First Congregational Church of Montague Trinitarian
Rev.
August 1, 2010 Luke 12:13-21
As Above, So Below
The gospel lesson today typically leads to talk about abundance and possessions. It is a good stewardship scripture reminding us that rather than storing up goods for ourselves, our time and money is better spent helping others because our stored goods will be of no use when we die. This scripture helps us remember to live life as if we are already with God… In this place we need not worry about ourselves and all our effort and creative energy can go to helping others with their needs. In other words, building the beloved community.
It is for this very thing that the phrases “Thy kingdom come”, and “Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven” prays for.
Today, and for the next few weeks, I will be sharing more from the original language Jesus used when teaching the disciples to pray. As we deepen our understanding of the original language of the prayer (Aramaic), my hope is our experience of God will also expand.
Last week we thought about the phrase “hallowed be thy name” and discovered that this phrase from the Aramaic can mean to hollow out a space to plant seeds of the divine within. And we remembered our early days of learning to pray with heads bowed forward over our sacred heart creating that space for divinity to grow within.
That image lived in me this week and I thought the church is then something like a milkweed pod and each one of us is one of the seeds with the feathery tops. To be useful and to fulfill our purpose we need to burst out of the pod and be carried by the winds of Spirit to new places, spreading the Good News of God’s grace and mercy.
The next two phrases in the prayer help us to do just that.
“Thy kingdom come” (Teytey malkuthakh) and “Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven” (Nehwey sebyanach aykanna d’bwashmaya aph b’arah). These phrases call on God to come now to help us move through and beyond our earth bound ways of separation and individualism. Teytey is the Aramaic word for come and it is an emphatic statement rather than a polite invitation. It is an intensive form. Come and come now, or come, really come!
Malkuta is the Aramaic word usually translated as kingdom. It is curious how this came to be as malkuta is gendered feminine in both Aramaic and Hebrew (mamlaka). Even the Greek word for kingdom (basileia) is gendered feminine. Therefore “queendom” would actually be the more accurate translation. This makes sense based on the life in the Middle East and other parts of the world where queens preceded kings.
Beyond the gender issue, what is important to know about this phrase is the leadership and sense of empowerment it represents. The word translates as “I Can”. Just imagine traveling nomads in the Semitic deserts. The community would follow the ones who, through their vision and wisdom, would lead them to sources of food and security. They are the ones who take a leap of faith in the face of doubt and say “I Can” when their heart feels compassion even while their mind is saying “no I can’t.” This is what we pray for when we say “Thy kingdom come.” “Come now, dear God, and help me to live as you would have me live. Help me to trust so I live your “I Can” nature ” We are praying to be rich toward God.
Richard Carlson’s examination of the gospel message reminds us that “being rich toward God entails using one’s resources for the benefit of one’s neighbor in need, as the Samaritan did; being rich toward God includes intentionally listening to Jesus’ word as Mary did; it consists of prayerfully trusting that God will provide for the needs of life; being rich toward God involves selling possessions and giving alms as a means of establishing a lasting treasure in heaven. He also says, “Life and possessions are a gift of God to be used to advance God’s agenda of care and compassion, precisely for those who lack resources to provide for themselves.”
The next phrase of the Lord’s prayer, “Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven” brings us toward establishing unity, a bringing together of the individual and the universal, earth and cosmos…another way of being rich toward God. This is what we yearn for…this closeness, this oneness with God.
The Aramaic word for “will” is sebyana. In addition to intention this word can also mean desire, delight or wish. It is in this line of the prayer that heaven meets earth in acts of compassion. From the ancient roots of the word we get an image of a vortex, a mixing together of desire and discipline, or as Neil Douglas Klotz says, “ a host of stars swirling though the heavens.”
And the word aykanna is a connector. It connects our hearts will or desire to our very earthy and grounded needs. It translates the words “just as” and points us toward a desire for the consistent touch of God in our lives through every form, every word and every image. We might pray, “God, make it impossible for me to miss you no matter what I do, what I think, what I hear or where I look.”
The phrase concludes with the word arha (a-r-h-a), meaning earth. Notice all of the letters of the Aramaic word are contained in the spelling of our English word earth. In arha we anchor our desires in the support of God. The sound of the word is almost like a sigh one might emit upon feeling the weight of our bones supported by the earth underneath and gratefully remembering that we need to treat her with reverence too just as if she were another living being.
Nehwey sebyanach aykanna d’bwashmaya aph b’arah…thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven
I’d like to close by leading you in a brief meditation that builds on a sense of malkuta, a sense of empowerment in everyday life. This is something you can do whenever you want God’s help to make the changes you want to see in your life. It only takes a minute.
If you are comfortable doing so, allow your eyes to close, breathe easily and naturally, and focus on the need for new vision in your life. Remember a time when your life demanded a definite change – in work, relationship, living situation, or anything else – and you made that change. What inner resources did you bring to bear to make those changes? Breathe with that sense of empowerment as you feel inwardly the sound of the words “tey-tey mal-ku-thakh, “I can”, tey-tey mal-ku-thakh.”
If you cannot find the “I Can” in yourself, breathe with the feeling of your need for it. Then affirm that you are opening to the possibility that malkuta can infuse your life from all around you, from the sacred “I Can.”
And anytime, whenever you recognize this quality of “I Can” in other people, affirm it and praise it inwardly. If you have closed your eyes you can now gently open them and return your attention to this space.
Soon, we will be celebrating communion together. We will be celebrating through the method of intinction today. Which means we will walk up the center aisle to the front, be blessed as you take a piece of bread, then receive a second blessing as you dip the bread in the cup. If you walk to the front today or if you stay seated, I invite you to remember your connectedness with this community. This is not something we do as individuals. It is a sacred ritual that is done in community. And the life we receive in the bread and the cup strengthens us not just individually but in community.
Let us open our hearts to plant the divine seed that we might be empowered to remember community first and be rich toward God.
Let it be so.
Amen.
Information drawn from books by Neil Douglas Klotz, The Hidden Gospel (1999) and Prayers of the Cosmos(1990)
Also from Richard Carlson in Feasting on the Word (2010)
