A little Lennon for Easter

"Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans."

-- John Lennon (1940-1980), lyrics to the song, "Beautiful Boy."

The epigram above is not found in the Bible, but the words usually find their way into funeral services I'm privileged to officiate or in my teaching at Southeast or in personal conversation.

I find the sentence to be trustworthy and true in the experience of living.

It would be easy to see Lennon's words sandwiched into one of the better-known texts of the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament), Ecclesiastes 3.

Traditionally ascribed to King Solomon but probably anonymous in origin, the writer in the first eight verses launches into a call and response after telling the reader there is a season (in life) for everything. It is a long litany, so we'll truncate the list and include just a sampling.

To wit:

A time to be born and a time to die.

A time to plant and a time to uproot.

A time to kill and a time to heal.

A time to tear down and a time to build.

You get the drift.

In the second half of Ecclesiastes 3:11, there might be a space to insert Lennon's wisdom.

Let's try it.

Ecclesiastes 3:11b: No one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end.

Lennon: Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans.

Graduation in the windshield

High school and university graduates are ordering caps and gowns right about now.

Teachers and faculty are checking on regalia -- all in preparation for commencement ceremonies to be held in a matter of weeks.

Many of those about to receive diplomas, hopefully most but certainly not all, have a plan for what to do after they leave the ceremonial stage.

We are familiar with the bromide: "Those who fail to plan, plan to fail."

True enough. Planning is important.

Plan, yes, but those wise beyond their years will build into life's carefully thought out blueprint a little flexibility.

Lessons of history

Any cursory examination of the history of the Jewish people during this week of Pesach (Passover), as it is the crowning culmination of Lent (Easter) for Christians, will reveal nothing went according to plan.

• Abraham was living life as an old man in Mesopotamia when he is called to leave all he knew and move to Canaan (Israel). Not in the plan. He went.
• Jews were forced into exile by Babylon in 586 B.C.E., leaving behind their geography, their national identity and their Temple. Not in the plan. They went.
• The disciples of Jesus, often confused by their Master's priorities, watched helplessly as He was arrested, beaten, crucified, resurrected and ascended to heaven. Not what they planned or hoped. They followed Him anyway.

In the last case, by following a course they didn't understand or even wanted, the disciples became apostles and built a church tradition that continues to this day.

By being flexible, by acknowledging long before an English musician penned his prescient words, they came to understand their lives were not their own.

God molded and shaped the apostles' lives into something beautiful and lasting -- what they never could have planned by their own lights.

Here's to flexibility this Resurrection Weekend, to listening and being available to follow.

Happy Easter.