{"id":18107,"date":"2024-10-13T17:00:09","date_gmt":"2024-10-13T17:00:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.stjameschurchabinger.org\/?p=18107"},"modified":"2024-10-07T17:33:00","modified_gmt":"2024-10-07T17:33:00","slug":"sermon-2024-10-13","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.stjameschurchabinger.org\/?p=18107","title":{"rendered":"Sermon 2024-10-13"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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13th October 2024 Evensong<\/h3>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Matthew 10:17-31<\/strong><\/p>

\u201cDo you want to be something or do you want to do something?\u201d That\u2019s the question a friend of mine was asked by his spiritual director many years ago. \u00a0<\/p>

I wonder what that question brings up for you in your life today. How would you answer it? What matters more to you \u2013 being something or doing something?<\/p>

I didn\u2019t know it at the time but I think that is exactly what was going on with me for most of the first part of my life. On the surface I had it all – \u00a0I was married to a successful and caring man had healthy children, owned a house, a car, a boat, and a dog.<\/p>

I think that question is the unspoken question at the heart of Jesus\u2019 conversation with the man in today\u2019s gospel (Mark 10:17-31). It holds before us the tension between being and doing, between meaning and purpose. It\u2019s probably one of the unspoken questions in each of our lives that needs to be spoken more directly and more often. If we don\u2019t ask it for ourselves at some point the circumstances of our lives will.<\/p>

I was doing something and I was doing it really really well. But one night I sat there and wept because I wanted to be<\/em> something. I had purpose in my life but I wanted meaning. I wanted that \u201cone thing\u201d that Jesus is talking about.<\/p>

I\u2019m betting that you know that story, not just because I\u2019ve told it before, but because you\u2019ve lived it too. What\u2019s your version of that story? How did it come about for you? What happened?<\/p>

It\u2019s the story of the man in today\u2019s gospel. He\u2019s done all the right things. He\u2019s been obedient and faithful. He\u2019s kept all the commandments since he was a child. He\u2019s been successful in life and he has \u201cmany possessions.\u201d St. Luke says the man was \u201ca ruler (Luke 18:18) and \u201cvery rich\u201d (Luke 18:23).<\/p>

He\u2019s got power, position, prestige, possessions and wealth. He\u2019s done something with his life. And yet, he knows something is missing. He wants to know, \u201cWhat must I do to inherit eternal life?\u201d It\u2019s not a question about getting to heaven. It\u2019s about meaning. It\u2019s about being<\/em> something. It\u2019s about a quality of life.<\/p>

He\u2019s right in asking the question but he\u2019s asking the wrong question. He wants to know what he must do, as if the life he wants is something to be acquired, possessed, and gained by expenditure. I get it. He\u2019s seeking the missing piece of his life by the only means he knows. But the life he wants, the life I wanted that night, is not about doing and purpose, it\u2019s about being and meaning. It\u2019s not outside us, it\u2019s already within us.<\/p>

Please do not hear that as me opposing meaning and purpose, as if it is one or the other. It\u2019s not. It has to be both. But I wonder if we\u2019ve become so preoccupied with purpose and doing something that we\u2019ve lost or forgotten about meaning and being something.<\/p>

I wonder if we\u2019ve confused meaning and purpose. Is the meaning of your life and my life only what we\u2019ve accomplished?<\/p>

Most obituaries would say yes. We tend to mark and measure our lives by what we\u2019ve done, but is that really the sum of who you and I are? Don\u2019t you want to be more than what you\u2019ve done?<\/p>

I do.<\/p>

I want my life to matter not because of what I do but because of who I am. And I wonder if that\u2019s why the man in today\u2019s gospel goes to Jesus with his question. \u00a0It\u2019s ironic that Jesus says to this \u201cvery rich\u201d man who has \u201cmany possessions,\u201d \u201cYou lack one thing.\u201d<\/p>

I can easily imagine the man saying to himself, \u201cOne thing? One thing? What\u2019s the one thing I don\u2019t have?\u201d I imagine him taking a mental inventory of his life, accomplishments, and possessions trying to figure out what one thing he still lacks. I imagine him picturing in his mind every item he owns, recalling everything he has done, and then wondering what he should do or get next.<\/p>

\u00a0But Jesus is talking about \u201cone thing\u201d not one more thing. Holy scripture speaks of the \u201cone thing\u201d in several places:<\/p>

The psalmist says, \u201cOne thing I asked of the Lord, that will I seek after: to live in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to inquire in his temple\u201d (Psalm 27:4). Maybe the \u201cone thing\u201d is to be connected to something bigger and beyond ourselves, to know ourselves and our lives to be more than what we do or have, to recognize and trust that there is something transcendent about each one of us.<\/p>

Jesus tells Martha, \u201cThere is need of only one thing\u201d (Luke 10:42). Martha was \u201cworried and distracted by many things\u201d (Luke 10:41). Her life was divided. She was here and there but not really anywhere. Maybe the \u201cone thing\u201d is about learning and paying attention to what really matters, being present and showing up to life, and becoming whole.<\/p>

St. Paul says that when he and Barnabas and Titus met the leadership in Jerusalem, \u201cThe leadership asked only one thing, that we remember the poor\u201d (Galatians 2:10). Maybe the \u201cone thing\u201d is compassion, caring for each other, and recognizing that our lives are one body in Christ.<\/p>

In his letter to the Philippians St Paul writes, \u201cThis one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead\u201d (Philippians 3:13). Maybe the \u201cone thing\u201d is staying open to the future, listening for the call on our life, remembering that our lives are always in process, and trusting that no one moment, story, or event defines us.\u00a0<\/p>

Maybe the one thing common in all these one things is meaning; finding and living from a place of deep meaning.<\/p>

I am talking about those \u201cpeak experiences\u201d when something touches, resonates with, or speaks to us; when we say, \u201cYes, this is it;\u201d when it feels like we\u2019ve come home; when we have an insight and it forever changes our life; when we feel alive and connected to ourselves, others, and the world; when we lose ourselves in the moment.<\/p>

They are those moments you can\u2019t let go of because they won\u2019t let go of you. And the thing about the \u201cone thing\u201d is that your \u201cone thing\u201d and my \u201cone thing\u201d are probably two different things. They are unique to each of us.<\/p>

What if you were the man in today\u2019s gospel? What if Jesus said to you, \u201cYou lack one thing?\u201d How would you respond?<\/p>

Maybe take a mental inventory of your life, accomplishments, and possessions. What\u2019s on the list?\u00a0 Just because the things on your list may not be the \u201cone thing\u201d doesn\u2019t mean they are the wrong thing. They\u2019re just not the \u201cone thing.\u201d<\/p>

Picture in your mind each item you own, all the stuff. Recall all that you\u2019ve done and everywhere you\u2019ve been. What do you see? What comes to mind?<\/p>

What is the \u201cone thing\u201d you lack?<\/p>

What would offer you more meaning in your life today? In what ways might you make a difference in the life of another, not so much by what you do but by who you are? What would you need to let go of in order to become more fully and authentically yourself?<\/p>

What is the trace of yourself that you want to leave behind in this world when you are no longer here? My hunch is that whatever that trace is, it just might be or point to the \u201cone thing\u201d for you while you are in this world.<\/p>

\u201cYou lack one thing.\u201d It\u2019s not a criticism. It\u2019s not a judgment. It\u2019s not a deficiency. It\u2019s a door opening to new life. It\u2019s an opportunity with the God for whom nothing is impossible.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Rev’d Kia Packenham \/ 13th October 2024<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

13th October 2024 Evensong Matthew 10:17-31 \u201cDo you want to be something or do you want to do something?\u201d That\u2019s the question a friend of mine was asked by his spiritual director many years ago. \u00a0 I wonder what that question brings up for you in your life today. How would you answer it? What … <\/p>\n

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