Today's readings are Exodus 32.1-14 ( http://www.gnpcb.org/esv/search/?q=Ex.+32.1-14 ) and Luke 6.20-38 ( http://www.gnpcb.org/esv/search/?q=Luke+6.20-38 ).
We've all heard stories about people who do things because they just know they are right. "It feels so right it can't be wrong." "Trust your heart." "Use the Force." "A man's gotta do what a man's gotta do."
This tragedy in Exodus 32 is full of people acting just that way. Moses has gone up to the mountain. The leaders, who have very recently glimpsed the presence of God, do not know what has become of Moses. Or rather they are impatient. Their own hopes, their own desires, their own priorities are taking charge. What has happened to Moses? The people are going to be restless. We'd better do something. It wouldn't do to let these people have no hope. We've brought them out into this wilderness with the promise of God's deliverance. What will we do? Hence the creation of a false god and the attempt to persuade the people using the tools of human religion. And in response to this, Aaron, who has been intimately acquainted with the works of the true God, establishes the forms of worship for this false god. How like us. We've got to do something.
How many times has this same pragmatism dragged us down in our lives, in our households and congregations? We can't just stand there and let it happen, we must do something, so we design a solution that will pacify some other people. We try to persuade ourselves that we are doing God's will when in fact we are putting forth a shabby substitute for that.
Charles Dickens, not exactly a good theologian, but certainly an astute observer of humans, created just such a character in his novel, Bleak House. In Bleak House the characters are all somehow intertwined in a longstanding legal dispute about a will. At one point, one character hires a different lawyer who promises to make more progress, though it will cost a great deal. When the young plaintiff is tempted to relinquish his case, the lawyer dissuades him, telling him that they are making progress. They are active. They are doing things. The case is in motion. Of course, the case was in motion for some forty years before this lawyer began his activity. Within the world of Bleak House, like in our real world, we find that our human striving is often, even always, a sorry substitute for divine activity which has begun processes and will bring them to completion.
Let us look to God's plan. Let us look to divine mercy and provision. Let us await his timing, being obedient to his stated desires. When we try to create a "unique worship experience" or set up the situation for "life changing" ministry, usually including the latest in opinion polls, demographic statistics, and architectural fads which will make people feel at home, we are doing exactly what the Israelites were doing. We are trying to manufacture spirituality based on our understanding. We are backwards. We bring grief to our Lord and give him reason to pour out his wrath. Rather than our plans based on our understanding, let us look to the Christ who died on our behalf, who rose again as a forerunner, the one who brings us to God. Let us come on his terms. He's the real thing.
Don't just do something! Stand there!
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