A Reflection for I Lent All
Saints’ Episcopal Church, Southern Shores, NC
February 14, 2016 Thomas
E. Wilson, Rector
One of the
themes of the lessons for today that really resonated with me has to do with
coming out of the wildernesses in our lives. The way out, the lessons suggest,
is - to use the words of the 46th Psalm - to “Be still and know that the Lord
is God”.
In
Deuteronomy, the passage advises on how to give thanks for being able to enter
into a place where the people can live free and grow. They had been slaves in
Egypt and went into the wilderness to find a new way of living. They had been
wandering for most of their lives, but now they have changed and come into an
awareness that they have entered into a new kind of life. They are to be still
and know that the Lord is God.
In the
Psalm for today, the Psalmist is singing that we hear the invitation from the
Lord to enter into a place of refuge. In
that place, we can enter into a new kind of creation where the relationship can
change us and we can live free and grow. We are to be still and know that the
Lord is God.
In the
Romans passage, Paul is telling the church in Rome that in Christ there is a
new kind of creation going on and that calls for a new kind of life. In others
parts of the Letter to the Romans, Paul is saying that before they knew Christ
they had been wandering, but since they have brought Christ into their lives,
there is a whole new way of looking at the world. It is time now to live free
and grow and to be still and know that the Lord is God.
In the
Gospel lesson, Jesus is in the wilderness and he is trying to find his true
self. The temptations are: 1)to make the stones into bread and thereby view his
own needs as the reason for his being, 2) to be the Ruler of the Kingdoms of the
World and thereby find meaning in the performance of mastery over others, 3) to
throw himself off the Temple and thereby impress others. He turns from those
temptations and knows that he is to be still and know that the Lord is God, and
he finds refuge and strength from God’s angels.
These are
the temptations we all have as we grow up. We begin life being expelled from
the world we once knew in the womb and we enter into a wilderness. We have to learn a new way of living and
meeting our own needs becomes the center of our lives. Babies cry when they
need to be fed and gradually they learn how to manipulate their environment and
get people to meet their needs. That is good - that is how the ego develops and
we are able to see ourselves as having
the power to get our needs met, one way or another. Our worth is determined by
what we are able to have or have control over.
The second
step in life is to develop a mastery over people, places, and things. Here is
where education comes in . I remember the words of my father as he encouraged me
to work hard in school so that I could
be a success instead of a mere functionary.
He would say, “Life is a lot easier when you are standing on top of the
ditch telling others how you want the ditch dug rather than being down in the
ditch getting orders from someone else.” This is good, for our ego wants us to
be masters of our universes. Our worth is determined by our performance.
The third
temptation is to be impressive and show people all that we can do as our ego
demands that people pay attention to us.
Our worth is determined by the opinions of others.
So far so
good, except that when we sell ourselves out to judging our worth based on our
possessions, performances, and the opinions of others, we lose sight of who we
are and enter into a wilderness of being “human doings” instead of “human
beings”. We are strangers to ourselves.
It is now time to be still and know that the Lord is God - not our possessions,
not our accomplishments, and not the opinions of others.
Let me
tell you about a church I visited when I
visited my daughter recently. I had been there on a previous visit years ago.
It is a beautiful building and they have lots of money. I had walked a mile
from my daughter’s house on a beautiful spring day and was impressed with the
outside. Inside, while it was pretty, it was the early service and no one spoke
to me - even the usher handing me the bulletin did not look at me. There was a
quiet in the place, but there was no stillness; there was only sullenness, for
they seemed not to attend the service to come out of the wildernesses of their
souls, but they came bringing their wildernesses
with them and nursing their resentments.
The service was straightforward, and the sermon was a collection of
lamentations about the way the world was going to hell in a handbasket and how
the larger Episcopal Church was being sold out to moral libertines, scriptural
illiterates, and theological midgets. There is an old saying that Scripture is
the Sword of Truth; well, that priest knew
a heck of a lot of scripture, but he was using it as a club instead of a sword.
There was so much anger in that place; I felt like I was in the
wilderness. And maybe it was my
imagination, but when I came up for communion, I thought it was being given to
me grudgingly because I had not proved my worth to receive it. I left muttering
all the way to my daughter’s house because I surely was not in love and charity
with my neighbor and perhaps was indeed unworthy to receive. I made the
decision that I would never darken the doorway of that place ever again.
Over the
years I would read about this church and its attempts to divide the
congregation. It was a sordid mess.
After the dust had cleared, the Bishop brought in an interim to bring about
healing, and he was followed by yet another interim. During my recent visit was the last Sunday
that this Interim was going to be there because the Rector-elect was on his
way. On that particular Sunday I needed to go to a church for I was feeling
like I was in a sort of wilderness with anxiety over some people I love. I need
to be still and know that the Lord is God and thought the comforting presence
of a religious ritual would help. So I set off in the snow to walk the mile to the
church for the 8:00 service. The building
looked the same and yet everything was different. I got there before the ushers got there, so I
picked up my own bulletin and went to a pew. The quiet was there, but in place
of sullen silence there was a peaceful stillness as I closed my eyes to
meditate. I looked up and there was an Episcopal Franciscan Friar stopping at
my pew, and he enfolded me in an embrace of welcome as if I had come home. The
service followed that welcoming and I was treated to one of the best sermons I
had ever heard. The Interim related his
experiences of being privileged to have served at this place where, 31 years
ago as a senior in Seminary, he had taken his diocesan canonical exams. The
Priest was a deeply spiritual man, and I could feel that the Lord was in that
place. There was no need to have anxiety about what I possessed, or what I had
accomplished, or if I needed to impress.
All I had to do was to be still and know that the Lord is God, and I was
fed by angels who shared refuge and strength.
I stole
the invitation to communion and the
blessing they used, which are in today’s bulletin - I only steal from the best.
Later in the presentation after the service, the Senior Warden commented on how
the interim always ended his sermons, and I remembered it from a Franciscan
retreat years ago. So let me share that with you. Just repeat each line after
me.
Be still
and know that the Lord is God.
Be still
and know the Lord
Be still
and know
Be Still
Be
Walking
one anxious step in front of another
waiting to
find places to make holy sacrifices
of weighty
burden turning it to fragrant spices
when I was
accosted by Franciscan brother
who
without words started lifting burdened.
Come unto
me you who are heavy laden
and I will
give you rest from a faux Eden.
Be now
still, turn wilderness to verdanted,
transform
seeing scarcity into an abundance,
encourage
shy participating in joyful dance.
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