Who are You Trying to Please - June 3, 2024
AM Psalm 41, 52; Eccles. 2:1-15; Gal. 1:1-17; Matt. 13:44-52
Several years ago, I was part of a group who had been tasked with making a decision concerning the future of the church, the election of our diocesan bishop. I’ll never forget what a good friend and mentor said to us, “Who are you trying to please? Those people around you or God?” It was the perfect question for that moment in time and one I have returned to over and over again.
It's a place where we often find ourselves, and at least for me I can be caught unaware that that’s where I’ve ended up. Trying to please those around me and not listening carefully enough to God. There are many factors that can push us into this trap - the need to assert authority, to fit in or to please someone we admire or are possibly intimidated by. It doesn’t make us weak-kneed or bad people it just makes us human. Our precarity, or the tenuous balance we all attempt to maintain, between doing the right thing, what we believe the Holy Spirit is leading us towards or doing the easier, less “right” thing, is something we all share. None of us gets it right every time nor should we expect that out of ourselves.
Today’s readings are glimpses into the humanity that our ancestors in the Judeo-Christian tradition experienced. By and large they are not so dissimilar from our own daily experiences. At the heart of the Book of Ecclesiastes, the author poses the question that underlies almost all of our daily conundrums; “What profit hath a man for all his toil, . . .” What is it all worth, anyway? In the end the author concludes that what is truly important is staying in right relationship with God and not worrying about all the rest. Easier said than done, right?
Before Saul became Paul, his life was a zealous quest for ensuring that God’s laws were kept and that no one dared tread on his faith tradition. He was widely admired and feared. His authority was unquestioned and his status in the Jewish community secure. He was trying to please his Hebrew community while also doing what he thought would please God. Then something changed. Paul confesses to the church in Galatia, “15But when God, who had set me apart before I was born and called me through his grace, was pleased 16to reveal his Son to me, * so that I might proclaim him among the Gentiles, I did not confer with any human being, . . .” He, as the scriptures so dramatically portray, “Saw the Light.” Did Paul make any mistakes afterwards? I’d wager he did. However, when he did, I’m certain he turned back to the one he knew he was created to follow.
Life’s not easy. It’s not a game we win by being the best or the brightest. It’s not a popularity contest or a race to grab the golden ring. It’s a journey, full of highs, and lows. It’s often discouraging and frustrating. It’s not about doing more and more; it’s about living each day as if it’s our first. It’s about seeing each day with wonder and looking for the joy, even when it feels we are surrounded only by darkness. It’s about listening for the still, quiet voice of God and tuning out, as best we can, those pressures and expectations our culture, family and friends, our own egos place on us. Take a moment each day to be still, to listen for God, and ask yourself, “Who am I going to please today? Those around me or God?”
Faithfully
Sally+