Senior Sermon at VTS

Thursday of IV Lent Year C
Exodus 32:7-14, John 5:30-47
If you were to find a collection of the rules for Calvinball you would see that the primary rule of Calvinball is “the following rules are subject to be changed, amended, or deleted by any player(s) involved. These rules are not required, nor necessary to play Calvinball”. To explain, Calvinball is a game from the comic strip Calvin & Hobbes, that Calvin and his stuffed tiger, Hobbes, often play together. The game, much like everything else for Calvin is based on his own imagination and his efforts to distance himself from what’s really going on around him, to distance himself from reality. In one comic strip Calvin even says “reality continues to ruin my life”. You see, Calvin cannot handle reality and thus he has an imaginary tiger for a best friend and creates games like Calvinball that constantly change so that he is always able to be in control. Calvin creates and lives in a world where he can define and shape everything.
In today’s reading from Exodus we see something similar, although not quite as humorous, with the Israelites having cast an image of a calf for themselves to worship. Moses had left the people to meet with God on the mountain. And when he was delayed in coming back down the people decided that they could not wait for Moses to return to them, so they had Aaron cast them the calf. They did this to try and shape their reality, to try and control their reality. Like Calvin, they were uncomfortable with how things were so they began to create their own rules, create their own game.
Jesus tells us of something similar in today’s Gospel reading, we’re told of another way of trying to control and shape our reality. Jesus says, “I have come in my Father’s name, and you do not accept me; if another comes in his own name, you will accept him”. Jesus comes firmly grounded in truth, not trying to reshape or control reality, but to show us what is real, what is true. This truth was too much for many in who heard it, recognizing this Jesus told them that they would not accept him and the truth he brought. Those who could not accept Jesus, he told them, were more likely to accept those who come in their own names, those who come with their own messages and understandings, those who come not grounded in God, but rather grounded in themselves and their own understandings and constructions of reality, of truth.
In both of these readings we see examples of people playing Calvinball. In each reading people desire to control and contain that which is greater than they are. They are seeking to create their own games that they can easily control the outcome to. The Israelites did it with their golden calf, and when we, or anyone else, come in our own name’s and not the Father’s we begin to create our own games and rules with our testimonies and ideas. In Jesus we have an alternative to all these feeble attempts to
construct and control our surroundings and the world we find ourselves in. In Jesus we see a truth, a reality greater than any games or rules we create ourselves.
When we take part in idolatry, whether it be through making golden calves or placing too much stock in our own words and ideas, we are doing nothing more than playing Calvinball. And while we may have fun or be comfortable we are only deceiving or distracting ourselves from what is really going on. To use the words of today’s Gospel reading, when we take part in idolatry, when we play Calvinball, we are accepting glory from one another, from ourselves. Jesus, however, tells us not to do this, rather if we are to truly believe, he tells us that we need to seek “the glory that comes from the one who alone is God”. If you were at Morning Prayer or are following the daily office on your own you’ll remember that in today’s Gospel reading Jesus tells us to deny ourselves, pick up our crosses and follow him, if we do this we are seeking glory from the one who alone is God, if we do this we cease to play Calvinball.