Some years ago, there was a segment on Saturday Night live called “Deep Thoughts with Jack Handey.” Conceived as brief transition elements between the lives sketches, these usually–idiotic and often dark–humored ruminations gained a cult following of their own and were eventually published in a book. Some of “Jack Handey”’s memorable “deep thoughts” include:
- “If you ever drop your keys in hot lava, let them go because man, they’re gone.”
- “If you’re ever on fire, don’t look in a mirror. I think that would really freak you out.”
- “Maybe in order to understand mankind, we have to look at the word itself: ‘Mankind.’ Basically, it’s made up of two separate words – ‘mank’ and ‘ind.’ What do these words mean? It’s a mystery, and that’s why so is mankind.”
- “Before you criticize someone, walk a mile in their shoes. That way, you’ll be a mile from them, and you’ll have their shoes.”
Well, I admit to thinking my own deep thoughts lately, and while only time can prove their idiocy, I can at least assure you they are not as darkly–humored. I’ve been thinking about community and relationships and how we come together. I’ve been wondering about what it means to be a church NOW that’s different than THEN (whenever “then” might be), and how slow church systems can be to move between the two. I’ve been thinking about how this manifestation of “the church” that most of us have known our whole lives is such an anomaly when held against the whole of Christian history. I’ve been thinking about what it is that people are really looking for right now, and what the church of Jesus Christ might have to share.
And all along the way, I keep coming back to the fact that for all that this moment feels new and strange and uncertain, “there is nothing new under the sun”…… we’ve been here before. What lessons does the past have to teach us that we just haven’t heard or learned?
I’d love to hear what you think about some of these questions.
And if I were you, I probably would try to avoid mirrors if I were on fire. It probably would freak me out.
Remember, we’re all in this together.
Pastor Michael