Finding Meaning in Life

When I was a kid growing up in Iowa, we went on a lot of car trips. The grandparents lived far away, and my parents liked camping. So there were often times that we'd be on the road for 6 or 8 hours in a day. And I remember being really impressed to be able to sit still for that long. One time, though, and I can't remember if I said it as a joke or not, but... We got everything packed into the car, and we got out onto the main road, and then we headed out of town, and then we got on the highway, and we had been on the highway for about 5 minutes when I said those four terrible words....

You know what I'm talking about--

Are we there yet?

I think what makes it so tough for kids going on car trips to sit still for that long, besides a general lack of patience, is that you don't really have a sense of where you're going. The road signs don't help you, and so in some ways you're just sitting in the back waiting for something to happen. And, honestly, you don't pick where you get to go, either.

When we thinking about finding meaning in life, then, we can think about it in terms of a journey. Finding meaning means choosing a destination for your journey. Which, of course, makes a big difference in how the journey goes, doesn't it?

Another way to think about this search for meaning in our lives is to draw from Jesus' analogy of finding a treasure. I'd like to tell you about two parables Jesus used to describe the kingdom of God. In the first one, he tells a story about a pearl. This pearl was so beautiful, and perfect, that it was extremely valuable. Maybe it was the size of a basketball and that's how people could tell it was valuable, but my guess is that it wasn't, but that there was something else about its beauty that drew people. And a man who had been a merchant of precious stones and precious metals and gemstones and jewelry of all kinds his whole life, found this pearl at a sellers market. And the price was outrageous, but he knew that this pearl was what he'd been looking for his whole life, so he sold everything and bought that single, perfect pearl.

Or there's a story Jesus tells about a man who was walking out in someone else's field and he found a treasure. And when he opened up the chest, it was filled with wonderful things. So he ran home and sold everything he had so he could buy that field and own that treasure.

When we think about meaning in our lives, then, we can think about where our treasure is--where we put our time and our energy and our money.

So, if I were you, I might be saying to myself right now, "All right, Amy, what's the most meaningful destination a person can choose?"

Now, seeing that we're in a church, I have to admit a certain bias, which is that as church people, as people who have committed their lives to God, whether through a time of personal prayer, or through our confirmation or our baptism, we believe that a life lived in service to God is the most meaningful possible way to live. Because it encompasses more than the self, more than family and friends, more than our nation. It encompasses the entire creation, this life lived in service to God. This is our chosen destination.

I have another traveling story for you. When I was older, we moved to the suburbs of Minneapolis. And one of those suburbs, Minnetonka, has some beautiful winding roads that wind through some beautiful wooded areas. And the reason I know that is this. I went one time to visit a friend who lived in Minnetonka. And on my way back, I came to a particular intersection where I could either go to the right, which was the way I had come, and then I'd have to go over a highway and around a complicated exit ramp, and kind of loop out of my way to get back on the highway, or I could go to my left. I decided that I'd go to the left, and just take turns in the direction of home as I went, and that way I'd eventually get home.

So I did that. And about 45 minutes later, I found myself back at the exact same intersection facing the same direction. I had gone in a long circle of winding wooded roads. This time I took the way I knew to get home.

There are some things we can draw from this story as we think about journey and meaning. First off, it's sometimes a good idea to go with the path that's already known, even if it seems a little out of the way, at first. But I think this story can also be an encouragement for joining up with others along the journey. Joining with others through regular worship, Bible study, prayer groups, and other ways of taking part in church life, means having travel companions, a road map or sorts, and plenty of examples of both how and how not to act.

Now the Christian tradition has plenty of examples of people who live amazing lives, but there are also those who lacked humility, love, kindness. It’s true, of course, that it’s easy to get distracted along the way, even for well-intentioned people. We may be distracted by wanting to have a sense of control over what happens in our lives or in the lives of other people. We may want to have a sense of financial security, or to have others' respect and admiration--a sense of accomplishment. We may just want people to like us and to have a good reputation. And I don't want to say that any of these things are bad, in and of themselves, but if they pull us away from moving toward God, toward a life of serving God & neighbor, toward our chosen destination, then they are distractions, and we need to let go of them.

I'm going to play a song for you in a minute, and while you're listening, I'd like you to meditate on a couple of questions. The first one is this: if we're going to decide to go in a particular direction, we need to first know where it is we're going now. So I'd like you to ask yourself, what direction am I headed now? Where amd I going? Where do I put my treasure - my time, my energy, my money, my love? What is my destination?

The second question is this: Are you ready to move in a new direction? Are you ready to commit or to re-commit yourself to a life lived in service to God? Are you ready to step out in a new way? Are you ready to commit to something larger than self, family, friends, community, nation, humanity?

I hope you will say yes, because while we are all journeying, while you are searching for meaning, for that sense of something larger than yourself, something deeper, rooted, grounded, God in all God's mystery, in all God's glory, in all God's beauty, is lovingly searching for you. Thanks be to God.

The song is by a band called U2. It's called "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For," and is about someone who is searching and is on a journey.


I have climbed highest mountain
I have run through the fields
Only to be with you
Only to be with you

I have run
I have crawled
I have scaled these city walls
These city walls
Only to be with you

But I still haven't found what I'm looking for
But I still haven't found what I'm looking for

I have kissed honey lips
Felt the healing in her fingertips
It burned like fire
This burning desire

I have spoke with the tongue of angels
I have held the hand of a devil
It was warm in the night
I was cold as a stone

But I still haven't found what I'm looking for
But I still haven't found what I'm looking for

I believe in the kingdom come
Then all the colors will bleed into one
Bleed into one
Well yes I'm still running

You broke the bonds and you
Loosed the chains
Carried the cross
Of my shame
Of my shame
You know I believe it

But I still haven't found what I'm looking for
But I still haven't found what I'm looking for
But I still haven't found what I'm looking for
But I still haven't found what I'm looking for...

Side by Side, OR What is the Point of Coming to Church?

Scriptures: Matthew 20:1-16
Philippians 1:21-30

The workers in today’s gospel story both do and do not get what they expect. The owner of the farm comes to them and promises a day’s wages for a day’s work, and in the end that is what he gives them. But in the meantime he exhibits some strange behavior. Every few hours throughout the day, he goes back to the marketplace. Hey you, slacker! Why don’t you come and do some honest work. And you, over there—you look bored. Come and work for me. It’s the dream of every temp worker—to unexpectedly get work in the middle of the day. And what’s even better about it, at the end of the day the ones who didn’t work the whole time still get a full day’s wages.

I imagine that the first workers in the fields were paying attention when the owner of the farm drove up in his pickup to drop off a new set of workers. “He’ll probably pay by the hour,” they say to each other. When they watch him pay the newcomers a full day’s wage, I’m sure one turned to the other with a wink and said, “A little extra for us, then, eh?” So when they get to the front of the line, they get both what they expected and not what they expected: a single day’s wage for a single day’s work.

It is easy sometimes to think of time spent in ministry as a kind of labor for a wage. Some of us start young, from our first years in Sunday school, to pray to God, to serve others, to follow Jesus as best we can. There are also late bloomers, who come to God and a life of service after many years of wandering in the wilderness.

So if today’s parable leads us to expect that both the early birds and the slowpokes will get the same reward after all is said and done, then what is the point of starting early? Why go to church? Why work so hard? What’s the point of it all? Why not wait until the last possible minute, and then get a quickie baptism at the end, so that you can sail away into the sunset, gloriously sin-free?
Well, I think the short answer that Jesus is alluding to in his parable is this: living as a Christian, in some ways, doesn’t affect what happens after you die. Living as a Christian means paying attention to how you live your life now. That’s what Paul is talking about in today’s reading from the letter to the Philippians.

Paul is in jail, to be put on trial soon enough, for his so-called crimes against the empire. We know from church tradition that Paul was in fact later to be executed. And in this letter he knows that his death is near. Within a few months or maybe even a year or two, he will be reunited with Christ, whom he loves.
He writes to the church at Philippi from imprisonment, and talks movingly about what it means to be between conversion to Christ, and death in Christ. “For to me,” he says, “living is Christ and dying is gain. If I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me; and I do not know which I prefer. I am hard pressed between the two: my desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better; but to remain in the flesh is more necessary for you.”

And this gets at something that I believe most of you already know, but that we can all stand to be reminded of, which is this: The life of faith is not a solitary exercise in working out our own personal salvation. The life of faith is one that must be lived in community, because our goal, ultimately, is not to derive personal satisfaction and fulfillment from our faith, but to participate in the salvation of the world. To do this, we need companions along the way. As Paul puts it, he’s ready to face his own death, but he’s glad to be alive because then he can help the Philippians and by extension the whole church. Part of the joy of being a faithful follower of Jesus is helping others grow in that faith.

Anne Lamott, a learner herself, writes about why she makes her son go with her to church: “Most of the people I know who have what I want—which is to say, purpose, heart, balance, gratitude, joy—are people with a deep sense of spirituality. They are people in community, who pray, or practice their faith; they are Buddhists, Jews, Christians—people banding together to work on themselves and for human rights. They follow a brighter light than the glimmer of their own candle; they are part of something beautiful.”

This is not to say that living together in community is always easy. Community makes demands on us that we don’t always want to bear. It’s easy in churches, too, to lose sight of what’s most important and get caught in conflicts over both fundamental and petty differences, caught in cycles of over-working ourselves, or caught in confusion or plain old boredom. So it’s important to step back and remember why we come together each week—why corporate worship is vital to a healthy prayer life, why service alongside our brothers and sisters is both nourishing and necessary.

The truth is that, like those laborers in the field, we do not have a monopoly on God’s grace, instead, God calls us to share the good news of the gospel, and to help each other live into it. Paul encourages the Philippians, writing, “Only, live your life in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that, whether I come and see you or am absent and hear about you, I will know that you are standing firm in one spirit, striving side by side with one mind for the faith of the gospel.”

My secondary title for this sermon is, you may have noticed, “What is the Point of Coming to Church?” For most of you, since you’re here, it’s pretty obvious you have at least some idea of your own. But let me share with you a final image of the church that I hope will be both an encouragement and a reminder. Sometimes people think of church as a big washbasin—a place to go and wash off their souls before going back to living their regular lives. Far be it from me to disapprove of a clean soul.

But I think a better analogy is that of a base camp for mountain climbers—we come back here from our hard labors for rest and nourishment, to trade stories, get better tools, and learn new techniques. But ultimately the purpose of the base camp is to help us go back up the mountain—to do the ministry we’re called to do.

In the next few weeks and months, the visioning team will be helping our church as a whole do an inventory of the base camp. We’ll check our supplies, see if some tents need to be moved around, determine if everyone has warm jackets to wear, and listen for God’s word on what mountain we’ll be climbing next. While the official kick-off isn’t for a few weeks yet, I invite you to begin your reflections now on the particular gifts of this particular base camp. What makes this church a particularly good jumping-off point for ministry? How might we challenge ourselves to grow deeper in our love for God and neighbor? Where is God calling us to next?

As I said in the beginning, the day laborers who began their work for the owner of the farm both got and did not get what they expected. When their focus was on outdoing each other and receiving more pay than a fellow worker, they were disappointed. But each of us has been given many gifts and more through God’s generosity. Let us share with each other, then, the joy of working for the coming reign of God. We may be surprised to receive much more than we could ever expect. Thanks be to God. Amen.