BALANCE  AND  SIMPLICITY

INTRODUCTION

The title of my thoughts for this 25 Wednesday in Ordinary Time is, “Balance and Simplicity.”

At wakes and in preparing for funerals I ask folks to describe the deceased - with short one or two word descriptions.

I don’t remember anyone ever saying of another, “She had balance and she kept life simple.”

TODAY’S TWO READINGS

Yet today’s two readings call us to have balance and to have simplicity.

In the first reading - like yesterday’s and Monday’s first reading - we have these basic wisdom statements from the Book of Proverbs.  They are mostly one liners - like the brief pieces of advice we find in Reader’s Digest.  They are attributed to Solomon and different kings - but researchers point out that these wisdom sayings are in all kinds of religions and writings - much earlier in history - than the Book of Proverbs. The king gets credit when his name is put to them - so everyone sees how wise he is. 

In today’s first reading we heard, “Don’t let riches or abundance bloat you or stuff you and make you full of yourself.”  That’s one extreme and the other extreme is to be empty and to be in want - and that could lead someone  to lying and faking it.

Balance!

Rumi said, "Life is  a balance of holding on and letting  go."

So we need to learn to balance work and play, giving and receiving, masculine and the feminine, personal time and group time, work and rest, asparagus and apple pie, and on and on and on.

There’s technicolor and there’s black and white. We need to balance both.

Next comes simplicity.

Someone named, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, said, “There's something really appealing about the simplicity of black-and-white images.”

Sometimes it's good to see life in black and white images.

In today’s gospel from Luke talks about simplicity in our travels. He's simply saying in a half dozen ways: "Keep it simple."

Do your job. Preach. Heal people. Proclaim the Kingdom of God. Whatever group or place you visit, learn how to take in hospitality and bring peace to that house.

If the folks there aren’t interested in you or what you have to say, simply shake off the dust of that place from your feet and move on to new places where people will accept you.

So that's my message for today: We need both balance and simplicity.

CONCLUSION

What we’re about is the kingdom of God.  What we’re about is bringing Good News to others.  What we’re about is bringing peace to others.

Hope that’s not too complicated. I try to follow the KISS principle in preaching. KISS. Keep It Simple Stupid.