Tall Friends and Short Stories

​Why is it that my best friends in seminary were over six feet tall?
 
These guys loomed over me, but they were useful when we had to move. As they lugged our furniture from one apartment to another, they found some toys belonging to our 4-year old son.  "Look!" they said, "a Giroux-sized tricycle!  Look, a Giroux-sized desk!" And then they found the small ironing board my wife owned in college.  It was only about six inches tall, because it was designed for a desk top.  "Look!" they said, "a Giroux-sized ironing board!"
 
But I was the best in my class in New Testament studies.  So I told them Jesus taught that small is beautiful.
 
Jesus told a string of parables in which something small or hidden is an image of God's kingdom.  The kingdom of heaven, he says, is like a tiny mustard seed which grows into a large plant.  The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field.  The kingdom of heaven is like a small pearl of great price.
 
Don't be fooled by appearances, Jesus says.  Don't be fooled by size.  Something can start small and then become huge.  The kingdom of heaven may seem small and insignificant at first, but the day will come when the full glory will be obvious to everyone.
 
Small stuff makes a difference.
 
I have a book on galaxies by a science writer named Timothy Ferris.  He wrote words that relate to what I'm saying:  "It is true that we are tiny relative to the cosmos.  Everything is tiny relative to the cosmos.  Even a galaxy is but one among billions, and to fret about this is to confuse size with significance.  We are well-advised to bow to no tyranny of mere size, but to heed the lesson of Lao-Tzu, Aristotle, Leonardo, and Darwin" (and I would add Jesus), "who teach that the truth is less often attained by gaping at the grand than by scrutinizing the small."
 
Small stuff makes a difference.
 
The Christian community started small.  Just Jesus and a few followers.  But from that seed, the community grew and grew until now it is spread all over the earth.  There are Jesus followers everywhere.  And that is just the part we can see.  Much of the kingdom of heaven is invisible.
 
Never underestimate what God can do with a small seed.  Your gift of money can multiply in its effects.  Your kind word to someone can have a ripple effect.  Your showing up for someone in pain can make a huge difference. 
 
Small stuff makes a difference.
 
So my seminary buddies and I got ordained in June of 1986.  St. James Cathedral in Chicago.  Eight hundred people.  Seventeen of us getting ordained.
 
So when you get ordained, you kneel in front of the bishop, in my case Bishop James Winchester Montgomery.  He lays hand on your head and prays over you.  Then he hands you a Bible with these words:  "Receive this Bible as a sign of your authority to proclaim God's word and to assist in the ministration of his holy sacraments."
 
We knelt before him, one by one.  It came to my turn -- number thirteen.  The Bishop did the thing, and then I started to get back up to return to my place in the semi-circle around the altar.  That's when it got weird.
 
The Master of Ceremonies pushed my shoulder back down so I could not get up.  I thought, "Well, this is odd."  I tried to get back up again.  And he pushed me back down again.  So I'm thinking, "No!  They found out about me and I'm getting kicked out already!"
 
Then the Bishop smiled and handed me a second Bible.  My tall friends had secretly given it to him, you know, behind my back.  They had given the Bishop a Giroux-sized Bible -- just like this! -- and he handed it to me. 
 
This Bible is an inch and a half tall and an inch wide.  If you have a magnifying glass, you can actually read it.  I blushed bright red, and managed to stagger back to my place.  There were sixteen of my classmates kneeling in that half-circle, giggling at me, with eight hundred people watching, not quite sure what was going on.
 
This is a pretty small Bible.  But it made an impression on ME, let me tell you.
 
And if you get a magnifying glass and look up Matthew chapter 13, you'll find these words:
 
"The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed.  It is the smallest of all seeds, but when it grows up, it become the biggest of all plants."
 
Small things make a difference.
 
A member of our church once said, "St. Mark's is small but mighty."  God is working in us and through us.  God works in small things and everyday events.
 
God has always worked through what is little and quiet.
 
It's pretty mysterious.  Grace happens. 
 
Small stuff makes a difference.