Pioneering still needed
Rev. Bob Colerick
Friday, February 9, 2007
Sometimes I think God sticks a certain Bible verse in my mind that is intended specifically for me. Maybe not me alone, like a verse or passage was written just and only for me, but some message that God knows I need to pay attention to. Stealthily tucked away in Paul’s intimate letter to his friends at Philippi are some words that have haunted me all of my adult life. Somehow, I can’t get away from Paul’s personal observation that he has finally understood the difficult lesson “…to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want.” Philippians 4:11-12
I wish I could learn that lesson. I think God wishes that also. I wish I could discern that “secret”— to be content, no matter whether I happen to be living in plenty or in want. I suspect that I am not alone in my need to learn that lesson. I think God enjoys prodding me with Paul’s worthy thought — He does it often enough.
A few days ago, we celebrated Kansas Day. Part of our celebration each year on the day Kansas became a state is remembering the tough, hardy, rugged pioneers who braved the prairies 150 years ago eventually to become our forefathers. I’m sure they were not unlike men, women and children who lived some 2000 years ago in the town of Philippi, centrally located on an important trade route.
Early Kansas settlers had few real needs. They needed shelter — which more than likely was nothing more than a sod hut. They needed food — hard to come by, and something for which they had to work daily. They needed clothing — probably a single, warm outfit. Although the Philippians lived in a city, I’m sure they had similar needs which were not virtually guaranteed, as they are today.
Anyone who lived more than a hundred years ago, whether in what would become the United States or halfway around the world, on a Kansas prairie or in a vibrant ancient city, had to struggle and work hard to provide for just basic needs. Certainly Paul, traveling the villages and towns of the Mediterranean Sea, knew the daily struggle to just find the basic necessities of life.
No central heating for Kansas pioneers or Paul. No cell phones, television or GPS. No Wal-Marts or Reebles. No catalogs, $85,000/sec. SuperBowl ads, no billboards. Assuming that it took Paul awhile to learn to be content, in both abundance and want, I wonder how long it would have taken him to learn this precious lesson if he had had a credit card, or a Sears card — or a coupon? I wonder if Jesus’ warning that “a man's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions." [Luke 12:15] wasn’t written in a time and to a people who didn’t need the warning as much as we do?
Just look around. Our immediate world is filled with opportunities and urgings to buy bigger, better, newer, and more things and stuff we don’t need. Until recently, I didn’t know that my 2-year-old, 27-inch TV was totally inadequate. My son said to me the other day, “Just take a picture of it (a dog) on your cell phone and e-mail it to me.” I never needed a cell phone camera ’til now.
Jesus’ words and Paul’s word were spoken, if not in similar contexts, certainly in acknowledgment of and to address a common demon for all of us, 21st, 19th, or 1st century pioneers: greed, gluttony and self-indulgence.
Jesus’ words urge us to think of others rather than ourselves. Paul’s words call us to carefully examine our lives and to closely look at what is really important. We need the wisdom contained in both passages. We don’t have to look far to find others who are needier than ourselves. To fail to respond appropriately to genuine need is an offense to life and the Creator of life. To examine our lives for meaning and true wealth is a need we all share, the oftener the better. And to live our lives ignorant and regardless of what is true, vital and valuable is to trivialize that which is most precious.
I, perhaps like you, come close to the goal of rational and wise thinking, sometimes. The demon of excess and self- and over-indulgence is a masterful foe who consistently and carefully attacks us in our most vulnerable places.
As early Christians were pioneers, as well as Paul, and certainly the Kansans of 150 years ago were, maybe we need to be pioneers in our own way. I think those early, brave souls had something else we might really use in our daily battles with excess: a dream — of what they could become and a dream of what the world might look like if others could learn “…to be content whatever the circumstances.” Maybe I can catch that dream. Keep on me, God.
• “Sunday Sermon” is a forum for Emporia area ministers to share their sermons, thoughts and observations. This week’s sermon is from Bob Colerick, senior pastor at First Christian Church in Emporia.
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