Awakening

“Awakening”

Sermon for MCC New Haven

June 9, 2013

Rev. Brian Hutchison, M.Div.

Texts:

1 Kings 17:8-24

Luke 7:11-17

         Every day, billions of people wake up in the morning, just to sleepwalk through the day. I don’t mean that their Ambien hasn’t worn off, and I’m not talking about sleep disorders. I’m talking about going about life spiritually asleep. This isn’t a judgment on other’s lives. It’s rather an observation that I and countless others have made and written about. Recently, I talked about the book The Four Agreements. The premise of this book is that most people are living a nightmare. Don Miguel Ruiz calls this “The dream of the planet.” In this nightmare, we are stuck in a cycle of judging ourselves more harshly than anyone could ever judge us, and in return feeling victimized by our own self-judgment. The inner Judge and the inner Victim cause negative thoughts to go round and round in our heads in a never-ending cycle. But there is hope. We all have the ability to wake up… but we must choose to.

         I remember a story that has been passed down from generation to generation of a man who lived in India before the time of Jesus. He was a prince, guarded within the confines of his wealthy family’s home. He was never allowed to leave the family property because his parents never wanted him to experience suffering. The boy’s name was Siddhartha. Eventually, he broke through the gates and saw the city for what it was: poverty, sickness, death, suffering. He was angry with his parents for sheltering him from these things. He began to wonder, “What can I do to help?” After questioning the Hindu priests about how to stop the suffering, and not finding a sufficient answer, Siddhartha found a bodhi tree and sat under it. He sat for a very long time and contemplated all he had seen and heard. Eventually, Siddhartha had a mystical experience in which he became “awake” or “enlightened.” From that point on in his life, he sought to teach others enlightenment. His students called him “Buddha” or “Enlightened One.” Buddhists over the past two-and-a-half millennia have not worshipped Buddha as god, but rather followed his teachings that are said to lead to inner peace and a prosperous life.

         I keep a couple little Buddha statues around the house to remind me of Buddha’s message of waking up. It is very easy to spiritually go back to sleep. When you ask people, “How are you?” how often do you hear them say, “I’m tired.” Some people have physical conditions that make them physically tired, and many people work long hours- even several jobs. So physical and emotional fatigue from these things is understandable. But I think behind a lot of people’s confession of being tired is a spiritual fatigue. We don’t want to admit it because that might mean that we’re not strong or aren’t doing what we are “supposed to do” to be spiritually awake. There goes the inner Judge again! We hold in emotional poison because it’s something we can control. Some of us put excessive poisons in our bodies so we don’t have to face the living nightmare. But the irony is that the body becomes tolerant to substances over time and it takes more and more to numb the pain. For those of us who are not addicts, casual use of substances is not harmful. But for those with a propensity for addiction, any use can lead to a downward spiral of unloving actions toward themselves and others. I have heard the testimonies. For addicts, walking up spiritually means practicing sobriety.

         The truth of most of our lives here is that we have enough food, clean water, shelter, and necessities to at least get by. Compared to a great amount of the world that lives in poverty, we have a lot! (Amen?) Some of us have partners, friends and family we are close to, and we all have our MCC community for support. So we can all say we have people that love us. Not all people can say that. So why do we choose to live the nightmare?

         I think today’s readings from Scripture can give us some insight. Our first reading was about the prophet Elijah from the Tanakh (the Hebrew Testament). The prophet comes to the town of Zarephath. Whenever reading Scripture, knowing what the names of towns and people mean gives a lot of insight into the meaning behind the text. Zarephath means, “refining shop.” Zarephath is said to have been a town where precious metals were refined in refiner’s fires to burn out all of the impurities. Throughout the Bible, the image of the refiner’s fire is used as a metaphor for the purification of the human spirit. We have to be careful with the word “pure” or “purify” because it is commonly used now to mean taking the pleasure out of life. That’s what the Puritans of New England were all about. And unfortunately Puritanism has not died; it has just taken on new names within the realm of fundamentalism. But that’s not what this story about Elijah is about. Rather, this story is about Elijah using the power of God to refine the lives of a widow and her son.

         At first, it seems like a terrible thing for Elijah to ask the poor widow to use the last of her food to feed him. But if we read the story as allegory, we can see that food is a metaphor here for spiritual food or life force. The story is teaching us that when we have a scarcity mentality about what we each have to provide spiritually to our loved ones and to our world, we cannot live abundantly. Elijah had great faith in God’s power to bring life in places where there seemed to be none. And so when the widow’s son had died, Elijah prayed that the child be filled with life again. This story is not about how to do ancient CPR. No, this story is to show us that even when we feel dead inside, like God isn’t listening, resurrection is possible.

         The Gospel of Luke tells a similar story that scholars believe to be written to mirror the story of Elijah from 1 Kings. Jesus is said to have met a widow as well, but in the town of Nain. In Hebrew, Nain means “lovely” or “green pastures.” So the tragic event of a widow’s only son’s death does not match the town name. But it does teach us what the natural state of our being should be: lovely. As the 23^rd Psalm says, “I lead you through green pastures.” The widow and her son thought they were in a barren desert, not on green pastures. But Jesus proves them otherwise. Without even touching the son, Jesus tells him to rise- and he does. Jesus’ good word brought life to people he encountered. He helped all the people he could to become spiritually awake.

         Jesus’ example brings me to ask you the question today, “Do your word bring others to spiritual awakening or does your word make people want to go to sleep?” I certainly hope my sermons don’t make you want to go to sleep J The word is a very powerful thing. It can cast nasty spells on others by decreasing their self worth, or it can bring healing by affirming their sacred value as beloved children of God. I think we all do some of both, but our aim as followers of Christ is to practice healing words, not spells.

         A Course in Miracles states, “Could it be some dreams are kept and others wakened from? The choice is not between which dreams to keep, but only if you want to live in dreams or to awaken from them. This it is: the miracle does not select some dreams to leave untouched by its beneficence. You cannot dream some dreams and wake from some, for you are either sleeping or awake. And dreaming goes with only one of these. The dreams you think you like would hold you back as much as those in which the fear is seen. For every dream is but a dream of fear, no matter what the form it seems to take. The fear is seen within, without, or both. Or it can be disguised in pleasant form” (29:25-26).

         Deuteronomy 30:19 puts it clearly for us: “ [God says,] ‘I call heaven and earth to witness [to] you today that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Choose life…” As strange as it sounds to us spoken aloud, the truth is that we too often choose death and the curse. The inner Victim seeks pity, confusing pity with love. We don’t need to be pitied to be loved. What God wants is for us to celebrate our lives. That is the meaning of being awake. And that is the truest meaning of LGBT Pride. The ego kind of pride is unloving and that is why it is listed as a sin across religions. But pride in our beauty as God has made us is God’s will and our destiny.

         As each of us practices being spiritually awake, we wake up others as well. The refiner’s fire spreads like wildfire if we let it. Today, may we allow the Divine Refiner’s Fire to purify our hearts that we may be resurrected into life on those beautiful green pastures of abundant life. We can live Heaven on earth. And so it is. Amen.