Stick To Your Knitting

Embracing the cross as the core of Christianity

 Acts of the apostles 17:15, 22-18:1

 After Paul’s escorts had taken him to Athens, they came away with instructions for Silas and Timothy to join him as soon as possible. Then Paul stood up at the Areopagus and said: “You Athenians, I see that in every respect you are very religious. For as I walked around looking carefully at your shrines, I even discovered an altar inscribed, ‘To an Unknown God.’ What therefore you unknowingly worship, I proclaim to you. The God who made the world and all that is in it, the Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in sanctuaries made by human hands, nor is he served by human hands because he needs anything. Rather it is he who gives to everyone life and breath and everything. He made from one the whole human race to dwell on the entire surface of the earth, and he fixed the ordered seasons and the boundaries of their regions, so that people might seek God, even perhaps grope for him and find him, though indeed he is not far from any one of us. For ‘In him we live and move and have our being,’ as even some of your poets have said, ‘For we too are his offspring.’ Since therefore we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the divinity is like an image fashioned from gold, silver, or stone by human art and imagination. God has overlooked the times of ignorance, but now he demands that all people everywhere repent because he has established a day on which he will ‘judge the world with justice’ through a man he has appointed, and he has provided confirmation for all by raising him from the dead.” When they heard about resurrection of the dead, some began to scoff, but others said, “We should like to hear you on this some other time.” And so Paul left them. But some did join him, and became believers. Among them were Dionysius, a member of the Court of the Areopagus, a woman named Damaris, and others with them. After this he left Athens and went to Corinth.

             Have you ever heard the old expressing, “stick to your knitting”?  It means stick with what you’re good at instead of branching into areas where you have no expertise.  The most obvious example of this is when Wal-mart tried to be more like Target – you know, Tar-Jay – and sell high end merchandise.  They failed miserably and decided to “stick to their knitting” and be the best bargain store.  As a personal example, I tried this as a Carmelite and the Carmelite monks told me, “Stick to your knitting and go back to the Diocese!”  Actually, they were happy for me to stay; it was Jesus who told me in prayer, “Stick to your knitting.  I made you to be a diocesan priest.  Do that well.”  Did you ever see the movie “Chariots of Fire”?  Eric Liddell, the Scottish runner says, “God made me for a purpose.  But he also made me fast.  And when I run, I can feel his pleasure.”  When we “stick to our knitting,” when we do what God created us for, we, too, can feel God’s pleasure.

             We see St. Paul learning this lesson throughout the Acts of the Apostles.  In Acts 17 he tries to branch out into a new way of presenting the gospel message: he tries philosophical argument.  He’s in Athens, the intellectual center of the Ancient world, and he tries a new approach to speaking about Jesus, he refers to him as “the Unknown God.”  How did that work out for him?  It was an abysmal failure.  Paul realizes he must “stick to his knitting,” so he later writes to the Corinthians, “I decided to forget everything else and preach only Jesus Christ, and him crucified.”  When Paul stuck to his knitting, he converted the masses, and he could feel God’s pleasure.

            Yesterday, I attended a meeting with Bishop Taylor in Little Rock to discuss how the Diocese should handle ministry to homosexual persons and same-sex marriage.  I want  you to know Bishop Taylor takes this issue very seriously and wants to show great care and compassion.  We wanted to avoid two pitfalls: alienating gays by insisting marriage is only between one man and one woman, but also offending traditional Catholics by welcoming gays and seeming to compromise Church teaching.  We felt the predicament of Paul: how do you preach the Gospel in this brave new world?  In the end, I believe we must “stick to our knitting.”  That is, like Paul we, too, must resolve to preach Jesus Christ and him crucified.  In other words, instead of trying to discuss this issue in terms of how to define marriage, instead of considering it a matter of freedom and rights, instead of looking at it in terms of equality and tolerance, we should invite everyone – which means everyone – to know Jesus Christ and him crucified.  We must all embrace the Cross, which has always been the only way forward for any Christian in any period of history.  That’s how a Christian “sticks to his knitting.”

            In the seminary, I was having a hard time and I talked with Msgr. Hebert.  He looked at me kindly – he always looks at you kindly – and said, “John, this is your cross.  Pick it up and carry it.”  Such simple advice.  And when I did, I could feel God’s pleasure.

Praised be Jesus Christ!