Look at the textures, the shadows, the century old brick and the painted writing on the walls. Everything was just right for a great photo. The perfect image was there, but I just couldn’t bring it to life.
My wife waited patiently in the car as I walked up and down the street looking for that great shot. I changed angles, camera settings and lens. But nothing I did produced the result I desired. Finally, I realized the only thing standing in the way of a great photo was my own limitations as a photographer. I’m just not talented enough to turn a concept in my head into a great image on a camera.
Thankfully, my older self is so much better at handling disappointment than the person of my youth. Somewhere along the way I gave up the endless pursuit of being great and focused instead on doing what I enjoyed. It has been freedom to my soul.
This freedom is grounded in acknowledging my own limitations. My limitations remind me that I don’t take pictures because I am good at it. I just enjoy it. If I aspired to be a great photographer I might have spent hours in this place trying to get the ultimate shot. It would have ruined the beautiful evening I ended up spending with my wife.
To say that joy and freedom might be found in our inabilities is really a counter-cultural approach to life. Or, is it? Advertisers try to convince us that with the right tool or instrument we can do anything. Based on sales alone one might think we believe it. But look at the world around you. People wear Green Bay Packer jerseys that have no reasonable expectation of playing professional football. Women wear mini-skirts who cannot possess any illusion they will some day be on a fashion show runway. Most of these people have one thing in common, they are happy wearing what they are wearing. Regardless of what anyone thinks about it.
There is a life people try to sell us and then there is reality. Most of us, while being dreamers, are grounded in reality. A reality that will take more than a slick commercial to override.
As a pastor people will come to me with their problems. I have learned very few people believe me when I try to convince them they have done nothing wrong. It’s like a commercial telling a single mother that Kraft macaroni and cheese will make her children behave and love her endlessly. It takes more than positive reinforcement to override reality.
At the same time, people are not looking for me to identify their sins for them. They just want me to listen. Does a person going through a divorce really need someone like me telling them the cause of their pain? When a child is arrested is this the time to tell parents what they could have done better? Listening is always more productive than blaming.
The only thing I have not figured out yet is how to convince people they are forgiven. Honestly, I have a hard enough time convincing myself. Seminary taught me how to proclaim it, but no one taught me how to get people to believe it. I think people are better at condemning themselves than any judgment God could produce. They will go through the motions, but in the end they cannot believe someone else will forgive them for something they cannot forgive themselves.
What can I do to convince you Christ came to forgive you your sins? How do I teach you the forgiveness offered in worship is real? What can I do to show you that freedom comes from acknowledging our sins and not hiding from them. Faith is not about acting the one right way. Faith is trusting that Christ’s forgiveness is real. In the Church we call this hope.
The posted picture is a perfect Advent season image. You cannot see it, but construction workers were working late gutting out this old factory. I assume to convert it into apartments. Regardless, they were bringing new life to this old building. The new life could not come until the old corroded material was removed. This Sunday I invite you to journey into the wilderness of your sins, to invite Christ in to remove your corroded parts and bring you to new and everlasting life.
