I’ve ben thinking a lot about Things during sabbatical —the stuff in our lives. I have explored the caverns of my wife’s grandfather’s basement; I have stayed in an AirBnB in Irondale whose kitchen inventory is a sheer accumulation of things left by former renters; my family took over the entire top floor of a sweet Christian couple in Birmingham; I have played Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild in a house in South Carolina which boasted of two arcade machines, three gameboys, more board games than I could count, and a minimum of seven game consoles, two of which were collectable.
In short I have seen and been dazzled by a wide variety of things in a variety of places across six states in a variety of conditions.
Things have a kind of life in God’s World. Sure it’s not the same as human life, nor is it the same as the lives of other animals, nor is it even quite the same as plant life, but it is life none the less. Pretend as we may to be fashionably modern people, disconnected from the material world, we still are —deeply and intimately.
Looking for a neck tie to wear to a wedding, I found a nice little one with pigs on it. Seeing me wear it, my wife commented “Oh! That is the neck-tie my father used to wear to weddings and funerals when he was a hog farmer.” Seeing me wear it, my father-in-law smiled brightly and wiped a small tear from his eye (he’ll deny this, but three of us saw it!). The life of this tie had become woven into the memories of his life, and now it had been woven into ours as well. My kids will show pictures of my family at the wedding to their kids one of whom may ask “where is that tie now, mommy?” Thus beginning a quest for the fabled garment.
Things can be a blessing to us or a curse. That necklace which when two people were in love stood as a sign of their mutual affection may be one of the first things thrown-out after a break-up. Things can work for us (e.g. the well-worn hasp of an old axe) and things can frustrate the work of our hands (“condemnable old contraption why do you always break-down?”). Things can be objects of our affection (“my teddy bear!”) or our anger (“if I ever see that photo hanging-up again…”). Things can serve us (e.g. that good ole chair in which so many books have been read) or we can be made to serve them (“I can’t live without my cell-phone!”).
Things take on a life in the Bible. Things cover our nakedness (e.g. garments of skin), things house us (e.g. 2 Sam. 7), things lend themselves to our work (e.g. Ex. 4:17), things hold other things (Judg. 7:20), things give life (Ps. 104:15), and things can be used to take life away (Judg. 3:20-22). This list only scratches the surface of “the life of things in scripture.” Everywhere they play meaningful parts. In the Bible things become creatures. Their life is related to ours by virtue of their being a part of the world God has made.
Things cannot be God (Is. 2:8), and they do not carry His Image as we do (cf. Gen. 1:26-28; Ex. 20:4), but they do play a part in His Story. And so the Collect for the Sixth Sunday of Easter in the Book of Common Prayer:
O God, you have prepared for those who love you such good things as surpass our understanding: Pour into our hearts such love towards you, that we, loving you in all things and above all things, may obtain your promises, which exceed all that we can desire; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
Praise Him for the Things which feature in your life with God.