The Mystery Box

Every Sunday, I am challenged during our worship service by. . . the Mystery Box!

Each Sunday, one of the kids in our church family  takes home a box, grandly spray-painted in gold and covered with “precious jewels.” That child is invited to put anything he or she likes, with the exception of living organisms, into the box and bring it back to church the following Sunday.  During the service, I open the box to see what’s in it.  And then I have to say something useful and memorable about the box’s contents, and connect it in some way to the Bible, Christian faith and practice, or generally to the things of God.  This game is also sometimes called “Stump the Preacher.”

Quick!  Say something biblically relevant about this Transformer toy, bag of Gummi Bears, stuffed hippopotamus, naked Barbie doll.  It’s a closed book test—no time to consult the Bible, the works of St. Augustine, or even call the bishop for guidance.

Of course, this happens to all of us, all the time, doesn’t it?  Every day, we are faced with unexpected challenges that call on us to reach down to the roots of our faith.  We make the decisions that are set before us by daily life, using the best judgment we have, and the light that God gives us for guidance.

What should I do?  The doctor tells me I have a serious heart condition.  My son was just arrested.  I just had a terrible argument with my spouse.  We could all add a million examples to the sudden, unexpected turns that our lives might take.  Over and over, we are handed a Mystery Box, and we have to figure out how to react.

We may not always have the Bible or authoritative sources to consult, or someone to advise us.  What each of us do have is a lifetime of experience to draw on, and the moral and ethical instincts within us.  There is, to be sure, a human tendency in all of us to put our own will and desire before the will of God. 

But there is also within us, even if we don’t always listen to it, a sense of what is right and what isn’t.  This is also molded from what we have been taught, the example of parents and others, and our religious traditions.  Christians call this the Holy Spirit within us, that guides and rules our actions.  It is this Holy Spirit that teaches us what to do with the Mystery Boxes that life sets before us.

With God’s loving presence in our lives, we should never be afraid to open the Mystery Box.