A
Reflection for XVII Pentecost (proper 22) All Saints’ Church,
Southern Shores, N.C. October 5, 2014 Thomas E. Wilson, Rector
The
Old Man and the Ten Words of Living Water
Setting:
Top of a rocky volcanic mountain covered in smoke and occasional
flashes of fire. The Old Man climbs up and wipes his face with his
sleeve. He rests on his staff as he is exhausted and out of breath.
Old
Man: Whew! That hike up here to the top of this mountain was hard. I
am not as young as I used to be... (Calling out) All right - here I
am for our meeting. (Pause) I said “Here I am, Lord. It is I,
Lord. I have heard you calling in the night”. Do you have anything
to say to me here in the daylight? I can’t se-e-e-e you!
Voice:
Here I am.
Old
Man: Where?
Voice: You
are standing on me. I am the ground of your being, and your feet are
standing on solid ground.
Old
man: Wait a minute. I know that voice. Are you the rock?
Rock: Good
ear! I am a rock/ I am no longer an i-i-i-sland/ for this rock feels
the pain/ and this rock does cry.
Old
Man: But you are not God.
Rock: As
they say in other places “the God in me greets the God in you”.
We find God in the depths of each other’s soul. God is, in God’s
very being, relationship - the relationship between speaker and word
and the word and the spirit in the depth of the word. You humans
would feel more comfortable with God as a very simple creature, an
“old man above the sky” kind of being made in your own image -
but God is not A
being but BEING
itself. If you tried to compress God into your little primitive mind,
your brain would probably explode. There is a reason God doesn’t
want you to make graven images because any definition of the
indefinable is by its very nature incomplete. Just accept the fact
that God is here in the Holy Space within you and in the Holy Space
between us.
Old
Man: All right. So if the Divine one does not want graven imageS, are
there any other rules that I need to get?
Rock: What
- you want things written in stone? Ouch - that hurts to think about
it.
Old
Man: Tough, but I would like some guidelines about how a community is
to act. This group that I am leading in this wilderness is driving me
up a tree. I need to know what is in and what is out.
Rock: You
want a list of do’s and don’ts?
Old
Man: That sounds good. The Babylonians had a Code under Hammurabi
about 600 years ago, and the Egyptians had a code that informed the
Book of the Dead. It laid out what was right and what was wrong.
Rock: But,
if God is relationship, then what kind of intimate relationship will
you have with a bunch of rules? I always thought that intimate
relationships were an art, not a science. How about something like
“Dance with one another in love to God’s music”?
Old
Man: No! I want something that tells me exactly what God wants from
me.
Rock: How
about asking people to love God and neighbor? Would not fiery love
set humans free?
Old
Man: It needs to be more than that. The thing is that we humans tend
to grasp life, time, treasure, things, and space instead of holding
hands in a dance. I need laws that protect God from having to
associate with people not worthy of the Divine.
Rock: That
misses the point. The point is not our worth but God’s love.
Old
Man: How about if what I am asking for is a bunch of dance steps? How
about 10 dance steps to define the dance?
Rock: But
where is the freedom in that?
Old
Man: People don’t like freedom all that much. God gives us freedom
and we feel uncomfortable with that freedom.
Rock: How
about if we start off the dance rules with defining the dance
partner? God is the dance partner with you and your neighbor - not
your servant, not an object to be made in your own image and used for
your own purposes. The dance is a holy relationship in a family of
love.
Old
Man; That is a good beginning. Let’s refer that to the
sub-committee on style, and let that be divided into three rules
about how we deal with God as an awe-filled presence in our lives,
one for how we deal with time, and one for how we deal with the
families in which we live. That is, uh, let’s see, five of the ten
words. But we need to do some “thou shalt nots” about how we deal
with neighbor, and we should be more specific than “thou shall not
step on the dance partner’s toes.”
Rock: So,
what would toe stomping look like?
Old
Man: Things like violence, cheating, stealing, lying, and being
grasping. Yeah, that about covers it! We will send that to the
committee as well, and they will probably want to add clarifications
and exemptions.
Rock: Let’s
try it as ten words for a new day, a new life, and a new soul. But
the hope is that we don’t just put the words up on the wall and
forget that it is loving that is the center. If we do forget, maybe
God will keep reminding us.
The
Old Man and the Ten Words of Living Water
Responding
to your awe-filled words;
What
do you want from me?
Your
fire setting me free for you
Without
wounding your very being?
What
do you want from me?
Can
I keep my hands from grasping,
Without
wounding your very being,
Holy
time, talent, treasure, neighbor?
Can
I keep my hands from grasping
Ten
carved words on my stony heart,
Holy
time, talent, treasure, neighbor
For
a new day, a new will, a new soul.
Ten
carved words on my stony heart.
Your
fire setting me free for you
For
a new day, a new will, a new soul,
Responding
to your awe-filled words.
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