Word from the Forest
“Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my strength and my redeemer.” Psalm 19:14
One of my best friends in the world and I were in Prague a few years ago and we had a glass of wine or two. One of the many great things about Prague is that you can pretty much walk anywhere you want to go, and we had had dinner and were going to head back to our hotel. I pointed in the direction of our room, but my friend, being who she was, punched the exact address in her phone and said, “No this way.” So we started walking in the direction her phone told us. In my memory, we were only a block or two from our hotel, but it was late, and I had had a glass of wine and was relaxed and so I was comfortable just letting Geri take the lead. So we walked. And walked. And walked. Finally, I said, “Geri, give me that phone. While this has been a lovely tour all around the city, I know we were not that far from our hotel.” She handed over her phone and she had the “car” route punched in and not the walking route. We were headed the wrong way to our hotel, because we were following the car route which was a one way street, headed in the opposite direction of our hotel. Geri had become real focused on the details, (minus the big one! which put us on the car route and we were on foot!), while my brain was big picture - “We need to head West!
Sometimes when we become so focused on the details of things, and we get down in the weeds, we fail to see the bigger picture of what is happening.
“He can’t see the forest for the trees.” We have all heard the saying. We all have known people like that. You may be like that. It is not wrong — it is just one way of being in the world. There are “big picture” people and there are those who get focused on the details. There are “tree” people and there are “forest” people. I am a Forest person. If you are a Forest person, it is always a good idea to surround yourself with some “tree” people. Those who are looking at the details of things.
But we can also let our anxiety over something over take us so that we lose focus on the bigger picture and what may really matter.
Today’s Gospel passage is a hard one. The next few weeks in Luke are hard Lectionary passages to preach. The Jesus depicted in this account declares that he did not come to bring peace, but division. And that he would divide families. Pit family members against each other. No one wants to preach this.
It helps if we look at the bigger picture rather than the details of what is recorded here. Jesus came to tell us how to live and be in this world; to show us how to be in this world. The goal was not to divide families, the goal was let his disciples know that by following him, their lives would be different from those around them — even those in their families. That they would be misunderstood. And this would cause divisions. And that would be okay! Because His purpose was not to come to instill peace for peace’s sake. His purpose was for changed lives. For justice. And that does not always come without conflict. Rarely does it come without conflict.
Anyone who has spent any time in any job or corporation in the past 10 years will be familiar with the term, “Conflict resolution," or “Conflict resolution specialist," or “Conflict management”. These are all buzz words that we see on people’s resumes, or may put on our own, “I am an expert in conflict resolution”. (I always want to say, “Really?” )
Because while you can teach certain skills to managers and leaders to help them lead their organization, teach ways to hold conversations, teach methods of compromise, how to phrase things so they will be less offensive to the other; and conflict resolution may be the stated goal (though my experience is, is most often the best you can hope for is resignation), in the Christian life, conflict resolution is not always the goal or the goal at all.
What Jesus is saying here to us is that we should be living our lives in ways that will cause conflict with those around us sometimes. We can expect it.
The goal is not to resolve the conflict always in the Christian life.
“Being nice," “not ruffling feathers," “keeping quiet” seems to have become ideals.
No one likes conflict and I am not advocating conflict for conflicts sake, but sometimes conflict is necessary. Conflict occurs because of differences, and what Jesus is saying is that He has come to instill differences in your life and in your being and how you live in the world that can and will cause divisions with those around you. Some in your own family.
The other disturbing thing Jesus says in this text is that he calls the crowd “hypocrites,” because they can interpret the weather and see what is going to happen by watching the sky, but they cannot interpret the present times.
Interpreting the present times has seemed to become a national pastime. What Jesus is warning the crowd about was not being aware of what is happening around them.
Jesus says, “I came to bring fire to the earth”. 12:49. This stands in stark contrast to what we traditionally think of Jesus’ purpose in coming to earth. Jesus was not saying that his purpose was disruption, but what He is saying that is that His way of being in the world; the way that He is calling his disciples to be in the world, is in stark contrast to the world, and it will be, should be, as disruptive as a fire.
Unity has become such a desired objective among so many that it can shroud complacency and avoidance — for fear of upsetting someone.
Fear of upsetting someone can lead to a deadness and ineffectiveness; we aren’t upsetting anyone because we aren’t doing anything that will upset someone. It leads to a shallowness in relationship and interaction. Out of fear of upsetting someone, lack of self-definition takes root. Ineffectiveness or complacency takes root.
Jesus’ call to “interpret the present time” (verse 56) is critical.
Some congregations avoid the difficult work of justice by ignoring that divisions exist, “It is best not to talk about it.”
Others avoid the same work by cutting off from one another. They divide and separate.
Neither is what God is calling us to. He speaks of a baptism that is yet to come. It is somewhat unclear what sort of baptism he is talking about, but it is clear that it is divisive and he is calling his disciples stand up and against the world.
Mary Oliver is one of my favorite poets. She has a poem I will share with you now. I included it in our past weeks newsletter.
What I Have Learned So Far
Meditation is old and honorable, so why should I
not sit, every morning of my life, on the hillside,
looking into the shining world? Because, properly
attended to, delight, as well as havoc, is suggestion.
Can one be passionate about the just, the
ideal, the sublime, and the holy, and yet commit
to no labor in its cause? I don’t think so.
All summations have a beginning, all effect has a
story, all kindness begins with the sown seed.
Thought buds toward radiance. The gospel of
light is the crossroads of —indolence, or action.
Be ignited, or be gone.
Be ignited, or be gone.
Amen.
One of my best friends in the world and I were in Prague a few years ago and we had a glass of wine or two. One of the many great things about Prague is that you can pretty much walk anywhere you want to go, and we had had dinner and were going to head back to our hotel. I pointed in the direction of our room, but my friend, being who she was, punched the exact address in her phone and said, “No this way.” So we started walking in the direction her phone told us. In my memory, we were only a block or two from our hotel, but it was late, and I had had a glass of wine and was relaxed and so I was comfortable just letting Geri take the lead. So we walked. And walked. And walked. Finally, I said, “Geri, give me that phone. While this has been a lovely tour all around the city, I know we were not that far from our hotel.” She handed over her phone and she had the “car” route punched in and not the walking route. We were headed the wrong way to our hotel, because we were following the car route which was a one way street, headed in the opposite direction of our hotel. Geri had become real focused on the details, (minus the big one! which put us on the car route and we were on foot!), while my brain was big picture - “We need to head West!
Sometimes when we become so focused on the details of things, and we get down in the weeds, we fail to see the bigger picture of what is happening.
“He can’t see the forest for the trees.” We have all heard the saying. We all have known people like that. You may be like that. It is not wrong — it is just one way of being in the world. There are “big picture” people and there are those who get focused on the details. There are “tree” people and there are “forest” people. I am a Forest person. If you are a Forest person, it is always a good idea to surround yourself with some “tree” people. Those who are looking at the details of things.
But we can also let our anxiety over something over take us so that we lose focus on the bigger picture and what may really matter.
Today’s Gospel passage is a hard one. The next few weeks in Luke are hard Lectionary passages to preach. The Jesus depicted in this account declares that he did not come to bring peace, but division. And that he would divide families. Pit family members against each other. No one wants to preach this.
It helps if we look at the bigger picture rather than the details of what is recorded here. Jesus came to tell us how to live and be in this world; to show us how to be in this world. The goal was not to divide families, the goal was let his disciples know that by following him, their lives would be different from those around them — even those in their families. That they would be misunderstood. And this would cause divisions. And that would be okay! Because His purpose was not to come to instill peace for peace’s sake. His purpose was for changed lives. For justice. And that does not always come without conflict. Rarely does it come without conflict.
Anyone who has spent any time in any job or corporation in the past 10 years will be familiar with the term, “Conflict resolution," or “Conflict resolution specialist," or “Conflict management”. These are all buzz words that we see on people’s resumes, or may put on our own, “I am an expert in conflict resolution”. (I always want to say, “Really?” )
Because while you can teach certain skills to managers and leaders to help them lead their organization, teach ways to hold conversations, teach methods of compromise, how to phrase things so they will be less offensive to the other; and conflict resolution may be the stated goal (though my experience is, is most often the best you can hope for is resignation), in the Christian life, conflict resolution is not always the goal or the goal at all.
What Jesus is saying here to us is that we should be living our lives in ways that will cause conflict with those around us sometimes. We can expect it.
The goal is not to resolve the conflict always in the Christian life.
“Being nice," “not ruffling feathers," “keeping quiet” seems to have become ideals.
No one likes conflict and I am not advocating conflict for conflicts sake, but sometimes conflict is necessary. Conflict occurs because of differences, and what Jesus is saying is that He has come to instill differences in your life and in your being and how you live in the world that can and will cause divisions with those around you. Some in your own family.
The other disturbing thing Jesus says in this text is that he calls the crowd “hypocrites,” because they can interpret the weather and see what is going to happen by watching the sky, but they cannot interpret the present times.
Interpreting the present times has seemed to become a national pastime. What Jesus is warning the crowd about was not being aware of what is happening around them.
Jesus says, “I came to bring fire to the earth”. 12:49. This stands in stark contrast to what we traditionally think of Jesus’ purpose in coming to earth. Jesus was not saying that his purpose was disruption, but what He is saying that is that His way of being in the world; the way that He is calling his disciples to be in the world, is in stark contrast to the world, and it will be, should be, as disruptive as a fire.
Unity has become such a desired objective among so many that it can shroud complacency and avoidance — for fear of upsetting someone.
Fear of upsetting someone can lead to a deadness and ineffectiveness; we aren’t upsetting anyone because we aren’t doing anything that will upset someone. It leads to a shallowness in relationship and interaction. Out of fear of upsetting someone, lack of self-definition takes root. Ineffectiveness or complacency takes root.
Jesus’ call to “interpret the present time” (verse 56) is critical.
Some congregations avoid the difficult work of justice by ignoring that divisions exist, “It is best not to talk about it.”
Others avoid the same work by cutting off from one another. They divide and separate.
Neither is what God is calling us to. He speaks of a baptism that is yet to come. It is somewhat unclear what sort of baptism he is talking about, but it is clear that it is divisive and he is calling his disciples stand up and against the world.
Mary Oliver is one of my favorite poets. She has a poem I will share with you now. I included it in our past weeks newsletter.
What I Have Learned So Far
Meditation is old and honorable, so why should I
not sit, every morning of my life, on the hillside,
looking into the shining world? Because, properly
attended to, delight, as well as havoc, is suggestion.
Can one be passionate about the just, the
ideal, the sublime, and the holy, and yet commit
to no labor in its cause? I don’t think so.
All summations have a beginning, all effect has a
story, all kindness begins with the sown seed.
Thought buds toward radiance. The gospel of
light is the crossroads of —indolence, or action.
Be ignited, or be gone.
Be ignited, or be gone.
Amen.