Our culture has been blessed by the African American Howard Thurman who has been called the American prophet of soul. With an impressive career as an educator in some of the finest universities in the United States, Thurman was a poet, mystic, philosopher, and theologian. This morning I want to share one his meditations with you as we continue this season of Eastertide.
THE GROWING EDGE
Look well to the growing edge. All around us worlds are dying and new worlds are being born; all around us life is dying and life is being born. The fruit ripens on the tree, the roots are silently at work in the darkness of the earth against a time when there shall be new leaves, fresh blossoms, green fruit. Such is the growing edge! It is the extra breath from the exhausted lung, the one more thing to try when all else has failed, the upward reach of life when weariness closes in upon all endeavor. This is the basis of hope in moments of despair, the incentive to carry on when times are out of joint and men have lost their reason, the source of confidence when worlds crash and dreams whiten into ash. The birth of a child – life’s most dramatic answer to death– this is the growing edge incarnate. Look well to the growing edge! (Howard Thurman, Meditations of the Heart)
As we reflect on Thurman’s words we realize that in a real sense all authentic religion is about “the growing edge” in life. In our Philippians passage Paul says he wants to know the power of the resurrection and realizes that the only way he can know that power is to place himself on the growing edge of life. He compares his discipleship to a marathon race. He knows that any serious athlete must have discipline, dedication, and focus. So he says that forgetting what lies behind and straining toward what lies ahead, he presses toward his goal of knowing Christ and the power of his resurrection. Paul states clearly that he has not already arrived. He is in process–he is on the growing edge of new life in Christ.
Now if we stop to think about it, how can our faith be anything else but living on the growing edge? If God is more than we can imagine, the goal of creation more than we can envision, and the love of God more than we can incarnate, then discipleship is of necessity a pilgrimage with the growing edge always before us as our next horizon.
Those who look to the growing edge in life will be spiritually conditioned for a faithful journey with God. They will not become mired down, homesteading some incomplete and transient stage on the way. They will be prophets who can see beyond the seduction and inadequacy of what is to the salvation and liberation of what can be by God’s grace and our faithfulness. They will be lovers– lovers of God, themselves, others, and the cosmos as they see the whole not only for what is now apparent but also for what is yet to be revealed. Like patient gardeners who plant unimpressive seeds and expect a spectacular flowering, those in love with life can tend God’s creation eagerly awaiting its rebirth while loving the beginnings for what they are–God’ s leaven about to rise.
During this season of Eastertide when we consider the resurrection of our Lord and the promised rebirth of creation, we would do well to look to the “growing edge” in all of life, for that is where we will find the Risen Christ beckoning us to follow him into God’s new tomorrow. And with such a splendid resurrection, none of us want to be left behind. Amen.
COMMUNION: The Quaker philosopher and theologian Elton Trueblood was once asked what he thought the most important word in the Bible was. Trueblood’s response was “and.” When asked why that common word, Trueblood said because it means there is more to come. There’s always more, and the best is yet to be.
The resurrection of Jesus is God’s “and” to every closure in history. There is always more. And this also applies to our discipleship. Each time we choose to follow him, we discover more about him and ourselves. We experience the ever expanding horizon of God’s 8th day of creation. And each time we come to this table, God’s “and” allows for a new beginning–a fresh walk with Christ. Whether it’s the second or the 1000th time around, with the Bread of life and the Wine of the New Covenant, God’s “and” is a miracle just waiting to happen.
COMMISSION: For the umpteenth time we are sent by God into the world to serve as the Body of Christ. This time may we allow for the miracle of God’s “and” to grace our walk with Christ as we place ourselves on the growing edge of life. Amen.
