These past few Sunday's we've been looking at various
aspects of discipleship. We’ve looked at the idea of study – reading texts that are
inspirational and good for the heart and soul. We’ve looked at sharing – not just from our
resources, but also our stories of faith.
We’ve looked at prayer in some of it’s different forms, and its
importance in discipleship. We’ve
looked at Worship as a means of reminding ourselves, and the world (but mostly
ourselves), that there’s something more important than “me”. And here recently we looked at the idea of “Giving” as a means of discipleship; giving,
not just to do away with something, but to "let go" of something. Not just to let go of something, but let go
of something that might be holding us back. "Giving" in the sense of letting go of something in order to embrace life
more fully. Letting go, and reminding ourselves
of the connection between giving and compassion.
I started life in the military in the Light Infantry. “Light” as opposed to “Heavy”… but this
really is referring to how the soldiers get to where they are going. Light Infantry soldiers might indeed be moved
somewhere by truck, or even (more often) by helicopter. But this is for sure a misnomer! It’s a contradiction in terms! Light Infantry is far from Light! The “Light Fighter” is expected to carry everything
they want to take with them on their backs or somehow strapped to their
bodies. So a Light Infantry soldier
might have to carry 60, 70, 80, and likely over 100 lbs or more of gear, weapon,
ammo, water and food, cold-weather gear if needed, sleeping gear, change of clothes and boots, radio, batteries, and other electronic equipment. Light Infantry is not light at all!
Then some years after that I was assigned to the 49th
Armored Division. “Armor” means tanks,
armored personnel carriers, and heavy vehicles like that. I was assigned to the division headquarters
– so no tanks there. But they did have
vehicles. And we used them for
sure. My first time in the field with
them, I showed up with my ruck (an Army word for back pack) packed with all the
things I thought I would need and more importantly what I thought I could
carry. I remember walking up to one of
the sergeants as he was packing one of the vehicles – he was talking to another
sergeant. This is what I heard: “Hey,
where are you putting the cots?” “Over
by the coolers.” Cots???? Coolers???? What are these “coolers” you speak
of??
I told you that so I could tell you this: In the spiritual sense, in terms of
discipleship – of trying to follow a particular discipline for a greater good…
there’s a term from the Quaker tradition – to be encumbered or un-encumbered. The
typical Light Infantry soldier is weighed down by a LOT of stuff he has to
carry. What they carry really depends
on the mission and how long they will be out, but again, added all up, it’s not
light. Look at the enemy the US faced in
Vietnam… the typical NVA soldier was somewhere just above a hundred pounds,
they carried their weapon, some ammo, some food, and really not that much else.
They wore a light cotton uniform, a
belt, some kind of light helmet (mostly to keep the sun out of their eyes and
the rain off their heads), sandals on their feet, maybe a small backpack with a
few more things, and that was pretty much it. In Afghanistan and Iraq, America’s enemy
there wore (and still wears) not that much more than their equivalent from 35
years ago. Compared to the American
Infantryman, they were (and are) “unencumbered”, whereas the American soldier
seems so much more “encumbered”.
To be unencumbered means to be free from being weighted down,
bogged down, light… free. Physically,
spiritually, emotionally, psychologically, how many of us feel so unencumbered?
Maybe we’re encumbered by certain
aspects of our pasts? Maybe by our life-choices,
or by our material possessions. We can
feel encumbered by anything that pulls us back or impedes our travel forward
from a life of ignorance to a life of freedom and fullness. In the Quaker tradition, “giving” can help
free us – it can help us become un-encumbered in that way.
There was this book about 20 years ago – called Material
Possessions. Photographers travelled
the world photographing families that
were statistically average for their country.
They photographed them in front of their homes with all their
possessions around them. So basically
all the things inside the home were taken out of the home so all that – including
the families – could be to be in the photo.
Siberia, Africa, South America, Asia, North America, etc. Families in front of homes of stone, brick, wood,
canvas, combinations of materials.
Guess who had the most amount of stuff? I don’t know about you, but I would not relish the idea of having to take
out all the stuff out of our home for a picture, only to put it back afterwards.
It seems the longer we stay somewhere, the more stuff we end
up having. And when we get to that
point – where we have more stuff than we have space for, we either do away with
some of our stuff, or we find extra space for the stuff (storage units or a
bigger home). I didn’t know this
until recently, but Storage units are a $22 billion industry here in the
US. We collectively (as well as
individually) have a LOT OF STUFF. So
much stuff, we don’t know what to do with it all. And there’s always more stuff coming
along. This is the stream we live in –
we more often than not are unconscious to the idea that there is more stuff
than we really need. Advertisers and
marketers, and the capitalist system itself, floods us with this notion of “stuff”,
and more “stuff”, and here’s why you need this stuff, and here’s how this stuff
can help you… etc. etc. that we get so busy dealing with stuff, we forget to
even ask the questions… Why so much
stuff? Do I really need all this? “Don’t think!
Buy!” We’re
to some degree or other encumbered by the stuff.
The spiritual idea here, that runs across all culture and
traditions, is that giving – being able
to give freely – opens and frees the heart,
which opens and frees the soul to experience true happiness and joy. Giving unencumbers us.
Giving allows us to not be possessed by our
possessions. Giving in this way is hard
to do! There’s giving to make us (the giver) look good, which really
is an ego trip and very condescending. I know people who would give so they could
tell others what they did, how many poor people they helped, etc. Now, they actually did help people, but it
was a very narcissistic and egocentric approach to giving. And demeaning to those receiving help –
they were often reminded how much they’d been helped, and they were encouraged
to be as grateful as possible. Then there’s giving to help, which isn’t bad… That’s sharing,
and that’s certainly a good thing. Then
there’s giving until we no longer feel possessed
by our possessions… and that’s
very hard! Giving teaches us to let
go; of or possessions, of our possessiveness – over things, ideas, people, our
own egos. And.. this is hard for
westerners to hear – especially Americans – learning to let go also teaches us,
that when it is our time to die, to be able to let go of this life, and travel
more freely and easily into the next life.
Another aspect of “Giving” is that it teaches Compassion – which
is a core principle in quite a number of religious traditions. Why is compassion a core principle? Because, compassion, like “letting go”,
teaches us there are things more important to life than our ego’s. Sometimes we need “ego”; to help us stand
up, to help us speak up, to help express to the world we are not
door-mats! But too much ego… the idea
that it’s all about us… not so good for us.
Compassion helps us see life from another point of view, feel from
another point of view, experience life from another point of view… besides our
own.
“Giving” is easy… and very hard! For many, giving is part of their spiritual
practices and disciplines. Giving
teaches us about ourselves – about who we are, about who we want to be. And as a practice it helps us open our minds
and hearts to the voice of God. Which
leads us to Love!
And what’s love?
For most of us, I think our first responses might have to do with some
sense of emotionalism, of love as a feeling. Our most immediate thoughts on what Love might be involve some degree of a sentimental
experience that one feels more than anything.
Now for sure Love does indeed involve feelings. But I don’t immediately associate feelings
with “giving”. I’d bet most people don’t either. Well, there more to come of Love here very
soon….
1 comment:
"In the real world, how do we know what Jesus or God might be calling us to? In the real world, how do we know what Jesus (or God) might be asking of us? In the real world… how do we know? I mean, really know? " --- From Pastor Chad's sermon Sunday.
Why do we even ask the question "How do we know"?, when the answer is so clear to Fundamentalist Christians -- the answer -- The Law of Moses -- is spelled out in black and white in The Bible leaving no room for such heretical questions.
Indeed the conscience of the Fundamentalist Christian demands that he/she unquestionally follow God's orders as specified in The Bible. And what are those specific orders (after all that "Love thy neighbor" thing is too vague and requires individual interpretation)?
The content of the Law is spread among the books of Exodus, Leviticus, and Numbers, and then reiterated and added to in Deuteronomy ). This includes:
the Ten Commandments
Moral laws - on murder, theft, honesty, adultery, etc.
Social laws - on property, inheritance, marriage and divorce,
Food laws - on what is clean and unclean, on cooking and storing food.
Purity laws - on menstruation, seminal emissions, skin disease and mildew, etc.
Feasts - the Day of Atonement, Passover, Feast of Tabernacles, Feast of Unleavened Bread, Feast of Weeks etc.
Sacrifices and offerings - the sin offering, burnt offering, whole offering, heave offering, Passover sacrifice, meal offering, wave offering, peace offering, drink offering, thank offering, dough offering, incense offering, red heifer, scapegoat, first fruits, etc.
Instructions for the priesthood and the high priest including tithes.
Instructions regarding the Tabernacle, and which were later applied to the Temple in Jerusalem, including those concerning the Holy of Holies containing the Ark of the Covenant (in which were the tablets of the law, Aaron's rod, the manna). Instructions and for the construction of various altars.
Forward looking instructions for time when Israel would demand a king.
Traditionally there are a total of 613 commandments - 365 "thou shalt nots" and 248 "thou shalts." It is not up to believers to prioritize them or to question them, but simply to obey them-- all of them. So if our child sasses or curses us, we must stone our child to death.(Leviticus 20:9) That is not a choice we have -- we must carry out God's Law. Otherwise we enter that slippery slope of asking "How do we know?" and the next thing you know men are shaving their beards, or men are having sexual relations with other men ( although women having sexual relations with other women is not specifically banned!)
But wait a minute! Did not Paul abolish the Law for Gentiles? (Romans 3:30)? Or did he reaffirm it (Romans 3:31)?
Furthermore, even if we follow the literal interpretation of The Bible when it comes to The Laws of God, how do we know which specific Laws God intended to apply to the ancient Israelites, and which Laws God intended to apply to us today -
"In the real world, how do we know what Jesus or God might be calling us to? In the real world, how do we know what Jesus (or God) might be asking of us? In the real world… how do we know? I mean, really know? "
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