Saturday, February 26, 2011

Wise Trust


Sermon preached by the Rev. Lowell E. Grisham, Rector
St. Paul's Episcopal Church, Fayetteville, Arkansas
February 27, 2011; 8 Epiphany, Year A
Episcopal Revised Common Lectionary

(Matthew 6:24-34) Jesus said, "No one can serve two masters; for a slave will either hate the one and love the other, or be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.

"Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air; they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your span of life? And why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you-- you of little faith? Therefore do not worry, saying, `What will we eat?' or `What will we drink?' or `What will we wear?' For it is the Gentiles who strive for all these things; and indeed your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But strive first for the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.

"So do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring worries of its own. Today's trouble is enough for today."
 ___________________________________________________________

“So, do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring worry of its own.  Today’s trouble is enough for today.”

I love that last line.  “Today’s trouble is enough for today.”  It has a dark mood to it.  Very Scottish.  I remember some years ago on our annual observation of St. Andrew’s Day, one of the members of our Ozark Highlanders Bagpipe and Drum Corps read a Scottish translation of the beloved 23rd psalm.  I especially liked the rendering of the opening of the last verse.  “Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of me miserable life.”

“So, do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring worry of its own.  Today’s trouble is enough for today.”  “It’s a jungle out there,” sings Randy Newman in the theme song for the TV show Monk.  It’s a show about a police investigator with obsessive compulsive disorder.  Because he is so paranoid about cleanliness and bugs and disorder, he sees things that the rest of us miss.  That’s how he solves crimes.  But his life is also sadly circumscribed by fears that are so irrational that they are funny on a television show.  Not so funny for real people with OCD. 

Last week in my 10:00 prayer class I taught about praying in the jungle.  Well… praying with nature.  I invited everyone to go outside and let something in nature catch your attention.  Then let it speak to you.  Observe it.  Think about it.  What does it tell you?  Pray with nature.

People are often drawn into the divine mystery by our awe at the wonder of creation.  When we are in the woods, or especially in the wilderness, we can sense the wonder of it all – sunrise and sunset, the fecundity of water, how life expresses life. 

One of my favorite writers Gerald May tells about his initial anxiety on his first experience of intentionally going into the wilderness alone.  He started in an almost paranoid state.  He packed insect repellent and a first aid kit.  He read up on snakes, poisonous plants and how to keep bears from attacking you.  His whole approach was defensive. 

But after he had some experience in the wilderness, it was as if the mountains and forests were sending him a message.  “It was a message of gentleness, almost of hospitality.  There was a truly welcoming atmosphere to the woods,” he said.  So he relaxed and adopted a more hospitable attitude.  “Aware of the possible dangers yet open to the gentleness and gifts that the wilderness might offer.  Since then,” he writes, “the wilderness has been my friend, one I treat with respect.  I do not huddle in my tent for fear of snakes or bears, but neither do I run through the woods without looking where I am going.  …All I need is to keep my eyes open, my senses alive.”  He adds this:  “I think all of life is this way.  If you protect yourself from all danger, you’ll never really live.  On the other hand, if you believe there is no danger at all, you may not live too long.” [1]

Gerald May makes a distinction that I think is important.  He asserts that “the essential goodness of life is trustworthy, [but] not all specific things in life are trustworthy.  Although God is trustworthy, not all of God’s creation can be trusted to treat us kindly all the time.  …It is foolish to trust that a snake will not bite you or a scorpion not sting you.  That does not mean that the snake or the scorpion are bad creatures – only that they need to be treated with respect.” [2]

Your life deserves to be treated with respect.  Be alert and alive to the goodness and potential within you and within your circumstances.  Keep your eyes open and your senses alive.  Respect also your own experience and what it can teach you.  We all learn from our mistakes and our hurts.  Gerald May says, “Wise trust ...accepts that pain may come.  It tries to avoid injury, but it is willing to endure pain if it is inevitable, and to learn from it.  And then, with eyes and ears open, it takes the risk again.” [3]  We learn from the wilderness, and then we go out to live in it again.

So someone hurts you.  Betrays you.  You may say, “I’ll never trust you again.”  What does that mean?  “If we mean “I’ll never trust you not to hurt me again,” it is a wise statement.  We cannot help hurting one another.  If it means “I’ll never love you again,” [or worse, “I’ll never love again”] it is foolish; to avoid loving to keep from being hurt is like trying to stop breathing so you won’t catch a cold.”

We can be aware that everyone and everything doesn’t have our best interest at heart, while still opening ourselves with reverence, awe and respect for the whole of life.  “There is benevolence and danger in all creation and all creatures, including oneself.  …Wise trust chooses life, not protection.  It sheds its armor so it can run free with clear eyes and open senses.  It comes out of its burrow so it can play in the sunlight.” [4]

So how do we live in this wonderful and sometimes dangerous world?  “Do not worry about tomorrow…  Today’s trouble is enough for today.”  Accept today, as it is.  With its own particular troubles, and, yes, it’s own particular graces.  It takes some surrender.  I am not the CEO of the universe.  I am not even the CEO of myself, for I too am a mystery.  Relax respectfully into the day, into the moment.  Like an animal in the woods, listen and look to see what the next moment will bring.  We are on an adventure.  A wilderness adventure. 

As we sometimes say in our closing blessing, “Go into the world in peace.  Be of good courage.  Hold fast to that which is good; render no one evil for evil.  Strengthen the fainthearted; support the weak; help the afflicted; honor all persons.” 

If we are willing -- open and awake – life just happens.  “It is given.”  Here’s how Gerald May puts it.  “God is endlessly, irrepressibly and unconditionally loving, always calling us home.  But in that love, God leaves us always free to accept or decline the invitation.  God treats us with absolute respect.  God may beckon us gently or challenge us fiercely, but God will not make us puppets and pull our strings.  We may delude ourselves into thinking that we should control our lives and destinies, but God suffers no such delusion.  …Love does not control.  Love frees.” [5]

So live freely.  “Do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink…  Look at the birds of the air…  Are you not of more value than they?  Consider the lilies of the field, ..even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these…  Therefore do not worry, …but strive first for the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.”


[1] Gerald May, Simply Sane, New Expanded Edition, Crossroad, NY, 1993, p. 148

[2] Ibid
[3] Ibid, p. 149
[4] Ibid
[5] Ibid, 151-2

Saturday, February 12, 2011

Whoever says, "You fool!"


Sermon preached by the Rev. Lowell E. Grisham, Rector
St. Paul's Episcopal Church, Fayetteville, Arkansas
February 13, 2011; 6 Epiphany, Year A
Episcopal Revised Common Lectionary

(Matthew 5:21-37) Jesus said, "You have heard that it was said to those of ancient times, `You shall not murder'; and `whoever murders shall be liable to judgment.' But I say to you that if you are angry with a brother or sister, you will be liable to judgment; and if you insult a brother or sister, you will be liable to the council; and if you say, `You fool,' you will be liable to the hell of fire. So when you are offering your gift at the altar, if you remember that your brother or sister has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother or sister, and then come and offer your gift. Come to terms quickly with your accuser while you are on the way to court with him, or your accuser may hand you over to the judge, and the judge to the guard, and you will be thrown into prison. Truly I tell you, you will never get out until you have paid the last penny.

"You have heard that it was said, `You shall not commit adultery.' But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart. If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away; it is better for you to lose one of your members than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away; it is better for you to lose one of your members than for your whole body to go into hell.

"It was also said, `Whoever divorces his wife, let him give her a certificate of divorce.' But I say to you that anyone who divorces his wife, except on the ground of unchastity, causes her to commit adultery; and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery.

"Again, you have heard that it was said to those of ancient times, `You shall not swear falsely, but carry out the vows you have made to the Lord.' But I say to you, Do not swear at all, either by heaven, for it is the throne of God, or by the earth, for it is his footstool, or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King. And do not swear by your head, for you cannot make one hair white or black. Let your word be `Yes, Yes' or `No, No'; anything more than this comes from the evil one.
 _______________________________________________________________________

It can be a dangerous thing to read the Bible, or to hear it read to you in church.  I can remember my childhood reaction to part of this gospel.  Full of the violent passions that are the emotional landscape of childhood, these words caught my attention and created a literal terror:  “Whoever says, ‘You fool,’ will be liable to the hell of fire.” 

I racked my brain.  Had I ever called anybody a fool?  A sigh of relief.  I couldn’t think of a particular instance.  “You fool” wasn’t one of my habitual epithets.  But there were plenty of others.  Words of insult that just exploded out of me from time to time. 

A new panic set in.  Translations?  What about translations?  I knew that Jesus didn’t speak English.  And sometimes there are multiple translations for one word.  What other English words might be covered under whatever Jesus originally said that got translated “You fool,” in this Bible?  Oh, this was bad.  There were a lot of words that I had used that were a lot like “You fool.”  Is “you idiot” the same thing?  Or just plain “stupid!”  I knew I had called somebody “stupid.”  Was I going to the “hell of fire”? 

It didn’t seem fair, though.  Just for calling someone a name in the anger of a moment…  That’s not enough to merit the “hell of fire.”  Particularly if it was an eternal sentence.  That didn’t sound like God or Jesus.  So, I relaxed a bit and said I’d probably figure it out later.  But I reminded myself, just in case – do not call anyone a fool.  It’s not worth the risk.

Some years later I learned something interesting.  Translations again.  That phrase “hell of fire.”  The word is actually “Gehenna.”  Gehenna was a real place in Jesus’ day.  It was the Jerusalem garbage dump.  It was a stinking, nasty place, where rats and wild dogs scavenged and fires continually smoldered.  So he wasn’t saying “Hell,” as in an eternal place of torment after you died.  That’s a relief.

But reinterpreting “hell of fire” to “Gehenna the garbage dump” was merely a technical solution to a systemic problem.  Whenever we are anxious, we are very tempted by technical solutions to systemic problems.  Most political sound bytes are mere technical solutions to systemic problems. 

I read this week about a distressed minister who had lost a dear member and friend from his congregation.  The friend had left to join a right wing fundamentalist church, explaining, “I work hard all week, and when I come to church, I really don’t want to think.  In my new church they just tell me what to do.”  That’s a technical solution to a systemic problem.

I might guard against the use of the term “You fool” whenever I needed a strong, exclamatory adjective, and take relief knowing that the consequences of an inadvertent slip merely references the metaphor of a first century garbage dump, but that fails to address the real problem, the anger and other self-centered emotions that reside in my heart and so often motivate my intention.

Jesus is going for something far more radical here.  He’s not merely taking an old set of prohibited behaviors – “You have heard that it was said to those of ancient times, ‘You shall not murder’” – and replacing them with an even more demanding set of prohibited behaviors – “But I say to you that if you are angry with a brother or sister, you will be liable to judgment.”  It’s far more radical than that. 

He’s gone way past laws and sanctions.  Any straight guy could tell you that when we hear “that everyone who looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart.”  And not even the most ardent fundamental Biblical literalist will condone eye gouging for looking.

Jesus is moving beyond mere behavior, beyond our actions, deeper into our motivation and intention, opening the tender territory of our internal dynamics of anger, derision, slander, alienation, false generosity, litigiousness, lust, scrupulosity and equivocating.  “It is one thing to behave rightly.  It is another thing entirely for one’s heart to be oriented toward love.  Just as it is easier to make a sacrifice at the temple than it is to do justice”[1] as Isaiah and Micah have urged us the past two Sundays.

Jesus makes it clear that what he’s interested in is more than mere behavior – looking good or just following the rules.  What Jesus wants is an internal surrender into love.  A personal transformation.  A heart transplant.  What Jesus wants is for us to love the Lord your God with all your heart and soul and mind, and to love your neighbor as yourself. 

To love God is to trust God.  To accept what is with the expectation that this is the context that God is present to us.  To trust…, even when things aren’t going the way we want them to.  To live in this new radical way, is to love anyway, because God loves first.  We see someone who is behaving stupid, like an idiot, …you fool – and we recognize this too is a child of God, infinitely beloved, bless his heart.  (And you need to resist saying that with a Southern accent.  “Bless his heart” can be another form of “You fool.”) 

Here’s the way Thomas Merton puts it.  “Ultimately, the secret of all this is perfect abandonment to the will of God in things you cannot control, and perfect obedience to [God] in everything that depends on your own volition, so that in all things, in your interior life and in your outward works for God, you desire only one thing, which is the fulfillment of [God’s] will.”[2]

All of the spiritual directors say that we don’t accomplish such abandonment by merely trying harder.  It has to go deeper than that.  It is an interior surrender.  Not unlike falling in love.  It is falling into the mystery of God. 

It starts when we let God love us completely.  With all our murderous anger and derision and lust.  When we know ourselves to be completely loved and accepted by God, then, and only then, can we face our failure and falsehood, and accept that as completely as God accepts us.  To become real, we let go of who we think we ought to be in order to be who we are.  We let God see us as we are.  God sees us as we are and loves us completely.  And we let God love us until we can rejoice even in our flaws.  That’s enough.

When we internalize that kind of divine compassion toward ourselves, then we begin to have room to be compassionate toward others.  The fires of our internal garbage dump begin to go out.  When we can look at ourselves and laugh, “You fool!  Bless your heart.”  Then we can look at another’s foolishness and laugh with unthreatened empathy, “You fool!  Bless your heart, too!”

God bless all us fools.


[1] Amy Oden, quoted by Lindy Black, Sermon Nuggets, Epiphany 6, 2011, http://web.me.com/lindyblack/Sermon_Fodder/Lectionary/Entries/2011/2/13_EPIPHANY_6A.html found at textweek.com
[2] Thomas Merton, New Seeds of Contemplation, Shambhala, Boston, 1961, p. 196.
________________________________________________________________________
The Mission of St. Paul's Episcopal Church is to explore and celebrate
God's infinite grace, acceptance and love.

For information about St. Paul's Episcopal Church and its life and mission, please contact us at
P.O. Box 1190, Fayetteville, AR 72702, or call 479/442-7373
More sermons are posted on our web site: www.stpaulsfay.org
Visit our web partners at www.explorefaith.org