Thirteenth Pentecost

             August 26, 2007

    There will be hundreds of essays written this week, all entitled “What I Did on My Summer Vacation.”  At least that used to be a staple during the first week of school each year.  Some time back one young man wrote this:

     “We always spend two weeks with Grandma and Grandpa.  They used to live in a big, brick house, but Grandpa got retarded and they move to Florida and now live in a place with a lot of other retarded people.  They live in a tin box and have rocks painted green to look like grass.  They ride around on big tricycles and wear name tags because they don’t know who they are anymore.  They go to a building called the wrecked center, but they must have got it fixed because it is all right now.  They play games and exercise there, but they don’t do them very well.  There is a swimming pool too, but they all jump up and down in it with their hats on.  I guess they don’t know how to swim.  At their gate there is a dollhouse with a little man sitting in it.  He watches all day so nobody can escape.  Sometimes they sneak out.  Then they go cruising in their golf carts.  My grandma use to bake cookies and stuff, but I guess she forgot how.  Nobody there cooks, they just eat out.  And they eat the same thing every night: Early Birds.  Some of the people can’t get past the man in the dollhouse to go out, so the ones who get out bring food back to the wrecked center and call it potluck.  My Grandma says Grandpa worked all his life to earn his retardment and says I should work hard so I can be retarded one day, too.  When I earn my retardment I want to be the man in the dollhouse.  Then I will let people out so they can visit their grandchildren.  And that’s what I did on my summer vacation.  Thanks, Billy.”

    Well, bless Billy and all those like him.  People from east and west, and from the north, seem to want to go south, thinking that gets them closer to the kingdom, I suppose. 

     Luke continues his record of the journey Jesus made on his way to Jerusalem.  He goes through one town and village after another, teaching.  Along the way, someone asks a crucial question, “Lord, will only a few be saved?”  Jesus does not answer the question.  What he does say is, “Strive to enter the narrow the door.”  I would submit that one of the things Jesus means by giving such a response is that the right way requires effort.  As we strive to follow the right way we must make distinctions.  We are rational creatures, endowed by our Creator, with the capacity to make distinctions.  Very often in life the way of the large crowd has been shown to be the wrong way.  The easy way has often been the path of destruction. 

     Jesus said that those on the path that leads to life, abundantly on earth and eternally in heaven, are in a continuing relationship with God.  They use their intelligence and rational thinking ability.  They are striving believers, ready for the dangers, trials, and temptations along the way.

     As we strive to follow the right way we must also have a clear sense of direction.  The first of many important lessons to be learned in the living of our spiritual lives is that we can’t find the proper path by ourselves.  We do not seem to have been born with an internal, active spiritual GPS.  We need someone greater than ourselves to provide direction for us.  Through prayer, meditation, private and corporate worship, and daily striving those directions are disclosed to us.

     If we are living our life in ways that degrade and tear down and if we are giving ourselves to the cheap things of this world, we need to recognize that we are headed in the wrong direction.  The word “repent” was often used by Jesus to alert people that they needed to turn around.

     Hearing the strong, quiet voice of God means we spend hours striving to hear.  Practice is required; so is patience and patience and persistence are virtues in short supply in this modern world where noise is rewarded and everyone is taught to “want it yesterday.”

     As we strive to follow the right way we must also have some personal discipline.  The Christian way is the way of disciplined living.  We’re paying a terribly high price for our permissiveness as a culture.  That is especially true of our children.  Very often their spiritual wellbeing is being neglected by well-meaning parents who do not want to force church attendance on their children.  They wouldn’t think of allowing those same children to decide whether or not they should brush their teeth, have their immunizations when needed, and put on clean underwear.  Parents who want to be friends with their children run the risk of not providing the best parenting.

     Disciplined living means striving to understand God’s will and living by and into that will, come where it may, lead where it will, and cost what it will.

     So, who will get through that narrow door?  Those who strive to enter, Jesus said.  I am convinced that when we stand before the God of this world and the world that is to come, the question we will be asked will not be, “Were you prefect?”  That question will be, “Did you strive to find my will for your life and did you strive to live by it?”  We will not be asked how many large crowds we followed but we may need to answer about how often we used our rational brain. 

   The question will not be, “Were you the flashiest Christian in your neighborhood?”  The question might be, “Did you strive to serve me as best you could with all that I gave into your keeping and all those other fellow human beings who came into your path?”  The question will not be, “Were you the most moral, the holiest person around?”  The question will be, “Did you strive to live a life that was pleasing to other creatures in the world, aware of your stewardship and responsibilities?”  The question will not be, “Was your philosophical, theological system recognized and praised by others as one of the best?”  The question is likely to be, “Did you strive to believe in the One I sent to show you the way home, following the path he pioneered?” 

     Our striving to follow the right way can be made somewhat easier if we remember we can make distinctions, we can ask for directions, and we can live a disciplined life.

     “Will only a few be saved?”  I don’t know.  Jesus never said.  But I do know one thing he did say.  He said, “Strive to enter the narrow door.”  Striving is a good thing to do on our summer vacation, and throughout the year.  Amen.        

             ~The Rev. G. Thomas Mustard