The Spirit Who Comes

Pentecost Sunday  May 31, 2009

(Sermons to Myself)

Acts 2:1-21;  John 15:26-27 and 16: 4-15

Romans 8:26-27;  Psalm 104: 24-35

They had been waiting and wondering for a while.  All that they had become familiar with had changed.   Their expectations regarding what it meant to be a follower of Jesus and sharing in his ministry was in flux and they had to shift gears – mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. Their relationships to one another was changing.  Now they had to deal with one another in a whole new way.  Jesus wasn’t there to settle their squabbles and inquiries.  Nothing seemed certain any more, not that anything ever was certain before, but before they had somewhat of routine, some expectations that kept them on the journey.  Before, they had Jesus right there to tell them what was what and where they were going.

On that Pentecost Day following Jesus departure, I imagine that the disciples, the 11 and the many others who faithfully followed Jesus, were scared, wondering, anxious, argumentative with each other, struggling within themselves, wondering if they had made the wrong decision to give up their secure and certain life to follow Jesus and his call.  Yes, there were recent occasions when Jesus “appeared” or was “revealed” to be alive since that awful Passover weekend, what we have come to call Easter.  It wasn’t called “Easter” for them.  It was called a time of panic, doubt, sadness, disbelief, and tentative hope and joy, all at once.  Some had been visited by an alive Christ who informed them that, while he was going, he wasn’t going to leave them alone. They were to wait for further instruction that would surely come. Unplanned, with a strategy, they were entering the time in which their own transformation in the spiritual life was going to take on whole new meaning and action.  It was a time of “unknowing”.

The Pentecost story of Acts chapter 2 tells of the pouring out of the Spirit of Jesus, the Holy Spirit of God, as the faithful waited for what was to be next.  In that great event, experienced and witnessed by so very many, God swept in with a promise that enabled uncertain, frightened, anxious people, who didn’t know what they were doing, to be and do amazing things.  These followers only became what they became through the presence of God’s Spirit among them.

The writing of “Gospel according to John”, whom we assume to be the disciple John, was written perhaps 60 years after the events of Jesus’ life.  “Hind sight is always 20/20”, they say.  Looking back at life one can see more clearly the unfolding of the story and what was important.  Sometimes what was thought to be significant in the midst of experience is later realized to be not so important.  Looking back, John can remember, reflect, contemplate, and in his telling, highlight what came to be the important pieces in the journey.  After 50+ years of living life with the Spirit, John had keener insight into who this Spirit sent from Jesus, sent from the Father, was to be and do within each one’s life and within community life.

John is the one who calls the Spirit of Jesus, the Spirit sent from God, the “Advocate” (NRSV).  “Parakletos” is the Greek; para meaning “with, alongside, beside, near, in the presence of”; kletos meaning “called or invited”.  John had come to know the Spirit as the One who was called to come alongside, or invited to be the very presence of God nearby, or with us. 

In the earlier long farewell discourse of Jesus (John 13-17), Jesus tells his disciples that he would not leave them alone, but would send the Advocate/Parakletos (Jn 14:15f).  This Advocate who comes alongside them in their confusion, uncertainty, and “unknowing” will come to teach or testify, to encourage, to speak the truth as the Advocate is also called “The Spirit of Truth”, will declare things to come, and will glorify Christ.  And so on the day of Pentecost, in their confusion uncertainty, and “unknowing”, while they were expectant and yet without clear expectations, the Parakletos, the Spirit of Truth blows into their lives and enables them to have the courage to step into the unknown.

The first thing that happens is that they stand up with boldness.   The Spirit, alongside, nearby, and within them and their new calling, enabled them to speak, and be understood in amazing ways.  This was not their own doing, not that they ever took credit for getting things good or right.  This was the Spirit at work in them.  They were able to “testify” or simply to tell the story of Jesus in a way that was transformative for themselves and for their hearers.  With courage they were empowered to speak the truth they had come to know.  The Spirit of Truth, the same Spirit that was in Jesus, began to be their leader, to guide them, to teach them, to make things clearer, to convince and convict them about and uncover for them, Truth.

Perhaps this Parakletos, this Spirit of Truth, proved or convicted or convinced them of their own “missing the mark” about God, or about what was and wasn’t righteous and good, or helped them to see judgment and justice in a new way, that was truer to the heart of God.  Perhaps this Spirit of Truth that came alongside of them helped them see the extent of God’s grace and peace in deeper ways.  Perhaps this Spirit of Truth helped them see more clearly, uncover their own illusions about who and what and why Jesus was.   Perhaps this Spirit of Truth helped to convince them of their own strength and abilities that previously they could not see, comprehend, nor have the courage to act upon.  Perhaps this Spirit of Truth came near to help them envision what was coming to birth in them.  And in the end, this Spirit of Truth was all about bringing God in Christ closer, deeper, truer to each and all.

The Spirit of Truth does that, it comes alongside and in truth uncovers what is really there.  Truth uncovers and takes away illusions that would convince us otherwise of what is or isn’t.  Truth opens spaces for clarity.  The Gospel writer knew this by experience.  As perhaps his own death was coming close, he wanted to remind all the rest of those, and us, who were to follow after, what this Parakletos, Advocate, Spirit of Truth, from Jesus and God was all about.  John, the disciple certainly knew and experienced this within his own life.  Trust the Spirit, the Advocate, the Parakletos.

The letter writer, Paul, lived a shorter life than John, was not one of the original followers, but had a powerful experience of being transformed by this same Spirit of Truth that came and redirected Paul’s life.  Paul, who was embedded in the institutional religious structure was knocked off his feet and set onto a new path without form.  Paul’s encounter with the Spirit, whom he called the Pnuema of God, the spirit, wind, breath, or life-giving being of God.  By his experience with Spirit, Paul knew the Spirit as the helper who came alongside him, who helped him in his weakness.  The Greek word "helps" implies that the Spirit 'takes-hold-of-so-as-to-support'.  Paul, by experience, encountered many times when he did not know exactly where to go or what to do next.  Listening for and guided by the Spirit, he went anyway.  Even when Paul didn’t know how to pray; what to say or how to be or what residing with God was about, the Spirit took hold and supported him and helped him by saying and being and residing with Paul, and with God, uniting them all.  The Spirit of Truth helped Paul uncover the things about God and himself and the world in clearly, truer ways.  Sometimes, without human words or even Spirit words, only with sighs too deep for words, the Spirit joins the heart and mind of God within.

Do you hear God’s word for today?  This Pentecost, the same Spirit that is poured out on all flesh is poured out for each one of us.  The Spirit who comes alongside, who is called to be near us, to guide and teach and instruct us about God’s truth is very close, is God’s life-giving breath within.  The Spirit tells even us of things to come, helps us to see more clearly, uncovers the truth about God as well as about ourselves.  The Spirit encourages, empowers, and speaks in our behalf especially when we feel too feeble to move, to take the next step.   Waiting, like those first disciples, we can be expectant yet without expectations of what will unfold.  Looking back at what the Spirit of Truth did then, gives hope and courage in what the Spirit of Truth is still doing if we have eyes and ears and open hearts and minds to receive this same Spirit.

 

Holy Life-Breath of God,

breathe on me and come close, alongside me.

Send out your breath, your pneuma, your truth

so I might be newly created, renewed like the spring growth,

full of life that is unfolding, blossoming,

transforming and life-giving.

Spirit of Truth, give me courage to be.

Fresh Wind of God, help me sing Love’s song.

All praise and gratitude to God, my help and strength.

 

May this meditation help me to be and do

what is mine to be and do,

and may it be pleasing to you, O Breath of God.

Praise the Lord, O my soul.

Praise to You.  (Ps.104)

A Prayer for Protection

For Sunday, May 24, 2009

John 17:6-19  (Psalm 1)               (Sermon to Myself) 

The writer of the Gospel according to John, thought to be John the disciple who loved and was loved deeply by Jesus, the mystic writer shares this long, beautiful prayer of Jesus.  Chapter 17 begins with a prayer of Jesus in relationship with God whom he called “Abba”, and his readiness to be “glorified”.  We can speculate on that meaning another time.  In verses 6-19, the prayer of Jesus is a prayer of intercession on behalf of his closest disciples, the ones he calls “friends”, who are no longer slaves, but the ones called to abide in God, abide in him, abide in love (John 15).

Protection is the word that leaps out in my lectio for this reading this time.  Jesus’ prayer is that God will continue to protect his followers just as Jesus has protected them, guarded them.  Like a mother hen gathers her chicks, like a parent who sends their children off onto the school bus for the first time, or into adulthood on their own, or sending a spouse off on a trip alone into time and space away, there is the longing for their safety and a prayer for protection from all that may harm them in this world.

Jesus asks Abba God to protect these dear, close friends; to guard them while they are in the world, the cosmos, which is not their true home.  They ultimately belong to God, to a home beyond the limitations of this world, but who for a time are IN the world with all its limiting and assailing factors.  While they remain in this cosmos, their friend and teacher Jesus, is departing, and he so prays for protection for them in defense against evil, or the evil one. The protection prayed for anticipates 3 results:

   “so that they may be one, as we are one” (.11)

   “so that they may have my joy made complete in themselves” (13)

   “so that they may be sanctified in truth” (vs 17 & 19)

It would seem that protection from evil allows unity, joy, and holy truth to thrive among them.  So what is the evil that preys upon unity, joy, and sacred truth?

The followers who have become dear friends, who have become a community of a new kind of faith and life were a motley crew.  Some educated, some not.  Some scoundrels or zealots.  Some having means, some quite poor. Some simple and some power-seekers.  Some tempestuous, betrayers, and at times prone to denial.  Some kin by blood and others kin only by grace.  Jesus had become “the glue” that held them together in a fragile community.  As Jesus’ departure was becoming clear to him, he knew the evils that would work to diminish the unity, the joy, and the holy truth that had come to live among them.  It would seem that the world apart from the holy presence of God-with-us, might be a place that would divide and separate, categorize and compartmentalize people; that would suck the joy and hope from life in the midst of struggle, persecution, and injustices; seek an ownership of ultimate truth and knowledge that might be used over and against another in superiority and power.  A good image of this sort of evil might be “the Dementors” in Harry Potter stories, who are wispy spirit-like wraiths who literally suck the joy out of their prey.  The only defense against them is the light of the presence of the Patronus, patron, father, Abba.  The Light of the presence of God protects from evil in, among, and around us.

Perhaps Jesus had knowledge of the impending persecutions and wanted Abba to protect them from hurt and pain.  But hurt and pain are part of this world.  I don’t think Jesus’ prayer for protection was for a bubble to be placed around his friends. “ta`ra`son”, the Greek word whose root is “ta`rew”, means ‘to keep, to observe, to pay attention to, to keep under guard’.  The protection prayer was not to keep them from the struggles of life, nor the pain, nor the reality of disappointment or death – all realities in this world, but to protect them from, to pay attention to, the ways in which “evil” could tear apart lives committed to unity, joy and hope, and the holy truth within them, to send light into darkness.

The evil, or the evil one, that assails, like a Dementor, slips alongside us subtly, quietly, often without our observation, bringing a shadow that can go unnoticed for some time.  It is the flippant, judgmental remark about another, the irritation with the other that grows into anger, getting sucked into rumors or gossip that divide and destroy relationships with lying tongues.  It is the jealousies, disregard, and ingratitude toward other’s gifts. It is the unwillingness to set self aside in love for another because of fear that we might not be noticed or appreciated.  It is listening to that deceptive voice that says we have nothing to offer and so we withhold ourselves from risking joy and life and giving whatever we have, small or great.  It is grasping a new insight of God’s holy truth and turning it into “The Truth” refusing to acknowledge the truths God may reveal in other ways to other people.  It is a closed truth rather than an open, wondering truth of God’s holy, mystery that ever surprises.  It is all that “stuff” that a young new faith community struggles with in becoming the Body of Christ. 

I can’t keep my loved ones from the struggles, the accidents, mistakes, nor the disappointments of life.  Those may be in my wishful prayers of intercession for them, but deeper is the prayer for protection of their hearts and minds for loving unity in community when relationships can be difficult, for joy and hope and grace even in the midst of hardship, for eyes to see God’s truth everywhere and not in one’s private assumptions or “possession” of “The Truth.”  I can pray for God’s loving protection to guard attitudes and relationships, and responses to life’s ups and downs.  I can pray that I might have “God-eyes” that pay attention when I am tempted to go down the road of individualism and isolation, despair or negativity, or arrogance in knowledge.  I can pray for that same God-awareness, protection, for the loved ones of my community of faith and life.

Jesus knew well the infesting ways of this world of status, power, and business-as-usual that would assail his friends, and assail us.  Jesus wanted to protect them from destroying themselves as a community of one love, one joy and hope, one sacred, pure truth of God’s grace among them.  If they were protected from the evils of disunity, despair, and blinders in holy truth, then they would be able to withstand all the other realities of human existence.

While in this world, we are bound to experience the forces that “break in” to our security systems (even 7 times in 2 months) and create dis-ease and a sense of vulnerability.  We cannot be impervious to those break-ins, disrupting and causing chaos within. However, we can be protected in God’s loving care in how we respond together, when we refuse to turn inward or upon each other in blame or throw our hands up, giving up and walking away.  We can stick together and support one another and still find joy in life together even in the midst of hardships, pain, or struggles, because we know our sure hope.  We can be protected by living in the pure, sanctified truth of God’s grace that is sufficient for all circumstances.  If as families of faith, communities of faith, God’s light, that is God’s presence protects us, from the evils that would divide us from one another, from that which causes us to lose sight of joy and love and gratitude, from that which keeps blinding us to Godly truths, then all is truly well, and all will be well, and Jesus’ prayer for protection is answered.

The Psalmist writes:

Happy are those who do not follow the advice of the wicked,

         or take the path of that sinners tread,

         or sit in the seat of scoffers;

but their delight is in the law of the Lord,

         and on God’s law they meditate day and night.

They are like trees, planted by streams of water,

         which yield their fruit in its season,

         and their leaves do not wither.

In all they do, they prosper.   (Psalm 1:1-3)

 

Happy are they who don’t get sucked into the standards of this world,

         who don’t go down the road where Self is God,

         who don’t lolly-gag with constant critics.

Happy are they who follow the law of love, of grace,

         who look for love in all things at all times.

In them is life, vitality, goodness, for they produce

         love, joy, peace, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness and self control every day.

And for them, life is complete. Life is protected through prayer.

 

Protector God, Abba, Amma God,

who loves with a love that will never let us go alone,

protect each one of us from the dementors in this world

    that would suggest seeking self preservation first and at all costs,

    that would teach us that we are separate from one another,

    that would suck your joy and hope in life from us,

    that would lure us down paths that destroy life,

    that would instill negative, hurtful attitudes and responses.

Protector God,

bear us up on eagle’s wings to soar in gracious living with you,

where there is unity in you and with one another,

where fullness of joy abounds,

and where your holy truths are revealed day by day with love.

AMEN

Abiding in Love

(Sermons to Myself)

John 15:9-17

(I John 5:1-5) (Acts 10:44-48)

 

It remains the liturgical season of Easter.  In the lectionary passages one might have an eye and an ear out for the new life, the new hope, instructions for the resurrection way to live life.  These past weeks seem to be hitting hard the theme of staying close to the one who gives life; being close to the Good Shepherd who willing lays down his life, setting himself aside; the reminder from Jesus to ABIDE in him, abide in God, to reside in the One from whom there is life.  Easter living is abiding, residing in God, in Love

 

This is God-talk directed at one/me who within a week’s time already can forget the vocation, the calling from the Word of the Lord… ‘Abide in, reside in me’.  Residency plans are all about love – all forgotten.  So today’s lectio comes again as reminder:  Abide in my love, apart from it you can do nothing, in it you have life.

 

Today’s Gospel lesson: 

1.  Abiding in love first seems to be staying/remaining in God.  Don’t go drifting off on your own.   Also, this abiding love is both a noun and a verb.  Abiding in love is both a state of being, a conscious locale, and it is actively living in that state.

 

2.  Abiding love is possible when we hear and we live by the commandments to love:  love God and love one another.  Whoever lives and loves in relationship to other in this way abides in God. 

 

3.  Whoever abides in this love, in this way of both being and living, has joy, full joy, God’s joy.

 

4.  This is what that state of being and living looks like: it looks like the way in which Jesus loved his friends, it looks like a willingness to set self aside, to set oneself down, in behalf of the other.  It looks like finally letting go of ego and all the ego’s needs in order to ‘en-lifen” another.  Jesus was available, extended himself, poured out compassion, inclusion, time, energy…especially to the marginalized.

 

5.  This abiding, self giving love is not imposed upon us, as in slavery, but an invitation of friendship, shared companionship.  This is a God- choice and yet not imposed.   “You did not choose me, I chose you” said Jesus.  Is this a choice, and an appointment.   Is this a job, a chore to do, a task, or an honor?  Disciples are giving the gift to love, to be productive(?) in bearing the fruit of love.

 

 

6.  It always comes back to being seen in the evidence of how we love others.  You want to truly love God? then love those around you.  You want to offer yourself up to God? then offer yourself, by laying down the self in behalf of others.  As Mother Teresa taught that we see Christ, we come to recognize God in other people.  When we love others,  we are loving God.

 

2 examples. 

Acts 10 tells the story of Peter, who is growing up in his abiding in Christ’s life.  The long story that is repeated in the next chapter is Peter’s conversion of sorts, his beginning to understand the wide embrace of God, and set aside his own agenda to get out of the way for God’s life and love to use him.  To Peter’s credit, he did not shut out the unusual dream, request, and action that placed him out of his regular context.  A “good” Jew did not go off with strangers and enter the house of gentiles or expect God’s Spirit to engage “those” people.  Peter was abiding enough in the presence of God, that he trusted the activity of God in dreams, knocks at the door, and the could see evidence of the Spirit in unsuspecting places.  He set himself aside, down in order to abide in God’s presence and leading.

 

“Seven Pounds” newer movie with Will Smith tells the story of a man who willingly gave himself away and in the end laid down his life in behalf of others, so that others might live.  While the movie did not win any Oscars, it offers some clarity for examination regarding love that lays itself down as an act of faith-filled obedience.  “Ben Thomas”, the name Will Smith introduces himself as through out the movie, is the hero of sorts, he is a savior figure for many he encounters in the film.  In various ways over time he literally gave his life away, piece by piece.  One might speculate his giving was based on love.  The tragedy is that his giving was based on guilt and he made sure his recipients were “good” people, worthy of his gift of life for them.  While this is honorable and we would see him heroic, this is not the same as Jesus’ words about abiding in LOVE, and willing to lay down one’s life for another.  Smith was abiding in guilt.  Guilt motivated his action.  Guilt killed him. 

 

Jesus resided in God’s  love and invites us to abide in love. When one lays down their life, gives it away, out of a residency in LOVE, the joy gives life even to the giver as well as to the recipient of life.  Jesus did not offer his life out of guilt, but in abiding love.  Jesus did not set his life aside in behalf of only “good” or “worthy” people.  Even his closest friends were betrayers and deniers.  Like Christ, when we reside securely and confidently in God’s love, in God’s grace, the giving ourselves away is a way of continuing to abide in God… and the result is to know joy.

 

Are you joyful?  Am I joyful?  It may be a key as to how well one is abiding in love, abiding in God.  If there is no sense of joy, perhaps the ego is still clinging elsewhere.  Check it.  If there is joy, real joy that is beyond “happy feelings”, then look around, God is likely to be everywhere. 

 

Abiding in love, abiding in God, loving as a state of being and a mode of operation, giving one’s self away, perhaps is the whole vocation of God… the whole of God’s calling, choosing, and loving each one of us.  A grand career, vocational choice.  Start vocational training now.  It always takes practice and time.

The Essence of the Spiritual Life

5^th Sunday of Easter - May 10, 2009

John 15:1-8;  I John 4:7-21

(Sermons to myself)

 

May 10^th.  Mother’s Day.  Here in Michigan, Orioles and Hummingbirds return this weekend as the new sprung flowers lend nectar in a welcome feast.  The garden begins to offer a verdant playground for nesting and hatching young ones. Fawns and goslings on the move stay close to their source of life.  Mothers and Gardeners, the Creator God and Divine Vinegrower, are one in being life givers in this season.  In the midst of all the visible reminders of our mothering, life-giving, gardening God, we have today’s lectionary passages to help us remember the One in whom we live and move and have our being.

 

I’ve come to realize that the disciple John, who is credited as the author of today’s gospel and epistle lessons, was one of the first Christian mystics.  If indeed the author is the same John who was a fisherman, attuned to the seasons and knowing God in the common things of life through hard work on land and sea; if this is the same disciple who along with his brother James was called “son of thunder” for some reason that might have to do with being loud, forceful and imposing; if this is the same disciple who again with his brother asked for places of honor and prestige along side Jesus when his Kingdom comes, then for all his humanness we may have someone who knows about our own human inclinations today.  And yet, this may be the same disciple who leaned close to Jesus, listening for the heartbeat of God, who was drawn into the deeper ways of residing in the love of God because of Jesus.  If this is the author of our readings for the day, we also know that he probably outlived is fellow followers. He lived in exile.  He saw his brothers martyred.  He saw the persecution and the divisive struggles of the fledgling church.  In waiting for Jesus’ return he began to contemplate the meaning of this God event in the person of Jesus, and what the struggling straggling followers were to do about it.  The “son of thunder” went mystic.

 

The gospel passage from John 15 is set in the long discourse of Jesus on the night in which he was betrayed.  They are part of the important last words to the disciples.  In listening to the Word, Lectio, for the day, one could focus on fruit, its production, pruning, gardening or a sense of judgment in lack of fruit production.  All of that may have its value.  For this hearer today, John 15, in combination with the epistle lesson, clearly draws my attention and my heart, to these words:  “abide” (used 13x in the 2 passages), “love” (used 27x in I John 4:7-21).

 

I imagine John the mystic, in solitude, in quiet contemplation, having come to place in relationship to God through Jesus wherein his life in union with God is all about God’s love.  And God’s love is made evident in people as they live love; live God. This is God-life, to abide in God, to abide in love.  The greek, menein, translated “abide” means to “remain”. Life is dependant upon remaining connected to the vine, or Jesus, the true or the “real” vine, the genuine article, from God.  God, the gardening vinegrower tends the vine upon which the branches are dependant in order to produce life, fruit, vitality. That only happens when the branches abide in, remain connected to, the real vine.

 

How often is it that I tend to think I know best and proceed to do my own thing, my own way with hopes that God blesses what I do, regardless of whether or not that “thing” is rooted in God.  I want to be the vine.  Or at times, I want to be the Vinegrower.  My ego, my thoughts, my activity, good and grand as they may be, go their own way, become disconnected from its life source. I attempt to live alongside of God, but not IN God.  We like to be “close” to God, feel “close” to Jesus, but this passage clearly says we must abide in, remain in, the life-giving genuine source of God we experience in Christ. “Apart from me you can do nothing.”  Union with God, this mystic abiding, residing, remaining in the one in whom we live and move and have our being is not simply a nice thought.  It is the essence of life.  Whatever we hope to be or produce in this life is dependant upon residing in the One from whom life comes.  That’s it.  There is no coming and going, plugging into God only when it fits the schedule or is convenient, unplugging after morning worship or devotions.  Abiding, remaining, is staying with God even as God remains always, abiding with us.

 

And “abiding” comes down to love.  “God is love, and those who abide in love abide in God, and God abides in them.” (I John 4:16)  This mystic sweet communion, being one with God as in Jesus’ prayer (John 17:21), is rooted in love, God’s love.  We love because God first loved us.  This is the steadfast loving (hesed) God sung in the Psalms and proclaimed by the prophets toward God’s beloved wandering, complaining, disobedient, unfaithful, sons and daughters of Israel.  That steadfast love of God in the greek became translated as agape, self giving love.   For the mystic John, this agape, this love that is of one willing to lay down their life in behalf of another, is God love, God life, essential to being in God and abiding in God’s life.

 

Abiding in God is abiding in love.  Residing in love.  God is love.  Its all about love; living in it, loving God. 

 

How do I love God?  How do I fully and completely live in God?  How does this residing, abiding, remaining in love, in God, operate?  I believe this residence is not simply in one’s thinking, in one’s head.  It is more than thought, it is more than Godly, or loving acts or activity.  It is more than some formula or form.  Residing is a consciousness, in which body, mind, spirit, all things and all times are infused with the holy, with love, with life, with the presence and essence of God. 

 

Is it possible to have such mindfulness, an openness to wonder and awe, at all times?  To be awake to God’s abiding presence and love at the break of day, in the midst of chores, in weariness, in gratitude, in every moment, in every encounter, in every person – lovely and unlovely alike?  If such a consciousness were possible, it would be the true reign of God, the realm of God, God’s will done on earth as it is in heaven.  If I could so abide in God, in love, made evident in the way I love others, how I love the world, the cosmos, as God does, all and everything…what would I be like?  What would my experience in this life be like?  How might everything around me be transformed?  Oh to be so awake to God.

 

Beloved, let us love one another…for love is of God, God is love, and those who love abide in God and God abides in them.  We know this when we love each other.  We know God, love, especially when love is real; real hard, or real painful, or real overwhelming in its grace and forgiveness.  That is the beginning of abiding in the love of God.  If nothing else, love.  It is the essence of life in God, of remaining, abiding, of life.

 

Oh God of love,

Oh God who will not let me go,

as you abide with me and in me,

may your Spirit of wisdom and grace,

your Spirit of love and life,

help me abide steadfastly in you,

you, the source of life.

You, Abiding Love.

 

The Good Shepherd

John 10:11-18  (and I John 3:16-24 / Psalm 23)

May 3, 2009  --   Sermons to myself

The Good Shepherd

What makes the Good Shepherd good?

The G.S. is good because he lays down his life for the sheep.

                   It says so 5 times in today’s gospel passage.

 I remember Leonard Nemoy as “Spock” in the Star Trek movie where he willingly went into the radio active engineer room to do what was necessary to save the Starship Enterprise, to save the rest of the crew. His final words to Kirk were:

 “The needs of the many out weigh the needs of the one.”

He willingly laid down his life for the many on the ship.

Endless stories and films have that heroic act of the one willing to place themselves in harm’s way or to offer their life through death in order for others to live.  (In SciFi, action movies, tear-jerkers, Westerns, children’s book - you name it and chances are there is a hero laying aside their life in behalf of another.)

Aslan, the Lion, in the Chronicles of Narnia does this.  (If you have not read the book or seen the Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe, you are missing God’s word for the day.)  Aslan, the Christ figure, the Good Shepherd, is not a tame lion, but is “good”, as told by the Beavers. The Good Lion, like the Good Shepherd, lays down his life in behalf of those in his care. 

Edmund has betrayed his own brother and sisters in order to meet his own selfish desire for candy, independence, and feeling important.  His betrayal, however, means death according to the law of Narnia.  Aslan, the Good Lion, knows deeper magic than the law of the land, however.  Aslan knows grace.  The deeper magic of grace is the willingness to lay one’s own life down in behalf of another in order to save the other from death, despair, guilt.  Aslan not only saves Edmund’s life by taking his place, but reinstates him in a place of honor, of service for others.  Aslan saves Edmund’s self esteem, his family place, his life.

Aslan knows the deep magic that when one willingly offers one’s self in place of another, grace is engaged, and death has no power.  The Good Shepherd willing lays himself aside in behalf of the sheep, so the sheep can live, thrive, be and do what sheep need to be and do.  The Good Shepherd lives for the sheep and sets himself aside for the sheep.  Good shepherding is not about the shepherd.  It is about the sheep.  This is what numerous writers (Borysenko, Chittister, Tolle, Rohr) have been teachng about letting go of ego, the lower self, becoming more engaged with the higher self, where its not about me and my needs, wants, desires.  There is a deeper magic, a higher good.  The Good Lion and the Good Shepherd set themselves aside and give away their lives, give up their lives, lay down their egos, their lives, for the sheep.  Its all about not clinging to what we perceive to be our security needs, but giving ourselves away in love, living in behalf of love and life for all.

The Good Shepherd leads beside quiet water and in still places and even in dark scary places or in the presence of the enemy - just like Edmund in Narnia, the Good Shepherd/Lion prepares a table of grace, a table of love.  Aslan lays himself down on that stone table of grace, the table of love, the act of selflessness.

 And then the epistle lesson says

“We know love by this, that he laid down his life for us and we ought to lay down our lives for one another.  How does God’s love abide in anyone who has the world’s goods and sees a brother or sister in need and yet refuses to help? 

Little children, let us love, not in words or speech, but in truth and  action.”  I Jn 3:16-18

I am not Aslan, or the Good Shepherd, but if God’s love is to abide and live in me, then I need to be like Christ, following Jesus' directive, and lay down my life as well.

How do I do that?  Die?  I don’t think so.

I might start by looking at my ego; myself, my agenda, my self-driven ways of being, my meeting my own needs as if I was “a world unto myself” (Chittister).  If I “practice” my faith I need to listen to Borysenko encouragement regarding the ego and higher self.  

To what am I clinging for security?

What am I being and doing for my family?  for others/  for the world?  

I am caught up in “a world unto myself”?

To what degree do I indeed find my life when I lose my life?

To what degree in setting myself aside do I actually find myself?

 Yes, I get angry when others/family members disregard my needs or live as if the world revolves around THEM….   I can get hooked into wanting everyone else to see things from MY perspective, and then, am I not being the center of the world again?

If we willingly give ourselves away, not to be door mats, but to be love, to offer life, to give encouragement to others regardless of what the return is for ME, isn’t that the bigger mind…the mind of Christ who though he was in the form of God did not regard equality with God something to be exploited…took the form of a servant…became obedient to the point of death… (Phil 2:1-11)  

Phil 2 also has that “regard others as better than yourself” if we are to have the mind of Christ.

So Miriam, how do you lay down your life for your family?

How do you lay down your life for your friends? neighbors?  not in word or speech, but in truth and action?

How are you setting yourself aside in behalf of others, aware of the deeper magic at work?

Or are you so caught up in your own world of “wondering”, waiting, discerning that you have become a world to yourself?

Practically speaking now, what does it mean to lay down your life? set your life aside?  Who are the sheep in your life?  Individual family members, friends, colleagues, neighbors, even unnamed strangers who are met daily?

I think there is a key here to laying down one's life.  TAKING another's life is imposed on that other, there is no restorative value.  When life is offered up willingly, that changes everything.  When the kids/others expect and assume parents/me to lay myself aside for their needs, that is "taking" life, I get irritated. They are imposing and demanding and I respond in defensive ways. But when I do the same act, laying aside by my own choice, my willingness before the “demand” or “imposition” comes with the same result for another, it changes the whole dynamic.

If I give up my time or money or hopes or dreams, because another insists that I give it up, I may feel victimized.  If I willingly give up my time, money, or hopes so that another might have time, money, hope, or dreams, it is a gift of my living, my laying myself down --- it changes everything.  So it becomes a matter of perspective.   Is this something imposed upon me, or something I willingly do.

The Good Shepherd willingly sets his own life agenda aside.  The hireling feels threatened and imposed upon and so runs away and avoids demanding situations.  The Good Shepherd, and Aslan, willingly steps into that place of setting self aside, takes up the higher self, steps into the bigger mind, to offer self up in behalf of others.   This is the way of selflessness.  This is the way of Christ.  This is the way of love.  This is the way.  Give yourself away.  Let it go.  Let it be a choice of love.

A musing from poem of a woman poet read by Garrison Keillor on the Writer's Almanac, Sunday, May 5, 2009:

Love what is mortal

Cling to it as your life depends upon it.

When it is time, let it go.  Let it go.