1 Samuel 2:18-20, 26; Colossians 3:12-17; Luke 2:41-62
“And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.”
Well, it’s finally over. Another Christmas is over, and we survived. All that’s left is the clean up. All the used wrapping paper is in the fireplace or out in the trash barrel; the Christmas tree’s days in a place of honor are numbered because all the pretty ornaments and twinkling lights are going back in their boxes. The boxes will be returned to their storage places in the attic, the cellar or the garage.
I do hope, friends, you had the kind of Christmas experience you wanted or hoped for: the family, the friends, the gifts, and the food; the quiet of the silent night, the blessing of a holy night. All of it.
This next week many of us will make mention of the ways we are going to improve, enhance or change the way we live in 2010. Many of us will predictably seek to live in the land of Overachievement. After every Christmas the approach of a new year inspires folks to accept the challenge of living not just a better life; we want to live a Great Life.
We have the morning news shows, Dr Phil, Oprah—though not for long; Martha Stewart, Jay Leno, Judge Judy, Fox News and countless others to help us improve our lives in 2010. They are all overachievers. Overachievement is a value in our society, but there are some who are positing a different theory.
In my research I discovered that there is one Ray Bennett, MD, who offers us a new resolution quest: Underachievement. Hear what he has to say:
“Underachievers are the best, most dependable workers. This may seem counter-intuitive but the key here is that while some achievement is necessary and good for productivity, a lot of it is dangerous to you and everyone around you. And if you have a wide enough perspective, you’ll see it’s also an exercise in futility.”
Here are his principles that support underachievement:
· Life’s too short.
· Control is an illusion.
· Expectations lead to misery.
· Great expectations lead to great misery.
· Achievement creates expectations.
· The law of diminishing returns applies everywhere.
· Perfect is the enemy of good.
· The tallest blade of grass is the surest to be cut.
· Accomplishment is in the eye of the beholder.
I’m not endorsing Dr Bennett’s thesis; I just use it to offer a different perspective. Actually, I believe that there is even another—an even better—way besides overachievement or underachievement to embrace a new life on January 1, 2010. And it’s not a new discovery. We’ve always had access to the secret because it’s right in the bible. All three of our texts describe this new way of life in one way or another.
What am I talking about? I’m talking about making a new year’s resolution to commit ourselves, our congregation, to the divine life in 2010. Believe it or not, the divine life is possible for all of us—one does not have to be divine to do so. One only has to put on the clothes of divinity. Divine clothing is nothing like anything we might have unwrapped on Christmas morning.
Look at I Samuel 2:18. We find Samuel about 12 years old wearing the priestly robe (apron, actually) that his mother Hannah has made for him. Yet, it is not the robe that is divine and allows Samuel to pursue the divine life—it is the faithful commitment of the tear-filled resolution Hannah, his mother, made to God before the boy was even conceived to promise and deliver the boy to God for God’s purpose.
Looking at another12-year-old boy at the Temple, we do not see Jesus wearing already woven priestly robes but we witness the weaving of the ephod of wisdom, another quality in the divine wardrobe. We might think that Jesus was born knowing it all because he was, after all, God’s son. Yet, the text is clear that Jesus did not “know it all”; he was sitting (not standing) among the teachers, listening to them, and asking questions. The ephod of his wisdom became visible as he demonstrated his understanding and answered their questions.
Paul in his letter to the Colossians talks a lot about the divine life and how the believers are to put on the clothes of compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, patience and, above all, love.
A faith that is worn on the inside, secreted underneath the costume of human “niceness” is not only underachievement, it is an empty package; it’s coal in your stocking; it’s a Christmas tree without ornaments; it’s an angel without good news, it’s a heaven without the glory of God.
We cannot imagine such things. Without seeking to dress in the clothing of the divine life, we are as naked and forlorn as Adam and Eve in the Garden.
Resolve this year with me to dress our congregation in the raiment of divinity. Dressed appropriately we then may take on the true ministry God has purposed for us. It’s a divine life that our Lord desires for us; and its dress code applies 24/7: “…whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.”
December 27, 2009
First Parish Federated Church of South Berwick, ME
The Reverend Donna Lee Muise, Pastor
