First Congregational Church of Montague Trinitarian
Rev. Barbara Turner Delisle
1 Kings 19:1-15a, Galatians 3:23-29
Psalm 42, Luke 8:26-39
Baptized Into Freedom
HooooWeee it has been a very busy week! Thursday morning mediation, noon time 2 hour meeting with my new clergy group at Edwards Church in Northampton, Thursday evening meeting with the Interfaith Council in Bernardston, Friday left a full day of work in Wilbraham to go to a very special reception and worship service with the Bishop of Chile in honor of the MACUCC’s partnership with the Pentacostal Church of Chile and to raise funds for building Blessing Cabins to help in their recovery from the earthquake…5th strongest ever in recorded history in the world….and all day Saturday at a fantastic annual meeting for the MACUCC! Pheeeeeewwww.
I could relate to Elijah running around in today’s scripture reading. He covered a lot of territory running from far in the south of
Elijah’s journey began because of his love of God. He was following God’s command …so he thought. And that’s what got him into trouble…thinking. It was when his mind over rode his trust in God that he began to fear for his life.
Because my schedule was so full I didn’t really have a well crafted sermon for you as of last night when I got home. I usually begin by studying the scriptures on Wednesday and put the bulletin together based on what speaks to me from the Word.
I try to choose prayers and hymns and readings that flow well, that are short enough so it all fits on one piece of paper, that reflect the general theme of the lectionary and that might lead us all into an experience of God in our midst…or at least leave you with something to think about during the week. Today’s theme is freedom. The readings show us people tormented by external or internal forces until they surrender to God.
It takes me quite a while to choose the hymns but the hardest part often is to choose a sermon title because until it is written I’m never really sure of what IT is going to say! So, I hate to limit myself by a title. Sometimes I borrow one, like today’s ---Baptized into Freedom….I borrowed from one of the any different worship resources I consult
Thursday morning I attend a centering prayer mediation at in
The general instruction for meditation of centering prayer is to use something to focus on to distract the mind from thinking. It might be your breath or a focus word like love or peace or a short phrase like “Thy will be done.” The idea is that whenever you notice you are thinking thoughts…. you know those thoughts that drive you all over the place…like Elijah…worries about what you did or forgot to do, worries about who you’ve offended or what’s going to mess up your life…worries that twist and turn you and jerk you about like the demons did to the man from Gerasene.
They both could have used some centering prayer…well, they both did come to that eventually. Eventually what broke their obsession was a focus on God. God or God in Christ was their focus point. That is what stilled them eventually.
So, in centering prayer meditation every time you find yourself thinking, and you will because that is what the mind does. It’s job is to think after all. So it happens and every time, without judging yourself for thinking, you simply turn your attention back to your chosen focus…Thy will be done or you breath.
Sounds easy and it is sort of, but most people feel as though they fail at meditation…that is until they understand that what they are doing is exactly what is suppose to happen. It is not about sitting in silence with no thoughts…it is this very process, the process of going back and forth between thought and focus, back and forth. It is this process that takes you deeper, to a connection with God.
Sometimes it feels like all you’ve done is go back and forth and never settle down. Or once you do feel a little quietness creep in suddenly you are woken out of this peace by an angel saying get up and eat or get up and go do your laundry and don’t forget to get some computer ink at Staples. But, that is just part of the process.
As I write this I am reminded it’s much like walking a labyrinth. Well after all is a meditation practice, a practice that takes you to a place where you can center on God’s presence. Walking a labyrinth is also a process of going back and forth but you externalize it. Instead of the back and forth being in your mind between thought and breath, thought and focus point, it happens by your feet following the path that takes you back and forth, first in one direction, then in another, first toward your goal, the center, then suddenly away from that goal, then back again and mystically you arrive at the center where you can rest and listen for God’s word, a word for you to carry back out through the twists and turns, back out to the world, back out to your everyday, ordinary life. It is meditation in motion.
The back and forth of the path has a disruptive quality. It causes you to focus giving you a break from the worries of a busy mind. The back and forth of meditation brings you to a place of surrender where you can drop away form the distractions of the ordinary and finally drop into attention to the extraordinary.
But, even while you are there in the presence of God, in that still place, as extraordinary as that is it feels just ordinary…quiet, empty but full… Actually it doesn’t feel like anything. It doesn’t feel like a cool breeze on a hot muggy day. It doesn’t feel like floating on the surface of a still pond or like the quiet of dawn when the sky is just beginning to lighten up before the birds begin their morning song. It doesn’t feel like any of that while you are in the middle of it. Because while you are in the presence of God you are fully centered there. There are no thoughts…no feelings…nothing…there is no-thing…there is only God. And you don’t know it until later…until that moment, fleeting or otherwise…you don’t know it until that moment is gone.
Sometimes you can reflect back and have an awareness of the beautiful stillness of that moment. But, more often than not you just come out of your practice, out of your meditation or your labyrinth walk or your prayer time and go about your ordinary day, doing your ordinary things, worrying your ordinary worries.
When you spend this time with God, with an intention to connect with God, to build your relationship with God…on those days your ordinary often takes on an extraordinary quality. Somehow, you are able to do more with less time. Somehow, the right words usher forth from your lips effortlessly. Somehow, you feel compassion towards the most unlikely person or situation. Things that were once forced suddenly come forth with ease. It is quite magical or mystical really. But it shouldn’t be for God’s love gives all freedom.
Suddenly, where divisions once existed you are able to see unity. There is no longer Jew or Greek, black or white, gay or straight, slave or free, male or female, “for all are one in Christ Jesus.” You find yourself no longer running from your fears, or being tormented by your demons because in the presence of God you suddenly know who you are and whose you are!
When you know you are part of God and God is part of you, you know nothing can separate you from that love. You know that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, not things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Rom , 39) And when you know you are a child of God, God’s son or daughter…that’s when you know freedom…freedom to live and to be the extraordinary being you were meant to be.
May it be so!
And let all the people say….Amen!
