Sermon for Oct 25th 2015 - Living the WOW!!!

I believe in serendipity … this past week in my prep for our worship service, I found myself drawn to the writings of Martin Buber, and his theology of “I-Thou” and how it allows us to interact and live in the world seeing EVERYTHING endowed with a sense of “Thou” – the holy, the sacred, something more than just objects.

As I was shutting down my phone before worship, I found a link to a Blog by Canadian United Church writer Jim Taylor that offersan analysis of the Canadian Federal election through the lens of Buber’s I-Thou … Taylor offers that Canadians are people who believe in the “Thou” present in all of creation … The picture of a little boy drowned on a beach in Turkey was not simply an object on the sand, but was a life cut short – it was a THOU moment … the issue of Niqab was not about objectifying our neighbour into an IT, it was a reminder that our neighbour is a THOU … over and over, we were challenged to see the presence of the THOU in our world and reject the idea that we relate to each other, to the environment and to the world around us through the lens of “IT” …

Our readings today take us further into experiencing the THOU present and real in our world and in our lives. It begins with Job receiving his answer from God and being left to say “Um … yeah, I’m sorry I just didn’t get it …”:

In the story previous to this passage in JOB he rejects the advice of his friends that he accept blame for the tragedy of his circumstances. He believes that God is responsible for his condition. However, he does not reject God. He simply persists in calling upon God to hear and respond to him. When finally God does speak, it is from a perspective that seems at first to overlook Job’s misery and completely ignore his questions. However Job’s last words (today’s reading) show that he feels satisfied that he has been heard and that he has received something which has relieved his suffering and answered the longing of his soul. In Stephen Mitchell’s translation of Job’s last words we are given a sense of what this “something” might be. Job says “I had heard of you with my ears; but now my eyes have seen you. Therefore I will be quiet, comforted that I am dust.” Although Job is not healed of his physical pain, he has come to a radical new sense of wholeness and oneness with God and creation. It is after this remarkable spiritual transformation that the story returns to the ancient folk-tale where Job’s health is restored and he is again showered with gifts and blessings.

Some scholars suggest that the poetry in the book of Job, culminating in our reading today, represents an evolution of Israel’s image of God – from a distant monarch who doles out punishments and rewards (as in the prologue and epilogue) to an intimate presence within all creation (as in chapters 38–41). It is clear from Mitchell’s translation that Job’s awakening has to do with a profound and awe-inspiring connection with the earth. In the end God hears Job’s cry in a way that goes far beyond his capacity to ask.

What if … What if, the point of the book of Job is to offer a view of the world that is about us – you and I, daring to reframe the cosmos and our place within it by recognizing the incredible paradox in which we live – the paradox that on one hand sees and incredibly wondrous world, but then also sees how insignificant the world truly is in the midst of the infinite cosmos … a paradox that also reminds us how incredible the fact we live at all truly is, but while simultaneously shows us insignificant we really are … and as we stand in the place of awe and wonder and realizing we are a tiny tiny tiny part of a HUGE infinite cosmos, we are to be filled with wonder …

What if … it is about experiencing the world as a THOU?

Rabbi Abraham Heschel once wrote:

As civilization advances, the sense of wonder declines. Such decline is an alarming symptom of our state of mine. Mankind will not perish for want of information, but only for want of appreciation. The beginning of happiness lies in understanding that life without wonder is not worth living. What we lack is not a will to believe, but a will to wonder …

Place those words in the context of his time … written in the late 1950’s before the rise of the information highway called the internet, before jet travel turned out planet into a global village, before mankind walked on the moon much less saw the world from another vantage point …

What would Heschel say today if we were to bring him 60 years into the future and allow him to see the advances we’ve made technologically … smart phones that allow us to google or yahoo search information in seconds … smart phones that connect us with anyone anywhere in milli-seconds … we want for no information … our technology has allowed us to see not only our planet from another vantage point and to see how tiny it really is in the vastness of space – but we’ve explored other planets and reached out tentatively into that vastness to find out if we are alone or not …

The THOU is ALL around us

The paradox has been reinforced over and over and over, and Heschel’s words ring true … We will not perish for want of information – information we have in abundance … but we may perish for our lack of wonder …

Wonder that fills the world with hope … wonder that dares to see the world differently … wonder that is the manifestation of Buber’s THOU …

What if, that was and is the point of the book of Job? To look out into the cosmos and see it as something holy and something wondrous … to see our insignificance, and rather than being struck with a sense of despair, instead embrace our incredible existence – an existence that may be as Carl Sagan once mused odds that are one in BILLIONS and BILLIONS … to stand before that realization and dare to not just utter the word – but LIVE the word WOW!!

Wow, borne of wonder

Wow borne of realizing what an incredible things life is, and accepting it as holy … not holy that we then go out the door and beat every one we meet into submission demanding that they convert to our narrow point of view … but holy in that we treat it with respect and reverence … holy in that we see it as valuable and do EVERYTHING we can as individuals, as communities, as nations, as a human race, to cherish and preserve and protect it.

Holy in that we are to live with a sense of awe and wonder, not just when it is convenient – like once a week in church, or when we remember to say grace before meals, or when we feel special – but a sense of awe and wonder that begins in the morning when we open our eyes and hear and sense the world around us, and that continues as we walk through our day aware and attuned to what is around us … the wind, the sun, the crunch under foot or leaves or gravel or grass, the singing of birds, the rustle of leaves, the laughter of neighbours, the joy of children, … what if we moved through our day with an air of awareness and a sense of reverence for the world around us?? How different could our life be?

Awe and wonder gives way to joy …

In today’s MARK reading we encounter a blind man who cries out to Jesus over the noise of a crowd on a busy road. Bartimaeus knows what many do not yet perceive – that Jesus is “the Son of David,” the Messiah, the anointed one for whom all of Israel waits. After receiving his sight from Jesus, Bartimaeus acts upon this great insight, and follows him “on the way.”

Mark intends us to hear this story in direct contrast to the story immediately preceding it – the story of James and John’s request for false greatness. Notice the very deliberate repetition of Jesus’ earlier question to James and John, “What do you want me to do for you?” The difference between the two responses is striking, especially the irony of the words “Immediately he regained his sight and followed him on the way.” We know that although the disciples asked for places of privilege beside Jesus, in actual fact they were not able to stay beside him during his time of trial.

A striking thing about Bartimaeus is his refusal to be silenced. Like Job, he continues to cry out, much to the annoyance of the people around him. This kind of determination on the part of those who are poor and oppressed can be very upsetting to those who would rather ignore the problems or simply accept them as inevitable. How often do we respond to the cries of the afflicted in our society by blaming them like Job’s friends did or by trying to silence them like the crowd around Jesus did? How often do we silence our own cries because we think they will not be heard?

WHAT IF?

What if we are to shout out our reverence and our awe and wonder? What if instead of silencing the cries of the hurt and broken and needy, we are to hear them and respond to them?
        WHAT IF – we are to join in the chorus by filling the cosmos with our awe and wonder and allowing the feelings that creates within us motivate us in a Pollyanna kind of way, to reframe and recreate and EXPERIENCE the cosmos – our day to day lives – as a place filled with holiness?

Could we as people who see holiness all around us, ignore the plight of refugees from war torn regions?

Could we as people who see holiness all around us, continue to blame the hungry and tell them to just get a job rather than recognize the brokenness of our economic systems?

Could we as people who see holiness all around us fall silent in the face of suffering, or would we be like Job and Bartimeaus and dare to raise our voices to proclaim and celebrate AND share that holiness?

What if, we truly lived our lives with awe and wonder as the grounding principles?
        What would we do differently today if we allowed our child-like wonder to take over and motivated ourselves with a sense of “WOW”?

Pope Francis observed:

Rather than a problem to be solved, the world is a joyful mystery to be contemplated with gladness and praise … if we allow ourselves to fill with awe and wonder the world becomes a place filled with holiness … and holiness calls us to something different …

May it be so … thanks be to God … let us pray …

It begins with a single breath ... - Sermon for October 18th 2015

Jean Vanier writes:

          I once visited a psychiatric hospital that was a kind of warehouse of human misery. Hundreds of children with severe disabilities were lying, neglected, on their cots. There was deadly silence. Not one of them was crying. When they realize that nobody cares, that nobody will answer them, children no longer cry. It takes too much energy. We cry only when there is hope someone will hear us.

          Such loneliness is born of the most complete and utter depression from the bottom of the deepest pit the human soul can find itself. The loneliness that engenders depression manifests itself as chaos. There is confusion, and coming out of the confusion is a desire for self-destruction, for death. So, loneliness can become agony, a scream pain. There is no light, no consolation, no touch of peace, and of the joy life brings. Such loneliness reveals the true meaning of chaos.

          Life no longer flows in recognizable patterns. For the person engulfed in this form of loneliness there is only emptiness, anguish, and inner agitation; there is no yearnings, no desires to be fulfilled, no desire to live. Such a person feels completely cut off from everyone and everything. It is a life turned in upon itself. All order is gone and those in this chaos are unable to relate or listen to others. Their lives seem to have no meaning. They live in complete confusion, closed upon themselves.

          Loneliness becomes such uncontrolled anguish that one can slip easily into the chaos of madness …  (Vanier – Becoming Human – pg 9)

          In the face of suffering, what are we to do?

          What are we to do? What can I do?

Ultimately it is about carrying our faith into the world and living what we believe IN THE VERY FACE of that age old struggle.

          That struggle is the heart of the Book of Job.

          The book of Job is not so much the story of one person but rather the cry of confused outrage from the heart of a people in exile. Job represents that faithful remnant of the people of Israel who had tried to serve God faithfully and yet found themselves defeated and overrun by their enemies. It is an attempt to understand how a truly great person could become so forlorn and destitute.

          Job’s friends assure him that the calamities which have befallen him must be the consequence of some terrible personal sin or fault. Job knows this is not true and when he refuses to accept the guilt they try to lay upon him, they accuse him of the sin of pride.  In today’s passage, for the first time in the book, we hear God speak. After listening endlessly to Job and his “friends” argue, God’s voice speaks out of a whirlwind. Here we encounter a God that cares for and serves the needs of all creatures – not only humans.

          Job’s problem is placed into the context of the whole created cosmos. The questions that caused him to feel unjustly treated fade in the light of this cosmic vision. We begin to perceive that the answer to Job’s demand for understanding requires a major shift in his perspective. Part of Job’s problem, it seems, may lie in his human-centered world view which causes him to ask all the wrong questions and to seek wholeness where it cannot be found.

          He is drawn out of his self-centeredness into an awareness of the wholeness and relatedness of all God’s creation and somehow, the longing of his soul is satisfied. Healing and relief come to him – not from any rational understanding of his suffering – but from a profound sense of awe before the mystery of God. We are led to wonder how many of our own complaints about life might disappear if our own lives were more filled with awe and wonder.

          What if … what if has become a favourite question of mine lately – what if we lived lives more filled with awe and wonder?

          What if – we were able to have moments like Job, where we are totally overwhelmed by awe and wonder and find ourselves standing in a place of incredible holiness – overwhelmed and completely immersed in the very presence of God especially in the face of sorrow and suffering such as named by Vanier in the opening text?

          In the Hindu tradition, the holy text of the Bagava Gita bears striking similarities to the book of Job. The king Arjuna is leading his troops into a great battle when suddenly in the midst of the raging maelstrom, Arjuna realizes his chariot driver is the god Krishna … like Job suddenly Arjuna finds himself in the presence of the Holy and is facing a barrage that says essentially – how dare you question me … were you there when I created the world? Were you there when I did all of these things … who are YOU to question me …

          Yet in the dialogue there is a powerful conversation about the very nature of creation and the role that suffering, struggle and the things we frame as negative play in the overall play of the universe. It about finding our balance in the cosmos and within ourselves and being able to see the big picture …

          The big picture at play today in our society is one that clearly shows the importance and vitality of balance.

          On one hand, we have a culture that is awash in greed, insecurity, selfishness, fear and anger – commentators describe this as alienation – alienation from self, from others, from the culture itself. Our solution is to build bigger walls, install bigger locks, and seek security and safety by hiding ourselves away and becoming more and more insular and isolated.

          But on the other hand are values of creativity, vitality, compassion, care, and love. Commentators – often with a deep sense of human spirituality, speak of the freedom that comes from those values – freedom that seeks the good of others, while opening ourselves up to the possibilities and potentials that are all around us – freedom that allows us to rise above the petty problems and be more …

          In recent weeks, we’ve seen this imbalance play itself out in the election here in Canada and in the build up to the election in the US.

          The fear-mongering and the focus on the economy and non-issues like immigrant, refugees, the niqab and old stock Canadians are about fear are not reflective of freedom, but are reflective of alienation … we fear the Muslim … we fear our neighbour … we are to be more concerned about our personal taxes rather than the simple FACT that secure good paying jobs are draining away at a frightening rate … our political leaders want to focus on ourselves rather than on the common good …

          Worry about your pocket book NOT your neighbour is the theme we are told to embrace, or sometimes, as in the case of one candidate we may be familiar with – it is openly a case of bigotry by calling on the immigrants bringing a rich and deep tradition with them, to go home where they came from – forgetting that ALL of us came from somewhere else and brought their culture with them … I’m the first generation of my family – a family who have been here since the summer of 1847, who does not speak German … I guess we, despite a history of service and sacrifice to our country are not Old Stock Canadians …

          That’s the insidiousness of fear and alienation … that is what we are to be fighting against as people of faith … we are to be about freedom … addressing the sorrow and alienation people experience DIFFERENTLY.

          Vanier writes:

A sense of loneliness can be covered up by the things we do as we seek recognition and success. This is surely what I did as a young adult. It is what we all do. We all have this drive to do things that will be seen by others as valuable, things that make us feel good about ourselves and give us a sense of being alive. We only become aware of loneliness at times when we cannot perform or when imagination seems fail us. Loneliness can appear as a faint dis-ease, an inner dissatisfaction, a restlessness of the heart. (Becoming Human - PAGE 7)

          This dis-ease of alienation and loneliness is rampant. It is all around us, and some of us may even suffer from it ourselves …

          This past week I finally admitted to myself that I have been struggling with that issue of alienation and loneliness in my journey … I’ve said for years “I’m fine …” but this week I realized I was far from fine … I was in truth NOT fine!

          My life has been out of balance and disconnected. I felt anger and resentment far more than I felt joy and lightness.

          I stopped being hopeful about things, but had grown angry and frustrated – I was not fine … and I have not been fine for several years despite my best effort to fake it …

          That hunger within lead me to the core writers of Thich Nhat Hanh, Jean Vanier, Eckert Tolle and others who helped me reopen a door within that I had long ago forgotten and overlooked … it was ultimately a door of awareness and mindfulness.

          A door that is about the awe and wonder we began with.

          Earlier this week I stumbled across a reading in the writings of Eckert Tolle that gave me an “Oh sh-t …” moment – Tolle writes:

... people with strong pain-bodies often reach a point where they feel their life is becoming unbearable, where they can't take any more pain, any more drama. One person expressed this by saying plainly and simply that she was "fed up with being unhappy." ... they know that neither their unhappy story nor the emotion they feel is who they are ..."

          As I read that I gasped in recognition that it described me …

         

          For Tolle, the pain body is the remnants of negative emotions we’ve experienced  - it is a gathering of energy and emotion that we carry as part of our experiences. It is the gathering of all of our past experiences and it colours and affects our present – Tolle describes the pain body as something that sits dormant like a black cloud within us waiting to unleash its stormy contents …

          Each of us carry it whether we acknowledge it or not, and when we are out of balance the suffering, loneliness anger and resentment all rush to the surface and overwhelm us and drag us into a dark place where everything is seen in a negative light …

          BUT WHAT IF ?

What if we countered the pain body and the negative and the dark cloud cloud with child-like awe and wonder?

          What if we were to be more child-like in our lives and embrace awe and wonder while letting go of our alienation?

          How many complaints in life might simply disappear if we stopped feeding our fears and our angers and our negatives, and instead fully lives with the awe and wonder of a child?

          Years ago, I read that the holiest moment in ALL of creation is the wow of a child discovering something new for the very first time – what if we lived our lives in that holy wow – encountering God and the holy in EVERY MOMENT?

          Tolle observes that we are constantly trying to find our way home, but we never feel like we are home when we are awash in the feelings of alientation – what if the remedy to alienation was and is as simple as finding the home that lies within us – and has been there all along …

          Our Psalm reading this morning beholds the marvels of creation and praises God for all that God has done – What if – pausing to consider creation is one of the ways home?

          What if living aware and mindful of what is around us, and our place within it is a means of finding our way home?

          This past week I put and app on my phone that rings a Buddhist mindfulness/meditation bell at random intervals – the intent is to pause and breath mindfully using the exercise from Thich Naht Hanh I shared last week. When the bell rings I pause and breath and say:

          Breathing in, I calm my body

                Breathing out, I smile

Dwelling in the present moment,

          I know this is a wonderful moment!

          In the midst of a busy hectic day the bell chimes and I pause – close my eyes breath and become very conscious and aware of the moment … aware of my breathing and the stress ebbs …

          It can be that simple … pausing to be mindful and aware of the moment. Aware of our breath – aware of our inner turmoil or peace … and as we become aware of what’s inside we are better able to face what’s outside … and with peace and mindfulness we become aware of the holy that surrounds us … and life fills with awe and wonder …

          Imagine a world awash not in fear and alienation, but awash in love and awareness … it starts within by embracing the holiness that is around us … and it can start with one breath …

          May it be so …