Deviant Accusations

 

Mark 3:20-35

Proper 5 / Year B

I trust our children today still learn the adage “sticks and stones may break your bones but names will never hurt me.”  It has been around at least since the early 1800s and serves as an effect reminder not to let the words of bullies get you riled.  The only problem is names actually can hurt you, at least according to sociologists who research what they call “deviant accusations” or “negative labeling” and examine how it can undermine a person’s status in the community.  Think about how peoples’ lives were changed in the 50s by being tagged ‘pinko’ or ‘commie.’  Does it make a difference in school if you are labeled a ‘shining star’ or a ‘trouble-maker’?  You bet it does.  I remember the first time a person called me a ‘snowflake.’  I had never heard the term before, but knew inherently it was not a complement.

In first century Israel, labels had a devastating effect on how a person was perceived and treated.  How often in the gospels is a person referred to as being a ‘sinner’ and how often is Jesus criticized for associating with them?  Being labeled ‘unclean’ got a person barred from social gatherings.  Being known as ‘barren’ became a horrifying stigma. 

This morning, we read of Jesus being the recipient of two deviant accusations; each coming from a source which carries a lot of weight.  The first comes from his own family, his mother and siblings.  They show up at a public gathering where Jesus is the center of attention; intending a kind of intervention because they believe Jesus has lost his mind – literally gone crazy.  It is early on in his public ministry and they don’t know how else to make sense out of what he is saying and doing. 

The other deviant accusation comes from religious authorities; respected and admired community leaders.  They assert Jesus is demon possessed.  It is how they make sense of his power and attempt to explain his deeds.  The accusation of sorcery, if made to stick, would be nearly impossible to shake.   

Sticks and stones, right.  Wrong.  The accusations hurled at Jesus are potent social weapons holding the potential to undermine his public standing and reputation.  If accepted, they will destroy his credibility with the very people he is trying to touch with God’s love.

So, labeling theory holds people view a person or a group differently once they have been labeled.  Think how your perception of a person changes when, for example, they have the word ‘criminal’ attached to them.  The label changes how we see them.  But it also changes them.  Once they are tagged with ‘criminal’, they see themselves differently.  It will reshape and perhaps even overtake their own self-identity.

The phrase “looking glass self” was first coined by Charles Cooley in 1902.  It describes how a person’s sense of self is dependent upon how one believes he or she appears to others.  He based this theory on his observations of childhood social development:

First, we imagine how we appear to others.

Next, we imagine how others are judging us based on how they appear to response to us (this is where deviant labeling fits in).

Finally, we imagine how others feel about us based on the judgments they make.

Cooley emphasized each one of us has the ability to decide which judgements to accept when forming a sense of self and which to reject.  How much weight do you give to your supporters and how much credence do you give to your detractors?

Having your family say you’re out of your mind and having religious leaders accuse you of being demon-possessed must have been unsettling to Jesus.  He dismisses the second accusation by asserting you cannot work against something while at the same time being for it – “a house divided against itself cannot stand.” 

He mitigates the first deviant accusation by redefining how he experiences ‘family’ in his life.  Yes, he has a mother and siblings and, based on today’s story at least, we can assume there are some interesting dynamics at play in their family.  We tend to romanticize the family unit; positing it to be a place of complete peace and harmony.  Some are.  Most are not.  Something is amiss with Jesus’ family of origin.  We don’t know what it is, but in those who gather around him, who seek to know and do God’s will, Jesus finds a family even closer than his biological relatives – just as each of us here this morning comes from our own interesting family of origin and finds in our wider faith community a new kind of family.

I suspect Jesus, upon being labeled crazy and possessed, recalled another time he was labeled.  It was the time he rose out of the waters of the Jordon River and heard God’s voice proclaim, “You are my child.  I love you.  With you I am well-pleased.”  It is the same label we received at baptism and it is irrevocable.  I suspect Jesus leaned heavily upon how God responded to him.  I suspect it helped him to sort through the deviant accusations he endured.  And I hope you will always, always, always lean on your baptismal label as being the foundation of who you are.  

Sabbath

 

Mark 2:23-3:6

Proper 4 / Year A

Some of you remember Art Bunton, who passed away in 2013.  He had a tendency after church to flag me down in the Parish Hall.  “Sit down here,” he would say to me, tapping a chair next to his.  “I have a question for you,” he would say in droll, drawn out way of speaking.  “Where is everyone?”  I was never quite sure who the ‘everyone’ was he was referring to.  “You need to preach a sermon and tell these people they need to be in church.”  My response: “Why would I preach a sermon about the importance of being in church to the people who are already in church?”  Art and I had this same conversation at least a dozen different times.

I have known clergy who, at Christmas and Easter, jabbingly remind people the church will be open for worship the next Sunday.  I have never found shaming and blaming folks who are not in church to be an effective approach to change behavior.  Nor do I think those not here can be ‘argued’ into attending through a thoughtful sermon addressing the subject (especially if they are not in church to begin with!). 

And many are not.  A study group has learned in the decade since Art Bunton passed away those who say religion is an important part of their life has declined from 63% to 52%.  In fact, almost a quarter of Americans consider themselves religiously unaffiliated.  Researchers are working hard to come up with new names to describe these emerging groups.  “Nonverts” refers to people who were once religiously affiliated, but are no longer.  “Cradle Nons” refer to people who from birth have never been a part of a faith community.

What are the results of this disengagement?  This past week, two professors from the University of Indianapolis posted an op-ed piece which addresses this very question.  They suggest not being a part of a faith community contributes to a loss of identity and the depletion of shared community values.  It creates a deficiency of trust and shallowness of caring about others.  It leads to disconnection and increased loneliness.  Those who are not a part of a faith community on average are less likely to participate in other kinds of civic engagement, things like social groups and signing petitions.

It is a bleak picture, and, as I said, no sermon is likely going to result in you having to give up your favorite pew to the hordes of people who are coming back after I finish preaching today.  Sorry Art.  But here is what I can do this morning.  I can help you to think more deeply about why religious affiliation matters to you and to have more clarity about how it shapes your life.

This morning’s readings from Scripture invite us to reflect on keeping the Sabbath – one day a week set aside solely for religious observance.  How important is it?  Well, it makes it into the Ten Commandments… so pretty important.  These commandments appear twice in the Old Testament: in the Book of Exodus and in today’s reading from Deuteronomy.  The two readings cite different theological rationales for keeping a weekly day of religious devotion.

In Exodus Moses tells us to keep the Sabbath because for six days God created and on the seventh day God rested.  Sabbath keeping, then, is a way of remembering in whose image we are made.  It invites us to embrace God’s communicable attributes at work in us: love, faithful, goodness, mercy, wisdom, justice, etc.  It shifts our focus away from me, myself, and I to Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  In subtle and not so subtle ways, our regular participation in this parish makes us different people; not necessarily better than others but definitely more like who we are created to be.

In Deuteronomy Moses tells us to keep the Sabbath because when we were slaves in Egypt we never had a day of rest.  We worked non-stop seven days a week.  Keeping Sabbath reminds us the world will get along with us for a little while, that we cannot rest only once all the work is done (because our work is never completely done), that we are not human doings, rather we are human beings.  Through Sabbath observance we reject the yoke of slavery in all its many forms and acknowledge we belong to God.

Sabbath-keeping is essential to human health and flourishing, but by Jesus’ day it has become overregulated by centuries of traditions monitored and enforced by religious authorities.  Throughout his earthly ministry – through his actions and teachings – Jesus works to free people from the Sabbath in order to keep the Sabbath.  He strips away the burden in order to reveal the life.

I hope you sense this place to be a place of life, not burden.  The Pew Research Center found people like you and me value our religious affiliation for several reasons.  We come here because it is a place where we can be happy.  Here we make and listen to music.  We learn things here, meet people, and find a sense of peace.  This is where we gain a sense of belonging.  We are able to support others when they need a helping hand and to receive support when we need it.  Here we connect with God through worship, prayer, music, reflection, and the sacraments. 

These human needs are so basic to everyone I trust those who are not religiously affiliated garner some of them through some other kind of involvement.  I am not here to criticize any of them.  I do want to say I believe God’s desire for us to flourish is best nurtured through religious affiliation.  God gave us the Sabbath.  Jesus Christ died for us.  The Holy Spirit came to give birth to the Church.  It is no accident we are here.  It is a part of God’s dream for all people and I trust by being here this day you sense you are living into the dream.

Adoption

 

John 3:1-17

Trinity Sunday / Year B

If you recall last week’s sermon you remember I preached about ‘bearable truths’, those things which Jesus wanted his disciples to know but also knew they were not yet ready to hear.  “The Holy Spirit,” he told them, “will lead you into all truth.”  Well, today we get to focus on one of those bearable truths – the doctrine of the Holy Trinity.  The word ‘trinity’ is never found in Scripture nor is the concept addressed explicitly in any form.  Still, there are multiple passages in both testaments which refer to the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.  And it took the Church the better part of four centuries and several world-wide councils to produce statements declaring the orthodox faith regarding God’s triune nature.  And most often we came to this position only by rejecting ideas and notions we did not hold to be true – what became known as heresy.

In seminary we spent a lot of time examining the nuances of the Christological councils which developed such statements as the Nicene Creed, the Creed of Chalcedon, and the Creed of Saint Athanasius.  We didn’t just study them, we wrote papers about them and took tests on them in the sure and certain hope one day good people like you would come up to us after church and ask us a pointed question about them (a blessed moment thankfully yet to occur in my ordained life). 

I suppose it is worth noting from today’s gospel reading Nicodemus, a highly regarded teacher in his day, in spite of all of his education, cannot comprehend the basics of what Jesus is saying to him.  Which is to say, the realm of faith is not the private domain of lofty, learned ones.  It belongs to every person who has been born from above, every person in whom God’s Spirit dwells.

This past week I browsed through J.I. Packer’s 1973 classic work, Knowing God, a book I first read back in high school.  In it he argues one of the most important and least celebrated teachings of the church is the doctrine of adoption – the idea that through the Spirit we are adopted into God’s family, made sons and daughters, and become heirs of all the riches God has to share with us.   

In our second lesson we heard these words from the Apostle Paul’s letter to the Church in Rome:

For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God...  You have received a spirit of adoption.  When we cry, “Abba! Father!’ it is that very Spirit bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ.

Consider just some of the attributes of God, those which are referred to as incommunicable – meaning we cannot share in them:

§  Omniscience: all wise and all knowing

§  Immutability: unchangeable

§  Omnipotence: all powerful

§  Omnipresence: everywhere

§  Infinite: without beginning or end

§  Self-sufficiency: without needs

Let that soak in for a moment or two.  No wonder Isaiah fell speechless before God, overwhelmed by his own unworthiness in the presence of Divine Majesty.  And yet Paul says you know the Spirit is in you when you cry out to God, “Abba!  Father!”, when you know yourself to be a member of the family. 

When we were not busy studying the Trinity in seminary we watched football.  One of my classmates was a huge fan of the Dallas Cowboys.  One Monday evening he invited me to his home to watch a game with him and his five-year-old son (who was also a fan of Big D).  Johnny Jr. started off the game with high level of energy, but, because the it didn’t begin until 9:00 PM, by halftime he was fading fast.  He did, what for me, was the most remarkable thing.  He crawled up into his father’s lap, snuggled in, and watched the game until he fell asleep, nestled in his father’s arms.  To the best of my memory I don’t recall ever falling asleep on my dad’s lap.  It was for me a revelation about the kind of intimate relationship possible between a father and a child.  It remains for me an image of “Abba! Father!” – the kind of relationship God seeks with each one of us.

Like any parent/child relationship, we hope what is worthy and notable about the elder gets passed on to the younger.  It is the same with God and God’s children.  We are called to mirror to the best of our abilities what are known as God’s communicable attributes – what of God’s nature we can manifest in our life:

§  Wisdom

§  Faithfulness

§  Goodness

§  Justice

§  Mercifulness

§  Graciousness

§  Love

§  Holiness

§  Glory and Beauty

Each of these we have seen lived out in fulness by Jesus Christ during his earthly ministry.  Through the power of the Holy Spirit (what we Episcopalians mean when we vow, “I will, with God’s help”), we too can communicate these qualities in and to the world.

Bearable Truth

 

John 15:26-27; 16:4-15

The Day of Pentecost / Year B

Jesus said to his disciples, “I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now.  When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth.”

Bearable truth.  When we were in kindergarten they taught us little George Washington said to his father, “I cannot tell a lie.  I chopped down the cherry tree.”  It was an age-appropriate lesson about the value of honesty.  Maybe it was 4^th grade American history when we learned Washington was the father of our country, our first president.  Perhaps in A.P. history we learned more about his public and private life; that he was a general and that he was a slave owner.  If you attended a military school you might have studied in detail the various battles Washington’s army fought; examining in great detail the tactics he employed and debating the merits of each move he made: not a conversation for a kindergarten class… not a bearable truth at that age.

Bearable truth.  When it comes to understanding God’s dream for all people and for all creation, we are on a journey of discovery because the time has to be right for the Spirit to give us a bearable truth.  Some circles hold God ‘gave’ us the bible, as if was a giant data dump of all truth for all time.  I reject this notion.  The bible is a product of multiple human authors spanning centuries of composition.  Each writer detects God’s activity in the world and records it in a way which is authoritative.  Our Catechism teaches, “We call Scripture the word of God because God inspired their human authors and because God still speaks to us through the Bible today.”  And the more we allow God to speak through the bible, the more truth we are given to bear.

For those first disciples the first bearable truth they learn is about Jesus Christ himself.  They come to see in a new and powerful way how the Scriptures of the original testament anticipate his coming into the world and speak a prophetic hope of what he will accomplish.  Consider today’s reading from the Book of Acts.  Peter, in his first public sermon ever, quotes a relatively obscure passage from the prophet Joel.  Now, this past week I read (what for me) was an interesting commentary about how Peter makes subtle changes to the original text so to make it more appropriate to his setting and time.  He gives new meaning to the prophet’s words in the light God’s deeds done in Jesus Christ.  Rest easy, I will not go into the details of the commentary!  All I want to say is it is a thrilling time to be a part of the Church as each day and each meeting brings new insight and revelation about the person who had been their companion for three years and is still present with them every time they break the bread and drink the wine.

This is the first bearable truth they learn and it is a blessing.  The second is more challenging.  We heard about it just a few weeks ago in the Lectionary reading.  Peter is in the home of Cornelius, a gentile.  Suddenly and without warning, the Holy Spirit descends upon this man and his entire household, just as it did in today’s reading upon a gathering which is entirely Jewish.  Well and good, you might think.  However, the early Church in no way, shape, or form thinks its ranks one day will be open to all people.  Without hesitation, Peter baptizes everyone present; an act which infuriates some of us brethren back in Jerusalem.  Once again those early believers are driven back to Scriptures and to the words and actions of Jesus.  Gradually they begin to discern God’s dream for all people is for all people and this becomes a bearable truth.

The early Church continues on its journey of discovery; at times being challenged by the culture and at times dealing with internal conflicts.  Paul writes at length to Christians about eating meat sacrificed to idols; a cultural issue thankfully settled by the Church well before our time.  The Church also endures various periods of persecution; some local and others more widespread.  Some Christians, even some bishops, under threat of punishment or death, recant the faith in order to survive.  When the persecution abates, the Church must discern how or if to welcome back those who have disavowed their faith.  More bearable truth must be discerned.

Evelyn Underhill famously wrote, “If we took the Christian faith seriously, ushers would not hand out bulletins in church.  They’d hand out crash helmets.”  If we are going to pursue God’s dream for all people we must acknowledge God is going to reveal it to us only in bearable truths.  Once we deal with one part of the dream which sweeps away a previously held convention, we are soon given a new truth to bear.  And just like the parable Jesus teaches about new and the old wine skins, a part of this journey is about discerning what to carry forward and what to leave behind.  The presence of the Holy Spirit lights our way.  It always bears witness to the truth.

This past week quietly marked the 36^th anniversary of my ordination to the priesthood in 1988.  So much about our church has changed over the years and, at least from a historical perspective, changed rapidly.  Questions about gender equality, gender identity, same gender relationships, and the on-going stain of racism in our society have challenged our church.  As I see it, each has been initiated by some unexpected movement of the Holy Spirit which we have found present in places and people we did not expect, but cannot deny.  I for one and proud to be a part of a faith community strong enough to engage bearable truth.  I give thanks of this Pentecost Sunday for the Spirit who leads us into all truth.

Given / Guided / Guarded

 

John 17:6-19

Easter 7 / Year A

Wednesday was a big day for Chanco, our diocesan camp and conference center on whose board I am proud to sit.  We completed our first ever Big Day of Giving, which was aimed at raising awareness about our camping program as well as raising money.  The goal was $25,000.  123 donors gave just shy of $38,000 in a single day, which is truly amazing and the window for giving is still open through today. 

If you followed any of this on social media you had the opportunity to watch over a dozen posted video testimonies given by members of our diocese – both lay and clergy – describing how Chanco has impacted their lives.  Again and again I heard the phrases “make new friends”, “have new experiences”, “take on new challenges,” “enjoy nature,” “get closer to God,” and “have fun.”  It helped me to realize what a special place Chanco is and it made me feel good about the time and work I put in to serving on the board.

As I meditated on today’s gospel reading I kept coming back to the notion of the Father giving the disciples to the Son and the Son giving the disciples back to the Father.  This language of “giving” occurs an amazing 75 times in John’s gospel, with nine of them coming right here in this passage.  Initially, the thought of giving someone to another person struck me as odd.  There is the archaic language of a father giving his daughter to be married, but other than this it is not an idiom we tend to use often.

But then I thought of Chanco and all those parents bringing their children to camp and dropping them off.  In a very real sense they are giving them to us by entrusting them into our care.  It is an image which offers great insight into today’s reading.  It helps to make sense of other elements in the prayer, such as guiding and guarding.  Jesus has a clear sense God has given him specific followers in order for them to be formed in a profound way.  They will be changed by their experience with him.  And they are to be protected, guarded from all that might harm or damage them.  So it is with Chanco.  We trust our children will have a great time (guiding) in a safe and caring environment (guarding).

The more I thought about this, the I began to recognize the many different ways an individual may be given from one person to another.  It happens when we send a child to school (especially if it a boarding school), sign them up for a team or music program, or (as we talked about yesterday) bring them here and drop them off in the nursery.  Parents and spouses of those who serve in the military know what it is to give a person into the care of our country, especially when they go off for basic training.  As an airplane makes its way on it planned flight, the pilots are given from one control center to another.  When my mother moved into Westminster/Canterbury I had a very real sense I was giving her to them to by guided and guarded – a sacred responsibility they kept to the very end.  

Today is Mother’s Day.  Most mothers I know think of their children as having been entrusted into their care.  They feel as if their child or children have been given to them for a reason.  They recognize the need to nurture that which makes each child special.  And they balance the need to protect without being smothering.  As a father I can say we do this too, but mothers seem to carry this responsibility more keenly.  I invite you this day to ponder some of the ways your mother guided and guarded you, to give thanks her efforts, and, for those instances in which she failed, to forgive.

Inherent in Jesus’ understanding the Father has given him followers to guide and guard is the notion of transformation.  Again I draw on boot camp as a metaphor.  In just 10 weeks, a raw recruit changes physically, mentally, emotionally, and socially; becoming someone prepared for service in the United States military.  This mirrors, in some ways, the path we take from being a follower of Jesus to becoming a disciple.  Christianity is not about being able to get your hand into a divine cookie jar every time you need a favor.  It is about preparing for active duty in the service of God’s kingdom.

Here are some of the things this service calls us to do:

·    Exhibit humility by putting others before self.

·    Extend care to the poor and needy.

·    Have respect and regard for a person who is ‘other’.

·    Seek justice for all human beings.

·    Forgive freely.

·    Aim for purity and holiness.

·    Allow God’s word, found in Scripture and liturgy, to dwell in you richly.

·  Let your first words in the morning, last words in the evening, and every word in between be a prayer.

This morning we give thanks the Father has given us to Jesus and he has received us to guide and guard us.  May we continue to grow into the person he is guiding us to be.

Joy

 

John 15:9-17

Easter 6 / Year B

Jesus said to his disciples, “I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete.”

At last Tuesday’s clergy day with the bishop at Chanco, our presenter asked us this: What is the greatest source of joy in your life?  On the surface it appears to be a relatively simple, straightforward question.  What gives you great joy?  Think about this for a moment.  How many of you are like me… you don’t have an answer?  And, as you think about it, how many of you, like me, are not even quite sure what joy is?  What does it say that Jesus tells his followers and friends everything about what he has said and done is driven by his desire they share in his joy.  So let’s spend a few moments this morning thinking about joy – what it is, what it isn’t, and how live into it. 

First, let’s acknowledge joy and happiness are not the same thing.  Happiness, it seems to me, depends on what happens.  It is a response to something you deem positive.  Your team wins the championship.  The teacher gives your paper an A.  The new recipe turns out to be delicious.  Your $1 raffle ticket pays off and you get a brand-new car.  Happiness is an emotional response when something positive happens. 

Joy does not depend on circumstances.  In fact, joy is often present in situations not likely to foster happiness.  The apostle James begins his letter by writing, “Count it all joy when you experience various kinds of trial.”  Funerals, while times of deep grief and sorrow, often are permeated with joy.  And while happiness rises and falls like the tide, joy seems to be more of a constant.  It emanates from a place deep below the surface and is not easily impacted by the storms of life.

Our clergy day speaker defined hope as believing in a promise for the future and living today as if it is going to happen.  Joy, I think, is like this too.  It is believing God has created this world, infused it with goodness, beauty, and abundance, and then living into this reality in spite of the presence of cruelty, ugliness, and scarcity.  It is living in the light of the Resurrection even though the pall of death remains. 

Joy is an attitude.  It is a choice.  It is something we can cultivate.  Richard Hanson, a psychologist, holds evolutionary development has hardwired us to focus on the negative as part of our survival instinct.  “The brain,” he says, “is like Velcro for negative experiences and Teflon for positive ones.”  Think about that.  There is a reason why we humans have a developed panic response, but lack the ability to purr.

Still, you can cultivate joy by adding a few tools to your life’s work kit:

§ Mindfulness: being attentive; constantly on the lookout for God’s goodness, beauty, and abundance.

§ Openness: knowing you will find God’s goodness, beauty, and abundance in people, places, and things where you might not expect them to be.

§ Acceptance: no how small the object or the moment, believing it is a sign of God’s presence in the world.

§ Contentment: allowing life to be what it is and not demanding anything more of it.

§ Appreciation: holding everything comes to us as a gift from a generous and loving God.

§ Gratitude: a constant posture of being thankful for what is.

Dr. Pamela King teaches in the School of Psychology at Fuller Theological Seminary.  She has done a deep dive into the study of joy in order to learn more about its complexities.  She says it “involves our thoughts, feelings, and actions in response to what matters most in our lives.”  “Joy,” she says, “is an enduring, deep delight in what holds the most significance for us.”  

Dr. King’s research revealed three areas which deeply influence the experience of enduring joy:

§ Growing in authenticity and living more into one’s strengths.

§ Growing in depth of relationships and contributing to others.

§ Living more aligned with one’s ethical and spiritual ideals.

Her findings suggest the more you are able to use your gifts to do what you love, build reciprocal relationships with others, and live with “moral coherency” the more likely you are to experience joy.

Her insights help me to identify why I feel so much joy by being here at St. Paul’s.  This is a place where I can share my gifts and have them be valued.  My relationships here are marked by giving and receiving – everything from a listening ear to a cookie to a Lenten program about the metaphysical poets.  When I am here I have a sense I am living into God’s dream for all people.  I suspect many of you share in the joy of our faith community.  This is a place where we experience the joy Jesus offers as we see life as he saw it and live life as he lived it.

On Being Pruned

 

John 15:1-18

Easter 5 / Year B

Jesus said, “I am the true vine… Every branch that bears fruit the Father prunes to make it bear more fruit.”

I read in a passage years ago which has stayed with me ever since and changed my life:

Out of the morning mist a magnificent bald eagle swept down and in one smooth movement caught his salmon fresh from the sea and was gone again.  It was a sight I shall remember ‘til I die.  That magnificent bird had emerged from its fragile shell, as helpless as we were at birth.  But it survived, because of the nest.  Then feathers grew.  The eyes brightened.  The talons strengthened.  One day the bird stood poised upon the nest and all the future of its life lay before it, the vista vast, the glorious rivers and forests and fountains of the earth.  To take possession of it, however, he had to stretch his wings, take the daring leap, trust the air, have faith in whatever great eagle gods there are and go!  The instinct to fly and the instinct to nest met in that moment.  There comes a point in everyone’s spiritual life when that issue is joined and must be faced.

Will we dare to fly, to test our wings, to see the great wide world in all its manifold wonder, or will we nestle down where we are, complacent, conservative, content to patch and tidy and rearrange the mud and wattles of our existing world?

Life is a series of letting goes.  Think about it.  Our very first experience – being born – involves letting go.  Cutting the umbilical cord is a kind of pruning, isn’t it.  Early childhood activities like swimming and biking require us to let go so we can move forward.  The first day of school and the celebration of graduation – while being wonderful achievements – are also times a pruning.  Becoming an empty-nester, retirement, downsizing, being widowed, giving up driving – each has an element of pruning to it, some more welcome than others; some more challenging than others.  From birth to death we are being pruned.  When it comes to gardening, pruning is essential for the health of the plant and its fruit-bearing potential.  It allows the plant to focus its nutrients on those areas of loss in order to foster healing and growth.  So it is with life.

God’s pruning comes externally through life-altering events which require us to let go and move forward in a bold, new way.  It can also come internally as we learn to let go of certain ideas, experiences, and expectations.  There is a Zen story about two monks who encounter a wealthy woman scolding her attendants for any number of infractions, chief of which is their inability to help her cross over a muddy puddle because they are weighed down with all her bags and packages.  The younger monk passes by her, but the older monk puts the woman on his back, carries her across the puddle, and puts her down safe and dry on the other side.  Not even offering a word of thanks, the woman shoves the monk out of her way and departs in a huff.  As they walk on, the younger monk stews in silence about this for some time.  Finally he says, “That woman was selfish and rude, even though you carried her on your back.”  The older monk replies, “I set her down hours ago.  Why are you still carrying her?”

Sometimes God prunes us in order for us to let go of the corrosive effects of staying stuck.  It happens because the things we fight against exhaust our vitality and stifle our ability to bear fruit.  The energy we devote to them is energy we cannot put to more positive pursuits.  God desires for each one of us to live a life marked by peace and joy and freedom but there are times this is possible only – like that eagle on the edge of the nest – by letting go and entrusting yourself into God’s care and keep.  Helen Keller once observed, “Often we focus so hard on the closed door that we do not see the one that has been opened for us.”

Those of you who live for my analysis of New Testament Greek will be thrilled to know three words which appear throughout today’s reading – pruning, removing, and cleansing – are closely related.  This suggests pruning and removing, while painful, are actually a cleansing process enabling a person to move forward in life with life. 

Sometimes this cleansing looks like pruning away something from the past which is holding you back.  The motivational speaker Steve Maraboli says, “Letting go means coming to the realization some people are a part of your history, but not a part of your destiny.”  Who or what in your life is a part of your history, but not your destiny?  Let God prune it.  Sometimes the cleansing looks like letting go of something you cannot take forward into your future.  It is so difficult to let go of the known, the tried and true, the familiar.  It is challenging to accept the sun is setting on a part of your life you don’t yet want to see go dark.  A woman once wrote to Ann Landers seeking advice.  Her children wanted her to sell her home and move into a retirement community, but she was fighting them tooth and nail.  The columnist offered this:

Some people believe holding on and hanging in there are signs of great strength.  However, there are times when it takes much more strength to know when to let go and then do it.

I am not very good at gardening because I am not very good at pruning.  Mums bloom and then go blah.  Tomato plants grow longer and longer vines, but the fruit thins and withers.  I don’t want this to be a metaphor for my life, and I suspect neither do you.  The good news we hear today is God does know how to prune us so we can continue to bear much fruit.