In the TV series "Elementary", which is a modern take on Sherlock Holmes, Sherlock is a recovering drug addict, who, at the start of the series, is compelled to attend sober classes akin to the Alcoholics Anonymous meetings. He is constantly resentful about having to go to these classes, insisting that they are not helpful to him, and that he is perfectly capable of dealing with his own challenges.
In one particular episode, he is coming up to his one year anniversary of being sober, but he stubbornly refuses to attend the celebratory ceremony to receive a "one year sober" chip token. An interesting conversation later ensues when a fellow recovering addict points out to Sherlock:
"You think this is about you. It isn't."
"What?"
"This isn't about you. When you receive that chip, the
other people see that you can stay sober for a year, and it gives them hope that they can do it too.
That's why you go to these meetings. That's why we celebrate the one year chip. It's not about you!"
As many of you know, I lead a number of little groups - my church group, my bread distribution group, and my monthly life lunch group with workplace friends. Turning up is purely voluntary of course, but in order to have critical mass, I do care about the attendance. So by God's grace, I try my best to make every meeting interesting, with something to learn and take away.
But the focus of my takeaways is almost always on the new or young people. Because I have experience, I want to share this with them. Life lessons, anecdotes, or just teaching on some specific issue, that new or young people have yet to encounter or internalise for themselves.
What then, are the long-time, experienced people coming for? Well, sometimes to drum home lessons that we stubbornly refuse to learn even after all these years. There are certainly some things that I constantly have to relearn (and unlearn)! But, it can feel, at times, like "Why am I bothering to come? I'm not receiving anything. The speaker/organiser is not saying anything I don't already know. I'm mature enough to handle things on my own".
But as the otherwise formidable Sherlock learns - it's not about you.
If we are mature, if we have experience, if we have skill, we should no longer be turning up for church, bread distribution or any other meeting merely to receive, receive, receive. We turn up because when others see that we're still faithfully and joyfully serving, they receive hope that they can do it too. We turn up because we have something to give, give, give. Our time, our energy, our experience.
And when we figure that out, we have renewed and joyful purpose.
One of my favourite and oft-repeated stories is that of the Dead Sea. The Dead Sea is actually Earth's lowest point on land - 430.5 m below sea level! As we all know, water flows downhill, carrying with it all the dissolved minerals. So because the Dead Sea is the lowest point, essentially nothing leaves the Dead Sea (other than water by evaporation). That's why the salinity builds up, and it is one of the world's saltiest bodies of water. Consequently, no fish or plants can survive in the Dead Sea.
The principal source of water into the Dead Sea is the Jordan River, and upstream from the Jordan River, the Sea of Galilee. In contrast to the Dead Sea which only ever receives water, water flows into the Sea of Galilee and out to the Dead Sea. The Sea of Galilee is full of life, and it remains, to this day, a significant commercial fishing ground. I've actually been to the Sea of Galilee, and here's a picture I took.
The point is this. If we receive, receive, receive, and keep everything for ourselves, you would think we'd be rich. But life teaches us that the reverse is true. Only ever receiving, and looking to receive, with no outlet, leads to death (read Luke 12:16-21 about the man who was rich, and kept building bigger barns to store his own wealth). But if we receive, and we also give, then there is freshness, and there is life.
So the next time we find ourselves thinking "I'm not receiving anything", let's stop to think if the problem is that we are actually
too full to receive any more. The answer is not that it's time to stop coming. Rather, it's time to give! Have a joyful weekend!
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