Perfection

I may have mentioned this before. One Sunday, years ago, I was teaching Sunday School.  I said, "When people are ordained, one of the questions they answer is, "Do you believe you are going on to perfection?" A member of the class told me I must be wrong - that couldn't possibly be a question ordinands have to answer in the affirmative.

I wasn't wrong. It's one of the historic questions that are asked of those who are going to be either commissioned or ordained, and their affirmative answer is necessary for them to go forward.

I understand what the man meant, though. We are all taught (and we know it from experience) that none of us are flawless. And we are taught that perfect means flawless. To claim that we might one day reach that "goal" seems to be the height of arrogance.

The more I think about the idea of "going on to perfection," the more I am convinced of the following: making the statement that I believe I am going on to perfection is not a statement that says anything about me - it's a statement of faith in God.

God is at work in our lives. Grace is at work in our lives. Moving us on to perfection is the work of sanctifying grace. Perfection doesn't mean flawless. It means wholeness. It means moving on to the being that God has created us to become.

So, to say I believe that I am moving on to perfection means nothing about my own actions. It is a statement of faith in God - a statement of belief that God is active in my life, and is changing me - transforming me - re-creating me into the image of God I was created to be.

I am moving on to perfection, and so are you!

Perfection

Last Friday, I wrote about the (unconfirmed) idea that Columbus wrote at the end of each journal entry that they were "moving westward."

In the United Methodist Church, when a person is being ordained, he or she is asked if s/he is "going on to perfection."  I told a Sunday school class that once, and they didn't believe me.  There are those among us who would never say that they are going on to perfection.

Are we?

Are we moving westward toward error free living?  No.  Do I think Wesley thought we were?  No.

What about wholeness?  What about communion with God?  What about moving toward who God created us to be?  I hope we can all say "Yes" to those measurements.  At the end of the day, can we say that we have moved westward toward perfection?  It might be a good evaluation to do each day.

Without movement toward perfection, its doubtful anyone could answer yes to the next question, "Do you expect to be made perfect in love in this life?"

Perfect Shells?

I've collected shells at the beach before; probably everyone who has walked on a beach has taken home memories in the shape of shells. In past years, I've collected ones that looked perfect -- whole and complete. I remember picking up what I thought was an interesting shell and then putting it back on the sand with regret, because it was broken.

This year, I changed what I did. I collected shells that were caught my eye because of shape or color. I didn't return any that were broken -- and almost all of them were.

So, for instance, in the image to the left, the circular pattern of the shell, which caught my attention, is only the top of a spiral shell -- the rest is missing.

As I was collecting the shells, I was thinking of it as a reminder of imperfection. God doesn't require us to be whole, complete, perfect. He loves us for our interesting colors and shape, and keeps us, regardless, or in spite of, or maybe because of our brokenness.

The shells are in a glass jar in my office as a reminder.

God goes a step beyond what I can do with seashells. He loves us into wholeness, so maybe the shells will remind me of that, too.