“A life worth living”

I will be preaching this coming Sunday at the Collins Street Baptist Church, Melbourne, the first Sunday in a 5 part series on “A life worth living”.

The Pastor, Dr Simon Holt, invited me and 4 others to address this theme during the month of June, whilst he is on leave, exploring a life worth living, no doubt. The idea for the series arose, he said, from an earlier blog post of mine in which I responded to Rabbi Kushner’s question ‘Was there something I was supposed to do with my life?’ https://www.tobefrank.com.au/reflections-on-text-and-context/gleanings-5-rabbi-kushner-was-there-something-i-was-supposed-to-do-with-my-life/

Here are just a few thoughts and elements of my thinking towards this week’s reflection.

First, there is an interesting presumption in the idea of ‘a life worth living‘. It is true that over millennia now, many of us have been guided by the reported saying of Socrates that the unexamined life is not worth living. In other words, we really should give some thought to what we think we are doing with the opportunities of our life and situation. No question about that.

But I am not altogether comfortable with the idea that we can actually determine the worth of life. Aristotle put forward the idea that we should not judge a person’s life as ‘happy’ or worthy of praise, until it was complete—in effect until the person is dead. Perhaps because they might muck up, in the end! More likely because it is in an overall perspective, rather than any specific circumstances, that we may see the character and meaning of a life.
Still, this presumes a stance of evaluation, as if we are in a position to judge the worth of a life. On what criteria, I wonder?

My approach to the subject is to recognize that of course there are purposes, objectives, projects, to which it is worth devoting our energies and best efforts, and we have a responsibility to do so, for the benefit of humanity and indeed the whole of life, the ecology of life. And it is worth seeking guidance from others about how to discern such objectives for oneself. The same principle applies to groups and communities. Together we have opportunities we should not waste and good things we can achieve.

There is, however, a much more fundamental consideration, I think. This is the recognition that in fact all life is a gift. In the biblical way of presenting it, we do not create ourselves. We are all creatures, in a world of mutual dependence. We do not create ourselves and we do not ultimately determine the ‘worth’ of life.

So here are some of the things I want to say on Sunday:

What the story of creation, and indeed the whole Bible, is saying to us is that all is given.
It is for us to learn to live in gratitude: to receive the life that is worth living and to live it to the full, in such gratitude.

In the Christian liturgy of Eucharist or Communion, a central word is ‘poured-out’. It is really unfortunate if the only focus of this thinking is on ‘the blood’. Really unfortunate.
What we are invited to see is the out-pouring of divine life, not just the story of Jesus’ death, but also of his life, and not just his life but all life, all creation.

Here is the great out-pouring of all life for life, all possibility for us: for exploring,        receiving, giving, engaging, trying, hoping, failing, trying again:
and in it all resting in the acceptance of a love that says: No, you did not change the world as you might have hoped, or achieved great wonders, but still you have lived, for living is its own value, and living in the knowledge that all life is given, we are all children of this one family, this one household of creation.

So my assertion is that it is into this communion that we are invited.
It is for this community of nations that the Spirit is poured out,
and it is in this living that we share a life worth living.