Do You Really Believe? 3-23-14

God, grant us the grace to know what you are saying to us today.  Grant us the courage to align our outer lives with our inner beliefs.  Amen

            Parker Palmer wrote a wonderful book called The Hidden Wholeness: the Journey toward an Undivided Life.  I read it probably 4 years ago; and, still its wisdom calls to me.  It altered the way I think about my own spirituality and the need to have my inner and outer lives in congruence.  As I have journeyed over the last four years, I am much more aware of when my inner spiritual life is at odds with what I am actually doing in the world.  And my heart is called back to wholeness.  Palmer writes “The divided life may be endemic, but wholeness is always a choice.  Once I have seen my dividedness, do I continue to live a contradiction—or do I try to bring my inner and outer worlds back into harmony?  Being whole is a self-evident good, so the answer would seem to be clear.  And yet, as we all know, it is not.”  

            All three of our readings today are calling us to this same wholeness.  Palmer writes that there is a “familiar pattern of evasion” of wholeness that many of us use when first we come to believe that our inner and outer lives are indeed divided against themselves.           First, though, we must wonder aloud about how we come to this knowledge that we are not living in the fullness of the wholeness that is possible.  Paul gives us an easy test:  “…if the way you live isn’t consistent with what you believe, then it’s wrong.”  As usual, I would opt for a kinder, gentler approach both with myself and with you.  I would and do ask myself and you three brief questions.

·        When you have the chance to be quiet, is your spirit at rest?  I find that when I am not living an ‘undivided life’ that I cannot really find a place where I am at rest.  Incidents keep jumping into my thoughts that point me to exactly where I am out of wholeness.  Everything, and I mean everything that I regard as failures in my life are examples of when my inner and outer lives have been out of whack.  Think about it for a minute.  Those so-called failures or disappointments can point us directly to where we are in ‘the journey toward an undivided life’.   Instead of seeing them as failures, I can rejoice that the evidence has been given to me and I can choose to live in ways that are consistent with what I believe about myself and the world.

·        Second, how judgmental are you?  It is my experience that the more we find fault with others, the more those others are mirroring what we are unhappy with in ourselves.  So, I would suggest that the next time those judgmental feelings start creeping in that you and I immediately look at the gift the other person has given to us by pointing out to us ways our lives are divided.

·        Finally, how much time do we spend alone with God?  When I wish to avoid the answer to a question, I find it quite effective to never go where I know the answer will be.  So, when I find myself avoiding time alone with God, I ask myself what it is that I do not want to know.  And, then, if I am brave, I go to where the answer lies.

Let’s say, just so the sermon has someplace to go, that God has shown you or me an area of our lives where our outer lives are inconsistent with our spiritual beliefs.  Palmer’s ‘familiar pattern of evasion’ helps us look at our usual response.  “First”, writes Palmer, “comes denial:  surely what I have seen about myself cannot be true!”  We know that the disciples of Jesus experienced this over and over again.  In fact, their denial often frustrated Jesus.  Their “say it isn’t so” often got in the way of their grasp of what Jesus was teaching them. 

In our passage today, Jesus is explaining why he used metaphors in his teaching and that the hour has come for plain speech.  The disciples basically say, “Well, it’s about time!”  They tell Jesus that they do understand what he is saying and that they believe he is from Abba God.  Jesus, who knows their hearts better than they know themselves, asks, “Do you really believe?”  He then tells them—gives them a hint of what not to do if they really believe—he tells them that they will scatter and he will face his worst test alone from human company.  So, when I feel a ‘not me, I would never do such a thing’ a little too loudly in my head, it is best if I stop, listen again and see if there isn’t more than a little truth in what I have just heard from God or others. 

Rev. Elder Nancy speaks to this far more eloquently than I have.  When it comes to aligning our spirits with God’s spirit, she says, “We are resigned to isolation and hurt; we are skeptical, tired in our spirits, and full of unfulfilled ideas and yearnings. But just scratch the surface, and we are open to liberation, miracles, healing -- and to eating, drinking, and connecting with the Holy One.”  And so I ask, are you open today to have your surface scratched?  Along with worship, isn’t that what ‘church’ is all about—a place where we can come to have our surfaces opened to reveal that precious place where we can connect with the Holy One?

Secondly, according to Palmer, “comes equivocation:  the inner voice speaks softly, and truth is a subtle, slippery thing, so how can I be sure of what my soul is saying?”  In my own spiritual life, I find that the Spirit of the Sacred will not give up.  It’s not a catch as catch can kind of relationship.  Paul tells us to cultivate our own relationship with God.  It is through this cultivation of quiet time and inner connection with the Sacred that is within us that we will come to trust.  Then we will recognize this equivocation for what it is—an excuse, pure and simple, to make it easier somehow to walk away from this undivided life to which we are called.

Then Palmer tells us, “next comes fear:  if I let that inner voice dictate the shape of my life, what price might I have to pay in a world that sometimes punishes authenticity?”  Many of you know that I do Facebook as another way of connecting with all of you and my friends from afar.  One of you asked a question on Facebook this week that, although I have thought about it before, this time I thought about it in the context of this sermon.  The question was something like this, “How often when someone asks you how you are, do they really want to know?”  Good question—stopped me in my tracks at least for a moment.  And the comments were mostly that no one believes that anyone does really want to know.  In such a simple way as this, authenticity is punished in our world.  People want to believe that everything is ok, with you and with them.  And, so, if all of a sudden, we start telling people how we really are, what life and God is like for us, people may well start crossing over to the other side of the proverbial street when they see us coming. 

Authenticity is punished in other, more serious ways as well.  Think of the whistleblower in a corrupt company.  That punishment used to be so swift and so punitive that laws were passed to protect the so-called “whistle-blower”.  What about the role of the whistle-blower in the faith community.  Do we make it safe for people to live their own authenticity when that authenticity lies crosswise from something the faith community may have done or is doing?

Rev. Elder Nancy speaks to this as well when she writes of Jesus’ interaction with the woman at the well.  She notes, “Jesus' transgressive behavior in making a social and spiritual connection with this woman frightens and bewilders the disciples. He takes them to places and encounters they might avoid otherwise. Where is Jesus taking you -- taking us -- that might scandalize others?....”

Palmer has two more patterns:  cowardice and avarice.  By cowardice, Palmer is referring to our desire to stay with what we know rather than brave the world of the unknown.  The way of our current road is well-traveled and familiar.  If we vow to allow God to change our outer life to match our inner life, we may find ourselves on some unfamiliar roads.  Do we have the courage to see where those unfamiliar roads lead?  I believe we do.  By avarice, Parker is referring to those situations where we are rewarded in some way for living less than authentically.  That reward may be seen as significant enough in order for us to “stifle our soul”.  That’s a hard one for those of us who ‘live large’ in a world that calls for us to simplify so that others might have enough to survive. 

And, so, here we have it—are we ready to live undivided lives?  Are we ready to be an undivided faith community—where all that we say we believe is evident in what we do?  I believe that we are.  Not all faith communities and not all people choose the unknown road, but I believe that we will.  It is up to you and you and you and me.  We can do this together.  May it be so for all of us and for Open Circle.  Amen and amen.