Dave Brisbin 1.11.26
Back in Catholic grade school, the nuns would walk up and down the aisles drilling us through the Baltimore Catechism. We’d all recite answers from memory in that sing song way kids do. She’d ask, why are we here? We’d answer, to glorify God. Had no idea what that meant. Seemed to include praising God…all the time? I liked praise, assurance I was doing things right, right things, enough, part of the group. Was God that insecure?
Also seemed to include doing good works for God…the bigger and more spectacular, the better. But all these years later, I realize those works, however good, are ego-deep, and as mere accomplishments, God is not impressed if in the process, we still haven’t gotten to know him intimately. So, remembering that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, seems glorifying God is really reflecting God’s essence in our lives. Jesus came out of the wilderness saying that he and the Father were one. We glorify God by becoming indistinguishable from God in the way we choose and experience our lives.
We’re not here to do the things we do. We’re here to be so connected that we are indistinguishable from, one with, all that is. Does that mean that all our accomplishments are meaningless? Ecclesiastes says yes, all tasks are equally meaningless, unless through them we engage the task within every task: to fall back in love with the moment that contains the task, with the sensation of the work itself, with those and everything sharing it with us. Falling back in love is how we come to know God, is all God is hoping for in us.
This doesn’t mean we don’t pursue excellence in what we do. Without taking the task seriously, we won’t seriously engage the task within it. But Jesus is trying to rewire the way we look at the world, give us back our priorities. He said that there was no one born of woman greater than John the Baptist, but the least in the kingdom of heaven was greater than he. Even the least in the kingdom is still one who has fallen back in love with this moment.
God’s “greatest in the world” is anyone who realizes they’re nothing great except in their connection to everything else.
