Love God. Live the Eucharist.

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Fourth Sunday of Easter, May 12, 2019: Big Foot

You fans of children’s movies will remember that there was an animated movie last fall called

SMALL FOOT. This summer there is another movie about Big Foot called THE MISSING LINK. Both look fun. They deal with the theory of a creature who is half human and half ape.

 

Well, this creature has many names . . . Big Foot or Sasquatch. But scientists have recently discovered that all the evidence of such a creature was all made up. It started back in 1958 and the original man who discovered the big foot prints, on his death bed told his children that he created the big foot prints (as a joke) and it all got way out of hand.

 

Likewise the famous film from 1967 showing a large ape-like man, was made up. It is all fake. Wow. But why do we fall for such mysteries? Why do we want to believe in such things?

Nature writer Robert Michael Pyle studied this and concluded that we want to believe that humans have not totally controlled nature. We want to believe in mystery.

 

I also believe that is why the Harry Potter books and movies were so popular. Likewise, the current Game of Thrones series. We have a yearning for the mysterious, the unknown, the magical.

 

Well, actually every time we gather for Eucharist, we gather for mystery. The mystery of a shepherd who would lay down his life for his sheep. The mystery of how and why Mothers (on this Mothers’ Day weekend) will do anything to protect their babies or kids.

 

But mystery is NOT something we do not know. Usually that is just ignorance. Mystery is something that has more to it than we know. For example, the mystery of a person, the mystery of a work of art, the mystery of one’s faith.

 

For example, you married folks, hopefully you are STILL discovering things about each other. Hopefully there is still a mystery to your relationship. As opposed to a couple who think, “I know exactly what she’ll do, or what he’ll order.” How boring! All relationships, whether that be romantic relationships, or friendships, or neighbors . . . are meant to keep growing. Keep discovering new things about the other,

 

Same with our relationship with God. It would be so boring to imagine that you know all you need to know about God. That your relationship with God continues to stay the same. That there are NO new discoveries for you. No new insights about God’s love for you,

 

The Eucharist is one of mystery. It embodies the mystery of God’s love for us. How God continues to believe in us, even when we can’t believe in ourselves. How God continues to laugh with us, at our foibles and mistakes. That God continues to delight IN us, as we stumble through life, through our attempts to be normal.

 

There are some things that can’t be explained. [Altar server comes in carrying a huge stuffed Teddy Bear.]   Oh my goodness, maybe there is a Big Foot? Nah, somethings just are not real. But God’s love for you, even though it is a mystery (such as how can God love me, with all these faults and sins?) is real

 

Big foot is not real, God’s love for you is real!

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