Electricity, Memory, and Meaning - Lenten Wednesday Worship Week 1
Author: Pastor Scott Schul
February 21, 2024
Most of you
know my father passed away on Sunday. Over
the last few days, I’ve found myself taking a long walk down memory lane, remembering
lots of things Dad did and said. As in
any person’s life, some of those things he did and said were noble and
praiseworthy. Others, on the other hand,
were a little embarrassing and comical – the kinds of things that reveal our
humanness and keep us humble and approachable.
Between those
two extremes – the noble memories and the not-so-noble memories – we find the
ordinary stuff of everyday life. Personally,
that’s where I keep returning, to those seemingly ordinary and routine things
my dad said and did. It’s funny at a
time like this how some memories that seem so commonplace keep surfacing.
When my dad
wasn’t working night shift at the factory, he did handyman jobs around town –
mostly electrical and plumbing work. When
I was a kid, he often took me along on his jobs. As you can imagine, I didn’t know the first
thing about wiring or plumbing, but Dad was afraid of heights, and so I was
useful if the job required a ladder or any climbing.
I remember one
particular day when he was rewiring a house. I was helping him fish wires through the dry wall, and he regularly
summoned me to fetch a tool he needed from his truck. There was a moment when he was installing a
wall switch, and I was just standing there with nothing to do. He saw me watching, and without lifting his
eyes from his work, he said to me, “You have to respect electricity or it’ll
bite you.”
On one level
he was just telling me something very practical. Electricity is dangerous. If you aren’t careful, you can get
electrocuted and seriously hurt. So take
it seriously and be careful. But many
decades later, as I roll those words over in my head, I’m able now to hear a
deeper wisdom in what he said. After
all, electricity is far from the only danger we face in this life. Work, relationships, and all the
choices we’re called upon to make on a daily basis can bless our lives or wreck
them, just as electricity can help you cook a meal and warm your body, or
literally zap the life out of you. And
so in all circumstances, respect both the opportunity and the danger that life offers you. Respect it, or
it’ll bite you.
As I’ve
pondered this seemingly insignificant conversation from my childhood, I’ve
realized that there are so many circumstances in life where we only manage to
understand what we’ve heard or experienced after some time has passed. We need that distance, that time for
reflection, that perspective, and that wisdom which usually only springs from
age and experience. Meaning rarely comes
to us fully and completely in the moment. It’s more like a puzzle in a box. Life pours out all the pieces on the table in front of us, and over time
we assemble it and finally see the larger picture those pieces reveal.
What’s true for our lives was true for Christ’s first disciples too. They experienced countless incidents with
Jesus that in the present moment probably didn’t make sense or, at best, seemed
unimportant and insignificant. Likewise,
imagine how many teachings they heard from him that baffled them, and how many
stories and parables Jesus told them that didn’t make sense when the disciples
first heard them.
That’s one
reason the Gospels were written several decades after Jesus’s death. The stories first had to be told and re-told
orally, and then they collectively needed to piece all the puzzle pieces
together to finally make some sense of what Jesus said and, ultimately, who
Jesus was. Eventually the Church figured
out that every single thing Jesus taught, and every single thing he experienced,
could be rightly understood only when seen in light of his resurrection from
the dead. It is only through the Resurrection
– Easter –Jesus’s victory over sin and death – that we can make sense of his
birth, the teachings of his ministry, and especially his betrayal and
crucifixion. Without an understanding
that Jesus rose from the dead, nothing else in his life and death makes any
sense.
Our Gospel
lesson is a good illustration of this. It begins with Jesus’s baptism. At first, it seems like a nonsensical thing to do. A sinless person doesn’t need to be
baptized. But when you view it in the
context of the Resurrection, we see that Jesus’s baptism was a symbol of the
death and rebirth he would experience and that, by extension, all of creation
can one day experience. Likewise, the
temptations and deprivations he would experience at the hand of Satan seem like
sheer cruelty. But when we view them in
the bigger picture of Jesus’s Resurrection, we see that his wilderness
experience was part of his work of gathering up all of human sin, misery,
misfortunate, pain, and suffering so he could redeem it, heal it, and
eventually put an end to it.
This Lent, our
devotionals and these midweek services are part of a series we’re calling “Dust
and Glory.” On one level, it’s an
opportunity to take a fresh look at those “dusty” parts of Jesus’s story and
see how they connected to his ultimate “glory” and even made that glory
possible.
We know that
being the Son of God didn’t exempt Jesus from more than his share of “dusty
days.” These were days when his heart hurt from the rejection he suffered – even from his family – as well as days
when his body hurt from long miles walking and of course the pain he
suffered on the cross. But in his
resurrection – his “glory,” all things were made right. All things were filled with meaning and
purpose. And all things were healed.
We’re here today/tonight
to be reminded that Jesus ensured that this very same principle also applies to
us. We too have more than our share of
“dusty days” filled with suffering and sadness. Some of it happens to us intentionally, as a consequence of human sin,
but a whole lot of it just comes with being human. Bad things happen to good people. Accidents happen. And no matter how noteworthy we are, or what
we accomplish, or how good we try to be, each of us eventually die.
Fortunately,
none of those bad or unfortunate things stand alone to define us or life
itself. Not even our inevitable
death is the final word. Christ’s glory
became our glory – not on account of our righteousness, but on
account of his righteousness. And
so we can be assured that in the light of Christ’s resurrection and victory over
sin and death, our “dusty days” – just like Jesus’s – will be made right. They will be filled with meaning and
purpose. And all things will be healed.
“You have to
respect electricity or it’ll bite you.” Yep – Dad got it right, both about electricity in particular, and life
in general. When working with live wires
you have to be respectful, careful, and even gentle if you want to avoid a
catastrophe. It’s sort of that way with
people too, isn’t it? We would all
benefit from being a little more respectful, careful, and gentle with one
another. But even then, it’s unavoidable
that we will have some “dusty days.” It’s just the cost of being human.
But when we
view every moment and every day in the light of Christ’s resurrection, we see
things with the proper perspective. We
see a larger story and a bigger picture. We see Christ’s glory, which by his grace is our glory. And that allows us to live every day – even
the dusty ones – with hope and with joy. Thanks be to God. Amen.
GOSPEL
LESSON: Mark 1:1-13
1 The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son
of God. 2 As it is written in the prophet Isaiah, "See, I am
sending my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way; 3 the
voice of one crying out in the wilderness: 'Prepare the way of the Lord, make
his paths straight,'" 4 John the baptizer appeared in the
wilderness, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. 5 And people from the whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem
were going out to him, and were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing
their sins. 6 Now John was clothed with camel's hair, with a leather
belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey. 7 He
proclaimed, "The one who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am
not worthy to stoop down and untie the thong of his sandals. 8 I
have baptized you with water; but he will baptize you with the Holy
Spirit."
9 In those
days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the
Jordan. 10 And just as he was coming up out of the water, he
saw the heavens torn apart and the Spirit descending like a dove on him. 11 And a voice came from heaven, “You are my Son, the Beloved; with
you I am well pleased.” 12 And the Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness. 13 He was in the wilderness forty days, tempted by Satan; and he was with the wild
beasts; and the angels waited on him.
Copyright Rev. Scott E. Schul, 2024 All rights reserved. May not be reproduced in whole or in part without written permission.
BACK