When I get tired, it’s dangerous. It’s not because I’m grumpy or short with anyone, or because I’m more likely to make mistakes or forget something… it’s because for some reason, I get hyper-emotional. For example, I was tired when I saw the 2020 Hobby Lobby Christmas commercial; it wasn’t sad or negative or pandering in any way, but rather it was about an adorable older couple helping to set up a younger couple. Absolutely nothing to cry about. But I confess that I was moved to absolute tears, for no apparent reason…and boy was it annoying. I was also tired for a Geico commercial, every single one of those “arms of the angels” animal rescue commercials, and also the entire month of January. Now with the holiday season coming up, with every emotionally pandering idea and all those images of the stupid beautifully inspiring Christmas and Thanksgiving moments, I’m going to need to be on guard and fully rested, or else it’s saltwater season for me, and I do NOT like getting emotional like that.
If I’m going to be honest with myself, however, maybe there’s not so much wrong with being moved. When I think about the world in which we live, and how we are surrounded by things that somehow have become normal images that we now see every day, how in the world could we not eventually get tired? Images of wars abroad, pain and suffering and division within, anxiety and concern for those we love, fear of what comes next – any single one of those has the power to cement us in our places after wearing us down. We get tired of seeing the injustice, we get tired of seeing the pain and suffering, and we get tired to the point of not wanting to move.
Despite all those images, despite our exhaustion, and despite ourselves, may we never forget that while there are times we feel we can’t be moved, the Spirit himself begs to differ. The same Spirit that hovered above the waters at creation, the same Spirit that shook the earth at Pentecost, the same Spirit that descended on the Messiah as the heavens opened, and the same Spirit that raised Him from the dead begs to differ. Our spirits can easily be down and out, and our tiredness can easily get in the way of what we are called to do, but His Spirit cannot. May we be spurred on by THAT Spirit. May we never forget the goodness, the fire, the justice, and the movement that God inspires through His Spirit, and may we be willing to be moved, whether to action, to repentance, to remembrance, and yes, even to tears, by His Spirit. With that Spirit in tow, may we be bold enough to say “Restore, my spirit Lord, it needs restored.” May we be bold enough to say, “Light the fire in my soul.” May we even be bold enough to say…“bring on the commercials.”
Caleb Smith | Pulpit Minister
