Things Fall Apart

 

Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold

In times of uncertainty, we often feel as if things are falling apart. We ask ourselves, “Is this the end?” As the Pandemic surges and many issues surrounding the recent election remain unresolved; as businesses close, more and more people are out of work; as hurricanes persist much later into the fall, and forest fires rage out west; as Adobe Flash Player issues an information sheet with “End of Life Info”. As many of us feel the pressures and uncertainties that caused the young church in Thessaloniki to question Paul about the End Times, The Day of the Lord, people among them out of work, people dying before the Lord Christ returns: they want to know when will he come? What’s going to happen to those who have already died?

 

I often wonder if well-meaning Christians really truly read the Bible. Especially this letter of Paul to the church in Thessaloniki which from beginning to end means to address their questions and reassure them that all shall be well, and there is still plenty of hard work to be done. In the fifth and summary chapter (I Thessalonians 5: 1-28), Paul goes to great lengths to say, “concerning the times and the seasons, sisters and brothers, you do not have to have anything written to you.” Because Paul knows what we all should know by now: Jesus repeatedly tells anyone who will listen that only his Father knows the time. That it is not about time. It is not about when. 

 

It is about being awake. Being ready. We are to be ready at any and all times. We are to be awake and sober! The answer to the Time question is always, “Now!” What Paul is concerned with is what we are to do now in this in between time. He knows we come from Love, we return to Love and Love is all around. The short answer: We are to be the Love that is all around! Here and Now! Do not worry about the time, for “God has destined us not for wrath but for salvation!” Whether we are alive or dead, awake or asleep, we will live with Him just as we always live with Him. We dwell in him as He dwells in us! This is eternal!

 

In the in-between time, the “Now” time, we are, writes Paul, to respect and love one another; to be at peace among ourselves; to be patient with one another; to repay no one evil for evil; to always seek to do good to one another and to all. It’s the “to all” clause that gets us every time!

He concludes with a trinity of things we are to do: Rejoice always. Pray without ceasing. Give thanks in all circumstances. For this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. For me. For us all.

 

 I never cease to wonder how it is that the Lectionary course of readings, which was assembled over three decades ago, often supplies us with just the words we need to hear at this particular moment. If there was ever a time to be patient with one another, I think we might all agree, now is such a time. If there was ever a time to refrain from tit-for-tat repaying perceived evil for evil, it would be now. And it is always time to seek to do good to one another – and to all. All. My favorite theological word. We are to seek to do good, not for some, not for many, not for a few, but for all. Now. For every day is The Day of the Lord!

 

Whatever one might think of Paul, he knows that to persist in doing the things we are called to do now, always now, we need to live the residue of our lives out of a place of gratitude, thanksgiving, at all times. And from a place of joy, rejoicing always. And we are to “pray without ceasing.”

To pray without ceasing does not mean to get down on our knees, bow our head and fold our hands 24/7. It means to be so centered in our prayer life, so disciplined in prayer, that all we do and all we say comes out of a kind of prayerfulness.

 

And it helps to know that prayer is not about knowing the right words to say. Nor is it even about saying anything. As we have explored Monday through Friday for 155 days since the Pandemic shut down in-church worship, prayer is primarily about listening, or better, about attentiveness. There are those in the history of the church like John of the Cross (Juan de la Cruz) to teach us to know that “Silence” is God’s first language. So it is that every day, Monday through Friday at Noon we practice Silent Prayer: call it mindfulness, contemplative or centering prayer – it is a posture of sitting and listening. It is practicing being attentive as we are attentive to each in breath and each out breath. The more we practice attentiveness, the more attentive we become to the beauty and life and love that surrounds us in this in-between time. As we become more and more attentive in the silence, the more we hear that God has not destined us for wrath but for salvation.

 

To pray without ceasing, then, takes practice. And we are to come to our practice with the sensibility of a beginner every day. This is what Zen teachers call “shoshin,” or “beginner’s mind.” “In the beginner’s mind there are endless opportunities; in the expert’s there are few,” writes Shunryu Suzuki [Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind, Weatherhill, NewYork&Tokyo, 1970: p21]. Or, as Saint Benedict was fond of saying, “Always we begin again.” With a beginner’s mind, we learn to Rejoice always, Give Thanks in all circumstances, and Pray without ceasing. And it is out of such practice and attentiveness that we become those people who naturally do good for one another and all others. We become those people who do not repay evil with evil. We become those people who encourage the faint hearted. Which results in Peace and Respect among ourselves, and with others – all others.

 

We remember, Paul begins this letter talking about work, about labor, and ends it in describing the kinds of work, practice and labor that results in a God oriented life, a Christ centered life – which is always a life oriented outward toward others. Rejoice always. Be grateful in all circumstances. Pray without ceasing. This is the work we are called to do. For Now is the Day of the Lord. Now. The Eternal Now. Soon and very soon, we are going to see the king!

 

The one who calls you is faithful, and he will do this, writes Paul.

Beloved, pray for us. Pray for us all.

Amen. This is truth. It is so.