Musings on the Daily Lectionary

When I was growing up in the Presbyterian Church, I think that I likely heard more sermons preached from the Apostle Paul's letters than anything else. That's certainly not the trend nowadays. The "narrative preaching" that I learned in seminary doesn't work as well with Paul. He is a bit wordy, after all, as this portion of today's reading from Romans demonstrates. "But who indeed are you, a human being, to argue with God? Will what is molded say to the one who molds it, 'Why have you made me like this?' Has the potter no right over the clay, to make out of the same lump one object for special use and another for ordinary use? What if God, desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience the objects of wrath that are made for destruction; and what if he has done so in order to make known the riches of his glory for the objects of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory - including us whom he has called, not from the Jews only but also from the Gentiles?"

But wordiness isn't the only problem with these words. Paul's description of God's sovereignty jars me. Yes, I know that Presbyterians and others in the Reformed tradition have always insisted on a radically sovereign God. But I chafe a bit at the notion of simply being the clay God fashions. I'm more impressed with myself than that.

Now clearly God has tremendous concern for humanity. The whole Jesus event makes that obvious. But it seems that I still want more. I want God to conform to my expectations, to work in ways that honor my notions of proper human existence. My father once told me, "Any God I can fully understand is no God at all." But I still want God to make sense. I don't want to be told, as Paul does, "But who indeed are you, a human being, to argue with God?" It sounds like the divine version of a parent saying, "Because I told you so."

But I did learn as a parent that sometimes, that is the only answer. And, in the end, isn't faith about trusting in God, trusting that God's reasoning, God's wisdom, God's plans, are better than any that I have?

(Click here to learn more about the Daily Lectionary.)