Rev. Stacee Fischer Gehring SIMPLE POWER : Rule 3: Stay in Love with God October 14, 2012 John 21:15-17 (NIV); Colossians 3:12-17 First United Methodist Church P.O. Box 936 Bloomington, IN 47402 Do you remember the movie City Slickers? I m aging myself with this movie reference, but there is one scene that sticks out in my mind after all these years - it s the One Thing scene. Setting: Mitch (Billy Crystal), the New York city slicker, and Curly (Jack Palance), the weathered cowboy, are riding side-by-side as they herd cows through the mountains. Curly: Do you know what the secret of life is? [holds up one finger] This. Mitch: Your finger? Curly: One thing. Just one thing. You stick to that and the rest don't mean s***. Mitch: But, what is the "one thing?" Curly: That's what you have to find out. Curly joins many others over time with the secret to life. I mean, if you watch commercials or infomercials, there is always something revealed to be the secret to life - antioxidant drinks, BoFlex workout machines, satellite television, iphone... the list is endless. I don t necessarily 1
disagree that any of the above may positively affect your life, but are any of them the secret to life? The author of the book Illuminated Life offers her secret to life: All we have in life is life. Things - the cars, the houses, the educations, the jobs, the money - come and go, turn to dust between our fingers, change and disappear... the secret of life... is that it must be developed from the inside out. The secret of life is that it must be developed from the inside out. The author is saying that we are to spend our time and energy tending to our insides - our hopes, dreams, philosophies, thoughts - otherwise known as our mind and soul, rather than focusing solely on our outward appearance. By developing our insides, fostering our souls, then we can t help but live an inside-out life because we ll wear what is most important to us on the outside, like clothing. If we foster kindness within, we ll wear kindness without. If we develop mercy within, we ll wear mercy without. If we harbor hatred within, we ll wear hatred without. If we grow in our love within, we ll wear love without. Wearing love seems to be the one thing mentioned in our scripture: And regardless of what else you put on, wear love. It s your basic, all-purpose garment. Never be without it. Wear love. Show love. Live love. Perhaps we are getting closer to discovering the one thing? 2
Do you love me?, Jesus asks Peter. Yes, Lord, you know that I do. Three times Jesus asked, Do you love me? and three times Peter answered in the affirmative. Loving God was a primary issue of a faithful life then, and it is still today. Not just loving God, but staying in love with God is THE issue for an inside out life of faith. Rule #3 - Stay in love with God. Bishop Reuben Job contends that without this rule, without staying in love with God, the other 2 rules (Do Good, Do No Harm) are not possible. It is impossible, Bishop Job writes to stay in love with God and not desire to see God s goodness and grace shared with the entire world. One cannot feed sheep or tend lambs without staying in love with God. So, the question before us now is how do we stay in love with God? Is staying in love with God like a staying in love with your spouse? It starts with the wedding where one professes their love for their partner before God, family and friends, and then the rest is smooth sailing? We can all agree there is more to it, right? It s not just about loving your spouse, it s about staying in love with our spouse. Some days are easier than others, but it s something that has to be fostered and developed or else your love will stagnate and so will the marriage. And sometimes, sadly, the relationship ends. Our relationship with God is the same way - it s not just about loving God, but about staying in love with God. It s not just a onetime profession of Jesus is alright with me. I m down with God. I heart Jesus! Whereas these professions are important, it doesn t end there. Similar to the secret to life, the secret to relationships, whether with 3
other humans or the divine, is that is must be developed from the inside out and the garment worn on the outside must always be love. John Wesley, Bishop Reuben Job, and, well, even Jesus too proclaim that staying in love with God happens through the practice of the spiritual disciplines. How do we stay in love with God? We practice loving God. We give our time, energy and attention to God. We become intentional in our relationship with God. We do this through some of the common essentials to a life of faith. These spiritual practices include: daily time of prayer reflection upon and study of scripture regular participation in the life of a Christian community including weekly worship and regular participation in the Lord s Supper doing some act of goodness or mercy taking opportunities to share with and learn from others who seek to follow the way of Christ Confession: I am terrible at practicing spiritual disciplines. I am absolute rubbish at being regularly intentional in my relationship with God. It is a terrible thing to admit, especially being a pastor. I try, I do, but no particular practice seems to stick longer than a few days. Yes, I pray, but mainly in the moment. Yes, I read scripture, but usually as part of a sermon, email, lesson, or note Yes, I attend worship every week, but sometimes I m not truly present. Yes, I do some acts of goodness, but they seem few and far between these days. 4
Yes, I share my faith with others and love learning from others, but only recently have I been intentional about doing that for myself rather than just because it s expected of me as pastor. I live in a world that perpetually fluctuates from stressful to moderately less stressful with, praise Jesus, an undercurrent of joy beneath both. This, unfortunately, lends itself to a vicious cycle of I m too stressed to focus on God right now to Oh man, I really need to focus on God right now to Oh God, help me, I m about ready to lose my mind. This is not the spiritual practice Bishop Job, John Wesley or Jesus promote. They definitely had something more intentional in mind. When I set out to practice a spiritual discipline, I think big... I will read a text of scripture, and keep a prayer list, and pray for everyone on that list before bed every single night. Then in the morning before I open any email or send a text or talk on the phone, I will sit at my desk and pray the Iona community s Ritual of Morning Prayer. Then, while eating my lunch, I will read a book by some deep theological scholar. Repeat. I will do all these things because I need to and I m supposed to and I m a pastor for goodness sakes so I should! My plans inevitably fail. What I discovered I need is a red cord. A simple red cord to keep me connected. A simple red cord to keep me in love with God. A simple red cord like the one Anne Lamott wears on her wrist. I wear something on my wrist that one would not expect a Presbyterian woman to wear: a thin red cotton cord that was blessed by the Dalai Lama, and given to me by my Buddhist 5
friend Jack. It s quite ratty, with what looks like laundry lint circling it. I separate these rings with my thumbnail when I am fidgety, as if counting with the beads of an abacus. Jack knotted a number of blessings into my cord last year when he tied it on my wrist, to protect me from the values and judgment of the world, from the disaster of my own thinking, and to allow me the forgetting of myself. I tug at the red cord constantly: it was an anointing of sorts, and I will take all the anointing I can get. I used my red string as an audiovisual aid last Sunday when I got to give the sermon at church. First I walked around, letting everyone see it. Then I spoke briefly about the red cords that give us life, that connect us to our sources: the image of Christ s blood, and the umbilical cord that stretched from mother to me, and from Sam to me, cords carrying life. When I finished my sermon, everyone clapped like mad, and I felt like Miss Spiritual America, with a red cord and an invisible tiara. I greeted everyone after the service with humility, ducking my head shyly and all, but pawing the ground with my foot. A few of the older women teared up when they thanked me, remembering the wreck I d been when I first starting come to St. Andrew, a year before I got sober. Then I went home and had a huge fight with my son Sam... then I decided to go for a walk. It was drizzling outside, but I was so miserable and without a plan that I put on my raincoat, called Lily, my dog, and headed outside to the open space hills behind my house. I go up there almost every day with Lily. It is a quiet and holy space. On the hillside is a mysterious concrete piling where I like to sit when there is dew on the ground, or a mist, so my pants don t get wet. I 6
sat on the piling. The drizzle had stopped, but the air was still moist - a warm, windy spring evening. I fiddled with my red cord, separating the rings of laundry lint: I can t figure out how these rings would have formed on the cord, as I have never removed it; still, there are three knots, and seven rings of lint. ++While sitting up there, a woman walked by with her dogs interrupted Anne s alone time. Of course, Anne stepped in one of the dog s, uh, presents. So, she picked up a stick and tried to dislodge the dog poo.++ It took forever. Then a light drizzle started again. I kept at the sneaker, and two things happened: First, the project turned out to be strangely satisfying. And second, after a while I found myself in a state of joy. I was focused, and it was beautiful up there, and the sh** was nearly entirely out of my shoe. I don t know why God won t just spritz away our hardships and frustration. I don t know why the most we can hope for on some days is to end up a little less crazy than before, less down on ourselves. I don t know why we have to become so vulnerable before we can connect with God, and even sometimes with ourselves. But by the same token, I don t understand how I got rings of laundry lint on my red cord. The red cord that connect us to God - a daily, hourly, every minute reminder of God s love and our need for God s love. The red cord that serves as our spiritual discipline - a way to develop our insides. The red cord that we wear on the outside, like a garment - our insides out. The red cord - the secret of life, the one thing. 7
I challenge you to discover your red cord. Laundry lint is optional. 8