Recently my daughter confirmed something that I have been dreading. She read a few references from a meme that demonstrated the fact that the ’80s are for her as the ’50s were for me. That’s a little depressing, as I have an idealized view of the ’50s and a crassly cynical view of the ’80s. It was, however, a simpler time.
In the summer of 1987, I was a junior in High School. We had no internet. I had a car and a job as a clerk in a video store (my generation’s version of a soda jerk). We had no air conditioning, and on warm Georgia nights I would listen to crickets and tree frogs and my hound dog, Penney. I would also listen to a college radio station – 88.5, Album 88 – that played the deft sounds of punk rock. The Ramones and the Clash would lull me to sleep. One night I heard the Godfathers play a song that would stay with me forever.
They sang “I’ve been high and I’ve been low, but I don’t know which way to go. Birth! School! Work! Death!” Whoah. The futility of modern life. Yeah. All I could say was a solid Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure “Whoah.”
My kids would probably follow that with, “That’s some next-level stuff there, buddy.” Next-level is a term from gaming culture if you aren’t aware of that. You complete the tasks. You face the Big Bad (Boss), and you go to the next level. You keep going until you get to the final level and the final Boss, and then you wait until the next version of the game comes out. Sometimes you go online and watch videos to see how other people play the game or where hidden things are that you might have missed.
We can make fun of gamer culture all we want, but they are no different than us. We all covet the next level. I know I’ll never have the resources or the time to get that “Yard of the Month” sign in my yard, but I still want it. In the past we’ve called it “keeping up with the Joneses,” but it’s all the same.
Birth, school, work, and death seem to be the things we expend most of our energy on, yet our scriptures remind us today that these are not the things that give meaning and purpose! Jesus even says it in the imperative, “Look out!” but just what are we looking for? Why is it foolish to build barns and be successful? It almost seems like these passages are confused between Nihilism and some kind of Hippie manifesto!
Life is futile. Here’s a list of things you can’t do or else all is lost. Success is pointless. Right? Or is it this way? Slow down and live in the moment. You are in Christ just as he is in you, so just share stuff. Now y’all know I favor the second of those two perspectives, but perhaps there is another way of leveling up.
I’m now recalling a conversation in Sunday School a few years back with Myrna Patrick. Myrna was an old school teacher who was large and in charge her whole life long. She had a beautiful south Texas accent, and you always knew where she stood on any given topic. One Sunday morning I was trying to describe what it meant for the Kingdom to be present in our interactions, and we talked about the idea of realized eschatology – the idea of the Kingdom actually merging and becoming present in the reformed redemption of our world. I’ll never forget her voice and her scowl when she said, “You mean this is it?!”
I had to assure her that this was not it, and that’s not exactly what I meant, and it made me rethink the whole thing. Her voice was important that day – and it still is – because the scriptures we’ve received today are telling us that life is hard (as if we don’t know). They are also assuring us that there’s more to life than birth, school, work, and death.
The “Teacher” in Ecclesiastes is reminding us that if we take all of our meaning from work then we are simply chasing the wind. Incidentally – or maybe not – the same word for wind is the word we translate as “Able”, as in Cain and Able. The one who would die is named “wind.” If the fruit of labor is all that gives us meaning, then we will be as Able. So, the Teacher warns us not to miss the joy and simplicity of the moment.
I’m reminded here of a similar revelation while sweeping the floor of my house one day. I was grousing about having to sweep, and the dog hair and things spilled by kids… and then it dawned on me. I have a house. I have a floor. I have kids and a dog, so I don’t have to sweep the floor. I get to sweep the floor. That doesn’t mean it’s not still a chore, or that I’m the only one that can or should sweep it. It just means that my focus on the moment allowed me to level up, even for a moment.
Paul’s letter to the Colossians is more of an “instructable” on leveling up in Christ. Sure, you can read the list like it’s a bunch prohibition, but he’s essentially talking about a way of being. “Don’t stop with the floor,” he seems to say. “Remove everything that gets in the way.” Remove everything that gets in the way of remembering those baptismal vows said on your behalf. Live into the fact that your identity is wrapped up in the mystery of Christ!
We’re going to talk a little more about that in a minute, but first I want us to think about this parable of Jesus. Now, we don’t know if the person shouting from the crowd had a legitimate complaint or not. All we know is how Jesus responded. He told the story of someone we would call successful. I’m picturing the guy from the phone commercial who is lying in the shade with his dog. He barely bats an eye and his technology serves him as the true master, yes! This is the level that we all want to achieve!
Yet Jesus calls him a fool! How could this be? Well, for one there is no sense of his reverence to God. The man equates his success with his efforts alone. There’s no mention of God! In fact, there’s no mention of anyone else either. The man was successful with more grain than his barn could hold. He said “I will tear down. I will build up. I will rest.” For one, these are characteristics of God in the Old testament. For another, he did not do these things! He obviously paid others to do them, but he is claiming that his efforts are all that matter.
I don’t think Jesus is saying, “Don’t be wealthy.” He’s saying, “Don’t be self-centered and self-absorbed.” German theologian, Martin Buber, described this as the “I It vs. I Thou” relationship. If we consider ourselves as the primary source for identifying and categorizing the value of others, then everything and everyone becomes an object or an “it” to us. If we recognize our value in relation to the inherent value of others, then they become as subjects with their own value. You can extend this to all of creation, but the ultimate source of value is outside of ourselves – namely in God – as the ultimate other. The other becomes the “Thou” that we interact and respond to instead of the “it” that we react to and manipulate.
Now, how do we get there from here? I believe that’s what Paul talked about when he said to strip away all that hinders our relationship with God and to be clothed with Christ. While there are many ways to do that, they all require some level of discipline and practice. One such way is called the Examen of Conscience, and it was developed by St Ignatius of Loyola around the same time as the Protestant Reformation.
As we move closer to the next level of faith, I would like to invite you to experience this practice. It may not be as meaningful in this setting as it would be in a small group or in private devotion, but I’m going to lead you through it. Think of it as dipping a toe in the water.
First, I encourage you to become aware of how you are sitting. Be comfortable, but attentive. Close your eyes and pay attention to your breath. Breathe deeply through your nose and out through your mouth. It is the breath of God that we all share in this space. [A brief time of silence followed each instruction.]
- Become aware that God is present.
- Now think about the events of the last week, giving thanks for everything, even if only for the fact that some things ended.
- Pay close attention to how you feel, or felt, at the time of each event.
- Pick one event that stands out and just talk with God about it.
What was given to you at this time is what God had in mind and what you were willing and able to receive. What matters most, here in this space, is that you know that there is more to life than birth, school, work, and even death. Work is good, especially when you work with others in mind. There is, in fact, a foretaste of the heavenly banquet to be had in our work when we move from understanding everyone and everything as something to react to and begin to understand our relationship to each other, and all of humanity, and all of creation as a part of our actual relationship with God.
Now, that’s some next-level stuff, and the next level that flows from the baptismal covenant of grace is the eucharistic, thanksgiving of our common union through Christ. So let us throw off all that separates us as though it were some horrible fashion trend from the ’80s, and let us be clothed with the love of God in Christ Jesus. Here. Now. Today. All to the glory of God. Amen!
Now, that’s some next-level stuff, and the next level that flows from the baptismal covenant of grace is the eucharistic, thanksgiving of our common union through Christ. So let us throw off all that separates us as though it were some horrible fashion trend from the ’80s, and let us be clothed with the love of God in Christ Jesus. Here. Now. Today. All to the glory of God. Amen!
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