guide you, and I feel like I'm cheating by grouping the last six letters together. The thought behind the series was that in baffling and challenging times it's important for Christians to have a vocabulary of faith firmly anchored in the Scriptures. It was an interesting challenge to choose one important biblical word for each letter of the alphabet, and no doubt you may have chosen a different set of words. It's important, however, to be well-versed in the biblical language if we are to speak meaningfully of the human experience from the perspective of our faith.
I want to complete the alphabetic series of sermons today by considering the letters, Q, U, V, X, Y, and Z. I must warn you, however, that a month ago Emily's mother sent me a book by Frederick Buechner entitled The Alphabet of Grace, in which he considers, not the letters of the alphabets, but gutturals and sibilants. Hmmm! Another series, perhaps!
Truth be told, the letters, Q, U, V, X, Y, and Z do not offer substantial additions to a Christian vocabulary. The Bible's Q-list offers only the words, "queen," "questions," and "Quirinius," who, as the governor of Syria, is mentioned only once in the Bible.
The Bible's U-list offers some intriguing possibilities, like the words, "unity," "uprightness," and "understanding," but what is striking about the U-list is the preponderance of un-words, like "unapproachable," "unaware," "unbelief," "uncircumcised," and so on. There are almost 200 of these un-words.
The letter, V, could represent "virtue," "vines," "vessels," or "victory," but these words either appear infrequently or would do little to buttress our Christian vocabulary.
The Bible's X-list offers up only one word, "Xanthicus," the name of a month that corresponds to the month of April, and it's only mentioned in the Apocrypha. (2 Maccabees 11:30, 33 and 38)
The letter, Y, could represent "youth," and that may be worth a sermon sometime — but the word is hardly unique to the Christian faith.
And finally, the Bible's Z-list offers up the words, "zeal" and "Zion," but I don't feel that zealous about adding those words to my vocabulary.
I started off this series of sermons with this little system in mind, but as Alfred Lord Tennyson wrote:
(In Memoriam, 1850; see also "Strong Son of God, Immortal Love," Hymnal: A Worship Book, #488)
We Prefer an Ordered Existence
The truth is that at the end of this sermon series I have some letters left over, much like my leftover motorcycle parts. This may not matter so much to you, but to someone who likes things tidy and organized, leftovers are bothersome.
Dorothy and I recently visited relatives, and over a breakfast of waffles and fruit I noticed that my sister-in-law had placed one blueberry in each of the square holes in the waffle. Now, she's an artist, and the visual effect of her playful attitude toward her food was quite striking, but it was also deeply disturbing! Perhaps she was crying out for order in a chaotic world!
Our need for an ordered existence can become obsessive, representing a need to control our life. A minister, who perhaps has done one wedding too many, drew up a list of rules for couples at whose weddings he is asked to officiate. One of his rules has to do with taking vows seriously. His rule states, "If during the ceremony I get the impression you are not taking your vows seriously I will simply stop preaching and leave the building. Do not test me on this — you will lose."
We prefer our lives to be an orderly, tidy package of activities, but life is not like that for many of us. Life is difficult to choreograph. Not all of the steps in the dance of our lives can be anticipated. The four children we dedicated this morning are a reminder of that. Babies rearrange our lives. We have to adjust to someone who is, on the one hand, utterly dependent, yet intrudes upon our lives in a fiercely independent way. One young couple confesses that "parenthood was different from anything we could have imagined.... We were knocked off our rockers! ... We naively thought we would just somehow fit the child into our already busy life-style. We were in control; we had things figured out. ... Probably sleep deprivation made it plain to see we would need to let go of our (expectations)." (John and Cathy Bookser Feister) Once you navigate your children through a few scary medical episodes, a brush or two with death, and numerous other unanticipated challenges, you can kiss your ordered existence goodbye!
Faith, by Nature, Can Be Chaotic and Incomplete
The Apostle Paul was an accomplished apostle whom I suspect liked his existence tidy. He initiated many projects, and he liked to complete them. The book of Acts often uses the word, "complete," in association with Paul and his work.
Acts 14:26 — "...they sailed back to Antioch, where they had been commended to the grace of God for the work that they had completed."
Romans 15:28 — "So, when I have completed this, and have delivered to them what has been collected, I will set out by way of you to Spain...."
Paul liked to get things done, to wrap things up and move on to the next project. I don't think he had much patience with loose ends, but God, in His grace, had seen fit to place a little irritant in Paul's life. He writes, "A thorn was given me in the flesh ...to keep me from being too elated." (2 Corinthians 12:7) He sounds a little sarcastic, and I imagine that Paul found it hard to come to terms with things he couldn't control. He didn't care to have weaknesses or to admit them. "Three times," he says, "I appealed to the Lord about this, that it would leave me" (12:8), but it didn't. He had to live with it.
There is something inherent in Christian faith that begs completion. Faith, says our Hebrews text, is "the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen." (Hebrews 11:1) Abraham and Sarah's famous trek of faith included a lot of uncertainties. They didn't know where they were going. (11:8) They eventually reached the Promised Land, but had to live in temporary quarters for quite an un-temporary time! (11:9) They wanted children, but advanced in years that seemed yet another impossibility. (11:11-12) Hebrews' summation of its catalogue of men and women of faith is rather dreary, saying, "All of these died in faith without having received the promises.... They confessed that they were strangers and foreigners on ...earth...." (11:13) And yet the untidiness of their journey of faith did not deter them from trekking on, for they had "the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen." (11:1) And Hebrews, at the end of this long recital of the pioneers of faith, urges us to "run with perseverance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith...." (12:1-2) Or as the King James Version renders this verse, "Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith...."
Jesus, the Finisher of our Faith
The story in our Gospel reading is an intriguing one. Here was a fellow whose dream in life was to get well. He had been ill for thirty-eight years! (John 5:5) He had managed to find his way to Jerusalem, to a pool that promised a cure, but one step remained in his life-long project. If he could get just one more thing done, his mission would be complete! He had managed to get to the location of the healing waters, but he needed someone to lift him into the pool. Just one more step and his restoration to health would be complete. And for this man Jesus became the finisher of his faith quest, healing him — not quite the way in which the man had anticipated — but healing him, nonetheless, and telling him to be on his way. (5:8)
It bothers some of us more than others when our lives don't have the finishing touches desired, but God doesn't seem to mind working with incomplete people. Paul confessed, It's not "that I have already ...reached the goal; but I press on...." (Philippians 3:12) And if on occasion Paul was tempted to think he had arrived, there was always that irritant — the thorn in his side — to remind him of his weakness.
The Apostle Peter could tell a similar story. There are many reminders in Scripture of Peter's good intentions and splendid plans, and laid right alongside are reports of his lacklustre performance. And yet Jesus said, On this still-to-be-completed apostle — this loose thread, this loose cannon — I will build my church!
If God was willing to work with Peter, and Paul, surely God is willing to work with you and me. My life may be an unfinished business, but God isn't done with me yet. I can learn. I can grow. Paul wrote, "I am confident ...that the one who began a good work among you will bring it to completion...." (Philippians 1:6)
God's patience with us behooves us to be a little more patient with the other unfinished souls around us and not to get too doctrinaire, be our doctrine conservative or liberal. May we also be patient with our own weaknesses, for the paradox and promise of Scripture is that "God's grace is sufficient for (us)," and that "power is made perfect in weakness." (2 Corinthians 12:9)
"Our little systems have their day,
Tennyson, of course, was addressing nobler themes, but his lines are a reminder that any system — any typology, any paradigm, any device — has its limitations.
they have their day and cease to be...."
Acts 12:25 — "Then after completing their mission Barnabas and Saul returned to Jerusalem...."
Paul looked forward to the day when our knowledge of things will be "complete". (1 Corinthians 13:10) He asked the Corinthians to "urge Titus that, as he had already made a beginning, so he should also complete this ...undertaking (he had begun)." (2 Corinthians 8:6; see also 8:11) He told one of the leaders (Archippus) in the Colossian church, "See that you complete the task that you have received in the Lord." (Colossians 4:17)
All quotations of Scripture, unless otherwise noted, are from the New Revised Standard Version.