Puzzler’s Corner Ecclesiastes 3: 1-8
“I Love It When A Plan Comes Together.”
This famous quote is attributed to John Hannibal Smith, the leader of a fictional team of do-gooders who seek to wipe out injustice as they stay one step ahead of the law. The t. v. show that coined the phrase had a 5 year run and later became a film. The premise on which The A-Team was based was not new.
Many films have used an intricate plotline to tease the audience with a series of twists and turns until, in the final scene of the movie, all the breadcrumbs or pieces of the puzzle come together and make everything clear. The reboot of the Ocean’s Eleven (Twelve, Thirteen and Eight) series is another example. We are merely observers as we follow how a team or group achieves success in their attempts to change a life, right a wrong or offer someone a chance to start their lives again.
Some groups are already established at the beginning of the film, while others must recruit members in order to anticipate and care for every contingency. Once the task is accomplished, or the goal is met, the group sometimes separates, and we are left to wonder what happens next.
Our Lord has provided each of us and all of us the opportunity to be part of His eternal plan. Each person is called to share the gifts they have received to help accomplish God’s purpose for all of creation.
The words from Ecclesiastes remind us that for everything there is a season. We may be involved in God’s plan for a moment, a month, a year or a lifetime. We may have the same tasks before us and repeat them again and again. Those persons who make prayer shawls or quilt blankets, for example, may follow a pattern that they have memorized because they’ve followed it so many times.
We are also invited and encouraged to try new things as the world around us continues to change in ways we did not predict or foresee. I don’t believe Zoom was familiar to most of us before the COVID pandemic affected how we relate to and interact with one another. Like the A-Team, we are asked to adapt our gifts and skills to fit the situation, not for our sakes, but for the sake of the people our Lord has called us to help. During conversations in your Mission Zones and your faith communities, I ask you to prayerfully consider how we can continue God’s mission in and for the world.
We may never learn how the good we do today will affect the lives of the people we help, or those who they in turn help. As Christians, we are continually being invited to be part of God’s team for the transformation of the world. As we look forward to how we can make a difference in the lives of others in the coming weeks and months, may we explore how, together, we can bring God’s plan together for all of His children. And Amen.