Download Great expectations A question

Great expectations
A question; what is the most dangerous question?
I suppose one answer might be any question that threatens what we hold to be sacred;
anything that aims at the foundations of our security and beliefs. This morning I‘d like us to
take a deep breath and ask ourselves one such question; ‘what do we expect from God?’
At first glance that question might not ring any particular alarm bells, but the more we think
about it, the more we begin to realise what an important and foundational question it is.
And how we answer it will impact everything else we believe in.
So, do we have… great expectations? Or low expectations or no expectations of God
whatsoever?
The writer Jodi Picoult says ‘There are two ways to be happy; improve your reality or lower
your expectations’
I think I learnt the wisdom of the latter at a fairly young age; don’t expect too much and you
won’t be too disappointed. Aim low and anything is a bonus. That came in particularly
handy I have to say during those humiliating rituals of choosing teams for sports at school.
And that philosophy can certainly maintain a fairly steady, level-headed existence. But of
course it does also deny us the joy of dreaming and the benefits of aiming high.
Some of us I imagine will have very low or non-existent expectations of God. Maybe we just
don’t think that God is that interested in our tiny lives or maybe we don’t want to risk
finding out; maybe we’re happy keeping God at arm’s length. That way I get to keep some
independence, some control. Low or no expectations of God are easier to work with.
Others of us dare to believe that God is very much involved in our lives, that he has plans
and dreams for each of us, that he has made assurances and promises which he will keep.
Almost every human relationship involve some kind of transaction, some degree of give and
take. In even the most selfless of acts most of us, if we’re honest, expect to at least feel
something in return… some charitable sense of wellbeing as we donate to Children in Need
for example. So it’s not surprising that many human beings expect their relationship with
God to be a contract of sorts - ‘we do what You want and You bless us’; we scratch your
back; you scratch ours. And there’s a whole brand of Christianity out there called the
Prosperity Movement that actually preaches an extreme version of that. If we have enough
faith in God, they say, and if we honour our part of the bargain by giving away a certain
percentage of our money (often to some rich televangelist) then God is obliged to bless us.
And we are guaranteed two blessings in particular - health and wealth. Sounds like a good
deal doesn’t it, and as you can imagine it’s popular, especially among the poor and the
vulnerable.
They back this up with some impressive Bible verses and when neither health nor wealth
materialise they have a nice little exemption clause; it must be you, you faith just isn’t
strong enough.
I hope most of us can see how dangerous that sort of teaching is. We raise impossible
expectations and then blame the lack of return on a lack of faith. I think that a lot of us
however, myself included, subscribe to a more subtle version of that same theology. We
don’t of course expect God to make us rich, but we do expect him to keep us comfortable;
to supply our needs as we see them and generally keep us out of harm’s way. It’s what lies
behind those ‘why’ questions of life… why did God do this or allow this?
So what can we then expect? What guarantees or security does God offer?
Wealth? Well clearly not. Take this poor widow in the story today. She gives everything she
has, her last mite without any hope of return. And without a husband and no social security
the hard truth is that she probably went home to die. And that’s the experience of many
today, including many faithful followers of Christ.
What about health?, We will perhaps have heard stories of miraculous cures, but sadly they
are the exception rather than the rule.
Can we at least expect some peace of mind? Occasionally but for many of us it remains
elusive, it comes and goes. And for those of us with a mental illness for instance it seldom
comes.
What about a sense of God’s presence? Surely that’s one thing we can rely upon; it’s true of
course that God will never leave us for forsake us but for many that’s theoretical, we don’t
feel it. Like Mother Theresa some of us live with a profound sense of God’s absence.
So I guess this also rules out a carefree life… and a pain-free death. The Bible admittedly
gives us some clues about what lies after death…. but not many…
Not looking good is it? What’s the point if there are no perks?. Before I talk about some of
the things I believe we can expect from God, there has to come I think a time in every
believer’s life when we have to let go of all of our expectations; we have to as the 12th C
French abbot Bernard of Clairvaux said, move from ‘loving God for our self’s sake’, for what
we get out of it, to ‘loving God for God’s sake’, purely because he is.. and rather neatly that
brings us to the first thing I believe we can expect from God
We can expect a love that loves us simply for who we are, not for what we do or don’t do,
what we believe or don’t believe.
That’s in itself is probably enough, I could stop there, but what else can we expect?
With love comes the possibility of self-acceptance
With self-acceptance the possibility of forgiveness
With forgiveness the freedom from the things that haunt us and stick to us
With that freedom comes healing of the past, of the mind and spirit and just occasionally of
the body
With healing comes the raw material for peace
And with peace comes the knowledge of God’s presence, sometimes felt, sometimes not.
And that’s just a scratching of the surface. Each of you no doubt could add to that list.
Remember this however; all of this is a gift, and gifts must be received if they are to be
enjoyed. God never forces his gifts upon us, we each have to reach out our hand, let go of
our independence and control… and receive. And the gift we receive is always a seed, the
beginnings with which we and God together work with
There are two ways I think to be happy but they aren’t an either/or. Perhaps we need to
both adjust our expectations, improve them rather than lower them, and slowly work with
God to improve our reality
Before I sign off…one last question for you to mull over with someone over coffee at the
end of the service, one which might just be as dangerous as the one we began with… one
that certainly that could just change the world
What does God expect from us?