Releasing Resentment - sermon May 3 2015

“Releasing Resentment”

Rev. Alison Longstaff, May 3, 2015

Bath Church of the New Jerusalem

Genesis 37:3-8, Mark 11:22–25; HS 4681 

Heavenly Secrets 4681

The phrase, “And they hated him, and could not speak peaceably to him,” symbolizes contempt and aversion. “Not being able to speak peaceably to him” symbolizes aversion, because speaking peaceably to someone requires wishing that other person well.  When the earliest peoples heard the word “peace” they thought of the Lord Himself—for this is the meaning of Peace at the highest level.  An angel’s state of peace in heaven, which is also called “salvation,” is the next highest meaning. The lowest and most obvious meaning for the ancient peoples was the comparable state of a peaceful person on earth, which is a state of spiritual well-being.  Being “unable to speak peaceably to [Joseph]” symbolizes that they were in a state which is opposite to “peace” and includes not wishing the other well. Emanuel Swedenborg

This write-up is based on an extemporaneous sermon which included an interactive portion.  My sermons are rarely extemporaneous, mainly because the congregation is used to having a printed copy to consult while I deliver it.  This also makes it easier to share with friends and send out via email.

But from time to time I will do an interactive service that invites deep self-reflection—maybe once or twice a year.  These often include a call to self-reflection that serves rather like a spiritual spring-cleaning. I think these worship services loosen things up a little bit and shake the dust out of our spiritual thinking.  I recognize that they are not everyone’s cup of tea. Today was one of those.

Resentment.

We all know what it is.  We all live with it.

But think about this saying:  

“Resentment is like eating rat poison and expecting a rat to die.”

Resentment eats us up inside.  It does nothing to hurt the other person or to resolve the cause of the hurt.

So what do we do when we are hurt by or angry at a person or group, or some ideology, and cannot let go of it?  So long as we harbor resentment, it is as if acid is eating us up inside, no one else.  Why do we feel like we are accomplishing something by feeling resentful?

Today I am going to teach you a tool for tackling resentment.  I learned it from my experiences with the Twelve Steps.

In the twelve-step program, a very important and transformative step is the Fourth Step which is: “Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.”  A fourth step is intended to be as comprehensive a self-examination as possible.  It is to be written down.  (It is no coincidence that the Twelve Steps embody all the elements of Swedenborg's “repentance, reformation, and regeneration.”  Bill Wilson, one of the co-founders of AA was married to Swedenborgian, Lois Burnham Wilson, who also founded Al-Anon.)

If you want practical, down-to-earth tools to help you on the path to personal reformation, look no farther than the Twelve Steps.  You don’t have to have an addiction for them to transform your life.

A key reason so many of us avoid a thorough self-examination is that we are afraid of what we will find.  It is rather like inviting a deep home inspection.  What if the inspector finds that the foundation is rotting, the roof is leaking, and the electrical is about to short out?  What if we will be expected to fix it all immediately and we can’t afford to?  What if everyone finds out what a mess we are and we feel terrible shame? Who wants to look in the mirror and see that we are much more overweight than we hoped, or that we have lost more hair than we realized, or that our saggy bits are saggier than ever?  Shame and self-loathing can be insidious, and it is no wonder we avoid them.  But they are not ever the intended outcome of self-examination, nor God’s plan for our eternal happiness.

Maybe one of the things we will discover when we examine ourselves is that we are far too harsh with ourselves?

Think about someone you love and admire.  Go ahead.  Close your eyes.  Who comes to mind?  Who comes to your heart?  Now ask yourself, do you love them because of how they look, or because of how they love?  When you see a photograph of that person, do you pick apart their appearance with a critical eye, or do you just feel happy to see someone you love?

Now, how do you respond to most pictures of yourself?  Unless you are unusually gifted in appearance or are remarkably unattached to your appearance, (or are a narcissist,) you would be like most of us.  Most of us do not respond to pictures of ourselves with the same enthusiasm we do to those of someone we love.  We can be pretty hard on ourselves.  Can we learn to do unto ourselves as we do unto those we love?

So when you do your self-examination, do it with the eyes of love.  Be open to seeing the areas that need work, but know that you don’t need to be afraid of them and that everything can be repaired and healed in time.  Everything.

And so now I invite you to do a mini fourth step.  It will be specific, and you are free to meditate, or look like you are thinking, or daydream instead.  But I do encourage you to give this a try.  This particular fourth step approaches self-examination by looking at our resentments, and I have found it a powerful and transformative tool.  No one will see what you write.  There will be no “sharing” or “soul-baring” following the exercise.  This is for you and you alone.

If this process stirs up something that you wish to talk about later, I am available to listen to and support you in a private setting at some future time.  But at this time, this process is just for you.

So take your paper and mark it into four columns.  At the top of the first column write “I Resent.”  Now, take some time and pick the top three that come to mind.  If you were doing a full fourth step you would list and list and list every possible resentment you could think of from your whole life.  It might be pages and pages.  It could take days.  I know for me, thinking of things I was mad about was easy.  I had no idea just how resentful was until I did this fourth step.

For this morning just pick two or three.  They might be related to a person, or an institution, or even an ideology.  It can be from the past or be quite recent.

All done?

Now at the top of the next column write “Why? What Happened?”  Answer this in the column below in relation to the items you listed in the first column.  Be sure to be as specific as you feel you have time.  This is a time of championing yourself.  I know I tend to find this column easy to fill in too.

All done?

At the top of column three write: “How This Affects Me Today.”  In this column you will continue answering according to the resentments you listed in column one.  Again, be specific.  Do not put, “I am fine,” or “It doesn’t affect me.”  If it didn’t affect you and you are fine, you wouldn’t have listed it.  It wouldn’t even have crossed your mind.  There is something dark still lingering in connection to it or you wouldn’t have picked it as one of your top three resentments.  Believe me when I say, no matter how big or old or hopeless it may look, every hurt can be “cast down and thrown into the sea” with good support and tools, with God’s help and being kind to yourself.

Finished? 

At the top of column four write: “My Responsibility Then and Now.”  Now this is important:  You may have shared in the hurtful dynamic of what happened.  But depending on how old you were and the power dynamic at the time, you may have held no responsibility (even if the ones in power tried to blame you).  It is a completely legitimate response to fill in that you did nothing to invite what happened.  For example, if you were harmed as a little child, you cannot in any way be responsible for what happened to you.  If you are not sure, leave it blank.  It will become clearer later, if you wish to understand and are open to it.

While there are many ways in life that we might have been hurt and did nothing to deserve it, the lingering anger and resentment can follow us and eat away at us long after the event.  Someone who lost a limb or a loved one in the Boston bombing could understandably feel ongoing anger and resentment, and they did nothing wrong to deserve what happened to them.  Such losses are permanent and catastrophic, and one does not “get over” them.  One has to find a way to go on with life despite them.

And here is where the second part—My Responsibility…Now—is especially important.  Our responsibility now is about seeing where we have choices now. 

When I did this exercise, I realized that though I had been hurt deeply as a child, I was still harboring the resentment forty years later.  I was continuing to hold the hurt inside me and I missed no opportunity to bad-mouth the one who hurt me.  I was not approaching that person nor attempting to express my hurt or ask for an apology.  There was even, I admit, a kind of pleasure in feeling so angry and … self-righteous?  I certainly felt better than that person, and I felt entitled to stick little pins in her back whenever I could.

It was uncomfortable to realize that I was now keeping this negative cycle going.  Yet it was a relief, too.  The child in me needed to hear that it wasn’t her fault and she didn’t deserve what happened.  But the adult in me needed to see that I was behaving badly and hurting myself and others now.  I was certainly not treating her the way I would want to be treated—according to the Golden Rule.  While I was feeling spiteful and superior, she was oblivious.  This gave me a feeling of power. While I was gossiping and spinning negative stories about her, she had no idea.  It was not pretty.

I have been on the receiving end of this sort of behaviour and it feels awful.  However I cannot judge when someone does this to me, because I definitely have done it too.

And as hard as it was to see that truth about myself, I was grateful to become aware of it and start to change it.  I did not want to be “that person.”  I had had no idea I was “that person.”  I was too busy being a martyr and a victim.  Was I victimized?  Yes.  Was I now handling it in a mature and spiritually responsible way and owning where I was at fault?  Not until that moment.  And even after that moment, it has taken considerable time and effort to change that long-standing habit of back-stabbing that particular person.

I have been told I’m brave.  But stabbing someone in the back is not brave.  Creating a safe space and talking it out with her would be brave.  I have yet to do that.  I might never actually get that brave.  But I am shifting how I see her and am coming to release the emotions that are eating me up inside. I am biting my tongue when I want to say something mean about her, because that is something I can do that moves me into forgiveness and greater integrity. 

So I will give you time now to explore in that final column the ways you might be part of the ongoing pain.  This is not about blame.  This is about realizing ways we can become free of hurtful emotions that we hadn’t seen before.  Be very gentle with yourself.  Or, just meditate and breathe.  I will give you several minutes to complete this final column.

Forgiveness is a funny thing.  It doesn’t mean that what happened is okay.  It does mean we are releasing all the ways something might continue to hurt us, and that takes time.  It can take years and years.  There is nothing wrong with you if it takes years for you to release all your resentments.  I doubt any of us do release them all in this lifetime. But do know that with each one truly released, life gets lighter, clearer and more peaceful.    

You now may have a potent paper in your hand. It is yours to do with as you wish.  It might be a valuable new friend and reveal a path to a much more peaceful soul.   God go with you.

Amen

Source: http://www.12step.org/docs/Step4_Inventory.pdf

Inventory columns

Column 1: Resentments.

“I resent” List all people, places, things, institutions, ideas or principles with whom you are angry, whom you resent, or feel hurt or threatened by.

Column 2: “Why? What happened?”

The Cause. Be specific as to why you were/are angry or hurt.

Column 3: How It Affects Me Today”

How did it make you feel? How does it still make you feel? Be specific, detailed, and thorough.

Column 4: “My Responsibility Then and Now” 

Where was your responsibility at the time? What is it now?  What might you have done instead? What might you be doing instead today? Where might you be at fault?

The Readings

Genesis 37: 3-8

Now Israel loved Joseph more than any of his other sons, because he had been born to him in his old age; and he made a special robe just for him. When his brothers saw that their father loved him more than any of them, they hated him and could not speak a kind word to him.

Joseph had a dream, and when he told it to his brothers, they hated him all the more. He said to them, “Listen to this dream I had: We were binding sheaves of grain out in the field when suddenly my sheaf rose and stood upright, while your sheaves gathered around mine and bowed down to it.”

His brothers said to him, “Do you intend to reign over us? Will you actually rule us?” And they hated him all the more because of his dream and what he had said.

Mark 11: 22-25

 "Have faith in God," Jesus answered. 

"I tell you the truth, if you say to this mountain, 'Go, throw yourself into the sea,' and do not doubt in your heart but believe that what you says will happen, it will be done for you.

Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. 

And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive that one, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins."

Spiritual Evolution - sermon April 26

“Spiritual Evolution”

Rev. Alison Longstaff, April 26, 2015

Bath Church of the New Jerusalem

Originally preached April 19, 2015, at Creekside New Church, PA 

Jeremiah 15:15–21, Matthew 16:21–28; HS 3603:3

Heavenly Secrets 3603:3 “During the first stage [of regeneration] nothing more than memory is involved in knowing things in the Word and in knowing things of doctrine about faith. During this stage we believe we are good because we know many things from the Word and from doctrine, and are able to apply some of them not to our own life but to the lives of others.”(Emphasis mine) Emanuel Swedenborg

I am going to talk about the stages of the spiritual journey through the lenses of James Fowler, M. Scott Peck, and Emmanuel Swedenborg.  I hope I am going to illustrate how these stages are described in fine detail in the Bible, and just how many resources there are available to us already if we wish to understand this process better.  Finally, I hope to assure you that this tool is for personal use only.  Analysis of where someone else is on the inner spiritual journey is none of your business.  To the extent that you use this tool to compare yourself to others you need to put the tool down.  Where we are on the road is God’s business, and our only focus should be what our next step is.  Period.  Applying truth to others (not ourselves) is a sign of a very primitive version of spirituality.

In the realm of psychology, scholars have been researching and mapping stages of development since Jean Piaget began exploring children’s early cognitive development in the 1930s.  He discovered that children were not “dumb” or “wrong,” but that their perspective of reality was progressing along a normative, measurable pathway.  For a child to move from a more simplistic world view to one more sophisticated, it required “readiness,” and this happened of its own accord in its right time.

In my Psych undergrad at Bryn Athyn College I had the privilege of using some of Piaget’s tests with the kindergarten children.  With birthdays spanning approximately a year from the oldest to the youngest, these kids were just around the age where most of us commonly make the transition from one stage to the next.  During the test, some of the children answered clearly with the earlier stage perspective; some clearly with the later stage perspective.  But I remember the one or two student who would answer according to the first perception and then say, “Wait…” and their brow would be furrowed, and I could see them wrestling with the possibility that their answer might not be what they first expected.  They were standing on the edge of readiness to move into a more sophisticated way of viewing the world.

From my perspective, each child was “right,” because each child was seeing reality in an age-appropriate way. It wasn't for me to impose my “correct” world view upon them or push them somewhere they were not ready to be. I was simply measuring where they were.  It was fascinating.

The concept of there being normal developmental stages along which humans progress began to extend into many areas of psychological research.  We now have Lawrence Kohlberg’s stages of morality and James Fowler’s stages of spirituality to guide us in our understanding of human development. I did a double take when I learned that there is a whole academic discipline called “The Psychology of Religion; I would have jumped disciplines right then if I had been able to do so and stay as an ordination track student.

But think about this. Psychologists have been mapping in increasingly fine detail what is required for a child to move from each stage of cognitive development to the next.  We now have many specific, almost laser-pointed therapies to aid children across developmental hurdles, thanks to decades of research.  The vast majority of us navigate these large developmental stages by ourselves without needing support.  But for those children who need a bit of help we have ever more pointed strategies and tools to help them along their educational and developmental paths.   

Just imagine if we could extrapolate this wisdom across disciplines to apply to human spiritual development.  Imagine if we could map in finer and finer detail what is required for each spiritual developmental leap such that spiritual practitioners could, if it was appropriate and welcomed, apply similar tools to aid the spiritual traveler across spiritual hurdles.

We do have one map already.

It was Rev. Dr. George Dole that introduced me to the idea that the Word of God—the Bible—isn't just “full of correspondences.”  He put forward that the Bible, as disjointed and edited and pieced-together as it is, contains the arc of our spiritual development from our spiritual awakening until the moment we enter the spiritual Holy City.  It took me awhile to comprehend how this could be, but ever since, the idea has grown and grown on me.  It works for me. You can take it how you like.

The more I have worked with this idea, the more it seems to me that the Bible is a manual full of reassurances about the way we simply are.  Not only does God know we will lose our way, God has described the many ways we will lose our way and the ways we will get back on track again and again.  The story of the Children of Israel turning back in fear the first time they approach the Holy Land isn't there so that we will know better and not do that too.  It is there because that is what we do.  All the elements in every story—every single spy, not just Caleb and Joshua—make up each person’s inner reality.  Sometimes a fearful turning back is what we choose, rather than a courageous plunge forward.  And so God lets us take another lap and try again, like a horse that has balked at a jump, or a soloist that has missed her entrance.

According to Fowler and the Bible, we start out needing rules about how to “do religion right.” At that stage we excel at noticing all the other people who are breaking the rules, while being astonishingly blind to our own foibles. “Thank goodness I am not like all those critical, judgmental people!”

But over the course of our spiritual walk, as in the Biblical arc, we soften, and broaden, and learn. After a lot of loss and hardship, the message becomes gentler and more internalized.  There is a new quality in the Greek testament. Jesus tells us not to worry so much about the rules, but to look at our hearts and intentions.  As we move more and more deeply into a genuine walk with a living God, we are stretched and opened to new avenues and perspectives of wisdom. Yes, there is something inside each of us that cannot stand this new openness, which participates in the crucifixion of the new living Divine Human which has entered our story.  But there is also within us the parts of us who have remained as loyal as possible, and who experience the terrible loss.  Even this new, living, breathing spirituality needs to relinquish its earthly ties to fully mature. Jesus’ resurrection into a fully spiritual life enables us to continue our walk on toward the Holy City, where the gates are open in all directions and never close, to which all are invited, and in which all the nations will be healed. 

Step by step, with cycles that seem to repeat and repeat the same lesson over and over, the Bible describes every facet of every challenge we will face.  We don’t need to see how.  It just is in there. It describes the very journey our Lord and Savior walked because He walked the same path we must so that we never again need to walk it alone. Every step of every stage and sub-stage of human regeneration in right there for us in the Holy Word, and we are only just beginning to see how many ways it always has said what we have done, are doing, and are going to do, no matter where we are on the path.  It is God with us in a more intimate way than we have ever imagined.

When I suggested pursuing a doctorate taking Fowler’s and Peck’s and Swedenborg’s stages of faith and working on producing a guide for pastors and spiritual leaders (that could help them assess congregations and parishioners, so as to know what tools or materials would be most meaningful and supportive to that stage) my adviser got very nervous.

His primary concern was that such a body of work would primarily be used to judge people and box them into “stages” with some folks claiming a greater level of “spiritual evolution” than others. 

But superiority, comparison, and judging are all markers of the earliest stages of the journey.  To the extent that you are judging others, to that extent you are not very far into the loving phase of growth.  The higher angels wouldn't even consider judging the souls they help, they would simply get down to serving from use and love.  They would help and support with subtlety and respect, and with no sense of superiority. 

The psychometrists and psychologists who work with delayed children do not feel superiority or contempt toward the children.  It is not even on the radar.  The ones most likely to feel contempt are the other kids who are the same age or a grade or two ahead of the child in question.  Just be aware of that next time you are feeling judgmental—what does it say about you?  (Because judging is always about you anyway, not the one you are judging.)

Finally, after lots of personal work, one reaches a point where someone else’s location along the spiritual trek is utterly irrelevant. The goal is service. The absolute attitude is respect for the other’s spiritual well-being; and help is given in relationship and with respect.  

This topic has interested me a long time. I still might pursue finding fine-honed tools for aiding individuals and congregations over spiritual developmental hurdles. 

Meanwhile I am developing a simplified lining up Fowler’s Stages of Faith alongside Scot Pecks and Swedenborg’s.  It is a beginning exploration of the ways these different theories align.  James Fowler’s Stages of Faith have transformed my thinking.  It has explained a lot of things to me and given me a much gentler and more compassionate lens through which to view all the different religious voices and energies I encounter.  Copies of this tool are available from me.  Just ask and I will email it to you.

As you use this tool to speculate on where you might be, remember that we do a lot of forward and backward movement.  One part of us may be stuck in an earlier stage while another aspect of us might have moved along pretty far.  It is not black and white, and it is especially not for judging others.  Even if you suspect that someone you know is at an earlier stage than you are, that is none of your business.  That is in God’s hands and according to God’s timeline.  Your job and my job is to love each other the way God loves us, and to treat each person the way we would want to be treated.  I know I have always preferred patience and compassion and grace over judgment and contempt every time.

Stay safe out there, and be kind to each other.

Amen

The Readings

Genesis 12:1-4 (Holman Christian Standard)

The Lord said to Abram: Go out from your land, your relatives, and your father’s house to the land that I will show you.  I will make you into a great nation, I will bless you, I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, I will curse those who treat you with contempt, and all the peoples on earth will be blessed through you.

So Abram went, as the Lord had told him.

Revelation 22 (portions, Living Bible blended with New King James)

And he pointed out to me a river of pure Water of Life, clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and the Lamb, coursing down the center of the main street. On each side of the river grew Trees of Life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, with a fresh crop each month; the leaves were used for medicine to heal the nations.

There shall be nothing in the city that is evil; for the throne of God and of the Lamb will be there, and his servants will worship him. And they shall see his face; and his name shall be written on their foreheads. And there will be no night there—no need for lamps or sun—for the Lord God will be their light; and they shall reign forever and ever.

Then the angel said to me, “These words are trustworthy and true: 

“Pay attention, I am coming quickly, and my reward is with me, to give to everyone according to how he or she has given. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End, the First and Last. 

The Spirit and the bride say, ‘Come.’ Let each one who hears them say the same, ‘Come.’ Let the thirsty one come—anyone who wants to; let that one come and drink the Water of Life freely. 

“He who has said all these things declares: Yes, I am coming quickly!”

Amen! Come, Lord Jesus!

The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen!

"Bullying" - an Easter Talk

“Bullying”

Rev. Alison Longstaff, April 5, 2015

Bath Church of the New Jerusalem

Genesis 37:12-24, Luke 22:1-6; TC 130:3; HS 9127

There is a long-standing tradition that says that “the Jews” crucified Jesus.  (Technically, the Romans crucified Jesus, but) what actually happened is that Jesus’s own people betrayed, abandoned, and crucified Him. But if Jesus had been a Christian, (now there is a mind-bending “if”) it would have been the Christians that crucified Him. No matter what ethnic or cultural group into which God chose to be born, that group would have betrayed and destroyed Him, because that is what the heaviest, darkest layer of humankind does to the Divine, every time, in every story.  It tries to kill it. 

So blaming “the Jews” for the crucifixion is just ignorant and makes things worse.

“The Jews” didn't crucify Jesus.  WE did.  Humanity did.  The unenlightened human response to anything going wrong is to find someone “out there” to blame, then to punish them, cut them off, or kill them.  We think we eliminate the problem that way.  We don’t.  But we like to think we do. 

This is the process called scapegoating.  We externalize, heap responsibility for all our problems on some thing or person outside ourselves, and then think we get rid of the problem by getting rid of the thing or person.

I am sure you have seen this in your life in various versions.  Perhaps you have been someone else’s scapegoat.  Perhaps you know someone who blames every bad thing that happens to them on other people or on circumstances.  It is so much easier for you and me to see this when someone else does it.  But if we are honest, each one of us has passed the blame unfairly.  Not one of us gets to cast the first stone. 

There is no cultural trait that makes one ethnicity more prone to scapegoating than another, no matter how good it might feel believe that. Contempt and superiority, (which underlie the tendency to blame others) are equal opportunity attitudes, be you Muslim or Jew, Christian or Buddhist, Republican or Democrat, American or Canadian or something else. In fact, believing that some group out there is more prone to scapegoating than we are is … scapegoating.  Don’t kid yourself.  Don’t blame yourself either.  Just realize it.  Stop.  And start finding a more helpful solution.

There is an antidote to the human tendency to shift blame and responsibility onto some other group.   We see it reflected in certain martial arts in the way some practitioners can engage an attacker and redirect the energy of their attack. They have disciplined themselves to such a degree that they can engage, redirect, or disarm, violent energy, and do so in such a way that harm is prevented and transformed into something benign.  Jesus did this with his words again and again when His opponents tried to trap Him.  We also can learn to do something similar given time, intention, and practice.

We see the ultimate example of this sort of unexpected, non-violent response when Jesus allowed His betrayal and torture, and suffered such an agonizing death. Jesus at any second could have overthrown the guards and forced His own plan on us.  But instead He allowed all of our abuse to fall on Him, because it was the best way to accomplish what was necessary. He was as docile as a lamb.  He did not blame, or recriminate, or punish us in response. Instead He engaged with all of the venom and violence and hideous darkness that humankind could throw at him, and in doing so neutralized it. He even used it to transform Himself into a more powerful reflection of His Love.

This heroic and lonely act is the great and resonant underlying message in the Easter story.  We find this theme in many of the world’s favorite stories, because it is OUR story.  It the story of how good stands against evil.  It is the account of the best aspects of humankind in relationship with the very worst. You can find blamelessness and kindness up against malicious intent in nearly every story if you just look.  It is in Harry Potter, in the Lord of the Rings, in Star Wars, in To Kill a Mockingbird, in the Chronicles of Narnia, and so many more. And it is living memory, not just metaphor in World War Two, and in every genocide and social injustice in every corner of the world.  And it is on every playground in every school.

We have all been crucified more than once in this life.  We have all experienced injustice and cruelty, betrayal and abandonment.  It is harder to admit sometimes that we have all also been the crucifiers—the betrayers, the gossips, the back-stabbers, and the blamers.  But this is in all of us too.  Every face within the Easter story is within each of us. 

But we don’t have to be afraid.  Though this life can crucify us, we are created to be transformed by each crucifixion.  In the same way we revisit the story of Jesus’s crucifixion and resurrection every Easter, we revisit it every time we live some aspect of it.  We suffer betrayal, excruciating loss, and profound transformation; and (God forgive us!) sometimes we realize that we have betrayed a friend and done the crucifying ourselves.  Each lived encounter with a dynamic in the story teaches us another layer of humility, another layer of compassion and self-awareness, and gives us another shot at transformation.  May you find hope in this fact this year, realizing that all of the faces in the story are in you, are loved and forgiven, and are called to greater things.

Remember that you cannot blame someone and love them at the same time.  When blame is pushed aside, love and compassion rush in.  May we continue this year to push back against fear and blame, so that with God’s help we make a bigger space for love to rush in and transform all our suffering into joy.

Amen.

The Readings

True Christianity 130:3 Paraphrased and condensed

The Lord’s betrayal by Judas signifies his betrayal by the Church at that day, meaning the religious leaders and teachers who had control of the Word. Their punching the Lord repeatedly, spitting in his face, whipping him, and beating his head with a cane symbolized how they treated the truths that pointed to a life of love in the Word. Their putting a crown of thorns on him symbolized all the ways they had abused and corrupted those truths. Their tearing up his clothes and casting lots for his undergarment meant that they had torn apart all the outer truths of the Word, but they did not split apart its inner meaning, which was symbolized by the Lord's undergarment. Their crucifying him meant that they had violated and ruined the entire Word. Their offering him vinegar to drink symbolized that everything that church leadership offered him had been completely corrupted; therefore he did not drink it. Their piercing his side symbolized that they utterly annihilated everything true and everything good in the Word.

Heavenly Secrets 9127 Condensed “Shedding blood” in the Word symbolizes doing violence to … Love itself.  Anyone who does violence to God’s Word does violence to the Love within, since the truth in the Word is wedded so closely to Love that the one does not exist without the other. Therefore if violence is done to the one it is also done also to the other.

[2] A person who has no awareness of the internal meaning of the Word can only think that ‘blood’ in the Word means blood, and that ‘shedding blood’ simply means killing someone. But the internal meaning of the Bible does not teach about the life of a person’s physical body, but about a person’s spiritual life.

Genesis 37: 12-24

Now his brothers went to pasture their father’s flock near Shechem. And Israel said to Joseph, “Are not your brothers pasturing the flock at Shechem? Come, I will send you to them.” And he said to him, “Here I am.” So he said to him, “Go now, see if it is well with your brothers and with the flock, and bring me word.” So he sent him from the Valley of Hebron, and he came to Shechem. And a man found him wandering in the fields. And the man asked him, “What are you seeking?” “I am seeking my brothers,” he said. “Tell me, please, where they are pasturing the flock.” And the man said, “They have gone away, for I heard them say, ‘Let us go to Dothan.’” So Joseph went after his brothers and found them at Dothan.

They saw him from afar, and before he came near to them they conspired against him to kill him. They said to one another, “Here comes this dreamer. Come now, let us kill him and throw him into one of the pits.  Then we will say that a fierce animal has devoured him, and we will see what will become of his dreams.” But when Reuben heard it, he rescued him out of their hands, saying, “Let us not take his life.” And Reuben said to them, “Shed no blood; throw him into this pit here in the wilderness, but do not lay a hand on him”—that he might rescue him out of their hand to restore him to his father. So when Joseph came to his brothers, they stripped him of his robe, the robe of many colors that he wore. And they took him and threw him into a pit. The pit was empty; there was no water in it.

Luke 22:1-6

It was almost time for the Jewish Festival of Unleavened Bread, called the Passover.  The leading priests and teachers of the law wanted to kill Jesus. But they were trying to find a quiet way to do it, because they were afraid of what the people would do.

One of Jesus’ twelve apostles was named Judas Iscariot. Satan entered him, and he went and talked with the leading priests and some of the soldiers who guarded the Temple. He talked to them about a way to hand Jesus over to them.  The priests were very happy about this. They promised to give Judas money for doing this.  He agreed. Then he waited for the best time to hand him over to them. He wanted to do it when no one was around to see it.

The Power of Palms - sermon for Palm Sunday

“The Power of  Palms”

Rev. Alison Longstaff, March 29, 2015
Bath Church of the New Jerusalem
Psalm 143 portions; John 12:12–16; HS 7518, 7596 portions

Heavenly Secrets 7518. (Condensed)

"Fists," or palms of the hands, signify power, because the "hands" signify power.  Arms correspond to power; including the shoulders and the hands, right down to the fingers. The reason for this symbolism is that the body exercises its power by means of the shoulders, arms, and hands.

Heavenly Secrets 7596.  (Condensed)

“Spreading out the palms” is a physical gesture or action, which represents a pleading from the heart. There are bodily gestures or actions that correspond to every emotion or feeling. For example, falling down on one's knees corresponds to humility, casting oneself down flat onto the ground corresponds to even an greater personal humility, while a spreading out of one's hands towards heaven corresponds to pleading from the heart, and so on.  In the Word, all described gestures or actions symbolize the actual affections to which they correspond, because they physically express such affections.

[A heads-up.  I will be inviting you to move your arms during the sermon.  I am hoping most of you will be trying what I suggest. In any case, know that I give you permission to do so, to deepen your experience.]

I had my shoulder to the wheel this past week.  I have been giving the Chocolate Church a hand by performing in their “Jubilee” fund-raiser.  So if I haven’t responded to your emails, please don’t think I was giving you the cold shoulder.  Don’t judge me out of hand.  I have had my hands full.  My right hand barely knew what my left hand was doing, I have been so busy.

One thing I love about Bath is its community spirit.  It has a way of standing shoulder-to-shoulder, of walking arm-in-arm, and working hand in hand, when something needs support. I hope no one was close-fisted when it came to buying tickets for the show. Because the 17-degree lean on the Chocolate Church tower is forcing the hand of the building preservation committee. While no one should be reduced to a hand-to-mouth existence by supporting the Chocolate Church (or any church!), it is otherwise all hands on deck!

(With apologies if I been a little heavy-handed with these idioms. But what better way to show you my hand?) 

Here we are on Palm Sunday, and the connection between these hand-shaped leaves and human hands is strong.  Palm branches take their name from their resemblance to human hands. And, as we see illustrated in today’s story, ancient peoples frequently grabbed them and waved them as an extension of the hand, in praise, celebration, and adulation.

We Swedenborgians love symbolism. We know that the study of Biblical symbolism, and indeed all symbolism, can enrich and deepen our understanding of human nature, of the Bible, and of how God works with us.  So pay attention this morning, and open your mind to the remarkable way our language and our bodies reflect our spiritual realities.  Our physical and spiritual realities are far more connected than most people think.

Do you talk with your hands?  Actually, we all do, more than we realize. We hide or show our hands based on how safe and connected we feel.  Fold your arms across your chest.  Your body is saying that you are unwilling to communicate (in most cultures).  Even putting your hands in your pockets can disclose a certain level of disengagement.  If our hands are tied it means we are unable (or unwilling) to get involved at all.

We show our palms to show openness.  Putting both hands over your head, or “hands up,” says around the world that we are unarmed, mean no harm, or even that we surrender.  We are showing that we have no weapons, or that our hands are far away from our weapons.

For this same reason the open palm and open hand symbolize truth and honesty.  Two open palms say, “Trust me.”  “Arms wide open” is a universal expression of welcome and affection.  We are letting someone in to our personal space.

The connection between our bodies and our internal state can be so strong that what we do with our bodies can also change our inner state.  Do you want to feel more closed and defensive?  Cross your arms.  Do you want to feel more relaxed and open? Open your palms. In fact, study subjects who have been told to lie while showing relaxed and open palms had a much harder time not being truthful; and in a separate study, individuals made to open their palms while being questioned were more likely to tell the truth.

So, right now, open your heart space—maybe even set your elbows on the back of the pew. Relax your hands. Uncross your legs. Relax your jaw.  Open your lips slightly.  All of those things happen naturally when we feel open.  Doing these things with your body can actually cue your nervous system that you are safe and relaxed.  (Did you sigh?  Your body was releasing stress.)

Arms crossed over your chest is a defensive posture for a primal reason—you are protecting your heart.  Fists up, shoulders up and head ducked is even more defensive—shielding your neck, chest, and vital organs.  People who feel frightened often hug themselves.  Trauma victims sometimes curl right into a ball.  Our inner state is mirrored in our bodies in a correspondential way.

Spread your fingers, wrists bent back and palms facing up (fingers are pointing away from you, not back over your shoulders).  You are saying, “I’ve got nothing,” or “I don’t know,” aren’t you?  Shrugging your shoulders emphasizes the gesture.  Now with elbows bent slightly, wrists neutral, and palms facing forward, spread your hands. You have put yourself in “orans,” whether your hands are hip-height, waist height, or shoulder-height.  Orans is a posture of prayer and blessing going back to very ancient times. You might notice me holding this posture with one or both hands at the end of this service when I say the prayers and blessings.

If you spread your hands and stretch your arms up high over your head you are probably showing jubilation, joy, and celebration.  You could also be acknowledging a beloved figure or leader. It is as if you are reaching out towards them, asking for connection, blessing, and recognition.  Put palm branches in those hands and your shout of adulation becomes that much more expressive.  Today we use poster-boards or foam hands instead of palm branches in our crowds of greeting and celebration, but the impulse and the meaning are the very same.  We are extending our reach.  We are increasing the volume of our shout of praise and cry of recognition.

If you don’t agree with me, you might look down to find your hands on your hips.

According to Swedenborg, hands, palms, fists, and arms symbolize our power or our “reach.”  They symbolize the expression of what is going on inside us, especially in regard to the intention of our hearts.  The show our friendliness or hostility. They show our interest or disinterest in connection.

Spread one hand, palm facing up, and extend it forward.  This shows supplication.  It is a form of submission or a request for help.  You are handing over your power. Perhaps you are asking for a hand.  Turn that palm down and suddenly you are saluting Hitler.  This one-palm-down gesture is a universal sign of dominance and oppression, especially if you lift that hand above shoulder height and lock your elbow.  You are being high-handed and declaring that you have the upper hand.  You are indicating that you might rule with an iron fist.

Face your palm forward and bring it close to your shoulder.  You are ready to swear allegiance or take an oath. Place your hand over your heart and you are expressing love or devotion.

If you are even-handed, it means you are fair, or that you share power; you neither take nor surrender more than your due.  Someone who is even-handed would never palm the proceeds.  Besides, such sleight of hand, might mean you get caught red-handed.  If that happened, your friends might wash their hands of you.

Today’s common hand shake is a ritual from ancient times. It is our way of saying that we do not have a weapon in our hand.  In fact, the Roman soldiers’ full lower-arm grab was their way of checking that there were no weapons concealed up the sleeve either, because there have always been people who try to get around the conventions.

In the Biblical book of Judges a man named Ehud got an upper hand by being left-handed.  Ehud’s job was to carry the Children of Israel’s tribute money to the king of Moab.  Being left-handed, Ehud carried his dagger on the opposite side of his body than the usual.  In this way he was able to sneak a weapon into the Moabite king’s presence.  Ehud’s underhanded tactic helped the Children of Israel overthrow the Moabites and be restored to freedom.

In fact, to this day the word “sinister” carries the suggestion of deviousness or even ill-intent because left-handed warriors often had the advantage of surprise. They were perceived as sneaky. But “sinister” is simply the Latin word for “left.”

Finally, we humans can be known to bite the hand that feeds us.  Not long after Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem, the people turned their backs on Him.  He was their beloved Saviour one week, and despised and rejected the next.  He didn’t do what they expected Him to do (overthrow the Romans).  He was instead a threat to the religious leadership, because He taught that doing good was more important than following religious rules. For this reason they first tied His hands and then nailed those hands to a cross.

As we head into Holy Week, and prepare to walk with our Lord through this darkest time, may we pay attention to the powerful meaning of hands.  The hands that came to heal us will be nailed to the cross instead.  Are we able to admit in humility that there is something inside each of us that does this to the Divine?  Are we able to remember with gratitude there is another part inside each of us that recognises the Lord for Who He is, and that reaches to comfort Him on His walk toward the cross?  It is these same inner hands that will tenderly wash and anoint our Saviour for burial.  And it is these hands that will be lifted in prayer and praise on Easter morning when He rises again.

Amen

The Readings

Psalm 143 portions

Hear my prayer, O Lord; give ear to my pleas for mercy!
    In your faithfulness answer me, in your righteousness!
Enter not into judgment with your servant, for no one living is righteous before you.

I remember the days of old; I meditate on all that you have done;
    I ponder the work of your hands.
I stretch out my hands to you; my soul thirsts for you like a parched land. Selah

Let me hear in the morning of your steadfast love, for in you I trust.
Make me know the way I should go, for to you I lift up my soul.

Deliver me from my enemies, O Lord! I have fled to you for refuge.

Teach me to do your will, for you are my God!
Let your good Spirit lead me on level ground!

John 12:12-16
The next day the great crowd that had come to the festival heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem.  So they took branches of palm trees and went out to meet him, shouting, "Hosanna! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord-- the King of Israel!"
Jesus found a young donkey and sat on it; as it is written: "Do not be afraid, daughter of Zion. Look, your king is coming, sitting on a donkey's colt!"
His disciples did not understand these things at first; but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things had been written of him and had been done to him.

Idioms heavily sourced from:

http://westsidetoastmasters.com/resources/book_of_body_language/chap2.html