"Never Give Up" Jeremiah 31:27-34 & Luke 18:2-5
"The Summer Day" by Mary Oliver
Who made the world?. . . [full text available if you click here] . . .
Tell me, what it is you plan to do
With your one wild and precious life?
We could identify many reasons for cultivating a personal spiritual discipline, but for me what it all boils down to is the question Mary Oliver poses at the conclusion of her poem: What is it I plan to do with my one wild and precious life?
Even back before most of us were born, the Quaker writer Thomas Kelly seems to have known us:
"Strained by the very mad pace of our daily outer burdens…
strained by an inward uneasiness...
[sensing] that there is a way of life vastly richer and deeper than all this hurried existence...
If only we could slip over into that Center!
If only we could find the Silence which is the source of sound!
We have all "seen and known...people
who seem to have found this deep Center of living
where the fretful calls of life are integrated,
where No as well as Yes can be said with confidence."
In Jesus' parable the unjust judge is not an image of God, but may be like us! The judge says:
1. I have no fear of God. [I don't listen to the 1st and greatest commandment, to love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your strength, with all your mind.]
2. I have no respect for anyone. [I don't listen to the 2nd, to love my neighbor as myself.]
3. Even so, I will listen to this persistent widow, because she keeps bothering me, and I can see that she will never give up.
Like the persistent widow, God will never give up on us, never stop pestering, bothering, reaching out and trying to open our hearts to a relationship with the divine.]
The 17-century Carmelite, Brother Lawrence, found God (as he said) amid the pots and pans of the monastery kitchen. His testament is found in The Practice of the Presence of God, (pp. 60-62) "There is no mode of life in the world more pleasing and more full of delight than continual conversation with God; only those who practice and experience it can understand it. I do not, however, advise you to pursue it for this purpose. We should not be seeking consolation from this practice, but let us do it motivated by love and because God wishes it. . . . I cannot understand how religious people can live contented lives without the practice of the presence of God. For myself I withdraw as much as I can to the deepest recesses of my soul with [God], and while I am thus with [God] I fear nothing: but the least running away from [God] is hell for me. . . . Do not be discouraged by the resistance you will encounter from your human nature; you must go against your human inclination. Often, in the beginning, you will think that you are wasting time, but you must go on, be determined and persevere in it until death, despite all the difficulties."
My busy, over-committed, stressed-out sisters and brothers of PCMK, our lives can be richly satisfying—filled with purpose, peace, freedom, and love. We can learn to say NO as well as YES. Genuine satisfaction is found only in a relationship with the deep Center of living. That alone can satisfy our hearts. In that Center we find everything our hearts have longed for! Most of us call that Center God. We follow Jesus, the One who was in a deep relationship with God and taught us the way into that relationship.
God yearns for connection with us, but won't force it upon us. God did not make us puppets who would be forced to love. We have the freedom to follow God or to go our own way. God yearns for a deep relationship of love and faithfulness with us. That is the Good News of Jesus.
Revelations 3:20 says: "I am standing at the door, knocking; if you hear my voice and open the door, I will come in to you and eat with you, and you with me." Have you ever had a little kid come to the door to sell you a candy bar. They are looking in the windows. They can hardly wait to see you open the door. I can just see Jesus at the door looking through the glass, saying, "I know you're in there. I've got something for you. Come on. You don’t want to miss this. I've got a special gift for you. It's already paid for. Come on, open the door."
Thomas Kelly's Testament of Devotion says: Let me talk very intimately and very earnestly with you about [the One] who is dearer than life. Do you really want to live your lives, every moment of your lives, in [God's] Presence? Do you long for [God], crave [God]? Do you love [God's] Presence? Does every drop of blood in your body love [God]? Does every breath you draw breathe a prayer, a praise to [God]? Do you sing and dance within yourselves, as you glory in [God’s] love? Have you set yourselves to be [God's], and only [God's], walking every moment in holy obedience?
I know I'm talking like an old-time evangelist. But I can't help that, nor dare I restrain myself and get prim and conventional. We have too long been prim and restrained. The fires of the love of God, of our love toward God, and of [God's] love toward us, are very hot. "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and soul and mind and strength."
Do we really do it? Is love steadfastly directed toward God, in our minds, all day long? Do we intersperse our work with gentle prayers and praises to [God]? Do we live in the steady peace of God, a peace down at the very depths of our souls, where all strain is gone and God is already victor over the world, already victor over our weaknesses?
This life, this abiding, enduring peace that never fails, this serene power and unhurried conquest, inward conquest over ourselves, outward conquest over the world, is meant to be ours. It is a life that is freed from strain and anxiety and hurry, for something of the Cosmic Patience of God becomes ours. Are our lives unshakable, because we are clear down on bed rock, rooted and grounded in the love of God? This is the first and the great commandment.
You know the spiritual seeker who came to a crossroads. One sign said "this way to heaven." The other said, "this way to a committee meeting to discuss the way to heaven." The traveler went to the committee meeting, because he was a Presbyterian.
A discussion of heaven is not heaven. A sermon about prayer is not prayer. But we can be praying while listening to or preaching a sermon. We can be living in heaven, even as we have our feet firmly planted on the earth.
How? Breathing prayer... "In/Out" "Yes/Thanks"
CONCLUDE WITH PRAYER. [much of this prayer taken from the Presbyterian Brief Statement of Faith]
We give you our praise and thanks, O God, for all gifts of love we have received from you, and for your persistent mercy in Jesus Christ. Especially we thank you for
Your everlasting love, in which you chose a covenant people to bless all families of the earth.
Like a mother who will not forsake her nursing child,
like a father who runs to welcome the prodigal home,
You are eternally faithful. . .
In a broken and fearful world your Spirit gives us courage to pray without ceasing,
to witness among all peoples to Christ as Lord and Savior,
to unmask idolatries in church and culture,
to hear the voices of peoples long silenced,
and to work with others for justice, freedom, and peace.
With believers in every time and place,
we rejoice that nothing in life or in death
can separate us from your love in Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen.
--Jack Lohr, Interim Pastor
No comments:
Post a Comment