Housework sermon for August 30, 2009

I was at a Christmas party last year and we had the usual white elephant gift exchange. At the end of the party there was a box no one had wanted. In the box was this beautiful porcelain heart with these words "Housework won't kill you--But, why take a chance?

There is a story that God first said something like this when he thought about the work of creating the sun, the moon, the stars, and the earth and all the living things. God thought about not getting his hands dirty, such messy work, better leave it alone, maybe someone else will do it.

But God thought about it and decided he was the only one who could transform the void into what he wanted it to look like. God himself felt called to a dramatically new way of being, he wanted others to relate to; he wanted relationship, and so God created human beings and all the other living creatures.

My friend Betty once asked me why people in monasteries and convents pray all the time. I told her I thought some people had to stay in touch with God in order to make sure the earth keeps rolling through the sky. There are different jobs for different people, some people are prayers, some are doers, and some are both prayers and doers.

In the Epistle of James we are encouraged to be doers and not hearers only. Usually we do not push people when they don't have the capacity to do a job. For instance I would make a poor basketball player regardless of how much you pushed me. But we all have capabilities and both James and Jesus were aware that people are more capable and have more potential than they use.

There are some people who say God never gives us more to do than we can handle; as if life were a test. I have always mistrusted that phrase, because I have never believed that we need to pass a test in order to be loved by God.

God doesn't say, "Okay let's see if Iris can handle this test." There are tests in life, life itself gives challenges that need to be overcome or achieved, but I believe and I have always believed that God gives us the gift of strength, which is what we need to meet the challenges of life. God continues to support us whether we succeed in human terms or whether we fail in human terms.

One of our biggest challenges is looking in the mirror. When I look in the mirror I see a short, stocky woman who uses crutches to walk, but that isn't what God sees. As we look through our mirrors God sees the best fruit of his creation and where ever we stand at that time God blesses us with love and light. James believed that we are all ready experiencing the divine destiny God has planned for all humankind. He believed that we are born with the word of truth in our hearts; and that God delights in each one of us in the same way lovers delight in each other or, even more intimately, God delights in us like a mother delights in her new born baby.

So it is true that we are saved by the grace of God's love for us, but there is more to the story than keeping commandments, listening to scripture, and being able to quietly dwell in God's kingdom. We also need to work alongside God in this Kingdom, for we reside in the house of God. We need to let the word of God that has been planted in our hearts have a full effect in our lives. In a sense we have to practice Christianity. Because we are human we are not perfect; we get angry, we are disappointed with our lives, we have sadness and resentments, but by practicing everyday our hope is to grow into better followers of Christ. As Christians we strive to become better, more complete, more like Jesus because we are on a life long journey with and toward God. The same God James calls the Father of Lights is the one who actively and consistently gives to us the gift of strength, the courage to persevere, and the law of liberty; all of which transforms our lives with the inner light we call God's love, which never diminishes.

God knows the world is a mess and God knows that we have messy places in our own lives. Even Jesus, who was an active doer, had to take time out to pray or he would have been thrown out balance by his anger and his sadness about the world not being a perfect place.

God wants us to pray without ceasing, and God also wants us to go out into the messy world where we can be living prayers and people who touch other lives as we serve God in this messy world. Housework won't kill you--buy why take a chance? I like to think of my life as a musical; in my world the word of God calls us to a dramatically new way of living. Let us take the chance to do the housework, and to be God's work in this kingdom, which is our home.

Blessings, Iris
(see James 1:17-27)