Gordon E. Ellis
May 13, 2007
CHANGE…
I won’t BE here next Sunday. My daughter, Lyndsey, graduates with her Master’s degree from Brandeis University. And ESPECIALLY after this year of HEALTH issues, when she’s wondered MANY times whether she’d have to POSTPONE her graduation, we are TRULY going to CELEBRATE next weekend!
You know: May and June are such SPECIAL months because they’re GRADUATION months! I remember when BOTH of our kids graduated from HIGH school, we put together PHOTO displays on a bulletin board of EACH child. And these PHOTO displays ALMOST became like SHRINES in our house, SHRINES consisting MOSTLY of some pretty embarrassing childhood pictures, but photos FILLED with MEMORIES for Diane and me. And we had PARTIES for the kids, and enjoyed WATCHING people pass by our little SHRINES and pause over them to POINT and SMILE. But WHEN the parties were OVER, Diane and I found that we LEFT these little shrines in place for MONTHS. And almost DAILY, we’d find ourselves LINGERING at these shrines for a LONG time. I remember thinking: Gee, we spend so much TIME in front of these little SHRINES that MAYBE we should be lighting CANDLES! And it became like a JOKE! But they were very powerful SHRINES! I OFTEN found myself in TEARS gazing at those PHOTOGRAPHS. How QUICKLY the time had PASSED!
Now the GRADUATES, especially HIGH school graduates, see it very DIFFERENTLY. Oh, they APPRECIATE all the attention, and certainly the GIFTS, but I think they’re ALSO a little bit BEWILDERED by it all. You see: THEIR sense of TIME is very different from their PARENTS and grandparents, their aunts and uncles. And THAT’S because THEY are laboring under the ILLUSION that their growing UP took a VERY long TIME! But we, OLDER folks, KNOW that it was just about a HALF a HEARTBEAT ago when they were BABIES, and we were GAZING into their eyes for the very FIRST time. And we REMEMBER how THAT moment CHANGED us forever. And GRADUATION is one of those times when we PAUSE to take INVENTORY of that amazing CHANGE that happened when our CHILDREN came along.
And it feels to US like it was just last WEDNESDAY that we sent them OFF for their first day of SCHOOL. And NOW, THEY just can’t WAIT to get ON to the NEXT thing! But ALL their PARENTS can do is wonder WHERE all the TIME went. Yes, graduation -- EVEN if we focus on the future and call it “commencement” -- graduation is REALLY about CHANGE. It’s like a HINGE in our personal histories, BOTH for us as individuals AND for our families. From THIS time FORTH, we will GROPE toward different patterns of RELATING to each other, ESPECIALLY if it’s a HIGH school graduation. But of course, THAT’S how we ALWAYS move forward isn’t it? We LOSE our BALANCE for a moment, and then REGAIN it in a NEW place. In fact, we parents REMEMBER teaching our children this TRUTH when they were FIRST learning to WALK. And ever SINCE they began walking, THEY have been helping US learn this truth as well because, to ME, PARENTING is just an extended exercise in LETTING GO. It’s LOSING our BALANCE over and over, and then REGAINING it again – in a new PLACE! Yes, THAT’S what parenting IS!
And THAT’S our REAL challenge, isn’t it? It’s DEALING with CHANGE! It’s DEALING with LOSING our balance! It’s DEALING with NOT being IN control! But MOST of all, the challenge of CHANGE is the challenge of letting GO. It’s letting GO of the things that don’t really MATTER anymore, and holding FAST to the things that DO. And I’VE found over the years that a pretty good RULE of THUMB is that MOST of what we THINK matters DOESN’T; and MOST of what we’re tempted to take for granted is what DOES matter.
Let me give you an EXAMPLE. Every year, Beloit College in Wisconsin publishes what they call their MINDSET List. And the LIST is a reminder, mostly to FACULTY, of the WORLD in which their entering freshman class have grown UP, so that faculty members won’t pepper their lectures with references to June Cleaver and Walter Cronkite. Four years ago, when the class of 2007 was entering college, THESE were some ITEMS on their Mindset List:
1. Ricky Nelson, Richard Burton, Orson Welles and the U.S. Football League have ALWAYS been DEAD.
2. IRAQ has ALWAYS been a problem.
3. Paul Newman has ALWAYS made salad dressing.
4. Pete Rose has always been a GAMBLER.
5. An automatic is a WEAPON, not a transmission.
6. GAS has always been unleaded.
7. They never HEARD Howard Cosell call a GAME on ABC.
8. They’ve NEVER been able to find the “return” key.
9. Computers have ALWAYS fit into their backpacks.
10. 3-point shots have ALWAYS been part of basketball.
11. And stores have always had scanners at the checkout counters.
And their LATEST list, their 2010 list, includes THESE items:
1. They have only known 2 Presidents.
2. They’ve NEVER heard someone actually “ring UP” a cash register.
3. REALITY shows have ALWAYS been on television.
4. Mr. Rogers, NOT Walter Cronkite has always been the most trusted man in America.
5. “GOOGLE” has ALWAYS been a VERB!
6. Sara Lee has ALWAYS made underwear.
7. Disneyland has ALWAYS been in Europe and Asia.
8. They grew up in MINI-VANS.
9. They’ve ALWAYS been able to watch WARS and revolutions on TELEVISION.
10. Phantom of the Opera has ALWAYS been on Broadway.
11. And Madden has ALWAYS been a GAME, not a Super Bowl-winning COACH. [1]
You see, friends: MOST of what we think MATTERS, DOESN’T really matter! It’s HERE today and GONE tomorrow! Howard Cosell, Ricky Nelson and “RETURN” keys were ALL part of OUR world; but WE’VE gotten along just fine WITHOUT them. On the OTHER hand, MOST of what we’re tempted to take for granted really DOES matter.
Our SCRIPTURE Lesson today is about CHANGE. It COMES from the LAST book in the Bible, The Book of Revelation, and it’s a DESCRIPTION of the NEW Jerusalem, the Holy City, descending from heaven after ALL the strangeness, and all the GORE, of The Book of Revelation are PAST, and ALL the odd creatures and pyrotechnics are OVER and DONE with. And THIS is JOHN’S poetic VISION of WHERE things will END.
The DESCRIPTION is actually FILLED with imagery from EARLIER portions of the Bible: things from the PROPHETS about ALL the nations coming to Jerusalem.[2] But MUCH of the imagery is actually borrowed from the CREATION story in The Book of Genesis, the FIRST book of the Bible. First of all, the whole CITY is oriented toward God’s THRONE. Of course, there’s no TEMPLE in the Holy City, because people no longer NEED a special place to GO in order to experience the presence of GOD. In imagery borrowed from EZEKIEL, a crystal RIVER flows OUT of God’s throne. [3] And of course, THIS imagery addresses the perennial NEED in the Middle East for WATER. And an INEXHAUSTIBLE supply FLOWS, crisp and clear, through the HEART of the city. And of course, THAT’S as GOOD as it could possibly GET in those days BEFORE indoor PLUMBING. And it’s a POWERFUL sight! Remember the HYMN: Shall we gather at the river? It comes DIRECTLY out of THIS passage. More recently, Christopher Grundy, whose coming HERE, has written ANOTHER beautiful song that comes directly out of this passage. It’s called Healing River! (And Branches will SING it for you LATER).
ALSO there, in the Holy City, is the TREE of LIFE! Do you remember the Tree of Life in GENESIS, in the CREATION story? But HERE, we find a DESCRIPTION of the TREE of Life. AMAZINGLY, it bears 12 different kinds of fruit, 1 for EACH month of the year! It’s a regular fruit of the month club TREE. And it’s always in SEASON, so there’s ALWAYS food in abundant supply! And AGAIN, remember this IMAGERY comes from a time BEFORE modern supermarkets, so such ABUNDANCE is just INCREDIBLE! AND, the LEAVES of the tree have special MEDICINAL powers. There’s no NEED to go to CANADA, because it’s FREE, and it’s THERE, and it’s for the HEALING of the nations! WOW! What a PRECIOUS vision!
IN the New Jerusalem there is also NO separation between the clean and the unclean, the holy and the unholy, the sacred and the profane. In other words, there is NO religious LAW, because NOW, the words of the prophet, JEREMIAH, have come TRUE, and the LAW is written on our HEARTS! It’s an integral PART of EVERY single person.[4] And NEITHER is there any more SUN or moon, DAY or night, and no division of TIME into days and weeks and years, and no SABBATH time, because it’s ALL Sabbath time. And the pure PRESENCE of God, the incredible GLORY of God, SHINES forth with ALL the LIGHT that the city could possibly NEED, so there is nothing BUT day! And the GATES of the city are ALWAYS open ALL, because there is NOTHING to FEAR!
You see, friends: it’s a VISION that pushes us back to BEFORE the dawn of creation, BACK to BEFORE there was sun and the moon, and BACK to BEFORE light was created as something SEPARATE from God. Yes HERE, the ENDING of the Bible goes right BACK to the BEGINNING of the Bible. And it points out a biblical TRUTH: that WHEN we get to the END of all THINGS, we COME to ETERNITY! When we get to the END of all things, we come to GOD! You see: THIS is POETRY, SPIRITUAL poetry about what it is LIKE to be WITH God, and to live FOREVER in the loving PRESENCE of the DIVINE.
Another METAPHOR we might use to TALK about such things is to say that, AS we step OUT into that unknown FUTURE, we will gradually discover that WHAT we are REALLY doing is coming HOME; that WHERE we end UP is the PLACE that we truly COME from. And what that MEANS for us is that we have to REMEMBER that SOME stuff is ETERNAL, but MOST of it ISN’T. And I am CONVINCED that growing UP and growing OLDER means GRADUALLY learning to let GO of what DOESN’T really MATTER, and taking a FIRMER grasp of what DOES matter. And AS we go through more and more CHANGES in our lives, we DISCOVER that the things that really MATTER in this life are very FEW, and MOST of them boil down to LOVE: the love of family, the love of friends, and MOST of all, the love of GOD. And the REST of it is just NOT that important. And if we could just REMEMBER this life-giving truth, that MOST of it is just NOT that important, then CHANGE would be far EASIER for us to HANDLE, and LIFE would be SO much more REWARDING! And if ENOUGH of us us would REMEMBER this, we could have PEACE, and maybe even PEACE on EARTH, knowing that ONE day, we will ALL gather at that BEAUTIFUL river, that HEALING river, that flows ETERNALLY from the throne of God. And WHAT a great day THAT will be. Amen
[1] Find the entire mindset list for each year at www.Beloit.edu
[2] See especially Isaiah 60:1-12 for an extended description.
[3] See Ezekiel 47 for imagery of the river and trees.
[4] See Jeremiah 31:31-34.