Friends,

I had something good to write about that came to mind in Wednesday’s Gospel lesson that had something to do with spoilers in the Bible and how our very hearing of the Scripture gives volumes of meaning to the passage in Matthew 10. This is where Jesus tells the disciples to go only to the lost houses of Israel and not the Gentiles. Like me, you are probably a Gentile, so this suddenly feels like the first two rules of Fight Club, which are both “don’t talk about Fight Club.” Clearly, someone did not heed the instructions.

This whole train of thought got derailed when I came into the office this morning, and I remembered I gave our intern permission to bring in his new kitten, named “Bert”. Clearly, Bert loves me the most and favors hanging out with me in my office. He is tiny, and his little bell has saved his life several times when I otherwise would have stepped on him. My wife doesn’t remember this, but we decided ten years ago that we would make a decision on whether or not to get a kitten when I turned 40. I turn 40 in December, so maybe we’ll have our own kitten to play with in 2027…don’t tell her that this is on my radar.

Watching Bert explore my office fills me with awe at just how new everything is to this cat. Climbing onto my sofa seemed to be a new and enlightening experience for the creature. It felt compelled to launch itself up, claws out, and was surprised it stuck to the upholstery. From there, it ascended to the cushions and meowed until it gained the courage to not so gracefully jump back down. It now understands sofas. Scratch that. It certainly does not understand sofas; it learned something about sofas, and those two things should not be confused. It will continue to learn new things about sofas. Things of this general shape and texture are good places to find familiar laps to sit in. It may learn things that we wish he wouldn’t learn. This is where you can hone your claws. It will learn about the different textures that couches come in. Leather and fabric are different. It will not understand that one comes from the skin of cows, and it will likely never know what a cow is. It will not understand that the fabric likely comes from synthetic material, which means it comes from “oil,” that dark, thick liquid that is the result of ancient death left alone in the depths of the earth that we’ve been recently turning into everything, including sofas.

When Bert is grown, he will learn everything that he is able to learn about sofas, and he will think he understands sofas, but he will not. You and I are much closer to Bert than we care to admit. I know something about the universe. Many smart people have come to the same conclusion that the universe is expanding, and I watched a YouTube video about this, so I understand this concept exists as well. Everything is moving away from each other and is leading to a point where entropy can no longer do its thing, and there will be no more heat or life. I also watched a YouTube video about how time does not work in physics models of the universe, so time could not exist going in one direction; rather, it exists all at once, and we just cannot help but perceive it as moving in one direction. I may or may not have this concept correct, but I may know something else about the universe, but I do not understand the universe.

How could we understand the universe? We want to think that we understand these things, but we are really just like Bert encountering a sofa. I know how to interact with trees and all sorts of things; hell, I can be downright clever, but just because I know how to use something does not mean that I understand it, and that is ok.

What if we apply this same train of thought to scripture and our faith? The end goal is not to analyze God into submission; instead, if we are faithful in prayer, reading Scripture, and talking to others about our experiences with God, then we are learning how to interact with these sacred things. If we can determine that the universe is expanding, then we can discover all sorts of amazing things about God’s promise to us. When we believe that we’ve arrived and understand this dynamic, then we are really just admitting that we are either unable or unwilling to learn more. This can be terrifying. How do I know that what I believe is correct? Maybe you don’t, but maybe that wasn’t the task. Instead of trying to conquer this Church thing, come and see what you find. You could find the comfort you crave, a glimmer of hope, or realize you’ve been asking the wrong questions all along. These minor discoveries are not comprehensive, but they can still hold truth.

The universe is expanding, and we exist in a moment where we can live next to a cat climbing on a sofa for the first time. I am a Gentile, and I am drawn to ancient scripture and a savior who told his disciples not to go to my people, but here I am reading Matthew 10 yet again, finding a new way of reading the text. We are held hostage by so many things, such as time, location, and health, but I doubt that we are held hostage by God’s truth. Along with that ever-expanding universe, it is there for us to interact with, use, ignore, discover, but never to truly understand or measure.

Blessings,

Nick