Has it ever happened to you when you were driving along, minding your own business, cruise control set, your window open, the music playing just the right song at just the right volume, that some 'lunatic' pulls out onto the road right in front of you, seemingly waiting until you were just close enough to know there wasn't enough room to safely make it, but choosing that time to pull out anyway? Then, as though putting your heart into cardiac arrest wasn't enough, and giving your reflexes a chance to prove whether or not they still work wasn't enough, and testing the drive-ability of your car with brakes fully locked wasn't enough, the person who caused all of this, seemingly, chooses to drive about ten miles an hour below the speed limit, with oncoming traffic eliminating any chance of passing for miles to come? Then, when an opportunity to pass finally makes itself available, you put on the blinker, pull out to pass, hit the gas, and begin to overtake the lunatic, only to, again . . . seemingly . . . wake them up out of their fog and have them also 'step on it' to keep you from passing, forcing you to either really get on the gas or back off and fall behind them again?
It has happened to me more than once, but it happened most recently last evening on my way back home from the farm. It was only as I finally got around the 'driver' (and I use that term very, very loosely) going about 75 miles an hour, after following them at 45 miles an hour for several miles, that I realized that the person had a cell phone to their head and was in deep conversation and driving, not with intention, but by instinct. My passing him, and it was a 'him', reminded him that he wasn't going fast enough, but it was clear in my passing him that he wasn't paying attention to his own speed either: he was talking on the phone, deeply engaged in life somewhere beyond the wheel of his own vehicle.
Once around him, he backed off his speed in direct proportion to mine and, gradually, fell farther behind as the miles clicked under our tires. At first, I was angry, then resentful, then, finally, just appalled, especially when I began to think of this encounter in terms of the church: How often is it that a person or congregation goes about the mundane nature of their living in the same old way, in the same old patterns, day after day, daring anyone to try to change them, even pulling out in front of others to make sure everyone else stayed in line behind them, regardless of how out of touch with the rest of the world they are? And, how many times have or will those same people suddenly pick up the pace when someone tired of following them pulls out to pass, putting them in a position to either go twice as fast and twice as hard or fall back in line and accept the inevitability of their own mundane place in life?
It is a paradigm which gets played out far too often in far too many places of worship over far too many things which, in the scheme of all things heavenly, really have very little affect in all things earthly. It was a part of Jesus' ministry as the various scribes, Pharisees, lawyers, Sadducee's, and political hacks, took their shots at the building momentum of Jesus' ministry as it passed through the local country side. It was a part of Jesus' teaching as He taught the thousands in the text which is commonly known as the Sermon on the Mount in' the Gospel of Matthew. It was a part of the betrayal, trial, beating, and crucifixion of Jesus recorded in all of the Gospels. And, finally, it was a part of the resurrection story recorded in all of the Gospels, as well. It took Jesus' death to gain enough momentum to pass the lethargy of power, pomp and circumstances imposed on humanity by those determined to make themselves into gods. It took a rolling stone theology to crush the self-centered, self-serving ideology of 'me-first' at everyone elses expense. It took 'Peace be with you' Christology to break down the barriers of fear which shackled even the best intentioned of disciples to 'fall in line' behaviors.
Now, I am not extolling a 'step on it no matter what the consequences' response to every 'lunatic' who pulls out in front of you, but I would suggest that you and I are not the first ones to whom it has happened, nor will we be the last. So, the essential question before each of us on the road and all of us in the church is this: Before God and all of humankind, what is to be gained by not letting up? At 75 miles an hour last night, I should have backed down and didn't . . . proving exactly what, I'm not sure. But at the speed of life, Jesus couldn't back down and didn't . . . proving we have nothing to fear in proclaiming the nearness of God's Kingdom, regardless of the 'lunatics' which pull out in front of us along the way.
Jesus makes a much better point than I do, He always does. I just hope I learn from it - and the guy on the cell phone gets the message.
Your servant in Christ,
Pastor Don
No comments:
Post a Comment