A note to the reader: I’m starting to share my sermons with whoever would like to preach them, which means they will be posted on the blog prior to Sunday so that they are available. Should you attend services at St. Matthew’s, you may want to wait until after the service to read. If you read before the service, please don’t spoil the jokes by shouting out the answers before I’ve told them or discussing them beforehand. I write sermons to be heard, not necessarily read. Thanks.
A woman testified to the transformation in her life that had resulted from her experience in conversion to the Christian faith. She declared, “I’m so glad I got religion. I have an uncle I used to hate so much that I vowed I’d never go to his funeral. But now, why, I’d be happy to go to it any time.”
Christy shared with me the premise of the book The Measure by Nikki Erlick. Afterward, hearing the premise, I wanted to read it, and knowing the premise won’t spoil it for you as it is put forward in the first few pages.
On a particular day, everyone in the world—whether they live in the middle of a sprawling metropolis or are a member of some undiscovered tribe of South America—receives a small box. On the lid of the box is the person’s name and the phrase, “The measure of your life lies within.” Within is a piece of string. What is learned is that both the box and the string are indestructible, and, more importantly, the length of the string represents the length of your life.
After a short time, the scientists come out with a measuring device, and you can measure your string to find out when you will die. How convenient. Some open their boxes and are the first to learn their fate, and others do not, having no desire to know. From there, the story plays out several scenarios, showing the various implications of having and controlling such information. However, what was clear—and a bit obvious—was that the “short-stringers,” those whose lives would soon come to an end, began to live their lives and do those things that they’ve always wanted to and believed would make them happy. That’s what got me to thinking this week, and it reminded me of another book and a particular object. The book is one of great importance and intrigue: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. The object I was thinking of: the Mirror of Erised. For a moment, please bare with the twelve-year-old that runs around inside my head.
The Mirror of Erised—Erised is desire spelled backward. According to the all-wise Professor Albus Dumbledore, the mirror shows us the “deepest, most desperate desire of our hearts.” Harry Potter’s parents died when he was a baby, so when he looks in the mirror, he sees himself with his parents standing beside him. Ron Weasley sees himself as a champion and very handsome.
The problem is that Harry keeps returning time after time, spending hours sitting in front of the mirror, gazing at his parents. This is when Professor Dumbledore steps in. He says to Harry, “Men have wasted away before it, not knowing if what they have seen is real, or even possible,” and that “It does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live.” When it comes to being happy, the professor says, “The happiest man on earth would be able to use the Mirror of Erised like a normal mirror; that is, he would look into it and see himself exactly as he is.”
This week, those two ideas—the measure of the string and the Mirror of Erised—came together in my head. I wondered why we would wait until the end to seek out and fulfill those things that would make us happy. If you knew something would bring you happiness, why would you wait until you learned you were going to die to fulfill it? To live it?
Dan Gilbert wrote the book, Stumbling on Happiness. He writes, “We treat our future selves as though they were our children, spending most of the hours of most of our days constructing tomorrows that we hope will make them happy… But our temporal progeny are often thankless.” (Source) When I have more time, I’ll write a book. When I have enough money saved up for retirement, then I’ll take that trip. When things are more secure, I’ll apply for the job I really want.
The piece of string in the book is a literary tool that points to a greater truth. A biblical truth. The Psalmist says to the Lord, “Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me when as yet there was none of them.” Jesus said, “Which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?” The string is fictional, but the number of our days is set. There is no changing them.
Everyone is now thinking, “I’m so glad I came to church this morning. This is such an uplifting and joyous message.” I get that, but it is not a message to depress you. It is a message to inspire. The message: your days are numbered; quit wasting them by looking for happiness in places where you will not find it.
Gilbert, the author of Stumbling on Happiness, was asked in an interview, “How do I find happiness?” He began his answer by saying, “People have been writing books that promise to answer that question for roughly two thousand years, and the result has been a lot of unhappy people and a lot of dead trees.” (Source) We look in that mirror and see all the things that we desire. All the things we believe will make us happy, but we are wrong in our desires.
A scientist, over a considerable period, studied 1,600 Harvard graduates. He writes, “Turns out, there was one—and only one—characteristic that distinguished the happiest 10 percent from everybody else: the strength of their social relationships…. social support was a far greater predictor of happiness than any other factor, more than GPA, family income, SAT scores, age, gender, or race.” “The capacity to love and be loved was the single strength most clearly associated with subjective well-being at age eighty.” (Source) Relationships.
OK, Father John, this is all very interesting, but you haven’t said a word about Jesus—about God. But if you know me, you know that this is ALL about God. God—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—and the Imago Dei, the image of God we encounter in one another.
We read the words that the Lord spoke through Hosea, “In their distress they will beg my favor: ‘Come, let us return to the Lord; for it is he who has torn, and he will heal us; he has struck down, and he will bind us up.” Relationship. From our lesson in Romans: Abraham “grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, being fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised.” And this faith was reckoned to Abraham as righteousness, and through Abraham, it is reckoned to us. Relationship.
“As Jesus was walking along, he saw a man called Matthew sitting at the tax booth; and he said to him, ‘Follow me.’” Matthew said, “I was looking in this mirror, and it showed me fat and happy. Lots of cash, big house on the hill, trophy wife, and 2.5 kids. Once I have all that, I’ll have my people get in touch.” No. Matthew “got up and followed him.” Relationship. “Many tax collectors and sinners came and were sitting with [Jesus] and his disciples.” Relationship with Jesus and with one another.
Jesus raised the young girl from the dead, and He does the same for us in this life and the next so that we might be in an eternal relationship with Him.
Last week I spoke about how through God’s grace—His undeserved favor—we are the recipients of God’s unfailing love, and through this love, we are invited into the very presence of God. Our response to that love and invitation determines whether or not we will enter into this relationship with Him. It is figuratively looking into Harry Potter’s mirror and seeing the One True Object of our desire, the One and only One that brings to fulfillment all other desires—ourselves with God and one another in relationship.
Jesus said, “Do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’” Jesus said, ‘Don’t be anxious about the false desires you see in the mirror.’ “For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.”
You will never receive a box with a piece of string, you will never know the number of your days, and you will never need to. It is truly irrelevant. You only need to know that on this day, you are loved by God, and by receiving, responding, and experiencing that love, your every desire is met.
As King David said,
“Seek the Lord and his strength;
seek his presence continually!”
Let us pray:
Grant me, O Lord my God,
a mind to know you,
a heart to seek you,
wisdom to find you,
conduct pleasing to you,
faithful perseverance in waiting for you,
and a hope of finally embracing you.
Amen.
