Month: May 2024

Renew.

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I’m going to ask you to do something a bit different this morning.  All of us, sit here for a moment, quietly with our eyes closed.  Just for a moment.  Now, as you sit, think about what’s going on in the air around you.  Atoms colliding, bouncing off of each other, air flowing.  Maybe you hear someone breathing.  Now, think about the space between you and the person sitting closest to you, or between you and me.  What’s filling that space, what makes space, space?  

Now, think of the activity going on around you.  God is present, God is moving, God is still, God is all around you.  Even inside of you.  Now, think of your body, your breath, your heart pounding.  God is moving deep inside of you, flowing through your blood, flowing through your heart…think of your breath, you are breathing God in and out, God is everywhere.  

Now, think of that passage in Isaiah where he has a vision…Isaiah is in the vision.  He sees a world that he hardly ever notices, a world that is going on around him in even when he’s not having visions. It is a passage in the Bible where Isaiah is in the back of the room…there are seraphim, cherubim, angelic beings flowing around…and, at one end, there is God, the other end, Isaiah, hiding behind a pillar.  

In this vision, he experiences being in the presence of God.  If you are there, in this passage, in this room. Where would you be standing, what would you be experiencing?  The voice of God calls out for someone to step forward and share God’s love…Isaiah gives that famous reply, “here I am, send me.”  Then, this angel comes and touches Isaiah with a burning coal.  It burns, yet it also purifies.  Change happens, Isaiah experiences a cleansing if you will, a purification.  He experiences an intense love that causes him to respond to God’s call to go anywhere.

Now, open your eyes.  This drama is happening every day, we catch glimpses of it, those are called moments of transcendency.  Yet, often we are in the dark, we can’t always see what’s happening around us.

John 3:1-17

Now there was a Pharisee named Nicodemus, a leader of the Jews. 2 He came to Jesusby night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God; for no one can do these signs that you do apart from the presence of God.” 3 Jesus answered him, “Very truly, I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above.”4 Nicodemus said to him, “How can anyone be born after having grown old? Can one enter a second time into the mother’s womb and be born?” 5 Jesus answered, “Very truly, I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit. 6 What is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the Spirit is spirit.7 Do not be astonished that I said to you, ‘Youmust be born from above.’ 8 The wind[f] blows where it chooses, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.” 9 Nicodemus said to him, “How can these things be?” 10 Jesus answered him, “Are you a teacher of Israel, and yet you do not understand these things?

11 “Very truly, I tell you, we speak of what we know and testify to what we have seen; yet you do not receive our testimony. 12 If I have told you about earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you about heavenly things? 13 No one has ascended into heaven except the one who descended from heaven, the Son of Man. 14 And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, 15 that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.

16 “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.

17 “Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.

Our new testament story happens in the dark.  It probably wasn’t pitch dark, but we think it was at night, or dusk. Nicodemus, a religious scholar who was interested in the words of Jesus came to Jesus at night time.  I’m not sure if there is much significance in the time of day that Nicodemus came, but he came and possibly the author had him come at night to symbolize Nicodemus was able to see some shadows, but he couldn’t see clearly, he was in the dark.

What Jesus shared with him was much like trying to explain what was happening with Isaiah.  There are things happening all around us, a deeper reality, that we only catch glimpses of…we are in the dark, yet, we have been given a light to see through Jesus and the inner and outer workings of God as being 3 in 1 persons, the Trinity.  

Jesus and Nicodemus had this conversation, and there were probably others around.  Jesus, as a rabbi and Nicodemus as a scholar, both had disciples, and those disciples were always around.  Jesus said everything out in the open, he was pretty transparent, yet, different folks maybe heard different things, even if they were around him.  One of the things that I’ve learned over the years as a leader and as a pastor, you can say things, a lot, even over-communicate, but folks are probably going to hear from their perspective.  I’m the same way.  We all are.  Jesus’ disciples were like that, they heard a lot, yet they had so many different ways of hearing what Jesus was saying.  It really is an amazing miracle, and a testimony to the power of God’s Presence that eventually led the disciples into a place of unity.

Nicodemus had some very good questions, he may have been timid in asking them, or afraid of what others thought, or simply curious and not sure how to ask them.  Yet, he came to Jesus and asked.  

He wanted to know how to enter the Kingdom of God, how to be in God’s Presence just as Isaiah was.  Jesus tells him that he has to be born again, or anew, or afresh.  That phrase “born again” used to get a lot of press, but really means a sense of seeing and experiencing things in a new way, with a new perspective or change of heart.  

The phrase “born again” literally translates into being “born from above”.  And Jesus goes on to say that this isn’t an action that humans can evoke, but that it’s a movement of God’s Spirit and Water.  Water in this case would be symbolic or a metaphor of a flow of love over us and through us, a cleansing, a making things new.  The Spirit is God’s action in our lives that gives us life and moves us towards a sense of God’s expansive love.  Nicodemus gets hung up on the idea of someone literally being born again, going back into the mother’s womb….but Jesus is using this phrase to literally say that there is a birthing, we have to go through a birth canal out of a protective mode of being and into the realities of life…and that God goes through the pains of childbirth along with humanity.

You know though, that’s a hard concept for us.  Birth is beautiful and filled with expectation and possibility.  But, we don’t want to leave the friendly confines of the womb.  We want to stay comfortable and in control, yet God moves us towards birth, towards maturity, towards a new way of living.  And, birth, I’ve been told, is not easy!  And, when one is born, they are born out of darkness and into the light…it’s a powerful image isn’t it!?

Jesus doesn’t mess around with Nicodemus, doesn’t play games, he goes straight to a hard saying…and then says that God’s Spirit is also like the wind.  The Hebrew word for spirit is the same for wind, Ruach…it’s also Pneuma in Greek.  It blows where it pleases.  The question for the readers of this passage, do we have our hearts, our bodies, our lives towards God’s Spirit?  Do we try to bundle ourselves up in scarves or jackets of anxiety, control, identity in something, even church to shield us from the wind, or are willing to turn into the wind and let it carry us where God’s Spirit intends?

Nicodemus doesn’t quite get it though, and begins to think linear, or binary.  He can’t see that there’s a metaphor being used of being born anew.  But, he stayed in the conversation.

Jesus goes on to say that entering the Kingdom, or recognizing that existence of a deeper reality of God’s presence required water and spirit.  That God is like a seed being planted in this world and that the Spirit is like water causing it to grow.  It’s also symbolic of an old life being buried in water and rising again to being something more than it was before.  Meister Eckhart, the great “doctor of the church” from the middle ages, has this quote:  “The seed of God planted in you grows into God.”  Ponder that one for a bit!  

This is an ongoing process of cultivating this seed that has been planted within us.  I’ve been born “from above” or anew often…even in the almost 6 months that I’ve been here as your pastor.  I’ve asked a lot of questions, I’ve been curious, I’ve shared fully who I am as best as I can.  I’m amazed of so many of these discussions have shaped me and us together.  It’s funny to me, I’ve been a part of church renewal movements, place based initiatives, got my doctorate on place and spiritual formation even, yet I can’t explain, nor do I wan to what we’ve been experiencing together here at Westwood First…it’s wild, weird, and beautiful…and it would not be happening unless we’ve leaned into the shadows and asked questions…  In many ways, our hopes and dreams here at Westwood First Presbyterian are starting to come into view by many of us, it’s still a bit fuzzy, but we all seem to be asking the same questions.  Yes, we’ve had to figure out some things and we are still in that process, but as we share and have conversations…sometimes even in the dark, many of us are experiencing what it means to be born anew, to have new life, new beginnings, and to dare to dream some awfully big dreams together as we work on relationships.  We are becoming a congregation of mystics, of living into the mystery of God as it emerges in our lives and in this place.

That’s the essence of what John is sharing in the third chapter.  God’s nature is relationship.  God’s desire and character is relationship.  The trinity is a relationship.  God the father honors the Son the Son honors the Spirit and vice versa…no particular order, they mutually indwell in each other.  Out of that relational force, the beautiful relational physics of it all, we, and the earth were created, we were saved, and we are sustained.  Again, I love this quote from Meister Eckhart, “Relation is the essence of everything that exists.”

This 3 in 1 God is one with us, God brings us up into the communion or relationship of the trinity through the Son.  Jesus is both divine and authentically human.  We are deeply related to Jesus, he is our brother…our redeemer kinsman who brings the full force of the relationship of the creation, death and resurrection, and rebirth and sustainment into our lives, into humanity.  

Then we come to the last two verses…we know John 3:16, we see it on the TV almost every time we watch a major sports event…someone is holding up a sign with those words on it.  That’s great, but I wonder if that person realizes the world that is unseen that’s at play.  We are called to  believe in something unseen, yet experienced deeply.  It’s also a message of Jesus not coming to condemn as it says in vs. 17, but to save!  The world!  All of us!  And it gives us the message of life, real life.  When the bible talks about eternal life, it’s talking more about the quality of life, not the quantity.  

Here’s what I know, I’m willing and I’m experiencing that same willingness in this church with you…and in this community.  It’s happening, we are all being born anew.  God’s Spirit is moving, drawing us into the relational and loving character of God, while reshaping us and the world around us.  Let’s live into that eternal reality…which, again, in Christ, is not only quality, but it truly is forever.  Amen?  Amen.

Fire.

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John 15:26-27

26 “When the Advocate comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who comes from the Father, he will testify on my behalf. 27 You also are to testify because you have been with me from the beginning.

Acts 2:1-21 

The Coming of the Holy Spirit 

2 When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. 2 And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting.3 Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. 4 All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability. 

5 Now there were devout Jews from every nation under heaven living in Jerusalem. 6 And at this sound the crowd gathered and was bewildered, because each one heard them speaking in the native language of each.7 Amazed and astonished, they asked, “Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? 8 And how is it that we hear, each of us, in our own native language? 9 Parthians, Medes, Elamites, and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, 10 Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, 11 Cretans and Arabs—in our own languages we hear them speaking about God’s deeds of power.”12 All were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, “What does this mean?” 13 But others sneered and said, “They are filled with new wine.” 

Peter Addresses the Crowd 

14 But Peter, standing with the eleven, raised his voice and addressed them, “Men of Judea and all who live in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and listen to what I say. 15 Indeed, these are not drunk, as you suppose, for it is only nine o’clock in the morning. 16 No, this is what was spoken through the prophet Joel: 

17 ‘In the last days it will be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh, 

and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, 

and your old men shall dream dreams.
18 Even upon my slaves, both men and women, 

in those days I will pour out my Spirit; and they shall prophesy. 

19 And I will show portents in the heaven above and signs on the earth below, 

blood, and fire, and smoky mist. 20 The sun shall be turned to darkness 

and the moon to blood,
before the coming of the Lord’s great and glorious day. 

21 Then everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.’ 

The birthday of the church!  Pentecost itself corresponds to the Jewish “Festival of the Weeks”.  It’s a harvest festival that falls 50 days after the Jewish passover.  Jesus was crucified during the passover celebration as we know.  Fifty days later, the disciples are still living in fear, but are in Jerusalem now for another festival.  Can you imagine what those disciples must have been going through in those 50 days?  These past few weeks, we’ve been talking about Jesus’ words in John chapters 14-17, he farewell discourse, and then last week the passage from Acts. Jesus has been preparing his disciples for what was about to come. Now, Jesus did not know all that was about to happen. He did not have any certainty. He didn’t know the outcome of the next day or the next season. Sound familiar? 

Jesus is simply encouraging the disciples, letting them know that even when things get bad, seemingly out of control, that they won’t be alone. They have an identity, they are not going to be orphaned. Which, is an interesting word, in effect, Jesus is saying that they not only have an identity, but that they are still in relationship with a God who is all around them and even in them. 

If we have ever lost someone, we know that even after they are gone, that it often feels like they are still with us. Maybe even more so. Same, but even more with Jesus. We’ve never met Jesus, yet it seems that Jesus is even more present within my body, within my friendships, and within the space between us. Teilhard, a Jesuit priest and theologian,  calls this the cosmic Christ, that Christ not only lived and walked the earth, but is with us, everywhere with everyone and everything, right now. 

There is a Presence, a sense of God’s love all around us and I pray for awareness of God’s Presence. I believe that the greatest gift and struggle that we have as Jesus followers, as humans, is the work of becoming of self, others, and God aware…of being connected to ourselves, others, with the divine flow of God pushing us deeper. The disciples, like us, were in a liminal space, a threshold out of their control and they were being pushed deeper into Presence. 

I strongly believe that, we, and all of humanity is being shaped and formed by God’s movement, that God is with all of us in the most intimate way. God is closer than the air we breathe. Yet, we don’t often recognize God, or sometimes we even deny that God could even exist. The idea of a loving God can scare us. Love transforms, it changes us. Relationships happen, love is the fuel for those relationships to flourish. The juice if you will that burns within us and draws us out towards accepting others and ourselves in community. 

This concept of being “in” relationship with God and with others starts with an understanding that God’s very nature is communal relationship. You can go through all sorts of head knowledge of God, but if we go deep within ourselves, whether we are extroverts or introverts, we are wired for relationship. Science affirms this concept, at the very root of how we are formed, with atoms, protons, neutrons, quarks, etc., there is an understanding that energy is created for atoms to form through attraction, through relationship. 

Our understanding of God as three in one, as Trinity, gives witness to relationships. God as parent, son, holy spirit are so close that they are one. The outcome of their energy together is creating, saving, and sustaining relationship based on love. It is not static, it is dynamic. 

That dynamic energy of three in one God, demonstrated by the outpouring of God’s energy, God’s Spirit on the disciples, gave them courage to face the unknown of going outside of their comfort and into a world that they literally did not understand. They walked into a Jerusalem filled with folks from all over that had different customs, different ethnicities, and different languages.  This Spirit of God is often called the “Advocate”.  God’s Presence literally is advocating for us and is with us…and carried the disciples and us today!

The early disciples knew that they were connected to God, one another, and wanted to share that connection with the world. And, in so doing, they gave birth to a new movement, a new understanding, a new “realization” if you will, that we are all one humanity, God’s children. That our diversity is beautiful, keeps us curious, AND, we can be united and connected in that diversity. Fire was used to describe the Holy Spirit…and that flame, once kindled, proliferated wildly. 

Could this season of change at Westwood First and generally in our culture be another time of revelation, or realization, that releases the power of God’s love in new and creative ways?  It is an apocalyptic time as we have shared in Sundays past…a time of revealing, uncovering.  Not the end of the world, but an indicator that the world is changing…some things are ending so other things can emerge.   And we have to find ways to embrace and adapt to the changes around us.  

As we allow God’s love to pour into us and through us to others, we begin to understand that we are connected to an expansive and wild God. We begin to see faith as not about certainty or having things figured out, but understanding that living in mystery and curiosity, living in a willingness to let go of our control, our vision, and letting God expand our horizons. We are locally rooted in community, and globally connected in Christ…as we let that reality seep in, we begin to experience a deepening of ourselves, a joy in things unseen but lived out. 

God’s Spirit, our advocate, is moving us out…no, not necessarily out in large crowds, not fully yet…maybe outside…who knows, it’s still a bit fuzzy!  But, we are being moved out of ourselves and finding creative ways that God’s Spirit has been at work in and around us during this season, and we are adapting, embracing this new reality, not certain of where it will lead, but trusting that God’s Spirit will energize us, that God’s Son will be our friend, and that God’s relational flow will continue to give birth to new possibilities. 

As we continue to gather in worship, in retreats, the Abbey, the neighborhood, or wherever…as we serve and befriend our neighbors, read, journal, and contemplate on God’s movement in our lives, may we see God is in us, and we find our being in God. This being will move us in ways we don’t always expect. Look at the early disciples that are described in Acts. They experienced the Advocate, the Spirit, it’s like a flame, a fire, that’s burning, uncontrollable, yet warms them and moves them to change the world. May it be so for us. 

Choose.

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Acts 1:15-17

15 In those days Peter stood up among the brothers and sisters (together the crowd numbered about one hundred twenty persons) and said, 16 “Brothers and sisters,the scripture had to be fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit through David foretold concerning Judas, who became a guide for those who arrested Jesus, 17 for he was numbered among us and was allotted his share in this ministry.”

Acts 1:21-26

21 “So one of the men who have accompanied us during all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, 22 beginning from the baptism of John until the day when he was taken up from us—one of these must become a witness with us to his resurrection.” 23 So they proposed two, Joseph called Barsabbas, who was also known as Justus, and Matthias. 24 Then they prayed and said, “Lord, you know everyone’s heart. Show us which one of these two you have chosen 25 to take the place in this ministry and apostleship from which Judas turned aside to go to his own place.” 26 And they cast lots for them, and the lot fell on Matthias, and he was added to the eleven apostles.

How do we make choices?  Many of you know my deep love for the University of Kentucky.  I’ve been an avid fan all of my life.  But, you’ll be surprised to know how I made my decision to go to UK.  I had applied to Belmont in Nashville, Georgetown College in Kentucky, even the University of Tennessee (God forbid!), as well as Kentucky. 

I made my decision to go to UK when I was walking down the halls of my high school in between classes when one of my best friends that I grew up with, Jeff Hume, yelled at me from across the hall and said, “Rich, are you going to room with me at UK next year?”  I quickly said “yes” without even flinching.  Decision made. 

Now, in life, we have all probably had different ways of making decisions.  With our kids, we always have the “pros and cons” list.  I also tell myself and others that, upon making a decision, if you have time, let it sit for a while, see how it feels and what is emerging within you, and then make the call.

Most of us probably don’t cast lots like the disciples did though as it says in our New Testament reading when replacing the disciple Judas.

Yet, I think that there was a lot of trust, a deeper trust, with the disciples.  Which is amazing, considering that you’d think their trust would be shattered.  One of their own, Judas, had turned in Jesus, had betrayed him.  Yet, they still trusted something deeper.  They trusted that God resided in them and in all things and people.  They trusted that they would be able to find someone to take Judas’ place and that God would lead them towards someone whose heart was good. 

It’s also interesting to note that they had a deeper trust that Judas’ actions were part of a larger flow of God’s imagination.  God does not want or condone violence.  God certainly did not send Jesus to the cross, that was a consequence of the pathologies of humans who would not let go of their worldly status and thought they had to kill Jesus in order to protect their way of living.

Yet, the story of Judas also fits within the story of Jesus…actually, all betrayals and sufferings fit within the story of Jesus, and, consequently, our story.  The disciples acknowledge that Judas was a part of them, was their brother, and, I believe, had a sense of grace for him even in his betrayal.

I often feel some sadness for Judas, he could not muster the courage to confront his betrayal and live into the grace that Jesus gave him.  He could not find a way to love himself after he realized what he had done. 

Yet, the story of Jesus and the story of God is one where love always wins and love moves us towards an acceptance of ourselves, and of others, and that God’s story and our story are one and the same. 

The cross, the death of Jesus, is part of the cycle of life that we all live in…life, death, resurrection and new life.  As a friend said this week, we need to come awake to the reality that we must die in this life before we die…that’s the way we move towards life, abundant life.

We know the Easter story, that love overcomes death, but we have to recognize that the choice that Jesus made is one that we all are called to make.  To count the cost of what it means to be truly human as made in God’s image.  And, that Easter is not a separate event from our experience.  It’s not just Jesus on that cross, it’s all of us. 

As the psalm passage says, our actions are thrown in the fire that are wicked.  It is meant to convey that we are not thrown into a fire, but that our actions that are wicked are burned away and put back into the earth for growth.

The Christ Presence that permeates all of creation, the Universe really, and resides within us is calling us to make a choice, or to become awake, and cultivate that awareness.  And, to trust a deeper trust than circumstances in our lives and culture.

That’s happening at Westwood First.  When I first came to Westwood First’s Session, we talked about this kind of deep trust.  And that it is a trust that is given, not really earned.  A deeper trust indeed…and one that produces fruit.  We are already seeing it…and living into it. 

There’s a great story here…and it’s a part of the larger story of God.  

I heard this quote recently:

“Unless Christianity is understood to be the most realistic and cosmic of faiths and hopes, nothing has been understood of its mysteries.” (Teilhard de Chardin)             

This quote reflects on the necessity of understanding Christianity not just as a religious faith but as a comprehensive cosmological perspective that addresses the real and vast universe. – Cynthia Bourgeault

We don’t know the future, nor should we, but we have a great story at Westwood First, a mystery, yes, and a faith that is universal and a deeper reality built on a deeper trust.

Let’s continue to choose to trust, to love, and to produce good fruit in the soil of our congregation and community.  And, my goodness, we are already seeing the fruit of the choices we have made together!  Amen?

Friends.

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John 15:9-17

9 As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love. 10 If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. 11 I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete. 

12 “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.13 No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.14 You are my friends if you do what I command you. 15 I do not call you servantsany longer, because the
servantdoes not know what the master is doing; but I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my Father. 16 You did not choose me but I chose you. And I appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask him in my name. 17 I am giving you these commands so that you may love one another.

This passage says a lot about love, doesn’t it?  What does Jesus’ love look like? Oftentimes I’m asked at weddings to read the “love chapter” found in 1 Corinthians 13. It has beautiful poetry, but it’s not really just about love between two persons…no one can love that way except for, with, and through God. It’s a chapter describing perfect love, sit back, close your eyes, soak in these words from part of this chapter as if God is speaking directly to you from deep inside you and from all around you: 

PP 

13 If I speak in the tongues of mortals and of angels, but do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. 3 If I give away all my possessions, and if I hand over my body so that I may boast,but do not have love, I gain nothing. 

4 Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant 5 or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; 6 it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. 7 It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. 

Wow. And, this is what Jesus is saying to us. Live, or abide, remain in my love. Jesus isn’t going anywhere, as a matter of fact, Jesus is present with us, right now…as we sit in our homes online or here in the sanctuary, wondering what’s going to happen next in these seasons of so much personal, cultural, political, and religious shifting, what is the new “normal”, we are not alone. Jesus is with us…and is chasing after us…won’t give up on us. 

I love this passage, Jesus tells his disciples that he no longer calls them servants, but friends.  That’s a big statement.  One that says, if you abide in that friendship, then you will produce amazing fruit.  

Friendships looks like this:  

One of my best friends in my twenties was Jay. I’ve talked about him before. Jay was simply amazing. Great athlete, musician, lots of charisma, looked like James Dean. His family had owned the patent to frozen yeast and also owned several bakeries throughout the world. He seemingly had it made. Yet, underneath, he was deeply struggling with the death of his dad in his teenage years and his mom’s impending death during much of our 20’s through MS. 


He was a youth group leader, but after a while, quit that, left the church, and went into a 

season of life trying to numb himself of the pain in as many ways that he could. 

Jay and I still got together, he was one of my best friends. But, there was a period of a few months where we weren’t around each other. We got together for dinner with a friend and he leaned over to me and whispered in my ear, “I’m back”. He went on to say that he simply could not get away from God. That God kept on chasing him even when he was so numb from whatever he was using.  God’s love always breaks through eventually…either in this life or the next.  I believe that God’s love was even more real and deeper during Jay’s season of numbness. 

Jesus was and is present with each of us. It’s hard, I know, especially in this season of disruption and division all around us, and even within us, to recognize that at times…but when we begin to move towards understanding ourselves, asking the really hard questions and confronting the things in our lives that prevent us from experiencing the depth in knowing who we are and who God is, we can begin to truly be present with ourselves, others, and God. We begin to experience love. 

How does one become friends with God, how does one love, it starts with a deep acceptance that you are loved, to befriend your own soul.

When my mom died, I began to read the writings of John O’Donohue more closely.  Again, O’Donohue was an Irish Catholic priest, a poet, theologian, and philosopher.  One book in particular was “Anam Cara”, which is Gaelic for “Soul Friend”.

John O’Donohue, says this:

In the Celtic tradition, there is a beautiful understanding of love and friendship. One of the fascinating ideas here is the idea of soul-love; the old Gaelic term for this is anam ċara. Anam is the Gaelic word for soul and ċara is the word for friend. So anam ċara in the Celtic world was the “soul friend.” In the early Celtic church, a person who acted as a teacher, companion, or spiritual guide was called an anam ċara. It originally referred to someone to whom you confessed, revealing the hidden intimacies of your life. With the anam ċara you could share your inner-most self, your mind and your heart. This friendship was an act of recognition and belonging. When you had an anam ċara, your friendship cut across all convention, morality, and category. You were joined in an ancient and eternal way with the “friend of your soul.” The Celtic understanding did not set limitations of space or time on the soul. There is no cage for the soul. The soul is a divine light that flows into you and into your Other. This art of belonging awakened and fostered a deep and special companionship.

O’Donohue goes on to say that you cannot be an Anam Cara with someone else until you become one with yourself.  When you have befriended all of you.  Honestly, that’s been a huge part of my journey over the years.  Father Richard Bollman, a Jesuit priest, was my spiritual director for years until he had to retire due to health reasons, would also share with me the concept of Anam Cara.  We would discuss often that I have, at different times in my life, defined myself by achievement and what others think.  Yet, God’s love that resides within me, that prayer that God prays for me, moves me towards love of my True Self and then, out of that love, love for all things and people.  

Friendship means a lot to me. I am committed to the path of friendship with my self to flow and then flow into others.  As your pastor, I have said that I want to be your friend also.  As we’ve said before, we’ve donated a lot of trust to one another.  In this flow, my goodness, we are producing some amazing fruit together, aren’t we?

As I practice friendship, sometimes in beautifully messy ways, I find that friendships can lead towards common good and growth. Many of my friends in this city and around the world are all working towards seeing goodness happen in communities with the church being a part of that goodness…being a place of generosity and momentum towards others and each other. 

Sometimes we may think that we’d like to simply shirk away from friendship, from being present, even with God. Maybe we’ve been hurt or feel misunderstood.  Yet, as we read this morning, God says to us, you didn’t choose this friendship, I chose you. I think that says so much about God…a practical takeaway from what I’m sharing is this…YOU are loved, God is present with you, cultivate that understanding, and know that God desires for the best for you…and for this church. 

I think that’s why I’m so curious and grateful about what we are about at Westwood First. I don’t know what the future holds, I don’t know what church will look like after this current season of change, but I know that we are here, present with one another and that we are together in this and will grow and change. We will move towards a great new chapter in our story…Jesus says again in this week’s passage that he will give us whatever we ask for! It’s interesting that Jesus said this in last week’s passage and now again this week…And, here we are, we are in this liminal space, this threshold in culture, and as a church, and as persons! We live in “apocalyptic” times…folks often think that means the end of the world, but that’s not what it means,…no, it’s simply a term that says that some things are ending in order to make room for something new to emerge..over time.  And, in God, and in God’s love, we can place our trust in that it will be good for us and for others. 

Trust it…accept it. Receive this love and bear fruit!  Allow yourself to befriend yourself and others…may this be a congregation of soul friends!  

Jesus embodies this soul friendship, this. love, Jesus is here, present with you through his spirit the Holy Spirit, that connects all of us and all of this…and ultimately keeps us firmly in friendship with God.  

May we love one another and our neighbors (which means everyone) well…may we live in this flow and dance to the music of God’s love for us as we befriend ourselves and one another!