Unfinished business

for Sunday October 23 (Proper 30)
Pentecost 23
Deut 34:1-12
There are many examples of unfinished business
Of Dickens’ unfinished last novel, a suspenseful thriller called: The Mystery of Edwin Drood
Chesterton says, " Edwin Drood, the last book, was a book designed by Dickens, but ultimately filled up by others"
Dickens left this incomplete and attempts have been made at completing it
Most not entirely successful.
Schubert, of course,
left his great Unfinished Symphony(and many other composers have done likewise).
There are many more examples of people who have not been able, or who have not been bothered, to finish what they set out to do.
Most noweher near as grand as a novel or a symphony.
Whether it the garden wall, or the new kitchen
or the trip to China,
Death, circumstances, inclination all work together
to render these incomplete.
So we are not surprised to see that Moses, is not able to completely see through the task that he has been given by God.
Leading the people into the Promised Land.
This is given a spiritual explanation ...it is a discipline for the failure to keep the holiness that God requires of his people.
It may seem a little unfair,
but says (amongst other things) that leaders have some degree of accountability
for the integrity of those they lead.
A curious twist in a dramatic story.
So Moses is able to look out, from afar,
on the entrance to the Promised Land
and dies before he gets there.
What he would have seen is curious
a semi-arid, almost uninviting land,
which nevertheless is the fulfillment of God's promise.
There is nothing of disappointment or failure
as they look out on this promise
as it nears its completion.
But, we begin to realise
that "incompleteness" is a fact of life.
We do not so much arrive as continue on the journey.
And though there may be stations on our journey
when we can stop and reflect,
we stay only for a little while
and then move on.
Pilgrimage
The language of pilgrimage
--the journey to the Promised Land--
is often the language that we use as we look at the life of the saints
and it might remind us that we journey
rather than arrive.
We look at the work of one such as Teresa of Calcutta
with a certain degree of admiration.
She achieved enormous things in her work of care for the poor
But we all know that her work goes on
and needs to go on.
It is not the end-point
but the ongoing journey
--her pilgrimage of solidarity with the poor---
that would seem to effect change.
It continues,
and it is this that is important
in the circumstances,
and in the lives of those on the journey.
For us
We may occasionally be disheartened
by the fact that not everything will be completed.
I felt my heart sink when I read this passage this week
“Will this be what my ministry is like
---a whole lot of slog, and so much incomplete--?”
Well, the answer is , ‘Yes!’
There have been stations along the way,
we can all think of special worship experiences,
of completed projects,
of special testimonies, often funerals, that tell
of the part individuals have played.
In our personal life there are milestones
in our lives, and the lives of our spouses, children, grandchildren and friends.
Sometimes though it is hard slog.
(Perhaps that is so at the moment.)
Our more mature reflection can be :
That the very nature of life is:
Journey rather than destination;
A pilgrimage rather than a place to put up our feet.
This does not always sound like good news,
BUT what sort of difference will it make to our planning, and our vision
and where we put our energies
if we realise that we are not so much planning to arrive
as to travel
Tension and optimism
There is a tension here
There will be some things that are left undone.
We can allow this to be a source of optimism rather than despair.
How easy would it have been for Moses to say:
"I failed because I didn't get there",
or for Teresa to say: "There are still poor people".
Instead they, and the others who we call saints,
give testimony that the life of faith is not essentially about Personal Achievement.
It is rather about our participation on the journey
it is about recognising that we are working together with others
and that it is essentially God's work that we are about.
God is its beginning, its middle and its completion.
In understanding this tension
we are set free to know that
it doesn't all depend on us.
While we are called to participate
...we are not simply to sit back and watch the other pilgrims...
the whole work does not depend on me
it depends on God
and God shares that work with us
(let us not let ourselves off lightly)
but we do not need to carry the burden
of how perfect the work is.
It is unfinished business
and will continue to be so
until all things are brought to their fulfillment
at the end of the age