In the summer when it became known that I would become pastor here at St. Ann while remaining director of the Newman Center, almost every person I received the same message over and over. “Father, you are going to be really busy!” Or: “How are you going to do all that work? You will be really busy.” Did I mention that you told me: “I was going to be really busy?” After a few weeks of listening to that mantra, I quickly realized that this was NOT going to be a healthy way of living. That if I followed that ‘map’ of how to do priesthood at two places, I would soon find myself crazy or burned out or both. (I get you can probably still make the argument about crazy..) I realized I needed another map, another way of thinking about my ministries. Fortunately, there was one available in a quote from St. Vincent de Paul: “Do the doable, not the impossible.” I don’t even know who said it to me, but I realized that this was precisely the map that would work. Do the doable, not the impossible…
Isn’t that precisely what we hear from John the Baptizer as the various groups approach him? You don’t need to do impossible to sustain those one time acts of repentance from the religious high that is your baptism here – the ones that will leave you exhausted and unable to minister over the long haul. Rather, look at the concrete reality of your occupation and vocation, and from there, do what is possible.
I suspect the Roman soldiers were the most surprised. As occupiers, they knew the locals did not have a high opinion of them. And they had done their share of the dirty work in subduing populations in the past. So they knew the reputation of ‘soldiers’ that they carried. You can almost hear the trepidation in their voices: “What is it that we should do? To their surprise, John does not ask the impossible. Nor does he demand that they give up their profession as occupiers. ‘Don’t use force to get your way, don’t file false police reports, and be content with your salary.’ Lessons that we are still learning in our post Ferguson world – John tells the soldiers not to abuse their power over people as they do their work.
To the tax collectors – ‘try a little honesty. Since nobody but YOU know how much tax the Romans are asking of the population, don’t skim off the top.’ To the crowds – ‘be generous with what you have, not with what you don’t have. Extra cloak in the closet – give it to someone who has no cloak. Extra food in the pantry – there are plenty of folks who are hungry. Generosity goes a long way, folks.’
To all three groups, John says the same thing: Do the doable, not the impossible. Be intentional about what you do – making sure that you are busy about what God desires for you…
• If you choose to write Christmas cards, do you whisper a prayer for the people as you write them?
• If you are blessed to go to a Christmas party, do you really ‘arrive there, and enter the conversations?’ Or are you still going through the laundry list of ‘to do’s’ which keep you from being present to the people right in front of you.
• Doing laundry … In your car driving … Studying for exams … in a job you dislike … is there a way to do that with love, and so be awake the fact that each of those moments is an opportunity to serve the Lord
• Shopping for gifts … Can we be intentional about different possibilities of gift giving – not STUFF, but things of blessing for people? The social Justice committee will be selling the ‘water with blessing’ kits that provide drinkable water for families without access to it.
Finally, one last thought about doing the doable and not the impossible. I discovered quickly on that it might be possible for me to play hooky kind of easily. To the St. Ann people I could say –“I’m up at Newman.” To the Newman people I could say – “I am at St. Ann.” And then I go golfing… Don’t lightly let yourself off the hook on what is doable and not impossible. Just because something is hard, does not mean it is impossible.
I learned quickly on, that summer of the change, that I would need a map to guide me as I worked two places. “You are going to be so busy” was not an option. I wonder if these last two weeks of advent hold the very same temptation for each of us: We tell ourselves, we are going to be SOOO busy getting everything ready for Christmas. Perhaps we are. But if we keep that mindset, we will miss what God is doing here and now. The choice is clear – attempt the impossible? Or do what is in your power to do? Which ‘map’ will you use?