Thirteenth Sunday after Pentecost
Who remembers the cartoon Calvin and Hobbes?
Thirty years ago, young Calvin ran amok in the neighborhood while dragging along his trusty stuffed tiger, Hobbes. Calvin was a precocious and mischievous six-year-old boy who often asked the most relevant questions. Hobbes was brought to life in the adventures of Calvin’s imagination, frequently shifting between a sardonic voice of wisdom and a guru-like voice of metaphoric truth.
If you’ve never encountered Calvin and Hobbes, you’re about to get a taste. And since cartoonist Bill Watterson famously refuses any kind of legal reprint of his cartoons, you get
to enjoy a dramatic re-enactment of a Calvin and Hobbes strip by yours truly.
Let me first set the scene. Calvin is nowhere to be seen. His mom sits at the table making a
list when his dad walks in with the mail.
Mom: Any good mail today?
Dad: Mm.. Not really.
Dad: Here’s a “You’re not covering the cost of these mailings” charity request.
Dad: You got a “You’re not attractive enough” women’s magazine with an article on swimsuits that minimize all your body flaws.
Dad: Here are some “You’re not stylish or ostentatious enough” catalogs...and,
coincidentally, an invitation to go deeper in debt from a credit card company.
Dad: And here’s our news magazine to identify the trends of the week we’re missing...and I
got a hobby magazine featuring new equipment I ought to have.
Dad: Yikes. Why do I get the feeling that society is trying to make us discontented with
everything we do and insecure about who we are?
Mom: I suppose if people thought about real issues and needs instead of manufactured
desires, the economy would collapse, and we’d have total anarchy.
Dad: So, pitching this junk would make me some kind of terrorist, huh?
Mom: Yep. It’s our patriotic duty to buy distractions from a simple life.
Enter Calvin.
Calvin: Hey, Mom! I just saw a bunch of products on TV that I didn’t know existed, but now I
desperately need!
Why, yes, even way back then, our culture was dead set on convincing us that we need to
buy more and to be more and do more because we were not perfect enough. The messages have not changed, though the delivery methods have evolved from magazines and catalogs to e-mails and social media ads. To be fair, the credit card offers still come in the mail.
While Paul never received a credit card offer in the mail, he dealt with the same cultural
challenges. His fledgling churches struggled with the pressures of culture and fitting in.
“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.”
Do not be conformed to this world...
Let’s look at the word conform, it breaks into two parts “con” meaning together and “form”
meaning, well, form. To form together, to be made like another.
To try to be like someone else.
For Paul, that meant worshiping pagan gods to fit in with the neighbors. Or maybe you
recognize this list: immorality, impurity, idolatry, hatred, discord jealousy, rage, selfish
ambition, dissensions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and the like. (Gal 5:19-21)
In the modern age, we often sum up this list as chasing sex, money, and power. Okay, we
might add consumerism to the list. These are worldly distractions that draw us from God.
It strikes me that in today’s gospel, the disciples are also conforming, trying to be like the
crowd.
Jesus asked: “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” And the disciples said, “Some say
John the Baptist, but others Elijah, and still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”
Like students trying to impress their teacher, the disciples are building up their invisible
army of supporters. Some, and others, and those people over there...all these people think
similar ideas, so, yeah, this must be good.
Do not be conformed to this world.
Instead, Paul entreats us to be transformed by keeping our minds on God.
Here, “trans” means “across or beyond.” To be formed beyond.
To become something new.
What happens when Simon Peter confesses Jesus is the Messiah, the manifestation of the
Living God? He is transformed. He gets a new name. He receives gifts, the very keys to the
kingdom.
And, turning back to Romans, notice how Paul reminds us that we are each given gifts
according to the grace of God.
We are gifted by God.
This world wants us to forget. This world wants us to focus on what we don’t have. To covet
the next cool thing. To convince us that we’re not good enough.
Don’t we know that feeling?
Hey, school’s starting – what all do we need to get?
If the interminable summer ever ends, then pumpkin spice season will be here, and how
did that go from a coffee flavor to a fashion trend?
Oh, stewardship season is coming up – how easy it is to think we don’t have enough.
What if, my friends, I told you that we are enough and we already have enough?
Our stewardship chair is probably having a fit right now but bear with me.
Our worthiness in life does not come from what we buy, make, or give.
We have been gifted by the grace of God.
I’m not talking about skills, talents, intelligence, or comedic timing here.
I’m talking about The Greatest Gift, and it’s not a song by Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers.
Seriously, friends.
Peter and Paul both point to the transformational reality of our belief as Christians.
What truly makes us unique? What power transforms our very being?
We are children of God.
Now, you’ve probably heard that thousands of times, but I suspect that you tend to focus on what’s familiar when you think of being a child of God. Your mind is automatically drawn to images of children – your children or grandchildren, maybe.
That’s good, but that’s not the whole message of being a child of God.
See, you are a child of GOD.
The God that created the universe – Big Bang or Adam and Eve or whatever creation story
captures your fancy.
Because God made all that possible – our science, our creativity, our nature, and our
whimsy.
God fashioned it all to work together marvelously, from atoms in their periodic chart to
cells with their specialized structures to galaxies a gazillion miles away.
God created the rules that hold it all together even as universes fly far apart in the expanse.
And all this is only a minute fraction of the total of God because God is BEYOND everything
we know and can describe.
There’s that word “beyond” again. You are called to be transformed not by anything you do
but by the grace of God. You are connected to a God beyond this world, and you are invited to oneness with that God of beyond.
See, when I say you are a child of God, I don’t mean you are like a child. I mean, you are like
God.
Being a child of God is not about you, it’s about GOD.
Our worthiness does not come from magazines, shopping websites, or online ads.
Our worthiness comes entirely from being God’s beloved.
The God of stardust and beyond loves you.
So, the next time you get an email for a weight-loss program or magazine reviewing the
next great technology purchase, remember this message.
[Opens magazines]
I am a child of GOD.
The Rev. Mercedes Clements
Year A Proper 16
Exodus 1:8-2:10, Psalm 124, Romans 12:1-8, Matthew 16:13-20
