“Are we there yet? No!...Are we there yet? No!”                                 

                                   Rev. Sharon James Fazel

                                               Jan. 31, 2010 

                                     Scripture- I Corinthians 13

Julie Polter, 20th century journalist and free-lance writer, often for Sojourners:
This is the big lie the world tells us: that the universe is connected by trade agreements, electronic banking, computer networks,

shipping lanes, and the seeking of profit — nothing else. Whereas this is the truth of God: all creation is one holy web of

relationships, and gifts meant for all; that creation vibrates with the pain of all its parts, because its true destiny is joy.

              “Are we there yet? No! Are we there yet? No!” Anyone who’s seen the tv show “The Simpsons” may well be

familiar with this bit of dialogue between Homer and his kids, on a car trip. I don’t often watch this show, but the sound of this

banter rang in my ears over the years, and still does even today, when we as a family head out on a road trip. It’s a classic

truth for anyone who’s driven any distance with kids. They don’t want to know how far they’ve gone, they only want to know

whether they’ve gone far enough yet! Have they come far enough yet to be considered “there”?

              And isn’t that really the way with all of us, regardless of age? We want to know how far we’ve come toward some

goal of development that we may or may not be able to define. We get an image of what that goal is, whether it’s success

in work life, harmony in home life, abundance in financial assets, fame or recognition in public reputation, or some other aspect

of self judgment we have nurtured since we first learned from our parents to do such things. Once we have that image, we strive

toward it, and we track our development with due diligence, measuring ourselves as we go. That’s the American Way! From the

global to the  individual/personal,  we are masters at creating and sustaining tracking systems for every walk of American life.

              Yet, here’s an interesting irony. Listen to another of this morning’s readings. What you’re about to hear is very

familiar to anyone who’s attended even just a few weddings in this century. Hear these words from the Apostle Paul’s first letter

to the Corinthians:

If I speak in the tongues of mortals and of angels, but do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have

prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do

not have love, I am nothing. If I give away all my possessions, and if I hand over my body so that I may boast, but do not have

love, I gain nothing. Love never ends. But as for prophecies, they will come to an end; as for tongues, they will cease; as for

knowledge, it will come to an end. For we know only in part, and we prophesy only in part; but when the complete comes, the

partial will come to an end.

You know, when Chris and I had been married for less than a year, we moved from Houston, Texas to New York City. Having

finished our “gig” at the Alley Theatre in Houston earlier than we’d expected to, and having done as much dinner theatre there

as we were up to, we woke up one morning and said to each other, “Let’s go to New York!” – and one week later, we were out

of there!

Working as young actors under the protective umbrella of a resident theatre company like the Alley in Houston, and living and

forging an acting career in Manhattan, were far different challenges. Houston was a cakewalk next to New York, even though

we clearly preferred the exciting diversity of that northern city, to the provincial flavor of Houston at that time. Yet – as actors, we

said, we were honed, we were practiced, we were trained, and we were ready for the Big Apple, the “where it’s at” for young actors.

What could not work out well for us? Ahhh, youth! Development and growth take time, regardless of how gifted we may be at any

one practice or profession or notion. It’s that truth we cannot seem to convey to our kids, and which our parents tried to tell us.

Paul tried to tell the folks in Corinth, too. “I know,” he told them, “you’re good at prophecy some of you, some are terrific healers,

others have particular gifts with language – but hold on! You’re missing the point: no matter how good you are at any one thing, it

just doesn’t count for much if you don’t understand love within relationship.  In a sense, this is Paul’s way of saying “No, you’re not

there yet”  just because or even if we’ve accomplished what we’ve set out to accomplish.  Growth and development are much more

than sheer achievement. And they are not grown from the soil of instant fame, but from the loam of well tilled perseverance over

time:

Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable

or resentful; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things,

endures all things.                                       

The call of Jeremiah as a child reminds us that age is not a conclusive signal that wisdom resides within the one called by divine

purpose. “Don’t give me the excuse that you’re too young,” God tells Jeremiah. “Just do what I ask, and remember that I’m right

here beside you all the way.” Just like love – indeed nothing less than the love of God – right there alongside us, whether we

understand ourselves to be “there yet” or not.

When I was a child [Paul told his church in Corinth], I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child;

when I became an adult, I put an end to childish ways. For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then we will see face to face.

Now I know only in part; then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known.

This part of Paul’s letter clearly speaks to development and growth over a lifetime. He contrasts our knowledge and reasoning

power as children with our expanded abilities in adulthood. And yet, even that growth does not yield full knowledge, since our

perspective on the world is incomplete, even as mature adults. Completeness will come, but what exactly that completeness is,

and when and how it arrives, remains ambiguous . It is some distant and intangible moment in the “not there yet” of our current

lives. And yet, it is the engine of love in the here and now that drives us to this inexact moment.

              I recall a time even earlier than Chris’ and my adventures in Houston and New York, when I was still at home in the

greater metropolitan DC area, in Maryland, wondering what to do with my life. Some recruiter for an airline attendant training

school called, or sent an advertisement. I can’t remember.  Whatever it was, I saw it as a tangible opportunity to prove to my

parents that I was realistic in my expectations of myself. I could be a flight attendant. I could travel the world serving people in

their seats.  I knew they would like this idea! And yet, I also knew I didn’t really want to do it; I just wanted to want it because I

thought my parents would approve, and not be disappointed by my hidden desire to pursue a career as an actor. Someone from

that school actually came to our house. She sat with us for hours, reviewing all the great things about learning to be a flight

attendant, putting me through some evaluation and some sort of test, and telling my parents that her school accepted only the

best of candidates! And, oh boy, I was accepted right there, that day. Salvation by flight attendant school. And all it took was a

check for $500 right then and there. Well, my Dad did it. He handed her a check and she left. And immediately, I felt sick at my

stomach. It took me a few days to get out in words to my parents that I just couldn’t do it. And, fortunately, my dad was able to

talk the school into giving him his money back. Images in the mirror of my projected future were dim and deceiving for me then.

But, when I saw more clearly after having decided to look not only harder, but smarter, I knew that I needed to follow the path

set by my heart, the dream that I loved. Had I not, I would likely not be standing here today. I most certainly would not have

happened upon the love of my life, Chris, in the Professional Actor Training Program, where we first met!

              The Apostle Paul told his Corinthian church: “And now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; and the greatest of

these is love.” Because we are members of families, who either do or don’t live within familial covenants with each other, and  

do or don’t maintain relationships through the years – we know that love indeed o’ertakes us only amidst a varying atmosphere

of challenges, surprises, and even grief. And yet, it’s worth it. Why? -- because we know that the human condition is not only

inconstant, but it is also fraught with contradictions. Yet one thing remains true, despite such inconstancy – and that is the

constant gain and generosity that flow to us from a loving God.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             

God calls us according to our gifts, whether we hear the call or not. And if we miss the part about our own gifts, God still calls

us to a life of acting from a place of love, even when love seems distant or foreign. Our rewards for listening to that call, and

acting upon it, are only truly manifested through time, as we ourselves grow in knowledge and awareness of ourselves, and

of others Praise God for the privilege and the joy of participating in such a journey.

Let us be in prayer together.

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