"Clothes that Fit" (1 Samuel 17:32-49)

Michael Gurian has written numerous books, most of them on the topic of childhood and adolescent development.  Many of his books include quotes at the beginning of each chapter or section, and given the topics he covers, one would expect these quotes to be from philosophers or psychologists or neurobiologists. 

However, one chapter in his book The Purpose of Boys begins with a quote from the 2007 movie Transformers: “Sam Witwicky, you hold the key to earth’s survival,” a line which is spoken by Optimus Prime to Sam Witwicky in the film.

It made me think of the camp I’ll be counseling next month at Loch Leven.  Often at camp, one night during the week is movie night, and I thought: What a good movie this would be to show to the high schoolers I’ll be counseling.

For those of you who haven’t seen the movie, it’s about Sam, an awkward, somewhat goofy teenager who discovers that robotic aliens from outer space are involved in a war, and earth has become the main battlefield.  And, indeed, Sam does hold the key to earth’s survival, although for me to explain why would take too long.

In some ways, it’s a remake of the story of David and Goliath.  Yeah.  David is just a teenage boy, not very popular – at least not among his many older brothers – and yet he holds the key to Israel’s survival.  Israel is involved in a war with the Philistines, who have just presented their number one warrior:  a ferocious giant of a man named Goliath. 

All of Israel’s warriors cower with fear and run from Goliath, too intimidated to even attempt to fight him.  Then David shows up, and asks them why they aren’t fighting.  Their response:  “Have you seen this guy?”

So that’s when David realizes it’s up to him.  He gets an audience with the king, and informs the king that he, David, will fight this Philistine. 

The king takes one look at David and says, “but you’re just a boy!”

But David – with perhaps a bit more confidence than Sam Witwicky has – points out to the king that, in fact, he is quite capable, having defended his sheep from numerous attacks by both bears and lions; and if he could fight off bears and lions, then – with God’s help – he should be able to fight off this Philistine.

One thing about David:  he knows that there is definitely some purpose for his life.  He feels called upon to defend his people, his nation, to offer himself to the service of some cause much greater than himself.

And that, according to Michael Gurian, is what so many young people are missing today.  A purpose.  A call.

So let me tell all of you “young” people today: there is a task, an important task, to which God is calling you.  There is a purpose to your life.  Discovering that purpose, and working to fulfill it, is what makes your life complete.  It’s what transforms Sam Witwicky and David and countless others from boys into men.

So before we go any further, pause for a moment and think about what it is that God is calling you to do.  What is the important task that is yours to complete?  In what way do you hold the key to earth’s transformation, earth’s salvation? 

Neither Sam Witwicky nor David were much to look at.  Not all superheros come with bulging biceps, rippling pecs, and a way with the ladies.  Most, in fact, are just ordinary people like you and me, people who go about their lives until they discover the one important task to which they are called.

I’m reminded of another movie, City Slickers, in which the old cowboy Curly says, “Do you know what the secret of life is?”  And he holds up one finger and says, “This.”

And Mitch, played by Billy Crystal, says, “Your finger?”

Curly says, “One thing.  Just one thing.  You stick to that and the rest don’t mean nothing.” [I had to alter that line a bit.]

Then Mitch asks, “But what is the ‘one thing?’”

And Curly, smiling, says, “That’s what you have to find out.

That ‘one thing’ is the important task to which you are called.  Theologian Matthew Fox says that “the universe is asking a great task of us today; it is extending to us a pressing invitation to reconnect our daily living to the Great Work.”

For some people, it takes an entire lifetime to find what their purpose is.  Some never do find their purpose.  Others, however, discover it early on. 

Nkosi Johnson died of AIDS at the age of 12.  Yet he felt that his life was important.  He once said, “Do all you can with what you have in the time you have in the place you are.” 

That’s a lot of wisdom for a 12 year-old.

If you need help discovering what task God is calling you to, consider these words of theologian Frederick Buechner: “Vocation is where our greatest passion meets the world’s greatest need.”  Just think about what your greatest passion is, and where that intersects with what the world needs … or even what your community or your family needs.  Think about where your passion and the world’s need meet, and you might find your “one thing.”

So David went to the king and said, “I’ll fight this Philistine.”  And once the king was convinced to let David give it a try, he set about clothing David with his own armor: he put a bronze helmet on David’s head; he clothed him with a coat of mail; and he strapped his sword on over the armor.

Then David took a few wobbly steps and said, “this isn’t going to work.  I can’t even walk with all this on.  This may be what you need to complete the task, but it’s not going to work for me.  The clothes don’t fit, the armor is too bulky, and I don’t even know how to use a sword.” 

And David took all that off, and went out to meet Goliath.

So often, what gets in the way of us doing our life task, accomplishing our “one thing,” is thinking that we don’t have all it takes to get the job done.  “If only I had this, if only I had that…. If only I had the right armor, the right clothing, the right tools….” 

Well, if you don’t have all the right tools to get the job done, then perhaps it isn’t the right job for you. 

Or perhaps you only think you need what you don’t have, because that’s what you’ve been told.  The king told David that he needed the armor, the mail, the helmet, the sword, and David could have easily said – despite his own beliefs and convictions – “well, if you say so.  If that’s what you think I need in order to get the job done, then I guess I better put it on.” 

After all, it’s hard to tell the king no.  Kings can be very persuasive.

The world can also be very persuasive, and the world tells us we need so much in order to do anything; that we’re not even whole and complete human beings unless we have what the world tells us we need.  Get this, buy that, you’re not ready, you’re not adequately prepared, unless you do all that the world is telling you to do. 

One of the things counselors often do to get ready for a week at Loch Leven is go shopping.  Sometimes the whole staff, after arriving at camp the day before the campers arrive, will then turn around and go back down the hill, into town, to Walmart, to load up shopping carts of candies and toys and trinkets and stuff, for the groups they will be leading at camp.

I have over 60 weeks of experience serving on the staff of various camps, and one thing I’ve learned is that the best, most meaningful moments at camp have absolutely nothing to do with the stuff that counselors often think they need to bring.  There is a supply room at camp, filled with things like markers and paper and yarn and so much more, and I’ve found that almost everything I need is there; and if it’s not there, then I probably don’t really need it.  Sometimes, things actually go better when my group of campers must figure out how to do what we want to do with the supplies we have.

I think there’s a real life lesson there.

At one point in his ministry, Jesus appointed 70 of his followers to go into various towns and villages ahead of him; and he told them to carry no purse, no bag, no sandals.  They didn’t need to burden themselves with extra stuff that they didn’t need.

My favorite translation of this passage has Jesus saying to his followers:  “You don’t need any equipment.  You are the equipment.” 

You don’t need to try to be like someone you aren’t.  You just need to be who you are.  Just be yourself.  Be who God created you to be, and do what God has called you to do.  Take what you’ve already got – your passion, your purpose – and find where that intersects with what the world needs. 

In Transformers, the military and government leaders had all the tools, all the knowledge, all the technology, all the equipment, all the intelligence – and they got it all wrong.  Same thing in the book of 1^st Samuel: the military and government leaders had the armor, the intelligence, the strategies, the technology and the equipment, and yet were unable to defeat the Philistines.

 It’s not the clothes or the equipment that make you the man or woman God calls you to be.  It’s not your fancy car or your iPod or your 401k or your 2^nd home.  It’s not the degrees you’ve earned or the shape of your body or the number of wrinkles you have or don’t have.

It’s time to stop thinking that you’re not adequate.  You are.

It’s time to stop thinking that you need this or that in order for your life to be complete.  You are already complete.

It’s time to stop thinking that you need to have a certain unattainable look in order to take your place in the world.  Your place in the world is right where you already are, and it has nothing to do with how you look.

As part of the body of Christ, you have the key to earth’s salvation.  It’s up to you to bring wholeness to this fragmented world. 

You don’t need any equipment.  You are the equipment.  You are the one God has chosen, to accomplish all that you are called to do.  As Optimus Prime says about the humans he has come to know at the end of Transformers: “I have witnessed their capacity for courage, and though we are worlds apart, like us, there's more to them than meets the eye.”

When he tells Sam Witwicky at the beginning of the movie that he holds the key to earth’s survival, he is speaking of his grandfather’s spectacles on which a code is written.  However, as Michael Gurian points out in his book, Sam learns over the course of the movie that the real key is hidden inside himself.  And that’s something that’s true for everyone. 

Meaning and purpose in life come from more than a slick car, or seeking to be independent of your wacky parents; it comes from having an essential purpose in the world, and working to fulfill it.