Year A Proper 16 2020 Not Aiming for Perfect

 Year A Proper 16, 23 August 2020

Video Service from St. James the Less Episcopal, Ashland, VA

“Not Aiming for Perfect”

Collect: Grant, O merciful God, that your Church, being gathered together in unity by your Holy Spirit, may show forth your power among all peoples, to the glory of your Name; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Romans 12:1-8

I appeal to you therefore, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God-- what is good and acceptable and perfect.

For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of yourself more highly than you ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned. For as in one body we have many members, and not all the members have the same function, so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually we are members one of another. We have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us: prophecy, in proportion to faith; ministry, in ministering; the teacher, in teaching; the exhorter, in exhortation; the giver, in generosity; the leader, in diligence; the compassionate, in cheerfulness.

Matthew 16:13-20

When Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” And they said, “Some say John the Baptist, but others Elijah, and still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father in heaven. And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.” Then he sternly ordered the disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Messiah.

Good morning. We are living in hard days. Often we are confused about what to do. I remember in graduate school one of the axioms that they drilled in our heads was, “A good solution today is better than the perfect solution tomorrow.” Now, sometimes we have the luxury of perfection. But that is very rare. And in these imperfect times, Perfection is even more of a pipedream than even in normal times.

And today I want to explore that. I teach and preach about those I believe to be perfect. Our Holiness Church brothers and sisters often preach that perfection is possible and expected of us. My theology will not allow me to go there.

So what is the point of perfect? Why even bring it up? Many of us, myself included at times, still think in that black & white, all-or-nothing thinking. We think that anything less than perfect is not acceptable. Thanks be to God, God does not have that same point of view. God meets us where we are, and guides us step by ever loving step mto where God would have us go.

In our Romans reading today, St. Paul says to the Romans and us, 

I appeal to you therefore, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God-- what is good and acceptable and perfect.

I think that is it. God is guiding us to the perfect. Slowly, patiently, lovingly.

When I taught middle school, I knew that whenever I introduced a new topic I would most likely have to introduce a new idea more than a few times in more than one way. We all learn at our own pace, in our own way. We are fearfully and wonderfully made, the Psalmist penned. I have seen it in that career and this one. 

God is working in us, helping us to discern, to see clearly, what is good, what is acceptable, and what is perfect. Notice that order. Think on teaching a child. Glue this to that. “Good. Good job!” we say, even though the paper is dripping of glue and the item is 90 degrees off of what was intended. Alas, such is the progression of learning. 

After more time, the child can do it on their own. It is in the right direction, and they only used a quarter of the bottle. It is acceptable.  It is better than what was before, and it will pass once it dries.

Later, maybe days, maybe years, the child will bring their work to show us, and it is beyond good, beyond acceptable, and is actually fantastic. We may even say something like, “Did you do this? Wow!” It is meant as a compliment, but might hurt their feelings not knowing how impressed we are. They have almost obtained perfection. They have learned, and grown, and are ready for what comes next.

The Greek word here for perfect is actually the same root as distance, tele-. I have spoken to this before. It means the full measure. We might better translate perfect in the New Testament as complete. Full. Accomplished. Finished.

I preach about a perfect God, and Jesus Christ his son our Lord. Even there, Jesus in the living of his life went the full distance. He even declared from the cross, “It is finished.” Now to the world’s eyes, how on earth could this be “perfect?” Think of his mom and his disciples witnessing it. The Romans mocked him as a failure. Be he went the distance. He made it perfectly.

I know of so many people who wait to be in daily relationship with God because they want to get their act together first. They want to get to a point when they can say to God, “I am lovable now!” God does not love us because we have become lovable. If God’s love of us was merit based, not a one of us would be loved by God.

Perfection, friends, is unattainable, not by me, not by you. But each and every one of us is lovable and capable of loving. Each and every one of us is God’s Beloved. Open up God’s Wallet and your picture is right there smiling back, probably with spaghetti in your hair and all over your face. We do not love our kids because they are perfect. (Thank God!) We love our kids because they are ours! They are fascinating and beautiful, and people becoming. (Thanks be to God!) Are you and I any different?

Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God-- what is good and acceptable and perfect.

When Jesus asked his disciples who others thought he was, he got all kinds of answers. Prophets mostly, recent like his cousin John who had just been beheaded, or more established and historical like Elijah. Notice he did not kick anyone out. He was not expecting perfection. He was not expecting 100% All-A’s from all 12 disciples. 

They obviously saw something in Jesus, or they would not have followed him. A teacher, their Rabbi, and maybe, just maybe something more… That was a Good Start.

And then Peter charges ahead. It comes out of his mouth. Had his brain actually thought about it first? Consciously? Peter always struck me as a verbal processor, meaning maybe he needed to say it to truly ponder it.  

Jesus said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father in heaven.”

That was what St. Paul was talking about in Romans. God gives us the ability to discern, to see it from God’s point-of-view. We see what is good. We see what is acceptable. We see what is perfect.

In these crazy days, we need all the discernment we can get. We need God whispering in our ear, this is the better way. And to help us, I would encourage you to think like this. Let go of the perfect. Until we have “gone the distance,” it is impossible to go the distance. So what then? Maybe this is something that will help us.

Consultant Seth Godin says we should aim for this: 

The best available option. That’s not the same as perfect. The best available option is always available. The perfect almost never is. If you care enough to contribute [to a project], you can care enough to not wait for the perfect. 

So much in life is about that, the best available option. What is it I can do TODAY? Discerning with God the next steps we should take, often we find what we once thought was perfect was so off base with hindsight. Our inability to claim the perceived perfect option, was actually a life saver. And God was good. God took us to what God thought of as perfect for us and perfect for his beautiful dream for the world, God’s salvation plan.

God loves our imperfect, learning/growing/discerning selves. God loves us where we are, and is so pleased when we get to where he wants us to go. Most of the time, we think we did it, too. God is okay with that. One day we will see fully, until then we can chalk it up to ignorance. 

In these days, especially if things get more contentious and relationship-straining, remember that the one you are seemingly up against is as imperfect, and fully loved as you are. And maybe, really maybe, we can get to the place where we can take the best available option and together go down that path.

May God bless our discerning, now and forever more! Amen