5-28-23 - "Don't Forget Systemic Joy!"

Don’t Forget Systemic Joy!

Indianapolis First Friends Quaker Meeting

Pastor Bob Henry

May 28, 2023

Good morning, Friends and welcome to Light Reflections. This morning I am continuing my Systemic series by looking at Joy!  Our scripture text is from James 1:2-4 in the New Revised Standard Version.  

My brothers and sisters, whenever you face various trials, consider it all joy, because you know that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance complete its work, so that you may be complete and whole, lacking in nothing.

Let’s take a moment to review the last two Sundays for those who may not have joined us or simply need a reminder.  Two Sundays ago, which was Mother’s Day, I preached on “Systemic Goodness.” 

I pointed out how “systemic goodness” was something Quakers have taught since very early on – what they called the “transforming power of Love.” I also said that to embrace systemic goodness will mean we must put our individual survival at risk for the sake of our family and community’s survival – it is the true biblical meaning of sacrifice or laying down one’s life for one’s neighbor.

For we are one, one human family, one community, one creation.

Then, last week I brought a follow up message about “Systemic Integrity” which is a much more difficult conversation and challenging for many of us.  Again, I pointed out how Friends have struggled with this concept but have found it of utter importance. For…

…living in integrity means accepting accountability for one’s actions, and repenting when one has done harm to others. It means honoring “that of God” in other people, which includes treating everyone with dignity—and with an open mind. You may not always agree with someone, but you can disagree, no matter how firmly, with respect.

Again, there has been a lot of conversation and pondering regarding systemic goodness and integrity throughout the last couple of weeks.  Some of you have done some introspection and others have struggled with these concepts, especially in our world today. 

I want to pause here for a moment and remind everyone, that each sermon is simply one teaching among many. Every week, I get in front of you and in 15-20 minutes try hard to convey what the Divine has put on my heart to share with you. I wish each week it could be everything everyone wanted. That it spoke to everyone’s condition, challenged everyone appropriately, and inspired just as much. But like a good book, each sermon is like a chapter in the greater story. And unlike with chapters in books, each sermon can be worked and even evolve, change, and develop over time. So, talking about goodness may be a little easier than getting behind it and looking at integrity or even joy, but as with every subject there is always more to unpack. I hope you will take time to ponder what I am saying and allow me to continue down this path toward systemic joy this morning.

On the way out of the Meeting last week, someone kind of mumbled to me that they wished one of the S.P.I.C.E.S. was humor or that Quakers should consider adding a S.P.I.C.E. of Humor.  I took that as a hint that my sermon on integrity was a bit too much.  

Ironically, since I often am working several weeks ahead on sermon prep, I already knew that this Sunday I was going to talk about Systemic Joy.  I find it ironic how the Divine is already prepping the hearts of the hearers.  I will be honest I have never found preaching on integrity easy – because it makes us uncomfortable at the core of our being.

And thus, when we are uncomfortable, we often get cynical, bitter, even pessimistic. Some have said these are some of the most problematic diseases we are fighting in our world, today. 

For me, as someone who is called to wrestle with theological and systemic issues from a spectrum and diversity of theological views, it is hard not to give in. I am constantly pushing back cynicism, the bitterness, the pessimistic thoughts. Thank God, I married a woman who is known for her optimism – it helps balance me on many occasions.  I know my passions run deep, but so can those voices that say, “What’s the point? or Why keep trying?”  

This past week, I finished Rainn Wilson’s book, “Soul Boom: Why We Need A Spiritual Revolution.” He is one person that is pushing back the cynicism, bitterness, and pessimism. I found his thoughts refreshing and challenging. In Soul Boom, Wilson identifies cynicism as an “insidious pandemic in our culture because we don’t know we are suffering from it.” He even goes as far as wondering about our youth, today, saying,

“To what extent is this wet blanket of hopelessness contributing to the deadly, overwhelming mental health epidemic they are suffering from?”

A query, that’s answer is currently defining our times.

A few years ago, we had a couple of brothers, Jim and John, join our Meeting for a season. One afternoon they stopped by to talk with me and give me a gift. It was the book, “The Second Mountain,” by David Brooks. As with most books I am given, I take the time to digest and then offer opportunity for dialogue. We talked about the book on several occasion and it came up once or twice in my sermons back then. But Rainn Wilson has me returning to Brooks words from “The Second Mountain” this morning. Brooks said,

“Our society has become a conspiracy against joy.  It has put too much emphasis on the individuating part of our consciousness – individual reason – and too little emphasis on the bonding parts of our consciousness, the heart and soul.”

I had that quote underlined and starred in my copy.  

“A conspiracy against joy” – that is well stated, but how do we bring light to this conspiracy against joy?  Some would say by being more optimistic, but as Rainn Wilson so poignantly states, “…the opposite of cynicism isn’t optimism. The opposite of cynicism is joy!”

A few years ago, a great number of books were being written on “Toxic Positivity” which is when one can feel externally pressured to “be positive” at all times in a way that is insensitive to the difficulties that might surround a person.  I have even heard our own “Hoosier Hospitality” described in a similar way by some people. 

But after 28 years in ministry, I believe it is also the disease of the church. I have even at times labeled it the “disease of niceness.”  We let issues brew or demanding views be accepted simply because we don’t want to cause any trouble or challenge a different perspective. Thus, what we think is being nice, causes a toxicity to grow – a toxicity that steals our joy.  Among Friends, we have even labeled this as the sin of “passive aggression.”

Well, enough on that, let’s get back to joy.  Our scripture for today said,

“My brothers and sisters (siblings), whenever you face various trials, consider it all JOY, because you know that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance complete its work, so that you may be complete and whole, lacking in nothing.”

Most of us consider our trials and testing anything but joy.  But as I wrestled with what I was learning in Soul Boom, I came across this point about joy.  Wilson says,

“Joy, however, inherently acknowledges sorrow.  It doesn’t disregard the hard stuff. Joy knows that negativity is a part of life as well.  Joy says that life is hard but there is a place you can go, a tool you can use. Joy is a force. A choice. Something that can be harnessed. A decision to be made. 

Even if one is not “feeling it” in one’s heart, one can spread joy to others… In other words, joy is a superpower! It gives us strength, clarity, and resilience, and it helps us find our path, especially in helping others. “

When I was in high school, my friend Rob and I loved the comedic genius of John Candy and Steve Martin in the classic John Hughes film, “Planes, Trains, and Automobiles.”  Rob and I must have watched it 300+ times – we even wrote out the script of the movie to memorize the lines (Highschoolers do crazy things like that). To this day, when I watch it, I am mouthing all the lines for memory.  And now our children have adopted it as our annual Thanksgiving movie.

Yet, between the laughs and exuberant joy over the years, a much deeper story line appeared.  The movie was dealing with a variety of real-life issues within society. Everything from wealthy businessmen spending too much time away from family, men’s growing loneliness and isolation in our world, all juxtaposed with homelessness and what friendship/companionship really mean. 

John Hughs has made me, and many others laugh tears of joy in the midst of some serious topics.  But that is the genius of the movie. It allows us to ease into the deeper issue through laughter and joy.  It is what Jesus often did in telling parables and stories – we just can’t hear the laughter on the printed pages.

I have a friend who loves to call me and tell me a joke, or ask me to listen to a humorous short story he has written.  Almost every time he calls, I find myself wiping away tears of joy, and then he asks, so how are you, my friend? I believe it’s his way of getting into the depth of my soul. He brings me joy which in turn gives me clarity, resilience, and an openness to share. 

It doesn’t even have to be a person I know. When I was processing a miriad of family and personal challenges during the early part of the pandemic, and considering sending a child to college in what ended up being a war-zone in Chicago with all the race riots, I found myself being draw to read humorist and satirist, David Sedaris. David happened to attend the school where my son was headed at that time.

So, I picked up my first Sedaris book, “Me Talk Pretty One Day” at a Half-Price Books and began reading. From that moment on, his writings became a joyful escape from the mundane, and the chaos that was politics and the pandemic of those years. I would find a sense of raw joy in his words like never before. David’s writing was just what I needed and often continues to be.

Now, when I take a retreat or go on a trip, I like to take a David Sedaris book with me because it brings joy to my soul in new and often surprising ways. Often, I will sit at our table after dinner and read Sue some of his diary entries and we will both laugh until it hurts.

I know David Sedaris will not be for everyone – actually, if you read him, you may even judge me because he at times can be inappropriate – but different things bring joy to each of us.

Now I need to make an important shift here - joy isn’t only a part of our personal lives – sure it sustains and opens us up, but it should also prompt us to want to bring joy into the lives of those around us. 

I love to make people laugh, see them smile, and even cry tears of joy.  Most of the time, a real sense of joy comes when I help other people out around me. 

·        I personally am filled with joy when I get to use my pastor’s discretion fund to help someone who is in real need. 

·        I am filled with joy when I am teaching, and a light goes on and someone has a new insight or understanding.   

·        I am filled with joy when I get to share a new painting, art piece, or my artist gifts with friends and family. 

·        I find joy in celebrating with others, recognizing others, and acknowledging the gifts and talents of friends, neighbors, and family. 

·        I find joy in sitting around a table and eating with others or making food for us to enjoy, together. 

·        If you really get to know me, you would learn that I find joy in being a tour guide to places that someone else shared with me out of their joy for the place.

·        Oh…I could go on and on. So many things fill me with joy.

So, let me ask you, what fills you with joy when doing it for someone else?     

Did you know that joy has been labeled by the school of psychology as a “pro-social” behavior?  Think about that for a moment.  

Pro-social behaviors are actions which are characterized by a concern for the rights, feelings, and welfare of other people. They also offer proven benefits such as better moods, social wellness, and reduced stress.   

Our scriptures have listed, for longer than the school of psychology, “pro-social” behaviors. In the church we label them as “Fruit of the Spirit.” Galatians 5:22-23 reads, 

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance (patience), kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.

Do you notice something in that list of biblical pro-social behaviors?  Goodness is covered, and I believe several might go together to be labeled integrity, and yes, joy is there as well. 

These “fruit” are the systemic behaviors or virtues that have been foundational for religious groups, societies in general, and even in marriages and families. Over time they have become universal truths that effect the welfare of all people.  This is why we need systemic goodness, integrity and joy!

To close my thoughts this morning, I would like to read a poem by whom I consider a voice that speaks truth to power, poet Mary Oliver.  This is “Don’t Hesitate” from her book, “Swan: Poems and Prose Poems.”

If you suddenly and unexpectedly feel joy, don’t hesitate.

Give in to it.

There are plenty of lives and whole towns destroyed or about to be.

We are not wise, and not very often kind.

And much can never be redeemed.
Still, life has some possibility left.

Perhaps this is its way of fighting back,

that sometimes something happens better than all the riches or power in the world.

It could be anything,
but very likely you notice it in the instant when love begins.
Anyway, that’s often the case.
Anyway, whatever it is, don’t be afraid of its plenty.

Joy is not made to be a crumb.

Share the joy, Friends, share the joy!

Now as we enter waiting worship, let us ponder the following queries.

·        How has cynicism robbed me of joy?

·        Where do I notice toxic positivity, the disease of niceness, or passive aggression around me? and how might I counteract it?  

·        How might I not hesitate, but give into joy this week?

·        Who do I know who needs a little joy in their life, today?

5-21-23 - "But It Begins with Systemic Integrity..."

But It Begins with Systemic Integrity…

Indianapolis First Friends Quaker Meeting

Pastor Bob Henry

May 21, 2023

Good morning, Friends, and welcome to Light Reflections from First Friends. Our scripture for this morning is from Philippians 4:8-9 from The Message version.  

Summing it all up, friends, I’d say you’ll do best by filling your minds and meditating on things true, noble, reputable, authentic, compelling, gracious—the best, not the worst; the beautiful, not the ugly; things to praise, not things to curse. Put into practice what you learned from me, what you heard and saw and realized. Do that, and God, who makes everything work together, will work you into his most excellent harmonies.

Last week, I used a term that has had many of us talking – actually, Jim Kartholl told me it was the main topic of discussion last Sunday with those who stayed to consider my message. 

That term was “Systemic Goodness.”  What early Friends called the “transforming power of love.” 

What I have learned this week in all the conversations I have had and the feedback I have received is that there is more to Systemic Goodness than we may first think. To be able to grow sustain, and perpetuate systemic goodness, we must first be people of integrity – and I would go as far as saying,

“To have systemic goodness, we FIRST must have systemic integrity.”

To explain what I mean, I am going to borrow some ideas from Richard Uglow of Enrich You from an article he wrote about Systemic Integrity.

But even before I do that, I want to start with some definitions – because I believe part of the problem, today, is that we do not know what all we are talking about when we talk about integrity. Just because, for us Quakers, Integrity is one of our S.P.I.C.E.S. or testimonies doesn’t automatically make it something we are good at or even recognize as important.  

The English Dictionary describes the word integrity in the somewhat 2D words of ‘moral uprightness, completeness, wholeness, soundness and honesty’. The Thesaurus moves into a more 3D positioning by describing integrity as ‘incorruptibility’, ‘togetherness’ and perhaps in a more systemic context ‘oneness or unity’.

On Quaker.org it comes straight-out, and claims integrity is hard to define, but then says this:

At a more fundamental level, living in integrity means accepting accountability for one’s actions, and repenting when one has done harm to others. It means honoring “that of God” in other people, which includes treating everyone with dignity—and with an open mind. You may not always agree with someone, but you can disagree, no matter how firmly, with respect.

Richard Uglow made it hit closer to home when he said,

“When any of us engage with the idea, let alone the choice to behave with integrity, the challenges begin. We have to face ourselves. And, in facing ourselves, we usually find that none of us are yet ‘the finished article’.”

There is a humility with integrity that must be foundational for goodness and love to truly grow. And along with humility always comes risk.  We don’t like to be humbled.

Actually, our world often downplays humility which makes it even more of a risk. To realize we are not the “finished articles” can sometimes leave us living lives that are mediocre, unchallenged, isolated, or even myopic.  All growing problems in our world, today.  

Where most of us become challenged with our humility is where other people are involved – because selfishness does not take much humility or risk.

Even most of the famous historical quotes about integrity seem to position the quality of integrity as a personal quest; integrity being some kind of high ideal of character, life quality, life mission or life compass.

But looking at integrity through those lenses makes it have a “black and white” reality to it - “either you have it or you don’t”.  Individually that may seem to work, but we are not just individuals. 

We are communal people – connected to one another – families, communities, Meetings, pickleball clubs, book groups, business networking teams, AA meeting, etc…we are all about connecting with other people.  

Just think about it or better yet let’s ponder some queries that I adapted from Richard Uglow: 

·        What happens in a community of people if lack of integrity is the cultural norm that is allowed to prevail?

·        What happens to a community of people when half the individuals choose integrity, and the other half don’t?  

·        What happens to a community when leaders, directors, and authorities behave selfishly, with power and for personal gain at the expense of those they serve, and justify their action as just societal norms that they assume are accepted by everyone?

I could easily just say – look around you – or turn on the news.

I strongly believe integrity is the most impactful and powerful when it is lived out within relationships, within communities, and within societies. 

Yet, when we choose integrity when dealing with our neighbors, family, and friends, it also means we choose to be “powerless” – again there is sacrifice like I talked about last week. The sacrifice is so those around us may also flourish and grow along with us.  That is part of the humility and risk I was talking about earlier.   

To create systemic integrity means we have a choice to make – will it be simply for my gain – that is the individual part.  Or will it be a decision that will impact those we interact with, live with, and love.  A huge part of integrity itself is coming to accept and understand this collective dimension of life. 

It seems like it should be a no-brainer that we would want to choose integrity as a best practice. This was Jesus’ charge to us – love your neighbor AS YOU LOVE YOURSELF.  Let’s be honest - most of us are not good at following this charge. We have been taught from early on that our success and survival is the key – thus the reason why integrity cannot simply be about personal integrity – again that is where it starts but it must translate from our personal lives to living out integrity in our world – that is loving your neighbor as you love yourself.       

The sad reality in our world today is that we simply do not trust or respect each other anymore. And those who are living under people without integrity have lost the power or authority to make the authorities change or mature in their integrity. 

This is why people leave jobs, leave relationships, even leave Quaker Meetings, because it is easier and safer to move on, than to confront the dysfunction, corruption, and lack of integrity of someone in a place of power and authority. 

Integrity and trust must go hand and hand.

Yet, please hear me on this…You and I are not powerless nor helpless.

You and I can offer the path of integrity as a better way. Yes, it will take some humility, some risk, and a lot of trust. But, as Quakers, You and I can agree to live out a testimony of integrity within our daily lives with our neighbors. (As the Mandalorian would say, “This is the Way.”) In our testimony of Integrity it says,   

Integrity is the way many members of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) testify or bear witness to their belief that one should live a life that is true to God, true to oneself, and true to others.

Early Quakers took this testimony and built frameworks or what today we would call “best practices” for family, Meeting, community, and even societal life. They realized, as we should still in our day, that integrity requires that we always do the right thing for the common good – self, family, working family and human family – by design, when no-one is watching us, in our darkest hour and in all our day-to-day dealings.  

When we again come around a common testimony of integrity, then we are actively walking in the direction of systemic integrity no matter one’s education, culture, economic status, race, sexual/gender identity, or religious beliefs (and I could list more, but that would be a good start).   

More and more, I hear the voices of our Millennials and Gen Z-ers crying foul and calling out us older generations for failing to address the corruptions and the lack of integrity by saying to us, “Shame on you!” And asking, “Why have you not addressed or called out this disease in our families, politics, workplaces, economics, environmental and religious institutions?”  And they are not just crying out – they are getting educations, becoming vocal activists, and working for   systemic and real change.   

These generations are making me ask the following queries:

·        Have we lacked the courage to be people of integrity?

·        Have we been blindly accepting and complicit in the lack of integrity in our day?   

·        How are we creating and modeling systemic integrity at First Friends? Where might we need to do some work? 

Friend Shelley E. Cochran of Rochester (New York) Meeting warned us saying,

…often our reluctance is more a matter of convenience than principle. Most times, I think, we fudge because we simply find it easier to go quietly along than to witness. Faced with social pressure, many of us choose the path of least resistance.

This is clearly going to be a communal effort, folks. We are going to need each other to stand up and make our voices and lives heard. Yes, it will have to start with our personal integrity, but it must not stop there. 

Let me close with the words of Shelley Francis from The Courage Way:

“It takes courage to create a meaningful life of integrity. It also requires good company. And practice.”

Amen.

Now, as we enter waiting worship, we will take some time to ponder the queries I just shared.

5-14-23 - "A Mother's Day Proclamation for Peace"

A Mother’s Day Proclamation for Peace

Indianapolis First Friends Quaker Meeting

Pastor Bob Henry

May 14, 2023

Happy Mother’s Day and welcome to Light Reflections from First Friends.  Our scripture for this morning is John 17:20-23 from the New Revised Standard Version of scripture:

I ask not only on behalf of these but also on behalf of those who believe in me through their word, that they may all be one. As you, Father, are in me and I am in you, may they also be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. The glory that you have given me I have given them, so that they may be one, as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become completely one, so that the world may know that you have sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.

I want to begin this Mother’s Day sermon by introducing you to Julia Ward Howe. She was born in 1819, in New York City. Her parents died when she was very young. She barely even knew her own mother. She was raised by her aunt and uncle. Her uncle was known as a bit of a radical. He saw to it that his niece received a good liberal arts education; something very rare for a young woman of Julia’s day.

When she was 21 years old, Julia married Samuel Gridley Howe. Howe had made a name for himself as a reformer who took quite a strong stand against slavery. Samuel often told people that he admired Julia’s ideas, her quick mind, her wit and above all her commitment to causes he supported. But Samuel, like many men of his day, believed that women should not take an active part in the causes of the day, nor should they speak in public.

For her part, Julia did her best to respect her husband’s wishes. Julia had six children. Two of her children died when they were very young. In her diaries, Julia describes her life during the early part of her marriage as one of isolation.

In deference to her husband, she had no life outside of her home except for Sundays when she attended church. Julia wrote of her husband’s violent outbursts as he attempted to control his wife’s activities. Julia’s only out-let was her writing. She began to gain quite a name for poetry. It is not clear just how she managed to get her poems published, but the success of her poetry led to invitations for Julia to speak at various gatherings.

Apparently, Julia had quite a mouth on her. A friend of hers wrote that,

“Bright things always came readily to Julia’s lips, and second thoughts often came too late to prevent her words from stinging.”

Samuel resented his wife’s success and after he managed to lose most of Julia’s inheritance from her father, he became more and more violent. Julia raised the issue of divorce, but Samuel threatened to take the children from her, so instead Julia decided to try to fill her days of confinement to her home by educating herself.

Julia began to study philosophy. In time she even managed to teach herself several languages. Her diaries speak of her husband’s concern that Julia’s attempts at self-education were outrageous for a woman in her position in society. It was not until Julia discovered that Samuel had been unfaithful to her that she was able to negotiate a more active public life for herself.

Julia began publishing books, essays, and plays. Both Julia and her husband became more and more active in the anti-slavery movement. Julia’s abolitionist work, led to invitations to the White House. Abraham Lincoln appointed Julia to the U.S. Sanitary Commission. (Did you know that more men died in the U.S. Civil War from disease caused by poor sanitary conditions in prisoner of war camps and in their own army camps than actually died in battle?) The Sanitary Commission was the chief institution of reform for conditions in the camps and Julia’s work saved many lives.

In 1862, at the request of the President, Julia traveled to Washington. On route, she visited a Union Army camp in Virginia across the Potomac. There, Julia could hear men from both the North and the South singing. The Northern camp sang a song in admiration of John Brown’s fight against slavery, while the Southern Camp sang a song in celebration of John Brown’s death.

“John Brown’s body lies a’mouldering in his grave.” A fellow traveler asked Julia to write a few lines to counter the words of the popular southern tune.

The poem which Julia wrote that night was set to the tune of “John Brown’s Body” and became the best known Civil War song of the North. The Battle Hymn of the Republic. Today the Battle Hymn of the Republic is what most people who remember Julia Ward Howe at all, remember her for. But her accomplishments did not end with the Battle Hymn of the Republic. Julia became even more famous, and she was asked to speak publicly more often.

In the aftermath of the Civil War, Julia, like many before her, began to see parallels between the struggles for legal rights for blacks and the need for the legal equality for women.

She became active in the movement to gain the vote for women. Julia discovered that she was not so alone in her long-held beliefs that women should be able to speak their minds and influence the direction of society.

In 1868, Julia helped to found the New England Suffrage Association, and three years later she co-founded the American Woman Suffrage Association. In 1870 she became one of the founders of the Woman’s Journal, which she continued to edit for twenty years.

Julia saw some of the worst effects of the Civil war. She knew that the ravages of war went far beyond the death and disease that killed and maimed the soldiers. She worked with the widows and orphans of soldiers on both sides of the war. She also saw the economic devastation of the Civil war.

And so, in 1870, Julia Ward Howe took on a new issue and a new cause. Distressed by her experience of the realities of war, determined that peace was one of the two most important causes of the world (the other being equality) and seeing war begin again in Europe, Julia called upon women to rise up and oppose violence and war in all its forms.

She wanted women to come together across national lines, to recognize what we hold in common above what divides us and make a commitment to find peaceful resolutions to conflicts.

Julia declared a Mothers’ Day for Peace. She failed in her attempt to get formal recognition of a Mothers’ Day for Peace. But by issuing her Mothers’ Day Proclamation in the Woman’s Journal, Julia managed to reach women all over the world. And each year in more and more places women struggling for equality and peace began to celebrate Mothers’ Day. Official recognition of Mothers’ Day would have to wait until 1914 when Woodrow Wilson, finally declared the first national Mothers’ Day.

Just listen to the words of her Mother’s Day Proclamation:

Arise, then, women of this day! Arise all women who have hearts, whether our baptism be that of water or of fears!

Say firmly: “We will not have great questions decided by irrelevant agencies. Our husbands shall not come to us, reeking with carnage, for caresses and applause. Our sons shall not be taken from us to unlearn all that we have been able to teach them of charity, mercy and patience.”

We women of one country will be too tender of those of another country to allow our sons to be trained to injure theirs. From the bosom of the devastated earth a voice goes up with our own. It says “Disarm, Disarm! The sword of murder is not the balance of justice.”

Blood does not wipe out dishonor nor violence indicate possession. As men have often forsaken the plow and the anvil at the summons of war, let women now leave all that may be left of home for a great and earnest day of counsel. Let them meet first, as women, to bewail and commemorate the dead.

Let them then solemnly take counsel with each other as to the means whereby the great human family can live in peace, each bearing after their own time the sacred impress, not of Caesar, but of God.

In the name of womanhood and of humanity, I earnestly ask that a general congress of women without limit of nationality may be appointed and held at some place deemed most convenient and at the earliest period consistent with its objects, to promote the alliance of the different nationalities, the amicable settlement of international questions, the great and general interests of peace.

In processing this Rev. Dawn Hutchings helped me see that the peace that our sister, Julia Ward Howe longed for, the peace that her Mothers’ Day Proclamation called for can only happen if people like us (especially us, Quakers) turn from and speak up against systemic violence and turn to the hope-filled possibilities of systemic goodness. I believe Julia’s proclamation and call to peace and systemic goodness is as relevant today as it was in her day. 

I love that term – systemic goodness. I would like to hear it and see it more often in our world, today. Probably, because it is something we Quakers have taught since very early on. Systemic Goodness was also what early Quakers called the transforming power of Love. As it is stated in our testimony of Peace. Embracing the transforming power of love and the power of nonviolence is what brings peace. We are to strive for peace in daily interactions with family, neighbors, fellow community members and those from every corner of the world.

To embrace systemic goodness also means we will put our individual survival at risk for the sake of our family or community’s survival – it is the true biblical meaning of sacrifice or laying down one’s life for one’s neighbor. For we are one, one human family, one community, one creation.

And I am convinced, that Jesus’ life was all about his desire that we might see the reality of our oneness through our goodness and love for one another.

Jesus’ constant encouragement to his followers was that they turn away from the reliance on military power and the violent means of control in his day, which was the Roman Empire.

And I believe Jesus’ teachings continue to encourage his followers to turn away from the reliance on these forms of power and violence in our day.

Sadly, turning away from systemic violence, our lust for war and revenge, even our obsession with weapons and guns has become polarizing and controversial because it involves sacrifices that some are not willing to make.

If we learn anything from Jesus’ life and death, we ought to have learned that non-violent resistance of the powers and principalities that obsess on violent means can indeed threaten our individual survival.

But we also need to learn that in turning from systemic violence Jesus turned to a vision of systemic goodness – a goodness that he described as the Kingdom of God – yet kingdom is probably not the best word to capture the essence of the true meaning – household is much better. For we are siblings in one great human family.  

Jesus’ vision of the Kingdom of God is of a household where everyone has enough, enough food, enough wealth, enough security, enough support to be all that they are created to be.

Now I know that some of you will say, “But that is just pie in the sky thinking.”

Well, tell that to Jesus.

Tell that to Black Elk.

Tell that to Martin Luther King Jr.

Tell that to Mahatma Gandhi.

Tell that to Nelson Mandela and Desmond Tutu.

Tell that to Julia Ward Howe.

Tell that to her Quaker friends, Lucretia Mott and Alice Paul.

Tell that to Malala or Greta Thunburg.

Tell that to Billie Jean King, Bayard Rustin, or Harvey Milk.

Tell that Dr. William Barber or Shane Claiborne.

Tell that to those involved with Mothers or Students Demand Action or Sandy Hook Promise.

I could go on….

But what I am saying is tell that to the sea of activists and visionaries whose voices have fought and continue to fight for this Kingdom vision – this systemic goodness – this transforming power of love.   

Folks, we must get there - for the sake of the collective survival of our species, for the good of our one human family we must be prepared to put our individual survival at risk.  

If we are to turn away from systemic violence, we will first need to remember that we are ONE. For in solidarity with our siblings we will find the courage to turn toward the hope filled possibilities of PEACE.

My prayer today is that we at First Friends may again declare this Mother’s Day a day of Peace, of systemic goodness, of the transforming power of Love for the sake of the entire Household of God! 

Now, as we enter waiting worship, I ask you to ponder the following queries:

·        What must I sacrifice for the survival of my “siblings”?

·        In what ways do I buy into systemic violence? And how might I turn it into systemic goodness? 

·        What is my role in supporting and helping the entire Household of God live in peace?

4-30-23 - "Love Is the Guarantee"

Love Is the Guarantee

Indianapolis First Friends Quaker Meeting

Pastor Bob Henry

April 30, 2023

Good morning, Friends and welcome to Light Reflections. Today’s scriptures are from I John 3:16-18 from the Voice version.              

16 We know what true love looks like because of Jesus. He gave His life for us, and He calls us to give our lives for our brothers and sisters.

17 If a person owns the kinds of things we need to make it in the world but refuses to share with those in need, is it even possible that God’s love lives in him? 18 My little children, don’t just talk about love as an idea or a theory. Make it your true way of life, and live in the pattern of gracious love.

Last week we celebrated Earth Sunday and close to the end of our time of waiting worship, one of our new attenders, Jen, approached the microphone and shared that if we want to make a difference in our world, it must start with loving and seeing our neighbors.

As Quakers who believe everyone is a minister and that anyone can speak out what God is sharing with them during worship, I was deeply ministered to by these words. Throughout the week as I prepared my message, I could not stop thinking about how foundational loving and seeing our neighbors is to our livelihood and to our growth as a species. 

Every Monday, I begin my day with doing a review of the weekend and specifically Sunday’s worship. Most of the time, I go online and listen to our “Light Reflections from First Friends” and allow what God has inspired me to say to speak once again to my condition.  But this week, it was Jen’s words that seemed to continue to speak between the words of my message, the songs, and prayers. 

If you read my As Way Opens from this week (which I usually write on Monday as well), I even found Jen’s words focusing my thoughts.  One of the beauties of a Quaker Meeting is that we do not wrap things up nicely and put a bow on them on Sunday morning.  Actually, we leave with queries to ponder so we may continue to process and wrestle with what we have heard throughout the week. 

So, on Monday, as I sat down to begin outlining my message. I wrote at the top of my sermon document for this Sunday – To Love and See Each Other Is Foundational.  Usually, after writing down some thoughts from the previous week, I begin to do my research. 

Before even opening a book or a website, an email appeared in my inbox.  I subscribe to several different newsletters that give insights and wisdom from a variety of sources.  This email happened to be the latest newsletter from Progressing Spirit: Explorations in Theology, Spirituality, and the News.  Usually, I would not allow my emails to distract me during sermon prep, but I was nudged by the Spirit to open it. 

The Progressing Spirit newsletter is set up in Question-and-Answer format.  A lay person usually poses a question and then a theologian or philosopher tries their best to answer the question. I quickly went to the opening question posed by a man named Peter.  I was a bit shocked by what I read. He asked:

The perfection of nature amazes me, while the imperfection of human beings continues to disappoint me. What will it take for humans to learn the lessons of Jesus - that love is the only way to guarantee the survival of the world and its inhabitants?

That was the query I had been trying to find words for all morning. Obviously, I had to read on.  This week the answer was from Rev. Matt Syrdal, a pastor in the Denver area, a visionary, founder of Church of Lost Walls, and co-founder of Seminary of the Wild. Recently, Matt has begun a new venture called Mythic Christ, a mystery school and podcast for awakening mythic imagination and ritual embodiment.

Matt captured my sentiments exactly, by beginning with “Great question Peter!”

But as he continued answering his question, I sensed a moment of divine connectedness. That underlining all our conversations was a wisdom that we were missing. Something I believe Jen was trying to emphasize in Waiting Worship last week. Matt begins by exploring the word, love. He says,

Love is a great word. Love as a verb is active, dynamic, inclusive, relational, and vulnerable. I would love to move us away from understanding love as an abstract noun or simply a virtue or emotion toward an ecology of relatedness, like how the systems of the human body work together for life and growth and greater consciousness.

Let’s just pause there.  That is a beautiful concept that “Love is an ecology of relatedness” and what a beautiful metaphor considering it to be like the human body working together.  Another great theologian and philosopher, the Apostle Paul, utilized the human body as the metaphor of love.  But maybe over time we have missed its implications. 

Matt goes on to specifically show these missed implications by looking at Jesus’ love saying,

Jesus’ love was not soft, and he was not a pushover. He demanded hard things of his disciples. He spoke fiery words to the elites, the upper castes of the Roman world. His love towards others was not sentimental or rescuing, but focused and deliberate.

American Christianity has often over sentimentalized Jesus and his love. From certain praise music, to prayers, to even the way we address Jesus in our daily lives. If only we took those words we taught our children to sing a little more seriously and actually explored what it meant when we sang “Jesus love me this I know for the Bible tells me so.”  What does it really tell us?  Matt goes on to explain. 

Some languages have dozens of words for love. Jesus spoke of four primary types of love, with the whole heart, soul, mind, and strength... that is with the centered presence of the heart connected to deep emotion and feeling, with the soul’s imaginative and visionary faculties, with the heart-centered intellect, and one’s erotic vitality put into decisive action.

Jesus’ love was much more than what most people talk about in religious circles, today. Actually, most churches are just skimming the surface and never getting to the depths of the love Jesus was getting at.  Thus, Jesus brought it closer to home by turning the greatest commandment on us.  Matt says,

Jesus modeled this four-fold way of loving God from his own wholeness of being. The second command is like the first, “loving one’s neighbor as oneself.” We have all heard that in this command is also the injunction to love oneself. It is pretty hard to really love someone else if we don’t love ourselves.

So, yes we are to love and see our neighbors, but before we can even do that we have one more important step to take – which I believe may be the hardest in our world today -and that is to love ourselves.  Let’s be honest, it is hard to see or give love to someone else, if we first don’t love ourselves.

Maybe you and I grew up with not enough acceptance and too much shame, or we clung to our shortcomings, past failures, and poor decisions. Maybe we came to minimize the good things about ourselves and our positive qualities because someone put us down or told us we weren’t good enough. Maybe it was abuse and we cannot see our true beauty and joy because someone stole it and never gave it back.

Or maybe it is simply about lack of respect for who we are because of our sexuality, our gender, our neuro-diversity, our age, our health, our financial status, our education, and the list could go on.  Maybe depression, anxiety, addiction, illness, or even peer pressure (both youth and adults) is causing us to not love ourselves. 

Or maybe it is bullies - people with greater power and more resources who can keep you from growing, learning, and rising to the place where you can survive and succeed – all while they gain more power, resources, and wealth.  

Do you know that most of the people in this room are hurting in some way? 

Most of us are struggling to love ourselves in some way. Scientists even tell us it is because our brain has a negativity bias. It is part of our evolution, because of how we have been treated by those around us. This is why loving and seeing each other (like Jen said last week) truly is the foundation. 

Matt askes a personal query that really had me pondering.  He askes: Can I love the world as myself? What would happen if I did?

Most of us come here pulling the wool over each other’s eyes or maybe even putting on airs each Sunday. At one point in our history, First Friends was all about personal status and socio-economic status. I am glad I wasn’t here then.

Quakers are not about status. Throughout history, we refused titles, did not take our hats off for people, spoke plain and wore plain clothing, because we believed everyone was Equal – no one better or worse – just Equal.

Matt speaks to this by saying,  

Poet David Whyte gives my favorite definition of sin when he says, humans are “the one terrible part of creation privileged to refuse our flowering.” By this he means the dark-side of self-reflexive consciousness, that is, of choice, is that we have the freedom to choose death rather than life. We have the freedom to live unconsciously, or selfishly. It is not just individuals either. It is systems and structures we have created that are hardwired to reward selfish greed and exploitation of Earth itself.

The early Quakers worked hard and suffered greatly to build structures and fight for a livelihood that was conscious, that valued community, integrity, simplicity…are you getting it? 

The Quakers intentionally worked to testify and create testimonies so that we could love ourselves and one another better.  Simplicity, Peace, Integrity, Community, Equality, and Sustainability/Stewardship were ALL about loving well.  And I believe we need to return to testifying to these things – the world and earth is crying out for them.

Matt closes his thoughts with one last important item. He says,

I don’t think it is not that we have not learned the lessons of Jesus, it’s that we value our own personal comfort and gain over the survival of the world, even beauty and life itself. We are choosing to refuse our flowering. But one thing must be clear, choice is not fate, until it becomes too late to choose.

I think that is the most important query we can ask ourselves, today. 

Do I value my own personal comfort and gain over the survival of the world, even beauty and life itself?  Am I choosing to refuse my flowering? 

Again, thank you Jen for listening to the nudging of the Spirit last week and thank you Matt for answering a query honestly so we can love better.

I hope we will ponder these thoughts and queries during waiting worship this morning and consider how love is the only guarantee of the survival of the earth and its inhabitants.

4-23-23 - "Connected Planet"

Connected Planet

Indianapolis First Friends Quaker Meeting

Pastor Bob Henry

April 23, 2023

Good morning and welcome to Light Reflections from First Friends.  This morning we are celebrating Earth Sunday.  Our scriptures are from Luke 12: 13-31 from the New Revised Standard Version.  

Someone in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the family inheritance with me.”  But he said to him, “Friend, who set me to be a judge or arbitrator over you?” And he said to them, “Take care! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of possessions.” Then he told them a parable: “The land of a rich man produced abundantly. And he thought to himself, ‘What should I do, for I have no place to store my crops?’ Then he said, ‘I will do this: I will pull down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods.  And I will say to my soul, Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.’ But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life is being demanded of you. And the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’ So it is with those who store up treasures for themselves but are not rich toward God.”

He said to his disciples, “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat, or about your body, what you will wear. For life is more than food and the body more than clothing. Consider the ravens: they neither sow nor reap, they have neither storehouse nor barn, and yet God feeds them. Of how much more value are you than the birds! And which of you by worrying can add a single hour to your span of life? If then you are not able to do so small a thing as that, why do you worry about the rest?  Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin,  yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, how much more will he clothe you, you of little faith!  And do not keep seeking what you are to eat and what you are to drink, and do not keep worrying.  For it is the nations of the world that seek all these things, and your Father knows that you need them.  Instead, seek his kingdom, and these things will be given to you as well.

This morning we are celebrating Earth Sunday, a day when we give thanks for the beauty and abundance of the earth, and when we reflect on our call to care for the earth. Or as one of our Quaker Advices on Environmental Sustainability reads:

“Friends have connected with the earth and all it holds as part of our spiritual development. From George Fox walking throughout England searching for his spiritual identity to current times, we are aware that we are only stewards, not owners of the Earth. We need to be constantly aware of how our actions affect the rest of the world. By not using more than we need and by sharing with others, we help ensure that the earth will continue to support everyone.”

As Quakers on this Earth Sunday I would like to begin by posing a query for us to ponder,

“What is becoming of this small, fragile planet drifting through space, we call the Earth?”

Let’s be honest, the argument about climate change is over. Science has proved that the earth is warming at an alarming rate, and all but a very few are convinced that the polluting of our planet will only get worse as new economies such as China and India strive to achieve the standard of living, we have in the U.S.

We are already seeing ominous consequences—melting ice caps, glaciers shrinking at an increasingly fast rate, intensifying storms, fires, and droughts, and just this week a study was released on rising coastal waters being way worse than imagined.

James Hansen of NASA, probably the world’s most significant climate modeler, has said that the earth has ten years to start producing less carbon dioxide instead of more. If it fails, we will have a “different planet.”

The British scientist James Lovelock, who built the equipment that allows us to measure deterioration of the ozone layer, said that he believed the “tipping point” had already passed and that the earth is careening toward a worse disaster and on a faster time scale than almost anyone realizes.

New reports trickle out in the news almost every day of water supplies, animal species, and habitats at risk. But so far, it is still by and large business as usual in this country.

It seems that there are two great issues humanity must face if it is ultimately to survive and thrive and they are two of the top concerns historically for Quakers.

·        The first is, can we learn to deal with our differences without turning to violence and war? - from our testimony of peace.

·        And the second is, can we muster the vision and courage to stop the destruction of the earth before it is too late? – from our testimony of stewardship and sustainability.

We Quakers begin our thinking about our life on this planet with the simple affirmation of Psalm 24: “The earth is the Lord’s and all that is in it.” Everything is God’s first.

In our scripture for this morning, we heard the implications of that sweeping claim. In the first part, Jesus tells a simple parable of a rich man who is bringing in large crops. The man decides to build larger barns to store everything he’s producing, and says to himself,

“Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.”

But then God says to him,

“You fool! This very night your life is being demanded of you.’ What good will all that do you?”

And then Jesus turns around and talks not about farmers and barns, but about nature:

“Therefore, I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat, or about your body, what you will wear. For life is more than food, and the body more than clothing. Consider the ravens: they have neither storehouse nor barn, and yet God feeds them… Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these…”

What we are being presented in our scriptures are two views of life.

In one, the solitary person accumulates for themself.

In the other, Jesus describes life in an interconnected world where there is enough for everyone.

Your life, Jesus is saying, is part of a single great economy, the Economy of God, in which all of nature, all of life is held in God’s love, and there is enough for everyone. Again, seen in our testimonies of simplicity and community.

There are enough resources, enough food and clothing for everyone—but only if we take our place in God’s economy and not just our own.  Folks, this shows how everything is connected.

I strongly believe and have taught for many years now that Christianity has made the mistake of narrowing its focus to personal salvation.

“My faith is about ME and MY own well-being and private spiritual life, and above all about MY own going to heaven.”

But if you really read the scriptures, they tell us that God creates and loves the WHOLE world of oceans and rocks, plants and animals, and that human beings are created to be part of that great harmony.

It’s God’s world, God’s house, after all, not ours. And too often we humans have been rude and self-centered guests in someone else’s house.

Dean Lloyd at the National Cathedral in Washington helped me process these ideas and reminded me that the greatest spiritual leaders of the past and present from St. Francis to Mahatma Gandhi to the Dalai Lama to Desmond Tutu have believed that God’s universal love knows no bounds of race or faith or nation, or even of species.

They each have taught that All OF LIFE is connected.

Even scientists now tell us that All life participates in a seamless web of connection.  Reminding me of the great metaphor of Indra’s Net from the Buddhist and Hindu traditions, which symbolizes the universe as a web of connections and interdependencies among all its members, wherein every member is both a manifestation of the whole and inseparable from the whole.

But let’s get more scientific and “down to earth” -- this means that it is possible that the flap of a butterfly wing in Japan can set off a hurricane in the Caribbean. And the driving of a gas guzzler in Washington can melt an iceberg in Greenland.

There is science to prove these things.

The spiritual teacher Father Zosima, in the book The Brother’s Karamazov described our connectedness this way:

“All is like an ocean, all flows and connects; touch it in one place and it echoes at the other end of the world… Love all of God’s creation, both the whole of it and every grain of sand. Love every leaf, every ray of God’s light. Love animals, love plants, love each thing. If you love each thing you will perceive the mystery of God in things.”

That vision is what moved St. Francis to write one of my favorite poems celebrating “brother sun and sister moon.” Everything is made of the same star dust—the elements and molecules unleashed by the first Big Bang.

So that makes us cousins to a granite rock, a polar bear struggling to stay alive in the Arctic, or a grand sequoia along the coast of California. Just let that sink in.

By contrast, many of us have been taught in churches and schools a radical individualism in our religion, politics, economics, and business. The only questions we learned to ask were,

“What’s in this for me? What can maximize my prosperity, what will make me happy, what politicians will improve my own life and pocketbook?”

Thus, we have become consumers above all.

Of course, as Quakers, who love and are called to be stewards of this earth, we have to ask, What then shall we do? How can humanity pull back from the brink we are racing toward?

Of course, ultimately the answers will have to be technological—finding new, sustainable ways to generate the energy a growing, increasingly demanding world will need.

But folks, we ALL have work to do.

I know that it can be daunting to imagine how the likes of you and me can make any difference at all. Maybe we should begin with the wise advice of Nellie McClung, an early 20th century Canadian environmentalist:

Let us do our little bit with cheerfulness and not take the responsibility that belongs to God. None of us can turn the earth around. All we can ever hope to do is to hit it a few whacks in the right direction.

I like that concept – “a few whacks in the right direction.” What might that look like?  Let me suggest a couple possible “whacks” each of us might deliver.

First, we can begin to see ourselves as a part of God’s world. We can see our health and our destiny in relationship to ALL that exists. Clean water and air must be seen as spiritual issues.

“God so loved the world,” Jesus said. We must learn to do the same.

We need fellow Friends and even our Meeting to help challenge us to see through the phony consumerism and individualism that leaves us more anxious and lonely.

And we need to stay connected to nature—through walks and bike rides, through watching the birds carry out their daily dance, through strolling around our neighborhoods, in local parks and hiking on trails, or just taking time in our Meditational Woods.

Second, you and I need to evaluate the lives we are living—the cars we drive, the trips we take, the size of our homes, the light bulbs we burn, the ways we get to and from work, the amount of meat we consume.

Some Quaker Meetings are beginning to have two pledge campaigns during the year—one where people pledge their financial resources for the church’s ministries, and the second is a pledge of what they intend to do in the coming year to be less of a burden on the earth.  I like that idea because it makes us stay conscious of what we are doing.

And finally, with the guidance of our national organization - Friends Council on National Legislation and our local organization - Indiana Friends Council on Legislation, we can support candidates and leaders who are committed to addressing this crisis in our nation and right here in Indiana.  If you want to know more talk to Phil Goodchild or Mary Blackburn – and if you do not know them – come see me and I will introduce you to them. 

So, to close, I cannot reiterate enough that the stakes couldn’t be higher for the human race, and in fact for the entire planet. Either we will learn new ways beyond a self-centered individualism or millions will suffer and our children and their children will inherit a critically ill world.

The main query for us on this Earth Sunday is,

Will we deliver a few whacks in the right direction—for God’s sake, for the sake of human lives already at risk, for our children’s sake, and for the sake of the earth itself and our fellow creatures?

May that query weigh on our hearts during Waiting Worship this morning.  And may we ponder opportunities for possibility, healing, and change!

4-16-23 - "Questions, Fear, and Incarnation!"

Questions, Fear, and Incarnation!

Indianapolis First Friends

Pastor Bob Henry

April 16, 2023

Good morning, Friends and welcome to Light Reflections.  Our scripture text for this week comes from John 20:19-29 from the New Revised Standard Version.

When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.”

But Thomas (who was called the Twin), one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. So, the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord.” But he said to them, “Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe.”

 A week later his disciples were again in the house, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were shut, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you. Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here and see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it in my side. Do not doubt but believe.”  Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!” Jesus said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.”

“What do we do, now?” That must have been the query being discussed by the disciples and followers of Christ’s after Jesus’ crucifixion. 

“What do we do, now?”  

Our text for this morning describes the disciples cowering in fear behind locked doors. Fearing not only the Roman Empire, but also the religious leaders of the day. The reality was that no one was safe at this time. The disciples knew that the religious and state authorities had found a way to have Jesus crucified, and they knew they were already on the trail to find and do the same thing to them and the other followers of Christ.

The truth is that religious and state authorities don’t often like the followers of blasphemous, rogue teachers, who want to make their leaders out to be martyrs. 

Instead, they would want to eliminate any possibility of this happening and do everything to keep their religion and/or state pure. This is sadly true of many religious and governmental groups in our world, still today.

Change is hard, and prophetic voices are those usually rallying for change.

It is one thing to watch someone die for a cause, but when you find out that the attention has turned on you because of your followership of this person, ANXIETY, FEAR, the NEED TO HIDE quickly overcome you.

Your mind flashes with visions of you being tortured by the authorities, carrying your own cross through the city of Jerusalem, and being hung to suffer the agony of public execution on a cross. These would have been vivid images in the minds of the followers of Christ.

The process the disciples were running through in their minds was, what I would call, a personal incarnation. They were beginning to incarnate (becoming a living embodiment of) what Christ had just gone through.  And the disciples were left to answer that big question,

“What do we do, now?”  

Jesus never really taught about Part B…and let’s be honest, the disciples hardly understood Part A – let alone having a plan for after Jesus was gone from their presence.

You may be thinking this is hard to relate to – but just ask yourself:

·        When have you found yourself asking, “What do I do, now?” 

·        What was your difficult situation?

·        Have you ever been gripped by fear wondering what was going to happen?

·        Have you ever felt like you had no plan B – that life was at a dead end?

Just like where we find the disciples this morning, it is often in our lowest moments, when our plans, our ideas, our hopes, our beliefs are stripped away, this is often when the presence of the Divine is felt and made known – or maybe it is in these times we finally recognize that the Divine has been with us all along.

The text says that Jesus was literally “standing among them” and they didn’t even realize it.  How long was he standing there before someone noticed? 

Isn’t that how it is for us, often? The Divine presence is in our midst, or even in our own hearts, and we don’t recognize it or acknowledge it.

Folks, we are Quakers, the ones who are always to look for that of God in those around us. How often has the presence of the Divine or God been in our midst in the likes of a friend, a parent, a child, a teacher, even a complete stranger, and we totally missed it?

And then comes those famous first words from Jesus, “PEACE BE WITH YOU.”

The scriptures have recorded for us several other times when Jesus used those same words. Each time the disciples heard them he was using them to calm their lives. 

If you remember, it was these words that Jesus used to calm the storms on the water as their boat was violently shaken by the storm and everyone was in fear.

The disciples would have known these words to be an acknowledgment and reassurance of God’s presence in the storms of their lives.  

Yet, with all that they had been through during the last several days leading up to their best friend being executed in front of them, they still showed doubt this time. 

This time they had been so shaken that he had to prove to them who he was so that their joy and peace would return. 

The disciple, Thomas, even has to go one step further – I think I might have been the same.  Thomas needed a hands-on-experience before he could believe.

Sometimes our lives are in such tumult that we need something a bit more tangible – a real-time, real-life experience.

Sometimes we need a physical – incarnate – experience.  We need to hear a parent’s voice, sometimes we need a hug, sometimes we need a physical connection.

I think Thomas has been shafted by history.  Beyond needing proof, beyond assurance, beyond even finding inner peace, Thomas needed a physical connection as he tried to wrap his mind around that question, “What do we do, now?”  

And that physical connection again takes the shape of incarnation – embodying flesh or taking on flesh. Thomas was understanding the deep need for incarnation at this moment – he needed flesh to come to grips with what was going on.

I have said this many times, but again I believe too often the reason we cannot relate to Jesus, is because we cannot truly see him as a human being – with flesh.

He was no different than any of us in this meetinghouse.  He had skin and bones, aches and pains, he bled…no different.  

And what we need to realize is that Jesus showed us how with these fully human, fleshly bodies to truly live!  

He taught us how to forgive, how to bring hope, how to reconcile, how to “incarnate” his life and ministry to our neighbors and to our world in this present moment.  He showed you and me how to be the Light in our world, today. Just like I said last week after waiting worship.  

Philosopher Søren Kierkegaard said it so well, “What Jesus wants from us is not admiration, but rather imitation.” 

It wasn’t just about the incarnation of Jesus, folks – it’s also about our incarnation. This is what Jesus was getting at in our text.

“Again Jesus said, ‘Peace be with you!’ As the Father has sent me, I am sending YOU!”

You and I are now the incarnated Christ to our world.  We are the light-bearers being sent into our world.

Last week at the end of my sermon, I mentioned the “Body of Christ” metaphor that several used in the bible. You and I are the official incarnation of Christ to our neighbors and world.  Let that sink in for a moment.

Ronald Rolheiser addresses this realization in his book, “The Holy Longing: The Search for Christian Spiritualty,” where he writes,

“If it is true that we are the Body of Christ, and it is, then God’s presence in the world today depends very much on us. We have to keep God present in the world in the same way Jesus did.”

Or as St. Teresa of Avila prayed:

Christ has no body now but yours,

No hands but yours,

No feet but yours,

Yours are the eyes through which

Christ’s compassion must look out on the world.

Yours are the feet with which

He is to go about doing good.

Yours are the hands with which

He is to bless us now.

We are the incarnation of Christ – We are the light bearers.

We are called and sent to be Jesus and live as he did in our world.  We are filled with his light and love.  We are to take our inner light into our world and become the presence of Christ to our neighbors.

And to sense God’s peace, forgiveness, his love  - we must embody and live it in and with and among our neighbors. This is what it means to live the “Jesus Legacy.”

And along with this call will naturally come fear, as is illustrated well by the disciples cowering in the upper room in our text this morning.

The reality is that fear is real for most of us. 

Being a peacemaker, standing up for what you believe, seeking justice and mercy, even asking or giving forgiveness are not always easy and often they cause us to fear living out the life God is calling us to. 

Fear translates to hiding and worrying about what others think of us. 

It leads us to cower, to isolate, and even build walls.  

Sadly, a great deal of our politics, our military, our economics, our sports, our parenting styles, even much of our religiosity is based on fear and fear tactics.

But God is sending us into a world – not in fear – but rather in peace.  Filled with God’s spirit and light - to offer forgiveness, to reconcile, to heal and bring harmony and hope. 

We are to offer our neighbors and world the attributes of Jesus Christ – grace, mercy, justice, and peace.  But sadly, too often our fear gets in the way...

It’s like what Quaker Gene Knudsen-Hoffman wrote,

Fear which lingers,

Fear which lives on in us,

Fear which does not prompt us to wise remedial action,

Becomes engraved upon our hearts,

Becomes an addiction, becomes an armor which encases us.

This fear guards and guides us and determines our action.

It leads us directly toward that which we fear.

We can’t let our fear keep us in a tomb of death.  Barbara Brown Taylor said it so well,

"Fear is a small cell with no air in it and no light. It is suffocating inside and dark. There is no room to turn around inside it. You can only face in one direction, but it hardly matters since you cannot see anyhow. There is no future in the dark. Everything is over. Everything is past. When you are locked up like that, tomorrow is as far away as the moon."

And that is exactly where Jesus shows up for the disciples – in that cell of fear. 

We can’t let that same fear keep us worried or fretting about what is going to happen.  We can’t let fear keep us hiding and avoiding and not acting. That I believe is the case too often with the church, today. We make the walls of our Meetinghouse the walls of our cell of fear.

Instead, I want to be, and I want us to be, people who take up the mantle of Jesus Christ – people who incarnate Christ in their daily lives – to be people who live out of peace, forgiveness, grace, mercy and love and have learned to embrace their fears and step out of the cells they are in. 

People who become Lights-bearers in a dark world.

Now, as we enter waiting worship, take a moment to consider the following queries:

·        When have I found myself asking, “What do I do, now?” 

·        What traps me in a “cell of fear”?

·        How can I embrace the Peace of Christ and become a light-bearer in the world? 

4-9-23 - "Raised Up & Awakened to Live the Jesus Legacy"

Raised Up & Awakened to Live the Jesus Legacy

Indianapolis First Friends Quaker Meeting

Pastor Bob Henry

April 9, 2023

Happy Easter and welcome to Light Reflections from First Friends. Our scriptures for this Easter morning are from Ephesians 2:4-7 from The Voice version.

But God, with the unfathomable richness of His love and mercy focused on us, united us with the Anointed One and infused our lifeless souls with life—even though we were buried under mountains of sin—and saved us by His grace. He raised us up with Him and seated us in the heavenly realms with our beloved Jesus the Anointed, the Liberating King. He did this for a reason: so that for all eternity we will stand as a living testimony to the incredible riches of His grace and kindness that He freely gives to us by uniting us with Jesus the Anointed.

As most of you know, the last couple of weeks, Sue and I have been helping our oldest child, Alex, prepare to move to Austin, TX.  We found it ironic that Alex would move to Texas at the age of 25, which was the same age Sue and I were when we moved to serve a Christian Camp in Pottsborro, Texas. It was also while in Texas that we found out we were pregnant with Alex, our first child.

On Good Friday we returned from moving Alex into their new apartment. It has been an emotional several weeks and we have not had time to fully realize that they now live over 1000 miles away.  Thankfully, these days technology allows us to stay in easy contact from this far of a distance. 

During these last several weeks together, we have been preparing Alex for this big move. Sue and I have stepped up the parenting and have tried hard to instill in Alex some of the wisdom we have gained over our years of life. Obviously, some wisdom will stick, and other wisdom will be forgotten - needing reminders or reeducation, but all of this is part of us passing on a legacy to our children.

I guess turning 50 amidst all this transition has had me really thinking about giving our children something that will be valued and treasured after we are gone and to ensure that the things that have meaning to Sue and I will also have meaning to our children. That is what a legacy truly is.

There is nothing like seeing your child take the wisdom you have learned and living it out in the present moment. On many occasions over the last several weeks, I have watched as Alex has taken our advice, or simply lived out the wisdom that we have taught through living our lives with them.  It has made us proud.  We have shed some tears.  But all-in-all we have realized that Alex and their creative spirit give us hope for our frustrating world.

It almost seems a bit ironic that what we have been going through is also very similar to what I want to share with you this morning as we celebrate Easter.  As you know, a couple weeks ago, I ended my sermon series on the Bible, but this morning, I want to return one more time to look at what I will call Jesus’ legacy.    

To do that, I need to go back and help us get a fuller picture of what “resurrection” meant to the people of Jesus’ day.  It may surprise you, frustrate you, even confuse you, but I hope in the end it will inspire you as it did the people who came after Jesus, who lived out his legacy.

 To help understand this, I am going to share some wisdom of James Adams from his book “From Literal to Literary.”

So, let’s go back to when Jesus came on the scene in Nazareth. At that time, Jews had adopted a vision of the future that dealt with a nagging query they were wrestling with,

“How could a just God allow his people to suffer endlessly at the hands of their enemies and to be scattered over the face of the earth?” (A question many of us still ponder today.)

Well, the Jews of Jesus day found an exciting and hopeful answer in a vision attributed to the prophet of Ezekiel which reads,

Then he said to me, “Mortal, these bones are the whole of the house of Israel.  They say, ‘Our bones are dried up, and our hope is lost; we are cut off completely. Therefore prophesy, and say to them, thus says the Lord God: I am going to open your graves, and bring you up from your graves, O my people; and I will bring you back to the land of Israel.  (That was Ezekiel 37:11-12.)

The Religious Leaders of the day were kind of split on this idea of resurrection or resuscitation. It was not a doctrine of the Jewish faith. The Priestly Party, the Sadducees, did not find it particularly popular, but it was beginning to appeal more strongly to some Pharisees in Jesus’ day.

Obviously, Jesus and his followers favored this resurrection imagery, because in three of the gospels we have stories of the Sadducees trying to trap Jesus with questions about the resurrection, specifically. 

Now, before we go any deeper, we need to have a short Greek lesson. Some Greek lessons are rather boring, but not so much when looking at the word “resurrection.” Here we find that there are two Greek nouns translated “resurrection” within the scriptures.

Each evolved from a verb rendered in English as “raise.”  The first noun, anastasis, comes from the verb anistemi, which meant to stand up from a reclining or crouching position. 

The other noun, egersis, is from the verb egeiro, which originally had to do with collecting or gathering one’s faculties, especially in the act of rousing oneself from rest or sleep.

It is pretty clear that some may have embraced resurrection imagery to help them with their fear of physical death. I think many of us still today do the same. This allows us to die in peace with the confidence that we would someday get another life.  

Yet, what we need to take into consideration here is the Greek notion of immortality at the time. James Adams points out that Immortality for the Greeks was not an arbitrary act of God, rather life on the other side of the grave was assured by the persistence of personality, that is, the indestructibility of the soul.  

That is slightly different from what many Christians today ascribe to. 

As well, on several occasions we see the resurrection metaphor used to identify a present reality. Take for instance James 5:15:

The prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise them up. (in Greek that is the word for resurrection.)

Even Paul (who is historically considered the founder of the Christian faith) in his letters or epistles is often using the metaphor of resurrection to mean a variety of things. Which honestly complicates things even more.

In Romans Paul uses the metaphor to talk about living up to the best that is within each person.

In another letter, Paul talks about Jesus’ followers being “raised to new life in the here and now,” a life free from the death-dealing tendency to avoid responsibility and accountability.

These different definitions seem to complicate things for the early followers of Christ. At different times and in different places we get a variety of understandings of what was meant by “Christ being raised from death.” 

·        Some thought it was a fact of history – a resuscitation of Jesus’ corpse.

·        Others thought God had intervened in history by giving the dead Jesus a new body, that looked something like the old one but was not easily recognized even to his closest friends.

·        Still others who read the final chapters of the gospels (once they were written down) with a critical eye, came to the conclusion that these stories about the risen Christ were originally understood as hymns of praise, poetic expressions of the faithful whose lives had been transformed by their encounter with the Jesus story.

It seems this last view may have been supported by Paul. I find it interesting that Paul never mentions an empty tomb, but insists that his encounter with the risen Lord was no different than the first disciples. Just listen to his words from 1 Corinthians 15:3-8 carefully.

For I handed on to you as of first importance what I in turn had received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures and that he was buried and that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers and sisters at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have died. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me.

James Adams points out that in using the word “appeared,” Paul has employed the language of vision and subjective experience rather than the language of objective reporting and facts. 

So, it is clear there were multiple understandings of the word “resurrection” in the early church, but it is also clear that the early followers embraced this metaphor as part of their vocabulary in describing their experience.

As I studied this further, I could not but be reminded of the early Quakers utilizing the Bible and Biblical metaphors to describe their present experiences.

I have quoted Michael Birkel before saying that early Friends “did not simply read the scriptures.” They lived them. For them, reading the Bible was not just an exercise in information. It was an invitation to transformation (like I talked about in my sermon two Sundays ago). Birkel goes on to say,

“To read scripture is to realize that we are participants in the great ongoing story of God’s people. This suggests a great richness of the inward life and a profound sense of connectedness. The lives of our forebears continue in us, offering us wisdom.”

And that goes for Jesus as well. If we look at the gospels with the original meaning of the raised-resurrection metaphors in mind, who was it that was lifted up from a crouching or cowering position and who boldly proclaimed what they had learned from Jesus?

Who was it that finally got themselves together and got on with the business begun by Jesus? 

Just think of how the first followers of Jesus talked about themselves,

Romans 12:5 says – We who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually we are members of one another.

Or how about 1 Corinthians 12:27 – Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it.

What may be happening here is a merging of these two powerful metaphors – “raised up” and “body of Christ.”

Just maybe the early Christians and even the early Quakers were proclaiming that death did not have the last word in the Jesus story BECAUSE his followers were raised up to be his new body. 

That is definitely something interesting to think about.

Or as John Shelby Spong put it,

“He [Jesus] was alive. He gave life to others. His life was expansive. It was not bound by traditional limits. Thus, those who were touched by his spirit also came alive and began the expanding process of entering the limitless dimensions of their own lives.”

For us today, the call of resurrection is again resounding.  And the queries must be asked:

Will we arise?  Will we rouse ourselves from this rest or sleep and truly be transformed? 

Do we believe that death did not have the last word, and that we are being raised to be Christ’s new body in this world? 

Or as Meister Eckard once said,

"The important question is not whether Jesus was born in Jerusalem two thousand years ago, but whether Jesus is born in my heart today."

That is also the most important question about Easter. What does it matter if Jesus was resurrected two thousand years ago if we are not resurrected today?

May you and I this Easter embrace this resurrection imagery and allow Christ’s spirit to touch our lives and prompt us to live out Christ’s legacy in our world.

Happy Easter, Friends! 

4-2-23 - "How Do We Understand Palm Sunday?"

How Do We Understand Palm Sunday?

Indianapolis First Friends Quaker Meeting

Beth Henricks

April 2, 2023

Scriptures:

John 2:23-25  “When he was in Jerusalem during the Passover festival, many believed in his name because they saw the signs that he was doing.  But Jesus on his part would not entrust himself to them, because he knew all people and needed no one to testify about anyone; for he himself knew what was in everyone.”

Luke 19:35-40  “Then they brought it to Jesus; and after throwing their cloaks on the colt, they set Jesus on it.  As he rode along, people kept spreading their cloaks on the road.  As he was now approaching the path down from the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples began to praise God joyfully with a loud voice for all the deeds of power that they had seen, saying, Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord!  Peace in heaven, and glory in the highest heaven!  Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, order your disciples to stop.”  He answered, “I tell you, if these were silent, the stones would shout out.”

Palm Sunday has been one of my favorite Sundays of the year as I was growing up.  It’ a joy each year here at First Friends to gather palm leaves and have our children wave their branches shouting hosanna as we sing together Hosanna, Loud Hosanna.  There is a sense of joy, thanksgiving, honor, and praise to Jesus as he rides into Jerusalem on the donkey.  The people are rejoicing and recognizing Jesus as a man from God who has performed many miracles including recently raising Lazarus from the dead.  

3 of the 4 gospels report that Jesus told the disciples to go ahead and bring him a donkey as his means of transportation as he enters the city.  Much has been written about the symbolism of this ride on a donkey and this symbolism would be familiar to  many of the Jewish people in the crowd as Zechariah wrote in the Old Testament chapter 9 verses 9-10 “ Rejoice greatly,  O daughter Zion!  Shout aloud , O daughter Jerusalem!  Lo, your king comes to you; triumphant and victorious is he, humble and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.  He will cut off the chariot from Ephraim and the battle bow shall be cut off, and he shall command peace to the nations; his dominion shall be from sea to sea, and from the River to the ends of the earth.”   

We get a sense from the crowd that they are beginning to recognize that this might be the promised Messiah from God.  They remember when Solomon became their King and he was presented to them on the donkey of his father, David.  They are shouting hosanna (often translated as please save us), blessed be the king who comes in the Lord’s name, peace, and glory in the highest heaven.  This seems like the proper welcome and ceremony for a man such as Jesus.    Maybe this is Israel’s king that will save them from their oppressors, and they are filled with hope and promise.        

In the Gospel of John, we read that, Jesus had just raised Lazarus from the dead.  He looked up to God saying “Father, I thank you for having heard me.  I knew that you always hear me, but I have said this for the sake of the crowd standing here so that they may believe that you sent me.” (John 11:41-43).  I am sure this helped to build the crowd that gathered outside Jerusalem.  The people came to see Jesus and Lazarus whom he had raised from the dead. 

What I have never understood about this story and his glorious entrance into Jerusalem for Passover, is why the adoring crowd so turned against Jesus (I do think this change took place in a longer timeframe than less than a week from Palm Sunday to  his arrest and crucifixion based on all that he still shared with the crowd after his ride on the donkey).  Were they just worshipping this man who performed miracles and were whipped into an idolatrous frenzy to see Jesus and Lazarus?  Were they really embracing the messages of Jesus that required sacrifice and rejection of power or were they just taken with his star quality and wanted to see him in the flesh?  Jesus knew how weak we can be and how easily manipulated a crowd can become for both good and bad.    We have seen many examples of this in our history where people might not consider doing something on their own but will take part in unthinkable acts when brought together like a mob.

I think many of the Pharisees understood this principle of the mob and I am sure there was a lot going on underground while the crowd was going crazy about Jesus.    The Pharisees had been concerned about Jesus for some time and seeing this crowd had to raise their desire to do something about him.  John 12:19 reports the Pharisees said to each other,  “You see, you can do nothing.  Look; the world has gone after him.”  As Jeff read to us in Luke  “some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to him, Teacher, order your disciples to stop.”  He answered , I tell you, if these were silent, the stones would shout out.”  The temperature is rising, and more Pharisees are saying that they must do something about this situation. They see that they must turn this crowd around.

While there were Pharisees out to eliminate the threat of Jesus, the Gospel of John tells us many authorities did believe in him but because of these Pharisees they did not confess it  for fear they would be put out of the synagogue.  They loved human glory more than the glory that comes from God.   That is also part of the mob mentality.  We are too afraid to stand up against the majority, the folks in charge, the ones that tell us what to do because we don’t want to be set apart from our tribe. 

Oh goodness, is this not our human tendency?  We want some human glory, we don’t want to stand up against others  and we find it easier to talk about God’s glory, to talk about our belief system as opposed to living it when there are consequences.  It’s a difficult path to follow the path of Jesus.  And that is why I had us read John 2:23-25.   Jesus  would not entrust himself to them, because he knew all people, he knew what was in everyone.  Jesus knows us and while he may have appreciated the praise and honor showered upon him on Palm Sunday, Jesus knows our hearts, he knows we are broken, he wasn’t going to believe in the adulation being given him on his ride into Jerusalem because he knows how difficult it will be for us to take up a cross and sacrifice ourselves.  We love the highs of miracles and the celebrity status of a charismatic leader but are we ready to sacrifice and take up our cross like Jesus will be doing?

Some of Jesus teachings after Palm Sunday are hard for the crowd to accept.  The crowd is still trying to figure out who exactly this Jesus really is?  Jesus is willing to bring some turmoil into their lives (and our lives) and turmoil is not something that anyone purposefully seeks.  Jesus cleanses the temple in Matthew after his entry into Jerusalem. Jesus curses the fig tree, shared the parable of the two sons,  the parable of the wicked tenants, the parable of the wedding banquet, the question about paying taxes, questions about resurrection, giving the greatest commandments (to love God with all your heart, soul and mind and to love your neighbor as yourself), he denounces the Scribes and Pharisees, he laments over Jerusalem and foretells about the destruction of the Temple.   These are some tough stories to embrace and commandments to live by.  And this potential Messiah is talking about the destruction of the Temple?  The Messiah is the one to uphold the Temple and to be Israel’s leader.

So what is the crowd to do about this Jesus?  Walter Wangerin Jr states in his book about Jesus Reliving the Passion, “Always the threat of this man is manifested in those whom his presence excites.  Look how volatile the people are now!  Worse than that, he is questioning religious laws developed over the centuries, the very forms by which we order ourselves and know ourselves and name ourselves.  If order is lost, so am I….What then?  Why, then I must destroy before I am destroyed.  Self-preservation is a law of nature.  I will arrest this Jesus by stealth and kill him.  Because if I do nothing, I will be nothing.”

It is clear that the crowd started having second thoughts about this commitment to Jesus’s way.

The crowd heard  Jesus say “Now is the judgement of this world, now the ruler of this world will be driven out. And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.”    The crowd said “We have heard from the law that the Messiah remains forever.  How can you say that the Son of Man must be lifted up?  Who is this Son of man?

The group thinking of the mob is changing.  They wanted a Messiah that would become their King and bring justice and defeat to the Romans. They wanted judgement now and wanted their rulers (the Romans)  to be driven out.  But Jesus is talking about a later time when he would be lifted from the earth – how does that fit into their desire for a King in the here and now?

So many of Jesus parables talk about  sacrifice, putting others before ourselves, seeking justice, and aligning with the poor and marginalized people.  Jesus was  talking about a power that is not what the world idolizes as power.  As John Caputo, theologian and philosopher writes in his book Cross and Cosmos,   “Theology must get over its love of power in favor of the powerless power of love, weakening the strong metaphysics of omnipotence into the soft power of the coming Kingdom’s call.”   “God’s power is constituted by powerlessness and nonsovereignty, God’s eminence by being what is least and lowest among us.”  God is revealed in the defeat.  God chose  the weak to shame the strong, the foolish to shame the wise, the nothings and nobodies to confound the powers that be.

Wow, if I am part of the crowd, the mob, this is not the vision I have of a Messiah.  I want a real leader that will change my life now, will deliver on promises made, will be strong, decisive and take action on my enemies.  How do I support someone that suggests that the way of God is to abandon the desire for power and to choose the weak, the nothings and nobodies and pursue a way that tells me to love my neighbors, my enemies, that values justice over my self interest and understands power in a very different way.    This is the hard way, the road less traveled, the way of the cross where we are willing to give up much for others.   

During a class in seminary on philosophy and religion, we studied the writings of  philosopher and theologian John Caputo (that I just previously quoted), and he became my favorite theologian.  He writes that it is when Jesus freely gives up his life that he became Christ.   It is through the free sacrifice of Jesus life that we defy death.  This is how we move from Palm Sunday to Jesus crucifixion, death, and resurrection. 

Jesus knows us, gets us (as we have been seeing in ads on TV) and understands our nature of light and shadow.  Jesus has never been about the short term but always has the long term in mind.  He knew what was coming even during the adulation he was receiving on Palm Sunday.  And he was in for the long term. 

My prayer for us today is that we not become completely discouraged by the short term all around us but continue to listen to God’s voice and God’s call for each of us for the long term.

As we enter our time of unprogrammed worship, which is our communion, I encourage you to quiet your heart and mind and listen to God’s voice.  If God is speaking to you directly,  please hold this in your heart to ponder.  If God is speaking to you and you sense that we all need to hear this message, please stand, and come to a microphone.   Here are a few queries to consider.

How willing am I to take  up my cross and follow Jesus in the difficult path?

Do I sometimes follow the crowd or mob and am afraid to stand up for what is right?

Do I seek ways for power in this world?  Do I seek the glory of power more than the glory of God?

Do I follow the path of the long term versus seeking short term desires?

3-26-23 - "Transformed to Help Put the World Right Again"

Transformed to Help Put the World Right Again

Indianapolis First Friends Quaker Meeting

Pastor Bob Henry

March 26, 2023

Good morning, Friends and welcome to Light Reflections. This morning I conclude my series on the Bible.  Our text for this morning is from John 3:1-18 from the Message Version:  

There was a man of the Pharisee sect, Nicodemus, a prominent leader among the Jews. Late one night he visited Jesus and said, “Rabbi, we all know you’re a teacher straight from God. No one could do all the God-pointing, God-revealing acts you do if God weren’t in on it.”

Jesus said, “You’re absolutely right. Take it from me: Unless a person is born from above, it’s not possible to see what I’m pointing to—to God’s kingdom.”

“How can anyone,” said Nicodemus, “be born who has already been born and grown up? You can’t re-enter your mother’s womb and be born again. What are you saying with this ‘born-from-above’ talk?”

Jesus said, “You’re not listening. Let me say it again. Unless a person submits to this original creation—the ‘wind-hovering-over-the-water’ creation, the invisible moving the visible, a baptism into a new life—it’s not possible to enter God’s kingdom. When you look at a baby, it’s just that: a body you can look at and touch. But the person who takes shape within is formed by something you can’t see and touch—the Spirit—and becomes a living spirit.

“So don’t be so surprised when I tell you that you have to be ‘born from above’—out of this world, so to speak. You know well enough how the wind blows this way and that. You hear it rustling through the trees, but you have no idea where it comes from or where it’s headed next. That’s the way it is with everyone ‘born from above’ by the wind of God, the Spirit of God.”

Nicodemus asked, “What do you mean by this? How does this happen?”

 Jesus said, “You’re a respected teacher of Israel and you don’t know these basics? Listen carefully. I’m speaking sober truth to you. I speak only of what I know by experience; I give witness only to what I have seen with my own eyes. There is nothing secondhand here, no hearsay. Yet instead of facing the evidence and accepting it, you procrastinate with questions. If I tell you things that are plain as the hand before your face and you don’t believe me, what use is there in telling you of things you can’t see, the things of God?

 “No one has ever gone up into the presence of God except the One who came down from that Presence, the Son of Man. In the same way that Moses lifted the serpent in the desert so people could have something to see and then believe, it is necessary for the Son of Man to be lifted up—and everyone who looks up to him, trusting and expectant, will gain a real life, eternal life.

“This is how much God loved the world: He gave his Son, his one and only Son. And this is why: so that no one need be destroyed; by believing in him, anyone can have a whole and lasting life. God didn’t go to all the trouble of sending his Son merely to point an accusing finger, telling the world how bad it was. He came to help, to put the world right again. Anyone who trusts in him is acquitted; anyone who refuses to trust him has long since been under the death sentence without knowing it. And why? Because of that person’s failure to believe in the one-of-a-kind Son of God when introduced to him.

Before we head into Palm Sunday and Easter, I wanted to conclude my sermon series on the Bible by looking at what some Christians consider one of the most important dialogues in the Bible, the dialogue we just heard in our text for today.  

As an impressionable teen, I spent many weekends attending Christian concerts in my hometown of Fort Wayne, Indiana. Often, they took place at the Embassy Theater downtown Fort Wayne, which was literally right around the corner from where my mom worked. Since she worked for our church’s denominational office, the band promoters would come by, the day of the concerts, and offer her free tickets, and she would pass them on to me.  

Since, Christian concerts seemed a safe bet for me compared to the many other things I could get into, my parents were fine with me going. I often went with a friend or two and had a lot of fun. 

Thinking about our text for day, I was reminded of one concert that went very late, due to what is commonly known as an “altar call.” Most of these concerts were heavy on altar calls - sometimes taking up almost half the concert. This specific concert, I recall, was an exception and went much longer. 

If you are not familiar with altar calls, this is where the band would slow down the set, the lead singer would come out and sit on a stool at the mic and tell a moving story about coming to faith in Christ, and then an invitation was given to the audience to come forward and accept Christ and be “born again.”  

Back then, there were always those two words: “Born Again.”  

The pull to go forward was like a tractor beam pulling people in. I watched as tearful people were led almost zombie-like to the front. Other people came from the side exits to pray with those coming forward.  

Ironically, I never found myself led to go forward. See, I grew up in a church that focused on being baptized as a child – and so I felt I was already “in” and did not need to go through this unusual ritual. Also, I found myself skeptical of all the theatrics, the seeming manipulation, and the tears. 

That night, as I was taking it all in, I watched one of my friends get caught in the tractor beam. All of a sudden, He was standing and going forward without saying anything. He came back when they released everyone back to their seats and said, “Well, I have been born again.”  

I looked at him and asked, “What do you mean?” And all he could say was, “I am not sure, but I think it was what I was supposed to do.”  

The rest of the night we talked about it. He described deep feelings of guilt and not living up to God’s standards.  He talked a lot about his sin and the many mistakes he had made. He often cried as he shared.  

Then, for the next several weeks he was a miserable wreck. Soon he began to judge people, even me. Nothing was good enough for him and our friendship dissolved. To this day, I believe he is still searching for something…but he seems to always come up short. 

That is why I feel this sermon in very important for us this morning. I want to look at the dialogue in our text for today between Jesus and the Pharisee leader, Nicodemus. 

In that text, you heard some of the most quoted and misused scriptures and theological concepts in Christianity, today.  

Not only does it talk about one of the most controversial terms in Christianity – that of being “born again” it also closes with the most quoted verse from the New Testament – John 3:16.  

I chose to have our text read from the Messsage, for several reasons. Eugene Peterson titled this section of John 3, “Born from Above” – notice not Born Again.  That title is more than simply a title. It is actually a correction. 

Most modern texts translate the words “born again” but the reality is that John actually said something more in line with being “born from above” or “born of the Spirit from above.”  

This is key to our understanding and helps us manage these verses in light of the whole of scripture.  

I don’t know if you have noticed how the term “born again” has evolved over the last 40 or so years, but back in the 80’s when I was a kid, everything seemed to be about being “born again.”  

People have used the term to describe an event or process in which they “gave themselves to Jesus,” (much like the altar call story I shared), which was supposed to cause a positive change in their lives and often give them a sense of meaning.  But that was not always the case – as with my friend. 

Many of you in this room, may have this as part of your faith journey.  For some it may be comforting and for others it could hold a lot of baggage. 

Today, in the world we live in, being “born again” or using that tern is primarily negative. Actually, I have dropped it from my conversations as a pastor – especially with people in the public sector.  Plus, since it continues to be misused it is not helpful. 

The term is often associated with an extreme Christian perspective. It also carries with it a specific set of beliefs or theologies, a political stance, even a legality that gives us a way to divide people, groups, beliefs, and thoughts. This new perspective of the term is far from what I would call Quaker or possibly even Christian.  

This is because being “born again” has always been linked with a more “Conservative Christianity.” Yet that might be a bit misleading. Let me explain: 

In “Speaking Christian,” Marcus Borg says, 

“A conservative is one who seeks to conserve the wisdom of the past. But much of “conservative” Christianity in our time is a modern creation, not a conservation of the riches of the Christian past.” 

By this definition, Quakers by their very nature are “conservative” in their desire to return to the way and teachings of Christ and his apostles. What I find interesting is that there are “progressive Quakers” like us, that could be described in this way as well.  This is where utilizing “conservative and progressive” descriptors are not that helpful. 

I would say that one of the aspects that has confused or convoluted this theological understanding in America is our obsession with heaven and the afterlife, and its connection to escaping this earthly dwelling for a better place.  

For many people, being “born again” has been linked simply to going to heaven, (what some label) “fire insurance”, or a way out of this messed-up world’s hurt and pain. 

And that leads to another problem. In the text for today, many, throughout history, have turned the phrase or even translated the “kingdom of God” into simply heaven and then claim that unless one has a new birth experience, which they usually associate with believing the right doctrines, one cannot enter heaven or sometimes even know God or the Divine in a personal way. 

Chuck Queen, who I have quoted before in this series, shed some light on this in his reflection on this text.  He says, 

“Actually, to “see the kingdom of God” is just another way of talking about experiencing and participating in the dynamic reality of God’s life and will.  John also calls this “eternal life,” which he contends is the present possession of disciples of Christ. (3:15-16). Scholars of John call this “realized eschatology,” which is just a fancy way of saying that John puts the emphasis on interacting and engaging in God’s life and work right now – in this world – rather than in the afterlife….the emphasis is on being in relationship and partnership with God in the present.” 

We might understand the “Kingdom of God” better if we saw it as Martin Luther King Jr. did – as a Beloved Community, which he described as “the experience of God’s kingdom in our lives today.”  People of this beloved community recognize the intrinsic worth of all people. Prejudice, cruelty, and greed are replaced with an all-inclusive spirit of friendship and goodwill. And because members of the beloved community are to prioritize love, kindness, compassion, peace, and service, societal ills such as homelessness, hunger, war, violence, poverty, and prejudice can be addressed in the present.

Another issue that needs addressed, which I warned of earlier in this series, is taking the Bible literally.  Nicodemus is a literalist. He evens struggles with ACTUAL RE-ENTRY into his mother’s womb (that is about as literal as one can get.) He doesn’t get the symbolic nature of the language Jesus uses – and I would say many Christians struggle with this as well.  

Remember Jesus’ response to Nicodemus, though? 

“You’re a respected teacher of Israel and you don’t know these basics?” 

I may be a bit bold in saying this, but I wonder if God isn’t asking this of us – do we know our basics?  

As Quakers we talk about being “born of the Spirit” or being “born from above.” We speak of one “Turning Within” which is an essential element of the Quaker spiritual journey, where at some point, one discovers God, Christ, the Inner Light, the Spirit or Divine (whatever name you give it) has been dwelling within them all along. Inwardly present in a quiet and humble way that was often easy to dismiss or ignore. 

I wonder if we, Quakers, have forgotten the basics to connecting with the Divine?   

Being “born of the Spirit” is obviously the work and revelation of the Spirit or the Inner Light in our life. Here is what we actually say in our Western Yearly Meeting Faith and Practice about this working:  

“It…inspires one to live, struggle, and suffer for the achievement of what ought to be…It is the spiritual endowment that enables one to advance beyond the narrow bounds of self toward the Christian ideals of goodness and love, and to respond to the power and inspiration of the Holy Spirit…It is “that something we cannot call less than divine and universal, for it links us with the eternal realities, and with our fellow siblings of whatever race or creed. It may be hidden or warped by ignorance or pride or self-will or prejudice, but it cannot be wholly lost, for it is part of that which makes us essentially human, made in the divine image, and having within us boundless possibilities of life in God.” 

So, being “born of the Spirit” is about being inspired to live, struggle, and suffer for the achievement of what ought to be (in the present)…it links us to the divine and to our neighbor…and even though at times we may get in the way…with God there are boundless possibilities of life, now!  

Or as Chuck Queen articulated,

“One can think of being born again as a clearing away of all the debris and obstacles so that the dynamic energy, love, compassion, and nonviolent power of God (the Spirit) can flow unhindered in us and through us into the world.” 

I sure wish that is what I would have heard when I went to those concerts when I was a kid.  That there was dynamic energy, love, compassion, and nonviolent power available to me that I could utilize to change my world – instead of fearing my sin, hell, and all that guilt. 

I think as Quakers we need to reclaim this language and teach it in the right way. Instead of spending so much time trying to figure out who is in or out in this world or the next, what if we actually worked on being personally or corporately “transformed” in the present moment? 

Isn’t that the message Jesus is giving to the “rule-obsessed Pharisee, Nicodemus? 

Being “born of the Spirit” implies that we are transformed from the inside by the work of our Inner Light or Spirit of God – so that we will be able to in turn transform the world around us – to demonstrate the Jesus life – to share in the work of our creator…unhindered, with dynamic energy, love, compassion, nonviolent and transforming power. 

That sounds a lot more Quakerly, doesn’t it?  

I love Eugene Peterson’s translations of Jesus’ words to Nicodemus after he shared John 3:16…just listen once again…

“God didn’t go to all the trouble of sending his Son merely to point an accusing finger, telling the world how bad it was. He came to help, to put the world right again.” 

Folks, that I believe is exactly what God is calling us to this morning.  

You and I are to be transformed. Born from above. Born of the Spirit. Transformed from the inside out! To help put the world right again! Not with accusing fingers or by telling others how bad they are – but by joining God in living, struggling, and suffering for the achievement of what ought to be! 

As we enter waiting worship this mornings, take a moment to ask yourself the following queries. 

• How might “turning within” re-connect me to my Inner Light, the Divine, Spirit, God or Jesus and transform me from the inside out? 

• What do I need to clean away from my life so I can experience the dynamic energy, love, compassion, and nonviolent power available to me? 

3-19-23 - "To Not Get Caged In"

To Not Get Caged In

Indianapolis First Friends Quaker Meeting

Pastor Bob Henry

March 19, 2023

Good morning, Friends and welcome to Light Reflections. This week we are continuing our series on the Bible. Our scriptures for today are Matthew 15:10-20 from the New Revised Standard Version.

Then he called the crowd to him and said to them, “Listen and understand: it is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but it is what comes out of the mouth that defiles.” Then the disciples approached and said to him, “Do you know that the Pharisees took offense when they heard what you said?” He answered, “Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted will be uprooted. Let them alone; they are blind guides of the blind. And if one blind person guides another, both will fall into a pit.” But Peter said to him, “Explain this parable to us.” Then he said, “Are you also still without understanding? Do you not see that whatever goes into the mouth enters the stomach, and goes out into the sewer? But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this is what defiles. For out of the heart come evil intentions, murder, adultery, fornication, theft, false witness, slander. These are what defile a person, but to eat with unwashed hands does not defile.”

Some might say the text for today is a post-covid nightmare. To have Jesus suggest that “eating with unwashed hands does not defile” could be both words of heresy and a public health crisis, today.

Now, I know there are studies that show both good and bad aspects of washing our hands and using hand sanitizer all the time, but that is not really the point that Jesus is addressing this morning. 

Actually, this was more about defilement and law-keeping which kept those, the Pharisees and Religious Leaders of Jesus’ day considered unfit to associate or fellowship with, away from their contact.

Yes, you heard that correctly - washing hands and eating the proper food kept at distance the people the Pharisees did not want to associate with. This was what we call today - discrimination. 

Sometimes, I am surprised at what all one can find in the Bible, but it is important to explore these things to help us get a better picture of how we are to live like Jesus.

As I said a few sermons ago, Jesus often is found reexplaining or even reinterpreting the understanding of scriptures or teachings of the religious leaders of his day.

This is just one great example of Jesus shifting the understanding and exposing the problem with what the religious leaders of his day were doing.  

Hear what Jesus says…

“Listen and understand: it is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but it is what comes out of the mouth that defiles.” 

In one of the commentaries, I read about this text it said that in Jesus’ day “defilement meant being unfit for fellowship with God and his people.”

Instead, Jesus points out that true (deep down) “evil” defiles a person - not the food they eat.

Boy...I think that had the disciples kinda freakin’ out.  So much so, they thought it was time to pull Jesus aside and let him know that he was offending the religious leaders.  I am sure they thought they were doing the right thing.  Maybe it sounded like this. 

Peter under his breath says, “Oh goodness, we better warn Jesus” because...well, I don’t want to be in trouble by association” (an issue I believe Peter actually deep-down struggled with). 

Peter then leans over to James and says, “Jesus knows that he needs to soften his message, right? or maybe we need to help “spin” his words to make them say more of what the Pharisees want to hear. At this rate he is gonna get crucified. We better tell him.”   

So, they proceed to interrupt his message and warn him, but Jesus is hard-pressed to continue. 

Folks, even though often the church can be bold and not willing to back down, there is still a part of the church which is notorious for what is labeled “nicing things over” and simply not wanting to offend someone or cause trouble.

By softening our message or not challenging one another, we can easily find that we struggle to have a message of hope for our world. 

Quakers have been accused of moving in this way over time, and I will be honest, I think it is having an impact, today.  The great things our Quaker ancestors did seem like great history…back then…but what are we doing today?   

Hugh Osgood wrote a book around the query, “Is Niceness Killing the Church?” He wrote that the church was never designed to be held together with polite optimism. And then asks, could a greater biblical awareness help uncover the true, and robust unity Jesus spoke of? 

I think he is making a good point - it is important for us to allow the ministry and life of Jesus we read in scripture to teach us and even change us. 

So, back to our story.  Yes, the pharisees were probably just a bit taken aback by Jesus’ words. They were challenging, not polite optimism. The Pharisees knew what Jesus was implying by speaking of removing these unnecessary laws and prohibitions. 

The food laws were actually in the Torah - the scriptures. So, some may say, Jesus already had committed theological suicide. He told them that something in their Sacred text didn’t apply anymore – and that was a no-no. Obviously the disciples had reason to be concerned. 

Yet Jesus’ response is kind of multi-layered - and we must remember the crowd which was still gathered around most likely included the religious leaders, followers, naysayers, as well as the disciples. 

Boldly and shockingly, Jesus quickly dismissed the religious leaders and said their work was not God’s work - actually he even went further, and translators put in a derogatory label of the time (probably from a poem by Horace), saying they were just “blind leading the blind.” 

Jesus was definitely not “nicing it over,” especially if translators chose that phrase. Those listening must have been asking “What are you talking about Jesus? He just slammed the religious leaders at the core of their being.”

In another version of this text it is translated that Jesus said, “Just forget them - or let them go.”  

And he didn’t stop there, he implies that they should let them go but also FORGIVE THEM, because really “they are just the blind leading the blind.” That may actually have been the biggest insult to the religious leaders – to ask his followers to forgive them for their sins. 

I believe by this point Jesus has offended just about everyone in the room with his words. 

No longer can Peter stay quiet and proceeds to ask, “Jesus, you have some explainin’ to do.” 

So, Jesus addresses Peter by talking specifically about the mouth (something I believe Peter could again understand). Jesus says, 

“Do you not see that whatever goes into the mouth enters the stomach, and goes out into the sewer? But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this is what defiles. For out of the heart come evil intentions, murder, adultery, fornication, theft, false witness, slander. These are what defile a person, but to eat with unwashed hands does not defile.””  

One commentary says that Jesus appears to anticipate Sigmund Freud's formulation of the id by about 1800 years in this one statement. 

Yet, more likely what Jesus was doing for us was reinterpreting the Ten Commandments in the list he gives – evil intentions, murder, adultery, fornication, theft, false witness, slander – all things that brew down deep in our hearts, and when they surface, break our fellowship with God and our neighbors. 

If you notice, what Jesus is doing is prepping his listeners for an even more radical summary of the Ten Commandments – when he takes them down to simply two - Love God, and love your neighbor as yourself.  A summary that he not only simplified, but added to.  He adds “as yourself” to emphasize how hard it truly is and how it must come for a change within us. 

Jesus makes it clear that all these silly laws are simply keeping one from fellowship and acceptance of their neighbors.

Jesus is saying...Eat what you want and if you don’t want to wash your hands - then so be it, but don’t use it to discriminate against your neighbor - know what is in your heart and share it through loving one another. 

Now, let’s be honest. “Niceness” can be a huge problem within the church, but the church has been kind of notorious for creating another problem – making hoops to jump through to be accepted by the church.

I don’t think it was ever Jesus’ intent to use the Bible or his teachings to keep people away or to create barriers to knowledge or growth.  I believe Jesus wanted diversity - he wanted everyone at the table.  He did not want a country club or gated community – but rather a community where everyone was seen, heard, accepted, and loved as you would want to be seen, heard, accepted and loved. 

Or as the late, Rachel Held Evans put it:

“This is what God's kingdom is like: a bunch of outcasts and oddballs gathered at a table, not because they are rich or worthy or good, but because they are hungry, because they said yes. And there's always room for more.” 

As I have been hearing your stories, many of you gave up on jumping through hoops, breaking down barriers, and not being accepted by other churches. You realized the niceness was a cover up or you were never being invited into the conversation. Some of you even saw the way the church discriminated in history and said enough is enough.  

In 27 years of ministry I have encountered, and sadly participated many times unaware, in all kinds of this isolation and discrimination in the church. Often utilizing a specific understanding of the Bible or doctrines to keep certain people away.  And it disturbs me deep down, because I have been challenged to look deep by Jesus at how I have discriminated and still discriminate.   

A few years ago, James Watkins put together a “Top Ten” list of the discriminations he found in the church – sadly, I have seen every one of these in the church and I am fully dedicated to working on breaking down any of these barriers and hoops that still exist for us at First Friends. I challenge you to ask yourself, as I read these, how many have been part of your journey or how many have you seen.   

10 - Age discrimination.

9 - Tastes or preferences (especially musical) discrimination.  

8 - Physical, developmental, intellectual, congenital, and invisible disabilities discrimination.

7 - Levels of education discrimination.

6 - Denominational affiliation and/or doctrinal beliefs discrimination.

5 - Gender and Sexuality discrimination.

4 - Married, Divorced, Single, or Celibate discrimination.

3 - Politics and Ideology discrimination.

2 - Economics discrimination - as well as what we often think of first….

1 - Race and Nationality discrimination.

It was Brian McLaren who put this all into perspective. He said,

“As a committed Christian, I have always struggled with locked doors—doors by which we on the inside lock out "the others"—Jews, Muslims, Mormons, liberals, doubters, agnostics, gay folks, whomever. The more we insiders succeed in shutting others out, the more I tend to feel locked in, caged, trapped.”

I think that is exactly what Jesus was trying help his followers and the religious leaders of his day to understand. But this also means if we are going to stand up to locking doors, discrimination, and unacceptance – and not get caged in ourselves - we will need to start by taking a deep look inside ourselves and our Meeting. This will take some work...so I will simply leave us with two queries to ponder this morning as we enter waiting worship: 

• In what ways do I discriminate in my daily life, my family, my workplaces, my school, my neighborhood, and my Meeting?  

• In what ways do we at First Friends’ (spoken or unspoken) discriminate to keep ourselves comfortable as a meeting?