Author: Jerry May

“Abundance All Around”

A meditation based on John 6:1-13; Isaiah 6:8

July 29, 2018

Community Congregational Church of Chula Vista

Dr. Sharon R. Graff

With joyful help from

Dr. Norma and Rev. John DeSaegher

* * * * *

                   Same day.  Same crowd gathered to hear Jesus teach.  Same hungers we’ve heard before.  Today, we’ve heard another version of the same story with the same ending: with Jesus, there is always enough.  With Holy Spirit, there is plenty.  With God, you get leftovers…12 full baskets in fact…left over from the crowded feast on that long ago mountainside. 

                   What does that mean to you, Community Congregational Church?  What does having enough mean to you, in this season in which you search and pray for a new permanent pastor?  Well, thanks to Dr. Norma and Chaplain John DeSaegher, you’re about to find out: what it means to have enough…what it means to be cared for…what it means to have your needs met.  And warning: you’re probably going to laugh along the way!!! 

                   Welcome to the Gospel of Holy Humor, a skit specially adapted by John; the skit is called, “Finding the Right Pastor is Never Easy!”

[skit: see next pages]

 

FAITH 101.  She—or he—will be a real blessing to you!  How do I know this?  Not because I have any inside track…  Rather, I know it—and you know it, too—because God is in this search.  Because Holy Spirit has always had your backs.  Because, with Jesus cooking up this search for your new pastor, there will be MORE than enough!

Amen and Blessed Be!

“Jesus’ Summer ‘Staycation’”

A meditation based on Mark 6:30-34, 53-56

July 22, 2018

Community Congregational Church of Chula Vista

Dr. Sharon R. Graff

* * * * *

                   For a summer, it’s been a busy time around here.  Pelito painting in the office.  Amber and Victoria tag-teaming surgery and illness, and now both, thankfully, healthy and back at work!  Volunteers training to do various office and church jobs.  Women’s Fellowship leaders actively preparing for their upcoming Card Party…that lively annual fundraiser from which they do so much good throughout the year.  Search Committee busily interviewing candidates to be your next permanent pastor.  Yes, this church remains busy, for a summer.  One of the only groups to take a break has been the choir, and we welcome them back today with joy!  Yet in their absence, our worship services were deepened by Cameron and Earl and our own youth from this congregation.  There is no lack of talent and gifts around here!  Amen??!! 

                   This summer’s busy-ness is to be expected.  After all, this whole interim season has been focused on preparing for your next permanent pastor.  So what remains to be done?  Another way of asking the same question: what prevents you from moving forward with your next pastor?  Those of you who are concrete literal thinkers will be responding, “Well, Sharon, duh…we don’t yet have our next pastor…so we can’t really move forward yet…”  Truth.  Yet not the whole truth.  For this church runs on Spirit’s energy—Holy Spirit fuels this place and always has—and the rest of the truth started by our concrete thinkers is that Spirit, right now, is helping you move forward to receive your next pastor.  Let me hasten to add that such forward movement for you is, in no way, a judgment against or indictment of our pastoral relationship.  I don’t take any of this personally!  This movement forward is your work and your path from God to seize.  Your forward movement is my joy!  Because it means you are spiritually ready to receive the next pastor God has put in your path.  So, in Spirit’s reckoning of these things, we can logically assume that you still have some preparatory work to be accomplished.  To return to the same question: what might that be?  What prevents you, Community Congregational Church, from moving forward to receive your next pastor? 

                   Some might still look back at history and claim it is fear holding you back…fear standing in your way.  After all, long ago, some poor pastoral choices led to a lot of pain that nearly everyone here felt.  Yet, I look at you now—15-20 years later than those painful days—and I see fewer people, yes, but I also see resilience and gratitude and a unified strong multi-cultural congregation that enjoys learning about each others’ lives and cherishes one another’s stories.  Do you know how many churches would give a lot to be in your place? 

                   When I speak of the effect of long ago on the present, I’m talking systems theory…for when churches survive such traumas, there is often residue remaining that new people assume.  To heal from trauma requires strong and steady attention to that healing, and you seem to have accomplished that healing here through your deep love for God and for one another.  So I don’t believe fear is the main deterrent keeping you from moving forward.  I see your trust in Spirit as stronger than any fear you may harbor.

                   The scripture reading today, not surprisingly, gives us a glimmer into one possible answer to the question of what may be holding you back just now.  Let’s look at it more closely.  [verses on screen]  Before we get to these verses, we see a very busy Jesus, and we’ve been reading about his busy-ness for several weeks running.  He’s been teaching large crowds, healing individuals like that young girl and the woman bent over with pain for twelve long years.  He’s calmed one storm and, after questioning the disciples about their own level of faith, he later assures them they have it in them to go out and do the same kind of healing he does.  Jesus entrusts them with his ministry.  As we meet Jesus and the disciples at the beginning of Mark’s 6^th chapter, they have just arrived in his hometown of Nazareth, where his credentials are doubted by his former neighbors, and he replies with that famous saying, “A prophet has little honor in his hometown.”  Remember, that passage goes on to note: Jesus wasn’t able to do much of anything there—he laid hands on a few sick people and healed them, that’s all.  He couldn’t get over their stubbornness.  And so he left and went on a teaching circuit of the other villages.  It is then Jesus emboldens the disciples to go out in his name, two by two, and while they are gone, we hear about the death of John the Baptist, which we read and studied in last week’s message. 

                   Whew!  If you weren’t tired when you came into church today, you ought to be exhausted now just listening to the ministry Jesus and the disciples have been doing in just a few days time.  Point: at the beginning of today’s gospel reading, Jesus and the disciples can’t help but be tired.  They badly need a vacation.  Three times in today’s reading Jesus tells the disciples to take a break…three times they get in a boat for that time off…and three times, ministry happens instead.  Their attempted vacation isn’t exactly a “staycation” in our sense of the word, where they would actually get that needed rest by seeing sights around home.  Rather, Jesus and the disciples go back and forth and back again across the water to get away from the crowds, to take a break from the work, but it is the work of ministry that stays with them wherever they go.  Their VAcation turns into a STAYcation, and it is the work itself that takes no break. 

                   Now what does all this have to do with Community Congregational Church?  Plenty!  Just as Jesus and the disciples keep busy, so do you.  Just as Jesus and the disciples give their energy and attention to ministries of healing, so have you.  Just as Jesus and the disciples face the work before them in each sacred moment, so do you, Community Congregational Church.  You are attentive to the day-to-day work of ministry, and you do that work with faithfulness and with grace.  If I may meddle a bit, for that’s my job as your interim, you do not do that work of ministry with speed or with efficiency.  You take your sweet time to do most everything that happens around here.  And no matter the age or generation.  Slow pace, thoughtful prayer, careful and gentle responses, being present to God and to one another in this present moment—these are your signatures—as we see they were also a part of the ministry of Jesus and the disciples.  Look again at the first slide: “his heart broke…so he went to work teaching them…”  And on the second slide: the image of people darting and pushing to simply touch Jesus, and all who touched him were made well.  Jesus and the disciples gave themselves to the work of the people.  So do you.  In so many of the moments of your life together as a congregation.  And that is good energy…gentle energy…soft and loving energy.  Like Jesus.

                   Now, however, at this point in this interim season, you need more than gentleness and kindness.  You need the ability to make a change.  Here, again, Jesus and the disciples help with that.  For embedded in the busy-ness of the schedules of Jesus and his disciples are little jewels of wisdom about how to navigate change.  The first is on the first slide, first line: “after going out two by two…”  Remember that?  Remember Jesus delegating and empowering the disciples?  That was a change…for Jesus…and for them.  And the impetus for that change came from the work itself.  From the work itself, Jesus saw the need to empower the disciples to take up that work.  So his ministry changed in that moment, from singular (all about him)—to plural (all about them).  Change was—and continues to be—inherently part of the Christian journey. 

                   A second jeweled piece of wisdom is seen more clearly in another translation—the one you have in the pews.  [also 2^nd slide]  If you wish, check out page 41 in the New Testament, and at the beginning of verse 53, we read, “After they had crossed over…”  Simple as it may appear, that phrase “crossed over” gives biblical scholars a lot to think about.  Crossing over.  Starkly, it can mean death, as one crosses over from this life to the next.  It can also mean intentional action, as in choosing to cross over from one point to another.  At the very least, “crossing over” suggests some sort of change and change that is successful.  They crossed over!  Hallelujah!  They made it!  Praise God!  No storms.  No lack of faith.  They got there.  And so did you, repeatedly, my dear friends, and so will you. 

                   One more, quick story to make the point.  It comes from an email meditation I received this week about a word new to me: the word is imperturbability, and the story is from the writer’s martial arts training. Here’s what he has to say about imperturbability:

“In my martial arts training, we talk a lot about imperturbability. Imperturbability is the ability to remain calm, peaceful, loving, and discerning even in a moment of high agitation. In my training I was invited to consider the image of a rock dropping into a body of water. Sometimes we are a like a puddle. When a rock is dropped into a puddle, it will HIGHLY disrupt the water. There will be a huge splash, and it will actually change everything. Our goal, however, is to be like the ocean. Virtually any size rock dropped into the ocean will be easily swallowed up and unnoticeable.”

Community Congregational Church, you’ve got this.  You know how to be an ocean.  You know how to receive changes with grace.  More than that, you trust in God and in Christ, and you are fueled by Holy Spirit.  Seize this moment of change, sisters and brothers, imagine getting in the boat to cross over to the other side with your new pastor, whoever she or he might be, and know, in the words of 14^th-century Christian theologian Julian of Norwich, that “…all shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of thing shall be well…”

 

Amen and Blessed Be!

“Delegation, Jesus Style”

A meditation based on Mark 6:1-13

July 8, 2018

Community Congregational Church of Chula Vista

Dr. Sharon R. Graff

* * * * *

                   “Are you a Christian?”  The question was tentative, the voice trembled almost as if asking such was treasonous.  “Yes, I am,” I replied.  With a smile, she softened.  “Me, too…” she said, and then continued to tell me the story of how she left one church she’d been attending because the pastor was telling the congregation they needed to vote for the “Christian candidate.”  She herself was repulsed by that candidate’s public behavior, bullying, harassment, and equally offended by the Christian pastor’s support.  In our exchange, she was asking a question on many of our lips, “What does it mean on this day and in this season to be Christian?” 

                   What does following Jesus, the Christ, look like in 2018 America?  I have some thoughts on this.  Today’s scripture lesson also provides us with some helpful responses.  But, first, what do you think?  What does following Jesus, the Christ, look like in 2018 America? 

Think on that for a moment, and let’s hear what you think…  [share aloud…]

                   That little vignette I shared with you a moment ago, actually occurred at a recent Chula Vista breakfast I attend each month.  Somewhere between 60 and 100 of us community leaders gather on the first Friday of the month, with one goal in our minds: to do our part to help Chula Vista be the best it can be.  We do this by pledging to work together and learn together.  My job each month is to begin the breakfast with prayer, and from there, various leaders of organizations offer programs that enlighten and inspire us.  We sit at circular tables, not unlike those back in Bradley Hall, which encourage conversation and eye contact.  Together.  The whole event is about “together.” 

                   That’s a powerful concept, isn’t it—together—especially when we reflect on what it means to be Christian in this day and age.  Let’s turn our attention to the passage from Mark’s gospel, and hear what Jesus might say in response to our question.  Seeing the crowds of people flocking to hear his teaching, being so exhausted that he and the disciples move away from land—not once but three times in as many chapters—Jesus knows that the concept of “together” is the only way to get the work done.  He cannot go it alone.  And, in this passage today, Jesus puts into practice that concept of “together.”  Let’s hear and see that again…this time, from The Message Bible, a modern language version of scripture.

Jesus left there and returned to his hometown. His disciples came along. On the Sabbath, he gave a lecture in the meeting place. He made a real hit, impressing everyone. “We had no idea he was this good!” they said. “How did he get so wise all of a sudden, get such ability?”

But in the next breath they were cutting him down: “He’s just a carpenter—Mary’s boy. We’ve known him since he was a kid. We know his brothers, James, Justus, Jude, and Simon, and his sisters. Who does he think he is?” They tripped over what little they knew about him and fell, sprawling. And they never got any further.

Jesus told them, “A prophet has little honor in his hometown, among his relatives, on the streets he played in as a child.” Jesus wasn’t able to do much of anything there—he laid hands on a few sick people and healed them, that’s all. He couldn’t get over their stubbornness. He left and made a circuit of the other villages, teaching.

Jesus called the Twelve to him, and sent them out in pairs. He gave them authority and power to deal with the evil opposition. He sent them off with these instructions:

“Don’t think you need a lot of extra equipment for this. You are the equipment. No special appeals for funds. Keep it simple.

“And no luxury inns. Get a modest place and be content there until you leave.

“If you’re not welcomed, not listened to, quietly withdraw. Don’t make a scene. Shrug your shoulders and be on your way.”

Then they were on the road. They preached with joyful urgency that life can be radically different; right and left they sent the demons packing; they brought wellness to the sick, anointing their bodies, healing their spirits.

You can just feel the energy of “together,” right?!  Whereas a few verses before, we encounter a sleeping, spent Jesus, here, he and the disciples are re-energized by the simple act of choosing to not go it alone. 

                   Two by two…not just for Noah and the ark, friends…far beyond procreative purposes…two by two is the way to get the work done.  You know that.  You know the power of “together…”  You practice it regularly around here.  The quilters, for example, don’t make those beautiful quilts working alone; together, they encircle the fabric with precise needles and practiced fingers.  The choir, now taking a little vacation, knows that it takes all parts—sopranos, altos, tenors and basses—to bring the music to life.  Even a sermon, though it appears to be the product of singular work, is only as effective as the congregation hearing it.  This we know by looking at the two crowds of people in the gospel lesson from Mark.  With one, in his hometown, even Jesus is ineffective.  “Jesus wasn’t able to do much of anything there—he laid hands on a few sick people and healed them, that’s all. He couldn’t get over their stubbornness. He left and made a circuit of the other villages, teaching.”  Not one to linger, the gospel story says, Jesus left their stubbornness in the dust, just as he would later teach his disciples also to do.  He, and they, turned their attention to those whose hearts and minds and souls were open to learn and be well.  And the gospel describes their effectiveness with that second group, “…right and left they sent the demons packing; they brought wellness to the sick, anointing their bodies, healing their spirits.”  We know when the spark that the gospel calls “healing” occurs—whether it is healing in body, mind, soul—when we’ve been touched by thoughtful words or kind actions, the effect is marked by our own receptiveness.  Jesus knows this.  He knows that healing is an exchange between the healer and the one being healed.  He knows that learning to the point of transformation—the gospel calls it “repentance”—that kind of learning is also an exchange between teacher and disciple.  And we know it, too.  When our lives have taken a turn for the better, it’s because we have participated and heard and put into practice that which we’ve received. 

                   In our age there is rampant individualism that seems to care not for its effects on community or the environment.  In our age, Jesus’ teaching on the absolute necessity of “together” is counter-cultural, controversial, even to some naïve.  Yet this lesson that Jesus teaches—with words, with actions, and by practicing it with his disciples—has found voice throughout human history.  Nearly 500 years ago, poet and cleric John Donne wrote the same and I invite you to hear his words as a sort of blessing of the choice you have to go it together:

No man is an island entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent,

a part of the main; if a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less,

as well as if a promontory were,

as well as any manner of thy friends or of thine own were;

any man’s death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind.

And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.

                   In other words, we are in this together.  Humans, creatures, plants, sky, earth, fire, democrats, republicans, independents, and all.  We are in this together.  And together, Jesus calls us to make it better.  To work together.  To learn together.  To care together.  To offer compassion together and to be healed together.  To love our God and love our neighbor… together.  This is radical.  This is even controversial.  And it is certainly still counter-cultural, part of what it means to be Christian in America in 2018.

Amen and Blessed Be!

“Touching Moments”

A Meditation & Prayer Experience

Based on Mark 5:21-43

July 1, 2018

Community Congregational Church of Chula Vista

Dr. Sharon R. Graff

* * * * *

            What to do on this Sunday closest to the Fourth of July…in the two years past, on this particular Sunday, we’ve read many of this country’s signature documents…and been reminded of the great values upon which the United States was ostensibly founded.  Today, I choose a different route, a route that is timely and especially relevant for you.  For one of your great strengths, Community Congregational Church, is your ability to pray…and to pray with great love…to pray in ways that make a difference.  

            So today, in place of the usual meditation from me, I invite you into prayer.  As you see in your bulletins, I will share a prompt for your praying, and we will all respond, “God in your mercy, hear our prayers…” followed by 1 minute of silence for you to pray in response to that prompt.  Then I’ll offer another prompt, we’ll all say together, “God in your mercy, hear our prayers…” and pray in the minute of silence that follows.  We’ll do that 9 or 10 times, so our prayers this morning will be quite a bit longer lasting than usual.

            Let’s start with two stories.  First, the Jesus Story we’ve read and heard this morning.  Jesus uses the gift of touch—first with a woman then with a child.  And in both those instances, through touch, healing happens.  A woman, a child, dispensable in many cultures, including, now, our own.  Yet Jesus sees them.  Jesus hears their plight.  Jesus does the unthinkable and the illegal: he touches them…he allows them to touch him.   And in that exchange—a simple human touch that carries the healing energy of the Divine—they are made well again.  You have the same power in you, my friends.  You have that power through prayer, and in a few moments, you’ll be invited to offer that power, to use that power for good.

            But first, another story…one I shared with you last year and the year before; it’s a story told in 1971 by former-share-cropper-turned-civil-rights-activist Fannie Lou Hamer; it is the story of an old man: 

“This old man was very wise, and he could answer questions that was almost impossible for people to answer.  So some people went to him one day, two young people, and said, ‘We’re going to trick this guy today.  We’re going to catch a bird and we’re going to carry it to this old man.  And we’re going to ask him, ‘This that we hold in our hands today, is it alive or is it dead?’  If he says ‘Dead,” we’re going to turn it loose and let it fly.  But if he says, ‘Alive,’ we’re going to crush it.’  So they walked up to this old man, and they said, ‘This that we hold in our hands today, is it alive or is it dead?’  He looked at the young people and he smiled.  And he said, ‘It’s in your hands.’”

In her spirit, knowing that Jesus has given you the power of healing touch—this country, this world, they are in our hands today—let us receive them, hold them, and pray together…

For immigrants awaiting a new life at so many of our world’s borders…

            God in your mercy, hear our prayers…

                        Silence for prayer…

For refugees throughout the world, fleeing for their safety…

            God in your mercy, hear our prayers…

                        Silence for prayer…

For our Muslim sisters and brothers, now fearful for their future…

            God in your mercy, hear our prayers…

                        Silence for prayer…

For the leaders of our cities, counties, states, and nations…

            God in your mercy, hear our prayers…

                        Silence for prayer…

For the environment over which we have been given stewardship…

            God in your mercy, hear our prayers…

                        Silence for prayer…

For those who live in fear of the other…

            God in your mercy, hear our prayers…

                        Silence for prayer…

For first responders in our country and in others, who face their own mortality in order to save the lives of others…

            God in your mercy, hear our prayers…

                        Silence for prayer…

For the world’s children and for their parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles who care for them and seek their protection…

            God in your mercy, hear our prayers…

                        Silence for prayer…

For those who choose love over fear, faith over anger, and hope over despair…

            God in your mercy, hear our prayers…

                        Silence for prayer…

“In the Face of a Storm”

A meditation based on Mark 4:35-41

June 24, 2018

Community Congregational Church of Chula Vista

Dr. Sharon R. Graff

* * * * *

                   We’ve just heard one of the great storm stories of the Bible, yet to look at the cover of the bulletin today, one wouldn’t even imagine a storm anywhere in sight.  When all is calm—like in this picture—and the waters are clear enough to see the bottom, then is the precious time we can reflect on storms.  Not when it’s raging.  Not when we’re preparing for its blast.  Not until we recover from its power.  But now, when things are calm, Jesus invites us to think about storms and how they affect us, even what they teach us.  Those are the waters the scripture invites us to enter today…so put on your lifejackets…we’re going for a boat ride! 

                   One of the dictionaries I consulted defines “storm” as

• a violent disturbance of the atmosphere
• a tumultuous reaction
• a violent or noisy outburst
• move angrily or forcefully (e.g. “to storm in…”)
• uses words like “intense” “force” “uproar” “controversy” “assault”

Even more than religion or politics, these storms in our lives are topics of conversation we were early on taught to avoid in polite company.  Few of us wear these storms on our sleeves, and fewer still are willing to dive into their depths, even after the stormy waters clear.  Most of us seek peace, quick and speedy peace, when those storms have passed.  And we tend to think that peace includes the instruction to never speak of that storm again. 

                   Yet, Jesus teaches differently.  Jesus teaches the healing power of community.  Look at that bulletin picture again…you’re not just in the boat by yourself.  You are in the boat with others.  Together, it reminds us.  Floating on water that will hold all of you up.  Warmed by sun and cooled by clouds.  On this day, brothers and sisters, you are safe within the safety of community living, Jesus-style.  I think that’s the primary reason that Jesus reacts as he does when the storm is stilled.  You remember the sequence of events:

• prior to today’s passage, earlier that same day, Jesus taught his heart out with parable after parable
• crowds grow so large that he and the disciples get into a boat at the seaside, row out a bit to give some more shore space to the crowds
• by nightfall, Jesus is tired, and suggests to the disciples they head over to the other side of the bay where it might be quieter
• and before the boat leaves shore, Jesus falls asleep, exhausted
• as it common on the Sea of Galilee, a storm arises; these trained sailors navigate the best they can; the sea tosses their boat to the point they are afraid for their lives
• they awaken Jesus and he calms the storm with a three short words, “Peace, be still!”
• Then he gets to teaching again, with two powerful questions, “Why are you afraid?” “Have you still no faith?”
• The story ends, as we might expect, with the disciples in awe and distracted by Jesus’ power over wind and waves

                   That story fits every definition of “storm” you already heard today!  It was violent, disturbing, tumultuous, noisy.  The disciples reacted with angry outburst—“Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?”  They are angry and forceful with Jesus, and the whole scene is filled with intensity, controversy, assault.  So much so, that the disciples do not even seem to hear those two powerful questions Jesus poses: Why are you afraid?  Have you still no faith?  I don’t think Jesus asks those questions to shut them up, to guilt them into obedient silence.  Nor does he pose them to elevate himself or his faith above their own fear.  That’s not Jesus, at least not with his closest disciples.  Maybe with a group of hypocritical Pharisees or short-sighted political leaders…then he uses irony or even sarcasm to make a point.  But not with his beloved community.  With them, Jesus poses those questions for their own good.  For their own learning.  For their own growth.  Why are you afraid?  What a question, after the storm has stilled…  Not “why were you afraid” but why do you still fear?  The storm is passed.  There is no need to carry the fear from it.

                   There’s a wonderful little zen koan that comes from writer Anthony DeMello, who was himself a Jesuit priest and psychotherapist from India.  He tells the story of two priests—forbidden to touch or interact with women.  The priests are walking along a pathway and come to a stream they must cross.  Also at the shore is a woman who is afraid to cross the water alone.  Without hesitation, the elder priest picks her up, carries her across, carefully sets her on the opposite shore, and she goes on her way.  The two priests walk off in the opposite direction.  Hours later, the younger priest, still scandalized by his elder, asks, “Father, we are forbidden to touch a woman.  Why did you do what you did?” to which the elder replies, “Oh, my son, I put her down on the shore…why are you still carrying her?”

                   Why are you afraid? Jesus asks them after the storm has stilled.  Their fear no longer serves them.  Their fear keeps them from acting when things are calm.  Their fear was helpful in the storm, to be sure, in that it jolted them into action that saved their lives.  But now the water is calm.  The storm is passed.  Fear no longer serves.  This Jesus teaches by keeping the fear isolated and contained within the event of the storm.  Spiritual teachers teach us that when fear from past events bleeds over into the present, what it creates is anxiety.  And anxiety is a roadblock to our creative thinking.  Anxiety also gets in the way of Spirit’s good work.  In this storm story today, Jesus is trying to teach us that fear in the storm makes sense, while fear clung to beyond the storm is just sad and unnecessary.

                   With Jesus’ second powerful question—Have you no faith?—we might be inclined to hear it as an accusation.  Again, that’s not who Jesus usually is with his disciples, certainly not when they are still recovering from the intensity of stormy waters.  Rather, we can read into this second question of faith, a great depth of compassion, maybe even tinged with a bit of sadness or perhaps with a quiet reminder that they still have so much to learn and he has much to teach them.  Have you no faith?  It’s like that question of the elder priest to the younger, why are you still carrying her?  Jesus’ question of their faith is a gentle mirror held up for them to see their actions in light of the presence of God with them.  And in seeing, truly seeing, honestly, eyes-open seeing, then they grow.  Those moments are familiar to each of us, for as the storms subside, then the penetrating seeing comes into focus, and the deeper growth can occur.

                   The Irish have a name for this process of growth, and with all the water in their land, it is no surprise that the name echoes a lake.  I stumbled across it years ago, while studying Irish Celtic Spirituality.  It is called, dearcadh siochain (dee-ARR-could SHEE-uh-hawn).  It is an ancient practice that was incorporated as a spiritual practice by early Irish Christians as well.

The old Irish word dearcadh literally means “vision.”  In some usages, it refers to looking; and it is related to modern Irish words meaning to look; to be far-seeing; considerate; it refers to one’s outlook or opinion, one’s vision or foresight.  Interestingly, the word dearcadh is also related to the word for acorn.  My take on that is that, in the ancient Irish language,    trees played a central part.  In fact, the original Irish alphabet is based on different types of trees. 

The oak tree was considered the most sacred, and oak groves were among the earliest outdoor sanctuaries in Ireland.  Perhaps the word for acorn has derived from some early vision rituals. 

Who knows?  As I heard once from an archeologist at Stonehenge, without written records, any of our opinions are as good as the next!  So dearcadh has to do with vision or seeing. 

                   The second word, siochain (SHEE-uh-hawn) means quiet or peace.  Thus, together, the loose translation of dearcadh siochain is “peaceful vision, or view from quiet.”  Imagine the surface of a lake on a windy day, when one’s vision of the depths is obscured by all the silt, sand, and muck stirred up by the wind.  When the wind is stilled, one can see much more clearly.  So in the way of dearcadh siochain, the wind is our thoughts, which must be stilled in order to take notice of what is under the surface.  In the case of today’s Bible story, the wind was the fears, which had to be stilled in order to grow.

                   In the practice of dearcadh siochain, one sits quietly and comfortably; noticing first the breath, and stilling it to a peaceful rhythm.  When thoughts appear, as they will, one seeks to simply notice them as if they were passing clouds in the sky.  Noticeable, interesting even, but distant and disconnected from any desire any necessary or immediate action.  As one practices this discipline, the thoughts recede to make way for a clearer vision of whatever it is that needs to be more clearly viewed.  Perhaps it is a concern for a loved one’s health.  Perhaps a long-ago grief that wants to be healed.  Perhaps a new job assignment or a new relationship or a new challenge recently appearing.  Whatever it is that you want to see more clearly, the practice of meditation, Irish style—or ancient Jesus style—this practice of intentional silence and meditation can help you in quieting the racing thoughts, in calming the waters on your own internally-windy lake, so that the view comes more clearly into focus.

                   In her book, God’s Joyful Surprise, author Sue Monk Kidd has written,

“One of the misconceptions about journeying to a deeper intimacy with God is that we don’t need other people.  We may want to get wrapped up in the coziness of ‘me and God.’  But of course this is a perverted spirituality and doomed from the outset.  One of the worst illusions…would be to try to find God by barricading yourself inside your own soul.  As we wake to God’s love and presence in our lives, we actually become more capable of loving others.  It’s as if our hearts are somehow being enlarged.  It means that as we open ourselves to God’s love, journeying deeper into intimacy, we become more able to love ourselves.  And when we love ourselves, we are finally able (and sometimes for the first time in our lives) to love others—not with a what’s-in-it-for-me love, but with the strong, authentic, wear and tear love Christ showed us.”

Jesus teaches a way of life that acknowledges fear in stormy situations, that moves beyond fear when the storm is over, that looks with penetrating intensity and penetrating compassion in the quiet after the storm, and that accepts and welcomes growth!

                   You, as a congregation, are living through the benefits of this very journey.  These past couple of years, you have willingly reviewed some of the stormy times in your own past.  And, praise God, you’re still breathing!  From those reviews, you’ve seen some new insights, you’ve garnered some new meanings, you’ve reframed some of that difficult stormy history, and you’re stronger for it.  Now I urge you to leave the fear behind at the shore.  It no longer serves you.  It may be holding you back.  God is with you, this you know.  Spirit has your back, this you have seen over and over again.  Jesus walks with you and you with him—on the water, into the boat, and over to the other shore.  So, look deeply into the calm waters, and you will see all you need to see.

 

Amen and Blessed Be