change

The metaphysical interpretations of proper names and geographical locations are based on the Hebrew meanings of the words and taken from Unity’s Metaphysical Bible Dictionary.
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“Now the Lord said to Abram, ‘Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.’ So Abram went, as the Lord had told him; and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran. Abram took his wife Sarai and his brother’s son Lot, and all the possessions that they had gathered, and the persons whom they had acquired in Haran; and they set forth to go to the land of Canaan.” Genesis 12:1-5a

Sermon: Third Sunday of Lent, Year A
The Community Church of Wilmette
February 24, 2008
John 4:5-42

Digging Out

There is a really deep well inside me.
And in it dwells God.
Sometimes I am there, too.
But often stones and grit block the well,
and God is buried beneath.
Then God must be dug out again. – Etty Hillesum

There is something about a well. It’s a rich symbol, practical and yet mysterious, frightening and yet life-giving. We dig them. We cover them. We send Jack and Jill up a hill to fetch a pail of water from a well. We fall into them.

There is a well on my father’s property. Actually, there are two now. The first one dried up and Daddy had to have another one, a deeper one, dug in the back yard. Out in the country where he lives there are no water mains, no civil infrastructure to provide water for everyone. People live too far apart. So, every family has their own well.

God is a God of order, and chaos is the enemy. It’s often taught in churches. The primary referent often used is the beginning of Genesis, where God is seen as overcoming the power of chaos by stepping in and establishing boundaries. The stories are those that portray an ancient culture trying to find stability in life amidst the uncontrollable power of nature. The boundaries are divine, and the antagonist is thusly controlled. And so it is, by the ordering power of God, that the darker side of creation (namely chaos) is subject to the enlightening structure of the Word.

I’m not fond of that theology. When I look at life, I see the divine in both order and chaos. In my mind, order is the power of stability and meaning. We talk about tradition as that which anchors us. We talk about our “stories” as those things which give us our identities. There is a solidification that comes with order. Sometimes that’s good. Sometimes we need a certain amount of grounding. But sometimes it’s bad. Order gone awry leads to a status quo of oppression, exclusivism, rigidity, and ultimately a form of “death.”

I may sound like a broken record, but to me, humility is one of the key foundational elements that has brought us together to work toward social justice and a Christian progressive agenda. The following statement was written as I reflected on the virtue humility this morning.

The firmness of the conviction of our faith in God's word is demonstrated best NOT in the degree to which we are willing to impose our understanding of God's will on our neighbors through political and legislative endeavors. Rather, it ought to be demonstrated in the degree to which we strive to live out the will of God in our own lives. It becomes apparent to others when the spiritual gifts are manifest in our lives by focusing our desire for change toward holiness and alignment with God's will inwardly and directing our capacity for mercy, grace, and love, toward our neighbors. Pride reverses that flow turning love and acceptance inward and turning the demand for change, conformity and holiness outward.

David