By The Rev. Dr. Carl Grosse
In the pastoral prayer last Sunday, I asked God to help us during this election season. I prayed that whatever everyone else might do, that He would help us not go off in the gutter (referencing a bowling metaphor from the youth Sunday School that morning). To my amazement, I got more feedback from that prayer request than anything else in the service. I certainly hope you are getting that help from God, apparently we need it!
Henry Ford once remarked that early on, if he had done what people wanted, he would have made faster horses rather than automobiles. Moses’ brother Aaron responded to very clear market demand, and that didn’t go well. Sometimes Jesus responded to what people wanted when they asked Him for healing. When a paralyzed man was lowered through the roof of a house, He pronounced that the man’s sins were forgiven…not exactly what the man or his friends were looking for (He ended up healing the man, but there’s a message in the bait & switch). When Mrs. Zebedee asked Jesus to give her sons prominent seats in the kingdom, He said no.
Of course, a big point of the gospels is that people wanted a certain kind of king and kingdom. The market wanted power and popularity, overthrowing enemies and dominating the world. Jesus went to the cross with a mocking placard over His head that told everyone in no uncertain terms what Rome did to wannabe kings. I have often gone to church feeling a need for something: affirmation, validation, a strong word against the mean people of the world. I’ve learned that God doesn’t say “How high?” when I tell Him to jump. When we approach church as consumers, expecting delivery for people’s wants, it’s a setup for failure. We either fail by creating an idol out of our consumer preferences, or we’re disappointed when God doesn’t deliver.
When I have set aside my demands and gone to church open, ready for what God wanted for me, I have never come away empty. I might be confused, lifted, inspired, unsettled, but never empty. What’s surprising when I think about it is how often I went in wanting whatever I felt was noble and altruistic at the time, and God was mainly interested in keeping me out of the gutter.