“Unfinished Business”

 A sermon for Memorial Sunday, October 23, 2011

 

 

By Rev. Diane Gallo Ryder

 

Scripture: Deuteronomy 34: 1—12

 

          Doesn’t God have a great sense of humor?  Here it is my first Sunday in the pulpit after announcing my resignation as your pastor (which, incidentally, is not effective until Dec ember 31^st so you are stuck with me for a few more months!) and today’s lectionary reading is about  a leader named Moses who tries to lead his people into the Promised Land, toward which they have been journeying and striving for for a very long time. Moses has been trying to lead them into the place which will fulfill their vision and newly awaken them – but he just doesn’t make it.  Moses falls short of his goal. God allows him to have a glimpse – just a glimpse of the Promised Land – but he never gets there.  Moses dies before he enters the Promised Land.

 

          Now, I am certainly no Moses and you are not a “stiff-necked people” as the Bible describes Moses’ followers!  But today’s Scripture reading from the Hebrew Bible hit me with all of the force that God’s irony can provide – because it is a story of unfinished business.  How relevant that seems to me as I stand in this pulpit as your lame-duck pastor! …  As I said, today’s reading from the Book of Deuteronomy is one of the lectionary readings for today. Those who are acquainted with the lectionary, as printed in our United Church of Christ calendar, know that the lectionary is a series of daily Bible readings developed by a group of Christian scholars which, when followed, prevent clergy from preaching only on their favorite themes week after week. When the lectionary is read faithfully for a 3 year cycle, readers will have more or less read through all parts of the Bible in a thematic way. It is a great spiritual exercise to follow the lectionary for 3 years – nonetheless I wish this particular Bible reading were not the lectionary scripture for today.

 

          Unfinished business!  We all have some, although we usually don’t like to admit it.  Our unfinished business can be a simple matter of the needlework or home repair project which we are procrastinating about; or  our delay in looking up that long-lost friend we’ve been meaning to seek out on Facebook.  Or maybe our unfinished business is a bit more serious:  A New Year’s resolution that we have postponed or a financial or theological issue we’ve been meaning to resolve so it does not keep us up at night …    Yes, unfinished business comes in many forms … because essentially, life is all about unfinished business.

 

          While I was in the waiting room of a doctor’s office this week, where I sat for one hour and 26 minutes before being called back to the examining room, I indulged in the all-too- common fantasy that my unfinished business was indispensible.  After all, like most busy professionals, I had places to go, people to see, sermons to write, etc.  And right there in the waiting room another irony hit me between the eyes as I read the true, compelling and truly controlling story of the modern artist named Clyfford  Still. Has anyone here ever heard of Clyfford Still? (Show of hands) Well, Mr. Still was an artist of some fame in the 20^th century Abstract Expressionist movement who lived from 1904 until 1980.  In 1951 Mr. Still apparently decided that his body of work was too valuable to be sold piecemeal among collectors and disbursed throughout the art world.  So he simply stopped showing and selling his paintings. Period. Instead, he drew up a will that stipulated that upon his death, the remaining 96% of his life’s work would be donated to any city that would erect a museum solely for his works – and nothing else, ever.  Talk about a one man show! Apparently, Still wanted to assure that he would define his own legacy, encapsulate it in a $29 million building, and leave nary a painting to people whom he could not trust to value it as he did. Both the good news and the bad news, my friends, is that your chance to view Clyfford Still’s works is approaching soon; for on November 18^th the new Clyfford Still museum  will open in Denver, amidst much fanfare and much, much controversy!

 

          To me, Clyfford Still represents the spiritual antithesis of faith.  I admit that artistically, financially and culturally, Mr. Still has staged a posthumous coup.  But strictly from the spiritual angle, his desire to control his work and his reputation even after death is an example of  misguided stewardship, at best and an example of egomaniacal faithlessness at worst.  Clyfford Still is the exact opposite of Moses, who devoted all of his life to leading God’s people toward the Promised Land, only to find that he himself would not enter it because God has other plans in mind, plans over which Moses had no control. In contrast, Clyfford Still wanted to control his reputation and to do it his way.  Arguably, not even Jesus did that!!!

 

          To me, the essence of this story is the relinquishment of control that every person of faith must come to terms with if we believe in God at all.  Whether it comes as a gently unfolding revelation or as a once-in-a-lifetime experience with all the subtlety of being hit over the head with a 2X4, each of us must sooner or later realize that we are not God and we cannot control everything.  In fact, there is precious little over of importance over which we DO have control, so we are happier when we learn the art of relinquishment before we are at death’s door or standing on the mountaintop overlooking the Promised Land.    Two important lessons I learn from this Scripture reading, my friends, are first, that it is definitely okay with God to not be in control of each detail of our lives; and second, God will still love us even when we occasionally make mistakes.  The best of leaders, including Moses, will occasionally make mistakes, as today’s Bible reading points out. And even the best of faith-seeking followers will occasionally be tempted to worship golden calves instead of our living God, as last week’s Bible reading pointed out.  We are not God, thanks be to God!   This sounds so simplistic, but it is not always easy to live out this truth.

 

          Time out for a true confession here:  I have been known to scoff at the fundamentalist member of our extended family who has put a clause in her will to send her beloved dog to go to her sister’s house when the rapture comes.  She did so because that woman is convinced that she will be taken into heaven but her sister and her dog will not.  I find her will to be a quirky and controlling document; but I also recognize our human desire to, as Burger King advertises, “have it our way” – even after our death.  The Biblical truth as I see it and live it, however, is that we can rarely if ever, have it our way.  Life is NOT about having it our way; it is about finding God’s way and pursuing that. God’s way always includes unfinished business.  Pastor to the Pilgrims John Robinson reminded them of unfinished business when he said, “God has yet more truth and light to break forth from God’s holy word.”  In other words, revelation is still unfolding.  Or, to echo this sentiment in modern words, “God is still speaking.”

 

          Do I feel a bit sorry for poor Moses looking into the Promised Land and knowing that his feet would never walk that earth and his lungs would never breathe that air?  Of course I do! It makes me think of a little child with his face pressed to the glass window of a candy shop, knowing that he or she will never enter the store.  But sometimes unfinished business is a blessing.  Moses’ life ended on a happy and hopeful note because the last words God spoke to him were words of promise that his descendants would enter the Promised Land although he himself would not.  Besides, Moses was spared the knowledge of some pretty awful things that later occurred in the so-called Promised Land; just as the child whose parent prohibits the purchase of candy is thus spared childhood obesity and dentists drilling.  Friends, some unfinished business is an unexpected blessing because it can keep us hopeful and striving instead of looking backwards….Dare I say that this type of hopefulness is exactly what I pray for this church as I, too, will soon leave with unfinished business between us?

 

          Over and over Jesus’ teachings in the New Testament remind us that “No one knows about that day and hour (in which we will be called to account for our unfinished business before God) (Mt. 24:36)  The Peterson version of the Bible addresses  the inevitability of unfinished business in this way: “I don’t think, friends, that I need to deal with the question of when all this is going to happen.  You know as well as I that the day of the Master’s coming can’t be posted on our calendars.  He won’t call ahead and make an appointment any more than a burglar would.  About the time everybody’s walking around complacently, congratulating each other, ‘We’ve sure got it made! Now we can take it easy!’ – suddenly everything will fall apart.” (IThess. 5: 1-3)

 

          As the secular cliché has it, life is about the journey, not the destination. No one would count Moses’ life a failure simply because he failed to enter the Promised Land; his journey was a faithful one despite its aborted ending.  Today, when we celebrate Memorial Sunday as we do annually, we each remember loved ones who have died with unfinished business, whether it is Steve Jobs’ unfinished fourth generation of ipod, or the graduation or marriage that deceased parents or grandparents did not attend. Unfinished business left behind by the deceased is a measure of their fullness of life.  How sad it is when people like Clyfford Still cannot trust his heirs to value the things that he valued. Even Jesus did and does that!    As this church faces a future whose destination is not clear at this time, it is helpful to remember that God counts as success our daily, tiny steps in the direction of faith and trust even though we may never enter our promised land or achieve our final goal.

 

          The truth be told, most things in life worth doing are not able to be completely finished. The most important things in life are never  finished – things like loving and parenting and growing in faith. As today’s Bible lesson shows, Christianity is all about unfinished business: we can never finish loving God or being loved by God in a million lifetimes…there is always more love to be loved, which for me is a pretty good summary of Moses’ witness and Jesus’ message to us today.

          Amen.