WORSHIP NOTES: Becoming Wise IV (for Sunday, August 7, 2016)
Introduction
One of the
wisest elders in contemporary American Christianity is Frederick Buechner. He just
celebrated his 90th
birthday and since the 1960s, has published over 30 books: some theological interpretation, others
creative fiction as well as a few brilliant spiritual memoirs. Each holds rich,
nuanced prose, saturated with sacred revelations and earthy insights. Like both
Father Abraham and our Lord Jesus in today’s readings, Buechner grasps that
listening to our lives is one of the best ways of hearing the word of the Lord
in our generation.
In Genesis, Abraham
asks God: how will I know that the
meaning of your love for my life without interpretation and God has him look up
at the night sky. Jesus tells his bewildered companions: Do not be afraid, little flock, rather trust
your Father’s kingdom and you will come to know that where your treasure s –
and where your treasure is where you will discover what matters most to at this
moment in time. Buechner
speaks this truths like this: If
I were called upon to state in a few words the essence of everything I was
trying to say both as a writer and a preacher, it would this: Listen to your life. See it for the
fathomless mystery that it is. In the boredom and the pain of it no less than
in the excitement and gladness: touch, taste, smell your way to the holy and
hidden heart of it because in the last analysis all moments are key moments and
life itself is grace.
Our
ordinary, quotidian, walking around, getting up, going to work, making supper,
making love and falling asleep lives are the best places for us to listen
for a revelation of God’s love in our world, and, experience God’s clarifying interpretation
of that love: where your treasure is, there is where your heart
will be also. Not, where your heart
currently resides – and never what you convince yourself your
feelings to you in the moments – but always what you give the most energy,
attention, thought, concern and time to will is where honest revelation occurs.
Your true core is what the heart means in ancient Jewish spirituality.
It is the distillation of your intellect, your will as well as you emotions and
deepest concerns in life. Americans like
to romantically invert Christ’s wisdom, saying if you follow your heart you
will discover a treasure. But that is
sentimental slop – and Jesus is remarkable blunt in today’s confession –
instructing those with ears to hear that if we are to be honest with ourselves,
we must examine what we actually do in life. THAT will reveal where our heart
is in actuality. How we spend
our time and resources always renders a verdict. So listen to your life – not you words or
private thoughts but your life – and this testimony will show you where your truly
heart is.
Insights
Krista
Tippett in her book, Becoming Wise, writes
something similar: “What is love?” The answer
is best revealed in the story of your actions. She joins Abraham, Moses and the Hebrew
prophets along with Jesus, Magdalene, St. Paul and Buechner in urging us to
listen to our lives that we might hear the still, small voice of the Lord
calling to us through the static and frenzy of our activity towards that which
is true, beautiful and loving.
And if you
pay close attention, two broad clues begin to emerge about how to construct adult
lives built upon God’s providence. In the sixth verse of Genesis 15, after God
shows Abraham the night sky filled with stars and asks him if he can count and
quantify the enormity of heavenly lights, the One who is holy says: this
symbolizes what you can expect from me – mystery, awe, a love greater than your
imagination and a power that is terrifying but equally tender. God doesn’t give
Abram a security blanket, or a quick fix; the Lord offers Abram a vision that
embraces heaven and earth suggesting that sacred love in all its holy
magnificence is awesome. Look into the
night sky, man, and THAT is what you can count on: the mysterium tremendum.
And no
sooner does THAT happened then the
text tells us Abraham believed the Lord - aman in Hebrew means trusted,
confirmed, believed and verified with a trust that is deeper than doctrine or
mere intellectual assent. That is, in that
moment of reverent awe, Abram knew in his core at that God’s love was
vast. And, here’s my favorite part in
this story, as soon as aman filled Abraham with clarity, the
Lord reckoned Abraham’s trust as righteousness – tzedekah – meaning
justice or the essence of ethical living. Are you with me? Honoring the
mysterious encounter of God’s magnificent love in the night sky defines the
heart of Abraham from that time forward. It is now the core of what he devotes
himself to in life: fortifying right relationships in public. This existential
mystical trust in God’s love is gives birth, shape, hope and form to right
living in the real world.
When we
listen to our encounters of awe in our flesh – the times we’ve experienced our
insignificance standing at the rim of the Grand Canyon, our powerlessness
watching a loved one pass from this life into life eternal, our sweet but
fragile impact upon those whom we cherish, the exuberance and ecstasy of
blessings in our flesh as we revel with our lover – when we listen to our
lives, God interprets for us where and how our trust must become embodied so
that love might be strengthened. When I
have done this, observed and listened to the trajectory of what inspires my
time, blood, sweat and tears, it will come as no surprise that music has been
my mentor. One advisor I trust is
Leonard Cohen: a Jewish, French Canadian Buddhist poet and artist devoted to
both the prayers of his Hebrew heritage as well as the discipline of advancing
truth and beauty in a world too often rendered cruel and debased. Since I was called to serve God in community
with you nine years ago, a mature composition that took him over 10 years to
construct, “Anthem,” has repeatedly spoken my name – and never more soberly
than during this election cycle.
This song is
like standing on the age of the Israeli desert with Abraham and looking up at
the
night sky for me: it is the ultimate song of God’s never-ending grace. The verses
are a tender lament that sobs over the mess we’ve made of things: sing again, beloved, knowing that our wars
will be fought again, life will pass away, killers in high places will pray
their prayers out loud and even the dove of peace will never truly free. This part of the song is sung like the Paris
chanteuse, Edith Piaf, bemoaning the loss of hope and purpose during the Nazi
occupation of Vichy France in the 40s. Dianne’s vocal tones are extended in a plaintive
and lonely style while the instruments pulse with an agonizing slowness designed
to evoke the plodding of enduring despair.
But then the
chorus penetrates the darkness with light. RING THE BELLS THAT STILL CAN RING –
not all things work but some can still summon us towards the light – JUMP OFF
THE TREADMILL OF DESPAIR AND GROW UP – don’t sacrifice the good in service of
the perfect even with your offerings – FOR THERE IS A CRACK, A CRACK IN
EVERYTHING: that is how God made
creation and through the crack the light of hope, love and resurrection break
through the darkness. This is a song for
our generation that wonders what the HELL is going on: it is a call to rally together and allow even
our failures and fears to lead us towards the light. Like Abraham before God,
the song invites us to reclaim the awe that breaks through everything if we are
open so that we too can renew lives of justice, awe and ethical integrity.
Trusting the
beauty and awe of the Lord empowered Abraham to give his life to strengthening
right relations in his era. That is one
take away I urge you to consider. The second asks us to let awe lead us from trust
into love: Do not be afraid, little flock, for it is God’s good pleasure to give to
you the kingdom. In Tippett’s book, one of my favorite interviews
comes from John Lewis, congressman from Georgia. Not long ago he held a sit-in
on the floor of the House of Representatives calling out the cowardice of his Republican
colleagues for not bringing a vote on common sense gun control to the floor. You may recall that Lewis was one of the
original freedom riders who helped integrate the south during the early 1960s. And
he told Tippett that the only way we can advance loving kindness and justice in
our world is to believe that the love of God’s kingdom is already happening. Hold
on to a vision of what should be – the kingdom of peace and justice born of the
Lord he said – and you will begin to see it take shape.
You have to
train yourself in trusting that love is truly greater than hate. .. When
someone is attacking you, beating you, spitting on you, you have to think of
that person: what happened to the
innocent baby they started out as? Did
something go wrong? Did someone teach that person to hate, to abuse others? You
must appeal to the goodness of every human being and never give up on anyone…. Like
Dr. King said at times, life is hard, as hard as crucible steel. In spite of
the darkness of this hour, however, we must not lose faith in our white
brothers (and sisters.) This takes training and preparation – hard work inside us
and in community – but it is all built on trusting that the love you are moving
towards is already done. It’s already happened.
This song starts
with all the “bows and flows of angel hair - (some) moons and Junes and Ferris
wheels, too” as these are the innocent words of love. But Joni Mitchell wants us
to journey deeper into love know that this will cause “old friends to start acting
strange, they shake their heads and say I’ve changed, well something’s lost,
but something’s gained in living everyday because (you see) I’ve looked at life
from both sides now…” From the awe as well as what’s cracked and broken, from the
hard times and the good times, the deaths and the births that are a part of the
story of our lives – all of it can help make us mature and tender agents of compassion
IF we’re paying attention. Like the old preacher
in Ecclesiastes said last week: there is a season for everything when we see BOTH
sides now. So we share this reflection quietly:
it is a bittersweet truth to be savored slowly.
It needs a pure voice without judgment like Elizabeth’s beautifully embodied singing.
The complexity of its insights calls for a simple yet rich accompaniment so that
supports the blessings without obscuring them. And then, at the close, we give you
a little time to simply drift along in the music and see where it leads…
Conclusion
Today in
music and prose, silence and song, we’ve asked you to listen: listen to your
life, listen to the Lord, listen to sounds that cut deeper than simple
entertainment, listen for the call of God in awe and reverence that leads to
love. We have also asked you to listen
beyond your comfort zone because listening complacently can cause us to miss
the crack – and that is where and how the light gets in. Ours is a dark time yearning for light, a
frightened time aching for hope. Please,
for God’s sake as well as for our common good, listen to your life…
credits:
1) http://www.halikarla.com/thoughts-on-teaching-listening-to-life-and-a-new-prayer-painting/
2) theartoflistenings.blogspot.com
3) bhld.wordpress.com
4) www.amazon.com
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