signs of life
December 2, 2018
Luke 21:25-36
Back in 2004 I found myself in the midst of reading books which I’ve told you before was a new thing for me. As I look back on those days I now know that it was part of my spiritual journey, and I say part because I’m convinced that during our lives we go in and out of spiritual journeys. During this particular one, every time I walked into Barnes and Noble a book would just appear. One of those books was Running on Empty written by Fil Anderson who happens to live in Greensboro.
Fil’s story is one of significant accomplishment in ministry at a young age followed by exhaustion and breakdown, followed by further accomplishment in ministry which was followed by more exhaustion and breakdown. This constant roller coaster left Fil empty. Time and again Fil threw himself into doing more and more which helped him garner praise from everyone. As Brennan Manning wrote, “[Fil] became a player in the kingdom enterprise, [he] gained the world, and lost himself along the way.” You see, Fil had forgotten how to BE as his life had been overtaken by doing. Always doing. And in that state of always doing, Fil was left empty, or maybe even dead inside and even though signs of life were all around him, Fil the human doing, couldn’t see them. You see, in order to see signs of life you must first have the courage to get off of the treadmill of life and simply BE. After all, we are human beings, not human doings.
This phrase “human doings” was new to me at the time, and the truth it revealed about myself was unavoidable. Doing, and being praised for doing, is intoxicating and unfortunately all too common. In a fast, chaotic world, constantly doing makes people feel accomplished. Sadly, when we become human doings we are blind to everything else. And sometimes that everything else is, or at least includes God. This insatiable desire to do leads to a sort of tunnel vision where the only thing within our sight is the task we are trying to accomplish.
In that type of world, it takes great courage to stop. It takes great courage to rest. It takes great courage to simply BE. Yet, in my experience stopping, resting and being are the only way we will ever be on guard to protect our hearts from being weighed down. Stopping, resting and being is the only way any of us will be able to guard our hearts from the worries of this world. Stopping, resting and being is the only way we will be able to see the signs of life before us now, as well as the life that is to be in the future.
Advent is about preparation. Advent is about hope. Advent is about patience. And the best way to experience all of these things is by summoning the courage to stop, rest and BE. This practice will allow us to get past the numbness of this chaotic and frenetic world. By stopping, resting and being we are opening ourselves up to appreciate the life that is found in the preparation while also appreciating the life that is to come.
This is a major reason we’ve taken this time today to Hang the Greens. I want you to know I believe we have done a wonderful job of preparing this space today. In fact, we’ve really been preparing this space for the past week. My hope is that we have done an equally good job of identifying the specific meaning of each item that’s been hung because all of these decorations are signs.
Now, one of those signs is our Nativity Scene and in our worship planning and staff meeting this past week Daniel reminded us about the lengthy discussion we had in that same meeting last year. The focus of that lengthy discussion was who should be on display in our Nativity Scene and when they should show up. Truth be told, the discussion was really only about Jesus and whether or not he should be there now or later. Well as you can see, Jesus is not currently a part of our Nativity Scene, which feels right to me. You see, like all the other signs now on display, our Nativity Scene is about the life that is currently and the life that is yet to be. Our Nativity Scene is a proper reflection of the life that is now, and the life that is yet to come, but on the way.
Yes, we could have rushed through and gone ahead of put the baby Jesus in our Nativity scene. After all we think we already know how this story ends. The thing is, if there is ever a time not to rush through life, it is Advent. Just like Fil Anderson, if we are always rushing through life doing this and doing that, we might just end up feeling empty… feeling dead inside.
Rushing through the seasons of life, doesn’t make anything happen any faster than it would otherwise. Just like rushing through Advent doesn’t make the birth happen any sooner. Rushing does do something to us, though, it leaves us blind to the signs. It takes great courage to stop. It takes great courage to rest. It takes great courage to BE and not do. I’m convinced this is the only way we will see.
My brothers and sisters,
The season of Advent is upon us.
The preparations have been made.
May we resist the urge to rush through it and may we summon the courage to stop, rest and BE. For that is the only way we will see the signs of life.
Amen!
Luke 21:25-36
Back in 2004 I found myself in the midst of reading books which I’ve told you before was a new thing for me. As I look back on those days I now know that it was part of my spiritual journey, and I say part because I’m convinced that during our lives we go in and out of spiritual journeys. During this particular one, every time I walked into Barnes and Noble a book would just appear. One of those books was Running on Empty written by Fil Anderson who happens to live in Greensboro.
Fil’s story is one of significant accomplishment in ministry at a young age followed by exhaustion and breakdown, followed by further accomplishment in ministry which was followed by more exhaustion and breakdown. This constant roller coaster left Fil empty. Time and again Fil threw himself into doing more and more which helped him garner praise from everyone. As Brennan Manning wrote, “[Fil] became a player in the kingdom enterprise, [he] gained the world, and lost himself along the way.” You see, Fil had forgotten how to BE as his life had been overtaken by doing. Always doing. And in that state of always doing, Fil was left empty, or maybe even dead inside and even though signs of life were all around him, Fil the human doing, couldn’t see them. You see, in order to see signs of life you must first have the courage to get off of the treadmill of life and simply BE. After all, we are human beings, not human doings.
This phrase “human doings” was new to me at the time, and the truth it revealed about myself was unavoidable. Doing, and being praised for doing, is intoxicating and unfortunately all too common. In a fast, chaotic world, constantly doing makes people feel accomplished. Sadly, when we become human doings we are blind to everything else. And sometimes that everything else is, or at least includes God. This insatiable desire to do leads to a sort of tunnel vision where the only thing within our sight is the task we are trying to accomplish.
In that type of world, it takes great courage to stop. It takes great courage to rest. It takes great courage to simply BE. Yet, in my experience stopping, resting and being are the only way we will ever be on guard to protect our hearts from being weighed down. Stopping, resting and being is the only way any of us will be able to guard our hearts from the worries of this world. Stopping, resting and being is the only way we will be able to see the signs of life before us now, as well as the life that is to be in the future.
Advent is about preparation. Advent is about hope. Advent is about patience. And the best way to experience all of these things is by summoning the courage to stop, rest and BE. This practice will allow us to get past the numbness of this chaotic and frenetic world. By stopping, resting and being we are opening ourselves up to appreciate the life that is found in the preparation while also appreciating the life that is to come.
This is a major reason we’ve taken this time today to Hang the Greens. I want you to know I believe we have done a wonderful job of preparing this space today. In fact, we’ve really been preparing this space for the past week. My hope is that we have done an equally good job of identifying the specific meaning of each item that’s been hung because all of these decorations are signs.
Now, one of those signs is our Nativity Scene and in our worship planning and staff meeting this past week Daniel reminded us about the lengthy discussion we had in that same meeting last year. The focus of that lengthy discussion was who should be on display in our Nativity Scene and when they should show up. Truth be told, the discussion was really only about Jesus and whether or not he should be there now or later. Well as you can see, Jesus is not currently a part of our Nativity Scene, which feels right to me. You see, like all the other signs now on display, our Nativity Scene is about the life that is currently and the life that is yet to be. Our Nativity Scene is a proper reflection of the life that is now, and the life that is yet to come, but on the way.
Yes, we could have rushed through and gone ahead of put the baby Jesus in our Nativity scene. After all we think we already know how this story ends. The thing is, if there is ever a time not to rush through life, it is Advent. Just like Fil Anderson, if we are always rushing through life doing this and doing that, we might just end up feeling empty… feeling dead inside.
Rushing through the seasons of life, doesn’t make anything happen any faster than it would otherwise. Just like rushing through Advent doesn’t make the birth happen any sooner. Rushing does do something to us, though, it leaves us blind to the signs. It takes great courage to stop. It takes great courage to rest. It takes great courage to BE and not do. I’m convinced this is the only way we will see.
My brothers and sisters,
The season of Advent is upon us.
The preparations have been made.
May we resist the urge to rush through it and may we summon the courage to stop, rest and BE. For that is the only way we will see the signs of life.
Amen!
