Rev. Kevin M. Pleas

Genesis 28:10-17 World Communion Sunday - October 4, 2009

Jacob left Beer-sheba and went toward Haran. He came to a certain place and stayed there for the night, because the sun had set. Taking one of the stones of the place, he put it under his head and lay down in that place. And he dreamed that there was a ladder set up on the earth, the top of it reaching to heaven; and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. And the Lord stood beside him and said, "I am the Lord, the God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac; the land on which you lie I will give to you and to your offspring; and your offspring shall be like the dust of the earth, and you shall spread abroad to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south; and all the families of the earth shall be blessed in you and in your offspring. Know that I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land; for I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you." Then Jacob woke from his sleep and said, "Surely the Lord is in this place - and I did not know it!" And he was afraid, and said, "How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven."

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I had an interesting experience this last week. Actually, anyone who knows me at all would say it was pretty typical. Here's what happened. I had a chance to meet with our new Music Director, Tom Mueller, for a "getting to know you" session in my office. We talked for quite awhile, sharing questions and comments back and forth and making plans for upcoming events. Then I offered to show him around. He'd already had a couple of building tours, but I especially had in mind introducing him to all the light switches here in the sanctuary. If you've ever closed down the church after worship on Sunday, you'll know there are dozens of light switches to turn off, and some of them aren't where you'd expect them to be. When I first came to Camden it took me weeks to figure out how to turn everything on and off.

Anyway, while I was showing Tom the switches, I came up with a brilliant idea. Why not use a label maker to label on all the switches here in the sanctuary so that everyone would know which one works which set of lights. That would be especially helpful with that bank of switches in the stairwell in that back corner. You can't see which lights they work from back there and I'm forever flipping them up and down, and then running out to see if I've managed to get it right. Meanwhile, that blasted fire door keeps slamming shut behind you. So, I'll label the switches. Great idea! Last Tuesday, I found the label maker, brought it into the sanctuary, plugged it in and was all set to make history. It wasn't until that very moment that I discovered, in fact, those switches already have labels. I don't know who put them there, but most likely, they have had labels on them since well before I arrived, which is going on eight years now.

Normally, I wouldn't bother telling you a story like that. It's the kind of thing that happens way too often and always makes me feel like an idiot. But today I decided to swallow my pride and share it because it's such a good example of how easy it is to think we're paying attention when we're really not. In all fairness, things are a little fuzzy these days when I don't have my glasses on, which I normally don't when I'm turning off the lights. But still, eight years? You'd think I would have noticed.

On another but not unrelated subject, what do you think of the new Distracted Driver Law? Interesting isn't it? Very much a sign of the times. I hope it will have the desired effect. I hope I don't get caught myself. Lord knows I've been distracted while driving. We all have. But lately it's gotten to be an epidemic. I'm sure you've noticed how many people are driving with cell phones plastered to their heads. I've been guilty of that myself from time to time, although I try to make a point of pulling off. And we've all read the stories of accidents caused by people texting behind the wheel. Last week the Bangor Daily News told of a woman who drove right through a turnpike tollbooth during the 4th of July weekend. At the time, according to a state trooper, she was watching an episode of "Gilmore Girls" on her laptop.

Somewhere along the line, we seem to have gotten the idea that we can divide our attention up between any number of things without any of them suffering from our neglect. I used to feel so inadequate because I couldn't seem to get the knack of "multi-tasking." I'm afraid I've never been much good at keeping half a dozen balls in the air all at once. If I'm going to get any quality work done at all, I need to focus on one thing at a time, which is part of the reason I'm so often still working on my sermon on Sunday morning. The church is so quiet at that time of day.

Imagine my relief then, when people started writing books and articles on "The Myth of Multi-tasking." Having studied the phenomenon for years, researchers have discovered, lo and behold, that we are not actually multi-tasking at all, even when we think we are. The human brain is only ever capable of focusing on one thing at a time. When we have a variety of projects and distractions all underway at once, we are not and can not focus on them all. What we're actually doing, they've discovered, is rapidly switching back and forth among them. What's actually going on is what they call "switch-tasking," rapidly switching back and forth among the various objects of our attention. And, not surprisingly, all of that switching takes a fair amount of energy in its own right, which diminishes the quality of all the tasks we're trying to accomplish.

Fascinating isn't it? And tremendously important too, considering that the opportunities for us to be distracted are multiplying by the day. The New York Times recently reported that the average American household now has "about 25 consumer electronic products ... compared with just three in 1980." Twenty-five! Sounds like a lot doesn't it? After reading that article, Pam and I went through our house last night. We stopped counting when we got up past about forty, and I don't imagine we're all that unusual. We only have one TV. Of course, it all depends on what you count. Everything from cars to toasters to atomic clocks have electronics in them these days, not to mention all the TV's, computers, cell phones, game systems and, my personal favorite, Amazon Kindle book readers.

We are awash in toys, which is, we think, good for the economy. But I don't believe we've been given a very clear picture of what all this is costing us. The International Energy Agency, according to that same New York Times article, is saying that the demand for energy for all of these gadgets is expected to triple over the next two decades and, "To satisfy the demand from gadgets will require building the equivalent of 560 coal-fired power plants, or 230 nuclear plants." I find that rather stunning, don't you? It doesn't take much imagination to see that the implications go out in all directions. But for the sake of today's message, what it means is that our ability to give good quality attention to the things in our lives is being stretched beyond all reasonable limits, and there's no end in sight.

When we think about attention, part of what we need to keep in mind is that it is not infinite. It is a limited and precious resource. Imagine going into your favorite store with a wad of cash. (Not credit cards. Credit cards make us think we don't have any limits, which is part of the problem) Let's say your wad of cash is pretty substantial. You can buy a lot of things, but you can't buy everything. When the money's gone, you're done. I think that's a good analogy for attention. We've got a lot of it, but once we use it up we're done, at least until we get a hot meal and a good night's rest. I like it that we say, "paying" attention. It suggests that the things we attend to cost us something, which is in fact the case.

So our ability to attend is limited, and it's really important to keep that in mind, I believe, because we hardly ever truly value the things in our lives that seem unlimited. All the things that are precious to us are rare, limited, hard to get, easily lost. We value diamonds and gold. We value love and beauty and wisdom. We call them precious and rare, but we don't always realize that the fact that they are rare is part of what makes them precious. We value time, because we realize that we don't have in unlimited supply. But what is time if it isn't that collection of life's moments during which we attend, or fail to attend, to the things going on around us? Attention is a precious and limited resource, and these days, it is all too easily squandered on a multitude of distractions.

Truth is though, that's always been the case. Look at Jacob. There weren't any cell phones or kindles in his day, yet he still managed to become so caught up in the details of managing his family and getting them all to the holy land that he almost missed one of the most important experiences of his whole life. Reaching the end of a long day he lay down on the ground and tucked a rock under his head for a pillow. And then, God spoke to him in his dreams. God brought him a vision of angels ascending and descending the ladder of heaven, and of the very person of God promising divine favor to him and all his descendents. Upon waking, Jacob jumped up stunned that he had been standing at the very gates of heaven, in the very presence of the living God, and had been completely unaware. "God was in this place and I did not know it."

My friends, one of the great promises of our faith is just that. Whatever place we happen to be, God is in that place. Like Jacob, we may be unaware of it. But at the heart of our faith lies the conviction that no matter where we are, no matter what we're feeling or experiencing at any given moment, God is in that place. Jacob was right, both for where he was and for wherever we are. "This is none other than the house of God." "This is the gate of heaven." And if we believe that's true, and if we want to live our lives in that belief, part of what we need to do is become good stewards of our ability to pay attention. Make time to breathe. Make time consider whether or not you like how you are spending your attention. Make time to open up to what the present moment might have to offer you. Who knows what you might discover, what you might become aware of. The light switches already have labels. God is in this place.

Amen.