A sermon preached at Faith Episcopal Church on November 30,2008

A professor stood before his philosophy class with some items on his
desk in front of him. When the class began, wordlessly, he picked up
a very large and empty mayonnaise jar and proceeded to fill it with golf balls. He then asked the students if the jar was full. They agreed that it was.
The professor then picked up a box of pebbles and poured them into the jar. He shook the jar lightly. The pebbles rolled into the open areas between the golf balls. He then asked the students again if the jar was full. They agreed it was.
The professor next picked up a box of sand and poured it into the jar.
Of course, the sand filled up everything else. He asked once more if the jar was full. The students responded with a unanimous "YES." The professor then produced two glasses of wine from under the table and poured the entire contents into the jar, effectively filling the empty spaces between the grains of sand. The students laughed.

"Now," said the professor, as the laughter subsided, "I want you to recognize that this jar represents your life. The golf balls are the important things; your family, your children, your health, your friends, and your favorite passions; things that if everything else was lost and only they remained, your life would still be full. The pebbles are the other things that matter like your job, your house, and your car. The sand is everything else; the small stuff. If you put the sand into the jar first, he continued, "there is no
room for the pebbles or the golf balls. The same goes for life. If you spend all your time and energy on the small stuff, you will never have room for the good things that are important to you.

Pay attention to the things that are critical to your happiness. Play
with your children. Take time to get medical checkups. Take your partner out to dinner. Play another 18 holes. Do one more run down the ski slope. There will always be time to clean the house and fix the disposal. Take care of the golf balls first; the things that really matter. Set your priorities. The rest is just sand."
One of the students raised her hand and inquired why he had used wine instead of water. The professor smiled. "Now there is a good observation and I am glad you asked. It just goes to show you that no matter how full your life may seem, there's always room for a couple of glasses of wine with a friend."

There are two reasons that I like this story for this week. First, it follows very nicely the season of Thanksgiving. To be truly grateful, you must have contemplated your life and your blessings. You will quickly see the overt blessings, your family, your health, your secure existence, the many opportunities that your life affords you. On closer examination, you might also find gratitude for apparent limitations in your life, which present new opportunities for thoughtful sacrifice and discernment about what is truly important. I remember being very surprised when I found myself being thankful for the depression that I had suffered years ago. Without it I wouldn’t have learned some vital things about myself; I would not have really matured as an adult. It goes without saying that as a priest, my having experienced that dark night of the soul helps me pastor more effectively to those who are struggling, but it goes beyond that. Without that dark night of the soul, I could never have conquered fear; without having felt that depth of despair, I would never have truly been able to truly appreciate the emergence…sunshine feels warmer after a long grey spell. It was the hardest thing I ever went through in my life, and I am so grateful for it.

The other reason I like this story now, on this first Sunday of Advent, is that it leads us to a eucharistic theology—and I don’t just mean the part about sharing a glass of wine with a friend! The atmosphere of Advent is one of anticipation, waiting to end estrangement and isolation. We know that there still more to life than we have experienced. We know there is more we can fit into the jar. Like the students in the professor’s class, we have come to realize, especially here in our Faith community, that just when we thought we had filled our jars, we discovered there was room for more, and not just more stuff, but the really important stuff.
All of our lessons this morning address the issue of waiting and staying alert to what is coming. Isaiah speaks of those who wait on God, Paul refers to those who await the revealing of the Christ, and Mark’s Gospel quotes Jesus himself talking about how important it is to stay alert for what is to come. This sense of expectation leaps out of the ancient writings and lands right in our midst. Indeed, much seems to be shifting in our world.

The world out there is changing. Social and economic systems are in flux. The internet changed politics, now we wait to see if it will it change governance, community is happening in cyberspace, new social structures are emerging, and Western Christianity is best described as a whole lotta shakin’ goin on! In her new book, The Great Emergence, Phyllis Tickle, of whom you have heard me speak before, explains the historical backdrop for what is now being recognized as a new reformation a new form of Christianity emerging. This emergent church, which has manifestations within the traditions of not just the Episcopal Church but the Presbyterian, Lutheran, Methodist, and other protestant denominations, is being driven by a movement that seeks a new expression of spirituality, a new understanding of authority. As with any emerging phenomenon, we can only wait and see what and how it develops, but my guess is it will have great relevance to us in the Episcopal Church and as we learn how to take ourselves beyond our walls with new tools and new ideas.

In the upcoming weeks of Advent, we will visit this great emergence in more detail, but the message for today is that we must first adopt a certain attitude, or perspective. We must expect that even if our mayonnaise jar appears to be full, there is more that can be fit into it. We must wait, with both great awareness and anticipation, for what God continues to reveal about what is important, what we can do to make the world better, what we can do to make ourselves better. And we must be willing to open our minds, expect the unexpected, thirst for new ideas rather than remain stagnant.

Two thousand years ago, the Jews in Israel were awaiting change, hoping for change. They were hoping for more of an old idea rather than something radically new. And when something new is being born, no matter what you think it will be, it is always something else. New ideas, new ways of expressing old ideas come when we stay awake and ready for the unexpected. Our readiness is the fertile soil of new ideas. You might have the big picture, the vision of the world as it could be and be completely surprised by the road that takes you there. So stay awake, keep an open mind, keep an open heart and greet everything that comes with courage and hope.