Just Like Everyone Else…

One afternoon while wandering around the community of Dingle in West Kerry, Ireland, Denise and I came across the former Presentation Sister’s Convent which now houses the Diseart Institute of Education and Celtic Culture. The one remaining nun keeps a small room in a private part of the convent while the rest of the building hosts education events and tours. (www.diseart.ie/visitor/harry1.html) In addition to the beautiful gardens and prayer pathways, there is this simple cemetery pictured at the top of the blog. In it, the sisters from the very beginning of the convent (1829) have been buried. One spot remains… and when the Lord calls for the last faithful nun, her earthly remains will rest with her sisters. On the one hand, it was very sad for Denise and I to think about the fact that she no longer prays in the beautiful chapel as she once had when the voices of her sisters would pray out the liturgy of daily prayers. Yet, on the other hand, we both smiled when we were told by shopkeepers that Sister still makes her rounds of the village and checks in on many of her former students who are now grown and have children of their own!

What struck me about the cemetery was the fact that it didn’t matter who you were in the Convent structure, when you were buried, each had the same grave marker. There were only two special markers which commemorated the First Mother General of the Order and the First Superioress of the Convent. In life they were all equal and in death they were all equal. Yet each sister had her own unique story and calling from God to serve as a Presentation Sister (they were a teaching order).

This was in a sense the opposite of what Samuel was facing with the people of Israel in 1 Samuel 8:4-10. Where the nuns were all equal in the sight of God and quite content to live their lives devoted to serving God and God’s people in Dingle, the people of Israel were not content to be the people of God who were governed and led in a different way from their neighbors. No, the elders of Israel came before Samuel with a complaint. “You are old and your sons do not follow in your ways; appoint for us, then, a king to govern us, like the other nations.” (1 Samuel 8:5)

Really? While I can understand their complaints about Samuel’s sons, I wonder why they had forgotten that they were not like the other nations. From the beginning when Moses led the people out of bondage in Egypt they had been guided by God and by leaders chosen by God. Moses, Joshua, and the Judges along with the prophet Samuel had led the people in the way that God desired. They were a people set apart. They were different from their neighbors who worshiped multiple gods.  But all that didn’t seem to matter to the elders when they confronted Samuel.

Instead of asking Samuel what God wanted them to do and who God wanted them to be led by since Samuel’s sons weren’t up to the job, they told Samuel, and in turn, God, what they wanted! We want to have a king just like everyone else! Samuel brought their complaints to God and God surprised Samuel when God said, listen to them and give them what they want. But before you do that, warn them just what they are getting themselves into.

What Samuel described to the elders of Israel should have been downright frightening! You want a king? You want a king just like your neighbors? Do you really know what you are asking for? You will get a king who takes your sons away and drafts them into his army. You will get a king who will take the best of your lands and make you work for him and give him the best of your harvest and flocks. You will no longer be free, you will be slaves once again! And when you cry out? Well, God may not answer you in that day. Yikes! The picture that Samuel painted was not pretty at all. The king sounded more like a despot and a greedy pig. The king did not sound like someone who would love the people and take their best interests to heart. The king sounded… well… human.

But nooooo, they said… we know what’s best for us… “we are determined to have a king over us, so that we also may be like other nations, and that our king may govern us and go out before us and fight our battles.” (1 Samuel 8:19-20) And in their quest to be just like everyone else, they got what they asked for. Fast forward a few generations and you will see the results of wanting to be just like everyone else. They would have puppet kings who were slaves essentially of conquering overlords from other countries. Their temple would be destroyed and they would be forced into exile. Life would not treat them so well once they got what they wanted. Oh sure, they would have the heights of King David and the United Kingdom, but that wouldn’t last. They would have a few bright spots, but most of their future would be not so pleasant to behold.

The Sisters of the Presentation didn’t want to be like everyone else. They felt called to a specific purpose and they knew that they had been called and set apart by God to be different. The same went for the monastic houses in Ireland and other places in the world. Now this didn’t prevent them from falling into temptation and becoming worldly by any stretch of the imagination. However, they would come back again and again to the point that they were called to be set apart. They were called to shine the light of Christ in places of darkness and despair. They were called to share the love of Christ with their neighbors… all of their neighbors!

One of the problems faced during the Reformation by the monastic houses was the immense power and wealth they had accumulated. Many houses had become corrupted by worldly power and greed. As a result, rulers like King Henry VIII of England were more than happy to remove such temptations from them and cast them out into the streets (if they weren’t executed by the Empire that is). Why did this happen? In an oversimplified answer, I would say that this happened, in part, because these houses which had been called and set apart by God wanted to be like everyone else. The leaders in the houses wanted special perks and privileges that their fellow monks didn’t have. Add to that the fact that many of the so-called leaders of the religious, and indeed the church, were younger sons of nobles whose fathers didn’t know what to do with them (you only need one heir) and so they bought them positions as bishops and abbots.

For me, it all comes back to the dear sister who is the last of her order in Dingle. She knows that she is set apart by her vows. She knows that her life is different from her neighbors. Yet despite this, she is a very visible and beloved presence in the village. Even though she was set apart by her vows, she is “one of us” according to so many in the village. Because she didn’t try to be better than anyone in the village, but rather chose to serve Christ in this very special way, she was one of them. The one who had been called and set apart was kin to her neighbors.

The cemetery at the Convent is full of the bodies of women who had been called by God. They were set apart and were different from their neighbors. Yet in their service to God and to their neighbors, they were well loved and respected. The people of Israel told Samuel and God that they wanted to be just like everyone else. How did that work out for them? Not so good I would say.

The lesson from these stories for me, dear reader, is this: Do you really want to be just like everyone else? No. For me, it is a matter of choosing this day (every day, actually) whom I will serve. During my 26 years in uniform I served our country and swore to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic. However, my ultimate allegiance was not to the Empire. I knew that I had been called to serve God as a military chaplain back in 1980. I knew that I wore a uniform just like everyone else in the service. I also knew that there was something different about my service. I was in uniform because of my calling to serve the Lord as a pastor in uniform. And in being a pastor in uniform I was just like my neighbor. I had the same housing, the same assignments possibilities, the same wartime taskings, etc. as my neighbors. I was just like my neighbor and yet I wasn’t.

Who or what controls your life? Is it a desire for power, prestige, money, or possessions? Or are you “controlled” by something different. Do you serve yourself or do you serve God. Choose this day, whom you will serve (Joshua 24:15)… Choose wisely my friends, choose wisely…