Showing Up

“ And they all with one consent began to make excuse. The first said unto him, I have bought a piece of ground, and I must needs go and see it: I pray thee have me excused. And another said, I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to prove them: I pray thee have me excused. And another said, I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come. ”

We all lead ridiculously busy lives. We schedule classes, athletic practice and events, hours of work, dental appointments, doctor visits, shopping, travel, camping and entertainment. And that's just for our kids. Americans are the busiest people on earth, and the world looks at us and feels sorry for us. If we ever manage to get ourselves some time off, get away from the phone, the city, the traffic, the daily grind: we fall asleep for days, just catching up on our lost rest and recuperation. We're tired.

This is from a guy who just got back from vacation. I knew I was tired. I didn't schedule anything but rest once I got to the Shenandoah Valley. But why do I have to go 3000 miles away just to sleep in a strange bed? We're too busy, and it makes us often unavailable, even just to one more thing.

Scheduled to death, we learn to make the one excuse that everybody understands and respects: “I'm sorry, I can't make it then. Let me consult my calendar and find some time later. Then we'll get together.” Spontaneous events and chance meetings are almost always ruled out by our incessantly and oppressively busy lives.

The other thing that ties our hands is debt . When we are in debt, it's like having all our time committed, but this time it's our cash, or our earning capacity. A man's wealth is often judged, not on the basis of what he has, but how much he is able to owe. That's a credit rating : your ability to take on debt and the trust that others have that you'll be good for it. For every human being on earth, even Bill Gates, there has been assigned a dollar amount you are allowed to borrow. Just get into the house buying market, and your realtor can find out what that number is in just a few minutes. Try to borrow one dime more, and somebody will tell you, “I'm sorry, but our records show that you don't qualify to borrow that money.”

We got this wonderful church building from God, and there were many factors involved. But one factor that was absolutely essential was that the owner was bankrupt. He had borrowed more than he could pay back, and he kept running in arrears. He owed money to every company, supplier, bank, family member and government agency that he'd made his creditor. He just ran out of time and money. The Bank of the Orient repossessed The Dynasty.

If you aren't available, either because you're time is over-committed, or you're money is tied up in debt, you can miss a lot of opportunities. Life can pass you by. The roses will not get smelled. The kids will grow up and move out and you'll watch a stranger leave on a plane. Divorce, lost friendships, alienation, and sinful little crimes grow from lives spent in a corner, working and spending too much. When it comes time to pay, we're bankrupt.

While I was working for a painting contractor in Oakland as a junior estimator back in the winter of 1977, forty Norwegian painting contractors came to town on vacation. These men, who during the year were business owners and competitors, took about two months off every winter and traveled together. They'd been all over the world. Now they stopped at our large industrial painting shop in California and saw what we do. In their appreciation for our hosting them, they invited my slave-driver-of-a-boss to dinner with his chief estimator. The two men declined the offer, and one after another our higher level chiefs were too busy to go. So the offer fell to me. I accepted, being ¼ Norwegian I guess. We ate at the Sir Francis Drake Hotel in San Francisco and the evening was a happy and memorable one. They gave me presents, toasted my health, and sang me the Norwegian painters' song . They have a song for painters. The words, translated for me, rejoiced that the happy painter can turn ugly grey and brown walls and doors to bright colors like red, blue and green. I suddenly felt we really need a painters' song here in America, and we don't have one.

Woody Allen once said one thing profoundly true. I guess everybody does at one time or other. “Ninety percent of all success is just showing up.” I've made that a life motto. Being available, even if it messes up a well-ordered life, can set things in motion that you never thought possible. God acts through those times that we don't plan. The miraculous never happens on our schedule. What God puts in our lives never comes by our design, but by His. So, if you want to know and experience God's power and His Hand in your life, don't control the time and resources, in order to see what you can afford to spend of either. What you can afford you already have. That leaves no room at all for God.

Showing up is what we do on Sunday. Oh, we know the Liturgy will most likely sound the same, and the service starts at eight or ten. The hymns are familiar, and the faces we mostly know. We could say it's a waste of time. Certainly our money could be spent elsewhere, and at least we'd know what it's going for. But those doors are the portal to mystery . The great mystery is a God we cannot see or hear, but we feel His Presence when we enter here. At the end of our worship we know that we've been with God. Even we on the Vestry and in the office who see the funds, budget the expenses, and plan the operation are ever amazed at what God does here and how He comes through for us. We learn not to worry when the funds are low. This is God's house. He can take care of Himself, and if we don't waste His money, it'll be there.

Showing up when a friend calls, or a child is sick, or someone invites you to a special gathering, or a retreat is organized, or a class is offered, or a work party is arranged: these are sacrifices of time and maybe money we are called upon to take part in. It's up to us to decide to go. If we are already too busy, already over-committed, already broke: we'll miss it. What happened there without you? You'll never know.

But I've found a myriad of wonderful things that have been begun, arranged, and founded in that one opportunity to meet a new person, give a word of encouragement, bring the Presence of God, say that one important message that happened only because I showed up. I'll never know what might have happened otherwise. I don't know what has happened where I haven't gone.

You can't go to everything. God knows and gives counsel to us, if we take time to hear. “I think I'm supposed to go to this,” we sense, “and God will show me what I'm there for.” I can't tell you how many times this has panned out for me and for our church when Giti and I have gone to things, spent time with people we didn't know. Augie's wouldn't be built without such chance encounters. I could name names and tell you of the opportunities we didn't let pass us by.

God is waiting for us to show up. Now, this is just the kind of sermon I need to give to the other people, not you . You showed up this morning, so I'm not talking to you, okay? Why can't I preach to the ones who stayed at home? Made some excuse? Had something else to do? Jesus made a parable, and He gave it in a few of different forms. It's essentially about a man who planned a great feast; sometimes it's for his Son's wedding. He invites his best and most important friends. At the time the feast is ready, he sends messengers to bid them, but they make lame excuses. Too busy, got a new wife, buying some land, my freebish is out on my farquartin, and I have to fix it—no time right now. In one version, they actually kill the messengers. Then the man, or king, who is preparing the feast gets angry. In the more violent version, he sends out armies to destroy the guests who refused. He then scours the neighborhood and brings in just anyone. Good and bad they are, but the feast must have guests. In one version, a man gets in without party clothes, and is sent out again. What is this story telling us?

Show up. When God goes out of His way to prepare a place for you at His table, you come . You don't make excuses. You don't make yourself too busy. You don't bankrupt yourself and tie your own hands, to make yourself the slave to others. When God has prepared a place for you, it may not fit into your schedule. It may not look like what you expected. It may mean a room full of strangers. It may be a long drive. It may be during your favorite sports event on TV. It may cost you $40, or $400. But this is God we're talking about here. If God calls you to do anything: paint the garage, serve soup at the Jesus Center, train to be a police chaplain, stand in the heat for hours, meet people you never knew; then He knows what He's doing and is setting something up. God is always setting something up. Did you know that? He always has plans and is brilliantly weaving them in and around and through your life. This will always feel weird and it will never be your idea. But this is God. He asks you to come, so you come. What part of that don't you understand? God is inviting you to His table. Why are you making excuses? What is more important? Who is better at arranging your life than the One who invented you, gives you each moment, and is entirely in charge of time and fortunes.

Showing up is leaving God room to work. It shows respect for Him. It shows respect for the people who invited you. It's saying, “Here I am, send me.” It's 90% of all success. How many successes have we thrown away because we were afraid, broke or too busy? Could you do with a little more success? Showing up is the first thing you need to do.

Now: that's for all those who didn't show up this morning. The rest of you already know.

PFH+