MOVING MO STUFF TO MO PLACES

And Jesus said, "Martha, Martha, you are worried about many things. Only one is necessary."

Jesus' words should be printed on every moving van in the USA. Packing to move cross country is a pain and a big worry. Indeed, the number one rule of packing is this: the more you pack, the more there is to pack. Why? Evidently your belongings are of the opinion that moving from one state to another is a really fun thing to do. So these allegedly precious possessions invite their relatives - stuff you didn't even know was in your house - to join them in the move. Suddenly, what you thought was going to be something on the scale of a small picnic turns into a family reunion.

And do your belongings - the whole realm of things you and/or the movers put in boxes and load onto the truck - practice abstinence? No. Suddenly they begin multiplying like rabbits. What had once been a drawer with a couple of sensible items in it now overflows with junk, which is the spawn of sensible items. Jesus has it right. "Only one things is necessary;" two will cause you trouble.

The number two rule of packing is this: the more you pack, the more you make new discoveries - like a secret passageway to an unknown dungeon beneath your house that you had totally forgotten about. And according to the realtor, a person whose business it is to know about these things, both the passageway and the dungeon have to be cleaned and repainted before you can put your house on the market. You may even have to phone an electrician because dungeons tend to be poorly lighted, and as everyone knows, you cannot sell a house with a dimly lit dungeon in this market.

The number three rule of packing is this: you pack up your stuff, put it in the moving van, drive across country only to take it out and put it in another house, from which your stuff will have to be moved again one day, proving that there really is no end to the pain and worry of moving. You may think that you are immune from ever moving again - after all, you got your "moving" shot when you got your flu shot and your shingles shot - but wrong. You're only in remission.

This Sunday, Nov. 8, the sermon will be "Practices of Christianity," based on Jeremiah 35: 1-11 and Mark 7: 1-13. I may use as sermon illustrations really embarrassing stories about members of the former congregation I served - i.e., people who live where I moved from to get here, including Martha Martha. But Cheri and I are here!