Mar 7, 2010

Hope Never Stops at All!

Hope is the thing with feathers that perches in the soul, and sings the tune without the words and never stops at all... Emily Dickenson

As we continue to scuff our feet along the dusty road to Jerusalem through this time of Lent we are forced to rub up against the thorny part of our faith. The part that calls us sinners and demands we repent or perish. The part that reminds us of our own sin, our own death, our rivalries, our contribution to violence and prejudice, our bloated or diminished sense of self. The part that presses us to acknowledge our illusions of control and causes us to realize how utterly dependent we really are on God.

During this time of Lent, we also come to realize that Our Most Loving God has taken on all of these parts in the body of Christ. During this time, through grace we become aware of being carried to the other side with the generous offer of forgiveness and new life.

Jesus’ command to repent can seem harsh. In theological discussions it is often softened to mean simply turn around or change your ways. One commentator says, “‘repent’ was a command used by the Roman military which called for a turn of 180 degrees, an ‘about face.’ Likewise, to "repent" of one's sins, then, was to make a turn away from them towards God.”

No gory death in that. No towers selectively falling on you! We just need to change our ways. However, we meet two little words in that sentence …the words just and change…with as much joy and enthusiasm as we would a tower falling and crushing us to death!

Repent…Turn…Change… None of it is easy! But all of it is crucial to the larger story of freedom and new life.

Carol Lee Flindus, in her book titled Enduring Lives, writes about four women who have made a great contribution to our thinking about humanity. One woman, Tenzin Palmo was the first Westerner to be ordained as a Buddhist nun. In a chapter titled “Turning” Flindus pictures the evolution of religious tradition as circles linked in continuously widening spirals. She frames it this way in recognition that “the way a living tradition will serve humankind for life is through change.” “Living organisms survive by evolving… by responding creatively to the stresses of continuous environmental change.”

Could we think of the “turning” aspect of repentance then as responding creatively to the stresses of continuous environmental change? Could it be thought of as a turning away from complacency and turning toward action? Or, can we think of repentance through the lens of turning away from acting as if separate from the environment to living in communion with it and all God’s creatures?

Given these thoughts, let us ask ourselves, who is God calling us to be, as Christians living in this community, as members of First Congregational Church of Montague? Who is God calling us to be and how might we best meet that call?

Is God calling us to sit quietly in our seats and pray? Sometimes yes. But, don’t you also sense a call to reach out and join hands with your neighbors to build the beloved community. How can we best participate in the evolution of the Christian tradition? And does this meet the command to repent or perish?

What I heard in the parable Jesus told about the fig tree was a call to community. What I heard was that the poor fig tree was not being cared for. It was doing it’s best but it needed to be fertilized in order to come to it’s true potential. And for that it needed the gardeners help. It needed the gardener to advocate for it as well as to fertilize it. Without the gardeners help it could not produce its’ fruit.

We are not much different from that fig tree. Without God’s help, received through our relationship with one another and our community, we are unable to fulfill our potential. We need to repent of our independent ways and turn toward community. That is where we will be fed and where we can help to feed others. That is where we will be nurtured and where we can help to nurture others to their full potential.

We have lots of opportunities for such feeding and nurturing. One way is through our participation in the community meals….just ask anyone who has served or helped out in any way but especially those that go and meet the people. The fulfillment felt is often beyond words.

Name others…OHD, Relay for Life, coffee hour, visiting, etc

Currently we have a new opportunity to participate in community through Transition Towns, a process begun for just these same reasons…to feed one another, in all sorts of ways, in community. It is a way of getting to know your neighbors. It is a way of building resiliency to face the economic strains that are and will continue to worsen due to the rising cost of energy and extreme climate change. It is a way of helping each other bear fruit and reach our full potential as human beings.

Our ability to feed one another rests on our being fed by Christ. Today we are all invited to the table to be nourished by the feast hosted by Christ. Today we will receive the bread of his concrete actions in the world…the love he extended to all, and the rejection of those who would oppress the poor, the weak, the marginalized. Today our thirst for communion, for being one with another, for being one with God, this thirst will be slaked in our sharing of the wine or the juice and in our remembering of Christ’s presence with us and within us…in our finding Christ active in community.

In the meal we share in community today we receive the hope that never stops singing. It is the hope given by our still speaking God who never stops seeking us out. It is the hope found in the ever-widening circles that spiral through us connecting us to all of God’s creation. It is the hope given by our God whose thoughts are well beyond our limited thoughts and whose ways are the ways of forgiveness and love.

As we walk to the table together, let us give thanks for forgiveness and let us repent of our sins of separation. May we openly receive all that is offered and may we respond in kind.

Amen.