Jeremiah 17. 5-10
We don’t have to become anything more
than who and what we are … RIGHT NOW!
It was sometime in May, 2010 that the rain stopped. Or at least, when it slowed to just a trickle. And for the next five years, it stayed that way. It was a bad time. More than once, you’d wonder it’d ever rain, again. Trees withered. Gardens wilted. Yards turned brown. The scariest part was watching the lakes dry up and not able to do anything about it. Like I said, it was bad. But in all likelihood, it wasn’t anything our parents, our grandparents hadn’t been through.
One afternoon, I decided to pull out the lawnmower … for old times’ sake! I fired it up and started mowing dirt! That and the few weeds thriving! I walked back and forth. And forth and back. As I did, I thought. I pondered. I mused. About the lack of water. About the profusion of prayers offered up for rain. After a while, my mind wandered back to seminary. To a discussion we had about sin. Usually, sin’s seen as a lapse in judgment. As some moral indiscretion. Doing something we shouldn’t. Not doing something we should. And more often than not, it’s associated with people. What they do – or don’t do – to each other. This day, though, we were talking about creation’s sins. The imperfection. The brokenness. The inadequacy. Paul talks about creation waiting with eager longing! Groaning to be set free! We talked about earthquakes and volcanos, tornados and typhoons. And of course, droughts. Especially the long, hot, dry ones. The kind that makes your eyes feel like raisins.
I got to pondering … the dryness. The lack of water. What was said? Done? To cause it? And more importantly, what would have to be done to fix it? To make it all go away? To make the world this year – green, again? By the time I was done with the front yard, I had a pretty good sermon worked out! About fixing … saving … redeeming … a broken world! A world as captive, as bound, to as humanity! Over the roar of the lawnmower, I, even, heard the song of the prophet … “Then the lame shall leap like a deer,/and the tongue of the speechless sing for joy./For waters shall break forth in the wilderness,/and streams in the desert … Word of God, word of life! Thanks be to God!
But as I imagined green pastures, as I pictured still waters, it all began to fade away. If that happened … When that happens … the desert would stop being desert! It would be different! Changed! And become something it never was! Something it was never meant to be! Meadow? Woodland? And I’ve spent too much time in the Southwest to hope for that! By the time I finished the backyard, I’d threw out the first sermon and began working on another! This one! And with it, another understanding! A new assumption! Here in Midland, we live at the edge of the Chihuahuan desert. Sometimes that edge is on one side of us; other times it’s on the other. It moves back and forth! Waxes and wanes! Ebbs and flows! Not because anything’s wrong. Not because something’s broken. It’s just the way it works! That’s the way it’s been working since the beginning. That’s the way it always will. And we deal with it. We adapt. We adjust. Or we find somewhere else to live! Our job isn’t blaming the desert … well, for being desert! And we aren’t here to make it into something it isn’t. We accept it – appreciate it – for what, it is! And I wonder if it’s not the same for people …
“Transform the poverty of our nature,” we prayed a few minutes ago. But what if that “poverty” IS our nature! What if it’s the very thing that makes us human? That makes us US? What if we’re not something broken? What if we’re not something that needs to be changed? But what if we’re like this desert? Something, simply, to be accepted! Even appreciated!
“Devious,” the prophet called the heart! “Perverse!” Truth is, it is what it is! It is what it’s always been! Maybe that’s why, when we try to remake it, to turn it into something it’s not, we fail! Think about it … people of faith, for thousands of years, for hundreds of generations, have been ranting and raving against that devious, perverse heart! And nothing’s changed. Same world! Same people! Whether they’re “Christians” or not! Nations rise against nations! Kingdoms against kingdoms! Wars! Rumors of wars! Famines! Earthquakes! And don’t forget the plagues! They’re more than just birthPangs! They’re the heartbeats, the breaths, of creation itself!
What if humanity isn’t broken? And what if – like it or not – this is the way it is, the way we are? And what if faith, believing, isn’t a matter of trying to fix the problem, but a way of learning how to live with ourselves? With ourselves and with each other? Like we do – like we should – the desert! What if the philosopher is right? “To live is to suffer! And surviving is, simply, finding meaning in it.” The question that confronts us isn’t “How can a loving god allow all this pain and suffering to happen?” The question, instead, is, “What does this mean?”
Bottom line, we’re people. Just people. Plain. Ordinary. Everyday. No different from millions, billions, of others. All. just. like. us. No one before, no one after. No one greater, no one less. We’re people! We make mistakes! Sometime, we should know better … but we don’t! We mess up! We fall short! We miss the mark! But maybe it’s not a “bad” thing! Maybe it’s not because we are sinful! Maybe it’s not because we are wicked or evil! Maybe it’s because we are simply human! Each of us! All of us! With quirks and idiosyncrasies that drive each other up a wall! But they aren’t sins! They’re not trespasses! Transgressions! We’re just US! And the only way to bring us together, the only way to keep us that way, is by learning – not how to forgive – but how to accept! How to appreciate! Just a god has done with us!
For too long, we’ve confused our humanity with sin. With being broken. And we’ve confessed things that never needed forgiving. We’ve fallen on our knees. Bowed our heads. Closed our eyes. When we should have stood tall, and looked the world in the eye, and never blinked! So, my friends, this morning, do just that! Stand tall! Look the world in the eye! And don’t blink! Don’t flinch! We’re not angels! Cherubim! Seraphim! We’re people! “Just” people. But for god, that will always be enough! For god, that will, always, be MORE than enough!