Just Show Up

My 22 year-old self happened to have more wisdom than I previously thought.

Sometimes life seems awfully complicated. When the bills keep mounting, when our jobs demand too much, when our kids’ extracurricular schedules just do not line up, when a parent’s health keeps deteriorating, or when many other things do not happen the way we wish they would life feels overly difficult. In these and other moments of challenge, it can feel daunting to make even one decision. We may want to respond by simply throwing up our hands and walking away. And, today our culture tells us we can. Society now provides all too many ways to avoid the difficulties of everyday living.

Now seemingly more than at any other time in human history people have access to escapes. Whether it is TV shows, video games, Virtual Reality, psychoactive substances, or many other distractions, we now have very accessible ways to avoid everyday life. Steven Spielberg utilized this premise in the 2018 film, Ready Player One. The renowned filmmaker envisioned a not so distant future when no one worked and everyone found their purpose in a Virtual Reality world. While this movie might appear as an extreme example, the truth that escapism is near an all-time high can simply be measured by how frequently people now use the phrase, “Adulting is hard.” So what are we to do when the difficulties of everyday life have us down? To answer this question let me tell you a story.

Back in the fall of 2006 I was a scrawny college kid with a big bushy mustache and long flowing locks of hair down near my shoulders. That autumn term at Sewanee I was a first semester senior who was unquestionably driven. On top of some seriously challenging courses, leading the residential life program, and working in the chapel as a sacristan, I was serving as the cross-country team’s captain. That season I ran the best times of my life. I met or exceeded almost every goal I had set. I earned good grades, worked really hard, made fantastic memories, and even was selected as an Academic All-American (one of the greatest accomplishments of my life). It would be easy for me to say that my life then was not as complicated as it is now, but it sure felt tough balancing many important commitments. When I wonder how I kept going through it all, one thing comes back time and time again.

Throughout that whole semester what mattered most was not perfection. It was not making the perfect score on a test, coming up with a perfect solution for a res-life problem, setting up the chapel perfectly, or running the perfect race. No, what mattered was showing up. What truly mattered then and why that time was so rich had everything to do with being there in the moment. I couldn't possibly read everything, make every meeting, or hit every pace exactly, but I could be there. Sure, I could say, "This was before the explosion of social media, pre-smart phones, and long before the responsibilities I have now." And yet, this stumbled upon wisdom from that fall long ago calls out to challenge me this week especially.

Sometimes as a preacher, I want everything to be perfect. I want my sermon to resonate so deeply with the congregation, so I reach as I try to hit a “home run” sermon. Sometimes as a liturgist, I aim for services, especially during Holy Week, to be so moving that people leave changed. Sometimes as a priest, I yearn to be such a compassionate pastor, wise spiritual director, and forward looking prophet that I end up in a million different places at once, which is to say I end up nowhere and everywhere else other than where I am. This week though I hear God bidding me, and us not to worry about getting everything perfect. This Holy Week is completely and totally about showing up.

Throughout this holiest of weeks in the Church, nothing we do will add to the saving work of Christ Jesus. We cannot make God's perfecting love any better. Every sermon ought to be about the preacher getting out of the way such that the congregation comes face-to-face with the greatest story ever told. Every liturgy ought to be about the clergy, altar guild, flower guild, readers, Eucharistic ministers, and acolytes pointing the congregation in the direction of what God has done for us. Every day is at its best another opportunity for us to show up and witness the overwhelming, unconditional, and limitless love that God has for us. This week is not about us being perfect or getting everything perfect, this week is about God’s perfection. Holy Week is about God’s fulfilling love, which overcomes all our mistakes, sins, and even death. Just show up and see what God does.