December 16, 2012
Scripture: Isaiah 40:3-5
Video by Sean Reeder titled, “Yosemite--Range of Light”:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=_QqfifH3-rk
Let us pray:
Dear God,
For many of us today our minds are reeling with the violence--
Emblematic of violence all over the world but this time touching us close to home;
The violence visited upon our innocent children in Connecticut, and those who love them.
Comfort your people, Lord. We cannot in our grief imagine how it is possible,
but with You it is possible to bring comfort, and one day, healing.
You know us, through and through:
each thought and feeling, our every word and action,
all that is conscious and unconscious within us—
our love and our sin.
You know our worry, anxiety, hurriedness and stress;
how often times, in our distractedness we are diverted from
the one needful thing—the one thing of inestimable value that Mary knew.
She came and sat at your feet and listened,
bringing her full attention to You, Your Word, Your Holy Spirit.
She knew that her deepest desire is met in You.
We ask that You would lead us to the one needful thing, Lord,
Releasing us, freeing us from anything that would hold us back from You.
Amen.
Good morning, everyone. My journey of preparing a teaching about “joy”, the theme for this 3rd week in Advent, has been such a gift to me and I am truly grateful to 8th Day for the opportunity. Having embarked on this journey some weeks ago, I’d encourage you to spend an extended period of time as well, meditating on the meaning of joy in your lives. You may find as I did that the more time you give to it, the more its meaning opens up…
So, what is joy? Do you mainly think of it as an emotion? Something like inexpressible happiness? An inward state of being? Maybe given sufficient time you would find yourself remembering occasions when you felt joy, and then compare these joys, seeking what they have in common. This is the path my reflections took as I recollected feelings of joy in settings of natural beauty, especially the mountains; in holding my newborn baby daughter; in seeing and hearing Nelson Mandela speak…
As I’ve been reflecting about joy, it has seemed to me that there is a “something more” quality to joy that makes it difficult to put words to…and that art forms like poetry, music, and film—such as, “Range of Light”, the video we have seen this morning—are better suited to conveying the experience of joy, than simple prose. A metaphor which suggests to me something of the nature of joy is “wings of joy.” Joy has wings because it cannot be contained; it soars effortlessly, utterly free in a limitless sky, as though it has wings. It seems to me that it is the nature of joy to open outward—to expand; that it brings a sense of release, and of wholeness. It is a full embrace of all that is—nothing is lacking. To contrast this understanding of joy with its opposite is to think of being closed in upon oneself, to contract as with fear or pain, to be held down, to shrink back, to be diminished, fragmented, cut off.
What do biblical writers have to say about joy? There are many references found in the Bible’s stories, psalms, and letters. A related word, “rejoice”, which has the same root as “joy”, also abounds in the pages of the Bible—in the people’s response to God’s loving kindness, forgiveness and deliverance. Throughout the New Testament we see that Love embodied in Jesus of Nazareth; Jesus, who refused to allow concern for dangerous consequences—derision, rejection, and execution—to impede his truth telling, his breaking of convention, his joining with outcasts, and the poor. Even traditions surrounding the observance of Sabbath could not stand in the way of his healing those who were suffering.
Let’s focus now on one passage found in John’s gospel in which Jesus speaks to his disciples about abiding,--living--in his love. Jesus says the following: “I have told you this so my joy may be in you and your joy may be complete.” (John 15:11). Consider the freedom exhibited in Jesus’ love and that he calls us to abide in his love, that we will have fullness of joy, and one finds the context for this surpassing joy: it is God’s own freedom and love. Jesus, abiding in his Father’s love, shines a light on the transcendent meaning of joy; transcendent because it is more than the sum of its parts, and partakes of an immense mystery.
I realized in my desire to share with all of you the “Range of Light” video, that joy prompts the desire to try to share the experience with someone else. The first time I viewed it—and I’ve seen it now many times—my heart was singing by the time we come to the waterfall cascading down the mountain… I have found that reflecting on how and why the film evokes joyfulness in me has been a helpful point of departure in thinking about the nature of joy. I considered what the artist, Sean Reeder, did in response to his own experience of joy—his work of two years creating a video of four minutes duration: his artistry in the placement of the camera, sequencing of shots, selection and use of the evocative musical score, “Sounds of Peace”, all brought to bear to communicate what he saw and felt about the mountains and skies of Yosemite, to share his love for the astounding beauty of that place.
I do not believe I have ever seen skies as star-filled—and shooting star-filled—as those Reeder captured through his camera lens. I have wondered if I were able to step outside on any given night and look up and see stars like those visible in Yosemite, whether after a while I’d cease to notice their beauty much. Maybe…yet I can say that on a clear night--even in the suburb of the city with its pollution and light, it’s still possible to see enough stars to inspire a sense of the power, beauty and mystery of the universe. How many of you once in a while look up at the night sky and feel awe? Have you wondered, too, why God has given us a universe such as this one? Clearly God has not chosen to give us a home in a simple or banal universe. It will always exceed our mind’s grasp, no matter how brilliant our scientific formulations are. This we know: our understanding of God’s Holy Spirit cannot be reduced to a part of an equation, not even one that helps land us on Mars. Whatever humankind ultimately succeeds in understanding about the cosmos, ‘from whence the Spirit comes and where it is going’ is not ours to know, much less to control.
And although language about the “conquest” of space is commonly employed, is it not more likely that God intends a different experience of this Universe—even receiving it as Gift? Our cultural frames are not, however, conducive to experiencing creation as Gift. I want to suggest that inherent in the experience of Divine Gift is a ”more than” and an “other than” quality that can only be named as mystery. Yet our narratives, the stories we tell about the way reality is, are often drained of mystery. More commonplace are assertions to the contrary that we know a great deal more than is true and are symptoms of our arrogance and insecurity.
The Apostle Paul presents a contrasting narrative in 1 Corinthians 13:12. Here he speaks both to the partial nature of our understanding, and the assurance that one day we shall understand fully. That understanding does not come through our own achievement but in God’s time: “The time will come when we shall see reality whole and face to face! At present all I know is a little fraction of the truth, but the time will come when I shall know it as fully as God now knows me.”
Let me share one more example of a contrasting narrative, this one from a Native American culture. It seems especially fitting to share today because in Winona LaDuke’s telling it is an incredible story of forgiveness and the homecoming to ancestral lands by the Pawnee. In the briefest summary, it is the story of a people whose numbers were decimated by disease brought by whites, who were swindled and killed for their land, and finally were “relocated” from Nebraska to Oklahoma in the late 1800’s.
The one aspect of the story I want to hold up now, is how in their “relocation” the Pawnee took with them seeds from their sacred crops: pumpkins, melons, corn. But over time the supply of their heritage seeds began to dwindle as the crops were not growing well. Then, around five years ago came a request and an offer from the descendants of the white settlers of the Pawnee’s former homeland in Nebraska. The proposal was to try to reestablish the heritage crops in their native Nebraskan soil by planting the seed the Pawnee had saved. The tribe deliberated, and they decided to trust and take the risk of parting with the seed to allow crops to be planted in Nebraska. As the story came to Winona from the tribes’ elders—once these seeds were planted, the crops flourished again—for as the elders said, quote “the seeds remembered the soil.” This narrative of the seeds remembering the soil evokes a sense ofreverence, and holiness--does it not? A quality marking the response to Divine Gift and Mystery.
I don’t think the powers that be in the Monsanto world—makers of terminator seeds among other life destroying products--would be inclined to listen, much less to be challenged by Winona’s story. I am under no illusions, but the unexpected change of heart, transformation of consciousness, and turning from egregious wrong, could happen, even within Monsanto’s fold. This story of the Pawnee speaks to the seemingly impossible: forgiveness offered by a people who had practically been wiped out and whose remnantwas exiled. The clearing of obstacles to the work of the Holy Spirit in this time and place yielded what could not be anticipated, forgiveness and redemption. A welcoming celebration was held by the community inviting the Pawnee to return, and there was a joyful homecoming to Nebraska.
Last Sunday we were blessed to have as our preacher Wes Granberg–Michelson, who chose as his text the passage in Luke’s gospel concerning the beginnings of John the Baptist’s ministry and, echoing the words of the Prophet Isaiah, his cry to “make straight the way of the Lord!” (3:1-6) The Baptist preaches that readiness for the Lord requires a “baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sin.” I have been struck as never before by these words “baptism of repentance”; by the understanding that repentance is a baptism; it is an entry into forgiveness and new life. Humbling, fearful as it may be to face up to our sin—collective and personal—this is the way that clears obstacles from the path and makes it level so our footing is secure…
Assuredly John the Baptist did not coddle those gathered at the riverside for baptism. “Brood of vipers!” he shouts at them, saying they must“bear fruits worthy of repentance.” The crowds ask him what then should they do? His answer is that they must share what they have. “Whoever has two coats must share with anyone who has none, and whoever has food must do likewise.” (Luke 3:11) His admonition about the need for just and right relationship among us is just as the prophets of the Old Testament urged, and as did Jesus himself, for this is how we participate actively in God’s life in the world.
“Sorry” by itself is hollow and will not suffice. But once we are committed to the path of repentance, there is help for us beyond our own strength, help that comes from God who always desires to restore us to wholeness. Returning homeward, but while we are still some distance out in the fields, although we had abandoned our loved ones, our responsibilities, and squandered our gifts—we are sought and embraced by Love, as we say in 8th Day: “Love that will not let us go.”
I wanted to highlight this passage in Isaiah 40:3-5 and its parallel in Luke because of the preparation it calls us to in these weeks of Advent; a preparation we always need to be about, for that matter. The clearing of obstacles in our lives to forgiveness, to love, is the work of repentance. Let’s listen again to the lines from this passage in Isaiah:
“Then the glory of the Lord shall be revealed,
and all flesh shall see it together,
for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”
All flesh. Together. No one is left out! Is this not a Mystery and a Joy beyond all reckoning, this Love come to us?
Amen.