The Whole Enchilada

The Whole Enchilada

I have heard younger folks use the term, “the whole enchilada.” I understand that it means the “whole situation, everything.” I guess this is the same kind of descriptive term my generation used when we said “the whole ball of wax” or “the whole shebang.” When I searched the term I found many references. The earliest appeared to be a comment from the Nixon tapes wherein Herb Kalmbach told John Erlichmann about the “whole enchilada,” meaning the entire thing he was talking about.

This got me thinking, what is the “whole enchilada” of our Christian faith? For me, it is the physical and emotional condition of being open and malleable to God’s influence in my life. It is realizing God’s presence in my life through the Holy Spirit.

I fear that what has caused the diminishment of our faith in the Western world today is because we are just too comfortable, too provided for, too busy, too willing to let others do it, too self-centered to get up from our mat (remember the paraplegic outside the Temple in Acts 3; a beggar who was, perhaps, too comfortable to get up and walk until Peter healed him in the name of Jesus).

In Western culture we have replaced God with our economy, health care, social security and life insurance. Hey, with all this, who needs God?

Well, as for me, I do. And, perhaps, you do, too. Despite living in a Great Society (at the expense of just about everyone else in the world) I need God’s enchilada – the whole enchilada – and not some appetizer bits. I need the whole thing.

I need God to be a better husband, father, priest, and friend. I need constant healing, restoration, and forgiveness. I need God to be the anchor in my life; to hold me fast because I know life itself is about turbulence, loss, and grief as well as joy, happiness, and fulfillment. I need to God fully become the person God created me to be.

So how does that happen? My God-needs get fulfilled when I serve others, worship in community, and study God’s word and what others have said about God. It happens when I pray for others and myself, when I give of my bounty to the “widows and orphans” of today. It happens when I engage in the “warp and woof” of my friendships and relationships. It happens when I am quiet in retreat. It happens when I am no longer afraid of the Holy Spirit’s action in my life and those around me. And it happens when I hear Jesus knock on my door and I willingly open it, step out, and follow. It happens when I submit.

As followers of Jesus, we are the people of resurrection. Henri Nouwen reminds us that "the resurrection does not solve our problems about dying and death. It is not the happy ending to our life’s struggle, nor is it the big surprise that God has kept in store for us. No, the resurrection is the expression of God’s faithfulness…. The resurrection is God’s way of revealing to us that nothing that belongs to God will ever go to waste. What belongs to God will never get lost."

Alleluia! Christ is risen and we with him -- now! Get moving!