When You’re Number One

Wisdom 1:16 – 2: 22        James 3: 16 – 4: 6        Mark 9: 30 – 37

In late July I drove back to Maine to see my family.  One of the local landmarks on the drive downeast is Red’s Eats in Wiscasset, Maine.  I’ve passed this little roadside stand every summer since I was a baby.  As far as I know from my limited experience of 45 years on the planet, Red’s has always been there.

Two years ago it happened, Red’s got famous – I mean REALLY famous!  Written up in the New York Times, no less, plus a feature story on NPR’s All Things’ Considered, Red’s achieved celebrity status when it was said to have “the best lobster roll in Maine.” What that really means is “the best lobster roll in the whole world.” I’d seen Red’s since I was a child, I had never eaten there. Now that it was famous, however, I had to know what the best lobster roll in Maine tastes like.  So, this summer, I drove with the children down to Wiscasset where we arranged to meet their dad and his mom, their other grandma.  And after the rendezvous, I looked at the clock and saw that it was five minutes to 11 am, that meant 5 minutes until Red’s Eats opens, 5 minutes to the time for the best lobster roll in Maine.  And I was right there, and there was hardly a line.  In front of me were just two men, waiting for Red’s to open.  There was a carpenter from New Hampshire and then a man from New Jersey who had been waiting there since 8 am that morning.  He was on his way to work in Canada and was stopping at all famous sandwich shops on route.  He had a book that noted the outstanding sandwiches of the USA, and Red’s lobster roll figured prominently in it.  He seemed quite happy to be there on a beautiful summer day, waiting for a taste of the best lobster roll in Maine, probably the world.

I joined them, high with anticipation and we stood waiting, happily.  Then along came four well-dressed people, two men and two women. They saw that it was a few minutes to 11 am, seemed a bit frustrated that Red’s was not open, and knocked on the door of the little sandwich shack until someone opened it.  The serving window was not yet open.

“When do you open?” asked one of the women.

“We don’t open until the lobsters have come in and we’re ready.  Usually that’s around 11 o’clock.  But when you’re number 1, you can do what’s right”, said the woman who worked there.

And the well-dressed woman took that message back to her friends.  They laughed at the cheekiness of it “when you’re number 1, you can do what’s right.”

For the next 30 minutes we waited.  And I listened to the four people behind me count every second, wonder what the bleep was going on, and get more and more agitated.  A long line was forming behind them, and people were complaining steadily about the wait, all the way back.  They were complaining to one another, and calling on their cell phones to complain to people in distant places.  In front of me was the man from New Jersey who had driven all night and waited since 8 am.  He wasn’t complaining.  In fact, he seemed quite happy.  I wondered how I should feel?  Should I relax and enjoy the wait or should I get irritated and join the crowd?  I watched both moods vie for my attention.

After 45 minutes came the angry demand from the man behind me to his wife, the woman who had first knocked on the door of Red’s Eats to ask when they opened.  “This is ridiculous.  GO TELL THEM WHO WE ARE!!!”

Go tell them who we are!  Don’t they know who I am!  How dare they treat me like that!  How dare they say that to ME!

Don’t we all say things like that?  Don’t we all have those thoughts?  I’ve been plagued by such thoughts millions, billions, qzillions of times.

Go tell them who we are!  Who are we, exactly?

Somebody super important – in what sense?

Somebody who is very accomplished at being impatient, irritated and complaining.  When we practice it over and over, we get pretty good at it.

Somebody who thinks that they deserve better than this!  Better than what?

Somebody who does not have time for this!  What does that mean?

Somebody who is far too important to wait in this line with all these silly people to get the best lobster roll in Maine!  Okay then go someplace else and wait for something else.

What does that mean – “Go tell them who we are!”

James probably struggled with these miserable selfish thoughts – he was, after all, the brother of Jesus.  “Hey, go tell those apostles who I am!  How dare they keep me waiting.  I’m the brother of Jesus, don’t you think they should treat me with a little respect!”  As James asks pointedly, where do these thoughts of envy and selfish ambition come from?  I wonder. 

Jesus’ disciples, like most groups of people, had such thoughts, and these thoughts were not helping them seek the Kingdom of God.  On the contrary, these thoughts were just fueling envy and selfish ambition, they were building up selfishness, and silly, self-important identities. Jesus knew it, and he gave them the antidote.

Welcome the child, Jesus says, this is the antidote to our arrogance and impatience and general state of misery.  What does he mean?

The land of dirty diapers and two year old tantrums seems far from the land of “Tell them who we are!”  Imagine looking at a little child and saying, “Don’t you know who I am?”  The question sounds so silly.  And that’s when we know we are close to the Kingdom, when we begin to see how silly and useless and utterly without substance such thoughts are.  Ah, then we are coming closer to the glorious freedom of the children of God.  Then we begin to glimpse freedom from envy and selfish ambition and we can at last begin to take up the service of God.  And in the service of God it seems such a good thing to do, to welcome the child, to pass along what is most precious, the finest love and truth, to a new generation.

And it needs to be done.  There are three generations in the US that have no knowledge (or a very spotty and confused knowledge) of the Christian tradition right now.  When parents say they can’t teach church school, they mean it – they don’t have the education from their own upbringing.  It is a great opportunity for our church now to reach out to families with children – a rare and wonderful opportunity.  The hunger is very real, the great thirst for truth in a world where it is oh so rare, the hunger for love and compassion in a society where the coarseness of TV and shopping dominate the lives of the young.

Next time you find yourself waiting in line for an hour for a silly sandwich, give some thought to this: what can I share that is truly good news, and how can I share it with children?  How can I welcome the child, the child of wonder who lives in me and gives and receives Christ’s love simply and without artifice?  And how can I welcome the child who comes in great vulnerability into the church or the child I see in the neighborhood, or in the park?

Let’s get to work on this.  There are ample opportunities for you to help if you are willing to help here at the church – we’ve got a ton of work starting with children and youth right now, and help is needed desperately.  Let’s not let this beautiful tradition be lost – there is Love and Truth here, let’s share it.  What we’ve got here is way better than what they have at Red’s Eats.  And they’re number 1.  We’ve got finer food than that – food of Love and Truth – but it only lives when it is shared with the child.

The Rev. Edie Bird
September 24, 2006

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