Each year on the first Sunday of February we celebrate Theological Education Sunday, recognizing that all of us are involved in a journey of discovery about the meaning and purpose in our lives, our identity and value, our possible vocational explorations, and discovering where God is in all of this.
We all live in tall grass. It is where life is complex. Sometimes we don’t know who is beside us or with us. At other times we feel lost or confused. But whatever we feel, we know that life is touching us from all sides. Knowing that leads occasionally to new learning about ourselves, others, and God. Tall grass can feel like a “maze” or like a refuge where we can hide or get away from the maddening crowd. Most frequently, it is where we live life and where the real stuff of life, in all of its nuances, is experienced.
Sometimes we move to another reality that I might call “the plains.” It is on the plains that we recognize more fully that we are not alone. It is also here that we see the horizon more clearly. Here we have a sense of a larger perspective of reality. We have a choice on the plains: do we circle the wagons or do we create circles of trust? Of course, we do both from time to time. Often in our faith communities we hear urgings to create circles of trust, and on the plains we dare to contemplate taking such a bold step.
There are times when we sense higher ground before us or already underneath us. The mesas or tables are high places where our vision is stretched even more. It is here that we may catch a glimpse of who we are – and whose we are – with even more clarity. The tables may be higher ground, but they also appear as tables of conversation, sidewalks, subway or train platforms, front stoops or back patios, or holy tables. They are places where life is about ready to be transformed or where we are confronted by the gracious and loving God who challenges our tendencies to be mean-spirited or unforgiving. On the mesas we are challenged by God to move beyond our complacencies or our security in our own opinions or perspectives. It is on this ground where we are tempted to build booths so that we can stay there forever. Yet we know that our journey takes us back to the tall grass, whether we want to go there or not.
And so we find ourselves where we started: in tall grass. It is also in tall grass where we form relationships, shed the tears of our sorrows, cry out against prejudice and discrimination and injustice, celebrate circles of trust, break bread with friends and strangers, and seek the face of God in ourselves and in others. For the tall grass, the plains, and the mesas are inextricably connected to each other. Wherever we find ourselves we bring the indelible marks of other journeys and realities. This is what makes life so incredibly rich, meaningful, frustrating, and transformative.
In these journeys we are a people of the context (the tall grass), a people of the gathering (the plains), and a people of the table (the mesas and high places). And we keep visiting these places not because we have got it all together but because these are the real places where we are embraced, chastened, and exhorted by God to do God’s bidding for peace, forgiveness, healing, and love. As we return to the tall grass and seek to make incarnate this incredible reconciling work of God, we are also a people of the dismissal.
This shared journey calls us to remember, to be reminded, and to be surprised as we gather – on this Theological Education Sunday and other times of gathering – allowing ourselves to be touched by the living God. The journey embraces all of us, the whole breadth of humanity, as we seek to understand and experience more fully what God is up to in our lives and in our world. |
