Change of Plans

You know when you’re dreaming about a big, important, upcoming event? How you rehearse it over and over in your mind. You imagine who will be there, what people will say, what their reactions will be And as you rehearse it, you feel all the feels of the big day or night. The joy, the surprise, the sense of accomplishment, the love.

Because this is the event you have been waiting for. This is the event where you are one person before – and a different person, a whole new person after. This is the event which you believe will change EVERYTHING!

Like getting ordained, remember that?

And then it happens. It occurs. And, life goes on. Maybe it happens just like you pictured, maybe not, maybe a little bit of both. Afterwards you may feel great and invigorated, or, disappointed and dissatisfied because it didn’t quite live into and up to what you had been imagining for days or weeks or years.

The big events, the ones where there is a before and an after, rarely play out exactly as we anticipate. Because we are expert at creating future realities in our minds. Setting internal expectations and believing what we dream of and plan for will come to pass in the ways we imagine.

So, I wonder what John the Baptist was feeling as the one he had been waiting for was standing right next to him. I wonder what he thought when the one whose sandal he believed he was not worthy to touch, told him, well yes, actually, he was.

I wonder what he felt when Jesus didn’t echo his prophetic warnings but instead, rather unceremoniously, got baptized. Just like everyone else. Was he embarrassed? Was he surprised? Was he disappointed? Was he maybe, just maybe, a little ticked off?

I’d be! If I had told the crowds, “Just you wait! Just you wait and see who is to come!” If I had heralded warnings and calls of repentance like he did. If I was eagerly awaiting the rapture of religious hypocrites finally getting their just desserts and then, nothing, absolutely nothing happened. I am sure I would be feeling many things. I would be disappointed and confused. I would be a little angry, maybe embarrassed. I know my ego would be bruised.

John the Baptist was a prophet, but he was also a human being. And we are called to prompt people to remember our shared humanity. It’s what incarnation is all about.

One time I visited with a parishioner for a typical run-of-the mill house call. She was a longtime and active member of the church. She had lived in the area almost her entire life, her children had grown up in this congregation. Both she and her husband had taught Sunday school and led youth groups. They had been active in outreach ministries.

He was now deceased. She was still very much engaged in everything that she physically could continue to do. As I listened to her stories of a congregation I was just getting to know, as she told me about her prayer life and her faith, I began to realize just how “green” I was. I felt humble. I felt grateful. I felt surprised by the way God brings us into relationship with people we would never otherwise encounter. I felt slightly intimidated. I felt like I was where I was supposed to be.

When our visit was ending, I asked if she would pray for us, our church and for me. I had never done that before. As the priest, I always said a closing prayer. That’s fine, it’s typical, it’s what is expected. But after being with her for that hour it felt proper for me to ask her to pray. That felt fulfilling.

And when I was leaving I thought about that big event of ordination. That it wasn’t that everything changed before and after. The event was marking a beginning. Another moment to realize God was doing a new thing.

So how about you? When have you felt like John the Baptist, ready and willing and eager, but then God’s plans are different than yours? What ordinary events became extraordinary moments of connection and grace?

John the Baptist consents to Jesus’ request. He trusts. Sometimes we need to hear encouragement to do so. Or encouragement to not hold onto our plans so tightly. God will always surprise us. God will always do more than we could ask or imagine. Even if we don’t always feel what we want to feel, it doesn’t mean the story has ended, God is still and always working God’s purpose out.