Metaphor

I don’t remember when I first heard the word Metaphor, but I am sure it was during an English Literature class in high school. It was a new word. It was also a big word. And I always wondered what it meant.

It was a strange word; I am very sure the teacher explained what it meant, but I am very certain that its strangeness was enough to confuse me.

Over time, I came to find an attraction for the word - which should remind you that sometimes it takes a moment for an attraction to grow. The more I came to like the world, the more I realized how metaphors help us articulate our deepest longings.

Truth is, there are times when what we say may not even be words but a transforming action that reflects the inadequacy and insufficiency of words. These acts remind us that words may not always be enough to capture what is hidden in our hearts and minds.

This past Sunday, right after worship, one of our parishioners who is very instrumental in the Refugee Ministry, Steve Alpern, approached me and, with such deep joy and excitement, shared with me the good news that he and his wife Linda have decided to welcome a Refugee into their home to live with them. I couldn’t believe it. Not that it was unfathomable or impossible, but it takes a lot of introspection fueled by compassion to readjust your life to accommodate a stranger in your home.

I was shocked and lost for words. But within my own surprise was this great sense of humble appreciation. It dawned on me that that act alone represents another version of a metaphorical language. The act by itself tells of something a little deeper than what the eyes can see or the mouth can tell-and that is exactly what metaphors do for us.

Metaphors help us to see something other than what we are looking at. Metaphors help us to discover a richer and deeper meaning to life. Metaphors invite us into the sublime.

Listen to C.S. Lewis:

I believe in Christianity as I believe in the sun. Not only because I see it every day but because by it, I see everything else.

Notice how Lewis is using the metaphor of the sun to explain his understanding of Christianity. We look forward to the sun rising, and when it does, we witness how the rising sun consumes all the darkness surrounding us. The dawn simply reminds us of a new morn.

The new morn awakens in us a new sense of gratitude for the gift of life. We fill our mouths with praise in thanksgiving for a new day, new life, new possibilities. That moment creates for us this new sense of awareness-that nothing is ever guaranteed but life itself. And because we have life, we have a new shot at making life count, and we have a new shot at life.

In Lewis’ understanding, if the sun makes him see everything else, then Christianity makes him see everything else, especially the value and meaning of everything, the purpose of everything we do, and the direction of where we ought to go. Christianity not only consumes his darkness, but it helps him to see.

With the metaphor of the sun, Lewis helps us to understand the light that Christianity brings into our lives, just so we may no longer dwell in darkness but among other things be able to see even our own darkness.

Over the past several weeks, we have been invited to support our annual outreach to Lake Elkhorn Middle School. This past Saturday, we delivered on our promise to the many students of Lake Elkhorn. We also joined students, staff, parents, and community organizations at a welcome back-to-school event. Our presence and gifts said more than what our mouths could ever say or our pens could write.

It is tempting to focus our attention on the school supplies that we donated, but what is unstated is our collective belief in the students-which is the message we are conveying not only to the students but to the parents and staff.

The ultimate metaphor, in my opinion, is the words of the Prophet Isaiah, who once said these words:

“Yet, O Lord, you are our Father; we are the clay, and you are the Potter; all of us are the work of your hands.”

The reality is that neither you nor I are clay. We are dust but not clay - if there is ever a difference. And the God we know and serve isn’t a Potter. But the Prophet Isaiah uses these metaphors to illustrate the potter's delicate work and patience. The prophet helps us to understand that, like the clay on a potter’s wheel, we are not fully formed.

The Prophet also helps us understand that just as the potter never gives up on the clay until the potter is satisfied with the creative work they intend to do with it, God doesn’t give up on us. God continues to work on us daily - yesterday, today, and tomorrow. The truth is that, like the clay on a potter’s wheel, we are all a work in progress.

The unstated fact of the metaphor of the clay and the potter is the intense interaction between the potter and the clay, and the fact that it is the potter who shapes the life and destiny of the clay. To understand this metaphor is to understand that we are not our own masters. Like the clay, we are at the mercy of the potter.

This is a somber thought, and it reminds me of one of the poems of the great hymn writer Charles Wesley. In the fourth stanza of his poem An Eye Single To The Glory Of The Lord, which has been turned into a beautiful hymn, this is what he wrote:

Here then to thee thy own I leave,

Mould as thou wilt thy passive clay;

But let me all thy stamp receive,

But let me all thy words obey:

Serve with a single heart and eye,

And to thy glory live and die.

Metaphor, the unstated, draws us into life’s deepest and richest meaning. To understand the unstated is to embrace the vibrancy and nuances of life and faith. Which metaphor would you like to use for yourself and for Christ Church?

I am thankful that we are not only surrounded by metaphors, but that they help us talk about life and the sacred in ways that are discernible, life-giving, and life-transforming.

Blessed Summer,

Manny+