Remember the Holly Fair will arrive this year on the Saturday after Thanksgiving!! 9-1 on November 25th. Please join us.
We’ve heard words that sound wonderful. We agree with it and we love the words. Then we’re disappointed when the person who says those wonderful words acts in ways that are counter to those wonderful words. The words are helpful, but the person’s actions disappoint.
We’ve also been there, in our frustrated moments, when we’ve said: just do as I say, not as I do.
Just because we don’t have it all together, doesn’t mean there is nothing of value. We’re quick to throw out, give up, and quit because we’re not perfect and others aren’t perfect. We forget that we can weed out the garden. We don’t have to burn the whole thing because the weeds always seems to crop up where we don’t expect them or want them.
We throw out, give up on, and quit on people too. We look up to our teachers and leaders and are quick to judge and condemn when they fail us, forgetting that they too are people. Just like us. Often we’re just as quick to judge and condemn ourselves.
Jesus knows this. He says: listen to the words. The words are good and valuable, even if those preaching the words are struggling to do good by those words themselves. Jesus says to us: don’t throw everything out, listen, and go practice the goodness of the words. Be your own example of it and be kind (love thy neighbor as thy self). Don’t judge too harshly, because we are all just practicing putting the words into action in this world. The lessons are still…good.
We often have very high expectations of others. Especially those we have put onto pedestals. We sometimes forget that they are just as capable of mistakes. Still struggling in their own practice of Goodness. And sometimes, people who do terrible, regrettable, things. Do we throw out all the words, the whole book, the whole religion, the beautiful lineage, the entire people? Do we throw an entire person under the bus? Do we give up on ourselves?
Sometimes, we use words as our armor. We have papers that say we know this. We’ve studied all the books, with the “right” people. Read all the words. We have a head full of knowledge. We have proof that we are worthy of being listened to. We have certificates and degrees. We worked hard to know best and we defend ourselves like lawyers. Maybe…because we are…afraid. PAUSE. Fear is an insidious thing.
The pedestal is a lonely and scary place. There’s a long way to fall. PAUSE.
There’s no need to prove, defend, or look down. Yes, seek to know, but that is not the end-game. There is also the practice. We cultivate wisdom by doing both the learning of knowledge and the doing of deeds. It goes together. Both pieces to create the fullness.
So listen and learn, but remember that there’s more. Jesus reminds us to look to ourselves and look to one another. We are all brothers and sisters with one another. We are all in this together. We are all ministers to one another. All of us and we all have work to do in this.
Together, we learn the heady stuff and together we learn the wisdom stuff. Together, we unite the head and the mind. And then, we do stuff together. Collectively in the name of Grace.
The modern version of knowledge without action might be: the thoughts and prayers debate. Words with no action.
Sometimes it seems there is no possible action and thoughts and prayers are all we have. They are part of service to one another as we learned this the other week with the kids in Ways of Service. We’re thinking of you. We’re listening. We’re praying for you. Other times, if we’re honest, it’s not enough. It’s like with the kids…use wisdom to know when it’s right to be in the spotlight helping and when it’s right to be in the background praying.
Sometimes, maybe it’s without thought and prayer that we’re just stirring the pot with our actions. We act on the news without taking time to pause and process how to fully help and serve. We have too much incoming all at once, but we want to do something. Anything. We do too much doing in the world without pausing to think and pray. Sometime, we create more chaos than healing. Sometimes, this scatters the soul and we need time to reconnect our head and our heart and our hands. And too often, we don’t give ourselves that needed rest.
Sometimes, we claim Jesus with words, but not in our actions. We are saved simply because we believe. Yes, believe, hold to faith, but Jesus asks moreof us. We take in the body and blood together to be a part of the greater work. Part of communion, might be to remind us that we are the tangible hands of Christ in the world—he is spirit, we are stuff (with hands). The words require us to Love and the walk the world with Love. To act as much as possible as closely to the way Jesus would act. That’s hard work. Maybe that’s why the beautiful words are easy. Maybe we just don’t know what to do next. That’s not uncommon or surprising.
It looks like those wonderful preachers of Jesus’s time had some of the same problems we do. We know the words, but struggle to act on them. Even those high on the pedestals that we would expect to know what to do. People are people wherever/whenever they are.
It’s comforting to be brothers and sisters with and for one another. Supporting and guiding one another, because it’s not an east path. It’s a balancing act of knowledge and wisdom. Of doing and being. Of prayer and practice. Of being and example and being still with God.
We must refill the cup to be of service. We can’t be all action without the words behind us. We can’t be just the words without the action unfolding from them. We can’t do any of it if we’re a cracked and broken. Scattered. Overused. We need time to heal and mend before we can truly heal and mend one another. But we can also do this mending and healing…together. Ministering perfectly imperfectly to and for and with one another.
How do we know we’re on the right path or finding the right balance? We remember what’s at the center of it all. We remember the anchor in it all. Not just ourselves, but the something Bigger than ourselves. The collective Whole. All of it. All of us and all of Grace.
It’s easy to get caught up in the outer world proving we’re right and that we know stuff and people should listen to us and forget to turn to Grace.
But when we’re anchored in Grace, we know when it’s our time to be out in the world to set an example for others in God’s name. We also know when it’s time to step back to refill the cup with Grace so that we are better examples. When we are anchored in Grace, we know. When in doubt…
Be Still and Know…
Until…our cup overflows and we cannot help but be beacons of light for one another and for Grace in this world.
Excerpts from Matthew 23: 1-12
“…therefore, do and observe all things whatsoever they tell you, but do not follow their example. For they preach, but do not practice…their works are performed to be seen…they love the place of honor…they love the seat of honor, the title of ‘Rabbi’.
You have but one teacher, and you are all brothers and sisters in Christ…”
Community Church of North Orange & Tully 