A Wazoo Moment

1 Peter 3:18,22 (From Evening Prayer II, Ascension)

“The reason why Christ died for sins once for all, the just man for the sake of the unjust, was that he might lead you to God. He was put to death in so far as fleshly existence goes, but was given life in the realm of the spirit. He went to heaven and is at God’s right hand, with angelic rulers and powers subjected to him.”

Sometimes I'll drive down a street, a very familiar street, one that I've driven down hundreds of times before and all of a sudden I'll see a house. It might be striking in its character. It really stands out, but I've never seen it before. I might pause a second and think, “has that always been there?”

From time to time I’ll read a passage from scripture and a word or a phrase will appear that I never noticed before. This happened to me twice recently. A few weeks ago during the reading of the raising of Lazarus I noticed for the first time that Jesus was “perturbed”. I never saw it before. I was so taken aback that I even looked in some old lectionaries to see if it was something unique to the new translation, but it was always there. It’s like you want to say “Wazoo! Where did that come from?”

This is exactly what happened to me when reading this passage from 1 Peter.

“The reason why Christ died…was that he might lead you to God.”

 

Isn’t that one of the big questions? Why did Christ die? Why would he do that? Why did salvation have to come about that way? Why not some other way? All the study and thinking and theories and his whole vocation is summed up in that he wants to lead us to God. Wazoo!

When Luanne and I were preparing to get married we went to see the priest. He was a friend of ours and we thought that our meeting would be a slam-dunk – no biggie, and then he asked us this question: “Why are you getting married?” We looked at each other with those goo goo eyes that so often glaze over the faces of young people in love and replied, “Because we’re in love.” Well that wasn’t the answer he was looking for. After some frustrating prodding on his part that proved we were completely clueless he explained to us that the vocation we were undertaking in marriage was that we were to lead each other to God. Wazoo! Who'd have thought?

And so it is with all of us, those of us serving God as deacons, priests and lay people. Our vocation, like Christ’s, is to lead each other to God. This is the call of our baptisms, confirmations, and ordinations.

As I reflect on how to do this I am drawn to discover in myself those things which have drawn and continues to draw me toward God. The example of my parents: Catholic School; prayer; music; those modern day disciples who came into my life; my wife and children; friends; classmates; those whom I serve, the traditions of the church, and the liturgy. All of these experiences have led me to God and continue to do so.

 

But as we seek to lead others to God it is not enough for us to merely express the “things” we know about God. I know a lot of "things" about George Washington, Barack Obama and Jay Leno, but I’ll never really know them. Without a one on one, personal experience there can never really know anyone. We can tell people how wonderful Jesus Christ is until we are blue in the face but unless one is able to personally experience something - anything of that Christ, we are only a noisy gong or clanging symbol.

 

The challenge then for us might be put this way – how do we offer one another and those we serve an experience of God? How do we bring people to see and recognize their own experiences of God – those experiences that like the house we drive by and never notice are there for all of us?

Each of us has to find our own unique way to lead others to God. Let us pray that we will be open to the workings of the Holy Spirit - the Spirit that will open us to new, creative, and surprising ways in which we can lead others to God.