Remembering and Reconnecting

"I have arrived.  I am home."

This is a mantra that is used for walking meditation in the Engaged Buddhism tradition of Thich Nhat Hanh.  Instead of walking to get somewhere, walking meditation is about being present to each step, each breath, in the present moment, and realizing you've already arrived; you can be at home here and now.

I recently had the opportunity to do some walking meditation when I attended a local sangha's regular gathering because they had invited a special guest nun and dharma teacher with the Order of Engaged Buddhism, Sr. Ocean.  What made this particular walking meditation so special is that it took place at Eden Theological Seminary where I am currently a student.  There was something so satisfying and joy inducing to be in a sangha that follows in the tradition of Thich Nhat Hanh at the same place I am studying to be a Christian minister.  It was this beautiful coalescing of traditions that have shaped me.

This repeated phrase, "I have arrived.  I am home." was particularly moving as I slowly walked around the front quad at Eden, thinking about how I get to claim this place and space as a spiritual home, and I get to claim my arrival and presence here.  I have arrived.  I am home.

I also chose to do the walking barefoot, because part of being in the present is connecting to all that is around and within me, really feeling each step on the earth.  When was the last time you intentionally walked barefoot through the grass?  Re-connecting with earth, feeling the grass between my toes, splashing in the water fountains, delighting in the sun and flowers - what joy and thanksgiving!

I was reminded of a line from the Little Prince which I had just re-watched the day before: the problem isn't growing older, the problem is forgetting.  When did we forget how to be present and delight in creation?  Because kids know how to do this so well.  We have to remember.  We have to reconnect - to ourselves, to one another, to all living beings, the whole of creation, the Divine.  Slow down.  Breathe deep.  Be present.  Let joy overflow in you and through you.  Know that you have arrived right here, right now.  You are home.  And it is wonderful.

Remember.  Reclaim.  Reconnect.

Homily 9.8.17

Remembering we belong to one another, Re-membering the Body of Christ

Scripture Readings:

Ez 33:7-9

Rom 13:8-10

Matthew 18:15-20

Mother Theresa has a beautiful quote that says, “If we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten that we belong to one another.”  Our faith and tradition tell us that we belong to one another because we belong to God, the source of all life.  If the problem is we have forgotten, then the solution is to remember.  When we remember who we are and for what we are created we can re-member, that is put back together, the broken Body of Christ. 

Our Gospel reading this weekend is all about this idea of remembering and re-membering: naming and healing from the sin and conflict that separates the Body of Christ.  This is an incredibly practical topic for Jesus to teach on.  How many people here have ever had a conflict with another person before?  Every hand should be raised because if you’re alive and interact with other people it is guaranteed you’ve also experienced conflict.  This was no different two thousand years ago.  We know from the Scriptures that Jesus’ disciples were frequently arguing or in conflict with one another or even with Jesus himself.  So Jesus gives them a four point plan for how to respond when your brother or sister sins against you, which is really getting at how to repair and restore community when there is a break or divide. 

I want us to look at this idea of division and restoration on three levels.  The individual or interpersonal level, the societal and structural level, and finally in the whole of creation. 

So first on the interpersonal level.  We’ve already established that being in relationship with someone will most likely at some point involve a conflict, a disagreement, something that breaks apart the bond that was there. 

The first question is why do anything at all?  Why not just walk away and write that person off?  I don’t know about you, but I’m sometimes tempted to do that.  With our modern day social networks it is so easy to unfriend or block someone when I have been hurt or offended, rather than seek healing and reconciliation. 

But being made in God’s image means being made in and for community.  Where two or three are gathered, there too God is present.  Our second reading points to love as the greatest commandment, and love is inherently dynamic and relational.  God is love.  Love is lived out in community.  God/Love is present when two or three gather together in right relationship.  And so when there isn’t right relationship, when there is division and discord our faith compels us to seek healing and reconciliation. 

So step one is identifying that there has been harm done and going directly to the person who caused it with their words or actions. In movement spaces now a days there is language used about calling someone in, rather than calling them out.  I like this language in reference to people because we call out the harmful action, ideology, or structure but call in the person - call them back in to community, back in to their true selves, back in to their connection with us and with God. 

So we call in our brother and sister, and if there is repentance and reconciliation – great you’re done!  If not, step two.  Sometimes we can’t do this work on our own and we need to bring in a neutral third party who can help us mediate the conflict.  If that works – great, you’re done!  If not, it’s time to turn to the larger faith community.  Why?  Because we belong to one another and a division between two members of the community impacts the whole.  If the whole community in unable to bring healing and reconciliation to the person or persons who have caused the division, you are to treat them as you would a Gentile or a tax collector. 

Now this is my favorite part and I think the most challenging part of the whole passage.  What does it mean to treat them as you would a Gentile or a tax collector?  When I first read this passage I thought, ok here’s the part where Jesus is finally giving us permission to unfriend them and walk away.  Because Jewish society treated the Gentile and tax collector as the other, outside the community.  But Jesus is the one giving this teaching and Jesus lived and taught that even the Gentiles and tax collectors can be welcomed to God’s table and are part of the beloved community. 

This means that we always have to hold space for future repentance and reconciliation, to welcome back into community the one who has hurt and wronged us.  Sr. Helen Prejean who has spent most of her life ministering to those on death row, says that we are all more than the worst thing we have ever done.  If we really believe in God’s grace, that God’s love is big enough and powerful enough to forgive everyone, for everything, then it is our challenge to do the same as the living body of Christ in the world. 

So all of that is on the interpersonal level, but this dynamic is also played out on the societal and structural level.  There are deep divides in the Body of Christ not just because of what one individual said or did to another, but because of large, ingrained, systems and structures that have said some lives matter, and some lives do not; some people can image God, and some can not; some people can be called God’s beloved, and some can not. Entire groups of people have forgotten that we belong to one another. 

Addressing this level of division can take a similar formula.  We call out the oppressive system or structure, and call in the individuals caught up in it to repentance and reconciliation.  And I want to make sure we understand what causes division and what doesn’t, because in conversations I have often around the hurts and divides caused by structural oppression there seems to be some confusion. 

The act of calling out systemic and structural oppression is not divisive.  Naming structural evil for what it is, is not divisive.  It is the systemic and structural oppression which is already causing the divide, the break in community.  So calling out and naming white supremacy and racism as sinful is not divisive, white supremacy and racism are what is divisive.  Calling out and naming homophobia and transphobia as sinful is not divisive, homophobia and transphobia are divisive.  Calling out and naming sexism and ableism as sinful is not divisive, sexism and ableism are divisive. Calling out and naming xenophobia as sinful is not divisive, xenophobia is divisive. 

Not only is this act of naming injustice whenever and wherever we encounter it not divisive, it is actually required of us by the first reading.  The LORD says we will be held responsible for the harm done by our brother or sister if we do and say nothing.  Silence is violence, and we will be held accountable.  We have a responsibility to heal the divides caused by structural oppression, and we cannot heal what we will not first name.

These divisions in the body of Christ extend beyond just the human family to the whole of creation.  We are currently in the Season of Creation which lasts from Sept 1 – Oct 4, and it is a perfect opportunity to remember that not only do we belong to one another, but we belong to the whole of creation. 

The poet Mary Oliver has put it this way, “The farthest star and the mud at our feet are our family; and there is no decency or sense in honoring one thing, or a few things, and then closing the list.  The pine tree, the leopard, the river and ourselves – we are at risk together, or we are on our way to a sustainable world together.  We are each other’s destiny.” 

There currently exists a deep divide between humanity and the earth, reflected in the ways that we fail to even consider her part of ourselves and in the ways that we actively and passively contribute to her destruction and degradation.  Extreme weather events fueled by climate change are impacting millions around the world right now, and some still try to deny that we are one living organism that is intimately connected to everyone and everything, and as such our fate is intertwined. 

We are called to hold one another accountable to living in ecologically sustainable and responsible ways, to repent for the ways we fail daily to honor our interconnectedness to the earth, and to make changes in our daily actions and choices to protect and promote in the words of Pope Francis an ‘integral ecology.’

We know and acknowledge that as we continue to walk with one another in our personal lives, in our faith community, and in our larger society, we will face conflict and are called to respond with earnest, loving invitation to repentance and reconciliation.  This is difficult work that we will fall inevitably fall short on, but the good news is we are not doing it alone.  God’s love and grace is greater than our shortcomings, and if we can keep remembering who we are and for what we are created, we can also go about this work of re-membering the Body of Christ. 

This is the charge and challenge I want to leave you with today to bring into the week to come: Rooted in God who is Love, may we have the courage and grace to call one another in to reject the ideologies and structures that keep us broken and separated, and work together to restore beloved community, incarnating – putting into flesh -  the truth that we belong to one another because we belong to the source of Life itself.

 

Amen