Ken Robinson in his inspirational TED talk about education
spoke of the importance of giving people the opportunity to be creative not
only when they are young, but throughout their formal education and beyond. Our
education system currently teaches creative thinking out of pupils as they must
learn for a test and not for real world problems. As art classes, bands,
choirs, drama, and sports diminish children lose more and more chances to learn
to think and be creative. Adult life is no better.
While modern employers seek to provide some new ways to work,
how often are recess or art breaks part of work? Still, within every one of us
resides a creative force that connects us to our Divine Creator. Do you
remember a time when you were young and creative? Or, perhaps are you still
young or at least young at heart?
By the grace of God I have never completely jettisoned my
inner child. One may joke about how many stories I remember from my childhood,
but those foundational tales continue to impact me today. One such tale still
lives vividly within my soul.
I have said in previous sermons that I had many imaginary
friends growing up—not just one, but many! We would play and run around and go
on adventures wherever we were. Quite often this benefited my parents who did
not have to entertain me. However, there was one time every week when I had to
use my creative powers in a more confined way.
One evening a week I had to go with my mom to pick up my
sister from dance rehearsal. When it was too dark I had to sit in the car and entertain
myself. However, over the course of time my mom and I developed a game that
still makes me laugh. My sister’s dance studio was on a busy street, so many
people walked by on their way to other stores or restaurants. As people walked
by my mom would ask, “Is that your sister?” For example, a 50 year-old-man with
a mustache strolled by and my mom said, “Is that your sister?” The same with a
mother pushing a baby stroller or a kid on a skateboard. Each time I would
erupt in laughter. I found this creative game so funny because I knew these
people were not my sister, until finally it was my sister walking to the car.
What happens though when we are looking for God? When we seek
out the Messiah? In both the passage from Isaiah and our Gospel lesson from
Luke these questions of God’s identity hover over the text. There is only one
God. God is the one who creates all: light and dark, weal and woe. God says I
am the one and there is no other god. Whereas I had a really easy time as a kid
spotting which person was my sister walking up to me, I believe we continually
struggle with identifying that there is only one God!
Often we try to make God into our little deity who shows up
for our group of people and so conveniently leaves out those whom we do not
like or who see God differently than we do. As we look at Luke’s story of John’s
disciples going to see if Jesus was the Messiah—recall we heard Matthew’s
version this past Sunday—we discover that John the Baptist is wondering about
the identity of God. In particular, John wants to know is this the Messiah who
came to show the world the way back to God?
The response sounds almost identical in Luke as it does in
Matthew: “The blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are
cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, the poor have good news brought
to them.” Jesus’ answer does not directly respond with a yes. Instead, he
points a finger to the examples that correspond with how the people of Israel
have been expecting to see God’s coming. The wild thing is that this is still
how we see God coming into this world.
I think I need to resurrect that old game I used to play
while waiting for my sister, but this time I am going to wonder, “Is that God
coming?” Regardless of where someone was born, where they live, or what
religion they practice if they take part in creativity within this world, if
they take part in the healing of this world, if they are uniting “individual”
parts of this world then they are from God, the one God. For there is one Lord,
and there is no other; besides God there is no god.
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