Keeping the Main Thing the Main Thing

What does the Lord require of you but to

Do justice, love kindness and walk humbly with your God.

Micah 6:8

Dear Friends,

There was a sermon I heard when I was quite young… The pastor had an empty jar and a bunch of rocks: most were rather small, some were a little bigger, and one was larger than the rest. He began to fill the jar. First with the largest rock. Then the ones that were slightly smaller. Then finally all the rest. They all fit into the jar. Then he dumped them all back out and started filling the jar with the smaller rocks first, then the next larger, and so on. This time, all the smaller rocks fit in and some of the larger ones, but the largest one no longer fit! He then explained that this is a metaphor for our lives. If we stay focused on that which is most important (the largest rock) and keep that first in our lives, then our lives are complete and whole and everything fits. On the other hand, if we allow all the tiny stuff that is not as important to take precedence, then the really important stuff gets left out and our life gets out of balance and incomplete.

This last Sunday, we had a marvelous celebration as four of our young people confirmed their faith. In one of the last conversations I had with them in May, I had them tell me all the things that their life is full of right now and I listed them on the board. The list included:

            school                       soccer                   family                    church                  friends,                   TV                         hockey

            video games           kayaking              eating                    piano                     sleeping                  hot air ballooning

Then I asked them to tell me the other things that would also fill their life in the future. The list included:

            University                jobs                       marriage              buying a house        children           travelling            hobbies

After acknowledging them for having “church” be on the list, I then pointed out to them that it is easy to have “church” just become just one more thing that we do in our long list of things that we do in our lives. Jesus calls us to much more than that. Jesus calls us to a life of faith where our primary orientation is given by our relationship with God. If “church” represents our faith life and our faith life gets crowded out by everything else in life, then our lives get out of whack. In religious terms, we’ve let something else become our idol and not God!

It’s like the jar and the rocks… If we allow our life to get full of everything else, then our relationship with God can get edged out. On the other hand, keeping our relationship with God front and centre impacts and informs everything that we do so that life is in balance and works.

This concept applies not just to our individual lives but also to our communal life together. When we lose sight of who we are as the body of Christ and get lost in the day to day busy-ness, we can drift away and not quite get around to what God desires for us to do. This is where having clarity about our core purpose is so necessary. By staying focused on God’s desire for us to be making life-giving connections, then helping people connect with God, each other, the world and their truest selves informs and impacts everything that we do.

May you and we keep the main thing the main thing!

Peace,

Pastor Phil