 | The New England Church PulpitNew England Congregational Church UCC |
PULSATING UNIVERSE | Matthew 18.1-14 | September 8, 2002 |
The PBS special ‘Faith and Doubt at Ground Zero’ offered an insightful glimpse into the plethora of emotions that have gripped us in the past year. As people talked about their angers and their hopes, about their grief and sadness, about their faith and their doubts, I couldn’t help but observe the pulsating rhythms of all of life–in relationships, institutions, emotions. In a culture preoccupied with time and how to manage it more efficiently, the pulse of life can be chaotic, frantically filled with deadlines. But there is a quiet, steady rhythm that beats ever so steadily amid the trauma and chaos. After the tragedy of a year ago, we have become more sensitized to, and appreciative of, the steady rhythms of life, sometimes quickening, sometimes slowing almost to a faint whisper, but always there, pulsing, pulsing, pulsing through the daily activities of life.
Jesus told us that the realm of God is about a security that is found in the pulsating rhythms of life, that reside deep inside us and yet transcend all that we know about life. When our world, and especially our own country, is hell-bent on a futile effort to rid the world of terrorists and keep us secure, people of faith know something of security that comes from within, a security that isn’t dependent on what happens outside, of a peace of mind and soul that reigns inside even as the war outside rages on.
When the disciples asked ‘who is the greatest?’ Jesus gathered up a child in response. The reign of Peace, he said, is about being childlike, about feeling the rhythms of life through wondering eyes, trying to imagine what makes the leaves move and what keeps the birds in the air, of playing with kids of different colors without any sense of being inferior or superior, who stares at a body in a casket one minute and goes skipping about the room, singing, in the next. All too often, we adults, and particularly religious adults, have become childish, demanding our way, creating creeds that exclude, taking life and religion too seriously, becoming so passionate about our religion we get out of sync with the rhythms that life balanced. Who is the greatest? It’s not the one with the right answers, or the one with the right religion, or the one who dies with the most toys, or the biggest portfolio or the most influential personality. Surprise, Jesus said, it’s a child!
Jesus went on to say that when something of value is missing, it throws off the balance, and it is vital that we leave the comfort of all that we’ve gathered into the barn to search for that which is missing in our lives, wandering around the pastures of our subconscious. It is vital that we not be lulled into thinking that a 99% trust in ‘business as usual’ or a 99% belief in conventional wisdom is the answer to ‘who is the greatest?’ Sometimes it’s the 1% lost insight, still peacefully grazing on the hillside, that we need to rescue to balance our perspective.
Since 9/11 last year, we have been lulled into the quest for 100% personal and national security. We need to go looking for a new priority that eludes us by putting our trust not in military strength but in a commitment to employ our massive power for good. Personal security may occupy 99% of our energies, but it is out of balance; there is something missing. Perhaps our insatiable desire to be the greatest has skewed the balance of power and created an arrhythmia in the pulsating universe. When life is out of balance, people do desperate things; instead of being content with enjoying the vast majority of the world’s riches corralled at home, Jesus suggests that we might go looking for the lost notion of sharing our wealth of power and resources to restore the equilibrium of our souls and the world. Putting time and energy into sharing rather than state-of-the-art security balances the rhythm and in the long run will provide more peace and security.
We’re out of sync with the rhythm of life when we emphasize facts and data over art and experience. All too often we believe technology is our savior; we should be searching for the lost value of the arts. The arts, in all forms, give spiritual direction to the ordinary, the familiar, the tragic, the unknown, and give meaning and purpose to technology. It is not in knowing facts or correct belief that we feel the pulse of God, but in the experience of color and music and dancing where we become alive. We have so idolized our individual rights at all costs we have forgotten the lost lamb of relationships that connect us to one another. We have so idealized life that we forget that the universe is a pulsating entity of death and life, yin and yang, light and darkness.
One of those interviewed about faith and doubt at ground zero commented on the pulsating rhythm that balances life. The terrorists, she said planned for years, setting up their system, moving the money to support it through elaborate underground channels, studying the structure of the World Trade Center buildings, learning how to fly jet airplanes. It took several years to plot the destruction, but the rescue efforts mobilized instantly. There was no planning, and yet efficiently and tirelessly and from all corners of nowhere came thousands of people to respond to the disaster, and it continued for months afterward. It is a remarkable thing of beauty in the midst of an ugly evil deed and the inferno at ground zero became holy ground because of the way people connected to each other, even the dead.
Another person interviewed described evil as the estrangement from connection. Evil is being disconnected. It is being out of rhythm. Evil comes in part from a need that is so desperate that people become hateful of others, grabbing on to absolutisms that comfort the restless soul, and lashing out against the connections they have cut off but so desperately need.
Someone else suggested that the best prayer that could be offered was that of the two people who jumped from the tower, hand in hand, to their death. To join hands with someone known or perhaps unknown in the midst of a crisis and jump into the abyss, together, is the best of all we have to offer, she said.
David Tarantino was part of the rescue team that day at the Pentagon. In the burning rubble he saw the face of a man trapped under the debris; it was the face of Jerry Henson. When we made eye contact, Tarantino said, I told him to get out of there. I wanted him to come to me because I didn’t want to go where he was because it was hell in there. But Jerry Henson couldn’t move. So Tarantino, against all that made sense, rummaged through the smoke-filled space and lay down beside the trapped man. I’m a doctor and I’m here to get you out, he said. And with the help of another man, David Thomas, they were able to free him and pull him to safety. “That was the bravest thing I’ve ever seen,” said Thomas. Tarantino downplayed any heroics: Once you’ve made eye contact with someone, you can’t just leave them to die.” (‘Uncommon Valor’ by Ken Ringle, Smithsonian, September 2002)
Jesus invites us to make eye contact with the lost sheep and look the pulsating universe in the eye. Amen.
–Gary L. McCann
Tao Te Ching (The Book of The Way)
51
Every being in the universe
is an expression of the Tao [The Way].
It springs into existence,
unconscious, perfect, free,
takes on a physical body,
lets circumstances complete it.
That is why every being spontaneously honors the Tao [The Way].
The Tao gives birth to all beings,
nourishes them, maintains them,
cares for them, comforts them, protects them,
takes them back to itself,
creating without possessing,
acting without expecting,
guiding without interfering.
That is why love of the Tao
is in the very nature of things.
(Translated by Stephen Mitchell)
A Reading from The Koran:
In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful:
God brings the Creation into being and will then restore it, so that He may justly recompense those who have believed, and done good works. God gave the sun its brightness and the moon its light, ordaining its phases that you may learn to compute the seasons and the years. God created them only to manifest the Truth. He makes plain His revelations to men of knowledge. In the alternation of night and day, and in all that God has created in the heavens and the earth, there are signs for righteous men.
Did We not spread the earth like a bed, and raise the mountains like supporting poles? We created you in pairs, and gave you rest in sleep. We made the night a mantle, and ordained the day for work. We built above you seven mighty heavens and placed in them a shining lamp. We sent down abundant water from the clouds, bringing forth grain and varied plants, and gardens thick with foliage. Let him who will, seek a way back to the Lord.
| Copyright © 2002 by Gary L. McCann. All rights reserved. |