Larger Awareness
“Larger Awareness”
Proper 26, 31st Sunday in Ordinary Time, 24th Sunday after Pentecost, Year B November 4, 2018
Psalm 24 John 11:32-44 Mark 12:28-34
First Presbyterian Church of Sandpoint, Idaho
Pastor Andy Kennaly
I usually write my sermons on Thursdays from my house. I have a separate room off the garage I call, “The Hermitage.” It’s a great place for quiet, focused writing, away from the noise of town and traffic or a busy church office. But it can’t get away from the calendar. This past week was very busy. Last Thursday, the day I usually write sermons, was also scheduled as a Pastor’s Cohort meeting in Cheney, Washington on the other side of Spokane as part of the Missional Church Network through our Presbytery. I also met with a Spiritual Director in Spokane, so with hours on the road, driving 200 miles, and meetings, it made for a long day. Also, last Friday was a couple of Peace Pole events, which were really good as we celebrate Peace and Community. At 11 we dedicated a new peace pole at the Library and at noon we met here, outside in the Peace Garden. Both gatherings were well attended, inspiring, and helpful in participating in what God’s Spirit is up to in the larger community.
After these events, on Friday afternoon my wife and I headed to Montana for the Saturday funeral of Eugene Peterson, a retired pastor, author of The Message translation of the Bible, and someone who was a mentor to me, especially when I lived in Montana. Just got back last night. 424 miles round trip. Again, it was good to be there, important to connect with people from those circles in life, and part of the grieving process in saying goodbye to someone who had a direct influence on my life.
Last week I woke up in the middle of the night and my mind was racing, the worries about how I would have time to write a sermon for today were really starting to peak. The stress of being gone so many times in such a short period, plus there’s other things coming up this week, most of them involving a lot of sitting, so a lack of exercise; I could sense my body was tense, and I thought, “This must be a form of anxiety attack.” But then I realized something. I became aware that although my body was tense and my mind racing, my heart was very calm. That central part of my torso felt spacious. I focused on that sensation of a peaceful presence deep within, and the tension and the worry started to fade. Pretty soon I fell back asleep. That night was a reminder of how important it is to not only simplify life, but to do this in order to nurture what is truly important.
Here’s something from Eckhart Tolle that talks about this as he explores the invisible, inner body, which is a doorway into Being, into Life. He says, “Examine where your attention is at this moment. You are listening to me…that is the focus of your attention. Yet there is no need for this to absorb all your attention. See if you can be in touch with your inner body at the same time. Keep some of your attention within…. Feel your whole body from within, as a single field of energy….Do not give all your attention away to the mind and the external world….Stay rooted within…Unless you stay present…you will continue to be run by your mind. The script in your head that your learned a long time ago, the conditioning of your mind, will dictate your thinking and your behavior….When something ‘goes wrong’…your conditioned reaction will then be involuntary, automatic, and predictable, fueled by the one basic emotion that underlies the mind-identified state of consciousness: fear. …When you focus within and feel the inner body, you immediately become still and present as you are withdrawing consciousness from the mind.” (Power of Now, pg. 97-98).
That’s basically what I did the other night. When my mind wanted to run wild with fear and worry, I withdrew and focused on my heart instead. This calmed the mind and helped me stay grounded and whole.
When the scribe comes to Jesus to ask him questions, it’s not in a testing, nasty sort of way, but in a collegial, supportive way. As Mark describes this scene in Chapter 12, Jesus gives the first commandment, connecting it with a second as a unified whole. He also adds something to the list. He says, “Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one; you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.” Jesus has added, “with all your mind.”
To help put into perspective what this addition may mean, Mark also lists the scribe’s respectful response to Jesus as he shares his admiration for this enlightened interpretation of traditional religious belief. The scribe says, “You are right, Teacher; you have truly said that ‘he is one, and besides him there is no other’; and ‘to love him with all the heart, and with all the understanding, and with all the strength,’ and ‘to love one’s neighbor as oneself,’ this is much more important than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.”
Friends, in this conversation, the scribe and Jesus are highlighting the immense importance of internal transformation at all levels. Jesus also adds the mind, knowing full well that our understanding needs shifted away from an ego-centric, fear-filled, mind-based state of consciousness to a more well-rounded, life in all it’s fullness experience as our center is found in God’s love. Unity of mind and heart, spirit, soul strength, takes place through keeping focus on God; this transforms our inner being. Loving others as ourselves, become expressions of this transformation, results of love at work in life as we reflect back and see in all things God’s image and likeness.
The other story from John seems almost sentimental as Jesus is moved to tears in the resuscitation of Lazarus, calling him from a tomb of death back out into the light of day. When Jesus sees Mary weeping, and all the Jews who followed her from the house to the tomb also weeping, John says Jesus was “greatly disturbed in spirit and deeply moved.” When they got to the tomb, Jesus was “again greatly disturbed.” This sounds so touching, but the footnotes in the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible clue us into the real attitude of Jesus in this scene. The Study Bible mentions that, “While these translations seem to suggest Jesus’ deep compassion, the Greek verbs used here usually communicate agitation and indignation.” (page 1931)
Jesus is agitated and indignant, and he is weeping. Most of the time in the Bible Jesus weeps over people’s lack of knowing of what makes for deep peace. He calls out for Lazarus, and as this man steps out covered in grave clothes, Jesus says, “Unbind him, and let him go.” On one level he’s speaking to the people at that scene, but on another level he’s speaking to death itself, to the limitations we impose on ourselves, to fear and lack of understanding when we choose to focus on other things than love.
When we are baptized, the water symbolizes our being baptized into the baptism of Jesus, into his death and into his rising to new life. Baptism is an outward sign of an inward reality that we are marked as Christ’s own, forever. This is not just some ceremony or right of passage. It is a celebration that we’re invited to follow the Jesus Way, to walk the path of Christ in order to renew our minds, strengthen our hearts, heal the soul, and trust in God’s perfect love which casts out fear. In Christ we find our True Self, the unity of our being with the Source of Being.
At the end of the funeral for Eugene Peterson, his son, Eric, who is also a Pastor, took water from the baptismal bowl and flung it a couple times, splashing over the casket while he announced that the baptismal promises have been fulfilled.
As we claim resurrection faith, we too, spend our days somewhere between Mary with the grieving Jews wondering how Jesus could possibly relate to us in our lives when we face so many challenges, so many daunting outrages and there’s such suffering and pain; to times when we come alongside that scribe who shares a moment of connection in deep, spiritual conversation with a Teacher that has illuminated the great truths of life.
As we hear the Psalmist cry out, “The Earth is the LORD’s and all that is in it, the world, and those who live in it;” we’re reminded that everything and everyone is called to right relationship with God and one another, with all creation.
That golden rule, to Love God and love your neighbor, shared through every major religion on the planet, is hard wired into the human experience to know, deep down, that love is our better nature and higher calling. “Unbind him and let him go!” is a call to release everything else, anything we substitute for love.
In the week ahead and as we remember saints from that great cloud of witnesses, stay in touch with your inner body, your source of Christ consciousness which wants to promote healing and wholeness in your inner life and beyond. Give God room to work. Maybe it means clearing your calendar (and I know I’m preaching to myself as well), to allow spaciousness externally to help us notice the spaciousness internally. Let Jesus the Teacher inform your life, your heart, your mind, your strength, your soul; shaping you through a peace beyond understanding. This is where love comes unbound; this is when love can change the world. As we live into who we are in Christ, may God be glorified, now, even as forever. Amen.