I know a lot about scripture and researching what the Bible has to say about things. I’ve learned a few tricks about crafting and delivering a sermon. I’ve learned to expect that about anything can come out of a kid’s mouth during a children’s sermon.
I thought I was pretty nimble of mind and tongue last Sunday when one of the kids wanted to know why one of the shepherd figures in the nativity set looked remarkably like the figure of Joseph. In a flash of seasoned brilliance I told him that this was because Bethlehem was Joseph’s home town where a lot of his family lived, so Joseph and the shepherd might have been related to each other, and that’s why they looked alike. .... I’m ready for anything these days!
Some things I’ve learned better than others. I’ve learned how to be with people in their pain and suffering, and I’ve grown wise about how, often, it is better just to listen or to hug than to try to explain the unexplainable. I can’t say I have learned as well how to weather controversy and work through conflict. I have learned, though, that God can take my feeble efforts, combine them with the skills and compassion of others and make beautiful things out of what had been pretty ugly.
Because of swinging a hammer on more than a dozen Habitat for Humanity trips, I’ve learned about the theology of the hammer and the way of servanthood, and I’ve learned some valuable construction skills at the same time. I’ve learned that the capacity of Christian people to love and give and share far exceeds what I ever thought possible. I have been surprised by these qualities in every setting that I have served.
But at many other things, I am a novice. I’m just starting to learn the ropes on handling this smoldering, multiple Myeloma disease which has recently become a label of mine. There’s a lot to learn about being the comfort-ed in addition to being the comforter. And having such a malady forces me to be something of a press agent for getting the word out to those who are concerned, and a nurse or doctor to try to understand all the medical lingo and treatments involved.
By the way, I have inched up from extreme novice to ordinary novice when it comes to the MRI scan. Indeed, I have learned that a little white pill can help a person with claustrophobia endure being encased in something that looks a lot like a driveway culvert for more than two hours!
Donning my press agent hat, I am happy to report that my disease remains free of symptoms, and I am on schedule for a 3 month reprieve from further tests.
And now comes another new thing: retirement! I feel about as green as I did the first day of seminary as I wind my way through Social Security sign-up, financial planners, the ELCA retirement plan, and the like. I’m still wet behind the ears when it comes to developing that retired person’s outlook on life.
I’m sure I’ll learn as I go along. I will learn what day the Social Security checks are deposited. I’ll become a pro at asking for my little white pill when they tell me I need another MRI. And I will get busy discovering what my body will allow me to do.
Most importantly, I will develop a strategy for making the most of retirement with friends and family and practicing my faith in new and productive ways. Maybe I will even occasionally write a Parson Ponders! Or maybe I will at long last get all those people off my back who have been bugging me for years to publish some of the best Parson Ponders, by getting that project in order.
One thing I know for certain, though life and circumstances change, Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever (Hebrews 13:8). As I begin something new, I will count on the same things that have sustained me throughout my life: the amazing love of Jesus Christ, the friendship of the people like you who bear his name, and the opportunities that Christ lays before me to serve him.
I’m sure that you too are a mixture of seasoned expert and fumbling novice. Take heart, the Lord is with you. Always has been. Always will be, even when we’ve got a lot to learn!
(Pastor Tim’s final Sunday at St. Michael will be January 31,2010.)
