"Healing, Hope, and Magic" Final Sermon at BCNJ

This sermon is the last one I preached as pastor of the Bath Church of the New Jerusalem.  During the children's time we talked about the power of ritual, and then had a time of anointing in which the children anointed the adults with healing oil from the Mount of Olives.  Later we had a time of prayer in which we could offer up our prayers using special paper and the tray of candles.  The paper represented our prayers, and the way the paper burned quickly and disappeared without any ash or residue represented the Lord accepting our prayers as well as how we are transformed by God's love.

The special music immediately following the sermon was "Winter Song" performed as a duet by myself and Alicia Dole.

 “Healing, Hope, and the Magical Future”

Rev. Alison Longstaff, Oct. 25, 2015

Bath Church of the New Jerusalem

Jeremiah 17:7-8, 10, 14; Mark 9: 17-24; Apocalypse Explained 518:5 

Healing

There is a saying that caught me off guard the first time I heard it in a twelve step program.  It is this: “We will not regret the past nor wish to shut the door on it.”

While I didn’t regret everything about my past when I heard this statement, there certainly were parts I would rather have forgotten.  Shutting the door on the embarrassing moments from my past seemed eminently sensible. The, “we don’t speak about that anymore,” sort of rule that I associate with a Downton Abbey approach to life ruled in my psyche.  I pushed away memories of uncomfortable events because they were, well, uncomfortable. 

Not only do twelve step programs ask us to open the door to the things we would rather forget, they promise us that we will not regret the past once we submit to the healing work of spiritual growth.  We first need to admit our mistakes, learn from them, make amends when we can, and then move on to better behavior.  These steps bring us to a place of “no regret.” “No regret” means we incorporate all of our experiences, good and bad. We don’t try to hide anything.  We don’t even want to.

In one of my first children’s talks here I told a story from my high school years. I was at a mass sleepover, and one of the girls was telling a story.  In the middle of the story this popular girl sneezed, and a booger shot out of her nose and onto her hands right in front of us.  There was a stunned silence. “Oh my gosh!  How gross!” she laughed. “I can’t believe that happened!” She exclaimed in embarrassed good humor, then asked for a tissue, and moved on with her tale.   She did not spiral into a pit of mortification and shame.  She did not try to pretend it didn’t happen.  She made it funny.  We laughed together to the point of tears.  Her lack of shame helped us all. 

Moving out of shame into personal integrity requires complete honesty and self-forgiveness.  We tell our story with humor and compassion, hiding nothing, accepting all parts of our story.  We see that we are not more broken than anyone else nor are we less broken, and our compassion begins to extend to everyone else we encounter.  Everyone makes mistakes.  Do we think we are less lovable when our mistakes are known?  It actually makes us more lovable in God’s eyes.

When things don’t go perfectly in a group or encounter, we humans tend to go into judgment and blame.  We try to discover who was “wrong” and then we distance ourselves from that “wrong” one.  It shows up as gossip, negative story-telling on others, and social cut-offs. This human tendency goes back even before the Old Testament from which we get the name “scapegoating.” I hope by now that everyone in this room knows that blaming and chopping off a part of our group is about the least helpful response to any painful situation. It is about as helpful as cutting off our hand should we accidentally hit it with a hammer.

When we step away from shame and blame and “what other people think,” we find ourselves in a whole new world—one in which nobody is perfect, and yet all are still lovable.  There is healing in such a forgiving space.  We become kinder to ourselves and others.  When we recognize our own flawed humanity in the other we are less likely to cast stones and more likely to bandage up. 

I have heard some people describe our journey together here at this church and my coming departure as some sort of failure.  I don’t see it that way at all.  I believe that every step of this journey has been guided by God’s benevolent Providence, and that everything that has happened has provided important learning for all concerned.  Did everyone make perfect decisions and behave perfectly at all times?  Of course not.  We are a group of humans, and the last time I checked, that means nobody is perfect. If we all have been showing up with good intentions, humility, and a willingness to learn, then we have done well.  I know I leave with tremendous personal gifts of learning, truly invaluable experiences, and a bunch more people to love and whom I will miss very much.

Hope

There was a funny moment at the 2014 Convention in St. Louis. The cafeteria had big glass windows that looked out onto a patio.  On the nice days, many of us wanted to eat out there, but to do so required a long walk around a side corridor to go out a side door.  There was a door through the big glass wall, but everyone “knew” that it was locked.  Every once in a while, someone would try it, have no success, and walk the long way around. 

Then as I sat eating, I watched a woman walk up to the glass door, give it a good yank, and walk outside when it opened.  I just started laughing.  That woman’s can-do attitude made her able to get through a sticky door that all others had believed was locked.  It had never been locked.  It just took a bit of determination to open. Believing that a door is unlocked can’t make it be unlocked, but it sure helps to open unlocked doors that are just a little sticky!  It simply needed faith, determination, and muscle.

Some of you know that my apartment door sticks.  I have called down the stairs to several visitors to “come on in; it isn’t locked,” yet its stickiness still stops a few.  I guess they don’t believe me when I say it isn’t locked.  And so I march down the stairs and yank it open for them and let them in. No, it really isn’t locked.  It really is just sticky.

I am sure that you have had experiences of setting your mind to doing something, and found the ability to get it done because of your sheer determination.  Believing that something is possible can give us the power to do the “impossible.”  However, if we start a project thinking “it has never worked before so it won’t work this time either,” we will probably fail.  We tend to discover what we expect to discover. Believing that something isn’t possible can keep us from even attempting projects of which we are actually capable.  Sometimes “believing” truly is what enables us to “see” a thing come to pass. 

When Jesus said, “Your faith has made you well,” he truly was meaning “faith” on every level of our being.  Jesus was able to heal his followers because of their great faith in him.  It was their faith in his ability to heal them that was in itself healing.  The Divine healing energy united with their confidence, allowing it to transform their spirits all the way down through the cells of their bodies.

Our psalmist cried out, “Heal me, and I will be healed; oh, Lord. Save me and I will be saved!”

And Jesus responds to our cry, “Your faith has made you well.” 

In some ways our spiritual recovery is still that simple.  “Seeing” may be “believing,” but even more so “believing” brings about “seeing.”   Thomas could not believe until he saw the wounds in the Lord’s hands, and there is a Thomas inside each of us.  But it is also true that sometimes we simply can’t see a thing until we first believe it is possible.

All too often, our fear of failure means we hide in a story of “can’t.” Isn’t it easier to give up rather than try and fail?  So we tried.  So it didn’t turn out as planned.  Maybe it is time to try again with more fierceness and an even deeper trust in God’s ability to work within and through our faith.  But if we believe that a thing is hopeless, there is only so much God can do.

That we will not be able to “see” things in which we do not believe is a truth more maddeningly powerful than most of us would like to, well, believe.  Anyone who wants to see the past twenty-two months as some sort of failure, will see it as a failure.  This could lead to ever more negative conclusions, rather like that poem* we read in our children’s talk a few weeks ago.  But if we believe that God guided every step of this process, from call to acceptance, from joyful to jaded, from optimistic even to opting-out, then nothing truly went wrong. The past months of love and hard work alongside each other could be seen as exactly what the doctor ordered for everyone’s ongoing growth.  I know I learned some invaluable lessons about parish ministry and about myself, and I believe that I will be leaving this congregation that much stronger and more self-aware, and even better equipped for building your future.  We have done some amazing things together.

The Magical Future

Last weekend I was at a two-day event dedicated to the world of Harry Potter.  There is something about the Harry Potter stories that have so captured the imagination of all ages that families will travel hundreds of miles to have the chance to play in that world and enjoy the collective experience.  Everywhere I looked I saw round glasses and lightning scars, wizarding robes and magic wands, and most of all great big smiles.

I spoke to a packed classroom about the magic of words and the powerful ways we already use words to effect change for the better in our lives.  My particular focus was how we use word and story to protect ourselves from negativity in our lives.  My talk was entitled, “Teaching Defense against the Dark Arts to Muggles” and seemed to strike a powerful chord in the listeners.

J. K. Rowling created a monster in her stories called a “dementor.”  Floating out of the gloom with scabbed hands, these black-robed figures represented our most negative thinking.  It takes powerful magic to drive these monsters away in the stories, magic that takes practice, and magic that calls on our deepest resources to do so.  Deep joy is the one force powerful enough to defend against these nightmarish, soul-sucking figures.  Young Harry struggles and struggles to be able to produce a powerful enough “spell” to drive these dementors back.  His fear of being unable to do it weakens his ability. His intense self-doubt makes him unable to tap the necessary strength.  Only when a fierce desire to save the life of a friend pours through him and out his wand does he tap enough passion to drive the murderous monsters away.

The love that God gives you, the love that lives inside your beating heart is that very same passion.  It is more powerful than you realize, especially when you align it with love for a good cause and faith in our all-powerful God.  If we pray for help with any good cause, you can bet God will provide.  Love is powerfully and mightily alive, if we are willing to open our hearts to it.  It can open any doors and drive away the darkest of monsters.

Heal us, O Lord, and we will be healed.

Lord, we believe; help, please, our unbelief.

There is no need to regret the past nor wish to shut the door on it, for it has made each one of us who we are, and has all been part of God’s plan.

Is God’s love alive?  You can bet it is.

Does God have an intention for good for this determined little group?  Have no doubt about it.

Amen

The Readings

Jeremiah 17:7-8,10,14

“But blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in him.
That one will be like a tree planted by the water that spreads out its roots by the river.
That tree does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green.
It will not be anxious in the year of drought, neither will it fail to bear fruit.”

 “I the Lord search the heart and examine the mind, to reward each person according to their conduct, according to the fruit of their actions.”

Heal me, and I will be healed; save me and I will be saved, for you are the one I praise, O Lord.

Mark 9:17-24

Someone from the crowd said, “Teacher, I brought you my son; he has a spirit that makes him unable to speak; and whenever it seizes him, it dashes him down; and he foams at the mouth and grinds his teeth and becomes rigid. I asked your disciples to cast it out, but they could not do so.” 

He answered them, “You faithless generation, how much longer must I be among you? How much longer must I put up with you? Bring him to me.”  And they brought the boy to him. When the spirit saw Jesus, immediately it convulsed the boy, who fell on the ground and rolled about, foaming at the mouth.  Jesus asked the father, “How long has this been happening to him?”

And he said, “From childhood. It has often cast him into the fire and into the water, to destroy him; but if you are able to do anything, have pity on us and help us.” 

Jesus said to him, “If you are able!—All things can be done for the one who believes.”

Immediately the father of the child cried out, “Oh Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!”

Apocalypse Explained 518:5

There are three reasons why faith in the Lord healed the Lord’s followers.

The first reason was that they believed that Jesus was God and therefore Omnipotent.

The second reason was that true faith brings complete trust, and complete trust creates a spiritual bond. All spiritual bonds which spring from complete trust cause each one to be spiritually present with the other.  (This happens all the time in the spiritual world.)  A spiritual connection was created because of the complete trust in Jesus’s Omnipotence. And because of this complete trust a spiritual connection with Jesus was established, which produced a transformation in their spiritual state. This is what is meant in the Scriptures by “the faith” that made them well.

The third reason why faith in the Lord healed the Lord’s followers was that all the natural diseases which the Lord healed represented and therefore were the embodiment of spiritual diseases to which they corresponded.  These spiritual diseases could only be healed by trusting in the Lord, by trusting His Divine Omnipotence, and by committing to live a better life. 

*The Poem referenced is:

Worst Day Ever?

by Chanie Gorkin, Brooklyn NY

Today was the absolute worst day ever

And don’t try to convince me that

There’s something good in every day

Because, when you take a closer look,

This world is a pretty evil place.

Even if

Some goodness does shine through once in a while

Satisfaction and happiness don’t last.

And it’s not true that

It’s all in the mind and heart

Because

True happiness can be attained

Only if one’s surroundings are good

It’s not true that good exists

I’m sure you can agree that

The reality

Creates

My attitude

It’s all beyond my control

And you’ll never in a million years hear me say

Today was a very good day

(Now read it from bottom to top, the other way,

And see what I really feel about my day.)

Magic and Miracles - Reflections on the Hero's Journey

This is from a sermon I preached in 2008... yet it is strangely relevant today

“Magic and Miracles”

Exodus 17: 1-7; Psalm 78: 1-4, 12-16; Matthew 21:23-32

                                                          

Raise your hand if the Bible seems like it is about a bunch of people who died a long time ago, whose lives and culture were so different from ours, that we really can't relate.  

Okay.  

Hands down. 

Now raise your hand if you believe that the Bible was written for all people of all time. 

Hands down.  

Thank you.  

Me too.  

You see, both are true for me, depending on the day.  

But one thing I do know is that people are people, no matter what era or culture we live in. And there is a universality about our human condition---a common ground when it comes to our fears, struggles, and longings---that transcends all our cultural and generational differences.  We really aren’t that different from each other, deep down inside.  

Because of that, the stories in the Bible truly can resonate for us today, no matter how different the time and culture may seem to be.

So, in today’s Psalm we heard about “dark sayings of old,” passed down from our ancestors.  In our story from Exodus we see an old man with a staff magically bring water gushing out of a dead, dry rock.  Staffs and magic.  It all sounds like something out of Harry Potter. 

Who knew that Dumbledore was in the Bible?  Or Gandalf, or Merlin?  But think of Moses, with his flowing white beard and great staff of power, struggling to lead a rag-tag group of wanderers on a long and desperate journey.  It’s starting to sound rather similar.

Well, as this is a Swedenborgian church, let’s see what Swedenborg has to say about it all.  .... I looked, but I couldn't find a single remark about Harry Potter in any of Swedenborg’s books.  

But Swedenborg does talk about magic wands.

 

Actually, Swedenborg talks about “correspondences,” which is ancient, ancient wisdom.  The earliest peoples saw the interconnectedness of all things and lived in a constant state of deep spiritual awareness.  This kind of wisdom has been lost for centuries.  We see only traces of it in ancient cultures, like the way the Celts believed that trees had spirits, and the first nation peoples used totem animals to represent different strengths in their tribes, and the way the aboriginals of many lands seem to intuitively know which plants are good for healing.

Moses used a staff (or big magic wand) because of what a staff corresponds to---a staff represents wisdom and power.  Kings held scepters for the same symbolic reason.  Merlin and Gandalf were given staffs because that same ancient knowing is carved so deeply into our imaginations.

A hand, or “right hand” symbolizes a person’s power, and a staff was an extension of that hand. That is why Moses was told to stretch out his staff in order to effect a miracle, like when he parted the Red Sea or brought water from the rock. The wands that we find in the hands of Harry Potter and his friends are the modern day symbolic descendants of the staffs of power. 

A staff also corresponds to wisdom.  That is another reason we see them in the hands of magicians and wise men in fiction.  A staff represents the great knowledge that the wise men had at their disposal.  In the days before widespread education, their unique learning definitely elevated them above the common people, bringing them respect, power, and status.

But there was a difference between Moses and the wise men of Pharaoh.  The difference lies in the way they used their power and knowledge.  Pharaoh’s wise men had access to a lot of ancient knowledge, but they used it to control others.  They knew how to use it to manipulate reality, and in the beginning could copy some of the wonders and signs that Moses did.  They represent the parts of us and times in us when we are not acting from sincere and good motives.  We can fake an awful lot of goodness.  We can make ourselves look kind and loving when inside we are still pretty unkind and selfish.  This lets us practice being good, and learn about the difference between the real and the fake goodness, but it is not meant to be somewhere we stay.  By the time Moses was battling with Pharaoh’s wise men, their fakery represents a way of living that really needs to be left behind.  Moses represents the call to a real integrity--- to living in such a way that our outsides begin to match our insides.  When we are beginning to live from a truly loving place, from the Lord, our “power,” our quality of life, has a sincerity to it that leaves Pharaoh’s faker magicians dumbstruck and helpless.

Moses’ battle with Pharaoh’s wise men is just the beginning of a long journey.  Just like Frodo's journey in The Lord of the Rings and Harry’s journey in the Harry Potter novels, there are a lot of scary things still ahead.  Our heroes simply won’t make it through without the help of wise friends and supernatural forces.  It was the same for the Children of Israel. 

Psychologists who study such archetypal mythologies say that we love such stories precisely because they resonate so strongly with our human experience.  We are all on a quest to become better than we are.  We are all driven to rid ourselves of whatever dark forces haunt us; we are all compelled from the cradle to find our true other, our true love---and to live with a sense of purpose and peaceful belonging.  These longings lie at the core of each one of us with very little variation from person to person.   Deep inside we are not so different from one another.

So you and I are born into our own hero’s journey, and you and I, even now, are on a quest. 

It is the quest for integrity, belonging, and meaning.  It is the quest to our truest self and true home.  

None of us will make it either, without the help of wise friends and supernatural powers.  But with them, we will all make it, no matter how scary and hopeless it sometimes looks.

Now, it may seem as though I’m playing fast and loose with the Bible story here, but bear with me.

If God loves every single one of us with absolute devotion, tenderness and compassion; if God wants us to become more and more content, fulfilled, and blessed for the rest of our lives, then it stands to reason that He will use every resource at hand to give us meaning, inspiration, and courage---yes, even the Harry Potter series.

You are a rare person indeed if you can read the Moses story and find it as magical, fun, and totally cool as some of today’s modern fiction.  But that's okay.  The Bible is a highly sophisticated style of spiritual writing with a whole lot going on, and isn't meant to be modern fiction.  It wasn't designed that way.  It has got too much else it needs to do given its limited context and simple language.  It speaks to a  deeper part of our psyches, if we are to believe Swedenborg, creating lines of communication between us and heaven---between us and God.  It isn't so much meant to entertain us, as to feed us on a deep spiritual level.  It is like a densely nutritional spiritual drink (that sometimes tastes like lawn clippings) where Harry Potter is more like frozen yogurt.  It is okay to prefer modern fiction.  Just try not to dismiss the Bible altogether.  It's cooler than you think.

Now, running with this hero's journey metaphor, if we are indeed on our own quest, then we, too, have devoted and loyal friends; we, too have weak companions who will help us sometimes and betray us other times.  We, too have powerful allies, and a magical, powerful mentor who has this annoying habit of disappearing just when we need him most, but who shows up just in the nick of time to bail us out of scrapes.

Does this resonate with your life?  Think about it awhile.  

Now, for me, I have several pretty cool earthly mentors, but my Gandalf figure is more like my relationship with God.  Sometimes it really feels like God is present, and I feel safe and hopeful and positive, and strangely magical things seem to sweep away the road blocks and monsters in my life.  But other times, God seems completely out of earshot.  Gone.  Unreachable.  Maybe even dead.  And life is pretty hard to get through during those times.

I'm guessing a lot of people feel this way.  At times like this, we have no choice but to go on, though the whole project can seems pretty hopeless.  We tend to think we've done something wrong to make God go away, but that isn't necessarily true.  Sometimes, it is a necessary phase of the journey.  We don’t often realize it, but we tend to grow much stronger during those times.  We develop and hone our God-given strengths, and really learn to cherish our travelling companions as well.  It isn't fun, it definitely isn't comfortable, but we can learn some important personal lessons when we are feeling alone.

The children of Israel whined a lot when things got rough.  They certainly felt like God had abandoned them several times on their journey.  Things got so bad, they were threatening to kill Moses.  They were going to stone him with stones.  Instead, God brought their salvation just in the nick of time, using a stone.  The thing that could have killed Moses became the source of their salvation.  Water from a rock.  Life out of death.  There is layer upon layer of meaning in this simple story.

In our lives, big and small miracles are happening around us all the time, though we often don’t remember to look for them.  And I don’t just mean the miracle of a baby’s birth or a grandchild’s first word.  I don’t even mean the miracle of a completed sermon by Sunday morning.  I mean the sort of strange miracle which we call coincidence, or serendipity---the sort which tends to make us want to sing the theme music from the Twilight Zone.

You know what I’m talking about. 

 

Five years ago, smack in the middle of the absolute worst years of my life, I had pretty much lost my faith in God.  Rotten stuff just kept happening, month after month.  I was really not on speaking terms with whoever was in charge of the universe, if anyone was.  I was too blasted angry.

The thing is, strange things kept happening during those years.  Really strange things that I can only say felt like encouraging nudges from some supernatural presence---I don’t know how else to describe them.  Call them synchronicity.  Call them hocus-pocus, or chalk them up to my wild imagination, but there were enough of them to make me sit back and take notice. 

Sometimes, they were down right silly.  And often, they made me laugh.

Does God communicate with us in such indirect ways?   I don’t know.  But during those hellishly difficult years, coincidence after magical coincidence kept happening.  Nothing that forced me to believe in God, nothing that forced me to let go of the disillusionment---just gentle, often humorous oddities that defied explanation.    Amidst all the chaos and pain, some Divine Being was playing a kazoo, trying to get me to smile.  I felt seen, supported, and almost elbowed in the ribs by some benevolent source.  It was crazy.  I think this was my “manna,” small and sweet, during my wilderness, giving me just enough encouragement to get through another day.

The saying that God never gives us more than we can handle is simply not true.  God frequently lets us go through more than we can handle; it is just never more than God can handle.  And it is never without a purpose for good for everyone involved in the long run. Period.  Never.  I learned a bunch of things during those terrible years---things I don’t think I could have learned any other way.  One thing I needed to realize was that it wasn't God’s job to spare me from pain and suffering.  God’s job is to help you and me grow into the best, most wise and loving people we can be, as far as we will allow it.  Sometimes that involves some pretty uncomfortable experiences, but the pain is never for nothing.  God always hides miracles and gifts amid the rocks along the way. 

So when you go from this place today, I hope you go away encouraged.  God is always working miracles in your life, even though you can’t see his magic wand.  God’s compassion shows up in all sorts of surprising ways if we just remember to look for it.  Call these things coincidence.  Call them serendipity.   Call them what you like, but I call them miracles.  I think they are little post-it notes from God reminding us that we are not alone.  Just wave back, and say “thanks.”

Amen.