4-26-20 - In the Mood for Lament

In the Mood for Lament

Indianapolis First Friends Quaker Meeting

Pastor Bob Henry

April 26, 2020

Psalm 42  (The Voice)

1 My soul is dry and thirsts for You, True God,
    as a deer thirsts for water.
2 I long for the True God who lives.
    When can I stand before Him and feel His comfort?
3 Right now I’m overwhelmed by my sorrow and pain;
    I can’t stop feasting on my tears.
People crowd around me and say,
    “Where is your True God whom you claim will save?”

4 With a broken heart,
    I remember times before
When I was with Your people. Those were better days.
    I used to lead them happily into the True God’s house,
Singing with joy, shouting thanksgivings with abandon,
    joining the congregation in the celebration.
5 Why am I so overwrought?
    Why am I so disturbed?
Why can’t I just hope in God?
    Despite all my emotions, I will believe and praise the One
    who saves me and is my life.
6 My God, my soul is so traumatized;
    the only help is remembering You wherever I may be;
From the land of the Jordan to Hermon’s high place
    to Mount Mizar.
7 In the roar of Your waterfalls,
    ancient depths surge, calling out to the deep.
All Your waves break over me;
    am I drowning?
8 Yet in the light of day, the Eternal shows me His love.
    When night settles in and all is dark, He keeps me company—
    His soothing song, a prayerful melody to the True God of my life.

9 Even still, I will say to the True God, my rock and strength:
    “Why have You forgotten me?
Why must I live my life so depressed, crying endlessly
    while my enemies have the upper hand?”
10 My enemies taunt me.
    They shatter my soul the way a sword shatters a man’s bones.
They keep taunting all the day long,
    “Where is He, your True God?”

11 Why am I so overwrought,
    Why am I so disturbed?
Why can’t I just hope in God?
    Despite all my emotions, I will believe and praise the One
    who saves me, my God.

For nearly 5 years, I served as the Assistant Director of Campus Ministries at Huntington University, just up I-69 west of Fort Wayne.  While there I supervised the ministry of 20+ students who had the title, Campus Ministry Coordinator. Basically, they filled the role of lay-pastor for each dormitory floor on campus. 

Even my son, Alex, who graduates this year from Huntington University, served as a Campus Ministry Coordinator for nearly two years.  As he can attest, the role has its benefits and challenges. 

Every August, I would take our Campus Ministry Coordinators to a local camp for training.  A big part of that training was preparing them for Week Six of the school year – especially for those working on freshmen floors.  

We would often have a six-week countdown to remind the Campus Ministry Coordinators that this time was coming.  We made some jokes about it, but in all reality, we took it seriously because six weeks was a statistically proven time frame for undergraduate students…you see…

• 6 weeks is how long it takes for physical sickness to rear its ugly head on college campuses.

• 6 weeks is how long it takes for those with a propensity for homesickness to set in.

• 6 weeks is how long it takes for students to begin questioning or doubting their familial ways.

• And for a religious community – 6 weeks is how long it takes for students to begin to wrestle with what they believe and begin to have doubt. 

The lack of sleep, late night schedules, personal exploration, academic challenges to one’s philosophies, missing friends, home, and freedom all translate into a personal and communal change taking place. 

My hope was that my Campus Ministry Coordinators would be aware and sensitive to these issues and be watching the members of their floors for some of these signs. 

One of the biggest reasons to be aware was fall break was approaching.  That meant students would head back home for the first time since coming to campus.  Often this could be a very difficult time for families and students as they wrestled with a “stew” of all of these issues brewing in their lives. 

I trained our Campus Ministry Coordinators to be keenly aware and to open their ears wide to listen. They were to spend more time on their floors and be available for peers to talk with and share.  I even encouraged them to create fun activities for the floor and avoid deep philosophical conversations during this time – keeping the environment light and fun while being open to one-on-one times.

By now, you may have realized why I shared this part of my past with you.  This week marks the 6th week of the Pandemic and I am noticing many similarities. 

• 6 weeks is how long it has taken for the pandemic to really peek in our country.

• 6 weeks is how long it has taken for a different type of “home-sickness” to set it – this time wanting to be somewhere other than home.

• 6 weeks is how long it has taken for people to begin doubting and questioning the truth of the pandemic, the authorities, and why we are still in quarantine.

• 6 weeks is how long it has taken for religious communities to make major shifts and changes and begin to wrestle with the real struggles rearing their heads - such as depression, anxiety, fear, and actual sickness in our midst.

As pastors, our weekly schedules look completely different than six weeks ago. I personally, spend most of Monday and Tuesday preparing a relevant Self-Led Worship guide and a sermon (which needs to be ready by Wednesday morning to record). What used to be 3-4 days of prep has become 1-2. 

I have become an amateur videographer and communication director of about 8 different social media platforms. Most of the rest of my time is spent making phone calls to each of you to check in, listen, and find ways to help you during this time.  And then there are all the Zoom meetings and virtual gatherings – so different from just 6 weeks ago.

Like many of you, I feel the struggle, the loss, the lack of personal interaction, and connection.  The joy of having a good cup of coffee at a busseling coffeehouse or a great conversation over lunch with you has been relegated to emails, texts, zooms gatherings – which, let’s be honest, cannot convey the real emotion and feeling that looking into the face of someone you care for does.  Hospitals have become warzones and nursing homes are on lockdown. We are looking at our third memorial service to be put on our waiting list, soon.

I know each of you are struggling as well with all of these changes, I have heard your pain, your struggle, your boredom, and yet, there are very few answers to give, very few suggestions to suggest, very few opportunities to offer. 

Yet this week, as I spent meditating, I found myself feeling frustrated, angry, even caged.  As I get up and watch my boys and wife working in each part of the house, I have no words to express my deep sadness that two of my boys will not be experiencing normal graduations.

That their important accomplishments have been sidelined by this pandemic.  And that their futures, jobs, higher education, and the many new experiences they were to encounter may be put on hold for an indefinite time.

I listen to the Kindergartners connecting through Zoom with my wife who are full of energy and joy and yet missing school and friends – and I keep thinking of that old saying, “Everything you need to know you learned by Kindergarten.” What ARE they learning from this time?

And as I meditated, I began thinking about how small my family’s issues seem – when health care providers are risking lives each day.  People are still struggling with cancer and horrible diseases.  The elderly are isolated from the world and are feeling all alone.  Those in abusive situations are stuck in domestic violence nightmares – quarantined in unsafe homes. And then there are the pandemic inequalities ravaging the African American and Latin-X communities, which are atrocious.  And the list goes on and on…

What is my response? 

Do I think I can have one?

Does fear grip me and keep me from any sense of hope?

The only word that seemed to speak to my condition this week was the word – LAMENT – a rare form of prayer that has almost been forgotten in the Christian tradition. 

Some have even labeled it “the prayer that comes out of our pain.”

In an article by Trina Dofflemeyer, she says,

A lament is a prayer searching for understanding and peace in the midst of suffering or disheartening circumstances.

I don’t know about you, but I think I am having deep feelings of lament. 

I am searching for understanding.

I want some peace amidst this pandemic suffering and disheartening time.

Frederick Schmidt says, this form of prayer is

“…also a way of navigating loss and despair, laments carry those who long for comfort from raw honesty, through struggle, to the reaffirmation of God’s goodness.”

What I think he is trying to say is that lament is kind of the beginning of a three-tiered process.

First: Lament gives us permission to be honest about our struggle. To tell God what we really feel and are struggling with 6 weeks into this pandemic. Just maybe you need to unload on God.

In the Psalms we often hear the Psalmist crying out in poetic verse - “How long, O Lord? Will you utterly forget me?” (Psalm 13:2) or “Why, O Lord, do you stand aloof? Why hide in times of distress?” (Psalm 10:1)

We may not be so poetic – we may be more prone to swear, shake a first, or simply give a huge sigh.  But we need this release – that is part of Lament.  

Second: After we air out (or get off our chests) the frustrations, losses and despair, we then must begin to look at the actual struggle within our own hearts. We spend time becoming more aware of why we are struggling and what is causing that struggle. I find after airing my frustrations to God - I sense more clarity and often see what has lead me into feeling the frustration, loss and despair.  I may even begin to sense a way out or into a more hopeful place.  

Thirdly, once we work through those struggles, we need to take a moment and reaffirm the goodness of God. We may need to go back to better times and remember how God has helped us through other difficult times.  How God has provided for us. How God has been faithful when we were not able to be.

This morning, I want to close our time together with a lament written for the pandemic.  I have modified it slightly for our needs, but find it helpful in articulating my own thoughts and feelings through this process.

Will you join me this morning as we enter the process of Lament and may it speak to the condition of our soul:

Hear our cry, God. Listen to our prayer.

How long will we have to hide in our homes from this invisible enemy?

Where will it strike next? And whom? And what if…?

Our screens relay a continuous escalation of suffering and death around the world. Panic and anxiety abounds. Our souls are weary from the strain of the life-altering unknowns.

God, from the depths of our pain and confusion, we cry out to You.

From fear-filled hearts and anxious minds, we plead with You. Rescue us, Father of compassion and grace. We lift up our eyes to You, Lord God, the One who sits enthroned in heaven.

On all who have contracted the virus, Lord have mercy!

On all who have lost loved ones to this sickness and are in mourning and anguish, Lord have mercy!

On all who are unable to earn an income because their jobs have been suspended, Lord have mercy!

We cry out for healing and needed resources

We cry out for comfort and peace

On all medical professionals and caretakers attending to those infected with the virus, Christ have mercy!

On all scientists and technologists striving to find a vaccine and to make it available , Christ have mercy!

On all leaders of institutions and governments as they make decisions to try and contain the virus, Christ have mercy!

We pray for strength in the long and exhausting hours of labor

We pray for wisdom in the research and difficult decisions

On all who have not yet contracted the virus, Lord have mercy!

On the most vulnerable of our society who are unable to buy extra food or get proper medical attention, Lord have mercy!

On all followers of Jesus Christ discerning how to reflect His love to others within this crisis, Lord have mercy!

We plead for protection of health

We plead for all to remain calm and kind

The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the expanse of the universe. And yet this earth is no longer as You created it to be.

One day You will liberate creation from its bondage to decay and death.

Life is sacred and precious in your sight. You are the God Who sees us and sustains us.

Nothing can separate us from the Father’s unfailing love and kindness, not even sickness or the fear of tomorrow.

You are our Light as we walk in this darkness. We will remember to celebrate the beautiful gifts You have given us in this present moment.

Almighty God, You are our Rock, our Refuge from the enemy, our hiding place.

You calm our frantic thoughts and fill our despairing hearts with joy and strength.

In Your Presence living water springs forth in the wilderness.

You restore our souls.

Let us now enter a time of waiting worship.  During this time let your lament continue.  If you still need some prompts, ask yourself the following queries:

1. What current struggles do I need to share with God?

2. How can I become more aware of the struggles I am facing, and what is behind those struggles?

3. Where am I seeing God’s goodness in my life (whether in the past or in the current situation)?

4-19-20 - The Landscape of God's Love - Earth Day

Indianapolis First Friends Quaker Meeting

Pastor Bob Henry

April 19, 2020

Psalm 95:3-7 (NRVS)

3 For the Lord is a great God,
    and a great King above all gods.
4 In his hand are the depths of the earth;
    the heights of the mountains are his also.
5 The sea is his, for he made it,
    and the dry land, which his hands have formed.

6 O come, let us worship and bow down,
    let us kneel before the Lord, our Maker!
7 For he is our God,
    and we are the people of his pasture,
    and the sheep of his hand.

Happy Earth Sunday to all of you joining us from the comfort of your own homes. Since this week is the 50th anniversary of Earth Day, I thought it would be most appropriate to record this message from our Meditational Woods. 

I so wish you could join me in this beautiful setting to share worship with the birds, squirrels and amidst the Creator-God’s handiwork. Maybe sometime this week, you can get out of your home and swing by the Meetinghouse and take a walk in these woods.

Someone who loved taking walks in the woods, was John Muir. He was the Scottish-born American naturalist, writer, and advocate of U.S. forest conservation, who was largely responsible for the establishment of Sequoia National Park and Yosemite National Park.

He once wrote…

God's love is manifest in the landscape as in a face. (Cruise of the Corwin, P50)

During this pandemic and isolation these words have had much deeper meaning to me. With people’s faces covered with masks when I am out taking my socially-distanced walks, I have found myself focusing more and more on my surrounding landscapes and what is going on in nature.   

I am observing more of life bursting forth from the trees as they bud and bloom, the friendship of the ducks that frolic and play in our ponds, and even the way the sun as it sets in the evening changes the ambiance just enough to calm my heart. 

The fields across from our neighborhood have been blanketed in a beautiful purple clover, which I’ve not seen bloom since moving to Fishers almost three years ago.

I even stopped on a recent walk to take notice of the water in a small creek heavily flowing under a bridge on Marilyn Road after a recent rainstorm.

I never noticed the bridge when driving down Marilyn Road, or how picturesque it was from the walking path.   

Speaking of rainstorms, we’ve had a couple crazy storms since the pandemic began, haven’t we? Even from looking out my window or watching from my front porch or patio, the landscape of the sky has been changing.

During our last major storm, I experienced the sky lit up with lightening and cloud forms like I have never seen before. The deep rolling of thunder and the gusty winds all have had a different feel to me.   

Just maybe I am experiencing more of my landscape because I have more time to appreciate and encounter God’s handiwork – or maybe better yet – I have actually made the time to appreciate and encounter it.

I sense, like John Muir, I am allowing God’s love for me to be manifest in the landscapes of my life – just like it does through the faces of friends, neighbors and relatives - something sadly, I have taken for granted for way too long. 

The pandemic, in a good way, has forced me to see more of God’s love for us in the landscapes and nature in general. I no longer take it for granted but see it as a part of my daily experience – as an important participant in this thing we call “Life.”

Now, obviously this pandemic is affecting us each in different ways. Even as I considered Earth Sunday and what I would share with you today, I found myself thinking, how hard it is to celebrate the Earth and creation amidst so much sickness, death, and pain.

Yet, I began to see this from a fresh perspective after reading an article from The Atlantic by Marina Koren titled, The Pandemic Is Turning the Natural World Upside Down.

Sometimes in the midst of life’s difficulties and struggles, we find it hard to see the good or the positive effects taking place. 

In the article Koren points out some of the good and positive effects taking place…like…

• There is less rumbling (movement) on the surface of the planet.

• There is less air pollution.

• The city soundscapes are changing.

• And even the oceans and waterways are quieter.

Seismologist, Paula Koelemeijer says,

“It’s very literally reflecting a slowdown of our lives.”

It has changed so much in the last couple of months that seismologist, Thomas Lecocq, from the Royal Observatory in Belgium said that with the immediate drop in activity, a normal daytime in Brussels resembles Christmas Day.

Even the observing satellites that are orbiting the Earth have detected a significant decrease in the concentration of a common air pollutant, nitrogen dioxide, which enters the atmosphere through emissions from cars, trucks, buses, and power plants. 

What is crazy is that just this respite in air pollution over two months of isolation could save over 4000 young children and up to 73,000 elderly adults in China, alone.  

That is something to consider.

One thing that I have noticed on my socially distanced walks, is how much quieter the world is around me.

Erica Walker, a public health researcher in Boston, has been taking decibel measurements on her walks through the Boston neighborhoods, and she has found that the noise level has declined significantly.

Before the pandemic and during rush hour her measurements were at 90 decibels, now they are under 68.  

All of a sudden, people are hearing the ordinary noises of life, again.   

Sylcia Poggioli, an NPR correspondent in Italy, reported that the streets of Rome are so empty, “you can actually hear the squeak of rusty door hinges, and the “chirping of birds, an early sign of spring, is almost too loud.” 

Koren in the article points out something we as Quakers have been saying for quite some time and trying hard to help other people understand…

Quieter conditions, perhaps for several months, might seem like a good thing, it’s well established that noise pollution can negatively effect our health, contributing to stress-related ailments, high blood pressure, sleep disruption, and other problems.

Yet, since people have been conditioned for much higher noise levels and have ignored the importance or need of times for silence, or at least quieter conditions, this seems to be causing what some are now labeling “pandemic-related stress.” 

Again, this is where I believe we, Quakers, have some wisdom to share with our struggling world.  Our Friend Brent Bill wrote an entire book called, “Holy Silence” and in it he says,

“…the soul’s silence brings us to God and God to us. Silence takes us beyond the limits of consciousness and into the heart and mind of God.”

So, if you are tracking with me…just maybe the reason that so many people have issues with God or have difficulty connecting with the Divine is their perspective.

It is possible that we have limited God’s ability to communicate with and through us.  It seems to be our nature to try and box up God, talk over God, and even at times replace God.

For some God has been limited by a holy text, or to a set of rules. 
For some, God has been limited by a specific religious structure.
For some, God has been limited by a human relationship.
For some, God has been limited by a particular religious experience.
And for some, God has been limited by our busy, noisy, and unperceptive lives.

Just maybe during this pandemic and on this Earth Sunday, we should take a moment to take a deeper look for God’s love within and around us. 

To help us seek that deeper connection this week – I have a couple queries to ponder:   

• Looking at the landscapes of my life, what have I been missing?   

• As I center down and quiet my life, what life-noise do I recognize interrupting my experience of the Divine?

4-12-20 - Easter Sunday - Resurrection Light

Resurrection Light: Beyond All Limits of Space and Time

Indianapolis First Friends Quaker Meeting

Pastor Bob Henry

April 12, 2020

Mark 16:1-8 (MSG)

16 1-3 When the Sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices so they could embalm him. Very early on Sunday morning, as the sun rose, they went to the tomb. They worried out loud to each other, “Who will roll back the stone from the tomb for us?”

4-5 Then they looked up, saw that it had been rolled back—it was a huge stone—and walked right in. They saw a young man sitting on the right side, dressed all in white. They were completely taken aback, astonished.

6-7 He said, “Don’t be afraid. I know you’re looking for Jesus the Nazarene, the One they nailed on the cross. He’s been raised up; he’s here no longer. You can see for yourselves that the place is empty. Now—on your way. Tell his disciples and Peter that he is going on ahead of you to Galilee. You’ll see him there, exactly as he said.”

8 They got out as fast as they could, beside themselves, their heads swimming. Stunned, they said nothing to anyone.

Good Easter morning to everyone who is joining us from the comfort of your own homes, today. I hope this message finds you safe and well in these unprecedented times. 

I will be honest, it just isn't the same celebrating in this manner, but I am glad we have these means to come together and worship while apart. 

Way before the Coronavirus Pandemic descended upon us, I have taken daily walks through our neighborhood. 

With Spring appearing and all the beautiful sunshine, those walks have lengthened. Now, instead of 5000 steps on my Fitbit, I am almost getting my entire 10,000 steps in one walk. 

On one of our recent walks, Sue and I were pacing ourselves when we came across a patch of sidewalk that looked as if a dog had done its business hundreds of times right on the pathway.

We were quick to slow our pace and began walking as though we were entering a mine field.  About half-way through, we realized it wasn’t dog dropping at all, but the neighbor’s yard had just been aerated.

The “droppings” were actually dirt clogs. Sue and I were relieved at the discovery and then chuckled the rest of the way home.

The next day, as I entered our neighborhood on my lunch time meditation walk, I came across a truck pulling equipment with a huge sign reading “Aeration and Dethatch” with a phone number to call.  It was obviously the season.

Now, if you enjoy gardening or keeping up your lawn, you know that aeration and dethatching are important. 

Grass roots need air, water and nutrients to grow thick, deep and strong. When soil becomes compacted, even slightly, it inhibits the flow of the essentials that support thicker, healthier grass.

Aeration creates holes down into the soil to alleviate compaction so air, water and nutrients can reach the grass roots.

As I pondered this concept and watched as many yards in our neighborhood were being aerated, I could not help but think about how much this process was similar to what is going in our world right now.

The Coronavirus Pandemic seems to be our aerator. It is violently creating holes in our lives and our universe, but at the same time, letting those of us that do not have Covid-19, breathe a little. 

It is allowing us to slow down, to nurture ourselves, and to break-up the daily routines that have become like compacted soil in our lives. 

It reminds me of the song, Eric just played by Leonard Cohen. Often, I see and hear Quakers quote those two famous lines of the song,

“There’s a crack, there’s a crack in everything. That’s how the light gets in.”

Leonard Cohen was a very private man, and he was known for not liking to explain his music.

Supposedly though, he did make a rare statement about the song “Anthem” on The Future Radio Special, a special CD released by Sony in 1992.  Here is what Cohen said about the song.

The future is no excuse for an abdication of your own personal responsibilities towards yourself and your job and your love. “Ring the bells that still can ring”: they’re few and far between but you can find them.

This situation does not admit of solution of perfection. This is not the place where you make things perfect, neither in your marriage, nor in your work, nor anything, nor your love of God, nor your love of family or country. The thing is imperfect.

And worse, there is a crack in everything that you can put together: Physical objects, mental objects, constructions of any kind. But that’s where the light gets in, and that’s where the resurrection is and that’s where the return, that’s where the repentance is. It is with the confrontation, with the brokenness of things.

I love that last thought.  Let me read it again. 

But that’s where the light gets in, and that’s where the resurrection is and that’s where the return, that’s where the repentance is. It is with the confrontation, with the brokenness of things.

Just before we went into quarantine and isolation and closed everything down, I wrote in our Meeting’s newsletter, Friend to Friend, the following words,

“I encourage you to join with me in tending our gardens, hitting the reset buttons, and just maybe we will see resurrection in real-time this Easter happening in our own lives and in the lives of people everywhere.”

So, I ask you…

Have you seen it?

Have you experienced it?

Have you begun to aerate your life?

Have you allowed the cracks to let the light in?

I know for me being in quarantine or isolation has led to me spending a lot of time reading. Just before the shut down, I purchased a copy of Richard Rohr’s latest, The Universal Christ.  I have been reading and reading it for the last several weeks.

Rohr points out,

Most of us, if we are listening and looking, also have such resurrection accounts in the middle of our lives, when “the veil parts” now and then.

Like Leonard Cohen, Rohr sees the importance of there being openings in our lives that let the Light in – and he too relates this Light to resurrection.

Earlier in the book, Rohr responded to the question, “What happened at Jesus’ resurrection?” In response, Rohr gives us a better picture of this Light within the context of the resurrection, when he states,

What happened at the resurrection is that Jesus was fully revealed as the eternal and deathless Christ in embodied form. Basically, one circumscribed body of Jesus morphed into ubiquitous Light. Henceforth, light is probably the best metaphor for Christ or God.  

As Quakers, we know this to be true. We even talk about our Christ or Inner Light all the time.  But what does it all mean for us? 

Some say, it is all about eternal life, or about the hereafter. And that seems to be fine for many. But for me, it doesn’t speak to my current condition or the way I process spiritual matters. 

As a visual learner, the resurrection is something difficult to wrap my mind around, especially as an event that took place 2000+ years ago in a foreign culture than my own.

Often in the last several weeks, instead of seeing the resurrection as a literal physical event with all the elements I had been raised to argue and defend, I found myself visualizing that ubiquitous Light. 

Immediately, instead of recording the thoughts in a journal, I decided to paint my experience.

• I sensed a plethora of colors that spoke to the universality of the resurrection.  That this event was for EVERYONE in the universe not just certain people with the correct beliefs or faith structures. 

• I experienced light breaking through into the lives of individual people and families. They were finding hope in the midst of troubled lives and a painful existence. 

• I saw this patchwork of color and light forming together and creating a resurrected body of Christ – one unit – together in the present moment for the world to experience. 

So…I painted and painted and when I was done, this is what emerged.

Resurrection Light: Beyond All Limits of Space and Time

Resurrection Light: Beyond All Limits of Space and Time

At first, I had no words to describe it.  I just sat taking it in and trying to process what I had created. 

Then after visually expressing my thoughts, I picked up Rohr’s “The Universal Christ” and to my surprise read this... This is Rohr speaking…He says…

Back in 1967, my systematic theology professor, Fr. Cyrin Maus, OFM, told me that if a video camera had been placed in front of the tomb of Jesus, it wouldn’t have filmed a lone man emerging from a grave (which would be resuscitation more than resurrection).

More likely, he felt, it would’ve captured something like beams of light extending in all directions. In the resurrection, the single physical body of Jesus moved beyond all limits of space and time into a new notion of physicality and light — which includes all of us in its embodiment.

Christians usually called this the ”glorified body” and it is indeed similar to what Hindus and Buddhists sometimes call the “subtle body.”

Both traditions pictured this by what became the halo or aura, and Christians placed it around all ”saints” to show that they already participated in the one shared Light.” (p. 177-178)

My artistic vision seems to express well what Rohr’s professor described. Probably because...

• I needed to see in my life the cracks letting in the Light of the resurrection. 

• I needed to see Jesus morphed away from the world’s definitions and images that have encased him, and instead see him as that ubiquitous Light - a light that we Quakers believe resides in all people.

I think this is because we all have cracks that have let the Light in – even if we are unaware.   

• I needed to see that Resurrection Light extending in all directions – not just to those that are approved, accepted, or have the right answers - but to people of all cultures, orientations, beliefs, and understandings. 

• I needed to see all of us coming together in the “glorified body” or “subtle body” in unity and love. 

• And I needed to know that this resurrection Light was a sign that I am participating in a shared Light – together with all of you – not just on our own or by ourselves.  Even while isolated or quarantined – the good news is that we are still participating in that shared Resurrection Light – TOGETHER! 

This has brought me hope…and I pray it brings you hope as you continue to aerate your spiritual lives and allow the resurrection Light to enter your hearts this Easter. 

Now as we enter a time of waiting worship, I ask you to ponder these queries.

1.     During this difficult time, how have I begun to aerate those compacted areas of my spiritual life?

2.     Am I listening and looking for where the Resurrection Light is entering my life?  

3.     How am I embodying the Resurrected Light and sharing together with my neighbors the hope that it brings?  

4-5-20 - Compassion: The First Response

Compassion: The First Response

Indianapolis First Friends Quaker Meeting

Pastor Bob Henry

April 5, 2020

Luke 19:28-41

29 When he had come near Bethpage and Bethany, at the place called the Mount of Olives, he sent two of the disciples, 30 saying, “Go into the village ahead of you, and as you enter it you will find tied there a colt that has never been ridden. Untie it and bring it here. 31 If anyone asks you, ‘Why are you untying it?’ just say this, ‘The Lord needs it.’” 32 So those who were sent departed and found it as he had told them. 33 As they were untying the colt, its owners asked them, “Why are you untying the colt?” 34 They said, “The Lord needs it.” 35 Then they brought it to Jesus; and after throwing their cloaks on the colt, they set Jesus on it. 36 As he rode along, people kept spreading their cloaks on the road. 37 As he was now approaching the path down from the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples began to praise God joyfully with a loud voice for all the deeds of power that they had seen, 38 saying,

“Blessed is the king
    who comes in the name of the Lord!
Peace in heaven,
    and glory in the highest heaven!”

39 Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, order your disciples to stop.” 40 He answered, “I tell you, if these were silent, the stones would shout out.”

41 As he came near and saw the city, he wept over it, 42 saying, “If you, even you, had only recognized on this day the things that make for peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes.

This week, a Quaker friend of mine shared a post which read,

This new translation of the Bible where Jesus throws the elderly to a plague by Easter to save the money changers seems to be missing the spirit of the original text.

At first it made me chuckle, and after sharing it on social media, I began to think more about how often this happens in religion and our world.  We utilize the bible or whatever holy text we follow to speak to our condition or better yet, “stick it to the man” – all the while missing the main point of what is going on. 

One great example of this is what Beth just read from Luke. Most of us celebrate Jesus’ grand entrance with palms waving and hosannas – where Jesus takes a rare moment (almost out of his character to “stick it” to the Roman leadership). Last year, on Palm Sunday, I detailed how much this entrance resembled another political entrance that takes place across town at this same time, but I do not want to go there this year.   

Like I already mentioned, this seems kind of weird or at least uncharacteristic of Jesus. I am thankful for Luke’s gospel because he gives us a much more complete version of Jesus’ entrance into Jerusalem. Luke, in his own way, fills in the details and shows us what was really on the heart and mind of Jesus as he entered in.

Let me re-read those last two verses we heard read,

41 As he came near and saw the city, he wept over it, 42 saying, “If you, even you, had only recognized on this day the things that make for peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes.

This is a picture of someone with great “compassion” for the people. He was brought to tears over what was happening. This was much more than a grand entrance or a sign of the arrival of some sort of king or new leader.  Jesus knew this entrance entailed much more and was going to ask much more of him.  But then, if you have ever studied Jesus, you know this was Jesus’ way.  Throughout scripture as Jesus enters a town or looked at a gathered crowd he was approaching, the scriptures are clear to point out things like this,

“…he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.”

Matthew is his gospel even says, that Jesus states this about Jerusalem specifically,

“I have longed to gather your children together as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings.”

For Jesus to “enter in” took much more than we see at first glance. Yet, it seems scripture is clear that part of Jesus’ preparation was to respond first with compassion for the people.  He knew what he was getting into because he knew the people in which he was serving.  These people had great issues and there was great suffering because they had no direction and were being harassed by the Roman Empire.  I believe this still is speaking to our condition. 

Folks, Jesus had a deep sense of compassion for all the people both Jew and Gentile, disciple or Roman soldier, friend or enemy.  It was his way. 

A couple of weeks ago in one of our Self-Led Worship Guides, I quoted from the book, “The Rebirthing of God” by John Philip Newell. In that book he describes compassion in the following way,

“The word compassion simply means ‘being with suffering.’ ‘…compassion is about honoring the relationship between two people or between one group and another and remembering those who suffer.  It is about making the connection between the heart of my being and the heart of yours.” 

Before Jesus “enters in” to any situation he considers the suffering of the people. And he enters into it before actually getting involved.

Before healing.

Before teaching or preaching.

Before making a point.

Before asking the disciples to obtain a donkey or even arriving at the East gate…

Jesus is found leading with compassion.   

Jesus makes a connection between the heart of his being and the heart of the suffering person or people.

I believe this may be why so often when the presence of Christ enters our situation (whether that is through a fellow friend or simply a connection to our Inner Light), we seem surprised or shocked or even confused. The presence of Christ brings light, illuminates those things that we may not be expecting because God is connecting with us on such a different and often personal level. 

Yet too often, we are like the people in our text.  We make Jesus into a spectacle or even make him out to be what we want him to be, rather than who he is. Just like they turned his simple ride into Jerusalem into what people in their day would consider a political event (and let’s not be quick to get down on them – we do the same thing – we love to turn biblical events around to fit our political views.) Just this week, I have heard people say Jesus was a socialist or Jesus was a capitalist to make their points about the responses to Coronavirus Pandemic.   

Let me be really honest – I don’t think Jesus was working an agenda or political angle.  I think Jesus had known for quite some time what the people really wanted – a king – but instead he was focused, moved, even brought to tears over what they really needed – peace.

Jesus saw their clear:

• division

• suffering

• their anger at their enemies

But Jesus wanted to get to the depths of those things and enter at a heart level… But to do that, Jesus must, himself, enter their suffering and expose their division and anger.   

Actually, I might go one step further and say that Jesus must not just enter but BECOME THEIR SUFFERING.

His compassion for the people of this world went so deep that it became his passion.

Now, it is not ironic that this week is often termed “The Passion of Christ.” Some do not like calling that, so they soften it up by calling it “Holy Week” but it is often referred to as “Passion Week.”

The dictionary helps with this, as it notes that “passion” means suffering.  Not only can it mean strong and almost uncontrollable emotion, but it also means suffering, agony, even martyrdom.

This week leading to Easter was a week of suffering for Jesus, and I believe all that he went through, you and I and the world can relate to:   

• from betrayal

• to physical exhaustion and pain,

• to emotional anguish,

• to torture,

• and even death.

Henri Nouwen and his co-authors, Donald McNeill and Douglas Morrison in their book, Compassion: A Reflection of the Christian Life, point out this connection between the passion of Jesus and his compassion when they write,

In his humiliation, Jesus lived out the full implications of emptying himself to be with us in compassion. He not only suffered our painful human condition in all its concrete-ness but he also suffered death with us in one of its rawest, ugliest, and most degrading forms.

Jesus in most religions is known for compassion.  It is often his most recognized attribute.  If you and I are to live in a manner like Jesus – then before we “enter into” any situation – we will want to be aware of and begin with a compassionate view of our world – especially those who are suffering - and I believe this is going to take, like Jesus, both feeling and acting.

Again, I return to “The Rebirthing of God,” where Newell states,

There is a direct relationship between allowing ourselves to truly feel and the decision to act.  Compassionate action is sustained by the courage to feel.

Jesus felt the emotion and out of that acted. Or as our scripture pointed out, Jesus physically wept over Jerusalem before he entered into their situation. 

This week, Eric Baker (our music director) shared with me an article he came across that related to last week’s Self-Led Worship Guide. If you utilized last Sunday’s guide, in it I began talking about these ideas of compassion and suffering.  The article Eric shared with me was titled, In an Angry America, a new remedy emerges: Compassion.

As I read through the article and pondered Jesus’ feeling and action from our scriptures, I began to see how leading with compassion is so critical in our society and world. 

The article points out how compassion influences everything in our lives. It says that in an America that is becoming less empathetic, compassion is on the rise. As well, it emphasizes that the level of suffering and the visibility of suffering in our world (especially currently with the death tolls and suffering due to Covid-19) has made compassion ESSENTIAL.  

Over the last several years, there has been a personal emphasis on becoming attentive and aware of ourselves and our own condition (which I and many others label mindfulness) but at some point, we must continue to the next step. This step is the ability to put ourselves in someone else’ shoes, in situations positive or negative. That is compassion and it includes a motivation to do something to ease suffering.

That I believe was what Jesus was trying to teach us throughout his life and especially on that first Palm Sunday.  Jesus stepped aside and wept over the city.  He moved beyond mindfulness and took the next step and put himself in their shoes (or maybe I should say, sandals) and he asks us to do the same for our neighbors and enemies.

So just maybe instead of Palm Sunday or Passion Sunday, it should be titled, “Compassion Sunday and Compassion Week.”    

Queries to ponder this Compassion Week:

• Currently, how am I relating to the suffering of Jesus?

• How am I working to take the next step of putting myself in someone else’s shoes?

• How this week, will I lead with compassion, and not my own agenda?

3-8-20 - Light Up the Darkness

Light Up The Darkness

Indianapolis First Friends Quaker Meeting

Pastor Bob Henry

March 8, 2020

2 Corinthians 4:13-18 (MSG)

13-15 We’re not keeping this quiet, not on your life. Just like the psalmist who wrote, “I believed it, so I said it,” we say what we believe. And what we believe is that the One who raised up the Master Jesus will just as certainly raise us up with you, alive. Every detail works to your advantage and to God’s glory: more and more grace, more and more people, more and more praise!

16-18 So we’re not giving up. How could we! Even though on the outside it often looks like things are falling apart on us, on the inside, where God is making new life, not a day goes by without his unfolding grace. These hard times are small potatoes compared to the coming good times, the lavish celebration prepared for us. There’s far more here than meets the eye. The things we see now are here today, gone tomorrow. But the things we can’t see now will last forever.

Last week, we talked about our personal prisons and finding a way to celebrate and rejoice in the midst of the struggle.  This week, I have chosen another rather interesting text from Paul.  This time to the people of Corinth.  Paul is rather excited. I wanted to emphasize this a bit, by having it read from The Message Version.  Paul says,

“We’re not keeping this quiet, not on your life.”

When life is this exciting, we simply cannot contain ourselves.  But what was Paul specifically not able to “keep quiet” about?  To understand the background of Paul’s excitement, we need to go back a couple of verses where he wrote this,

“All we are is messengers, errand runners from Jesus for you.  It started when God said, “LIGHT UP THE DARKNESS” and our lives filled up with light as we saw and understood God in the face of Christ, all bright and beautiful.” 

Paul is describing something that as Quakers we may have some insight on. 

A light has been lit within Paul’s heart.

A healing has taken place. 

Paul is no longer the same.

Immediately when I read this experience of Paul, I could not help but think of George Fox. He too had a similar experience. He described it this way…

“Christ it was who had enlightened me, that gave me his light to believe in, and gave me hope, which is himself, revealed himself in me, and gave me the Spirit and his grace, which I found in the depths and in weakness.”

But like all moments of clarity and enlightenment, such as Paul’s or George Fox’s or even our own for that matter, they carry with them a back story.  Last week we heard a bit of Paul’s struggles and in his letters to the early churches he gives us glimpses every so often of the back story.   George Fox’s testimony has an interesting back story as well.  If you every have read Fox’s journal, it paints a picture of struggle – development – and slow painstaking growth. Take for instance this from his journal,

“But my troubles continued, and I was often under great temptations; and I fasted much, and walked abroad in solitary places many days, and often took my Bible and went and sat in hollow trees and lonesome places till night came in; and frequently in the night I walked mournfully about by myself, for I was a man of sorrows in the times of the first workings of the Lord in me.”

I don’t know about you, but I can relate to this Quaker hero of the faith.  His backstory is real – it’s genuine. He admits temptation, loneliness, mourning, even trouble and struggle. 

Paul describes for himself a similar path leading up to our scripture for today. 

In verses 7-12 he states,

7-12 If you only look at us, you might well miss the brightness. We carry this precious Message around in the unadorned clay pots of our ordinary lives. That’s to prevent anyone from confusing God’s incomparable power with us. As it is, there’s not much chance of that. You know for yourselves that we’re not much to look at. We’ve been surrounded and battered by troubles, but we’re not demoralized; we’re not sure what to do, but we know that God knows what to do; we’ve been spiritually terrorized, but God hasn’t left our side; we’ve been thrown down, but we haven’t broken. What they did to Jesus, they do to us—trial and torture, mockery and murder; what Jesus did among them, he does in us—he lives! Our lives are at constant risk for Jesus’ sake, which makes Jesus’ life all the more evident in us. While we’re going through the worst, you’re getting in on the best!

Paul uses much stronger descriptors than even George Fox.

·        Surrounded and Battered

·        Demoralized

·        Not sure what to do

·        Spiritually terrorized

·        Trial and torture

·        Mockery and murder

This reminds me of our female Quaker ancestors who were beaten, jailed, and even executed for their witness.  

Elisabeth Fry

Lucretia Mott

Susan B. Anthony

Mary Dyer

Margaret Fell

Sarah and Angelina Grimke

Jane Addams…

And the list could go on…

They fought for women’s rights, jail reform, peace, and equality and so much more through adversity and suffering. Especially, in their day and age. Many of you have heard or read their back stories.

And I think the back stories of each of these people clearly show – in this life there is going to be suffering.  Let’s be honest the same is true of our backstories.   

• ·        For some of us it is going to be physical suffering.

• ·        For some of us it is mental and spiritual anguish (the sorrowful life)

• ·        For some of us it is going to be persecution for what we believe to be true.

Yet, we must not miss the hope which is evident in each of these and our stories!  The hope is the NEW LIFE God is working to bring to fruition inside each of us.

• ·        Paul found freedom, healing, and renewed power and he said his life was “filled up from within!”  

• ·        George Fox also was enlightened – finding grace and the revelation of God’s own spirit speaking to his condition from within.

• ·        Quaker women were strengthened to stand amidst great adversary and let their inner Light guide them into all Truth.  

• ·        Even the people of Corinth realized God had not left them, they were not broken completely, struggling beyond hope, because the ways of Jesus were coming alive in them and in their gathering.

And folks, if we are able to see it, the good news is coming alive in each of us!  Our suffering in this world is being transformed into NEW LIFE! 

When God breaks through…

When the Light comes on in our hearts…

When brokenness, suffering, demoralizing, ridicule, failure, (you fill in the blank) begin to be healed…

Then we become like Paul, George Fox, or our Quaker women…WE CAN’T KEEP QUIET!

I know for me when my faith is bolstered, my life has meaning, when the Light begins to burn brightly…I cannot contain it.  I have to tell other people.  As the scripture read:

“Every detail works to your advantage and to God’s glory: more and more grace, more and more people, more and more praise!” (vs. 14-15)

When we recognize what is going on inside of us, when we make that heart connection with God, it simply cannot be contained!

Yet as we have seen through the brief glimpses of Paul’s, George Fox’s, and our female Quaker ancestor’s lives – what we are talking about is a PROCESS and it takes time.  It is not something one simply achieves – it takes personal discipline, awareness, and an acknowledgment that sometimes the struggles, the troubles, the brokenness, the sorrow, the pain, etc. is difficult. Living the Christ Life is not an easy path. Jesus even said we would have to “count the cost” of living this way.  

Yet like the people we have discusses and many others before us, they refused to give up. Oh, I am sure they at times wanted to give up.  I know I have wanted to give up.

But look at what Paul says to the Corinthians in verse 16…

16-18 So we’re not giving up. How could we!

And then he continues…

Even though on the outside it often looks like things are falling apart on us, on the inside, where God is making new life, not a day goes by without his unfolding grace. These hard times are small potatoes compared to the coming good times, the lavish celebration prepared for us. There’s far more here than meets the eye. The things we see now are here today, gone tomorrow. But the things we can’t see now will last forever.

You and I may be at this very moment…

• ·        physically falling apart

• ·        emotionally or spiritually struggling. 

• ·        Feeling older or inadequate

• ·        worn out or without life

• ·        maybe things aren’t working out,

• ·        or you can’t seem to keep it together,

• ·        or you are failing at work or needing to seek a new job.

No matter what, God is still at work inside you.

Here is he good news for us this morning.  

“…on the inside, where God is making new life, not a day goes by without his unfolding grace.” 

God is still at work in our hearts. 

God is preparing us right now (in the present moment) for all she has in store for us. 

God is birthing LIFE inside you and me at all times. 

The query for this morning is…

Will we recognize God making that new life in us?  Or will we ignore it?  Or not believe it? Or stifle it?

What I believe God is saying to each of us gathered here (or listening online)…

First Friends, these hard times are small potatoes compared to the coming good times, the lavish celebration prepared for you!

We may not be able to see all that God is up to – or has been doing.  But we have hope that what God is doing will be longstanding – or what we may call eternal.

Thus Paul gives us one last thought…

There’s far more here than meets the eye. The things we see now are here today, gone tomorrow. But the things we can’t see now will last forever.

Of has he wrote in his first letter to the Corinthians…

“We don’t yet see things clearly. We’re squinting in a fog, peering through a mist.  But it won’t be long before the weather clears and the sun shines bright!  We’ll see it all then, see it all clearly as God sees us.  Knowing him directly just as he knows us!”

That “sun shining bright” is you and me!  Embrace your inner light and let it shine this week.

3-1-20 - Companions of the Way

Companions of the Way

Indianapolis First Friends Quaker Meeting

Pastor Bob Henry

March 1, 2020

Philippians 1:19-27 (MSG)

And I’m going to keep that celebration going because I know how it’s going to turn out. Through your faithful prayers and the generous response of the Spirit of Jesus Christ, everything he wants to do in and through me will be done. I can hardly wait to continue on my course. I don’t expect to be embarrassed in the least. On the contrary, everything happening to me in this jail only serves to make Christ more accurately known, regardless of whether I live or die. They didn’t shut me up; they gave me a pulpit! Alive, I’m Christ’s messenger; dead, I’m his bounty. Life versus even more life! I can’t lose.

22-26 As long as I’m alive in this body, there is good work for me to do. If I had to choose right now, I hardly know which I’d choose. Hard choice! The desire to break camp here and be with Christ is powerful. Some days I can think of nothing better. But most days, because of what you are going through, I am sure that it’s better for me to stick it out here. So I plan to be around awhile, companion to you as your growth and joy in this life of trusting God continues. You can start looking forward to a great reunion when I come visit you again. We’ll be praising Christ, enjoying each other.

27-30 Meanwhile, live in such a way that you are a credit to the Message of Christ. Let nothing in your conduct hang on whether I come or not. Your conduct must be the same whether I show up to see things for myself or hear of it from a distance. Stand united, singular in vision, contending for people’s trust in the Message, the good news, not flinching or dodging in the slightest before the opposition.

This morning we turn to Paul’s letter to the Philippians. This letter was written by Paul and probably Timothy – since they were in prison together. It was supposedly carried by Epaphroditus to the people of Philippi. I had Cindy skip the intro so we could get into the meat of the letter. 

Paul has just heard good news from Philippi and we find him rejoicing or celebrating.  If Cindy hadn’t read to you that Paul and Timothy were in prison, you may have been surprised when coming to the line when Paul exclaims, “…everything happening to me in this jail…”  Paul in one sentence says they are rejoicing and celebrating and in the next says, “by the way, I am in jail, and I don’t really care if I live or die.” It seems a very interesting scenario. My first thought was Paul might have needed some help.  Maybe he and Timothy had lost it. 

But then I started to reflect on this a bit more…

Have you ever had something that keeps you rejoicing

or keeps the celebration going?

Maybe something that makes you feel like you are on cloud nine.

Maybe you have fallen in love.

Maybe you have received good news.

Maybe you witnessed a miracle or something that opened your eyes to a new discovery – something that you can’t stop thinking about?  So much that the bad parts of life seem a lot better, maybe even are moved to the back burner. 

I remember the summer I met Sue. That entire summer was like none other. I can’t remember a bad thing that happened.  I was between my freshmen and sophomore year of college – going through major life transitions, but that summer I was in love like I had never been before.

Or I remember when we had each of our three boys.  I was so excited about meeting my children, the sleep deprivation, the stress of work - life itself stood still.

Or I remember when I successfully defended my doctoral dissertation.  I walked out of that room with celebration and rejoicing.  Even though just a few months prior, we had moved across the country to Oregon, and were still trying to get adjusted to life, new schools for the boys, some challenges at our meeting that were arising. – somehow all those took the backburner as I celebrated my accomplishment.

When things are going well, or life is looking up, the difficulties seem to vanish or at least seem less burdensome.  But if I was in prison like Paul and Timothy, I may be thinking differently.  Prison was much more rudimentary in Paul and Timothy’s days than it is today. They were probably shackled to the wall, with no toilets, beds, etc… 

Actually, I have wondered if someone came and threw me in jail for what I preached from this pulpit I don’t think I would have the same hopeful outlook on the situation as Paul did.

I don’t know about you, but when things aren’t going so well in life…

·        I don’t find myself rejoicing or celebrating.

·        I don’t find myself filled with a lot of hope.

·        And I definitely am not saying that I don’t care if I live or die. 

            My mind would go first to my wife and children.

            My friends and family.

Actually, like many of you, I often go to worry, maybe even fretting, maybe even physically shutting down.  Sometimes, I even go to fear and I begin putting up walls of protection.

But where I can relate to Paul is that when I start to do this, I begin to recognize the fact that I may not be in a physical prison, but I have my own “prisons” in which I want deliverance.

Think about it for yourself.. What are the prisons you find yourself within?

Maybe it is a prison of career or success.

Maybe it is a prison of wealth or poverty.  

Maybe it is a prison of politics.

Maybe it is a prison of health.

Maybe it is a prison of family or personal relationships.

Maybe it is a prison of fear, depression, grief, or abuse.

What are the prisons you find yourself within?

As I pondered this, it had me questioning Paul’s response.  He was in a physical prison for his beliefs.  His life was being threatened, and he knew the consequences that sent him to prison. So how in the world could he be rejoicing and celebrating?  Had he lost his mind?  Was he being sadistic?

No, Paul had committed to being a pupil under his master teacher, Jesus.  He was trying to stay alive, both spiritually and physically and he was realizing it was all connected to his faith journey.  

Paul gives us a bit of an insight when he shares an intimate conversation going on in his mind in his epistle. (Remember our “prisons” can effect how we think about things and how we see things…good and bad.) Paul’s prison was causing him to see from different angles.  

In verse. 22 Paul shares the following:

As long as I’m alive in this body, there is good work for me to do. If I had to choose right now, I hardly know which I’d choose. Hard choice! The desire to break camp here and be with Christ is powerful. Some days I can think of nothing better. But most days, because of what you are going through, I am sure that it’s better for me to stick it out here. So I plan to be around awhile, companion to you as your growth and joy in this life of trusting God continues.

It is easy to see from the choices that Paul would just like to get out of this world. I can totally understand this. “Calgon, take me away!” Some theologians today would call this “escapism” and entire theologies have been created to support this mentality.  For instance, Rapture Theology is simply an “escapist” fantasy.

I am sure you have heard someone at some time say, “This is not our world, our real home is in heaven, so forget about taking care of this planet. I just want to go be with Jesus.”  Now, that is a bit selfish and does not sound very much like what Jesus taught.

Yet, I hear a bit of that in Paul’s words, especially when he says, “The desire to break camp here and be with Christ is powerful.”

But there is his other choice – some may say this sounds like he is having a “savior complex” but I think there is some real depth to what Paul is saying. He admits…

I need to stick it out here.

I plan to be around as a companion to you as you grow in your faith.

Hmmm…this sounds like what we all just did a few minutes ago with the children that were brought forth for dedication. We said we would stick around and be a Friend as they grew in the faith.  

I kind of have this scene of Paul writing down these options and sharing them with Timothy, and with a quizzical look on his face, Timothy says,

“Paul, you can’t go…”The people of Philippi need you, we need you – I need you!”

And at that point they began to imagine the possibility of a joyous reunion with their companions that would take place – the party, the celebration that awaited them when Paul and Timothy were released from their prison and back in Philippi with their friends. 

It was a moment of hope, of companionship, of realizing the journey they were on and are still on, and how so important the community of faith was to them.  Yes, it would be better to be directly with Jesus, but then just maybe Paul realizes he could be with Jesus – because there was that of God in his companions and especially Timothy.

So, as they returned from the brief euphoria and hopeful dream sharing, the reality of their jail time came back into focus.  And Paul writes a bit more focused and realistically saying,

Let nothing in your conduct hang on whether I come or not. Your conduct must be the same whether I show up to see things for myself or hear of it from a distance. Stand united, singular in vision, contending for people’s trust in the Message, the good news, not flinching or dodging in the slightest before the opposition.

What Paul is saying is – here is how to handle yourselves whether in prison, facing opposition, or when simply living out the ways of Jesus.   

·        Stand United.

·        Singular in Vision.

·        Contending for people’s trust in the ways of Jesus (the good news that he taught and lived)

·        And don’t flinch or dodge the opposition – face them and speak truth to power! 

This is the picture, I want our children, those in our community, those outside the church, or – for that matter – the world to see. Now, this means we are going to need to reflect a bit, like Paul (maybe even from our own prisons).

Ask yourself this morning some Queries as we enter waiting worship (you will find them on the back of our bulletin).

·        What is the opposition I must face? Might it be what wants to put me in “prison”?

·        What prison(s) do I find myself within currently?  

·        How can I rejoice, have hope, and become alive among the oppositions or prisons of life?

2-23-20 - Practicing Transfiguration

Practicing Transfiguration

Indianapolis First Friends Quaker Meeting

Pastor Bob Henry

February 23, 2020

Mark 9:2-12 (NRSV)

2 Six days later, Jesus took with him Peter and James and John, and led them up a high mountain apart, by themselves. And he was transfigured before them, 3 and his clothes became dazzling white, such as no one on earth could bleach them. 4 And there appeared to them Elijah with Moses, who were talking with Jesus. 5 Then Peter said to Jesus, “Rabbi, it is good for us to be here; let us make three dwellings, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.” 6 He did not know what to say, for they were terrified. 7 Then a cloud overshadowed them, and from the cloud there came a voice, “This is my Son, the Beloved; listen to him!” 8 Suddenly when they looked around, they saw no one with them anymore, but only Jesus.

9 As they were coming down the mountain, he ordered them to tell no one about what they had seen, until after the Son of Man had risen from the dead. 10 So they kept the matter to themselves, questioning what this rising from the dead could mean. 11 Then they asked him, “Why do the scribes say that Elijah must come first?” 12 He said to them, “Elijah is indeed coming first to restore all things. How then is it written about the Son of Man, that he is to go through many sufferings and be treated with contempt?

This week, I found myself having a conversation that led to a discussion on the Season of Lent.  Not the typical topic for a Quaker minister to engage. The topic arose because this Wednesday, February 26th is Ash Wednesday and it happens to be the day before my birthday. A joke was made that I would already be fasting as I celebrated my birthday, so I would have to carefully choose what I was going to give up for Lent – maybe not Birthday Cake or Dessert this year.

As we continued to discuss Ash Wednesday our conversation soon moved to the season of Lent.  Now, as both a Lutheran (growing up) and an Anglican priest later in life, I celebrated the liturgical season of Lent for many, many years (as I know many of you who were transplanted from liturgical churches did as well).  I learned from early on that Lent started near or around my birthday and ended 40 days (well 47 days later, if you include the Feast Days or Sundays) with the celebration of Easter.

Then came the question I always get – “So what are you giving up this year for Lent?”  To which I simply replied, “Around 10 years ago I gave up Lent for Lent because I am a Quaker.” That always catches people off guard and causes awkward chuckles. That is when the quizzical look on the person’s face demands that I explain.  I usually try and explain how Quaker religious practice is pretty much on the opposite end of the Christian spectrum from Catholicism. Friends, from early on, believed that the birth, death, and resurrection of Christ was to be remembered each day of the year, not just on particular holy days. And I would always end with explaining how many Friends believed that it was hypocritical to fast during Lent and then eat excessively during the rest of the year, so they choose to live simply all year long.  By this point the questions are always visibly bubbling to the surface and I know that my conversation is going to take a lot more explaining.   

Well, after the conversation ended, I found myself a bit nostalgic thinking about my liturgical days. I chuckled a bit remembering the many years I tried to give up watching TV, drinking soda or eating desserts, or picking up a healthy habit to replace the time spent on my smart phone.  I remember how one year I gave up watching TV and listening to the radio, and without checking what was happening in the world I preached a sermon about natural disasters not realizing an earthquake and tsunami had literally devastated Indonesia that very morning. Talk about awkward. 

So, with all these memories on my mind I sat down to write my sermon for today. As I pondered Lent kicking off with Ash Wednesday this Thursday, I remembered that there was one last official Sunday celebration before Lent began, which would actually be today. In the Anglican Church, we called it the Feast of the Transfiguration.  As a young man beginning to understand the Church Year I never fully understood this day. Actually, since Ryan White was headlining the news in Indiana when I was a child, I remember getting confused and exchanging Transfiguration for Transfusion. I mean we talked about the blood of Jesus so much at church and everyone was talking about transfusions on TV – I sensed that was a logical mistake. 

Then one day in my 8th grade confirmation class, we read the story of the Transfiguration (which Carrie read this morning). I was kind of confused and disappointed that there was no blood involved. And as a junior higher, this was one weird story.  And then my pastor explained that this story was not the only like it in the Bible.  He had us turn to Daniel 10:5-6.  Now, all I knew about Daniel I learned in Sunday School and it was the story of Daniel and the Lion’s Den. That was until we read the following:

“5 I looked up and saw a man clothed in linen, with a belt of gold from Uphaz around his waist. 6 His body was like beryl (or crystal), his face like lightning, his eyes like flaming torches, his arms and legs like the gleam of burnished bronze, and the sound of his words like the roar of a multitude.”

First, this sounded a lot like the description of Jesus at the Transfiguration. And later in Daniel 10 this story speaks very similar words as in the transfiguration of Jesus - specifically the words “beloved” and “listen to him.”

My pastor continued to utilize these two stories to trace the mountain top experiences throughout the Bible. We talked about…

·        Moses receiving the 10 Commandments on Mt. Sinai from God.

·        Elijah being sent back to Mt. Sinai where he will experience God’s glory personally.

·        And then Moses and Elijah showing up on Mt. Tabor with Jesus where he was transfigured.

I could go on and amaze you with the similarities of these three mountain top events, it is almost as crazy as the coincidences between the deaths of Abraham Lincoln and John F. Kennedy, yet in all honesty I think these details simply distract us from finding an appropriate application of this story for our lives.  I believe the story of the transfiguration is much different than the more practical or even believable stories and parables in scripture. This story always seemed more a story of legend or mythology to me. 

But maybe that is because I was taught to see it through Peter’s eyes.  Almost every time I used to preach on the Transfiguration, I focused on Peter’s response to this mountain top experience.  His response was relatable – “if only we could keep this experience going.”  You know what I am talking about. “Why can’t this vacation, this gathering, this worship experience, this book, this concert, this kiss, this…you name it last forever?”  Then I would continue the sermon and preach about the reality check of having to descend the mountain to get back to the ordinary.  We can’t always live life on mountain top experiences - was a worthy lesson to understand – but was it the point?

I always encourage those that want to grow to “rotate the jewel” and look from a different perspective. I took my own advice and decided to look one more time at this story from a different perspective.  Carl Gregg was the first to give me a different view by talking about learning to “Practice Transfiguration.” This sounded familiar.  You may remember a couple of Easter’s ago, I preached on “Practicing Resurrection” a phrase that even Carl related to Wendell Berry’s famous poem “The Mad Farmer’s Liberation Front.” Which if you know the poem, ends with the phrase, “Practice Resurrection.”

I have processed and expanded that idea on many occasions, but how the heck do you “Practice Transfiguration.” This was when my eyes began to open.  Transfiguration is about LIGHT, LISTENING, BECOMING ENLIGHTENED – and it is all about coming into your full self and allowing the light of God’s love to shine from your inside out. Looking at it that way makes this a very Quaker story.

I have said so many times that we need to live like Jesus, but I never applied it to this story. I always found myself wanting to take a seat and watch the show with Peter.  Carl Gregg said we need to move beyond admiring Jesus’ Transfiguration and start practicing it. That was a challenge and had me thinking.   

So, what does that look like?  Carl had me reflect on the following thoughts from Marianne Williamson’s book “A Return to Love.” If you’ve ever read any of Marianne Williamson’s books you will find her often talking about Quakers. She also talks about Light, enlightenment, and making the glory of God shine within us. Just listen to what she wrote and how much it sounds like transfiguration.

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our LIGHT, not our darkness that most frightens us.  We ask ourselves, Who am I to be BRILLIANT, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God.  Your playing small does not serve the world.  There is nothing ENLIGHTENED about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you.  We are all meant to SHINE, as children do.  We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us.  It’s not just in some of us; its in everyone.  And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same.  As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”

This was true for Jesus at his transfiguration and it is true for us. What Marianne Williamson just described is personal transfiguration.  As Quakers, we know it comes from within us, that it’s for everyone, and that when we live like Jesus and let our inner light shine, we give those around us permission to do the same. The disciples didn’t get it at the moment, they still didn’t get it as they were heading down the mountain.  They were still in fear and feeling inadequate, but that would change in the coming months.  Peter, James and John would be transfigured in time and go on to change the world.

And I believe, so will we, but it is going to take some practice.

That may look different for each of us.  Some of us will be transfigured through times of prayer, meditation, journaling, others will be on a retreat or out in nature, even others will be in a conversation, a small group, listening to music, reading a book, or even in meeting for worship or the silence of unprogrammed worship. These are just some of the many ways we can practice transfiguration here at First Friends, where we allow the light of God’s love to shine out from within us to the world. 

Folks, I am privileged because I experience the transfiguration of people at First Friends almost every day. 

The query we need to ask is…Do we have eyes to see the transfiguration? 

Do we see it happening each week in Seeking Friends, Wired Word, Children’s Ministry, and Youth Group?

Do we see it happens at Monday Meditational Worship and Wednesday Night Unprogrammed Worship? 

At Friday Sing-a-longs.

At Oak Leaf Meeting for Reading.

At the Food Pantry

At Seasoned Friends

At Threshing Together and women’s gatherings.

Do we see Transfiguration take place as stamps are sorted, as the choir practices, as the ushers and greeters serve? 

And we could go on and on…

I do.  I see the light in each of you giving others permission to do the same, liberating them from their fears and allowing the light of God’s love to transfigure those around us.  And as we practice this transfiguration in our own lives, at First Friends, and in our communities, in our jobs and families, we allow the Light of God’s love to change our world. 

Folks, It is time to let our lights shine! Will you join me in practicing transfiguration this week?

·        Where am I feeling inadequate or fearful in life? 

·        How do I “practice transfiguration” in the daily? 

·        Where do I see transfiguration happening at First Friends, my community, my world?

2-16-20 - Speaking the Language of Love

Speaking the Language of Love

Indianapolis First Friends Quaker Meeting

Pastor Bob Henry

February 16, 2020

Mark 1:40-45

40 A leper came to him begging him, and kneeling he said to him, “If you choose, you can make me clean.” 41 Moved with pity, Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him, and said to him, “I do choose. Be made clean!” 42 Immediately the leprosy left him, and he was made clean. 43 After sternly warning him he sent him away at once, 44 saying to him, “See that you say nothing to anyone; but go, show yourself to the priest, and offer for your cleansing what Moses commanded, as a testimony to them.” 45 But he went out and began to proclaim it freely, and to spread the word, so that Jesus could no longer go into a town openly, but stayed out in the country; and people came to him from every quarter.

We have spent several weeks talking about peace, and last week we continued those thoughts as we celebrated our Scouts and their peacekeeping efforts. This week, it seems appropriate to talk a bit about love, especially since Friday was Valentine’s Day. 

To begin, I want to lay a bit of a foundation. From all my studies, I have come to believe love to be the “native language” of the universal church. Jesus said everything, all the Law and prophets, could be summed up in two phrases: Love God and love your neighbor as yourself (that in a nutshell makes love the key action). I have also at different times learned that…

Love is the wind that fills us!

Love is the fire in our hearts!

Love is the language that transforms!

And the main query I want us to ponder today is, “Do I speak love?”  

I spent some time this week pondering that query – Do I speak love?  As a pastor, I not only do a great deal of speaking, I also spend a lot of time listening. I often find myself wondering if others are “speaking love” or if they are relying on something else. I found the best way to work through my pondering was to turn the tables on myself and ask, Do I speak love? What I realized was, speaking love, depends on several factors.

• Who am I engaging?

• How open are they to my brand of love?

• Are they worthy of my love?

• Have they rejected my love before?

• Is our relationship damaged making it harder to love?

• Could I be unwilling to love them?

I find myself often turning for advice to the American Trappist Monk, Thomas Merton (who’s mother ironically was a Quaker and greatly influenced how he saw the world). Merton once said,

The beginning of love is the will to not let those we love be perfectly themselves, the resolution not to twist them to fit our own image. If in loving them we do not love what they are, but only their potential likeness to ourselves, then we do not love them: we only love the reflection of ourselves we find in them.    

Merton’s words speak to the depths of my being.

Maybe you wrestle with some of the same questions and thoughts that I do. In our world today, it seems very easy to write people off and give an excuse as to why they are unworthy of our love for a multitude of reasons – ultimately making them into lepers.

For example: Just the other day, I heard someone say, I could never love my child if they were a Republican. Really, your own child? Wow!   

Yet, Sue and I have heard something similar to this before. We helped youth in Silverton, OR who were homeless because their parents said they could no longer love or accept them because of their sexual orientation. (Did you know that The National Coalition on Homelessness reports that 40% of homeless youth identify as LGBTQ and 62% of them attempt to commit suicide each year.)  

In Jesus’ day the people most difficult to love were the lepers (mostly because of their rare disease which was visibly off-putting and seriously contagious). Jeff read to us one of the briefer stories in scripture about Jesus healing a man with leprosy. Even though it is brief, there is a great deal to ponder in those 5 short passages about how we speak love to those most difficult to love in our lives.  

So, let me begin with lepers and then move to looking at Jesus. 

To look at lepers, I think expanding the category may be helpful in our day. To do that, I would like to turn to Roger Landry who gives us a wider perspective of lepers to consider, he says,

“…what Christ is calling us to do is to love the outcasts with the same love that He does…The following are some of the outcasts we may be called to love with Christ's love:

[Please note: Roger gives us some new categories of lepers to consider – I found these helpful for building an awareness of how easily we remove people from our lives.]

• The bodily leper: those whom the world considers ugly or unattractive, or those whose illnesses are so long-lasting that few want to care for them;

• The psychological lepers: those with mental illness or mental disabilities, about whom others make jokes, but for whom they make no time;

• The spiritual or moral lepers: those who have committed very public and embarrassing acts, and those who think that they cannot be forgiven.

• The economic lepers: the homeless or the very poor, who are shut off from society and the things most of the rest of society take for granted;

• The racial [or ethnic] lepers: those who are discriminated against because of their nation of origin or the color of their skin.

• The emotional lepers: those who, because of their own psyche or others’ actions, feel completely alone and abandoned.

These are among the ones Jesus wants us to reach out to and heal through our very human touch.

Sadly, it has too often been the institution of the church that has labeled and removed the “lepers” for us. Many denominations, religious groups, and politically focused Christian groups have labeled “lepers” as either “in or out.”  This has created an us verse them mentality, erasing the opportunity for you and I to see the “lepers” in our lives with our own eyes - allowing us to decide for ourselves.  I am so glad that First Friends continues to work and hone our love for outcasts, but also I want us to be aware of and remember the responsibility that loving the “lepers” of our world demands.  

I will have to say, some of the greatest people I have come to love and build friendships with are not like me at all and many would be considered “lepers” by many other people I know.  Actually, when I really think about it, I too have been considered a “leper” to people. Maybe you have, too.

Whether others or ourselves, let’s be honest, “lepers” are most of the time created by our fears. I am sure if we searched deep inside ourselves, we would find the fear that causes us to reject or remove certain people from our lives.

So now let’s turn to Jesus.

In our scripture for today it says that “Jesus was moved with pity.”  In the Greek it would be translated that Jesus was INDIGNANT to the depth of his bowels. Yes, the Greek actually speaks of it literally going that deep.

Add this depth to the definition of indignant:

“Feeling or showing anger or annoyance

at what is perceived as unfair treatment”

and you get a different perspective of the passage. Jesus was so troubled by the unfair treatment of this leper that he overflowed with compassion for him to the depth of his being.

Remember, the religious authorities of Jesus day had labeled who were “in or out.” 

• Prostitutes were out.

• Gentiles were out.

• Tax collectors were out.

• Demon possessed people were out.

• Samaritans were out.

• Lepers were out.

• And the list went on…and they continued to add to it.

What I find really interesting is the fact that the people the religious authorities said we were out, were the same people Jesus attempted to bring in.  [Repeat]  That is until Jesus became the “leper” and then they wanted him out – ultimately dead.

But Jesus was indignant – so much so that he made himself unclean for the sake of this leper.  Jewish history was clear that by just touching the leper, Jesus had committed a horrific sin. Jesus too would have to be removed from their presence because of this. 

Just think about that for a moment.  Jesus was willing to sin in the eyes of the religious authorities and their followers for someone to be loved, healed, and accepted into the fold.  

Folks, the love of God (the native language of the universal church) transcends our ideas, our parameters, our understanding of who is accepted and who is not.

Remember what Jesus said in Matthew 21:31?

“Truly I tell you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God ahead of you.”

I sense the reason it is so difficult to “speak love” is because we, the church, have spent way to long living in a system of fear that closes the door and turns more and more people into “lepers.”

I believe the picture Jesus shows throughout scripture is an INCLUSIVE LOVE. 

I cannot emphasize this enough in this political year. As Quakers, as Christians, as religious and spiritual people, we should be about speaking the language of love that Jesus modeled. We need to be vocal in this time of great division, in this time when people are being categorized, labeled, and told their place by politicians, churches, religious groups, and even our own relatives and families.

It reminds me of something Ronald Rolheiser says in the book “The Holy Longing.” You have probably heard me quote this before, but it is so important to remember today.  He says,

“When Scripture tells us that, in Christ, there should be no male or female, no slave or free person, and no Jew or Gentile, it is telling us that there should also be no liberal or conservative, white or colored, new or traditional, feminist or antifeminist, pro-life or pro-choice, Democrat or Republican, Tory or Labor, or any other such ethic or ideological pocket that matters in terms of church. John Shea once suggested that the heavenly banquet table is open to everyone who is ready to sit down with everyone. That names the inclusivity required of any church member…The task of the church is to stand toe to toe, shoulder to shoulder, and heart to heart with people absolutely different from ourselves.”

It is clear from the record of scripture that Jesus lived this life.

            Jesus was willing to clean the leper and touch him.

            Jesus was willing to stand between the stoning crowd for the prostitute.

            Jesus was willing to invite the tax collector to be his disciple.

            Jesus was willing to talk to and acknowledge the Samaritan women.

            Jesus spoke the language of love.

People of First Friends, we have such a beautiful opportunity as a Quaker Meeting during these crazy times. Our testimonies or S.P.I.C.E.S. support this being a place where we can stand toe to toe, shoulder to shoulder, and heart to heart with all types of people…We have the opportunity to love like Jesus, to clean, to touch, to stand between, to invite, and to talk and seek to understand the outcasts and lepers around us. Yet, I will be the first to say, learning to speak our native tongue is not easy. That is why we need our community (each other) to challenge and support us.  We need them to help us understand and identify those we treat as “lepers” and call us out when we do.  And we need them to help keep us accountable to speaking our language of love so EVERYONE may have the opportunity to sit-down with EVERYONE else.

Now, let’s talk very practical. Since we are aware that speaking love is a vital topic, especially in this politically divisive year, we have decided to partner with the Indianapolis Peace and Justice Center for a night of challenging, supporting, and learning to speak our native tongue as it specifically relates to politics – a topic sadly known for producing “lepers.”

On Thursday, February 25th from 7-8:30 we are inviting you to join us in our fellowship hall to play a game that actually (if you can believe it) makes political conversations fun, instead of aggravating or intolerable – and I have a sense it will teach us how to, more appropriately, speak our native language. The game is based on conversations around a family dinner table. Each person plays a role while tackling some of the thorny issues we face in this difficult political year.

So, I officially invite you to join us for “Reclaiming our Democracy: One Dinner Table at a Time.” 

Now, let us enter into waiting worship. There are some queries to ponder on the back of the bulletin this morning. Please remember that waiting worship is not a time for announcements or personal commentary – if you need help with discerning if you need to speak, take time to review one of the cards in the pew in front of you to see if you are really being led to speak.   

• Who do I need to work on “speaking love” to this week?

• Who, because of my fear, have I made a “leper” in my life?

• How can First Friends become even better at speaking our native tongue – love?

2-9-20 - Peacemakers Come in All Sizes

Peacekeepers Come in All Sizes

Indianapolis First Friends Quaker Meeting

Pastor Bob Henry

February 9, 2020

Matthew 5:14-16

14 “You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill cannot be hid. 15 No one after lighting a lamp puts it under the bushel basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all in the house. 16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.

I spent some time this week researching the ever-evolving Scouts organization in which we are celebrating this day.  It started when I came across an article a while back from The Atlantic about Boy Scouts holding together a war-torn country.  Since, for the last several weeks, we have been talking about “peace” I thought it was an appropriate story to share.  I will be doing that a bit later in the message. 

As a former Cub Scout, myself, I have always valued those many nights back in grade school meeting in my friend, Andy’s basement. Andy’s dad was our scout leader and he was one of the most gentle and kind dad’s, other than my own, that I knew.  I looked forward to being dropped off at Andy’s house, gathering with my scout friends and working on projects.  Because my Scout Troop was part of our church, we would always begin with a prayer, which may have been the first time I led a prayer out loud in a group.  We did service projects, learned about nature, talked about being good citizens, and we competed against each other for the annual Pine Wood Derby trophy (one of my favorite parts of scouts as it entailed using my artistic gifts).

Since I did not have older brothers and sisters who were scouts, I looked elsewhere for examples.  For many years I was captivated by astronauts and the space shuttle program.  All of the original astronauts, like Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin were boy scouts and many of the space shuttle astronauts were as well.  Ironically, when I was doing some research this week, I found some surprising men and women that were scouts that may surprise you.  Did you know…

Mariah Carey, Taylor Swift, Celine Dion, Queen Elizabeth II, Venus Williams,

Carrie Fisher (Princess Leia), Queen Latifah, Martha Stewart and Gloria Steinman were all scouts.

And Hank Aaron, Jack Black, Jimmy Buffet, Jon Bon Jovi, Jon Heder (Napoleon Dynamite), Chris Pratt, Steven Spielberg, Bill Gates were as well. 

And a couple summers ago when we were on vacation, we visited Martin Luther King Jr.’s boyhood home and the church he pastored just down the road.  We heard how he too was a scout and his father a troop leader at Ebenezer Baptist Church. In the museum at Ebenezer Baptist, we saw the register from Troop 151 in Atlanta that shows that Martin Luther King Jr. was a scout from the age of 11 to 13.  Ebenezer Baptist continues this tradition in the heart of Atlanta where they still host Troop and Pack 213 every other Sunday. 

I cannot even begin to image how proud the young scouts at Ebenezer Baptist must be, to think they are carrying on this tradition of their hero. 

Martin Luther King Jr. continued to promote the ideals he learned through the scouts program at his church.  And during his acceptance speech for the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964, King said the following (just listen to how much speaks to the ideals of scouting)…

“I refuse to accept the view that mankind is so tragically bound to the starless midnight of racism and war that the bright daybreak of peace and brotherhood can never become a reality. I refuse to accept the cynical notion that nation after nation must spiral down a militaristic stairway into the hell of thermonuclear destruction. I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word in reality. This is why right temporarily defeated is stronger than evil triumphant. I believe that even amid today’s mortar bursts and whining bullets, there is still hope for a brighter tomorrow.”

King spoke of that “Peace and brotherhood” (and I would include “sisterhood” as well, today) of that hope for a brighter tomorrow.  Ironically, the founder of scouting Robert Baden-Powell would have agreed with King.  From the very beginning, Robert Baden-Powell saw his scouting movement as a way to achieve peace and worldwide brotherhood. History says that,

“Two years after the end of WWI, with the world still reeling from the horror and losses of that conflict, the Scouts held their first world jamboree. At the closing ceremony, Baden-Powell asked participants to take the spirit of brotherhood and the Scout Law they had felt at the gathering home with them “so that we may help to develop peace and happiness in the world and goodwill among all Scouts. Ever since then, Scouts have been practicing citizenship, doing service, spreading messages of peace, and selflessly sacrificing for others in an effort to make Baden-Powell’s vision a reality.”

I have never thought of the Scouts as a peace movement, but clearly that was part of the founder’s vision. 

Over the years the Scouts have referenced several important historical documents in their continued evolution. Such as quoting the constitution of UNESCO in 1945 where the Scouts pointed out the following to support their cause,

“Since wars begin in the minds of men, it is in the minds of men that the defenses of peace must be constructed.”

Or Article 26 (2) of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights from 1948, where the Scouts emphasized,

“Education should be directed to the full development of the human personality and to the strengthening of respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms. It shall promote understanding, tolerance and friendship among all nations, racial or religious groups, and shall further the activities of the United Nations for the maintenance of peace.”

Even Robert Baden-Powell, himself wrote in 1929,

“We should take care, in inculcating patriotism into our boys and girls, that it is a patriotism above the narrow sentiments which usually stops at one’s own country, and thus inspires jealousy and enmity in dealing with others.  Our patriotism should be of the wider, nobler kind which recognizes justice and reasonableness in the claims of others and which leads our country into comradeship with…the other nations of the world.

The first step to this end is to develop peace and goodwill within our own borders, by training our youth of both sexes to its practice as their habit of life; so that the jealousies of town against town, class against class and sect against sect no longer exist; and then to extend this good feeling beyond our frontiers towards our neighbors.”

This is the importance of the message of peace that the scouting movement offers our world today.  In 2011 after the devastation of 9/11, the World Scout Committee launched the Messengers of Peace initiative to recognize Scouts who work for peace and brotherhood, and support them in doing even more to create a better world.  I was surprised at how similar this initiative fit within the Quaker S.P.I.C.E.S.  The Messengers of Peace initiative encompasses three dimensions (just listen at how much they resemble our testimonies):

1.     Personal: harmony, justice, and equality

2.     Community: peace as opposed to hostility or violent conflict.

3.     Relationships between humankind and its environment: security, social and economic welfare, and relationship with the environment.

And this takes me back to where I started this sermon, the article I read in The Atlantic.

The article was titled, “Boy Scouts Are Holding Together A War-Torn Country” but it was the subtitle that caught my Quaker eye.  It read, “In the Central African Republic, peacekeepers come in all sizes.” This is what we believe as Quakers – everyone – young and old has a voice!  

I would like to share the article to give you a picture of how Scouts are playing a crucial role in peacekeeping around the world.  

If you venture outside Bangui, the capital of the Central African Republic, it’s dangerous to travel alone. Journeying from village to village means navigating jungle or savanna without paved roads or reliable communication networks. Central African Republic straddles one of the world’s largest magnetic anomalies, so compasses often err. And conflict among more than a dozen armed religious groups has balkanized the country.

Amid all of this, one unlikely institution has become crucial to the country’s survival: the Boy Scouts. Like scouts the world over, members wear trim shorts and multicolor neckerchiefs—but their youthful uniform belies a grander-than-average sociopolitical mission. When they aren’t earning badges for cooking and woodworking, they’re guiding ailing villagers to hospitals, or distributing mosquito nets and food at refugee camps. Last year, as Simon Allison reported in Mail & Guardian, the boys investigated rumors of Ebola in a remote part of the country. The year before that, they helped negotiate the release of a Muslim community held hostage by armed groups.

Since 2013, when rebels staged a coup and religious violence flared, Central African Republic has been in a state of civil war. Today, the enfeebled government in Bangui relies on foreign aid agencies to hold the country together—and the agencies in turn rely on the country’s 20,000 boy scouts, who surpass Central African Republic’s largest armed factions in both size and geographic reach. UNICEF, for example, deploys boys to public squares to perform plays about hand-washing, and sends them door-to-door to promote the polio vaccine.

The peacekeeping role that scouts play in Central African Republic is more fitting than it might at first seem. Founded in 1907 by the British army officer Robert Baden-Powell, the scouting movement combines military reconnaissance tactics with a pacifist philosophy—in his famous book Scouting for Boys, Baden-Powell urged readers to think of themselves as “peace scouts.” According to Elleke Boehmer, a professor at Oxford, scouting technique was also strongly influenced by Baden-Powell’s observations during his extensive African travels. “The Ingonyama chorus—a central scouting chant—is a Zulu chant,” she told me. And the wooden beads on the uniform were inspired by “a Zulu necklace he once found during a raid.”

For many boys and young men in Central African Republic, scouting offers community, and keeps them from grimmer alternatives, such as being enlisted by local militias or drug dealers. Rod Gallaut, a scout leader in Bangui, told me that scout training helps young men secure work, and that he encourages child soldiers to lay down their weapons and join his troop.

Unsurprisingly, given Central African Republic’s pervasive sectarianism, Catholic, Muslim, and evangelical scouts have long had separate troops. In the past few years, however, they’ve begun to team up—motivated in part by a desire to join scouting’s official world body, which requires each member country to have a united national movement. In 2017, Gallaut, who is Christian, became friends with a Muslim scout leader when they traveled together to Cameroon for a scouting conference. “This experience has changed my conception of Muslims,” he said. Scouts of different denominations now attend camps where they bond over music and sports. And they recently began laying the bricks of an interfaith training center—and earning badges in peacebuilding.

From “The Atlantic” written by Kevin Volkl, July 2019 Issue

The current scouts in this meetinghouse and their leaders, us former scouts, and those young ones coming up that will be scouts in the future, I pray that this story and history inspires you to be prepared to make a difference in our world. Obviously, the legacy of peacebuilding is not only a Scouts foundation, but ours as Quakers as well.  So I hope each of us here this morning, whether a Scout or not, would be dedicated to the vision of Robert Baden-Powell to…

…develop peace and goodwill within our own borders, by training our youth…to its practice as their habit of life; so that the jealousies of town against town, class against class and sect against sect no longer exist; and then to extend this good feeling beyond our frontiers towards our neighbors.”

I believe through Scouts, through our Affirmation Program, through our children’s meeting for worship, through children’s messages, mentoring, multigenerational ministries, lobbying for peaceful legislation, even through our excellent relationship with the co-op preschool housed in our building, we are raising and  training our children and youth to embrace peace, goodwill, and sister/brotherhood as a habit of life.  In these divided times, we need, even more, to dedicate ourselves to raising peacemakers of all sizes within our community.

Ask yourself this morning…

·        What am I doing to help train “peacemakers of all sizes” at First Friends and in my community?

·        How can I promote a more genuine and nobler patriotism which recognizes justice and reasonableness in the claims of others and which leads our country into comradeship with our own communities and our world?

·        How is First Friends leaving a legacy of peacemaking at First Friends?

Scout Sunday Prayer

O God, your will is that all your children should grow into fullness of life.
We lift to you the ministry of scouting.
We offer you thanks for camping,
to teach us that the world is our great home;
for study and work, to build character;
for service, to see our responsibility to those in need;
for encouragement in genuine patriotism and vital faith.
Bless the work of scouting, in this place and around the world,
that, through its efforts, the young may, like Jesus,
increase in wisdom and in stature, and in favor with you and all people.
Amen.

2-2-20 - Everything Coming Together for Peace

Everything Coming Together for Peace

Indianapolis First Friends Quaker Meeting

Pastor Bob Henry

February 2, 2020

Philippians 4:1-13 (NRSV)

1 Therefore, my brothers and sisters, whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, stand firm in the Lord in this way, my beloved.

2 I urge Euodia and I urge Syntyche to be of the same mind in the Lord. 3 Yes, and I ask you also, my loyal companion, help these women, for they have struggled beside me in the work of the gospel, together with Clement and the rest of my co-workers, whose names are in the book of life.

4 Rejoice in the Lord always; again, I will say, Rejoice. 5 Let your gentleness be known to everyone. The Lord is near. 6 Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. 7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

8 Finally, beloved, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. 9 Keep on doing the things that you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, and the God of peace will be with you.

10 I rejoice in the Lord greatly that now at last you have revived your concern for me; indeed, you were concerned for me, but had no opportunity to show it. 11 Not that I am referring to being in need; for I have learned to be content with whatever I have. 12 I know what it is to have little, and I know what it is to have plenty. In any and all circumstances I have learned the secret of being well-fed and of going hungry, of having plenty and of being in need. 13 I can do all things through him who strengthens me. 14 In any case, it was kind of you to share my distress.

In our text for today, Paul closes up his letter to the Philippians, and then he does some pleading for peace or urging them to get-along with each other. Specifically, those who have been traveling with Paul and Timothy. Paul actually points out three different categories of travelers:

1.     Loyal companions (some translations say close friends or even yoke fellows – people that were yoked together by a common purpose).

2.     Women – who have struggled alongside Paul (It would have been rather shocking to the establishment in his day to call out women as fellow partners in the work of the gospel.

3.     and Co-workers – or colleagues

I am sure as Paul and Timothy were working through this list of people, they would have some side conversations about specific situations:

            “If they would just agree.”

            “Those women have no voice – and have taken so much of the heat!”

            “What a great worker that Clement is.”

            “Man, these are some great people. Sure, they have problems – but they                    are great people – who’s names will go down in history.”  

Paul and Timothy were, as we say, “going down memory lane” – reminiscing their adventures and hoping to return to these folks and their work after they are released from prison.

But as Paul closes this epistle or letter, he takes a moment to write one last P.S.  He has a last word – I might call it a “reality check.”  Paul has been saying he was willing to die, remember these phrases of Paul…

            “For me to live is Christ and to die is gain. “

            “But whatever was for my profit, I now consider loss.”

            “Our citizenship is in heaven.”

And then Paul says, “Wait a minute! I need to encourage them – and I need to remind them.”

To REJOICE

To be GENTLE

To not be ANXIOUS

To PRAY (and not all requests but thanksgivings as well – balance it out)

And this will yield TRUE PEACE!

A peace that transcends our understanding. 

A peace we can’t fully wrap our minds around.

This is what Paul would call Christ’s Peace (the peace that Christ has been showing him through the way he lived.) It was a peace that brought reconciliation between us and our neighbors and with us and God.

This is what it says in 2 Corinthians 5:19 which I often use as a blessing or benediction at the end of our services.

“For God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not counting people’s sins against them.  And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation.”

This was a different peace than the world often seeks.

Remember Paul and Timothy are writing from prison.  They understood the dire need for something more than worldly peace.  Worldly peace simply was considered a lack of conflict.  And Paul and Timothy knew that conflict was clearly part of this world.  You and I know this, too. 

Conflict is part of this world – it is part of the mundane aspects of life.  We are surrounded by all kinds of conflicts 24/7.

We can work a great deal on our personal conflicts.

We can have a good attitude.

We can have “inner peace” about life situations.

We can, as Paul, not worry about living or dying.

BUT – that doesn’t mean we have the peace that Christ was living and teaching, or Paul was trying to convey.  This peace that Christ teaches transcends – it goes above and beyond – it overpasses and exceeds our trivial conflicts.

For Paul the concept of Christ’s Peace was bigger than being released from his conflicts – even the jail cell he and Timothy occupied.

For us the concept of Christ’s Peace needs to be bigger than politics in our country, or divorce in our families, or helicopter crashes that erase our heroes.  Christ’s peace must be able to transcend our conflicts, doubts, and struggles.

Paul says that is going to take you and me, “being aware, focused, and open to a supernatural peace.”

But just how can we stay aware, focused, and open to this true peace?

In verse 8 we heard it.    

Paul says “Think about these things…fill your mind with these things…

Whatever is true,

Whatever is honorable,

Whatever is just,

Watever is pure,

Whatever is pleasing,

Whatever is commendable,

If there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.

Notice Paul didn’t say, “Obsess, worry, fret, and allow yourself to be overwhelmed by

Whatever is false

Whatever is dishonorable

Whatever is wrong

Whatever is impure

Whatever is ugly

Whatever is unworthy

Whatever is poor

Whatever is corrupt.

But that is exactly what we do isn’t it.  We focus on the wrong side of this list.  Many theologians have pointed out and written about Paul’s list titling them the “Attributes of Christ Life.”  And often the other list is labeled the “Attributes of Humanity” – or maybe even better or more relevant we could call them the attributes of the media.

John Ortberg in his book, “Soul Keeping” says,

“We are creatures with wills, and in every encounter with other people we WILL what is good for them, or we fail to do so, we will what is bad.”

How we think and what we think about – Paul says is important – it effects our peace and the peace of the world around us. It effects the…

Peace on a daily basis.

Peace in our relationships.

Peace at work.

Peace in family.

Peace inside ourselves.

What we spend our time thinking about is often the same thing we end up worrying and fretting over – or for some it becomes an obsession on those attributes of humanity that rob us from our peace.

Instead of worrying and fretting – Paul says we are to pray or meditate. As in verse 6 of our text, “…in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.” 

Quaker Catherine Whitmire in her book “Practicing Peace” says this to us this morning,

“Historically for Friends, the path to peace begins…with the practice of meditation and prayer.  Listening within changes our perspectives on the world because when we open ourselves to a prayerful relationship with God, we are invited to view the world from God’s perspective.”

Paul says in verse 12, “I learned the secret” or as The Message puts it, “I found the recipe.” to God’s Wholeness and Peace.

I can do everything through Him who gives me strength.

On our own…

We can get bogged down with life.

We can get caught up, even narrowly focused on the negative.

We can get tangled up in worry and fretting.

And we simply miss that God is wanting us whole (another word for this wholeness is shalom). I am fond of how Eugene Peterson captured this thought, he said,

“God’s wholeness is everything coming together for good.”

Is is everything coming together for wholeness, goodness and yes, PEACE.

Let’s end this sermon this morning as Paul may have with those he was teaching – with some queries to ponder.

1.     In what ways do you need to be “reconciled to God” – to bring true peace into your life?

2.     What worries in your life do you need to shape into prayers this week?

3.     How are you going to “think on these things” – whatever is true, honorable, just, pure, pleasing, commendable, this week?