On A Need-To-Know Basis
Sermon
Changing A Paradigm -- Or Two
Gospel Sermons For Sundays After Pentecost (First Third) Cycle C
Probably most of us are familiar with the phrase that serves as the title for my sermon this day -- on a need-to-know basis. Some of you who work in government jobs or on highly classified positions where national security is involved certainly know what it means. When I first came to this church I made the mistake of asking someone where he worked and when he told me of the famous government agency whose headquarters are near here I made the mistake of asking him what he did there. The response was: "If I told you, I'd have to kill you." Okay. I learned a big lesson on that one.
Working on a need-to-know basis means we only know what piece we need to know as we need to know it. It is the stuff of a good spy novel or movie. We follow along with the hero or heroine as they go from one instruction to the next on that need-to-know basis. And we never quite learn it all until the end.
Well, don't we all, in some small way or other, experience life like that? I mean, isn't life often a matter of putting one foot in front of the other, not knowing the whole picture of what lies ahead, but moving forward anyway in hope and trust?
I remember finally graduating from seminary just a few short years ago, 25 to be exact, but you all seem to know that. I was more than ready to start my career, my calling, after eight years of formal education, one internship, and a hospital chaplaincy under my much thinner belt. But I can remember thinking, during that first week in my first parish, that I didn't feel particularly well-trained for what I had gotten myself into. For instance, during my first four days in that parish, four people died. The Bishop wrote me a letter reminding me that at this rate of attrition, I could expect to be moved in less than two years, for by then I would have buried the entire congregation. And the overwhelming feeling I had during those early days and months was that I was proceeding as a pastor on a learn-as-you-go basis -- not unlike being in a need-to-know kind of job.
How about another example that may strike closer to home with many of you -- parenting? Did you notice that children don't come with instruction manuals attached to them? Even if they did, we men would probably ignore them anyway. "Oh, I can do this," we say until the first crisis. But isn't parenting sort of a need-to-know kind of job? And have you noticed what I've learned, that we only become experts when our children have children? Right? Now we know the answers and are glad to share our wisdom, even when not asked for, and then we can go home to our safe, warm, toddler-free homes.
All of this is to say that life is full of changes to which we constantly have to learn to adapt and to adjust. We never quite have the whole picture of life in front of us. If we did, it wouldn't be life; it would be living a script of some sort. But God has given us freedom to live our lives in response to what the world throws at us, and that means putting one foot in front of the other and hoping and praying that we don't stumble too often and that those times when we do stumble and fall that we don't do permanent damage to ourselves or others.
And this means that the spirit with which we approach life has to be one of anticipation, for nothing stays the same forever. And that anticipation can be a creative venture for us. Healthy people are those who, in the face of change and valleys and hills and ruts and falls, learn how to make the most of them.
You may remember the famous story of Frank Baum. He was just such a creative and spontaneous person. He was alternately rich and poor. He worked at a great variety of jobs including acting, selling, managing his father's oil company, and printing. But whatever his circumstances, he was creative and alive with spirit. In his home at night, one hour was set aside to tell stories to his children and any other little visitors who often were present for storytime. One night in 1900 as Frank began a story about a little girl who had lived on a Kansas prairie and her dog and all the strange characters they met on their journey, Frank was interrupted by one of the children who wanted to know where the girl and her dog were traveling. Frank hadn't thought up a name for the place so he quickly looked around the room to try to come up with something. And his eyes found the filing cabinet in the corner. On the top drawer were the letters "A - N" and on the bottom, "O - Z." In a flash he had an answer and millions have delighted in that great story about Dorothy and Toto and the "Wizard of Oz."
Jesus certainly must have recognized this reality of human life. When he was giving his disciples their final marching orders, as recorded in John's Gospel, that portion of Scripture we have come to call his "Final Discourse," a small portion of which was our Gospel text again this week, he said to them: "I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now." What he was really saying to them was that he was sending them out and, although he knew what it would mean for their lives, he would only share with them what they needed to know now. They would learn as they went. When Thomas went to India to become the first Christian missionary there and literally to build the church with the labor of his own hands and back, he would know what Jesus meant. When Andrew went to Scythia, north of the Black Sea, to preach the gospel and become the patron saint of Russia, he would know what Jesus meant. When James the elder became the first of the disciples to be martyred for the faith by Herod Agrippa I, he would remember what Jesus said. As Paul became the great apostle to the Gentiles and Peter founded the church in Rome, they would know what it meant to be sent out in faith and hope and trust that God would be with them. Their faith journeys were, in a very real sense, on a need-to-know basis. So were Luther's and Calvin's and Muhlenberg's and Bonhoeffer's.
And so is ours, for who of us can be sure where God will lead us? Who of us has the insight to know how God is guiding us and where he is calling us? Who of us knows where God is calling and molding and directing our lives to go? But of this we can be sure, God is with us -- that is the promise of the Holy Spirit for our lives.
Have you ever noticed that as we look back on our lives that our vision becomes twenty-twenty? It all seems so clear from the perspective of the present, doesn't it? We can say, "Yes, there God took my shoulders and led me into another path." Or, "Yes, I know that there was a lesson in that pain for me and I am only now learning parts of what it means." And isn't it true that as we look now at our lives, in the present, and pray for God's guidance and wisdom, that all we can really do is put one foot prayerfully in front of the other and trust in God, even though we may not see where the road ahead leads?
There was an interesting scene in one of the popular television shows that I found amusing and instructive. The doctors in the television show Chicago Hope are at a critical point in an emergency surgical procedure, when one of the doctors says to those in the operating suite: "Those of you who are in touch with the Infinite, now would be a good time to open communications." Whereupon one of the interns whispers to another of the doctors, "What's he talking about?" To which one of the nurses whispers back, "Pray if you know how, stupid!"1
Not a bad theme for how we walk this earth, is it? Pray if you know how, stupid, for this journey we are on is still a need-to-know walk into unknown tomorrows. And we can take that journey, individually and corporately, because of what Jesus told his disciples during that last time they had together. What was it they really needed to know to be able to follow the great commission to preach and teach the gospel in all the world? What was it that gave them the strength and the courage and the trust to go forth in Jesus' name and to tell the Good News of his love and salvation for all of the world? It was the gift of the Holy Spirit, who would guide and direct their lives and their mission as the Church.
Faith is that same journey for us. And although we may not know what is around the bend, although we may not know why the journey gets hard and tough and lonely sometimes, although we may not know where the road leads and what dangers lurk before us, we must still move on. And we can do that because from our baptisms we have received the gift of the Holy Spirit -- to guide, to direct, to encourage, and to give us hope.
If we need a working definition of faith, how about this: Faith is a need-to-know journey with the Holy Spirit. It's as simple and as profound and as powerful as that. Amen.
____________
1. Eric Fellem, The Power Behind Positive Thinking (San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 1996) p. 23.
Working on a need-to-know basis means we only know what piece we need to know as we need to know it. It is the stuff of a good spy novel or movie. We follow along with the hero or heroine as they go from one instruction to the next on that need-to-know basis. And we never quite learn it all until the end.
Well, don't we all, in some small way or other, experience life like that? I mean, isn't life often a matter of putting one foot in front of the other, not knowing the whole picture of what lies ahead, but moving forward anyway in hope and trust?
I remember finally graduating from seminary just a few short years ago, 25 to be exact, but you all seem to know that. I was more than ready to start my career, my calling, after eight years of formal education, one internship, and a hospital chaplaincy under my much thinner belt. But I can remember thinking, during that first week in my first parish, that I didn't feel particularly well-trained for what I had gotten myself into. For instance, during my first four days in that parish, four people died. The Bishop wrote me a letter reminding me that at this rate of attrition, I could expect to be moved in less than two years, for by then I would have buried the entire congregation. And the overwhelming feeling I had during those early days and months was that I was proceeding as a pastor on a learn-as-you-go basis -- not unlike being in a need-to-know kind of job.
How about another example that may strike closer to home with many of you -- parenting? Did you notice that children don't come with instruction manuals attached to them? Even if they did, we men would probably ignore them anyway. "Oh, I can do this," we say until the first crisis. But isn't parenting sort of a need-to-know kind of job? And have you noticed what I've learned, that we only become experts when our children have children? Right? Now we know the answers and are glad to share our wisdom, even when not asked for, and then we can go home to our safe, warm, toddler-free homes.
All of this is to say that life is full of changes to which we constantly have to learn to adapt and to adjust. We never quite have the whole picture of life in front of us. If we did, it wouldn't be life; it would be living a script of some sort. But God has given us freedom to live our lives in response to what the world throws at us, and that means putting one foot in front of the other and hoping and praying that we don't stumble too often and that those times when we do stumble and fall that we don't do permanent damage to ourselves or others.
And this means that the spirit with which we approach life has to be one of anticipation, for nothing stays the same forever. And that anticipation can be a creative venture for us. Healthy people are those who, in the face of change and valleys and hills and ruts and falls, learn how to make the most of them.
You may remember the famous story of Frank Baum. He was just such a creative and spontaneous person. He was alternately rich and poor. He worked at a great variety of jobs including acting, selling, managing his father's oil company, and printing. But whatever his circumstances, he was creative and alive with spirit. In his home at night, one hour was set aside to tell stories to his children and any other little visitors who often were present for storytime. One night in 1900 as Frank began a story about a little girl who had lived on a Kansas prairie and her dog and all the strange characters they met on their journey, Frank was interrupted by one of the children who wanted to know where the girl and her dog were traveling. Frank hadn't thought up a name for the place so he quickly looked around the room to try to come up with something. And his eyes found the filing cabinet in the corner. On the top drawer were the letters "A - N" and on the bottom, "O - Z." In a flash he had an answer and millions have delighted in that great story about Dorothy and Toto and the "Wizard of Oz."
Jesus certainly must have recognized this reality of human life. When he was giving his disciples their final marching orders, as recorded in John's Gospel, that portion of Scripture we have come to call his "Final Discourse," a small portion of which was our Gospel text again this week, he said to them: "I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now." What he was really saying to them was that he was sending them out and, although he knew what it would mean for their lives, he would only share with them what they needed to know now. They would learn as they went. When Thomas went to India to become the first Christian missionary there and literally to build the church with the labor of his own hands and back, he would know what Jesus meant. When Andrew went to Scythia, north of the Black Sea, to preach the gospel and become the patron saint of Russia, he would know what Jesus meant. When James the elder became the first of the disciples to be martyred for the faith by Herod Agrippa I, he would remember what Jesus said. As Paul became the great apostle to the Gentiles and Peter founded the church in Rome, they would know what it meant to be sent out in faith and hope and trust that God would be with them. Their faith journeys were, in a very real sense, on a need-to-know basis. So were Luther's and Calvin's and Muhlenberg's and Bonhoeffer's.
And so is ours, for who of us can be sure where God will lead us? Who of us has the insight to know how God is guiding us and where he is calling us? Who of us knows where God is calling and molding and directing our lives to go? But of this we can be sure, God is with us -- that is the promise of the Holy Spirit for our lives.
Have you ever noticed that as we look back on our lives that our vision becomes twenty-twenty? It all seems so clear from the perspective of the present, doesn't it? We can say, "Yes, there God took my shoulders and led me into another path." Or, "Yes, I know that there was a lesson in that pain for me and I am only now learning parts of what it means." And isn't it true that as we look now at our lives, in the present, and pray for God's guidance and wisdom, that all we can really do is put one foot prayerfully in front of the other and trust in God, even though we may not see where the road ahead leads?
There was an interesting scene in one of the popular television shows that I found amusing and instructive. The doctors in the television show Chicago Hope are at a critical point in an emergency surgical procedure, when one of the doctors says to those in the operating suite: "Those of you who are in touch with the Infinite, now would be a good time to open communications." Whereupon one of the interns whispers to another of the doctors, "What's he talking about?" To which one of the nurses whispers back, "Pray if you know how, stupid!"1
Not a bad theme for how we walk this earth, is it? Pray if you know how, stupid, for this journey we are on is still a need-to-know walk into unknown tomorrows. And we can take that journey, individually and corporately, because of what Jesus told his disciples during that last time they had together. What was it they really needed to know to be able to follow the great commission to preach and teach the gospel in all the world? What was it that gave them the strength and the courage and the trust to go forth in Jesus' name and to tell the Good News of his love and salvation for all of the world? It was the gift of the Holy Spirit, who would guide and direct their lives and their mission as the Church.
Faith is that same journey for us. And although we may not know what is around the bend, although we may not know why the journey gets hard and tough and lonely sometimes, although we may not know where the road leads and what dangers lurk before us, we must still move on. And we can do that because from our baptisms we have received the gift of the Holy Spirit -- to guide, to direct, to encourage, and to give us hope.
If we need a working definition of faith, how about this: Faith is a need-to-know journey with the Holy Spirit. It's as simple and as profound and as powerful as that. Amen.
____________
1. Eric Fellem, The Power Behind Positive Thinking (San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 1996) p. 23.
