SERMONS Love Came Down and Dwells In Us 31Dec17
Love Came Down to Dwell With Us
The Broken Truth[i]
(Children's Time Story)
"One night, in a far-away land a truth falls from the stars. As it falls, it breaks into two pieces; one piece blazes off through the sky and the other falls straight to the ground. One day, a man stumbles upon the piece that fell to the ground nearby. He finds carved on it the words, “You are loved.” It makes him feel good, so he keeps it. He shares it with the people in his tribe. The thing sparkles and makes the people who have it feel warm and happy. It becomes their most prized possession, and they call it “The Truth.” Those who have the truth grow afraid of those who don’t have it, who are different. And those who don’t have it want it too. Soon people are fighting wars over the small truth, trying to capture it for themselves.
A little girl who is troubled by the growing violence, greed, and destruction in her once-peaceful world goes on a journey—through the Mountains of Imagining, the River of Wondering Why, and the Forest of Finding Out—to speak with Old Turtle, the wise counselor. Old Turtle tells her that the Truth is broken and missing a piece, a piece that shot off in the night sky so long ago. Together they search for it and, when they find it, the little girl puts the jagged piece in her pocket and returns to her people. She tries to explain, but no one will listen or understand. Finally, a raven flies the broken truth to the top of a tower, where the other piece has been placed for safety, and the rejoined pieces shine their full message: “You are loved / and so are they.” And slowly the people begin to understand. And the earth begins to heal."
Christmas has come and gone even though it is only the “Eighth Day of Christmas.” It’s a time to return gifts that either don't fit, or aren’t quite right, or those we simply don’t want. Then there’s the rush to take down all our decorations so that our household can “get back to normal.”
But after all the holiday gifts and decorations are put away until next winter, the story that begins as Christmas continues. As the story continues, it becomes even more powerful.
When Rev Amy first invited me to be responsible for the sermon this morning, she gave me the two readings that are designated for this Sunday. The reading from Luke seemed straight forward enough. The reading from Galatians, however, piqued my curiosity.
There's an old saying that if you really want to learn, teach. Well, I've discovered there seems to be an equally valid axiom. If you want to learn scripture, preach.
After some study and much reflection, I discovered that today's scripture readings are bookends.
- In Luke, we heard of the realization of God's promise to send a Messiah - a second Incarnation, and
- In the Letter to the Galatians,Paul tells us about our adoption through Jesus, the promised Messiah, to become children of God.
Let's consider them one by one in the order that they were read.
With the story of Jesus' presentation in the temple Luke brings his nativity narrative to an end. The Nativity narrative began in the temple with the appearance of an angel to Zechariah, announcing that his wife Elizabeth will bear a son.
Likewise, the Nativity narrative ends in the Temple. This time with a man, Simeon, who is described as righteous and devout, looking for the consolation of Israel, and a very elderly female prophet Anna.Luke says that following the death of her husband,she did not depart from the temple, worshipping with fasting and prayer night and day.
In the story of The Old Turtle and the Broken Truth, I'm sure that you have caught on that Jesus brought to us the piece that was missing. He completes God's Truth; "We are loved and so are they." Just so we don't miss the point being made here, God's love is all inclusive. It includes everybody. Not just the top 1%, not just the beautiful, not just Christians, and not just the United States. It includes everybody!!
There is another dimension, however, that Luke uses to deepen our vision. This additional dimension is best summed up in the image of light. Simeon describes Jesus as a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and afterwards tells Mary that in her child the thoughts out of many hearts may be revealed.
Jesus is the light from above, who enters into the darkness of human history. Luke directs our gaze upwards, so that we can see how the whole of human history is transformed by the entrance of God into our world in the person of Jesus.
Again Jerusalem and the temple are important for understanding this movement in Luke. For centuries, the Holy of Holies within the temple was the place where humanity encountered the Divine. For the Hebrews, this is where God entered into our mortal world. Put simply; it was God's condo on earth.
NowLuke is telling us that with the child Jesus, we have a new temple, a new place where God dwells. He is present not just with His people, but alsoin his people.All our lives, through this child, are united and seen in the context of our Creator's grace and love. Stated simply,HE DWELLS WITHINUS.'
Jesus becomes the second Incarnation of the Divine Presence in the world. The first Incarnation was Creation itself or what we know now as the Big Bang.
Genesis tells thatGod stood back after six days of creation and said "It Is good." Not "OK," not "Satisfactory," But "Good." All of it; not just a part of it. He declared that all of creation was good. And ifit's good enough for God, then it's good for us too!
This is the central theme of the New Testament: We are all children of God. He dwells in every aspect of creation.
At the other end of our scripture this morning is Paul's Letter to the Galatians, Paul uses the following language to describe it:
“God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, ‘Abba! Father!’ So you are no longer a slave but a child, and if a child then also an heir, through God” (Gal. 4:7).
What was happening at this time was that Jewish Christians held that the Torah, the entire Law, was binding on these former pagan congregations. They insisted that Gentile converts must abide by "The Law." Furthermore, they argued that Paul was not an authentic apostle.
Paul's letter argues against the bondage of religious legalism. His argument is that by God's grace through faith alone that we are justified. It is by faith alone that we can live a new life in the freedom of the Spirit.This is the main teaching point from Galatians.
It was this basic message of Galatians - faith alone - on which the Protestant Reformation was based. Luther taught that salvation is not earned by legalistic religious works. Not faith in creeds of formula. But rather, we live our lives in a manner that comes from faith in God as He works for us and in us and through us.
Galatians is often referred to as "Luther's book" because Martin Luther relied strongly on this letter in his preaching, teaching and writing. So did, by the way, Charles Wesley.
Essentially Paul is saying that through Jesus, we have moved beyond the old religious motifs. We become one with Him and by adoption, one with God. This is the same thing when we eat the bread and drink the wine at communion. We become one with Jesus.
Later in his Letter to the Galatians,Paul says:
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. (NIV)
Paul describes an interior experience. He is explaining that as adopted people of God we are liberated from the basic human nature of being self-focused. All animals are self-focused. We are an animal also, but we have the ability to move beyond our own personal self-interest. Jesus broke the barrier that binds us to original nature - the original separation from God that is depicted in the story of the Garden of Eden.
Paul continues and reinforces that God has placed His Spirit in our hearts. Our task then becomes to realize it, accept it, and act on it.
Paul is points to a new dimension of life and consciousness that was revealed by Jesus. Beyond the defensive barriers of self-centered and survival-driven humanity there is a higher dimension of life to be lived. This new dimension is a oneness with God. He opened a doorway for all of us into a higher state of being human - moving beyond ourselves into another realm of awareness of others.
This is what Jesus means by "being born again." Being reborn spiritually; over-coming our natural self-centeredness.
We can experience the essence of God's love when we love our fellow men and women unconditionally. Not because they deserve or earn our love; but because they simply are here. They don't have to act like us. They don't have to talk like we do. They don't even have the same color skin. We cannot be all that we can be unless we free others to be all that they can be.
As we have seen already, to be a Christian is not about believing in creeds; it is about living. Creeds are but guides. Worship provides reinforcement. Worship is the beginning.
The Spirit that God pours into all our hearts is a Spirit of compassion. It is a Spirit that embraces us and makes us a part of a family defined by God’s love. It is compassion that gives us our meaning and purpose in this life.
And so let us resolve right now to try to live out what we believe is the true purpose of our lives—to open ourselves to God’s love that constantly surrounds us and try to share it with those around us.
So here we are on the threshold of a new year, we have a new opportunity to present ourselves in the temple just as Joseph and Mary did for Jesus.Christmas gives us hope to shape our lives, steel our souls, and energize our determination.
It's challenging opportunity. But then, we have our church, our clergy and one another to support and sustain us. This is one of the main reasons we gather each Sunday morning in corporate worship. Oh yes, the sanctuary is handsome, the music is wonderful and rich, but the synergy of worshipping together is what is so powerful. It is spiritually energizing. We begin each week by getting our souls and spirits re-invigorated; reoriented.
However, sitting in our pew each week is only a prelude; a preparation. Christianity is not a spectator sport. It requires participation; acting out. We need to be down on the playing field. There's no ap for this. We have to do it the old fashioned way. We are charged with acting out our faith in daily living.
As the body of Christ, as a congregation, and as individuals we must move from our comfort zone into a troubled world. Living a Christian life is not always easy or comfortable. In fact, if it isn't difficult or uncomfortable at times, we are probably not engaged as much as we should be.
You may say that's all well and good, but we are not Mother Teresas. We can't fix everything, or even much of it. We can, however, change a little bit in our own backyard.
Some years ago, a U.S. Congressman visited Mother Teresa at her mission in Calcutta. He politely asked her how she could expect to take care of all the destitute and dying people in that city with her meager resources. She replied: "I'm not charged with being successful; I'm charged with being faithful." The same goes for us.
We tend to think that our purpose and meaning in life has to do with accomplishing something; getting stuff. It seems to me that the purpose of all our lives is the calling to embrace the Divine compassion that is at the heart of all things and to share that compassion with those around us in any and every way we can. The purpose and meaning of our lives is to open ourselves to the love at the heart of all things and share that love with those around us in our world that can be incredibly loveless at times.
I’m going to be giving up some things this year—at least I hope. I’m going to try to give up being short-tempered in stressful traffic situations. I’m going to try to give up thinking about myself so much and think about others more.
But one thing I will never give up is the conviction that undergirding all creation is a divine compassion that defines and surrounds us all constantly.
We caught vivid glimpses of this during the recent hurricanes and the resulting flooding in Houston and Florida. People risked their own lives and used their own property to evacuate their neighbors from danger. These were people in their community that they often did not know - even their names. If this wasn't God's love in action, I don't know what is.
Our Native American Cherokees have long practiced a ‘Rite of Passage’ ritual that serves well as a metaphor for this Divine Compassion.
When a male youth comes of age, his father takes him into the forest, blindfolds him and leaves him alone. He is required to sit on a stump the whole night and not remove the blindfold until the morning sun shines through it. He cannot cry out for help to anyone. Once he survives the night, he is a MAN. He cannot tell the other boys of this experience, because each lad must come into manhood on his own.
The boy is naturally terrified. He can hear all kinds of noises. Wild beasts must surely be all around him. Maybe even some human who might do him harm. The wind blows the grass and earth, and shakes his stump but he must sit stoically, never uncovering his eyes. Finally, after a horrific night, the sun appeared and he removes his blindfold.
It is then he discovers he is not alone. His father is sitting on the stump next to him, having been at watch the entire night, protecting his son from harm.
We too, are never alone, not matter how frightening our circum- stances. Even when we aren’t aware, God is watching over us. When we are afraid and feel alone all we have to do is reach out to Him. He may not always give us the answer we want, butHe is present!
Once we discover this deep source, we realize that it’s not a competition. We don’t need to put anyone down, prove them wrong, or exclude them from the great banquet. The wedding feast was Jesus’ metaphor for inclusiveness and loving union. Though it is a simple metaphor, it is a good one.
We all came forth from God, and we will all return to God.And in the meantime, we need to learn to respect and cherish one another regardless of merit.
Jesus’ entire life demonstrates how God loves unconditionally and selflessly. It's so easy to miss what seems so obvious and clear.The reason we often miss this is that it’s almost completely counterintuitive.
For the vast majority of the world’s spiritual seekers, the way to God is “up.” Deeply embedded in our religious and spiritual traditions—and most likely in the human collective unconscious itself—is a kind of compass that tells us that the spiritual journey is an ascent, not a descent.The way to God is not up - it's INWARD.
Jesus had only one “operational mode.”. . . In whatever life circumstance, He always responded with the same motion of self-emptying—or to put it another way, of the same motion of descent: going lower, taking the lower place, not the higher; i.e. the good Samaritan, the Forgiving Father of the Prodigal Son, tax collectors, the wayward woman, lepers. etc.
This then is the gift, the promise of Christmas - God's gift of hope and of comfort. We can overcome the darkness, we can overcome the hate, and we can overcome the violence. Not with more hate, or fear or walls, but with charity and kindness.
We must as Paul says to the Ephesians:
"Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes….take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God."[ii]
Thistakes commitment. Thistakes courage. And it takes perseverance.
But no matter how dark things may become, the Light will always overcomethe darkness.
“We are loved / and so are they.”
God made it that way. And it is good!
Happy New Year!
John Danz, CLM
December 31, 2017
1
References:
[1] Douglas Wood and Jon JMuth, Old Turtle and the Broken Truth (New York: Scholastic, 2003).
[2] Ephesians 6:11-18