Office Walls

When I was moving down to Florida I was sharing with my friend, James, how I imagined my office would look and how I would decorate it. I told James on the wall above my Bachelor of Arts and Master of Divinity diploma I wanted to hang my baptismal certificate. I may have degrees that can prove knowledge – but it’s really my baptism that frees me to be a pastor.

I also wanted to hang a map of the world. I wanted this map to serve as a reminder that it’s easy to get wrapped up with how God is working in this community and at this parish – but Christ calls us to a love that reaches far beyond our small personal bubbles.

I have almost been here a year and as I was cleaning out Sunday School classrooms I noticed a map of the world. As I picked up the map I remembered how I imaged my office as I was moving to Florida. I still didn’t have a map on the wall nor my diploma’s – much less my baptismal certificate. I took the map as a sign that it is time to make my office as I had imagined it a year ago.

I walked over to my office and put the map in the cupboard planning to hang it later. Yes, another couple of weeks go by and I open the cupboard and there was the map staring at me. So, I finally dropped everything and started to hang the map – and the diplomas – AND the baptismal certificate.

Then the next week I went to Kennedy Space Center with a friend. As we were walking out of one of the exhibits I noticed a map of the Milky Way and it had an arrow pointing to a little dot, Earth that said, “You are here.” That’s when I knew my office decorating was not complete. I need a map like that on my wall next to the map of the world.

God is so awesome that a map of the world doesn’t even begin to reveal God’s amazing creation. How can a God who has created so many universes call me by name in baptism? It is when I ask questions like that that I sit back in awe and say, “My understanding of God is still too small.”