I AM MORE THAN …
The title of my homily is, “I Am More Than…”
The feast of the Ascension – celebrated in this diocese
this Sabbath – leads me to reflect upon the theme of “more than”.
I am more than .......... Fill in the blank.
SOMETIMES
Sometimes we get the thought and the feeling –
I am more than I am right now. We
hear ourselves saying, “I am better than this.”
We might say it after yelling at one of our kids – or
when we’ve wasted a few hours doing nothing – like late at night – like
watching a dumb movie – or playing solitaire game after solitaire game on the
computer – or what have you – and it’s late – and we go, “Oh no, not again!”
Wasting time, time, time…. And I told myself I’m going to exercise more or get
more sleep or do better than this….”
We might say it when we’re at a dead end job – or we have
a decent job – but we’re not really working hard – we’re just putting in time –
or texting – texting – texting…..
We might be thinking and feeling this feeling of “I’m
more than….” when we realize I am more than my job – or my salary – or my
house, car, boat, motorcycle – or my sense of humor or math skills or my
stories – or my resume of successes – that I like to salt and pepper my
conversations with at times – cutting others off in the middle of their stories
– not being aware of family or friends or the others in my life.
My successes – my good stuff - can be
nice, great, wonderful – but sometimes we sense there is something more – more
– more - and we’re feeling empty or have that itch or ache for a different more
– God, spirituality, generosity, giving, listening, letting others shine -
making life sweeter for those around me – and I’m in a fog or a funk. “I know,”
we say.
ASCENSION
Ascension means more than. Ascension means stepping up –
as “He ascended up the staircase.” Or “The mountain had a steep ascent – but
they made it to the top.”
Today’s first reading is from the Acts of the Apostles – and we hear in the opening words of the
book, to whom it’s addressed: Theophilus. That means a lover of God. Philus – lover - and - Theos –
God.
We know that: that we want to be a lover of God. Please
God.
We know God is the more – that’s why we’re here in
church.
That’s why we want nourishment when we come to church –
words – a message that satisfies us from the scriptures or from a homily or
from our prayers – or all 3 and more.
But there’s always that ache for more.
I’m aware of it in the homilies I write. Sometimes
something I say or come up with hits me – okay, that makes sense, thank You God
– but most of the time I’m on the edge of something – I’m on the far edge, the
far side of God – and I know it and you know it – and that’s humbling.
But I laugh. I know I’m not God – and I say, “God you do it – feed these folks
with your more – because I can’t. I’ll try – but you’re the More. Be it please
for them and me too.
You know this, we all know this, our prayers are never –
just right – our mind wanders – our laziness sneaks in – our feelings of less,
very less – less than even being decent human beings at times go “hmm!” “hmm!”
I don’t know about you, but this is proof enough for me that
there is life after death. I don’t know about you, but I need time and eternity
to grasp and get God – because I’ve only got glimpses of God so far.
Today’s second reading – from Ephesians – says just that – and far better than I just put it:
“May the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, give you a Spirit
of wisdom and revelation resulting in knowledge of him.”
Ephesians goes on, “May the eyes of your hearts be
enlightened, that you may know what is the hope that belongs to his call, what
are the riches of glory in his inheritance among the holy ones.”
Words – words – words – but what do they mean.
But good thing that words are presented – that they are
spoken at us – because sometimes somehow a word or two grabs us. Nudges us. Touches us on the edge of what we want more
of….
We want wisdom, more of it.
We want knowledge of God, more of it.
We want the eyes of our heart enlightened – interesting
image “eyes in our heart” – from today’s second reading - but we grasp what it means
– to see the more in our heart aches for
God.
We want to hear his calls to us.
We know that we need to spend more time with God – to
take walks alone in the evening or early morning – or to drop into an afternoon
church when nobody is in here – or maybe some church just 5 minutes away from where we work.
GOD EXPERIENCES
Then there are moments when we experience God.
Take a moment and make a short
list – like come up with 3 God experiences in our life
That more feels like more – from all those times we’ve
experienced God in our lives.
It might have been at a ball game seeing all those people
– and the game is a blowout – but God hits us – in a gigantic crowd – with a
home run of a moment – God touches down on us – touches the edge of our t-shirt
of sports jacket and we’re all alone with 32,000 people or 80,000.
It might have been while taking a good shower, seeing a
super sunset – having a little baby’s touching our nose – and looking us in the
eye – and laughing – or that time we received Holy Communion 18 years ago – and
in an instance – we knew Jesus Christ in his fullness for a minute or two – and
“Phew!” we knew.
YES OR NO OR
KNOW
The title of my homily is, “I Am More Than….”
Jesus is more than we realize. We know that – or we can
“No” that.
Spelled: K N O W or
N O.
God is more than we realize. We know that.
Spelled: K N O W or N O.
I am more than I realize. I know that.
Spelled: K N O W or NO.
Life is more than we realize. We know that.
Spelled: K N O W or N O?
Scratch life and we’ll know – K N O W – we have an itch
for the more of life….
Ascension means to keep ascending to that more – and
avoiding descending to the pits.
Christianity says we don’t have to do life alone.
Be church, be family, be connected.
And Christ says in today’s gospel, “I am with you
always.”
And Christ says more – as we heard him
saying in today’s gospel – we
have been called to go into this whole world and help others discover Christ –
God – the More we are all looking for.
Did you ever meet someone who gives you a sense – a taste
– a desire – for the More called God?
Pray to be that someone.
I love Chesterton’s comment about us: “We are the million
masks of God.”
In other words, that underneath us – that because of us –
someone would sense and discover God.
CONCLUSION
What would it be like to pray every morning:
“O would that, O God,
O would that O God,
that I be a mask of You
for someone today.”
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