Monday Reflections: Time Enough at Last
“The eye cannot say to the hand, ‘I don’t need you!’ And the head cannot say to the feet, ‘I don’t need you!'”
— 1 Corinthians 12:21
Photo by Violet Larimer/UnSplash.com
Recently, I was reacquainted with Rod Serling’s Twilight Zone. The show he created in 1959 met with great success. For five years he produced a weekly episode that would help people think about society and our role in it.
On season 1, episode 8, we are presented with Henry Bemis’ story. He was a bank clerk who loved to read. By his acknowledgement, he would much rather read than work, or be a family member, or have any interaction with humanity. As the story goes, Bemis takes his lunch break inside the bank vault. While in it, an H-bomb falls, killing everything and everyone, except for Bemis.
As he wanders outside, he finds himself alone. When he wanders to the public library, he finds all the books in the world. He had “time enough at last” to read unbothered. Now the big spoiler: the episode ends with Bemis breaking his eyeglasses. He had all the time in the world to do what he wanted to do the most and he couldn’t do it. He needed his glasses to read.
Sometimes we come to believe that we can do great things on our own. In some cases, it appears to be so. The marathon runner that finished the race seems to do it alone. The author of a book seems to have done it on their own. Someone who recently completed their doctorate, by all appearances, it looks like they did it alone. The athlete, the author, and the doctor will be the first ones to say that this is not true. The athlete needed a coach, the writer an editor, and the doctor a family who encouraged them to accomplish their goal. Reinhold Niebuhr wrote in his book, The Irony of American History,
“Nothing we do, however virtuous, can be accomplished alone; therefore we must be saved by love.”
Nothing we do, however virtuous, can be accomplished alone. The apostle Paul knew this very well. He wrote that even the least liked members of the body are necessary for full health. In the same way we need each other to accomplish what we think is needed. Bemis broke his glasses, but he needed more than that. He needed a community that would remind him that nothing can be accomplished alone. That is why we need love.
Prayer
Spirit of Life, you made us to be in community. Help us see others not as competitors but as collaborators in what you are calling us to do. Amen.
Rev. Eduardo Bousson
Senior Manager, Collegiate Ministries
The General Board of Higher Education and Ministry
The United Methodist Church
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Sometimes we come to believe that we can do great things on our own. In some cases, it appears to be so. The marathon runner that finished the race seems to do it alone. The author of a book seems to have done it on their own. Someone who recently completed their doctorate, by all appearances, it looks like they did it alone.
This last Sunday, as a guest preacher, I didn’t want to say something that would create a problem for my friend as she was coming back from vacation. This time I felt led to use empathy as the centerpiece of the sermon. Of course, at any other time in history, empathy is the safest thing to talk about in church. Except in our time. Empathy has become a dirty word and controversial even in the church.
When Paul writes to the Philippians, he is aware that his life is unfinished. He knows he still has more to accomplish. He is driven by his mission and his love for others. I know an unfinished life is not the same as an abridged one. They have in common that they are not complete, that there is more to do.
