December 18, 2011 Sermon by Peter Terpenning
Community United Church of Christ
Boulder, Colorado
“Life is a Gift, Receive It”
John 1:1-9, Henri Nouwen, “Waiting for God” (in Watch for the Light, Orbis Books)
Martin Buber, the Jewish theologian and philosopher once told a story from the Hebrew Cabbala, a collection of mystical teachings: “When the world began the light of God came down to earth in a clay vessel. But the light was too strong and the vessel burst. The sparks of light became embedded in everything. This is in a measure how I often experience the world,” Buber wrote, “I find the light of God in everything and know it is the same light in me, that I am part of the light present in all creation. In moment of illumination there is no separation.” In John’s gospel today we heard, “The true light that enlivens every person was coming into the world.” “In this One was life, and the life was the light of all people. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it”. I find this a helpful image of God’s presence. The light of God present in each one of us and all around us. This light embedded in creation and in me, present in the life of Jesus of Nazareth: Emmanuel, God with us.
Christmas is well upon us, whether we are ready or not. I am not ready, by the way. A friend of mine remarked: “Why does Christmas have to come as such a busy time of year?” A clerk in a hardware store asked he was, said: “I’ll be alright once I get this Santa thing over with.” It’s easy to get caught up in the busy-ness and tension of this time of year. It seems everyone trying so hard to make it nice, get things done and enjoy the holidays. I want to propose that this is exactly the wrong attitude to take. Christmas is not something that has to get done, or be organized, but something we receive. It is represents something God did, or is doing. My mistake is acting like it’s up to me to get there, to make it happen. Like the presence of God, Christmas just is and I can receive it.
Henri Nouwen wrote a wonderful essay found in a book that Kari Silva found in my bookshelf and handed to me, called “Waiting for God”. Part of his essay was read earlier. His idea is that we have a hard time waiting. This is because we are trying to control what we are waiting for. We have specific ideas of what we are wishing for, what we are waiting for. We hope that the bus will come, that the baby will be born healthy, that the test results will be good, that our child will arrive safely, that our spouse will get home in time for the party, that the plane will be on time, that the storm will hold off until we get home. We like to be in control. Our waiting is hard and fearful because we really want to control the outcome. We are wishing for a specific outcome, and because of this our waiting basically fearful. We are afraid of what will happen.
Nouwen notes that Mary, Elizabeth, Zechariah, the shepherds and all were not afraid because they were waiting in an open-ended way. They had received promises from God and trusted God, and instead of being filled with wishes, they were filled with hope. Hope is trusting that something good will come, that the future is in God’s hands. Mary says, “I am the handmaid of the Lord, let what you have said be done to me”. She is trusting, hoping, not trying to control the future. Part of Advent is waiting, waiting to receive renewed hope and confidence in God’s love. It’s not something we can make happen, but something that we can only receive. We are called to wait during Advent with trust that God was doing something new in Jesus, and still is present. We remember that the Christmas, and wait with hope and trust.
This is a good attitude to have at Christmas, and it’s also a good attitude to have toward life. To live, act, work, and wait with trust and open-endedness. We are not in control of the future, but that’s ok, because we trust that it is in God’s hands, that there is an order to the universe, and to paraphrase Martin Luther King, Jr., as I like to do, “the arc of the universe bends toward justice”. We can trust the universe. This is a radically different way to live than how I usually live, trusting myself, struggling to make things happen, to protect people I love: striving, controlling, wishing, working, seeking security, self-esteem and power over my life. Perhaps this Christmas I can begin to loosen my hands on the steering wheel and lighten up a bit.
This is illustrated for me in my practice of Centering Prayer. I was reading in Tricycle Magazine (Winter, 2011) an article by Rodney Smith about the difference between mindfulness and awareness. He was making the point that sometimes as we strive to be mindful of the present moment; we are working too hard to control our consciousness. Our ego is struggling to control our mind and force ourselves to be mindful. He says we can begin to let go of the striving, and just be aware of the moment. Get ourselves out of the way and just be aware of reality. As I sit in Centering Prayer I often find myself working really hard to let go of thoughts, to control what’s happening, when perhaps if I just let go, quit working so hard, I could just be aware of what thoughts and feelings are passing by, and come back again and again to God’s presence. To do this, I have to trust that presence and trust that this letting go will lead me to deeper peace and awareness of God’s presence.
This attitude of trust, or open-endedness applies to all of life. To live with confidence, which Nouwen notes comes from the Latin roots, con-fide, literally, with trust. To live with trust. Wait with trust. Prepare for Christmas with trust. Interact with my loved ones, with trust. Love with trust. It’s about receiving life, receiving God, receiving Christmas.
The choir director of University Church, Frank Blalock Brown in 1977, wrote a song I learned in Chicago. “Life is a gift, receive it. Like starlight at night, like the sun. Like light that is new every morning, that follows the darkness that comes. So stand in the light, and know it’s given everyone. O daughters and sons of God, delight in how you life’s true light has come.” Wonderful words for Christmas as we receive God’s light coming into the world. This light is a gift, receive it. Christmas is a gift, receive it. Life is a gift, receive it.
I end with a quote I love from Elizabeth Barrett Browning: “Earth is crammed with heaven, and every common bush afire with God and only he who sees takes off his shoes. The rest sit around it and pluck blackberries.” Earth is crammed with heaven, let us receive this gift of life and live with confidence (with trust).