Living Down to Expectations

I went into the fabric store last week thinking about bandanas for dogs to go on the pet table at the fair. Of course the minute I walked in I was surrounded and overcome by Christmas things. I shouldn’t have been surprised, but there was just so much of it. And I have begun to see bits and pieces of Christmas decorations other places as well. I’m not complaining about the early onset of Christmas, at least not this sermon. In fact, I figure that if Christmas decorations are already going up, then it’s OK for me to begin today’s sermon with a Christmas illustration.

I have been involved in a lot of church Christmas pageants. I’m in favor of them overall. Not for their cute quotient, but because they provide a venue for children to actively do something in church, for children to feel that their participation in a church activity is important. In general, we don’t provide enough such opportunities. During one particular pageant I was in the back of the church helping to herd the heavenly choir—a group of first and second grade angels. As the time drew near for the heavenly host to appear in the pageant I mentioned to one young angel that it was time to move to the front of the church. With serious and sincere eyes he looked up at me and said, "Should I fly?"

I do NOT tell this story because it’s cute. I do NOT tell it so that we, who are adults, can stand back, apart from that young boy. We may cherish his innocence, his naiveté… be grateful for his sense of wonder and possibility. But if we put ourselves in a different place, we who are mature, realistic, wise… If we see ourselves in any way different from that little boy, we have missed the point of this morning’s gospel. Because that second grade angel wearing a sheet and a tinsel halo spoke the gospel.

As we approach the end of the church year the readings are more and more about the intersection between human life—between "this age"—and the Kingdom of God in the age to come. Jesus speaks about the time when the Kingdom of earth will meet and join the Kingdom of God. At that time, Jesus says, human beings will be "like angels" and will be "children of God, being children of the resurrection." In that time of fulfillment, human beings will indeed fly like angels. Within the context of Luke’s gospel, Jesus’ words refer to the Second Coming—that time when human life will be fully incorporated into God’s life. Scripture reminds us that that time will be a time both of incredible wonder and of terrible judgment. Yet we read these lessons this time of year as we begin to anticipate the First Coming. Although not fully complete, the intersection of God’s life and human life began in a manger in Bethlehem and continues today. Since the day God was born in human flesh, human life has never been the same.

What is it like when God’s life and human life intersect? When human life and divine life are all mixed up in the same time, the same place, the same world? Part of what happens is that all of a sudden the horizon of human expectation reaches into the Kingdom of God. Human expectation is no longer limited by human frailty. And not just the naïve imaginations of young children are broadened. In each and every human life the horizon of expectation becomes as infinite as the stars in the sky.

Expectations. What are your expectations for tomorrow, for the span of your life, for your life as a child of God? What are your expectations?

We have a phrase in common speech that speaks of someone or something "living up to expectations." A movie or a new restaurant may or may not "live up to expectations." After the election, a politician may or may not live up to the expectations of the electorate. And we often use the phrase of children, speaking of our hope that children will not squander the opportunities of life but will live up to our expectations of them.

And yet if that young second grade angel in the Christmas pageant is to meet our expectations, he will have to live down. As he grows up, we will expect him to live down to our expectations. We will expect his imagination to be tempered by reality, his hopes constrained by practical limitations. I am as skeptical as the next person when someone tells me his or her experience of God defies the laws of physics. Whether or not a second grader really could fly in 2001 is not my point. My point is to illustrate how limited our human expectations usually are. Most of us, it seems to me, spend our lives living down to our expectations of ourselves.

So think again about your expectations. For tomorrow? For the span of your life, for your life as a child of God?

What are your expectations for your life as a Christian? "Oh, I dunno." "Haven’t really thought about it." "Well, nothing much really." Those are expectations that are easy to live down to.

In her sermon at the Diocesan Convention, Bishop Knudsen spoke about the idea of scarcity. Scarcity is an idea, an outlook, a mindset that says… "There isn’t enough." "We’re not big enough." "We don’t have what it takes." "There’s not enough money." "There’s not enough skill." "There are not enough people." "There’s not enough time." "There’s not enough talent." She noted how often she encounters this perspective in the diocese as a whole. "We’re just a small, rural, poor diocese. We couldn’t do that." But I hear it within this parish as well. "We don’t have as much money as they do in that parish across the river, so we’ll never really be able to be much. We just don’t have people with the interest or energy or commitment. There’s really no point in trying, planning…" But most often and most tragically we live with this idea of scarcity in our own individual lives. "I just don’t have enough." "I don’t have enough time to participate. I don’t have any real talent to offer. I don’t have enough income to contribute any more. I’m not a social enough person to do that. I’m not creative enough. I’m not strong enough."

We set our expectations way down there in a world of scarcity, in a world where there is never enough. And then we live down to our expectations.

This idea of scarcity is just one way we rationalize living down to our expectations. We tell ourselves we can’t do more with our lives even though we feel we should because we just don’t have enough of whatever we might need to do more. Other times it seems we keep our expectations low out of a fear of failure. We will never fail to fulfill our expectations if we keep them low enough. Or we fear change. If my expectations include nothing new or unsettling, then nothing new or unsettling will happen. But an awful lot of the time our expectations seem to be rooted just in indifference. What are your expectations for your life as a Christian? "Oh, whatever…" Now that’s an expectation to live down to.

Oh, how God must grieve. God must ache to see us day after day living down to our expectations.

One of our collects for the Christmas season speaks of God as the one who humbled himself to share our humanity so that we might share divine life with God. In the incarnation, the birth of Jesus, God humbled himself to share our humanity so that we might share divine life with God. Now that’s an expectation to live up to.

To share divine life with God. To live in the midst of God’s generosity and love. Nothing is scarce when we recognize that God’s gifts of time and strength and creativity and generosity are ours to share. Living in the midst of God’s abundance, we are given much, much more than enough. And, as we share in the divine life, the only way to fail is to expect too little of ourselves, not too much. When we expect too little of ourselves we cut ourselves off from God. When we look to God’s gifts, God’s guidance, God’s resources to sustain our lives, the horizon of our expectations is limitless.

St. Patrick’s has a mission statement. Like most church mission statements it sets very broad standards. But those general statements apply in very specific ways within our individual lives. They apply to how we prioritize our lives; which activities take precedence over others. They apply to whether and how much we pledge financially for the work of the Body of Christ. They apply to how we treat other people at work and in the community. They apply to how we live our faith and whether or not we seek to share it with others. They call us to be active in our participation in the ministry of the church.

Listen: "The mission of St. Patrick’s, Brewer, is to show in our life and worship our faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior; to encourage Christian nurture, renewal and fellowship, peace and joy; and to advance Christ’s Kingdom by our loving concern for all people."

As I said, like most church mission statements, ours is broad and sweeping. And, like most church mission statements, it sets a very high standard. We will show in our life our faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. We will advance Christ’s Kingdom.

What are your expectations for your life as a Christian with this mission? Will you live down to human expectations based in a world of perceived scarcity, fear and indifference? Or shall we live up to the limitless expectations open to children of God?

Comments are welcome.  Send to krisorr@att.net

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