5 PENTECOST B * II CORINTHIANS 12: 2-10 * JULY 9, 2006
For as long as I can remember, I’ve my ears have given me
trouble. When I was a child, I suffered (it’s the only word that seems
fitting) with a seemingly never ending series of ear infections. I recall
many a sleepless night, the routine of aspirin, hot water bottles, the
feeling that the long night would never end and the pain would never go
away. There were the countless trips to the doctor, the ear nose and throat
specialist and a couple of surgeries too. I’m told that what’s it’s left me
with are a pair of eardrums that look like they’ve been through a war zone,
somewhat diminished sense of hearing and the very real possibility that in a
few years I’ll be wearing hearing aids.
Still, it’s kind of funny that sometimes I can go for months,
even a year or two completely oblivious to what ails me. But then something
happens and I’ll be reminded once again of that which ails me. Like this
past week, when I felt the tell tale signs of the dreaded otitis media
coming on once again—the peculiar sensation of trying to make out what
others were saying while underwater and the pain, not as bad as it used to
be due to some nerve damage, but pain none the less. A trip to the doctor
confirmed my suspicion and three days into a regimen of strong penicillin
I’m hoping (and praying) for a speedy recovery.
I have to say that the past week or so, as I’ve been nursing
yet another sore ear, I’ve felt something of a connection, albeit reluctant
with St. Paul and his legendary “thorn in the flesh”. Personally, I rather
like how pastor/writer Eugene Peterson renders the passage from Paul’s
Second Letter to the Church at Corinth in his biblical paraphrase known as
The Message, a fresh reading of the text that we heard in Alexandria
a few weeks ago. “Because of the extravagance of God’s revelations,
and so I wouldn’t get a big head, I was given the gift of a handicap to keep
me in constant touch with my limitations.” Now I must confess that I’m not
particularly comfortable viewing my particular affliction as a handicap when
there are a lot of other people out there who deal with far greater
adversity in their lives than me. Never the less the experience of the past
week has served to keep me in touch with my own limitations, which it seems
to me is what Paul is getting after, not just for him, for me but for all of
us, together as the Body of Christ.
Of course, none of us wants to hear about let alone reckon with
the reality of our own limitations. We like to think that we live in a
world of limitless possibility limited only by the sky and our imagination.
The Ford motor company ran a series of ads some years ago touting their
latest pickup model. Under the banner of “no boundaries” this baby would go
anywhere, do anything, no problem. We feel a need to fill the spaces in our
lives with more, more, more—more activity, more production, more of whatever
it is we think we need. So, we rush around, from here to there and back
again, telling ourselves that if we can just get a little bit farther down
the road, a little more work done, one more commitment met, we’ll give it a
rest, at least until tomorrow. But in the meantime, God forbid that
anything would get in our way, some unplanned inconvenience, an unforeseen
obstacle, that nagging limitation that we thought we’d managed to overcome.
Should we find ourselves in such a dire predicament, then by golly there
ought to be a pill we can take, a book we can read, a computer program that
will enable us to get our act together!
How ironic then, that in
the earlier part of the twentieth century, as futurists looked gazed into
their crystal balls to see what life would be like here in the twenty first
century, they dreamed of a world where people would work much less and enjoy
the benefits of greater opportunities for rest and relaxation. What a far
cry from how we experience living in 2006!
So, the idea that
limitations serve a good or even a godly purpose sounds completely out of
touch, total nonsense. But for Paul his particular limitation, the “thorn
in the flesh” served just that purpose, “to keep him from being too
elated.” Now I guess we have to be clear in what Paul is talking about here
and what he’s not talking about. He’s not saying that God is in the
business of burdening people with adversity so they don’t get too happy.
What Paul is saying is that it’s vital as God’s people to constantly
recognize and to be in touch with our limitations, with our boundaries, with
our humanity because it’s all too easy to delude ourselves into believing
that by our own effort and ability we are what we make of ourselves. So the
more we work to overcome adversity, the better people we are in the eyes of
others and of ourselves. By contrast, we all know what happens when people
decide to engage in self-disclosure, honestly acknowledging their faults and
weaknesses before others. They’re left spinning their wheels and if they
were headed somewhere they certainly aren’t now. I mean imagine the Apostle
Paul trying to land a high power job or come out the winner in the latest
reality television program. It wouldn’t happen!
The life of which Paul
speaks, the life to which you and I are called through baptism runs counter
to all that logic and common sense suggest. The life which we have been
given is life in God through Jesus Christ, life that begins and ends in Him,
life to which God speaks a clear word. “My grace, my grace is enough. It’s
all you need. My strength comes into it’s own in your weakness.” And
that’s precisely the way God works in the work, choosing what is weak, low
and despised in the world to shame those of high regard, the wise, the
strong ones.”
If God’s grace is enough,
if God’s strength comes into it’s own in our weakness it says something
about the way in which we are to live our lives. First and foremost, it
says that we are free, free from the relentless and futile pursuit of having
to prove ourselves, from doing everything we can to keep ourselves and our
world together, from the idea that the limitations we meet with in life are
simply challenges to be overcome. Because of what Christ has done for us,
we are free my friends, free to live in the bright light of God’s grace,
free to trust that God provides us all that we need, free to appreciate the
giftedness even in our limitations.
I think Paul is speaking
to a kind of thinking that is quite pervasive in our world, in our lives and
even in the church, the idea that somehow we never have quite enough. If we
just had a little more of this or that, a little more money, a little more
prestige, a few more members to help us make the budget then everything
would be okay—a mentality of scarcity one might say. But if we dare to take
God at God’s word “my grace is sufficient” another very different mentality
begins to shape and enliven us—one of abundance, that God has given us
everything we need to be about what God wants us to be about in our lives
and in our ministry. God’s word for us lays bare our prideful presumption
that says there’s never enough, emptying us of the notion that when it comes
God’s grace there is anything we can do to earn it. All that’s left for us
is to recognize the signs of God’s abundance all around us, even in our
weakness, despite whatever hardships come along, for when I am weak, I am
strong.
Last Sunday, I invited
each of us to spend time over the next few months regularly praying a simple
prayer. “Lord, what is your dream for us as your people at Ascension
Lutheran Church?” If you need a little help remembering the words, I think
there are still a few copies on yellow strips of paper at the back of the
sanctuary that you can take with you and stick in your Bible, tape to your
computer, your bathroom mirror or the dashboard (for use only at stop
lights). Though brief, it’s a prayer that makes some important
assumptions. First, that God is looking out for us, that God has hopes and
dreams for us not just individually, but as a congregation, and that God
will show us what God wants for us. The prayer also assumes that from what
we have been given, together, God is going to provide all that we need to
bring that dream to reality. And it isn’t because we’re such clever people,
or that I’m such a smart and creative pastor or that we’ve got our act all
together, not by a long shot. It’s because of God, because of God’s grace
which is enough, is all we need, because of God’s strength that comes into
its own in our weakness as we open up our hands and our lives in prayer.
“Lord, help us. Help us to trust. Help us to see. Help us to give thanks
for all that you do.” Amen.
Pastor Brian Peterson
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