"Sharing the Spirit"

Sermon delivered 9-28-03 by Lee Barstow

Laity Sunday

Union Church, Biddeford Pool, Maine

This sermon was preceded by the following readings: Ruth 1:12-18 & Ephesians 4:1 – 8, 10 – 15.

The two lessons we heard a few minutes ago speak to us about our connections to each other and all of life, and about the Spirit that is at the heart of it all. In Ruth's poetic promise to Naomi, we hear about the bonds that sustain us in our families and communities. And in Ephesians, we hear about our relationship to all of creation and to our Creator, whom we choose to call God.

These lessons speak to us about our primary mission – to share the Spirit which is the source of all there is. We do this first by becoming aware of our connectedness and our responsibility to care for one another. This opens the door. Then, as we feel the Spirit flowing, we are inspired and strengthened to share it – with ourselves, with our loved ones, in our communities and in the world. It is how we do our part. And in the mystery of God's love, it is how we find ourselves, and our happiness.

This is hard to do, and this is why I come to church – because I need help. I can't do it alone. Dealing with my own difficulties is challenging enough. Then consider how hard it is these days to maintain hope in the face of so much despair, to stay open when so many people close themselves off, to love in the midst of so much hatred. I need to know that there is a truth beyond the violence and the greed. I need to remember that I – that we – are all born of the Spirit which is true and good and strong, and which is always available to us if we will just look for it. I need to remember that when I do this, I make a difference for the good. And because I cannot do this alone, I need to gather with other people who are also working at it.

Thank God for church. It comes around every Sunday whether we're ready for it or not. Even when our lives are so hectic that we have neglected to meditate or pray or do whatever we do to connect with Spirit, Sunday comes, and we are given the gift of an uninterrupted period that is devoted to finding Spirit and sharing it. And what a blessing for our children. In the midst of the bombardment of materialism and cynicism, church is a rare place to hear what is good and true and safe.

It is one of the defining aspects of our faith that we worship together, not alone. Certainly we have our own, personal, relationship with God, and we often sustain that in solitude, but we come to the communion table together.

This is a defining aspect of our faith because it is a defining aspect of Jesus' ministry. Over and over again he tells us that we are all people of God. He throws away as garbage the elitism and exclusion of the fundamentalists of his day and invites everyone to his table – Jews and gentiles and women and everyone else who wants to know God – clean and unclean. Biblical historians tell us that the predominant image in early Christian art was not the cross but was a rendering of people eating together.

And people eating together is, of course, an image for sharing the Spirit. Indeed, Jesus uses food over and over again as a metaphor for the Spirit. The miracle of feeding the five thousand is one of only two miracle stories in all four gospels and is clearly a teaching about Spirit being our true sustenance, and about Spirit being inexhaustible. The examples go on and on – "I am the bread of life" … "Take, eat, this is my body which is broken for you" … and in the Lord's prayer, which is arguably the most powerful ever spoken, "Give us this day our daily bread."

Jesus is teaching us to know the Holy Spirit as that which sustains us, as that which defines us, as that which is the true substance of our being. Our tradition calls us the people of God because we work together to realize our true nature as spiritual beings. We affirm that our tradition is devoted to knowing God and following his will to the best of our ability. We pray that we be given knowledge of his will for us and the strength to carry it out. We long to hear and follow the urgings of the Spirit, the still small voice of God's will. We ache to be one with God.

This is why the word Love is at the core of our tradition. Love is the experience of oneness with another. When we talk about Love of God, we are talking about nothing less than the experience of oneness with the source of our very selves and all creation.

Our faith tells us that it is in God that "we live and move and have our being." When we let go into the fullness of this knowledge, into the mystery of the totality of Spirit, we understand the passage from Ephesians: "There is one body and one Spirit … one Lord, one faith, one baptism … one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in all." Love is at our very core. Experience of the Spirit is our birthright. This is the Kingdom of God, and Jesus came to teach us how to reach it.

This is a radical worldview. It is threatening to the established order because it asserts that there is something more important than the status quo. It's why he was executed. He taught that Spirit is first. Before doctrine, before profits, before politics, before all else. Spirit is the Alpha and the Omega. Where we came from and where we will go. And, if we can allow ourselves to know it, it is with us at every moment. God's kingdom is come, on earth as it is in heaven.

And so we are faced with a great irony: the Kingdom is already here. And yet living in it seems to be the hardest thing in life to do.

How can this be? Is it simply a divine paradox? Maybe, but one line of thought to which I submit says that it is so because God has given us the gift of freedom. It is the ultimate sign of respect. At any moment, we have the ability to move toward him or away from him. Spirit is always present to be chosen, and even lures us towards itself, towards our true selves, but it cannot make the choice for us. That is our job.

This is an awesome responsibility when we consider the consequences of not choosing Spirit. The evidence of this are painful, both in history and today. Indeed, the circumstances of our lives are actually the results of our choices. This is true in our personal lives as well as on the world stage. It is what Hinduism calls the Law of Karma. Our present is the result of choices we made in the past. And our future will be the result of choices we make today.

The first reading we heard earlier tells of choices that Ruth makes. She turns a deaf ear to the voices of cultural stereotype. She lets go of the promise of a good marriage in Moab. And she bears the fear of probable impoverishment. Instead, she chooses the promptings of Spirit that tell her to stay fast with her mother-in-law who needs her. In so doing, she exemplifies the introduction we heard in Ephesians for "bearing with one another in love, making every effort to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace." Her words to Naomi express the essence of sharing the Spirit: "your people shall be my people, and your God my God."

Ruth's choices are of the sort we are all given in our daily lives. And it is our ability to respond – our response-ability – that defines the contributions our lives will make. How much of a difference can it make? If you are like me, you look at the news these days and you are overwhelmed with the depths of violence and greed and inhumanity at loose in the world. There is the temptation to become depressed and hopeless, to ask, "What can I possibly do that will help?"

I propose that the answer is all around us. We can control only ourselves, and so that is where we must begin. We are given opportunities constantly to make a difference. To make the right choice. Maybe it's as simple as visiting a sick friend. Or calling them. Or taking five minutes to meditate, which is a choice to visit with God. The important thing is that every time we make such a choice, we actually make the world a better place. This is inevitable, because we really are all connected. We really are parts of a whole. Which means that when we help each other, we send a wave of love throughout the whole web of life. The result is a little more happiness, a little less despair, all around.

Here's a story from modern times that speaks to the same truth. It is a story about a man who could arguably be called the foremost spiritual teacher and peacemaker on the planet today—His Holiness the Dalai Lama of Tibet, who has heroically led his people in exile to preserve and expand Tibetan culture and wisdom. He works tirelessly to bring peace and democracy to Asia and elsewhere, for which he won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1989.

His faith tradition is different from ours, but he speaks the truth, and I use this story partly because we are in great need today to build bridges with other faith traditions and realize we all seek the same truth.

The Dalai Lama was scheduled to speak at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, that magnificent Protestant cathedral which is still being built in New York City to the glory of God. When the ceremonies began, there was standing room only—he is exotic AND legendary, after all, and people were craning to get a glimpse of him. A number of speakers preceded him, and they went on, so by the time it was time for His Holiness to speak, people were extremely well attuned to what he might say. He stood up, a small Tibetan monk in a heavy maroon robe, walked up to the microphone, and said, "We're here to help each other." And then he turned around as if to return to his seat. People gasped. "Could that possibly be all he was going to say, after all the time waiting through all the other words?" And then he hesitated, returned to the microphone, and said, "And if we can't do that, then we should try not to hurt each other." And then he did sit down.

As the Dalai Lama knows better than I ever will, at the core of our ability to help – or not to hurt – is Spirit. He might call it "the universal mind" and we might call it God, but it is the same reality.

All religions are human creations trying to describe the truth, and we all do it differently because they are born of different cultures with different languages, different symbols, different traditions. We all interpret the truth in our own ways in order to try and understand it. But the truth doesn't change. The truth is the truth no matter what we say about it. So let us see ourselves as part of a worldwide fellowship of people of God – not just a Christian fellowship – because all religions seek the same truth. It is only when we put other things before Spirit that we grow apart.

But let me return from my digression on religious unity to our main point: Spiritual growth is how we know ourselves and we help each other and the world.

This brings us back to the role of what makes our church family so valuable. Here is where remember that it is our job to help, and that we can't do it alone. Church is a place where we give help and receive help.

Church is one place where we can encounter the good news which is the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Jesus teaches us that we are all brothers and sisters, born from the same womb of God. Just and unjust. Clean and unclean. Americans and all others. Jesus teaches us that we are not alone. We have each other and we have God, who gives us everything we need, who coaxes us towards Him even while giving us the freedom to choose. And even when we fail again and again, as we inevitably do, He is with us! We need only look for his mercy and here it is, telling us to forget the past and start again. In our times of greatest darkness, when we don't believe in God or ourselves or anything else, God is with us! He has proven his willingness to suffer as we do – even unto the torture of the cross – and still stay with us to give us the strength we need as we face our own crosses again and again. He is always here, always available, always sharing the Spirit.

By coming together here and seeking to learn these lessons, we affirm our willingness to join Him in this task. We re-avow our dedication to seek his Spirit and to share it – for ourselves, for each other, and for the world.

Amen.

Prayers of the People – Union Church – September 27, 2003

Holy God, creator of the universe and of we ourselves, we thank you for all that we have and all that you call us to be, and we ask for your wisdom and strength to follow you.

We thank you for our lives and the riches that you bring us every day in our families, our friends, and all the vast variety of our experiences.

We thank you for the beauty of this place and the love that we find in our church family here.

We thank you for the food we have to eat, the clothes we have to where, and the relative safety and comfort in which we live compared to so many of our brothers and sisters.

We ask for your blessings on us and on all people, especially those whom we have heard mentioned today. Strengthen them in the knowledge of your love and mercy, and guide us in knowing how to help.

Finally, Great Spirit, we ask that you help us find the humility we need to look to you for the help you so surely give, and the willingness to respond.

Amen.