To Do God's Will

“Here am I, Lord; I have come to do your will.”  This is the refrain in our responsorial psalm.  How many of us really mean that?  It’s quite a commitment that’s supposed to rule our lives – to do God’s will.

We can envision this pledge as one we’d make to a medieval king or queen while kneeling before the throne with hand over heart and head bowed.  “Lord, or majesty, I have come to do your will.” The next question we’d likely ask is: “What do you ask of me?  What is your will?”  We would await the answer.

Here at Christ the King there is no physical throne – just a presider’s chair on which the priest sits for just a short while with most his time spent before the altar. That’s where he does God’s will that we believe involves leading Catholic worship with all of us together in communion as the Body of Christ with the priest acting as Christ's representative.   Part of this worship involves our understanding that God wills our well-being and the well-being of all creation.

God’s will is that we live together in a world of justice, non-violence, and peace.  God’s will is that we be guided by what we see in Jesus such as compassion for the hurt and marginalized, for the least of those among us.

Another way to understand the will of God is provided by Father Richard Rohr who recently said: “In the first half of life we usually internalize the voices of parents and teachers that…emphasize obedience to authority. Spiritual directors and confessors know that those internal voices are often mistaken for the voices of God for the rest of our lives. They might be God’s voice, and they might not. Normally the voice of God…is mysterious and un-graspable.

Rohr continues: “Second-half-of-life people, like Jesus and the prophets, live with their wills open to cooperate with God’s creative power. Desmond Tutu, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts to end apartheid in South Africa, summed this up well when he told me personally, “We are only the light bulbs, Richard, and our job is just to remain screwed in!”  

Are we light bulbs screwed in and doing God’s will?  When we are screwed in, how bright do we shine?  What’s our wattage – 40 or 100 watts?  Well, it really doesn’t matter.  As long as we shine and give off Christ’s light, that’s all that counts.

Helping us shine is the Holy Spirit.  In our Gospel reading we hear John say: “I saw the Spirit come down like a dove from heaven and remain upon him. I did not know him, but the one who sent me to baptize with water told me, ‘On whomever you see the Spirit come down and remain, he is the one who will baptize with the Holy Spirit…"

In the Gospel of Matthew we have a slightly different version.  Matthew adds, “And a voice came from the heavens, saying, ‘This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.”

Most of us in this church were baptized.  The Spirit – imaged as a dove – landed on our small shoulders to remain on and in us.  Now as adults can we honestly say we’ve been beloved sons and daughters with whom God is well pleased?  Have the doves that came upon us left for better feeders and seed.  The word of God is our seed.  The doves hover to see us spread it, but if we haven’t, they will not be pleased and might fly away.

If I was John speaking about the Holy Spirit, I might have said, “I saw the Spirit come down like a dove and like a raven from heaven, and remain upon him…”  All of us like the dove – symbol of peace and love, and that’s a great way to image the Spirit.  But, today with the world being in such turmoil and with so much violence and hatred, the white doves need help.  Black ravens are smart, creative, and aggressive birds that can tackle and solve problems.  Ravens are needed to help the doves, and all of us.

For those of you who may be asking, what is he saying?  Why the raven?  Most of us don’t realize that in the Genesis story of the flood and the ark, the bird first released by Noah that spotted dry land was the raven – not the dove that got the credit, prestige, and notoriety.  Let’s not forget the biblically important ravens.

Speaking of ravens, some of us might think of the city of Baltimore and the New England Patriots' opponent - the Baltimore Ravens.  Baltimore also is noted for its annual parade to celebrate the life and works of a man who might be considered like a raven meaning he aggressively, smartly, and courageously, but nonviolently, fought for social and economic justice.  His name was Martin Luther King Jr. Here’s what he said to his supporters the night before his assassination on April 4, 1968:

“We’ve got some difficult days ahead.  But it doesn’t really matter with me now. Because I’ve been to the mountaintop.  I don’t mind.  Like anybody, I would like to live – a long life; longevity has its place.  But, I’m not concerned about that now.  I just want to do God’s will.  And He’s allowed me to go up the mountain.  And I’ve looked over.  And I’ve seen the Promised Land.  I may not get there with you.  But I want you to know tonight, that we as a people, will get to the Promised Land.”

MLK said the Promised Land was where no one had to march for their dignity. It was where no one had to sing for their freedom. He said, “The Promised Land was that sacred place where all of God's children would stand as equals on level, fertile ground.”

Today in this sacred place we call Christ the King we must all commit to do God’s will by respecting the dignity of all human beings regardless of race, creed or color – regardless of social and economic standing. When we do this, we will have successfully reached our own mountaintops – we will see the Promised Land.  The doves – the ravens – will be on our shoulders.  God will be well pleased.

Deacon David Pierce