Seventh Sunday of Easter 'C'

Sunday May 20, 2007

Dashing through life

“Beneath the restlessness with what is
And the yearning for what could be,
Lies a life aching to be born.
But often locked in a tension
Created by the world’s incessant shout
And the Spirit’s gentle whisper,
The human drive and the divine call,
We languish in our pain
Until we find the courage to respond
Or die, never knowing who we are.”
+Deacon John P. Moran, 1994

The readings this weekend are an invitation to look at our lives through the lens of soteriology and eschatology. Do not be turned off with these fancy words. They are nothing more than the exploration of the mystery of salvation as we experience it in the life of the Christ who came once, who will come again at the end of time and of the Christ who is alive and well among his followers the ‘in between times.’ We do this with hope that we can come to know the unity and peace that comes with gifts of the Holy Spirit despite the inevitable trials from which no one is exempt and despite the stones that may be thrown at us when we attempt to practice what we preach.

The author of those words that I quoted above was a man well into his fifties in search of himself attempting to live in ‘the in-between times.’

In the very first chapter of his book, “In Search of a Soul,” John tells the story of an elderly preacher who delivered this little sermonette on Easter Sunday. It may not be your first hearing. I used it on Easter in 2005.

My dear brothers and sisters, this morning, I would like to talk to you about the dash.

As he paused to gather his thoughts, his congregation glanced at one another, perhaps thinking the old man had been dipping into the sauce once again or had finally gone over the edge.

The other evening after dinner, he continued, I took a stroll through our church yard out back. Now I do this often but the other evening I paused at the headstone of Nathaniel R. McCoy and I got to thinking. All that I, or anyone else in these parts for that matter, know about old Nate is what his headstone tells us:

Nathaniel R. McCoy
August 1, 1801 – October 4, 1867

It doesn’t tell us if he was tall or short, rich or poor, handsome or homely, doctor or drifter, or whether he lived in a cottage or a castle. All that any of us know about Mr. McCoy is that he lived on this earth for three score and six.

What’s intriguing about Mr. McCoy’s headstone, and all the other headstones in our churchyard is that while all the names and dates are different, they all hold something in common. They all have a small dash between the date of birth and the date of death. Interesting, isn’t it, that the only significant information about our lives people see fit to place upon our headstones at the time of our passing are our names, the dates of our arrival and the date of our departure from this earth? Everything that transpires in between is symbolized by a dash, a small, three-quarter inch line.

As I looked at Nate’s headstone, the preacher went on, and reflected upon our lives today, what I found so intriguing is the amount of time and energy many of us invest seeking to impress other people, trying to live up to their expectations. This is often done at the expense of our own convictions; all in the hope of being respected in the present and being remembered in the future.

Now that’s something that offers all of us some food for thought, he said, especially when we stop to consider that God did not place us on this earth to live up to anyone expectations but [God’s], and [God’s] expectations are ultimately revealed in the heart of who we are. We need only listen to our own hearts for what we are called to be in life_.

When our hearts and minds are in harmony with God’s spirit within us, we are never deceived. It is only when we choose to ignore the compelling messages of our hearts and minds, allowing the emotion of the moment or the controlling words of others to influence our thoughts, feelings and actions that we deceive ourselves.

So, he continued, we all need to give more serious thought to the significance of the dash. In a real sense it’s the line that counts — the real bottom line.

We are living in the ‘in-between’ times, in this case between Easter and Pentcost with a brief stopover last Thursday at the mount of Ascension. They are separate feasts but not separate mysteries. They are metaphorical expressions of one abiding reality.

If God is truly in our hearts then Jesus is truly risen and the gifts of the Spirit will shine through you and me and we will not succumb to the darkness of anger, hate and despair even in the face of stones that may be tossed at us. We will rise to the demands of true Christian love and compassion, which can’t help but redound to virtue in this life and glory in the life to come.

“What lies behind us
and what lies before us
are tiny matters
compared to what lies within us.” ___ Today! Anon

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