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When we think of AWE, often it is in the context of a vacation to the Grand Canyon…We are struck by the immensity and beauty - Have you had that?
Or sometimes it is in the small details of a snow-flake on the cheek… and we feel awakened by the power of creation. When we tune into this feeling and keep it present before us, we may find we have Awe at the warm water from the faucet - or the birds singing when shoveling snow…This week I was finding the thread of AWE throughout our readings… We begin with the Awesome compassion of God. Nineva! Nineva was a city that terrified and insulted the people of Israel. Nineva was the capital of Assyria and the long-time enemy of Israel. Jonah did not want to go there. And it is only after his second call from God (and being swallowed by that fish) that he eventually does. Jonah also did not want God to forgive Nineva. But he is the very agent who helps God express great compassion by preaching to a people to change their ways and turn to God. God’s great compassion, contrary to popular belief, is found throughout the Hebrew Scriptures… time and time again, we hear that God forgives. When reading the Hebrew Scripture, we often associate God with Awe: the fear and trembling, but we also hear time and time again of another AWE: God’s great mercy and compassion… 7 He alone is my rock and my salvation, * my stronghold, so that I shall not be shaken. 8 In God is my safety and my honor; * God is my strong rock and my refuge.” God’s compassion to move the hearts of people then and today is awe-inspiring. God’s great compassion helps open us up to AWE; recognition of this magnificent power of creation encompassing us. And in turn the mystery of the power of AWE opens us up to compassion for others, by helping us recognize that we are bound up in a life that is much bigger than anything our minds can completely comprehend. In the letter of Corinthians, Paul is writing to a community who are in a lot of disarray, quarreling with one another about relationships basically. Who should be married, how should we behave in a small Christian enclave within a Greek society? Paul is trying to gather this group into a space of unity - while he is also feeling an intense urgency - that the Kingdom is near - He doesn’t want them to miss the importance of the moment, the AWE before them. He doesn’t want their attention to be so concerned with worldly affairs. His urgency may sounds strange to us 2,000 years later, but his very next statement (not included here) is: “I want you to be free from anxieties.”… “From now on, let those who deal with the world be as though they had no dealings with it…For the present form of this world is passing away. I want you to be free from anxieties.” He is trying to relieve anxiousness about worldly life- and have people turn their hearts and attention to God, the source of life. Right now we have a lot of anxiety and urgency. We are facing illness and some of us are experiencing intense grief and loss. This kind of experience makes time itself seem very strange - and perhaps helps us relate to Paul’s urgency. He expected everything to pass away quite imminently. The preciousness of life becomes acute! The prescription for Love is vital. At the same time for those of us struggling with grief and loss and illness - we may feel some gap - a sense of a space between ourselves and the World. We are not living quite in step with others, or in our regular rhythms. So we require that space to journey into an awareness of God - and into our healing. This is one experience of AWE; Coming face to face with this great mystery - suddenly we are in it - in a cloud of unknowing. Turning to God as “strong rock and refuge” through the foggy space brings us into an immediacy of that Awe… “in its fear and trembling,” yes… but also in its magnificence and steadfast comfort. AWE is another form of life-giving. It gives to us: magnificent wonder; a recognition of our life in God - and our everlasting life in God. For others who are starting families (and expecting the Newness of life in a child), they are also met with an urgency - and the necessity of making space: Space in the house, space in the rhythm of family life, and ultimately, space for God’s compassion to quell anxieties, and God’s compassion to be made manifest in the Spirit of a home. This space - a space of expectation is different from those of us emerged in spaces of loss, yet both inspire that incredible experience - the fear and trembling of AWE. (I have not yet met a pregnant woman who hasn’t experienced fear and trembling.) Awe encompasses both sadness and joy. It is overwhelming and mysterious in its power. AWE is not only present in a majestic view, a trip to the Grand Canyon, or a profound shift in our life. AWE is present in the very minute details of our every day life. It can be found in slowing down to wash the dishes, to find yourself present to your chores - to your senses - to your breath. The importance is always to see the gift of it before us. And to follow in its way. The call for us in these days, is like Jesus who calls the fishermen to follow it. It doesn’t mean to give up everything of who you are and what you have been. But to tune into God no matter what we are dealing with in the world; …to try to remain present to God’s ever creative energy working with us as Holy Spirit and rock of comfort… …Always keep in front of us the preciousness of each life, the majesty of creation itself and the magnificence and mystery of our existence. If we can keep AWE at the forefront of our lives, if we can hold this space, it will quell our anxieties. If we hold it in our every day chores, and in our life with others, it will help us heal our relationships. The compassion of God shows up in the experience of AWE and the space that we make for AWE in our lives. In our "dealings with life," anxieties are appeased when we allow this experience to soften us… to make us awake to the present, to the source of life…. It helps us be more forgiving of ourselves and of others. It allows compassion to grow - and love to grow. It IS urgent. It is prescriptive. Awe as the balm of God comes to us wherever we are - and calls us like Jesus to follow, and to share this good news. Amen.
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Lord, you have searched me out and known me; *
you know my sitting down and my rising up; you discern my thoughts from afar. Psalm 139 is perhaps one the most beautiful images of God’s tender love of human kind - and a mutual acknowledgement of God - our life in God. 12 For you yourself created my inmost parts; * you knit me together in my mother's womb. There is such a mutual love being expressed literally formed - in this incarnational language of the womb. We are bound with God through our very being. In the season of Epiphany we are celebrating the incarnation. And our passages today are full of images of the body - and this discerning spirit of God in our midst knowing us - calling us - and our response to that call. Our theology and our Eucharist is incarnational. We have sacraments that express, as we say, “an outward sign of an inward grace.” This is why we come to the table to share in communion. We are expressing that we are united to God and to one another through the love of Christ. It is very physical! What does it mean to be incarnational people? Well of course we are. That sounds kind of redundant, right? …BUT we forget our true selves often because of our very physicality - we can easily be asleep to our beautiful and mystical identities. Because we have so much that we just have to deal with in these bodies. Right now I’m happy to acknowledge that we have all types of bodies in our congregation. -We have toddlers who are learning how to be in their bodies. - We have a few children on the brink of change; experiencing whole new sensations - and are going to have to learn, all over again, how to manage what they feel in their bodies… -And many of us are dealing with aging bodies and illness that constrain us - our bodies no longer do what they used to do - and we are having to learn again how to be…. How to be: How to recognize our true selves (not apart from these bodies, but apart from the identification of self with what a body does or doesn’t do: support us - or struggle to support us, anger us, confuse us)… Our passages today remind us that through all of it: God is with us - and manifested through us as our "true selves” incarnate through Christ. Christian community is a place where we come together to recognize that we are not separate bodies, but a fellowship with one another - united. Our true selves are Spirit - Spirit is energy and Spirit is felt deeply in the emotions, in the mind, and in the body. This past week I was with my best friends in Maine. We went for some long hikes in the snow. I forgot how exhilarating it can be having snow pelting me in the face, at the same time I was shedding layers from the warmth of the hike, and the warmth of conversation with friends who have been with me - seen me at so many stages of my life. To be seen. It was a full body experience. Incarnational…I felt known completely: My true self. This is the exhilaration that Nathanael felt when Jesus knew him. And called to him. Nathanael didn’t hesitate to recognize Jesus right back as “Messiah." This was a mutual knowing… a calling to one another. One deep to another. But Nathanael hadn’t physically been with Jesus as I have been with my friends sharing so many changes over the years: heart ache, growth, new ideas, arguments with parents, struggling to pay rent, late nights of introspection - or dancing in the kitchen - navigating marriages, babies, deaths. So what’s going on with Nathanael? Nathanael knew Jesus because he knew that God was with him through all of it - That is the message of this passage. Their interaction is recorded with such brevity… But it speaks volumes. God is with us - and had been with Philip - and has been with me - and with you - navigating all of it. 2 You trace my journeys and my resting-places * and are acquainted with all my ways. It helps to have a group of friends or another person to remind us of that bond with God - who we really are: to remind us to listen for it, like Eli does for Samuel in our reading from the Old Testament. Samuel is young and hasn’t yet come to realize his intimate relationship with God. His mentor Eli tells Samuel to lie down (ie surrender). Surrender and Listen. Listen for that call that makes you whole. Your true self is infused with God. That’s what we do in Christian community. We are here to see one another, one deep to another deep; to listen, and remind one another that our lives are infused with God. All of us. And our mission is to spread that to others. While Samuel went on to become a priest and great Judge, our life in Christ does not make us a judgmental group - but rather a discerning group like a sound judge. We will support and nurture the divinity that we all hold - knit in the womb; seen and loved; wonderful and marvelously made. Incarnate. John came to testify to the light, so that others would believe, that God was in the world!
Not somewhere out there. But God with us. And those who believe in the light, ‘the light that enlightens everyone” - are free — free to know they are children of God (not because a person wills it; not because they were born into it by privilege —but that they (and we) are heirs of God’s inheritance… Freely given… We are the Beloved. These are not just words, but words to live by. It is difficult to integrate something so tremendous. It is difficult to even articulate - let alone have it penetrate your knowledge of self. Loving self - imagining yourself as The Beloved is part of the spiritual journey that Jesus asks of us. It’s what helps us be receptive to a greater love, so that we can in turn be a receptacle for others. As proverbs says, “The human spirit is the lamp of the Lord, searching every inmost part. -Proverbs 20:27 Light and metaphors for light accompany discernment in the Bible; Seeing clearly, Keeping awake, knowing thyself. Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path -Palm 19:105 Light when directed, as through a magnifying glass, has the power to burn a hole in a piece of paper or leather. Light has the power of fire. God’s light that illumines and transforms us - and brings us into new life is an essential part of understanding the Holy Spirit and Baptism. John the Baptist prophesied saying, “I baptize you with water; but one who is more powerful than I is Coming… He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.” We believe through Baptism the Holy Spirit is abiding in us. It’s that gift for discerning that God is with us - God incarnate. Enkindled in our hearts (as the collect says). This light, is the light of mankind. On fire… It is a purifying fire, that if we pay attention, if we direct our focus will help us burn away that which is not loving, that which is not life-giving, It helps us burn with truth and understanding. It is our inheritance! John’s Gospel does not even have a birth narrative. John begins with the light. And will go on…to say… “I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.” We need light for growth. For our very life. Christmas and the Solstice are closely associated for this very reason. The light of the solstice and the Christmas Story do not cancel one another out, rather they embellish one another. We have the light of the incarnation of the world; physically THE Creation -- And Christmas provides the story of the light of mankind the incarnation of God with us. - woven together perfectly. The light coming into the world feeds us literally growing plants - giving us warmth… But the light, that is to enlighten everyone with the birth of God feeds our hearts…and needs to be fed. It is a new level of awareness. We wish putting on the armor of light would come as naturally as the sun returning for longer hours in December… but for most of us it takes that inmost work; Working to discover the truth of ourselves in our lives with God. Integrating our “Belovedness” so that we may love others more fully. The physical darkness of this Season is much easier for us to bear in modern times. But we are all facing darkness in our own personal lives. And we are facing darkness in our world. As I spoke of in my Christmas Sermon, the plight of Israelis and Palestinians is very real today. It is mirrored in our story. And we see how the story of Christmas and new light and life is relevant to today; The Mother Mary and her birth in distress mirrors what others are experiencing today in the Holy Land. And we hope for the light of God to enlighten all of us. The birth narrative and the canticles are relevant to today. The psalms are relevant to today. And you can use them quite personally. They may appear to be spoken from a people crying out from long ago. But in my mind and in my recitations, Israel is us. Zion is my heart - it is the kingdom of Heaven…and my enemies (as are often spoken of) are things that surround and drown me in sorrow. Our enemies are not necessarily people, but the things that obstruct the light, our growth - and our life: Be it habits or trials that we seek to overcome. So use these prayers. They are cathartic. They are yours, freely given because you are the Beloved We pray for all of those who are in distress in our World. We pray for Gods light to enlighten everyone; God’s light incarnate in the world… …Hold fast to it, enkindled in your very heart. “I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people: to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord.”
We hear this passage every year… Dreamy Shepherds, singing Angels, brave Mary… But Think about how radical it is: A messenger from God bringing good news for the entire world?! And the message doesn’t come via the press, it doesn’t come as a political appointment, and it doesn’t come to the privileged. It comes to the shepherds. And the angel comes with a host of other angels. Now if you’ve ever looked at images or icons of angels, they are often in military dress. A “host" means a troop; it means an army. An army of Angels comes to the shepherds. An army of Angels who are singing. This week I spent some time with my parents upstate. One of our projects was getting the large round hay bales out in the fields for the cows for winter. My job was to cut and collect the blue twine from each one as my dad went back and forth to the long shed with the tractor. It gave me a couple of hours to think about the shepherds. When you are out in the fields you have time, and the sky. It is meditative to do this kind of work. I imagine over many days, and over large areas of field it might feel very solitary, quiet; no tractor sounds. There’d be a lot of faith - and a lot of hope that the next task would go well, your friends would show up, you’d have a warm meal; your animals would stay healthy. You would make up many games. And I imagine you would sing. Our story tells us that King David made up many songs while he was a shepherd. When we refer to the “Psalmist singing” that’s what we mean. We have these early, early songs that "endlessly give themselves to us "(1). When I hear this passage, I imagine this host of angels mirroring this group of shepherds, each band singing a song. "Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace, good will toward men!” The announcement and the birth of Jesus that we tell each year is our story. It mirrors us, as the angels mirror the shepherds…It is our dream of the promise. It is important for us to retell it. It is not repetitive, but "endlessly gives to us" like the psalms, incrementally we receive it more deeply as we grow and age. It is a story about love, about love incarnate, and about a promise of peace for all the world. Right now in Gaza shepherds are forced to abandon their animals. In a small strip of land adjacent to Egypt, women are forced to give birth in cars and in tents without any medical care. It is 2023. Their stories with terrifying and dangerous circumstances mirror the Mother Mary’s forced journey - and a treacherous birth unaccompanied by midwives. In a recent Los Angeles Times article, a pregnant woman named Sara in Gaza shared her plight. “It’s possible Sara and her family could be forced into exile in the Sinai Desert. (3) But she fervently hopes a cease-fire will be called before a mass exodus of Palestinians could happen. For Sara, her faith in God’s will remains unshakable: ‘I trust he will always be there for me’.” Equally radical, like Sara, Mary believed wholly what Jesus was going to teach… she expressed in her song: He has mercy on those who fear him * in every generation. he has scattered the proud in their conceit. and has lifted up the lowly. He has filled the hungry with good things, * and the rich he has sent away empty. Mary: radical lady - and Mary is with us in Palestine today. Recent theologies want to point out that the nativity story has taken out the messy and difficult, painful and carnal aspects of childbirth. They ask us to look at the real woman in the story. It is always important for us to consider who is left out of our story… and primary- this story retells that God comes to us in times of great turmoil. God comes to us through the victimized and to the marginalized - God is not out there somewhere, but in the hearts and bodies of people - and people on the edge… and that people like Sara and people like Mary. To be a God bearer, a love bearer is our call. This idea that God is born in flesh, the incarnation, is radical - and shows us that there is divinity in matter. God is enfleshed; God’s DNA is in every living thing. And that requires of us true responsibility for one another and everything and everyone on our planet. I recently heard the term “post Christendom” used to describe the cultural shift in our society. But we have to remember that the earliest Christians were also small counter-cultural communities living in a pre-Christendom. …grounded in love. It was not yet seduced and manipulated by empire and control. So, we continue to tell our story… Because it is important. Not because it is the only Story, but because it is a living story that gives to us endlessly: It’s important because we hope, like the shepherds, for the promise of Peace and safety; We hope for armies of guardian Angels rather than armies of War. It’s important because we believe like Mary "in the tender sheltering of mercy that restores relationships." (3) And we believe that to be like Jesus is to birth God’s love, at the very core of our being - in us and spread through us. Singing and …”bringing good news of Great Joy for all the World." Merry Christmas! 1. Finley, James. (Host). (2023, October 2nd). Dialogue II A loving Exchange (No. 5 of Mechthild of Magdeburg). In Turning to the Mystics, Center for Action and Contemplation. https://cac.org/podcasts/dialogue-2-a-loving-exchange/ 2. Baker, Catherine and Shahd Safi. Dec. 22, 2023 3:03 AM PTLos Angeles. Opinion: Not far from Bethlehem, the plight of pregnant women in Gaza evokes a biblical story. Los Angeles Times. https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2023-12-22/gaza-israel-hamas-pregnant-women-christmas-bethlehem 3. Bourgeault, Cynthia. (2023, December 22) Words from the Desert Fathers and Mothers for Advent and Christmas. Spirituality and Practice E-course, Claremont, California. https://www.spiritualityandpractice.com/ |
AuthorThe Rev. Heather K. Sisk Archives
July 2024
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