11-1-20 - Love Wastefully, Part 4

Scripture is Matthew 7:13-14

The Universal Christ by Richard Rohr

Bread of Angels by Barbara Brown Taylor

Friends, I have so appreciated Bob’s series on loving wastefully.  Today I received a gift from a friend that has the words from Psalm 23:6 etched on its wood – Your love is wild for me.  This idea of extravagant love is something that Jesus spent his time teaching and in his three years in ministry living it out every day.  I think of the  story of the Prodigal Son where Jesus describes the lavish and wasteful love the Father gives to the son that wants to leave the house and make it on his own.  He doesn’t want the weight and restrictions of his father’s house.  And the father gives him his inheritance  - sounds ridiculous and rash and wasteful.  The father knows that his son will throw this all away.  But gives it to him anyways.  That is loving wastefully, and I think that is the point of Jesus story.  God’s love is not merited, not conditional, doesn’t require us to adhere to a set of rules and can’t be bought or sold.   As Bob has shared during the last three weeks,  our only true way to worship God is by living fully, loving wastefully and having the courage to be all that we can be in full authenticity. 

Today I want to examine how Jesus calls us to a different way of living.  It is not an easy way, or a  comfortable way.  I think we sometimes focus so much on the theology of Jesus that we miss the call in his teachings and his way of living out these teachings.  Jesus is many things to many people.  He is this person that we have come to love, admire, understand to be unique beyond us and our savior.  But I think we have diminished his humanity throughout the last 1700 years. This particularly started when Christianity became more tame and respectable during the time of Constantine. I think we have spent more time creating a belief system and less time on the actual words and actions of Jesus as narrated in the gospels.  Following Jesus is no casual thing.  Sometimes it seems like we are more willing and ready to quote Jesus words versus how we put those words into action in our lives.

I think most of us are familiar with the  Apostles’ Creed – “I believe in God, the Father Almighty, creator of heaven and earth.  I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried; he descended into hell…..” you know the rest.    Richard Rohr in his book The Universal Christ asks if we ‘have ever noticed the huge leap the creed makes between born of the Virgin Mary and suffered under Pontius Pilate?  A single comma connects the two statements, and falling into that yawning gap, as if it were a mere detail is everything Jesus said and did between his birth and death.”  The Great Comma! It seems like this statement sent Christianity on a path of a belief that Jesus was all divine and that his words were important, but we could never try to step into his experience and embrace his teachings and life in our own lives because we are just ordinary humans. 

It is clear from Matthew, Mark, Luke and John that Jesus was flesh and blood just like us. Sometimes we think of Jesus as this part man part God person and think he is not like us. It gives us an excuse to stay comfortable and in place.   But friends, Jesus was totally human- full of flesh with all our human thoughts and feelings. He experienced our fears, our disappointments, rejections, pain, and longings. And aren’t we all part human, part God?  It is a foundational principle in our Quaker faith – that of God in every human being.

When Jesus calls his disciples, he asks them to leave their jobs and their families.  Just as Jesus did.  The disciples traveled with him for three years without jobs, without their families, without knowing where they were going to sleep each night.  Talk about a path of sacrifice.  I think they did this because they embraced the teachings of Jesus that turned the establishment of both the church and the government upside down.  And they took this path because they saw that Jesus lived the way he taught. There was no hypocrisy to his words and actions.   Jesus gave them a vision for a future that was different.  And they bought into this vision as they watched  Jesus love wastefully to many in that society that were unlovable, poor, marginalized, left behind.  He healed folks and shared the vision of a God that loves wastefully and without exclusivity.

I believe Jesus was able to teach, preach, heal and love wastefully because he was filled with God’s spirit.  He faced his demons out in the desert where he was tempted just like we all have to face our shadows.  I think he was out in that desert for a long time as evidenced by the fact that he was thirty years old before he began his public ministry.  How did Jesus move out from the shadows and into the Light, responding to the call of God? He became incarnated.  Because the spirit of God was in him all along and he allowed that Spirit to direct his life – from ministry, healings, his death and resurrection.

I love what Barbara Brown Taylors shares in her book Bread of Angels.  “The power of the Holy Spirit is talked about two ways in the Bible.  First as the abiding presence of God in Christ with all the safety and comfort that relationship promises.  This is the Spirit most of us know and love – the spirit of peace and concord – the one that smooths our ruffled feathers and revives our weary souls, the one that – lo!-is with us always, whenever we have the good sense to breathe in and say thank you.    But there is another way the Spirit acts – not another Spirit but another manifestation of the same Spirit – that is not nearly so comforting.  This is the Spirit who blows and burns, howling down the chimney and turning all the lawn furniture upside down.  Ask Job about the whirlwind, or Ezekiel about the chariot of fire,  Ask anyone who was in that room on Pentecost what it was like to be caught up in the Spirit and whether it is something they would like to happen every Sunday afternoon

We have seen many examples of humans that have followed this radical call of Jesus in the Gospels.  Our saints and our martyrs willing to give up everything for Jesus.  Just as Jesus was willing to give up his life to show the world that God stands with us in our suffering, that each one of us can be incarnated with God’s spirit and experience resurrection.  Richard Rohr, again in his book The Universal Christ, shares a beautiful story of Etty Hillesum, a Jew living in Amsterdam in the 1930’s who saw the Nazi’s were getting closer and closer to  imprisoning and killing her family.  She wrote extensively in a diary and did not question or blame God for these circumstances but says ‘Alas, there doesn’t seem to be much You Yourself can do about our circumstances, about our lives.  Neither do I hold you responsible.  You cannot help us, but we must help You and defend Your dwelling place inside us to the last.”  Etty did not hate her oppressors even though the Nazi’s killed all of her family including Etty in their concentration camps.  She wrote in her diary….. “Those two months behind barbed wire have been the two richest and most intense months of my life, in which my highest values were so deeply confirmed. I have learnt to love Westerbork".  What an example of living in humanity amidst a brutal and violent world while transcending internally with God’s spirit and showing the world how to love wastefully.

I wonder if the human Jesus were here today with us what he would say about our churches.  Have they become buildings of comfort and care and preservation of our tradition and belief system?   Are we living the radical life of transformation and Spirit that Jesus taught and lived?   Jesus calls to each of us is to carry his vision into our world.  If we answer that call, Jesus may take us into uncomfortable places, may push us to give up things, may take us down a path that is not in our list of goals and objectives for our life. If we say we believe in Jesus, are we willing to sacrifice and suffer as he did?

Brown again in her book Bread of Angels book says, “Let’ not let Jesus get away from us again.  Let’s listen to him, to each other and live together like people who believe.”

Friends as we enter a time of waiting worship, we are not going to have music play in the background; rather I encourage you to sit in silence and consider the image of Jesus, however you see Jesus. How might I more fully embrace the teachings and the life of Jesus to love wastefully?  Am I ready to go where Jesus might lead me?  Am I willing to have my lawn furniture turned upside down?

10-25-20 - Love Wastefully, Part 3

Indianapolis First Friends 

Pastor Bob Henry 

October 25, 2020 

Romans 8:35-39

35 Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will hardship, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? 36 As it is written,

“For your sake we are being killed all day long;

    we are accounted as sheep to be slaughtered.”

37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Last week during Seeking Friends, my wife, Sue, briefly shared about being raised in a church that had, what we called, a corporate confession. And how each week we had to say these words…

“I, a poor, miserable sinner, confess to you all my sins and iniquities.”

One could not say those words out loud without in some way feeling bad about one’s self. 

“Poor...miserable...sinner.”  Three words that none of us ask or want to be described as.   

When you and I begin to explore love and especially the love of God, as we have the last couple weeks, at some point we will be made to take a personal inventory…

…to go inside and ask ourselves some hard questions about our own views of how we might experience the love of the Divine in and through our lives.  

The pandemic has had many of us on an inward and more reflective journey – mostly because we have finally been forced, or we have actually allowed ourselves, to take time to ask some deeper questions. 

As we start to ask ourselves these deeper questions like, “Who am I? and how do I ”love wastefully?” and “What is my purpose, currently?”  we begin the hard work of cleaning out what Teresa of Avilla calls our “inner castle.”

Most of us consider this type of soul work rather hard - often it resembles the difficult work of deep cleaning our homes. Something during the pandemic I, and many of you, have taken up.

Just the other night on the news there was a report about what ugly things people have been finding in the deep recesses of their homes during the pandemic as they are embracing and tackling deep cleaning.

They have been finding everything from E.coli growing in the refrigerator ice maker to bed bugs taking residence in the guest room mattress. 

In the same way, many of us have begun to move the furniture and clean in those places that haven’t seen light for months - maybe years.

We have begun to throw things out that have started to mold, have gone out of date, or that have begun to clutter our rooms and are no longer needed.    

We have cleaned the glass on the windows to see more clearly and let the LIGHT in as the days get darker. 

We have even prepared the gardens beds for winter so new life can burst forth with beauty and color again in the spring. 

The pandemic in many ways has helped us to stop the procrastination, the excuses, the covering up of the dirt, the ignoring of the dishes, the hoping that it will just disappear or that someone else will do it.

Actually, after 33 weeks, we have slowed down long enough that it finally is causing us to take some action.

If you haven’t caught on already, the pandemic has also afforded us the opportunity to take action and do some needed cleaning in our spiritual lives, as well. 

And in many ways it resembles the deep cleaning we are doing in our homes.

Remember folks…  

Only you and I can work on our “inner lives”. 

Only you and I can face our own troubling thoughts and struggles. 

Only you and I can begin to do the hard work of spiritually disciplining ourselves so that the “Light” can again be seen and felt inside of us! 

This week I returned to a poem by Anthony DeMello called “The Satellite.” I have found it a beautiful reminder during difficult times – when we are procrastinating the hard, inner work.  

In the poem, DeMello gives us both a reminder and another way of seeing the Love of the Divine – this time as gravity to keep us grounded.

If you have remember, over the last three weeks.

Spong said Love is the force that enhances life.

Weil said, Love is the vibration of the universe that we are experiencing all around us.

And now Demello, says that love is the gravity that keeps us grounded.

Just listen as I read this poem and allow it to speak to your condition and soul this morning. 

The Satellite by Anthony DeMello

I look at nature and reflect on the existence in it of a farce so silent and invisible that human beings were not aware of it till lately; and yet so mighty that the world is moved by it: the force of gravity. 

Because of it the bird flies in the sky, 

Mountains are held in place, 

Leaves flutter to the ground, 

Planets are kept in orbit. 

There is no better symbol of God’s power and presence. 

Scenes of suffering flash though my mind: 

Torture chambers;

Concentration camps;

The ravages of famine;

Scenes of war;

Of hospitals;

And of accidents;

And I see him there as silent and invisible as gravity. 

I conjure up a thousand painful scenes

From the history of my life:

Of boredom and frustration;

Of pain, anxiety, rejection;

Of meaninglessness and despair;

And in every scene I sense his silent presence. 

I see his power like gravity. 

In every nook and corner of the world:

No place in space,

No point in time

Escapes, for it is all pervasive. 

Then I see his love to be like gravity:

I hear Paul’s cry that nothing in creation

Can wrench us from God’s love (Rom. 8:31-39)

I remember with emotion

The times I fought his love

-- in vain, for love is irresistible! 

I see that God has never ceased to draw my heart. 

The pull, like gravity, could not be felt. 

But at some blessed moments

That I now recall with joy

The tug could not be missed. 

When was the pull last felt? 

Not yesterday? Why not? 

I end by letting go, 

Succumbing to this power of divinity, 

As my body does to gravity. 

Now, the reason I shared this poem is the fact that whenever you or I do some deep soul searching or what I am calling Spiritual Pandemic Cleaning…

…we feel the heaviness of our own struggles, our own difficulties, and even our own selfish ways -- as well as the weight of the world’s problems that are surrounding us on a daily basis. 

Let’s be honest, with the weight of the world currently, that alone, could leave us feeling like a poor, miserable, sinner. 

The reason any soul work can leave one feeling less hopeful and missing the fact that God is still at work in one’s life is because we love to dwell on all the bad things in and around us. 

But there is another side to soul work.   

In the poem, DeMello asked, “When was the pull last felt?” 

God’s Love is like gravity in our lives and the query for us to ponder is, “Do we sense it?” 

Do we sense the pull of God’s love in our lives?  

Paul in our scripture text for this Sunday wants to remind us that we are chosen, called, justified, and being made whole.

Paul wants to birth hope in our “poor, miserable,” lives by showing us where our hope comes from - the gravity that is drawing us in.  

Let me read again the text from Roman’s 8:35-39 - this time from a more modern translation: 

And who would dare tangle with God by messing with one of God’s chosen? Who would dare even to point a finger? The One who died for us—who was raised to life for us! -- is in the presence of God at this very moment sticking up for us. Do you think anyone is going to be able to drive a wedge between us and Christ’s love for us? There is no way! Not trouble, not hard times, not hatred, not hunger, not homelessness, not bullying threats, not backstabbing, not even the worst sins listed in Scripture:

They kill us in cold blood because they hate you.

We’re sitting ducks; they pick us off one by one.

None of this fazes us because Jesus loves us. I’m absolutely convinced that nothing—nothing living or dead, angelic or demonic, today or tomorrow, high or low, thinkable or unthinkable—absolutely nothing can get between us and God’s love because of the way that Jesus our Master has embraced us.

If there were ever a set of Scriptures that identifies Paul as a Quaker - these are it. He literally gives us a set of queries to ponder the faithfulness of God and the gravity of God’s love. 

Let me break these down more simply for us to ponder:

1.   With God on our side like this, how can we lose? 

2.   If God didn’t hesitate to put everything on the line for us, embracing our condition in Christ to face the worst of humanity, is there anything else that he wouldn’t gladly and freely do for us? 

3.   Who would dare tangle with the God of the Universe by messing with or pointing a finger at one of God’s chosen people?

4.   Do you think anyone is going to be able to drive a wedge between us and God’s love for us?  

This is heavy stuff to ponder - but that’s just it - this is the gravity of God’s love for you and me.  

• Our troubles

• Our hardships (those hard times, that homelessness, that loneliness, that abandonment)

• Our persecutions (for who we are and who others think we are to be)

• Our famines (physically or spiritually or mentally)

• Our nakedness (our vulnerability, our bullied natures, our worn-down hopes)

• Our dangers or fears (our worst moments and failures)

None of these can get in the way of the gravity of God’s love that is pulling us back in. This is how “wasteful” God’s love is! God loves and then loves some more! 

All those things that get brought to the surface as we explore our souls or as we do our Spiritual Pandemic Cleaning, all that we trudge up, all that we don’t know how to name or figure out, all that we simply fail to understand about ourselves - none of it can become greater or get between us and God. 

Instead, it is the gravity of God’s love which roots us.

It brings stability and hope. It helps us see with new eyes. It reminds us that we are united with a God who overwhelms us and grounds us with LOVE WASTEFULLY…

…and then calls us to love wastefully in our world. Yet, before we can love wastefully, we must recognize God’s wasteful love for us and believe that it makes a difference in our own lives. 

Just maybe where we need to begin our inward journey is by asking ourselves one query: 

DO I BELIEVE I AM LOVED BY GOD?  

As we move into waiting worship this morning, let us ponder this query and begin our soul work or our Spiritual Pandemic Cleaning.  

10-18-20 - Love Wastefully, Part 2

Indianapolis First Friends

Pastor Bob Henry

October 18, 2020

Matthew 22:34-40 (NRSV)

34 When the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together, 35 and one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him. 36 “Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?” 37 He said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the greatest and first commandment. 39 And a second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.”

Last week, we talked about Bishop John Shelby Spong’s concept, “Love Wastefully” and it has prompted many thoughts and conversations this week. It also had me returning and digging a little deeper into the biblical concepts of love and how Jesus transformed the Jewish idea of love into a foundational aspect of our faith. 

For many of us, the passage Beth just read, is quite familiar. It is considered both a summary and a link that connects us to our beginnings. 

You may be unaware that those words are a continuation of what our Jewish sisters and brothers refer to as the Great Shema from the Torah, or more specifically Deuteronomy 6. 

If you are not familiar with the Great Shema from the Jewish faith, it is considered the centerpiece of the daily morning and evening prayer and is also considered by some the most essential prayer in all of Judaism. So much so, most Jews consider it a command.  

This means, to fully understand this text, we must see it through Jewish eyes. 

To a Jew of Jesus’ day when hearing the lawyer ask Jesus his question, they would have heard him ask it in the language of their culture, something of this nature: 

"Rabbi, what is your yoke?" or "Rabbi, what is your interpretation of Torah?" 

Basically, the lawyer wanted to know Jesus' "bottom line," his summary of the Torah. 

For us it may be like asking for 25 words or less on the overall theme of the Bible?    

In some ways, it was kind of a trick question - as a good Jew himself, Jesus would have been expected to answer with the Great Shema.

Which as I read it for you this morning, you will remember hearing it in Jesus’ answer. 

Here is how the Great Shema from Deuteronomy 6 reads: 

4 Hear, O Israel: The Lord is our God, the Lord alone.[a] 5 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might. 6 Keep these words that I am commanding you today in your heart. 7 Recite them to your children and talk about them when you are at home and when you are away, when you lie down and when you rise. 8 Bind them as a sign on your hand, fix them as an emblem[b] on your forehead, 9 and write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

But Jesus didn’t leave well enough alone (as we say) - he went a little further and made a modification or actually an addition - he added to the Great Shema. 

This would have been quite problematic for the religious leaders of Jesus’ day and ours.  

Not only did he speak the familiar words about loving God, but he went on and added a second greatest commandment. 

“You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”

Now, that addition probably came as a shock to the lawyer.  He definitely got what he wanted -- but then got a little bit more. 

What Jesus did was not simply expand the Great Shema but make it more practical - more tangible.

Jesus’s answer to how the Torah is summed up is living a life loving God with every part of your being in response to God's grace.

And how is that love for God best expressed...in loving our neighbor!   

For those who appreciated the wisdom of Sesame Street, Jesus was saying... you can’t have one without the other. 

Loving our neighbor as ourselves is how we live out the love of God in and through our lives - and I would go one step further and say it is also how God loves us - through our neighbors.

This sounds rather Quaker-like – if we embrace that of God in our neighbor.

Ronald Rolheiser expresses this concept well, he says, 

“The God of the incarnation tells us that anyone who says that he or she loves an invisible God in heaven and is unwilling to deal with a visible neighbor on earth is a liar since no one can love a God who cannot be seen if he or she cannot love a neighbor who can be seen. Hence a Christian spirituality is always as much about dealing with each other as it is about dealing with God.”

And that is because when we are dealing with our neighbor – we are dealing with that of God in them. 

During these challenging times, I continue to return to the book, “The Rebirthing of God” by John Philip Newell.  This time, I found his chapter on “Reconnecting with Love” very insightful. 

In this chapter he introduces the reader to someone he considers one of the greatest prophets of love in the modern world, Simone Weil (said Veil).  

“She was a philosopher, mystic, and a political activist. As a French Jew, she saw the Nazi occupation of her homeland, fleeing Paris...only hours before German forces laid siege to the capital. Eventually, she set sail from the south of France to find exile in the United States and then in Britain.”   

Newell points out that “Weil believed that the universe is essentially a vibration of God. Drawing on her Jewish inheritance, she saw everything as spoken into being by God. At the heart of that divine utterance is the sound or vibration of love.”   

I know I have shared this before, but this week it seemed even more relevant as we explored “Loving Wastefully” which last week I said was to love and then love some more.  

This is what Jesus was trying to do when moving from the Great Shema to a more meaningful and fuller understanding of the importance of love for all. He was expanding the concept of love more broadly and fully.  

This vibration of God, as Weil describes it, allows us to see the universe as an “expression of love” and then everything in the “universe is essentially a means to love.” 

Now, stop right there.  Ponder that for a moment...The entire universe is a means to love - a sounding board vibrating God’s love to us at every moment.    

Now, some of you are saying...that is not my experience? The universe is vibrating all kinds of things back at me on a daily basis.  

But take a moment and think of it as Newell describes Weil’s understanding, 

“The rising sun is a means to love, as is the whiteness of the moon at night. Every life-form, the shape of the weeping willow by the distant pond, the song of the robin in the hedgerow, the light in the eyes of every creature -- all these are means to love. I am a means to love, as are you, your children, and your nation.” 

Spong said Love is the force that enhances life.  Weil says, Love is the virbration of the universe that we are experiencing all around us.

It may take some adjusting in our minds, but it was a Buddhist writer that helped me see my neighbor as not just the people who live around me or for that matter just people, rather our neighbors are all kinds of living beings - animals (domestic and wild), trees and plants, the food and animals we eat, our earth and atmosphere and ozone….etc… 

Boy, did that change and expand how I saw my neighbor being a means of love and enhancer of life.  

I have to ask myself, am I treating animals, my gardens, the spaces I occupy on this earth in a loving manner and I allowing them to be a means of love? Do I love them as I would want to be loved?   

We often talk about being stewards of the earth - but how are we really treating ALL of our neighbors.  Maybe the reason we are not experiencing the vibration of God in the world is because we are not loving God and his creation fully and especially not the way we, ourselves, want to be treated.   

And if we are only talking about our neighbor as people, maybe we are getting in the way of loving our neighbor. 

I am reminded of Nelson Mandela’s famous quote. 

“No one is born hating another person because of the color of his skin, or his background, or his religion. People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite.” 

Love was Jesus’ bottom line, because God’s bottom line is love, and as Nelson Mandela seems to imply - so is our bottom line. It is the force that enhances life.  It is vibrating around and from us.    

Just imagine...instead of the things we so easily get focused on in this world, what if we were looking for the love of God vibrating in our universe?

What if we were looking first at where God’s love was vibrating from us and back to us?  

Sadly, I often choose not to see or sense those “vibrations” in our universe.

Too often I focus on the distractions - those other things - and then miss the opportunities all around me to experience or even acknowledge that amazing love vibrating in my daily life from the people, creation, and universe I am surrounded by.   

This week I have been taking an intentional inventory of the places where I sensed these “vibrations” in my universe - where what I experienced was a means of love from God and I took a moment to snap a photo.  

To lead us into waiting worship, I want to share some of those photos in silence for us to ponder. I hope you will feel the vibrations of love and that it will continue to be a force to enhance your life. I believe the more we sense the power of love around us – the more we will be willing to “Love Wastefully!”

Enjoy these photos and I pray they will help you center down on the love surrounding you, today.

10-11-20 - Love Wastefully

Indianapolis First Friends Quaker Meeting

Pastor Bob Henry

October 10, 2020

Philippians 1:9-11 

So, this is my prayer: that your love will flourish and that you will not only love much but well. Learn to love appropriately. You need to use your head and test your feelings so that your love is sincere and intelligent, not sentimental gush. Live a lover’s life, circumspect and exemplary, a life Jesus will be proud of: bountiful in fruits from the soul, making Jesus Christ attractive to all, getting everyone involved in the glory and praise of God.

During the first couple of weeks of the pandemic, I was voraciously reading books, creatively painting and drawing, and finding the slowing down of life really good for my soul.

Sadly, like many of you, much of that has worn off and more and more, it has become harder to read and be creative during this time.  

As I described to Beth on Monday as we attended a virtual Pastor’s Conference covering rather weighty issues in our country – “my mind seemed to be “swimming” with so much that it was hard to focus.”  

Later in that same conversation as we were exclaiming how sobering the conversation was and how much it lacked hope, Beth mentioned the missing piece of the conference was a perspective of LOVE. 

It seems when things get heavy and complicated – often the first thing to go is love. And if you haven’t noticed love is on the run currently with all that the world is throwing at us.

If you remember, last week in my sermon, I mentioned “letting go,” which I said begins when we start to cling or shift toward something else. In that case I said, “I believe it is God – or what I often simply call, Love.”

I have noticed that for many of us (including myself) instead of clinging to Love – we often take the easy route and let go of Love and then wonder why things have become more difficult.

I sense much of our world right now is focusing on anything and everything but love, and it is really taking a toll. 

Then I was reminded of a teaching that was speaking to my condition just a couple of weeks into the pandemic.

Ironically, one of those books I had voraciously read had me asking quite a few queries and challenging my own faith in these interesting times.  And I found myself in what we spiritually call a “dark night of the soul.”

Even though it was not the best book I had ever read, it piqued my interest long enough for me to get to the final two pages where like that conference on Monday I was longing for some love.    

I might say, those two pages were worth reading the entire book. In those final two pages of “Unbelievable,” Bishop John Shelby Spong, introduced me to a phrase or mantra that has continued to speak to my condition for months. The mantra is,

“Love Wastefully”

Love Wastefully – just sit with that for a moment.  Say those words out loud to yourself. Love Wastefully. What do you hear?

When I say those two words…

• What springs up inside of you?  

• How does that phrase make you feel? 

• What images does it leave in your mind?

Maybe it leaves you with a sense of uneasiness or wonder. Or maybe you do not like the idea of the word “wastefully” being used to describe love.

I will be honest, it stopped me in my tracks. I was winding down to the end, when it had me reading each word individually for the last two pages. It drew me in and now, I did not want the book to end. 

Just moments before, it could have ended and I moved on, but then those words leaped off the page – Love Wastefully!

It made me ask, why did he wait until the last two pages of the epilogue to the book to explain this?    

Well, when I was exploring the concept more deeply, I ran across Rev. Deshna Shine explaining Spong’s concept in greater detail.  She says, 

Spong believes that God is the source of all life, the Source of Love, the Ground of Being, and is present in every person and in all of Creation. [Doesn’t that sound rather Quakerly for a Progressive Anglican Bishop?]

For Spong, the only true way to worship God is by living fully, loving wastefully, and having the courage to BE all that we can be in full authenticity. [Let me repeat that.]

“…the only true way to worship God is by living fully, loving wastefully, and having the courage to BE all that we can be in full authenticity.”

By loving wastefully, which [Spong] likens to plugging the old sink in the basement, turning on the tap full force and allowing the water to overflow into every crack and cranny, never stopping to ask does that crack deserve this living water, we can be overflowing with love.

Loving wastefully means you love … and then you love some more.”

Rev. Shine goes on to say,

“We have an infinite well of love within that we can always fill ourselves up with. To love is to feel love and to love wastefully is to love without fear or expectation or need.

When we are tapped in to the Divine within us and to the Divine’s way of loving wastefully, endlessly and infinitely, we are not losing anything, in fact we feel fuller.

Yes, when we are loving wastefully, extravagantly, wildly, our lives our richer and fuller, and more complete!

I sense the reason so many of us are feeling empty, stuck, and even fearful is because we are limiting the experience of that overflowing source of Love in our lives. 

Let’s be honest…we are spending way too much time obsessed with politics, watching 24/7 news, worrying about Covid, isolating ourselves from others and also from what brings us life.

Folks, we can be safe as well as loving.  Actually, we can have a loving response to all of those mentioned obsessions.  

Spong says, “Love is the force that enhances life. If flows through the universe, finding expression in the care that nature, in all its living forms, gives to its young, but love reaches self-consciousness only in human beings”

That means you and I are the source of love. You and I are the source of love – just let that sink in.  

That means either we choose to share it, or we contain it.   

And this is evident because as Quakers we know – there is that of God in each of us. There is a glimmer of Love in the depths of every person that has the potential for the greater good – if we choose to share it. 

This means you and I have the potential to be a force that enhances life.

Just imagine that there’s a faucet that has been turned on somewhere deep inside of us and it is ready to overflow through our life and out into the world around us.

And when it is not used…I sense it begins to weigh us down. We continue to fill like a large balloon not able to react or move freely. 

Rev. Shine pointed something out from Dr. Vivek Murphy, in his book, Together, that I think is extremely relevant during the pandemic and unrest in our world.  She says,  

“…the vast majority of us feel lonely. Often, we feel lonely even if we are around people we love because we are not having deep connections at all of these three vital levels: with the self, in relationships, and in community.

We all seek deeper connections and we desire to receive more love. But we are afraid to give it. We are afraid of getting hurt. We are afraid of being empty, of losing love, we are afraid that in the act of giving love we are actually losing love.

When in fact, when we take time to look within, we find that there is this deep well of love bubbling up within us, an eternal spring of Living Waters. We can discover that the experience of loving fills us up with love just as much, if not more, as the experience of receiving love.

To worship God is to be love in this world and when you are overflowing with it, you are able to love wastefully.

I have a feeling Dr. Murphy is encouraging us to “let out the love” – just like that balloon over-filled with water – as soon as there is an opening…it is rather hard to contain the water that comes out. The same is true for us – the love begins to spew right out of us and on to everyone around us.

Or as Spong said so well, the love that comes out of us is

“the kind of love that never stops to calculate whether the object of its love is worthy to be its recipient.

It is love that never stops to calculate deserving.  It is love that loves not because love has been earned.

[And finally, he brings it full circle by saying] It is in the act of loving “wastefully” that I make God visible.”

It is love that sees beyond political parties.

It is love that sees beyond religious affiliation.

It is love that sees beyond social or financial status.

It is love that sees beyond race, ethnicity, sexuality, or gender.

It is love that sees beyond the veneer of our lives and gets to the love within each of us at our core. 

Our call to “love wastefully” must work to build and transform the world around us so that every person we come in contact with will have a better opportunity to live fully, love wastefully, and be all that each of them was created to be in the infinite variety of our humanity. 

This means, and Spong points out that…

“There can be no outcast;

There can be no one regarded as “unclean.”    

There can be no prejudices which are allowed to operate in this vision of Christianity.

The essence of Christianity…is that everyone is to be accepted “just as I am, without one plea.” And that everyone is called into the task of growing into all that each us of can be.

But folks – I sense we and our world are desperately seeking a model or example to live by – one who teaches us to love wastefully.  

Where do we look for an example of one who taught and believed this? – we look to Jesus Christ. A person who was so fully alive that we have perceived him as the ultimate Source of Life.

And as one who loved so totally, so wastefully, that we see him as the ultimate Source of Love.  

Or as Paul put it in Ephesians 5:1-2:

5 1-2 Watch what God does, and then you do it, like children who learn proper behavior from their parents. Mostly what God does is love you. Keep company with him and learn a life of love. Observe how Christ loved us. His love was not cautious but extravagant. He didn’t love in order to get something from us but to give everything of himself to us. Love like that.

That folks is what we will call “Love Wastefully!”

Now, let us take a moment to enter a time of waiting worship. I have prepared a few queries for us to ponder this morning.

1.     Where instead of embracing love, have I let go of love during these difficult days?

2.     Am I feeling lonely and not deeply connected to myself, my relationships, and my community?  How might I seek deeper connections?

3.     When this week will I take time to explore and observe the Love Christ has for me, and transform it into love for my neighbors?

10-4-20 - What Does It Mean to Be a Quaker, Today?

Indianapolis First Friends Quaker Meeting

Pastor Bob Henry

October 4, 2020

Psalm 46 (The Message)

1-3 God is a safe place to hide,
    ready to help when we need him.
We stand fearless at the cliff-edge of doom,
    courageous in sea storm and earthquake,
Before the rush and roar of oceans,
    the tremors that shift mountains.

Jacob-wrestling God fights for us,
    God-of-Angel-Armies protects us.

4-6 River fountains splash joy, cooling God’s city,
    this sacred haunt of the Most High.
God lives here, the streets are safe,
    God at your service from crack of dawn.
Godless nations rant and rave, kings and kingdoms threaten,
    but Earth does anything he says.

7 Jacob-wrestling God fights for us,
    God-of-Angel-Armies protects us.

8-10 Attention, all! See the marvels of God!
    He plants flowers and trees all over the earth,
Bans war from pole to pole,
    breaks all the weapons across his knee.
“Step out of the traffic! Take a long,
    loving look at me, your High God,
    above politics, above everything.”

11 Jacob-wrestling God fights for us,
    God-of-Angel-Armies protects us.

I find it interesting that this year’s theme for World Quaker Day is both a question and a statement:

What does it mean to be a Quaker today? is the question and Living a Faithful Life in a Changing World is the statement.  

If there is one Question I am consistently being asked, it is “What does it mean to be a Quaker, today?” Most people sheepishly or quizzically make some statement like, “I thought the Quakers died off a long time ago.” And sadly, I sense many Quakers believe much the same today, as well.   

The reality is that there are 400,000 Quakers worldwide and about half of them live in Africa.  Even though we are one of the smaller societies or denominations – we do have a global impact. 

But let’s get back to that original query - What does it mean to be a Quaker TODAY?  And I emphasize TODAY.

From the gatherings and conversartion Beth and I have each Thursday with Quaker ministers across the country, we have found this both a relevant question and a challenging one. 

The current day is much different for Quakers than even in our more recent past. Especially, right now, as we continue to wrestle with a global pandemic and all the unrest that seems to surround us. 

Simon Lamb, clerk of the Friends World Committee for Consultation emphasizes this point by saying,

In these very unusual times where the global community is not only struggling with a debilitating pandemic which is effecting every one of us through its health, its social and its financial impact, we are also at the same time being challenged by the protests of many on the issues of long-entrenched patterns of cultural, racial and social inequities and the historic colonial values that underpin such ideas.

We are being limited in our capacity to meet each other face to face. Social distancing is becoming a very normal part of our lives in these abnormal times. We are learning new ways to communicate, to socialize, and even to worship.

This period of health crisis for almost every country on this planet and the impending financial disaster that it promises in the months to come for many of the world’s citizens, leaves Friends with the challenging question as to what we are able and what are we called to do.

Quakers have been at this precipice before on numerous occasions and each time we have risen to the occasion, found our voice, and sensed the call of what we were to do. 

But, this time around, there seems to be more going on than we can even wrap our minds around.  And the move to virtual spaces and the reliance on technology is taking a toll on an older society of Friends who for too long have not embraced change.   

At First Friends, I am pleased that we have embraced the changes, leaned into our call to continue forward, and have found ways to make a difference in our community and neighborhoods. But let’s get a bit more personal.

Let’s take one step further and explore how we individually may seek to answer the call of God in these times.  If there is one thing the pandemic and our world’s condition has done, it has returned us to our Quaker foundations. 

One of the most fundamental foundations in the Quaker faith is embracing silence and again seeking what our Christian scriptures say is the “Still Small Voice” of God. 

I find it ironic in many ways that during these difficult times we have been given time to slow down, to become silent, and listen, yet much of our time is spent wrestling with not knowing what we are able and called to do.

I wonder if that is because we still have not taken the time to slow down, to become silent, and to expectantly wait to hear what God is saying to us, TODAY.

I sense this pandemic is awaking us to the reality that we may have become a bit  stubborn or unwilling to enter the process fully to seek those answers.

Instead of slowing down and taking time to process and listen, we like most of the people in our country want or demand instant change, instant action, instant healing.

Almost like we are ordering through Amazon Prime getting one-day deliveries or at the drive-up at Starbucks getting a cup of coffee on our way to work. 

Let’s be honest…we have been trained to claim the “instant life.”

We want it now.

We want it our way.

And we don’t want to have to be silent and wait.

Ironically, it is everything that this pandemic and the condition of our world is challenging us with, currently. 

We want the pandemic to go away, now.

We want racial unrest to go away, now.

We want to get back to the way life used to be, now.

We want to be vocal and argue and tweet and have our own way, now.

But…this is the opposite of what it means to be Quaker at our core? 

This hit me rather personally this week while I happened to be in-line at Starbucks.  

That day, I was busily running errands and kind of in a hurry, but needed a caffeine boost to keep me going, so I stopped at Starbucks to get a cup of coffee.

I noticed the line looked rather long, actually it wrapped around the building and went through the parking lot – remember it is Pumpkin Spice Latte time…but really? Come on…a line around the building.   

At first, I grumbled and said, I have no time to wait and started to pass the Starbucks. But then a still small voice spoke to me and encouraged me to get in line.

As soon as I pulled in the parking lot, I sensed a calm come over me. I had been listening to “Tea for the Tillerman 2” the 50th Anniversary reimagined album by Yusef/Cat Stevens that had just been released.  

Not knowing I would be in line for almost 30 more minutes (yes 30 minutes), I slowed down long enough to hear both the words to the song I was listening to and that still small voice speaking to me.   

The words to Yusef’s reimagined version of “Wild World” spoke to my condition.  I heard…

You know I have seen a lot of what the world can do…

And its breaking my heart in two. 

If you gotta leave, take good care.

Cuz, Baby I love you.

Oh, baby, baby it’s a wild world

It’s hard to get by with just a smile. 

Now, some believe this song is about a breakup or a divorce, but it spoke to my condition in that moment regarding simply “letting go.”   

Folks, we all have seen a lot of what the world can do, lately. Maybe too much.  

You could definitely say, we are living in a “Wild World,” currently. 

And I sense deeply that for many it is breaking our hearts in two.

And yes, it is truly hard to get by with just a smile, these days.

But letting go (which I have talked about before during this pandemic, begins when we start to cling or shift toward something else. In this case I believe it is God – or what I often simply call, Love.

When we let go of the distractions, allow ourselves to get silent physically, mentally and spiritually, we are able to hear the Still, Small Voice that is speaking to us. It may come through many means, but it comes.  This is maybe the most basic and foundational aspect of what it means to be Quaker – especially today.

When we allow ourselves to become silent, center down, and stop demanding the “instant life”…

• We allow God to help move us toward love – for ourselves and others. This is another Quaker foundation of “seeing that of God in ourselves and our neighbor.”

• We allow God to help us experience genuine joy and see possibilities for hope.

• We allow God to ease the sinking feeling that something is always wrong and nurture a sense of safety and peace.

• We allow God to help us begin to unclench, release, let go, and ultimately relax.

• And hopefully we allow God to help us begin to experience clarity, relief, or what some might call an undeniable knowing – which then helps us respond in a positive and useful way.

This is what Beth read for us in scripture this morning from Psalm 46. This is what we hear God calling us to do, first and foremost.

I had Beth read a modern translation because I believe it speaks to our condition, today.

I love the way specifically verse 10 reads.

“Step out of the traffic! Take a long,
    loving look at me, your High God,
    above politics, above everything.”

That could be a mantra for our current times. It sums up what I was just describing in removing ourselves from “instant life” mode. 

I know I have returned to this scripture often this week as I have tried to refocus and return to my Quaker roots in moving toward the silence and embracing fully the love of God in my daily life. 

But if you read this scripture mantra in a more traditional translation you will find this to be a surprisingly familiar passage. One that as Quakers we return to again and again. It reads this way – I think you have probably heard it…

He says, “Be still, and know that I am God;
    I will be exalted among the nations,
    I will be exalted in the earth.”

So, living a faithful life in the ever-changing world TODAY begins with us embracing the tranquility, and listening to the still small voice of God.

Once we return to this Quaker foundation in our personal lives, it will begin to affect how we see and respond to the life taking place around us. But it has to start with you and me.

What does it mean to be a Quaker, TODAY? 

It means first transforming our own lives and moving into a place where we allow the clatter of the world to lessen (even if that means in the line at Starbucks).

Then it means, without distractions, listening for the “still small voice of God” within us to speak to our condition – to move us toward love, to experience joy and hope, to sense safety and peace within, to release us and relax us, and to draw us to a point of clarity on how we are to respond in a positive and useful way individually and together.

And once we have learned it, I believe we are called to teach this Quaker Way to others.

So, this week, I challenge you to seek places to become silent and hear just how God may want to live faithfully through you in this ever changing world.

This morning, instead of queries or even instrumental music, we are going to offer an extended time of silence. So, do not adjust your TV, phone, or computer.  The noise of the world is extremely strong – so if you have to close your eyes or put away your phone or go in another room, do that to find silence this morning. 

Let’s take this time to expectantly wait on the Still Small Voice of God.  

9-27-20 - A Special Prayer Service for Peace

Welcome:  Beth

This past Monday, September 21 was the International Day of Peace. It marked the 75th anniversary of the signing of the United Nations charter. On Monday, the Quaker United Nations Office led FCNL and more than 170 peacebuilding organizations from around the world in calling on the international community to recommit to the founding vision of the United Nations – which is a commitment to international peace and friendly relations among nations.

Today, we join in this recommitment to peace with a special prayer gathering. Instead of a sermon, we will spend time this morning praying, meditating, reflecting, and singing about our commitment and dedication to peace that is so central to our faith as Quakers. 

Will you join us now in an Opening Meditation for Peace - by Thich Nhat Hanh

As we are together, praying for peace, let us be truly with each other.

Let us pay attention to our breathing.

Let us be relaxed in our bodies and our minds.

Let us return to ourselves and become wholly ourselves.

Let us maintain a half-smile on our faces. 

Let us beware of the source of being common to us all and to all living things. 

Evoking the presence of the Great Compassion, let us fill our hearts with our own compassion – towards ourselves and towards all living beings.

Let us pray that all living beings realize that they are all brothers and sisters, all nourishes from the same source of life.

Let us pray that we ourselves cease to be the cause of suffering to each other. 

Let us plead with ourselves to live in a way which will not deprive other beings of air, water, food, shelter, or the chance to live. 

With humility, with awareness of the existence of life and of the sufferings that are going on around us, let us pray for the establishment of peace in our hearts and on earth.  Amen

Jesus’ Message of Peace: Bob

When it is hard for us to find peace in our hearts, peace with our neighbor or peace in the world, we turn to Jesus, known as the Prince of Peace, to show us the way. Let us take the next few minutes to reflect on Jesus’ message of peace.  Let us think about how Jesus calls us to live this message: by praying for peace, by working for peace and becoming makers of peace, as sons and daughters of God. 

Jesus, You said to Your disciples, “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.”  You know how much our world needs Your gift of peace, yet in so many places there is unrest, conflict, and war. Help us through the power of your Spirit to transform human hearts and give the people of the world a desire for peace as we pray:

Prayer: Beth

Loving God, conflict, unrest, and war destroy people’s lives. It is an expression of despair, a last resort, a dependence on violence to settle differences and disagreements. God of peace, you gave us Jesus to show us the way to a true and lasting peace. Help those who are in conflict and at war to long for peace.  Open their minds and hearts as well as our own so that all people might hear your message of peace and allow it to take root in our lives. Amen.

Reading: Bob                      

A Reading from Isaiah 2:2-5:                 

In days to come, the mountain of the Lord’s house shall be established as the highest of the mountains and shall be raised above the hills; all the nations shall stream to it.  Many peoples shall come and say,

“Come let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths.” 

He shall judge between the nations and shall arbitrate for many peoples; they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore.  O house of Jacob, come, let us walk in the light of the Lord!

Prayer: Beth.   (from the World Council of Churches)                    

You have called us to be one, to live in unity and harmony, and yet we are divided: race from race, faith from faith, rich from poor, old from young, neighbor from neighbor. O Lord…break down the walls that separate us, tear down the fences of indifference and hatred; forgive us the sins that divide us, free us from pride and self-seeking, overcome our prejudices and fears, give us courage to open ourselves to others, by the power of Your Spirit make us one. Amen.

Reading: Beth   Matthew 5: 1 – 11                              

When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up the mountain; and after he sat down, his disciples came to him.  Then he began to speak, and taught them, saying:

“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

“Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.

“Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.

“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.

“Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy.

“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.

“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.

“Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

“Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account.  Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”

Prayer: Bob

Jesus, you said, "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven."

Keep us from being preoccupied with money and worldly goods, and with trying to increase them at the expense of justice.

Jesus, you said, "Blessed are the gentle, for they shall inherit the earth."

Help us not to be ruthless with one another, and to eliminate the discord and violence that exists in the world around us.

Jesus, you said, "Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted."

Let us not be impatient under our own burdens and unconcerned about the burdens of others.

Jesus, you said, "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for justice, for they shall be filled."

Make us thirst for you, the fountain of all holiness, and actively spread your influence in our private lives and in society.

Jesus, you said, "Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy."

Grant that we may be quick to forgive and slow to condemn.

Jesus, you said, "Blessed are the clean of heart, for they shall see God."

Free us from our senses and our evil desires and fix our eyes on you.

Jesus, you said, "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called children of God."

Aid us to make peace in our families, in our country, and in the world.

Lord Jesus, you said, "Blessed are those who are persecuted for the sake of justice, for the kingdom of heaven in theirs."

Make us willing to suffer for the sake of right rather than to practice injustice; and do not let us discriminate against our neighbors and oppress and persecute them.

Prayer for Tolerance: Beth

Prince of peace! Grant that we might be peacemakers. You told us to love without exclusion. Grant that our Meeting might be disposed and available to know and appreciate the values of other religions, to dialogue with them and all men and women of good will, so that all nations and peoples will understand each other and work for peace.

We pray that we ourselves and all of our fellow humans might grow in respect for the dignity of the person and their inalienable rights.

God, you have bound us together in a common life. Help us, in the heart of our battles for justice and truth, not to confront each other in hatred and bitterness, but on the contrary, to work together in tolerance and respect.

Yes, Lord, imprint on us your love for those who are different from us. Amen.

Prayer for the Environment: Bob

God, Creator of the universe and all things, our profound peace also depends on the good management of our environment. You made us your partners and co-workers, trusting us and entrusting us with your creation. Give us wisdom and respect to use natural resources in such a way that nothing will suffer from our abuses and that creation will not turn against us by way of uncontrollable upheavals, but that as a result of good management, future generations might praise you for your goodness and the gift of creation. Amen.

Prayer for Inner Peace: Beth

Grant us your peace, not like the peace the world gives, but the peace that penetrates soul and spirit, joints and marrows, feelings and thoughts of the heart; the peace that shapes our intelligence and fills our thoughts with all that is true, all that is honorable,

all that is right,

all that is pure,

all that is kind,

all that merits approval,

that is virtuous and worthy of praise.

O Eternal One, fill our beings with the values that form the basis of true peace, genuine peace in the image of the Prince of peace. Amen

Queries: Bob

Now, let us enter a time of waiting worship. To help us center down American Friends Service Committee has provided a set of queries to ponder regarding our commitment to Peace:

1.     How can I nurture the seeds of peace within myself, my community, and the world?

2.     How can I work to eliminate hatred, injustice, and both physical and institutional violence?

3.     How can I be more open to seeking the goodness in people who act with violence and hatred?

4.     How can I work to settle disputes within the organization and the community with love and sensitivity for all involved?

5.     How can I increase my understanding of nonviolence and use it in all my interactions? 

Benediction: Beth  (written by Brian McLaren)

May we feel in our innermost being a beautiful and holy dissatisfaction,

a hunger and thirst for true aliveness.

May that holy dissatisfaction ignite in us a holy refusal

To remain stuck where we have been.

May that holy refusal break open our hearts to a holy hope,

So that the wind, wine, and fire of the Holy Spirit will fill us all.

May we learn to live in the way of love,

May we experience, enjoy, and embody God as Jesus did,

As the radiant light of perfect compassion for all creation.

And may we find or form our flocks,

And may ten thousand flocks and more arise together

In a great spiritual movement of justice, joy, and peace.

But first,

May we feel in our innermost being a beautiful and holy dissatisfaction.

Resources:

·         1www.mwc-cmm.org : Peace Sunday 2019 Worship Resources

·         Prayer Service for Peace Prepared by Pauline Krupa

·         https://www.afsc.org/testimonies/peace

9-20-20 - Embracing a Spiritual Autumn

Indianapolis First Friends Quaker Meeting

Pastor Bob Henry

September 20, 2020

2 Corinthians 4:16-18 (English Standard Version)  

“So, we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen.  For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal. 

In just a couple days (actually this Tuesday, September 22) we will be celebrating the autumnal equinox.

As I studied the science of this changing to the season of autumn or fall, I learned that on September 22, the sun will rest above the equator, meaning that there is an equal balance of light and dark, day and night.

I loved how poetic Presbyterian Minister, Lou Ann Karabel described this in a post I read this week, she said,

Nature pauses on the equinox, poised between leaving behind the extravagant productivity of summer, and taking a deep breath, slowing down for the coming transformation of fall.

It's as if the natural world has been at a big, long, noisy, colorful party for three months! And now it's time to say good-bye and settle down into the serious business of fall - the letting go that, for many living things, leads to death. 

Wow, in some ways, I find it almost ironic that we choose this time of the year to have our kick-off.

But as I have said many times, this is the season we get a front row seat to watch the process of resurrection begin in and around us. 

I remember when Sue and I lived in Florida, we found it unusual not experiencing the changing of the seasons. As Midwesterners, I am pretty sure we have autumn built into us. 

So much so, memes are made about the flannel shirts, scarves, pumpkin spice lattes, and Friday night football games!   

As well, throughout history, this season is also been known as the time of the great harvest. If you haven’t noticed, the farmers are now harvesting the many crops here in Indiana.

I love at this time of year to drive the back roads and see the activity in the fields and watch the chaff fly in the air as hay bales are created, corn is combined, and tomatoes are put in baskets and flung into large trucks and driven across the state. 

There is a beauty, but also a bittersweetness to this season. Yes, very soon, the air will become cold, the trees will drop all their leaves, and the migrating birds will all fly away, leaving us with still quiet mornings.  

I will miss the many yellow and red finches and hummingbirds that shared my mornings as I caught up on emails and wrote sermons on my back porch with a good cup of coffee in hand. 

The reality is that the fall season leads to winter and death. The colors turn to grays, the warmth turns to cold, and the creation around us goes dormant as we move inside for the winter months.

But we must remember the bigger picture. These are multiple stages, which are parts of a larger thing going on. Or as Thomas Merton once said,

"There is, in all visible things... a hidden wholeness."

Yes, there is a “hidden wholeness” that we need so much to embrace to understand our condition, currently.

As I have referenced often during the past 28 weeks of this pandemic, we are not in normal times. For many we started this “season of change” way back in March. 

We each personally entered a season of autumn months before the creation or natural world around us did.  The pandemic created an autumn-like season for our world – change, death, hibernation and preparation.

As summer approached, we were still making many changes, we already had entered a “hibernated state” called isolation and social distancing.

Whether we liked it or not, we began to harvest our jobs, our families, our daily experiences - gathering them in to prepare for the long haul of the winter-like pandemic.

In the post by Lou Ann Karabel that I mentioned earlier, she helped focus my attention on this spiritual autumn and pointed out three things that happen to our spiritual lives during this season…

I found they also show what many of us have been struggling with during this autumn-like season of the pandemic.  She says during this spiritual autumn,  

We may recognize and learn to accept both the light and the darkness within us (what others might call self-awareness).

As Quakers we are really good at focusing on our Inner Light, but often we ignore the Inner Darkness. If the pandemic has done anything good for us spiritually, it has forced us to wrestle with ourselves and the Light and/or Darkness we are projecting.

I also find it interesting that during this autumn season we will find ourselves facing the Light and Darkness of our world from the Climate Crises happening throughout the country, to the upcoming political election, to the numerous commentaries on social media – we are being inundated with having to wrestle with the Light and Darkness around us and how our own Light and Darkness within us will respond.   

Much like we learned this past year in the final installment of Star Wars – Light and Darkness are not as well defined as we used to think.  It is not just a simple balance or learning to rid ourselves of the dark – it is always about learning how to manage the Light and Darkness in ourselves. 

Second Lou Ann says that during this spiritual autumn…

• We may let go of anything that is in the way of our relationship with God.

Fall implies “Letting Go!” Like the leaves on the trees there are things we      need to take seriously and find a way to let go.

Some of you are probably saying….“Good Grief – how much more do I need to let go. This pandemic has robbed me of so much already.”

But this “letting go” is a freedom not a burden. 

The man who is coming soon to trim the trees at our home pointed out that the trees in our yard are letting go of their leaves, but if you look closely enough, they are already preparing for the return of Spring.

He pulled back the leaves and showed me the small buds protruding that are a sign of hope that our trees will thrive during the winter season.  These are signs of resurrection. 

When we “let go” of the things in our life that get in the way of our relationship with God (and our neighbors), are we looking for the buds and signs of resurrection?  

Let’s be honest, it may be a spiritual balancing exercise that helps you grow and thrive during this time.  

Thirdly, Lou Anne says that during this spiritual autumn,

• We may acknowledge the impermanence of all things.

I know most of us have wrestled with the permanence of the pandemic and wish it would end, and at some point, it will – but I continue to wonder what it may be teaching us.   

Even though we often state that change is hard for Quakers or the church in general, this is such an important part of our spiritual lives.

• We cannot have resurrection without death.

• We cannot have a spiritual spring without a spiritual autumn.

• We need change in life to bring new life.

If the pandemic has helped us see one thing, it is definitely our impermanence.  It has reminded us that we all will die, that life is fragile, but also that change comes sometimes unexpected.

When we realize that things in life are not permanent – how flexible is our    soul to change in these times?

Lately, I have found myself reading Paul’s second letter to the Corinthians - returning especially to 2 Corinthians 4:16-18 again and again.

I have even preached on this scripture of Paul to the people of Corinth before during this pandemic.

To me, this is one of the most Quakerly passages in scripture and it seems to speak directly to our current condition.

I may even go as far as to say this scripture is the “theme verse” for our extended spiritual autumn and pandemic.

There is definitely a sense that Paul has decided to say exactly what he is feeling to the Corinthians – he is almost unfiltered compared to his other letters.

One can assume he is responding to the reactions he received from his first letter to the people of Corinth in which he laid out correct understandings of “little” subjects like the Body of Christ and the Resurrection. 

Throughout the second letter he pours out his distressed soul – his hopes, fears, anger, resentment, and joy. Hal Taussig even states that Paul may have written this letter over a series of bad days making Paul uncensored and wildly emotional.

Wow, I wonder what Paul would have written to the church of the United States, after 28 weeks of the pandemic, all the political and racial unrest, and the mounting climate crises with fires, hurricanes, tornados, currently?  

We may not be as focused on being persecuted for our faith as Paul was, but I believe we are in a state of being able to hear the likes of Paul who definitely understood difficult times.   

So, when I re-read these words this week, my heart was lifted knowing Paul had been “through the ringer” (as we say) and could still give this encouragement from 2 Corinthians 4:16-18;    

“So, we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen.  For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.  

Now, I have to explain something in these verses.  Paul was always trying to propose that “resurrection” and what we have called, “eternal life” was a participation of the followers of Christ in the present moment, not for just some later time.  

Especially, in this scripture, he points out even though we are dying on the outside, something is happening on the inside – a resurrection or renewal of sorts. 

The “light affliction” we are going through is preparing us for the ongoing “weight of glory” –which could be described as the ongoing suffering and joy that comes from truly living in this world. 

He then ends by saying the things that we see around us (the pandemic, the racial unrest, the political elections, the climate crises, etc.) are all transient, but what is unseen – the struggle of the light and dark within our hearts is ongoing in the present moment. 

Paul is saying – don’t lose heart, rather focus on connecting inwardly with the Divine and embracing the struggle because that is how we are able to bring Light into our present moment and help others see resurrection and ongoing life in this spiritual autumn.

This is how we prepare the buds of new life for our spiritual spring.

So, as we celebrate this unique Kick-Off this morning, I encourage you, as you wrestle with your afflictions and struggles to seek ways to engage your inner lives.

Like Paul, I want to remind you to “not lose heart,” but to find ways to engage your inner life (maybe that will be by joining a small group, hosting a fellowship opportunity, becoming an activist, or simply finding ways on your own to explore the light and dark places within your soul. 

We hope your relationship with the Divine will develop and that you will respond to the Divine’s inner leanings in a way that will be ongoing in the present moment and bring new life and renewal that will be for the benefit of the greater community.

Now, as we enter waiting worship, I ask that you ponder the following queries…

1. What might I need to learn about managing my inner Light and Darkness during this spiritual autumn? 

2. As I learn to “let go” of the things that get in the way of my relationship with God (and my neighbors), am I also looking for the buds and signs of resurrection in my life? 

3. When I realize that things in life are not permanent – how flexible is my soul to embrace that change?

9-13-20 - One Day Among Quakers (Shorts)

One Day Among Quakers (Shorts)

Indianapolis First Friends Quaker Meeting

Pastor Bob Henry

September 13, 2020

2 Corinthians 4:7-12 (MSG)

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!

Good morning, Friends!  It is good to be with you in the comfort of your own homes, today.  I pray this finds you safe and well. 

Alright, it is confession time.  Now, that may seem rather alarming coming from a Quaker minister (especially one that used to be an Anglican Priest).  Yet, in all seriousness, I am the one confessing, today.

I need to confess that one of my guilty pleasures during the pandemic has been  watching Disney+. 

Let me explain…when I find I have some down time (which isn’t that often), I can’t seem to get enough of the documentaries and story driven series on Disney+.  

Most people (and especially kids) probably just skip over them to watch the blockbuster movies and cartoons (even though I have watched some of those as well).   

Since a very young child, I have been enamored, curious and all about exploring behind the scenes how things came about, and the stories of those whose creativity made the magic possible. 

Now, before this becomes a full-on commercial for Disney+, I have to say, there are two docu-series that have had me completely absorbed - Imagineering and One Day at Disney.

Since my first trip to Disney World back when I was in 1st grade (well, unless you count when I went in my pregnant mother’s belly the first year Disney World in Florida opened), I have always dreamed of being an Imagineer and working in the research, development, and creative arm at Disney.

So, to have an entire docu-series that explores and unveils what’s happening “behind the curtain” seemed beyond my wildest dreams. 

Well, this past holiday weekend, it was the “One Day at Disney (Shorts)” that had my attention. 

If you are not familiar with “One Day at Disney” it is a docu-series which highlights the diverse group of people behind some of Disney’s most magical stories.  It introduces you to the people who spend each day bringing magic to life in their unique and exciting ways, and how they help create heartwarming moments for people around the world.

One Day at Disney is both a full-length documentary and an accompanying book, but the “One Day at Disney (Shorts)” introduce you, in a 4-7min. video, to a cast member and their passions.  So far there are 40 of these shorts and Disney’s plan is for, I believe about, 52.

So, now that I have you all wanting to change your channel and jump over to Disney+ or start a subscription, let me explain why I confessed to this and shared this with you.

Today in this sermon, I want to do something a bit different.  I guess Disney inspired me (it has that effect on people).

This morning, I want to present to you a kind of “One Day Among Quakers (Shorts).”

Being the site-project liaison for our Associate Pastor, Beth’s Supervised Ministry with First Friends where I have the opportunity to help guide her in developing a version of our Quaker Affirmation Program for adults, has had my mind full of ideas and possibilities.

Also, for many years, I have been trying to figure out some new way to introduce some known and unknown Quakers and their stories to a new generation of people. 

Since Disney has taught us that most people only have a 4-7 minute attention span, the “One Day at Disney” model may be workable. 

So, this morning, with Friend Catherine Whitmire’s brief introductions of Quakers and their stories from her book, “Practicing Peace”, I want to introduce you to three diverse and unique Quakers from our past. 

You may have heard of these Friends, or you may not have. Their stories and lives speak not only to our foundations and ongoing testimony, but also to our condition. My hope is that they will inspire and empower you in having a passion for making a difference in our world, today!

Let me begin our first “One Day Among Quakers (Short)” by introducing you to a weighty and well-known Friend, Lucretia Mott.

Lucretia Mott grew up during the 1800s in a close Quaker community on Nantucket Island where she watched fishermen, farmers, shopkeepers, and housewives – people with no extraordinary power – working to overcome the evils of slavery, violence, and warfare. 

And through observing her community’s efforts, she saw that ordinary people can resist and overcome evil through prayer, speaking out, and direct action.

The lessons Lucretia learned as a child about using everyday means to confront evil inspired her later work as an abolitionist.  In 1851 she and a group of women from the Philadelphia Female Anti-Slavery Society

came to the aid of a group that included thirty-eight blacks and three whites, many unfairly arrested and imprisoned for resisting arrest as part of a complicated case involving runaway slaves. 

Lucretia and her friends not only allied to provide the prisoners with warm clothing and moral support, they also developed an imaginative plan to get them acquitted.

The prosecution in the trial had to positively identify the defendants as those who had resisted arrest.  On the day of the trial the defendants entered the courtroom for the first time, dressed alike and wearing red, white, and blue scarves around their necks.   

Lucretia and the women from the Philadelphia Female Anti-Slavery Society sat in the courtroom visitor’s gallery, knitting furiously, and “they did not so much as glance at their protégés, but it was clear to the reporters that they were responsible for the appearance of the prisoners.”

Since the defendants were wearing identical clothes, the witnesses for the prosecution could not positively identify any particular man, and the jury found them not guilty. 

The disgruntled judge claimed the jury’s not guilty decision was the fault of “meddlesome abolitionists” and “itinerant female agitators.” 

Lucretia Mott and her friends overcame evil with good by using their imaginations and their knitting needles. We, too, can resist evil and affirm our humanity through resourceful, everyday means. 

We can learn the language and culture of those with whom our country is at war, express our concerns for peace in song and theatre, surprise our critics with expressions of love and acceptance, and organize innovative ways to call public attention to homelessness and racism in our local communities.

Since no good is ever wasted, any imaginative, loving expressions we offer the world, no matter how small, will make a difference in overcoming evil and building the Commonwealth of God on Earth.

Our Next “One Day Among Quakers (Shorts)” highlights Hazel and Al Starr and their grandson, Cerrone Hemingway. 

In 1998, Emma Hazel Harrison and Al Starr chose to forego vengeance when their vibrant fifteen-year-old grandson,

Cerrone Hemingway, was killed by a bullet in a backyard in Boston while witnessing an argument over a gold chain.

Shortly after Cerrone’s memorial service, Hazel attended another funeral where she happened to fall into conversation about her grandson’s death with a woman she met after the service.  The woman listened attentively, asked Hazel for details, and then quietly said; “I don’t know how to tell you this, but my son has been arrested for your grandson’s murder.” When the impact of this stunning revelation sank in, instead of feeling repulsed that they had each lost loved ones to the same tragedy, one to death and one to prison.  They cried, hugged one another and began what has become an ongoing relationship of mutual support. 

Al, Cerrone’s Quaker grandfather, directed his energies toward helping people afflicted by other kinds of trama.  Al reflects that their experience made “an automatic connection for us with those who suffer from violence and injustice everywhere, whether it be fellow survivors of murdered children in Boston, or victims of bombings in Iraq or Kosovo.” 

He says that as a direct consequence of Cerrone’s death, during the 1999 war in Kosovo, he had an undeniable leaning, “where it was as though God was pointing directly at me, saying, You!...You help these people!” Al then helped bring a traumatized three-generation family of seven from Kosovo and supported them as they began a new life in Boston. 

Hazel and Al could have reacted to Cerrone’s death by demanding vengeance.  Instead, they responded to their deep loss with compassionate activism.  Their activism, however, has not erased the pain of their grandson’s death. 

As Hazel says, “You never get over something like that; it is always with you.” Hazel became even more active in her grandchildren’s lives in an effort to help them avoid what happened to Cerrone.  She also became involved in the Living After Murder Program, which once named her Activist of the Year.

Because vengeance is such a powerful and destructive emotion, the Bible cautions that only God, not humankind, can assume responsibility for carrying it out: “Vengeance is mine: I will repay, says the Lord.” But when we forgo vengeance, like Emma Hazel Harrison and Al Starr, we can end a cycle of violence, heal some part of ourselves, and help restore the world to wholeness and peace.

For our third and final “One Day Among Quakers (Shorts)” let me introduce you to Emily Green Balch.  

When the winds of nationalism swept across the country during World War I, college professor Emily Green Balch was among those who paid a significant price for remaining faithful to her pacifist religious convictions. 

A dedicated economics professor at Wellesley College, Emily did not believe that dissent equaled disloyalty, so she actively supported the anti-war efforts of her students, helped organize marches against the war, and gave lectures on peace. 

When the college demanded that she give up her antiwar activities, she refused on grounds of faith, and the college terminated her contract.  In response to her firing, Emily wrote to the Wellesley Board of Trustees:

“I find it so impossible to reconcile war with the truths of Jesus’ teaching, that even now I am obliged to give up the happiness of full and unquestioned cooperation where the responsibility of choice is mine.” 

Emily spent the rest of her life working to create international peace-building opportunities for women.  She helped organize the International Congress of Women,

which convened at the Hague in 1915 and collaborated in assembling other forums that brought thousands of women into international politics for the first time. 

She also encouraged women to form communities where they could support one another in their peacemaking activities, because she knew from personal experience of nationalistic conformity. 

Emily became one of the founders of the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom, which dedicated itself to building pathways to peacemaking that are still followed today. 

She was the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedoms’ secretary from 1919 to 1922, became its honorary president in 1937, and for her visionary work was co-recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1946.

Emily Green Balch dedicated her life creating openings and organizations for practicing peace.  As part of her visionary work, she encouraged people to look for God’s universal and uniting truths that transcend nationalistic identities. She wrote:

“Friends, let us not forget as far as we can, those things which divide us . . . There are no superior races.  There are no inferior races.  Let us learn to think of ourselves as members of that great race which is the human race.  Wherever we pass upon the earth, let us be at home.”

So, I hope you have enjoyed our first three “One Day Among Quakers (Shorts).”  I hope they have inspired and even empowered you during these difficult times to see what God may be asking of your ordinary life.

As Beth read today in our scriptures,

We carry this precious Message around in the unadorned clay pots of our ordinary 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!

Let us, the ordinary, arise and be the change, the voice, the risk-takers – let us allow our Inner Christ to shine brightly in all of our endeavors, and may we make our world a better place for everyone! It is now our turn to be Living Testimonies in our own unique and exciting way! 

As we enter waiting worship, I ask you to ponder some queries as to what God may be saying to you, today.

1. What imaginative, loving expressions may I offer to make a difference in overcoming the evil in the world?

2. What vengeances must I forego to help end the cycle of violence, bring healing, and restore the world to wholeness and peace?

3. Where will I look for God’s universal and uniting truths that transcend nationalistic identities? 

9-6-20 - Our Diamond Essence at the Heart of Us All

The Diamond Essence at the Heart of Us All

Indianapolis First Friends Quaker Meeting

Pastor Bob Henry

September 6, 2020

Ephesians 3:16-19 The Message

14-19 My response is to get down on my knees before the Father, this magnificent Father who parcels out all heaven and earth. I ask him to strengthen you by his Spirit—not a brute strength but a glorious inner strength—that Christ will live in you as you open the door and invite him in. And I ask him that with both feet planted firmly on love, you’ll be able to take in with all followers of Jesus the extravagant dimensions of Christ’s love. Reach out and experience the breadth! Test its length! Plumb the depths! Rise to the heights! Live full lives, full in the fullness of God.

It seems almost ironic that just before the pandemic I penned a set of devotions on the biblical concepts of “Selah” (which, if you remember, means to stop and listen or take a needed pause).

They were a devotional version of the sermon series I gave at First Friends last year. Barclay Press chose to publish them in Fruit of the Vine this past week not knowing what the state of affairs in our world would be at the end of August. I found that rather timely considering all that is going on.    

Unbeknownst to me, a pastor in North Carolina had asked for permission from Barclay Press to send out the devotionals by email to the people of his Quaker Meeting since they were not able to go out during the pandemic!

From the responses I have received, it seems the devotionals were distributed much more widely, because I have begun to hear from several people about the applicability of the devotionals for this time. 

I have heard similar comments regarding our Physically Distanced Meetings for Worship, Self-Led Worship Guides, Unprogrammed Worship, Vacation Bible School experience, and our Oak Leaf Meeting for Reading.

It continues to amaze me the widespread impact First Friends is having during these challenging times. The conversations that Beth and I are now having are not just among or within our Meeting, but they are happening across our country and world.

If you haven’t been to Fellowship Hour the last couple of weeks, you have missed people joining us from Africa and New York.

This should be exciting for us all!  It is a sign that there is still a hunger for Quakerism and all Friends have to offer, today.

Especially if we are willing to make those connections and empower and inspire a new generation of people willing to Speak Truth to Power and embrace a relevant Quakerism for today. 

In one of the conversations I had this week, a person shared how the topic of my devotionals reminded them of a teaching from Thomas Merton.  As one who has studied and appreciated the work of Thomas Merton, I appreciated the connection.  

Later during the week, as I was contemplating my own condition and the many things I was facing, I decided to return again to Thomas Merton for some insight.

Now, if you are unfamiliar with Thomas Merton let me give you a brief biographical sketch. 

Thomas Merton was an American Trappist Monk, writer, theologian, mystic, poet, social activist, and scholar of comparative religion. 

He wrote over 50 books in 27 years mostly on spirituality, social justice, and quiet pacifism.  You may have heard or even read his famous autobiography, “The Seven Storey Mountain.” I highly recommend it – but be warned you may want to be a monk after reading it. 

Thomas Merton was born in France to Owen Merton, a New Zealand painter and Ruth Jenkins (and this is where it gets interesting) an American Quaker artist. 

I always wondered why I was drawn to Thomas Merton, but as I have learned more about his story and the influences in his life – it all makes sense.

Even though Merton’s mother died of stomach cancer when he was only 6 yrs old just after they fled World War I by moving to the United States – she had already instilled in him a Quaker spirituality, a love of silence, and a desire to seek one’s inner light as the heart or essence of life.

Much of Merton’s later writings and teaching strongly reflect the Quaker foundations his mother instilled in him.

So, as I returned to Merton this week, I was drawn to something he wrote in regard to having what he called, “a contemplative orientation to life.”

I think this spoke to my condition because I have become so tired of the reactiveness and lack of reflection and contemplation in our world these days.    

To understand what this contemplative orientation to life meant, we have to understand that Merton believed that we are to seek a balance in our lives between being and doing or between what he labeled inner awareness and outward engagement. 

Like I said, you can see in his terminology alone that he was very much influenced by Quaker spirituality.

What emerged from Merton’s contemplative teachings was what John Phillip Newell and others have described as Merton’s threefold pattern.

Just listen to how Quakerly they are as I describe them:

The first is his belief that spiritual practice (what we may call the spiritual disciplines) is about remembering our “diamond essence.”

Let me stop right there.  I love the descriptor “diamond essence.”  This is the term Merton used to remind us that what is deepest in us is of God. 

The diamond essence is what we Quakers call our Inner Light – that in the human soul is implanted a certain element of God’s own Spirit and divine energy.  

When we spiritually practice or discipline our lives to seek that “diamond essence,” it is as Quaker Richard Foster noted, we are “exploring the inner caverns of the spiritual realm.”

The second is Merton’s conviction that spiritual practice is about remembering that the diamond essence is at the heart of each of us and of all things.

Again, this should sound quite familiar to us as Quakers. This is the concept that Geroge Fox taught to seek “That of God” in ALL people.

Many later Quakers, and other spiritual seekers including Merton, expanded those thoughts to seeing that of God in ALL of Creation, not just in humanity. 

It reminds me of how the mystic artist and poet Kahlil Gibran spoke of this in his bestselling book, The Prophet,

“And if you would know God be not therefore a solver of riddles.

Rather look about you and you shall see Him playing with your children.

And look into space: you shall see Him walking in the cloud, outstretching His arms in the lightening and descending in rain.

You shall see Him smiling in flowers, then rising and waving His hands in the trees.”

Folks, this is a beautiful example of what it means to embrace that of God in ALL of creation.

The Third aspect of Merton’s pattern is his belief that we will find true strength for the holy work of transformation in the world only by digging deep into the foundations of our being.  Enduring strength will be found not in our ego but in our essence. 

Again, this is very Quakerly as it means we identify ourselves not in terms of social status, race, religion, or sexual orientation, but by our truest identity. In the very ground of our being – the Diamond Essence.

Now, I share these insights from Merton because not only have they been speaking to my condition, they have also led me to some deeper insight.

Within the pandemic and the constant unrest in our world around so many issues, I find myself pondering and reflecting more than usual.

It almost seems the pandemic has afforded me the opportunity or given me permission to embrace a more contemplative orientation to life.  

I have found that without many of the distractions, the fast-paced daily grind, the ability to keep myself busy just to fill my day, I have begun to hear again from my “diamond essence” – that deep voice inside me of the Divine.  

To be honest, something I have been struggling to hear. 

I have also had time to observe and perceive my neighbors and those around me from a new perspective and it is beginning to change and affect me more and more deeply. No longer can I ignore them or simply let them pass by.    

I have also been able to visually see transformation taking place both in my own life and the lives of others in ways I would have never been able to see if I had not been given this time to slow down, assess, and become aware.

Now, please understand, this continues to be a personal discovery for me and I am still unpacking it in my own life, but part of the unpacking has had me reflecting on Merton’s words.

The other day I began to wonder if what he was describing needs to be applied much more broadly.  That what Merton is getting at and what Quakers have tried to emphasize from the beginning is that we begin by seeking first our own awareness and then continue to a greater awareness that gets us out of ourselves and our own myopic thinking.

It made me wonder…what if the universe is forcing our world or even more specifically, our nation, to embrace this threefold pattern and to return once again to our “Diamond Essence”?

It seems lately, the conversations I am having are transcending the social issues, the unrest, the politics and news.  They have evolved to a much more contemplative and even painstaking process of asking what is behind all of this?

We are beginning to dig down deep to the essence of racial issues, policing issues, violence issues, political issues, often knocking us completely out of our comfort zones.

More and more people are beginning to discuss the importance of morals, values, character, empathy and love – issues that spring from our “diamond essence.”    

What if this is a call for us to remember our “diamond essence” for something greater than our own spirituality?   

What if the unrest and violence we are experiencing is a symptom of a people wrestling to find their core again?  To find what binds us all together – that of God in each of us?

Thomas Merton said that people should search not only their own hearts: but they also should plunge deep into the heart of the world of which they remain a part although they seem to have “left it.”

When we begin to contemplate or discipline ourselves it causes us to not only move to the diamond center of our own being, but it also plunges us deep into the heart of the world. 

John Philip Newell in his book, “The Rebirthing of God” retells an inspiring moment in Thomas Merton’s life where his diamond essence had him plunging deep in to the heart of the world.

[Thomas] had been in Louisville, Kentucky, meeting with his publisher.  Afterward, at the corner of Fourth and Walnut Streets [where today, there is an historic marker placed],

as he walked through the shopping district of the city, he was suddenly overwhelmed by the realization that he loved everyone around him, “that they were mine and I was theirs, that we could not be alien to one another even though we were total strangers. It was like waking from a dream of separateness.”

He saw “the secret beauty of their heart.” It was as if they were all walking around shining like the sun. “If only we could see each other that way all the time,” he wrote. “There would be no more war, no more hatred, no more cruelty, no more greed…I suppose the big problem would be that we would fall down and worship each other.”

And I sense that what Merton was saying in the end was that we would actually see “that of God in our neighbor” so much that we would begin to worship instead of hate or hurt our neighbor.   

As I have taken time to listen and pause this week, I have sensed Thomas Merton speaking clearly to my and our condition.

My prayer right now is that, like Thomas Merton, the people of our nation would be overwhelmed by the realization that they love everyone around them. That they are not alien to one another. That they are awaking from a dream of separateness.

I also pray that we all would discover that we are most free when we do not lift ourselves up over one another, but when we remember that our true Center is at the heart of one another.

Let us now enter a time of waiting worship – I have prepared some queries for us to ponder.

1. What spiritual practice or discipline might I need to embrace to help me connect to my “Diamond Essence” this week?

2. Am I being overwhelmed by the presence of “that of God” in my neighbors and the creation around me?

3. What bondage might I need to be freed from in lifting myself above others?

8-30-20 The Demoniac and the Gerasene People: Facing our Demons Within and Without

The Demoniac and the Gerasene People

Facing Our Demons Within and Without

Mark 5:1-20 

“My Name is Legion” The Story and Soul of the Gerasene Demoniac

By Michael Willett Newheart

Quotes and themes from this book

I spent two intense weeks recently in a class on Quakers and the Bible and we dove deeply into Scripture and the readings of early Friends and their embrace of, knowledge of and inspiration for the Bible.  We also read a book by  Quaker Michael Willett Newheart who is a biblical scholar and professor of New Testament language and literature at the Howard University School of Divinity.  The entire book was a reflection on the story of Legion, the Gerasene Demoniac that Mark wrote about in Mark 5:1-20 that Bob just read for us.  This brief chapter in Mark had a lot to say to me over the last few weeks.

Maybe some of you have never heard of this story?  I remember reading this  in various studies of the Bible that I have participated in over the years, but it never had much impact on me.  I always chalked this story up as one of Jesus miracles of expelling demons from individuals and in this exorcism the demons went into a herd of pigs that fell off a cliff into the ocean.  Isn’t that the just the kind of behavior that demons do?  I took the story as just one of many stories in the Bible that showed Jesus power in overcoming Satan in a cosmic way. 

Going deep into this story has been a  powerful experience for me as I examined this story in a personal way as well as what the story says about the community and society.  Are there still demons and unclean spirits today or did this just happen in ancient times?  What kind of healing did Jesus really give this man?  Where am I in this story and the description of the Gerasene community?

Before we delve into the story, we need to consider the themes in the book of Mark and its entire narrative. Mark’s gospel never mentions Jesus birth or youth and begins with  John the Baptist and Jesus being baptized.  This book is full of action, moves swiftly from episode to episode and focused on Jesus miracles and suffering.  This Gospel is jammed packed full of miracles particularly with demons.  Mark’s gospel identified Jesus as the Son of God very early on and feels an urgency to share the news of Jesus death and resurrection.  

This story begins as Jesus and the disciples crossed the sea (which if we read right before this chapter we learn that there had been a magnificent storm the night before that terrified the disciples while Jesus slept and ultimately the disciples wake Jesus fearful for their lives and Jesus calmed the wind and sea).  Jesus disciples, his chosen ones really did not understand who Jesus was lacked the faith to understand and this knowledge seemed to be hidden from them for a long time.  This journey across the sea of Galilee means that Jesus is leaving the Jewish territory and is crossing into Gentile territory.  When they reach the “other side” Jesus got out of the boat without the disciples (they may have been too traumatized by what they experienced on the sea to get out of the boat with Jesus).  Jesus immediately encountered a man possessed by an unclean spirit.  Mark described this man as “living among the tombs and no one could restrain him anymore, even with a chain.” (Mark 5:3 NRSV Bible)  Living in the tombs meant living among the dead - having lost one’s humanity.   This demoniac had roamed the countryside and engaged in self-mutilation and was completely isolated and uncontrollable.  The Gerasene community had rejected him and shamed him and had tried to chain and bind him but he was too strong.   The man is not only in conflict with his townspeople, but also with himself.” 

 This man came to Jesus, bowed down before him and called him the Son of God recognizing Jesus power and he asked that Jesus not torture him.  This is a fascinating point to consider as Jesus own disciples do not recognize Jesus in this way,  only the demons. 

After asking the unclean spirit to come out of this man, Jesus asked him his name.  Isn’t that just like Jesus – he wants to acknowledge and know this man who has been rejected by society.  The man replied,  “My name is Legion; for we are many.” (Mark 5:9 NRSV Bible) So it sounds like there are many demons within this man not just one.  There is also something symbolic with this name as legion is a term for a division of Roman soldiers of about 6,000 men.  The Roman Empire had occupied this land for a long time as they occupied most of the Mediterranean world and this community was living under the oppression of the Roman rule. 

The unclean spirit begs Jesus to not torture him and asked to be sent into a herd of pigs (which is an unclean animal).  The unclean spirit entered them, and the 2,000 pigs ran down a steep bank into the sea and drowned (Mark 5:13 NRSV Bible).

Those tending the pigs ran into the community to share what they had seen, and all came out to see Jesus and this demoniac.  This man that had been unable to control was “sitting there, clothed and in his right mind…and they were afraid.” (Mark 5:15 NRSV Bible ).  They asked Jesus to leave.  Why in the world would the citizens of Gerasene be more afraid of Jesus healing  than the terror of this man that they rejected and ousted from their community.  Have they been able to put all their anger and frustration from their oppression with Rome into this demoniac and set him out alone into the mountainside?  Was he their scapegoat of anger and shame?  Had they decided that this is how they must live and survive in their occupation by Rome?  Did they really want healing?   Things aren’t great right now, but they could be worse and at least I am not a demoniac living in isolation.  Were the Gerasene people afraid of this positive change to this man because  they were like the disciples in the boat who had little faith?  Jesus is offering transformation and transformation is scary.  Maybe it’s just better to stay in the boat, and not come out at all.  Better to just live with the way things are.  Do I really want to risk what I know for the change that Jesus is offering me? 

At first, I felt repelled by the demoniac and did not identify with him or feel I had anything in common with him, but as I reflect on these passages, I see that I have many things in common.  How many times in my life have I been unsettled, anxious, feeling out of control or rejected?  Where are the shadows in my own soul that gnaw at me and make me feel unworthy?  While this man seems terrifying to me, maybe that is because I don’t want to recognize and consider my shadows which we all have as they are part of our conscious.  Maybe we should read this story as the wild man within us.  We are good and decent folks, yet we all have our shadows that this story identifies.  We are compelled by the violence of the passage.

I  began to feel sympathy for this man and the struggles going on within him and the rejection of his community.   I think Jesus healed this man by recognizing him and offering him love.  The Son of God showed compassion to the craziest among us and that gave the man the opportunity to love himself.    “Self-love will lead to healing and freedom.  This man’s healing, his liberation, involved compassion that the Lord had on him which doubtlessly enabled him to have compassion on himself.”   This man was  someone who had to carry the violence of his people,  yet Jesus delivered him from the violence.”

There are societal issues to consider with this story.  In his book, Newheart invites us to consider the story in terms of  a scapegoat theory as well as a decolonization view.  The Gerasene’s and the demoniac are caught up in a kind of “cyclical pathology” in which the people repeatedly go out to bind the demoniac, even though he always breaks the bonds.  They are participating in ritual , behaving “like sick men whose every action fosters rather than decreases the disease. (74)  When the demon is cast into the pigs and they die, the Gerasene people don’t want this cycle to be broken.  They are part and parcel of the demons within this man.  “The miracle that Jesus performs reverses the universal schema of violence fundamental to all societies of the world. So, the exorcism of the demoniac and the drowning of the demons threaten the system in which the Gerasene’s have grown comfortable.”   The demoniac is the scapegoat of the Gerasene society.  They need a way to act out their violence.

Another way to consider the story from a societal perspective is  that when faced with oppression and colonization by an Empire,  “belief in demons helped enable the people to persist in their way of life.  For Israel specifically, blaming superhuman evil forces for their sufferings, they could avoid blaming themselves as well as God.”  Otherwise, where is God in this oppression?  Why is God not taking action?

A point that Newheart brought out that speaks strongly to me, is that this story suggests violence as a way to stop violence.  Drowning all of the pigs was a violent act - are we saying that God is violent?  “We can be non-violent because God is ultimately violent.  God does our dirty work for us.  God accepts our rage and vents it on our scapegoats.  How healthy is that?”

However, Jesus, this Son of God shows a different way than violence. “Jesus disrupted the social stability of the Gerasene’s situation by offering social healing not just to the one possessed, but also to the Gerasene’s.  They, however, rejected it and asked Jesus to take his social healing elsewhere.”

Are we ready for the kind of healing that Jesus offers to both ourselves and our society?  We all have legions inside of us.  For years I would look at others and think that they have their life so together.  The values that our culture uphold like success,  status, money, perfect family can be created in an outward form that projects an image that we want to project.  But as I have matured and experienced relationships and stories with others, I know that we all have legions, shadows, insecurities no matter how we appear on the outside.  Our challenge is to recognize them and take the risk for Jesus to transform us, to feel Jesus love and in turn to embrace that love of ourselves.  Real healing can take place, but it is hard work.  But this self-love turns into love for our neighbors, for our enemies and for the pursuit of justice and rightness for all.  This will be the difference between wholeness and disunity within ourselves and our communities and our country.

As we enter into our unprogrammed worship time, listening for the voice of God, I ask you to consider four queries:

• Who is the Gerasene in you?

• Where does your story intersect with his?

• In what ways have I been ‘“living in the tombs”?

• How can I embrace God’s healing for me?