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Twelfth Sunday after Pentecost
August 19, 2007
Delivered by Reverend Sandra Stayner
Jeremiah 23:23-29
Hebrews 12:1-7 (8-10) 11-14
Luke 12:49-56
Psalm 82
"Give us grace to receive thankfully the fruits of Christ's redeeming work"
David, Matt and I just returned yesterday from our yearly camping trip to Cape Breton, in Canada. While we were there we met a lady who several years ago had retired with her husband to Nova Scotia and bought a house with several large spring-fed ponds in the field adjoining their house. This they keep stocked with fish that are supplied to local restaurants. It is also open to the public who can for a small fee catch trout fresh from the pond. Catching a trout or two for supper has now become an exciting part of our vacation - after all, who can resist the thought of freshly caught trout grilled on an open fire! While the guys cleaned the two beautiful trout Matt landed for our supper I found myself waiting for them in the kitchen with the lady. She told me that she had been a palliative care (hospice) nurse before she retired and I commented that that must have been a taxing job. "Not really!" she said. "Sometimes it was. But I learned so much from my patients. I learned to think of life as a large garden. From that garden you will receive flowers. Some will be large, beautiful flowers with a glorious fragrance like roses or lilies. But in that garden you will also find flowers so small you may at first not notice them at all. If you pick enough of those flowers and gather them together into a bouquet you will that together they make a blue that is brighter and deeper than the bluest sky on a sunny day. The flowers are called forget-me-nots."
She went on to tell me that in her work as a nurse she received many of these tiny blue flowers - a smile from someone who hadn't smiled for weeks, a grateful touch on her arm from the relative of a loved one for whom she was caring, a tear on the cheek of a person who had spent days staring at the wall in desperation. All these moments she carefully collected and remembered and her life now is still filled with the beauty of these tiny bunches of forget me not flowers. "And that's what life is all about for me," she said, "continuing to collect bunches of forget-me-nots."
I later pondered her words, thinking about the way she had chosen to live a life of compassion for the suffering ones for whom she cared. We didn't talk about God. I didn't tell her what I did when I wasn't on vacation. But I recognized a woman who was in many ways living a holy life, perhaps without even realizing it!
The ability to live a holy life is offered to every single one of us who call ourselves followers of Christ. At the beginning of our worship this morning we prayed for the grace to live holy lives as we follow daily in the blessed steps of Christ's most holy life. You might note that holiness would seem to begin with thankfulness for the gifts we have received from Christ. "Give us grace to receive thankfully the fruits of his redeeming work." Holiness in fact begins with the realization that all we have and all we are comes from the grace of God.
The way to live a more holy life is really quite simple. There aren't a lot of rules to follow. Jesus didn't seem to care much for rules, especially if they quelled his capacity to love. "Love God", he said, "with all your heart and soul and mind." Love God as a young lover, flush with the first rush of passion. Love God without reserve. Love God, even though at times your love for God may seem to lead you in ways that are contrary to the ways your friends or family want you to go. If we are to live holy lives we must be willing to follow daily in the steps of Jesus, the only man who has ever lived a life of pure love for God. And we can begin by giving thanks for the fruits of his redeeming work in our lives, the forget-me-nots that fill the gardens of our lives when we take the time to look for them. It is not hard, but it takes an act of will on our part, a desire to actively follow. There are no spectators in God.s kingdom!
In Tibetan Buddhism there is a practice called Tonglen. Tonglen is really a meditation practice for cultivating love and compassion. It takes years to fully embrace the practice of Tonglen, but it is possible to quite easily incorporate the Tonglen outlook into daily life, and so begin to expand your capacity for friendliness and compassion. Although it is a Buddhist practice it might I think, be helpful to those of us who need little practices of prayer that we can enter into as we go about our daily lives.
Let me give an example of how you might like to practice this prayer in your own lives. Begin with the realization that every sentient being like you, wants to be happy and avoid suffering. Everyone, like you, wants to have friends and to be valued and respected for their own unique gifts. Ask God for the grace you need to be a person who shares happiness or blessing with everyone they meet. In her book Tonglen the path of transformation Pema Chodron a teacher of Tibetan Buddhism says "When you experience any kind of pleasure or well-being in your life - appreciating a bright spring day, a good meal, a cute baby animal, or a nice hot shower - notice it and cherish it. Such simple pleasures can bring us a lot of joy, tenderness, and a sense of relief. We have many of these fleeting golden moments in our life, but we usually speed past them. So the first practice is just to stop, notice, and fully appreciate them. Next, you make the wish that other people could also enjoy them. As you do this practice, you will probably find yourself noticing these moments of happiness and contentment more and more.
When you practice giving in this way, you don't bypass your own pleasure or enjoyment. Say you're eating a bowl of delicious strawberries. You don't think, "Oh I shouldn't really be enjoying these so much. Think of all the other people who don't even have a piece of bread to eat." Instead, you should think "Wow! This is a fantastic strawberry. I've never tasted anything so delicious." You can enjoy your strawberry thoroughly. But then you think. "I wish everyone could enjoy this, I hope that they will have a chance to enjoy this too." (Tonglen, the path of transformation by Pema Chodron, p.8-9) Now you are beginning to develop a compassionate heart and before long your desire to share will become a reality as you not only pray about the people you would like to share your strawberry with, but you actually offer your strawberry, (or part of it anyhow) with your friend or neighbor across the street, or even a passer by who seems like they could do with a pick-me-up that day!
The grace to live holy lives takes root as we take time daily to reflect upon God's grace and goodness in our lives and gather together the little forget-me-not flowers we have received. As we savor the goodness and cherish the pleasure we have received from simple gifts from God we might begin to share that pleasure with neighbors across the way. And the sharing will begin to grow and expand beyond our circle of friends as we long to share the goodness of our lives in ever widening circles. In such a way we are becoming compassionate, as God is compassionate to us.
Almighty God, you have given your only Son to be for us a sacrifice for sin, and also an example of godly life. Give us grace dear Lord, to receive thankfully the fruits of his redeeming work, and to follow daily in the blessed steps of his most holy life, through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.
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