St. Philips in The Hills
January 3, 1993
“God’s Resolutions For Us ”
Ephesians 1: 3-6, 15-19a
There is something very special about the beginning of a new year. The mood of the moment is often found in family gatherings, or by times of intense reflection, while sitting alone and reviewing the past twelve months. There are also many customs that have developed for celebrating the dying of the old and the welcoming of the new. One of the most popular is the tradition of making resolutions for the coming year.
Of all the ways this has been done, a most creative way was invented by a family 1 knew in Connecticut. On New Years Day. the family gathered around the dinner table and each person had two resolutions to give and to receive from other members of the family. This served a dual purpose. The resolutions were public. and it aliowed members of the family to receive feedback which often was surprising. For example, a son might say to his father: “My resolution for you in ’93 is to stop losing your temper.” The father might look astonished and say: ” Who me?” Or someone might say to the sister: “My resolution for you in ’93 is td keep your room clean. ” And the reply could be: ” I didn’t know that anyone had noticed? ” This custom serves to give us insight into who we are and where we are going in ’93.
This morning I would like to build on that family tradition and ask you to imagine that we are all sitting around the dinner table and each of us is handed two resolutions. What resolution might be given to you? Let’s make it more specific: What resolution for ’93 might God be giving you?
At first, many of you probably began thinking of the resolutions you probably have made already – lose 15 pounds, exercise everyday, begin that project you’ve been putting off, spend more time with someone-but remember, these are resolutions that God would be suggesting, Somehow I think they might be other than the common variety of resolutions .
The first resolution could be something like this: in ’93, take the risk of being more open and honest with your feelings, at least in church. This would be a tough one for church people. Through the years we’ve become such artful dodgers of feelings that we can’t even admit to ourselves what we feel. We have some idea of what were supposed to feel and we’re even quite sure what we’re not supposed to feel. Emotions like anger and frustration or even sadness are suppOsed to he left at home. And therefore, when we gather (say here at church) we wear masks that hide our feelings.
Not so you say, in church we express everything – I don’t agree, Three weeks ago in a sermon I shared how I was feeling depressed. I can’t tell you how many good, wonderful. caring people came up to me concerned – yes – but concerned that I had an invalid feeling. Somehow the message came across that a Christian. a Christian minister, should not be depressed– even though that week I was involved in the death of beautiful courageous 12 year old child and also worried about parish finances.
We think we’re not allowed to feel and so when we come to church, we sanitize our emotions. We cling to the illusion that christians aren’t subject to anger, sadness, depression, and therefore we rarely come clean with who we are or where we are in life’s struggles. But God would say to such of us in ’93: “Be more honest, be open, come clean with how you really feel when you come into my house.
Years ago a clergy person, when making parish calls, would leave a printed card at the door. The card read: “The Rector called today and was sorry to find you out. ” I like that.
We want to be found. that’s one of the reasons we come to church, but most of us don’t want to be found out. That’s why God in ’93 asks you to resolve to be a little more real, take a risk of being found out, come clean and share your negative and positive feeling when you come to church.
The second resolution for ‘ 93 that God might suggest is to begin to see ourselves as seeds of God. ” Christmas reminds us that God was born not only in Bethlehem. but she is born in us. We are all God’s seed. We are made in God’s image, from God, to God, and moving toward God.
In the letter to the Ephesians, that’s what Paul means when he says we are destined in love. ” it means God’s seed is within all of us and our task is to cultivate the seed, to grow into the full personhood as a child of God.
Nieister Eckhart. the 14th century
mystic. said: “There is something in the soul which is only of God. The seed of God is in us. If the seed has a good, wise, and industrious cultivator, it would thrive and grow up into God. The seed of a pear tree grows ‘into a pear tree, the seed of God into God. ”
Now don’t get the wrong idea. Mei ster
Eckhart never thought of us as becoming little Gods walking around making pronouncements (we do that enough) . What he meant-because of the incarnation, the infleshing of God, we all contain a seed of God which we are called to cultivate.
In ’93, God resolves that we cultivate the seed. On this first Sunday of this new year. let us dig down into the soil of the new year and begin to grov that seed so that each of us moves closer to our destiny.
The resolution–your resolution and mine for 1993- – is to come clean and find the seed of God in each one of us. You are invited to understand that each one of us, together, are part of a great drama. And it’s our drama – with God as the principal actor. The drama. the love story, is about growth–growing towards God .
As we sit around the dinner table, around the eucharistic dinner, around the great love feast, I am reminded of the writings of St. Augustine. in a service of new beginnings, he holds up the consecrated and broken bread and’ says to his people: “See what you are, be what you are. ” That’s what God might be saying to us — today, You who are the body of Christ. as you face the new year, as you sit around the parish dinner, the Eucharist, this heavenly banquet. —
Be what you are : Destined for God.