The Rev. Dr. Patricia Ramsden                  May 9, 2010

                  Perhaps you’ve heard this story over the internet, but last week when I stood staring blankly in my kitchen not knowing what I’d gone in there for, it seemed all to real to me.  It goes like this:

Recently I was diagnosed with AAADD: Age activated attention deficit disorder. This is how it manifests:

I decided to wash my car.  As I started toward the garage, I noticed there is mail on the hall table.  I decide to go through the mail before I wash the car.  I lay my car keys down on the table, put the junk mail in the trash basket under the table and notice that the trash is full.  So I decide to put the bills back on the table and take out the trash first.  But then I think, since I’m going to be near the mailbox when I take out the trash, I may as well pay the bills first.

I take my checkbook off the table and see that there is only one check left.  My extra checks are in my desk in the study, so I go to my desk where I find a can of coke I’d been drinking.  I’m going to look for my checks, but first I need to push the Coke aside so I don’t accidentally knock it over.  I see the Coke is getting warm, and I decide I should put it in the refrigerator to keep it cold.  As I head toward the kitchen with the Coke, a vase of flowers catches my eye --- they need to be watered.  I set the Coke down on the counter and I discover my reading glasses that I’ve been searching for all morning.  I decide I better put them back on my desk but first I am going to water the flowers. 

I set the glasses back down on the counter, fill a container with water and suddenly I spot the tv remote.  Someone left it on the kitchen table. I realize that tonight I’ll be looking for that remote but I won’t remember where I saw it, so I decide to put it in the den where it belongs, but first I’’ water the flowers.  I splash some water on them, but most of it gets on the floor, so I set the remote down to go get some towels to pick up the spill.  

Then I head down the hall trying to remember what I was going to do.  At the end of the day the car is not washed, the bills aren’t paid, there is a warm can of coke on the counter, and the flowers are not watered.  There is still only one check in my checkbook.  I can’t find the remote or my eyeglasses and I don’t remember what I did with my car keys.   

Is this just a little too close to home?  Have you ever found yourself standing in the middle of a room, wondering why you came there at all, wondering what you needed that led you there?  Maybe a better question is have you ever NOT walked into a room only to discover that you have forgotten why you are there? 

         We are so filled with information, with choices, with multitasking that we can’t stay focused on only one thing for the length of time it takes to get from one room to another.  Even our prayer time can be filled with mental distractions:  God, I love you with all my heart.  I wonder if I took out the trash in time for the collection?

         The truth is that, like those first disciples so long ago, we are looking for something, someone, to give purpose and meaning to our lives.  That need is so profound that it is echoed in the first thing Jesus says to his disciples:  “What are you looking for?”

Are you looking for a sense of peace to fill the empty places of your soul?  Are you looking for 12 easy steps to total satisfaction?  Are you looking for the meaning behind it all?   That need, that desire, led to the vast popularity of a book called The Purpose Driven Life by author Rick Warren.  The book begins with the profound statement “It is not about you.  It is all about God.”    

          Those words echo the answer to the first question of the catechism.  Many of you learned it as teenagers when you were seeking membership in the church.  What is the chief and highest end of human kind?  What is the purpose behind our lives? Is it to make enough money that we can retire early and rest on our laurels?  Is it to buy a larger house in a better neighborhood?  Is it to be the perfect mother or father putting our children and all of their activities above everything else? 

The catechism answered No.  Our chief and highest end is not to glorify ourselves but to glorify God and fully enjoy Him forever.  As Rick Warren says, “The purpose of life is far greater than your own personal fulfillment, your peace of mind, and even your own happiness. “  You are far more important than all of that.  You are so important that the Lord of heaven and earth came down to show His love for you, to reveal His purpose for you. 

So, what if we return to the basic question Jesus asks: “What are you looking for?”  The answer comes in a question of the disciples themselves.  “Where do you live?”  To know our God, to find God’s purpose for our lives, we must go to where He lives.  We must spend time with God in prayer and reading the scriptures and we will find where Jesus is. 

         So what is Jesus’ answer to the question of the disciples “Where are you staying?”  It is an invitation --- “Come and see.”  It is the same invitation to you and me. 

But be forewarned

For Jesus lives where the poor live. 

Jesus lives where children are dying. 

Jesus lives with those who have no one else to love them.

Jesus lives in the community of faith.

And He is there strengthening the arms and hearts of men and women waiting outside the doors to the icu.  You can find Him there on each grief stricken face.

Jesus walks through tent cities housing our military in Afghanistan and across our globe.  Jesus is there in army tents turned into makeshift chapels and with families longing for their sons and daughters, fathers and mothers to come home safely once again.

Jesus is there holding the innocents of war, the unintended victims who were in the wrong place at the wrong time – the children who were made into orphans and the survivors without a sense of hope.  

         Jesus is there wherever the hungry are fed, the thirsty drink, the sick are made well, and the stranger is welcomed. 

         The places where He goes may not be pleasant, may not be safe, but still it is where Christ leads us. 

We must be willing to follow this man Jesus and stay with him awhile as we listen to all He teaches.  We need to stop playing it safe, avoiding risks, and maintaining the status quo and instead we need to risk loving the Lord our God with all our heart, strength, and wisdom and our neighbors as ourselves. 

         Let us make that commitment this day.  Let us, in the words of Jesus, Come and see.