On not making great things small…

Posted by on Dec 19, 2021 in Blog | 16 comments

I recently listened to a podcast in which Fuller Seminary President Mark Labberton lamented that religions (including Christianity) have a habit of making great things small. He said he initially heard the sentiment from his father – who at best was on the fringes of faith. He hadn’t really understood his father’s point until his own God encounter when he was about 18 years. His mother, who attended church periodically, realised that her son had experienced something meaningful, and so invited a pastor to come and see him.

Labberton says that the meeting felt awkward from the start, and it is easy to imagine why. He was an 18 year old not really sure why this middle aged pastor wanted to speak to him – but as the conversation progressed he remembers the pastor saying three things:

  1. He confirmed that Mark’s experience was valid
  2. He said he thought that Mark would (should) become a pastor
  3. If he became a pastor, he needed to select his denomination carefully because they weren’t all the same, but he could really recommend his own denomination because their pension scheme was better than anyone else’s.

Says Mark, that’s when he realised what his father meant. He had just encountered the God of the Universe, and the first religious representative he encountered immediately tried to peddle him a job and a pension scheme. As Labberton so perceptively notes, that is to make great things small.

Trivialising faith has been with us from the start. Jesus bumped into it the whole time – the endless debates about the Sabbath and what could or couldn’t be done on it saw him burst out, “The Sabbath was made for people, not people for the Sabbath.” (Mark 2:27)

I remember sitting through a church service after a week in which the world had experienced some truly horrendous disasters. Most weeks are challenging for our planet, but this week was tragic beyond the telling of it. In the prayer time we prayed for the churches mens ministry meeting which was coming up, for the church finances (which were down), and for more people to step up and help in the children’s program. There we were in our little ghetto – we who had been invited by Jesus to be the salt and light of the world. It was as though no one existed outside of that church. That is to make great things small.

I can remember preaching at a church attended by some of the most influential people in the city. The combined wealth and power of the congregation was staggering. During the announcements the pastor scolded the flock for being so miserly with their time – there weren’t enough people to help with the coffee roster, or the cleaning roster, or the creche. How could the church hope to have any influence if these ministries weren’t well supported. It didn’t seem to strike him that maybe that congregations greatest impact should be through what happened in the workplaces of its members Monday through Friday – and that a key reason that the church gathers on a Sunday is so that its members can be purposefully scattered for the rest of the week. To forget that is to make great things small.

I am writing this a week out from Christmas. In the background I can hear some music telling me about the antics of Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer. Improbable snowmen are on the front lawns of many of our neighbours (this is Perth in summer!), while colourful signs assure Father Christmas of a warm welcome in most of the homes in our area – especially if he is laden with presents which by and large are not needed and are likely to be forgotten all too soon. Now I am not against fun and celebration (especially after a Covid plagued year), but yes, without some care, that will quickly make great things small.

So here we are, a few days out from Christmas. The reminder rings out, the God of all Eternity has visited our planet, and has done so as a tiny baby thing. Hear the astonishing claim of John 1:14: “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us.” His name is Emmanuel – for that means, God is with us.

Perhaps the pressures of life make it nigh impossible to do anything with this great truth other than to trivialise it into reckless spending and too many calories. We could take a cue from Mary. Having given birth to the Messiah, and overwhelmed by news of a choir of angels and a visit from Shepherds, Luke 2:19 tells us that “Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart.” She came back to them again and again, and allowed them to shape her life. We could do worse than follow her example. And if we do, great things might remain great…

16 Comments

  1. So, so true! Thankyou Brian.

  2. Comment all very true and relevant Brian… I have felt for a number of years now that the “great thing” of Christmas has all but disappeared…

    • Thanks Barry. I guess it is up to those who know and live this great story to keep pointing back to it.

  3. What a timely reminder – thank you! May we never lose the real meaning of Christmas and our lives, for that matter, during this festive season – Jesus truly is the reason for all seasons! So grateful that Santa will never come for me because I’ve never made his good list but Jesus still comes for me and all of us who’ve been bad!

    • Thanks Sarah. God’s grace is certainly greater than our sins, our failures and our fears.

  4. This is a great message, Brian. How often we completely miss the eternal to obsess over trivial issues.

    • Thanks Brett. It often sneaks up on us unnoticed. Good to step back and remember the great truths – God is, God is with us, Christ has come, Christ has died, Christ has risen, Christ will come again.

  5. Brian, thanks for this very valuable reminder not to make great things small. Very timely for this Christmas season.

    • Thanks Stephen. Very good to hear from you. My love to your family.

  6. Great piece thank you Dr Harris. The smallness of our corporate prayers often concerns me too. I think it is good to pray thoughtfully about national and international crises in church, otherwise our worship can seem trite and unreal to people.

    • I think you are absolutely right Phil.

  7. Well said. The problem of making big things small and small things big is something that I have encountered too often and it makes me want to weep.

    • Thanks Ruth. It is strange how we so often let the petty dominate the agenda.

  8. Many thanks Brian. I think you are spot on. My challenge is not to fall into the same trap.

    • Thanks Phillip. I think it is a challenge for us all.

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