Every Moment Matters

Based on Mark 12:38-44        

        All Saints Day, which is November 1st, has been a tradition in the church for many generations. Its purpose was to be a kind of “catch all” day to recognize the heroes and heroines of the Christian faith. A lot of these heroes and heroines have their own day. For example, Saint Mark is on April 25th, Saint Mary Magdalene is July 22nd and Saint Luke is October 18th. But there have been so many saints over the years that there just aren’t enough days to include them all. So, the church set aside November 1st to recognize all the saints. It has been our tradition over the past many years to let this be the day that we remember our family and friends and members of our church who have died since last All Saints Day.

I want to tell you a story about one of my heroes of the Christian faith, Saint Francis. One day, someone saw St. Francis hoeing in his garden. This person asked St. Francis, “Father, if you knew that you would die today at sunset, what would you do?” St. Francis responded, “I would finish hoeing my garden.” Isn’t that a wonderful perspective on work and life? St. Francis was such at peace with God that he saw no need to do anything before meeting with God. He was ready to go, doing whatever he had put his hand to that day. Even the chore of hoeing the garden was an act of devotion to God.

Compare that story with the person who ran up to the preacher one Sunday following church, anxiously telling him, “That lady there says she saw a vision of Jesus at the altar! What should we do?” And the preacher responded, “Look busy.” Maybe this kind of response would be a more common one than the one St. Francis gave. If someone told you that Jesus was showing up any minute, that would likely stir up in us a feeling of anxiety and the need to be doing something impressive or important if we knew that Jesus was about to show up or that our life was about to end. We certainly would want to be on our best behavior.

I remember getting asked that question once when I was young. It was likely at some evangelistic meeting. The evangelist asked us kids, “If you knew Jesus was coming to your house tonight, what would you need to do to get ready?” My response was as if someone important was coming to my house. I would need to hurry home and clean up my room. I would want my mom to make the best meal she knew how to make. I would invite my friends over. I would get a haircut and get new clothes to wear. I would make sure to be on my best behavior. I may even come up with a short list of questions I always wanted to ask Jesus. I would do everything within my power to present a good impression, to show Jesus that I had it all together. Hoeing the garden would not be on the priority list. I wonder what that’s about? To think that someone could impress Jesus seems a bit vain.

Hear these words from Psalm 127: “Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain. It is in vain that you rise up early and go late to rest, eating the bread of anxious toil; for he gives sleep to his beloved.” Here is another passage about vanity. It comes from a whole book about vanity, the book of Ecclesiastes. From chapter 3 we find: “What gain have the workers from their toil? I have seen the business that God has given to everyone to be busy with. He has made everything suitable for its time…It is God’s gift that all should eat and drink and take pleasure in all their toil. I know that whatever God does endures forever; nothing can be added to it, nor anything taken from it; God has done this, so that all should stand in awe before him.” St. Francis saw no need to try to impress Jesus. He would keep on doing what he was doing: hoe his garden. Getting your house all clean and trying to impress Jesus with a good meal and a list of thoughtful questions…for what purpose? Really, when it comes to impressing God, that seems backward. God will always be more impressive. Why would we ever think that God would be in awe of us? Rather than trying to impress God, the prudent action is to stand in awe before God.

But those teachers of the law that Jesus saw parading about the village wanted people to stand in awe before them! That was Jesus’ critique. They wore those fancy robes, demanded the best seats at dinner, offered long prayers, with the expectation that everyone else would be impressed with their holiness. They wanted to be seen as people who have it all together. Everyone else was beneath them. They were so entitled, as Jesus saw it, that they would devour widow’s houses. What does that mean? I take it to mean that they would demand of widows to give all they had to the temple, only to use that money to purchase for themselves those fancy robes. How pretentious and vain.

The truth is that none of us need to stress about impressing God with our holiness and having our lives together. Nor do we need to stress about impressing other people. Each one of us are precious to God. Each one of us is important to God, just as we are. And every moment of life we receive is a gift. Why waste it doing things to try to impress people or to impress God? As the writer of Ecclesiastes would say, using our limited time that way is vanity.

In all the days of life, I encourage us to take on the attitude that is expressed in Psalm 127, Ecclesiastes 3, and in this little story about St. Francis hoeing his garden. Let us be fully present each moment, doing what we are doing with diligence and gratitude. There is no need to dwell on the past or be anxious about the future. Simply live in the present moment, do what you are doing, and be thankful. Live for the moment. Understand that every moment is holy, is a gift, is an opportunity to express devotion to God through the task at hand. The past can’t be changed. The future is yet to arrive. All we have is the present and we have control over how we live in the present moment. Live for God in the present moment and be thankful.

There is a story I ran across regarding the making of parachutes in WW II. These parachutes were packed by hand in a tedious, painstaking, repetitive, boring process. The workers crouched over sewing machines and stitched for eight hours a day. The endless line of fabric was the same color. Then they folded, packed and stacked the parachutes. All that was left was for someone to pull the rip cord.

How did they stand it? They withstood the tediousness of the work because every morning before they began their work they gathered as a group. One of the managers reminded them that each parachute would save someone’s life. They were then asked to think, as they sewed and packed, how they would feel if the parachute was strapped to the back of their son, their father, their brother. These laborers worked sacrificially, unerringly, uncomplainingly, because someone connected what they were doing to a larger picture, to a larger mission that involved the saving of lives. Maybe even the lives of those they loved.

Every moment of your life and whatever you are doing, from household chores to doing “church work,” is all a part of a greater plan, of God’s plan for your life. There are no insignificant moments, even the tedious ones. Of course, it may seem that most of what we do in a day seems rather insignificant. But it’s all a matter of perspective. Think of the widow’s mite. It wasn’t much but it was all she had. And she offered it. Jesus acknowledged how much that insignificant amount was, declaring that it was not insignificant at all.

If you look at a brick wall, you see lots of individual bricks. Each brick looks about the same. If you were bored, you could stand there and start counting how many bricks make up the wall. That would get tedious pretty quick. If you stand back and look at the wall as a whole, the bricks all sort of blend in together. If you took out just one of those bricks, it would weaken the entire wall. Every brick is important. Every brick fits in its place. Every brick belongs. Every moment of your life is like one of those bricks. Lay your bricks, one at a time. And trust that as you lay your bricks, as you build your life, one moment at a time, just as everyone else is building their lives, that somehow God is involved. Trust that God, through our lived-out moments, is building a house, a world house, with many rooms, spacious enough for every life, for every saint, to inhabit for eternity.