WHAT’LL IT BE: WINDOWS OR MIRRORS?

 

A sermon by the Rev. Dr. James G. Kirk

Harundale Presbyterian Church

Glen Burnie, Maryland

 

July 27, 2003

 

Text: “The Lord looks…to see if there are any who are wise.” (Psalm 14:2)

 

First Reading: Ephesians 3:14-21

Second Reading: John 6:1-14

 

            The question this morning is, “what’s it going to be: mirrors or windows.  Mirrors have the nasty habit of always telling you the way things are.  You look in the mirror and all you see is yourself.  Sometimes you like what you see.  Other times you can’t stand what looks back at you.  So, you may seek to have a make over.  Then there’ll be a new you.  When that new you looks back at you, again you may like what you see, or you may not.  Mirrors never let you get away from your self.  They’ll always be a reflection of who you are and what you see.

 

            Windows, on the other hand, let you look out at the world.  As long as there is a window available you’ll be able to see what’s going on.  Talk to people who work in an office without a window and one of the first things they’ll say is, they don’t know what the weather is, what’s going on, or what it’s like outside.  All of this became clear to me when I took a class at St. Mary’s Seminary.  To get to the classroom I had to walk down a long hallway.  On one side of the hall was a huge mirror; on the other were windows.  The windows looked out at the garden and trees that surround the seminary. It was very peaceful going to and from class to look out at the beautiful landscape.  While the mirror on the other wall gave the effect of it being a much larger space, all it ever did was reflect what was outside or let me see myself as I was going to class.

 

 Have you ever noticed that whenever there’s a mirror available you’re going to sneak a peek to look at yourself?  I was leading a workshop once in a room that had a mirror across the entire wall behind me. In front of me sat a gentleman who throughout the entire workshop never stopped looking at himself.  He’d fix his hair, make different faces, now and then look at me, but then go back to looking at himself.  After a while it became very annoying, but there was nothing I could do about it.

 

The psalmist this morning is making the same distinction between those who look at windows and those who look at mirrors.  It quickly becomes apparent that God looks at windows.  We hear how, “The Lord looks down from heaven on humankind to see if there are any who are wise, who seek after God.”  What God sees are those who look at mirrors.   The psalmist calls them fools. “Fools say in their hearts, ‘There is no God.’ They are corrupt, they do abominable deeds; there is no one who does good.”  In other words, all they see are themselves.  They’re looking in a mirror and can’t get beyond that to look out the window and perhaps see all the good that God has done.

 

The psalmist doesn’t want us just to look in the mirror.  The psalmist wants us now and then to look out the window.  When we do we’ll sound like the 103rd Psalm.  “Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me bless God’s holy name.  Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not his benefits.  Who forgives all your transgressions; who heals all your diseases; who delivers your soul from the Pit; who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy, and satisfies you with good as long as you live.  So that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.”  Now that’s quite a window of opportunity.  What is important to remember is the first sentence, “Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me bless God’s holy name.”  What that does is wrap us in a blanket of security that allows all God’s benefits to follow.  It gets us away from looking in the mirror all the time and looking out the window at all that God does for us: God forgives; God heals; God delivers; God crowns us with steadfast love and mercy and God satisfies us with good for as long as we live.

 

A couple had been trying to begin a family.  They had tried everything and nothing had worked.  When they looked in a mirror all they saw was seeming failure and frustration.  Then they resigned themselves to the fact that perhaps they would have no children of their own, but they had nephews and nieces who lived nearby.  They could see them whenever they wanted and shower them with the same love they would have given their own.  What happened was they were no longer going to look in the mirror and see what appeared to be failure on their part.  They were now going to look out the window at all the opportunities they had.  Well, as so often the case, as soon as they relaxed the wife got pregnant and delivered a beautiful, healthy baby girl.  God does satisfy us with good as long as we live.

 

It’s the same thing we do every Sunday morning.  We have a time of prayers.  We mention those who’re uppermost on our minds and hearts.  Every person we mention has undoubtedly looked in the mirror and not liked what they saw.  Some have cancer.  Some are not aging well.  Some have looked in the mirror and seen themselves as alone for the first time.  Others have looked and found themselves single, divorced, forsaken or otherwise cast aside.  Whatever it is the mirror has not been a friend.  What we’re doing when we mention their names is wanting to open for them the window of opportunity.  We want them to bless the Lord and forget not all his benefits.  We want for them a God who forgives all their iniquity, who heals all their diseases, who redeems their soul from the Pit, who crowns them with steadfast love and mercy, who satisfies them with good as long as they live, so that their youth is renewed like the eagles.

 

Elizabeth and I have a friend who’s coming to Johns Hopkins on Wednesday to have surgery.  Cassie is 37 years old and has a rare form of tongue cancer.  For the past two years she has refused to look in the mirror and see her deformity.  Rather, she has trusted that God will heal her and open for her the window of opportunity.  Now, however, she’s a little more frightened, because the doctors are saying they’re going to have to take more of her tongue.  There’s no guarantee even with this third surgery that they’ll get all of the cancer.  The surgery on Wednesday will impair her speech, her ability to swallow and make speaking more difficult.  She discovered this latest cancer when she looked in the mirror one morning a few months ago.  Now she desperately wants to be able to look out the window and see the God who heals all our diseases.

 

When God looks out the window of heaven what does he see in your life.  Does he see someone who acts wisely, who blesses the Lord?  Or, does he see someone who’s so intent on looking in the mirror that they can’t take the time to look out the window at all of God’s goodness and mercy.  Well, it probably depends on the day.  If things are going particularly well we all have a tendency to look in the mirror and congratulate ourselves on how good we look.  But when things are going badly and we don’t like what we see then we may look to God to make things better. 

 

It would be better if instead of Psalm 14 we concentrated on Psalm 103, for then we’d begin each day with blessing God with all that is within us.  We’d not forget all his benefits, and how he forgives, heals, redeems, crowns our life with goodness and mercy and satisfies us with good as long as we live.  Then, rather then always looking in the mirror we would throw open the windows of our souls and let the grace and mercy of God come wafting in.

 

Thanks be to God,

Amen