Fr Robert Hendrickson (10.03.21)

Dear Friends in Christ,

This weekend has been a bit of a hodge podge of projects. I had to finish a catio (a safe patio area) for two new cats we adopted. Then I had to finish the floor of a shed I’m building and start framing the walls. Meanwhile, painters were finishing up the exterior of the house — complete with one of the boys making brown paint handprints on white newly painted walls after he painted his stomach and chest brown too upon discovering that the brown doors were not dry. After the doors were painted I had to install new locks on the house.

I bought the same manfufacturer’s lock, handle, and deadbolt. The package said, “fits with almost all our product lines.” Great! I can just take one off and put the new one right in its spot. Right?

Well, apparently the package should have read, “fits in almost all our product lines — except yours of course — nice try!”

So, after much labor, I managed to get part of the lock installed. I still need to dremel out a new deadbolt hole and install a different lock plate. So I guess it almost fit — kind of.

What I pondered after (I had to give in for the night as the mosquitoes were pouring into the house) was that this is kind of like most things in our lives. We’re told, “this will work for you! It will be great!” So we try a new style, diet, car, exercise regimen, or a million other things only to find that none of them quite fit. It’s why so many New Years resolutions end up left behind by mid-January.

We keep trying stuff that just doesn’t quite work — despite being told that it works for almost everybody. In church we’re invited to do all sorts of stuff that seems to work for other folks.

Just pray harder — it works for almost everyone!

Just read the Bible — it works for almost everyone!

Do more service work — it works for almost everyone!

Yet nothing works for almost everyone. Each of us is making our way through this earthly vale with our own experience, our own fears, joys, sorrows, doubts, and convictions. We journey carrying a load different from the one others’ carry. Few people’s are lighter — perhaps for a time they just pretend the weight isn’t bothering them.

Church isn’t another self-improvement course. It is not really about improving anything about ourselves — it’s about finding deeper and more loving ways to offer all that we are, just as we are, to the one who has given all for us.

But to make any of this work — prayer, study, service, and more — it’s going to require some jimmying, sweat, and maybe even a bit of salty language at times. The Christian life is, like most things, not just going to “work” for almost everyone. This is because we don’t have a God who magicks away our struggle — we have one who has struggled alongside us. He walks the way with us. He has borne our sorrows and carried our griefs.

So if we’re ever promised “it works for almost everyone” perhaps the lesson is that maybe it will. But it will still take work. It will still require patience and perseverance. But it may just unlock a deeper way of seeing the Holy One walking with us as we labor whose grace comes to us whenever we turn to him with open hearts and ready spirits.

Yours in Christ,

Fr Robert