Holding lightly & tightly

Have you ever noticed that the advice to "let go" of one thing or another is given very often? I have. And it has made me wonder: what about "holding on" -- isn't that also important at times? That question is part of what led to this sermon, called "When to Hold Lightly & When to Hold Tightly." I hope that you enjoy it, and I would enjoy hearing your thoughts & experiences on the theme.

All the Best,

Rishi

A reading from: 1 Corinthians 7:29-31.

“I mean, brothers and sisters the appointed time has grown short. From now on, let even those who have wives be as though they had none, and those who mourn as though they were not mourning, and those who rejoice, as though they were not rejoicing, and those who buy, as though they had no possessions, and those who deal with the world as though they had no dealings with it. For the present form of this world is passing away.”

The tone of today's New Testament reading is apocalyptic. Apocalyptic is a pattern in ancient Jewish literature and thought. It is a pattern which sets the stage for a hard-to-understand message, by prefacing it with, “the world as we know it is about to end in a dramatic religious crisis.” One view of why the apocalyptic strategy was used is that it very quickly orients the mind to spiritual things. In this view, people ordinarily get so preoccupied with managing the details of this life that they lose sight of the more subtle, spiritual truths of life. Our mundane cares start to cover our eyes like a veil, and before you know it, life loses its spiritual dimension. The word apocalypse [Aποκάλυψις] in the Greek means "lifting of the veil". And so this view sees the writers' use of apocalyptic imagery as a literary technique to get people out of their usual mental ruts, and pay attention in a way that allows them to hear subtle spiritual truths more clearly. There is a contemporary spiritual writer, Stephen Levine, who does something like this in his book, entitled 'A Year To Live.' He has the readers consciously imagine, while they're reading the book, that they only have one year left to live.... as a way of increasing their attentiveness to what matters most in their lives. Maybe apocalyptic worked in a similar way in the ancient world. It is an obvious abuse, whether in religion or politics, when apocalyptic is degraded into nothing more than a way to scare the hell out of people so that they become easier to influence.

In any case, it doesn't hurt, when we're reading scripture, and we encounter the apocalyptic pattern, as we do in todays passage from 1^st Corinthians, to pause... and ask – what's going on in this passage? Is the author trying to convey some truth that requires a special kind of attentiveness for us to really hear it?

When To Hold Lightly & When To Hold Tightly

Coffee or tea ?

Toyota or Ford ?

Girlfriend or boyfriend?

Married or single ?

Children or no children ?

Snow-shovel or snow-blower?

Rent or buy ?

Trust your gut or think through the potential consequences ?

Prayer or meditation ?

NDP or Liberal ?

Smooth or crunchy?

Our need to make choices just never seems to end. Some choices are solely up to us; other choices involve other people and factors that are beyond our control. Some choices require a lot of information and deliberation; others seem to be just a matter of personal preference. Some choices are very difficult and important; others are easy and not that crucial. And so there is potential for confusion. Sometimes we view a choice as easy and not that important, but it turns out to be very important. Or we view a choice as involving many other people and factors that are beyond our control, but in reality it is really up to us. Or we see a particular choice as just a matter of personal preference, but then discover that it actually requires a great deal of deliberation. So making good choices is challenging. In the end, whether they are trivial or very serious, we want all of our choices to be good ones. We want to make all of them in our own best interest, and the best interest of whoever else will be affected.

In all of the world religions, choices matter. The choices that we make have great impact on whether or not we will flourish as human beings, both individually and collectively. Even when we are not aware that we are at an important choice point in our lives, the choices we make still matter. Our actions still have consequences, for better or worse. So being aware of our choice-making and the quality of our choices is an important theme in our lives.

When we realize the power of the choices that we make to affect our lives and the lives of others, we might naturally find ourselves wishing that God would just give us a comprehensive list of all of the choices that we will face in our lives between the points of birth and death... and just tell us exactly what to do and what not to do. Not just the 10 commandments, or the golden rule, but a real manual that would spell out in great detail every move we had to make in life... Wouldn't that be great?

I don't know... now that I think of it.... maybe that wouldn't be so great after all. That would kind of make us into puppets, or machines, wouldn't it? We would no longer have any need to actually understand our experiences, or to make judgments about what is true and what is false, or to make decisions about the best course of action in a situation. We would just slavishly follow the manual that told us what to do and what not to do in every situation that arises. And that would hardly seem to be a life of fulfilling our potential and flourishing as human beings. So, while the fantasy of having such a manual might be appealing at times, it is not a real solution to the problem of choice.

We need something other than a manual. We need a good education on the spirituality of making choices. This is precisely what Paul is beginning to teach the church at Corinth in today's reading from 1^st Corinthians.

How can we discern, how can we clearly perceive what the will of God is in our lives? That's the real question. And, wouldn't you know...Paul has no simple answer to it. There is an answer but it is an answer that refuses to speak in black and white terms. There is an answer, but it is not just a list of do's and dont's.

But, perhaps what the church at Corinth was expecting from Paul was black-and-white answers.

Perhaps they wanted to know--
- 'Should we get married, or not?'
- 'Should we grieve the losses of this life, or not?'
- 'Should we rejoice in the gains of this life, or not?'
- 'Should we buy things at the Corinth mall, or not?'
- 'Should we be engaged in the world, or not?'

Simple questions looking for simple, 'yes' or 'no,' answers.

Yet Paul's answers were not so simple. He tells them:
- 'if you get married...it should be as though you are not married.'
- 'if you grieve the losses of this life it should be as though you are not grieving.'
- 'if you rejoice in the gains of this life, it should be as though you are not rejoicing.'
- 'If you buy things, it should be as though you have no possessions.'
- 'If you are engaged in the world, it should be as though you are not engaged.'

The church at Corinth must have been wondering – what's wrong with this guy, Paul? What's all this 'as though' stuff? Doesn't he have the ability to give a straight answer? Didn't we specify that in our JNAC report?

The church at Corinth was a poor church. Their people were at the bottom rungs of the social ladder. They were uneducated, probably illiterate for the most part. They certainly were not theologians or philosophers [cf. 1 Cor 1;26-27]. They were simple people who wanted simple answers. But, instead, Paul is giving them these strange responses that sound more like riddles than answers. What on earth was he thinking?

Whether we agree with it or not, Paul was clearly making a judgment that simple answers, of the kind they were perhaps seeking, would not be truly helpful. Because to solve the problems that they were experiencing required them to be aware of choices that they were making on a much more subtle level.

So, Paul is working hard here to get them to realize that these are not either/or choices that they are facing, where one choice is absolutely right and the other absolutely wrong. But it sounds like that's what the people really wanted to know –'Should I get married or not?' 'Should I go shopping and buy things, or not?' 'Yes or No? ' What's the Christian thing to do, Paul?

But Paul doesn't give them a simple answer...because...well...it's not that simple, is it?

For example, with respect to buying things.... everything depends on the attitude of their hearts toward those things they are going to buy. If they get attached to those things, trusting in those things to satisfy the deepest longings of their hearts... that's harmful. That's not in their best interest. Because those goods are temporary. And the Good their hearts are longing for is eternal. So, if, in their hearts, they latch onto those temporary things as though they were eternal, that would be a problem, indeed. But it is not a problem that can be avoided by not going to the mall. Even if they abstain from ever purchasing certain things, they could still, in their hearts, be understanding and longing for those temporary things as though they were the answer to their happiness in life.... or, the flipside of that, they could be viewing their abstinence as thoughit was their spiritual answer, their ticket to happiness in life.

So, Paul is saying to them that 'it's not whether you buy things or don't buy things' – it's how you are relating to those things [that you buy or don't buy] in your heart that is the key.

If, in your heart, you are cleaving to God, when you buy those things, you won't misuse them, you won't try to meet your spiritual needs through possessing them. If, in your heart, you are cleaving to God, when you buy those things, it will be, in a spiritual sense, as though you have no possessions, because your heart won't cling to them. You won't get attached to them in an unhelpful way. Somehow, cleaving to God purifies the desires of our hearts. The love of God in our hearts sanctifies the motives that influence our choices. It reorders our values with the living God as our divine centre. It transforms how we relate to everything and everyone, including ourselves.

On the other hand. If, in your heart, you are not cleaving to God, it really doesn't matter whether you go to the mall, or avoid it like the plague... your going to have problems... your going to end up getting overly attached to things, or to your abstinence from things, in the hope of satisfying the spiritual longings of your heart... But neither things, nor abstinence from things, will satisfy your heart... because our hearts are so designed that they stay restless until they find their rest in God.

When we are holding tightly onto the Source of all life, delighting in his or her love and goodness, we very naturally come to hold everything else... more lightly. Holding tightly and holding lightly go together. They are happening at the same time.

We hold on tightly, we cleave to the heart of God, not because there is any danger of losing God, as though God were like a helium balloon that might just fly away if we loosen our grip. No, we are safely held, hidden with Christ in God [Col. 3:3]. Even when we try to we cannot lose God [Ps 139:8, Rom 8:38-39]. It would be like a fish trying to lose the ocean. There is no danger of losing God. That is not why we hold on tightly.

We hold on tightly, we cleave to the heart of God, because the Living God is our Supreme Value... our Ultimate Concern... our Beloved. We hold on tightly to this One we love, so that we do not lose our real selves, so that we do not lose awareness of our roots, our divine origins, our true nature as the beloved offspring of God. We need that spiritual self-awareness. The quality of our lives depend on it. Our ability to make good choices depends on it. And so we cleave in our hearts to God, and God alone. The Divine Source of our lives in every moment.

Paul was teaching the Corinthians the fundamentals of spiritual discernment.

Helping them understand that 'it's not that you can never buy a new donkey or a new pair of sandals. But if, in your heart, you are relating to those purchases as if they will somehow meet your unmet spiritual needs.... then your discernment is off. You're not in a position to make a good choice.' Paul is trying to guide them into a totally new, spiritual perspective on choice.

It's not that you can never get married.... but if, in your choosing a partner, you are relating to him or her in your heart as the one who will meet all of your unmet spiritual needs... then, your discernment is off. You're not in a position to make a good choice. You need some time with God, some sacred space, where you can become more conscious of who you really are, more conscious of the spiritual truth that we are not our own [1Cor 6:19-20, 7:23 Mark 12:17, John 17:6-26, Song 6:3]. We belong to Another. We belong to our Beloved, to God. When we are cleaving to the Heart of God, we relate to our husband or wife or partner more lightly, not as some kind of god or goddess, but as a precious human being, who no less than us, belongs to God. And so, together we transcend our need to be worshiped as the center of the other person's life. We no longer need them to be God for us, and we no longer need to be God to them. And then genuine, loving friendship can develop.

Traditionally in the Christian faith the only thing that we are meant to hold on to tightly –with our whole heart and mind and strength – is God.... the Creator. All created things, including ourselves and other human beings, are meant to be held lightly, gently.

For St. Augustine, like the apostle Paul before him, this was the fundamental discernment of Christian life – discerning when to hold lightly and when to hold tightly. For Augustine, the goodness of all of our choices ultimately come down to this basic discernment of the heart – between the Creator, whom we utterly abandon ourselves to in love, and the created, whom we love as the Creator's beloved children, just as we love ourselves. It's all about relationship.

The life of Jesus is the story of one who was so aware of being lovingly held by the One he called 'Father'... that he cleaved to his Beloved, and, in that cleaving, was enabled to love himself and to love others with a lightness that led to flourishing, that drew his disciples back to God, who loved them no less than Jesus. And so they become 'little Christs'. And on and on the story goes.

This is the truly amazing thing to me about this spiritual discernment – this knowing when to hold lightly and when to hold tightly. It is a gift. It is not something that we manufacture or strive to attain. God graciously initiates it all ... by loving us so completely, so perfectly, so eternally... that we come to desire God above all else. God unconditionally gives God's own self away to us in love. We receive. And, in love, we cleave, to our Beloved. And it works! Our values are all reoriented by this Divine Love at the centre of our lives... and we find ourselves discerning...perceiving clearly...when to hold lightly and when to hold tightly. We discover that we have been given, that we have now within us, the Wisdom of the Ages, the Divine Logos, the spiritual foundation for making good choices in life. And then, it becomes a way of living, as it was for Jesus, and we call it 'the Christian life.' And we keep discovering in new ways, day by day, that it is a life truly worth living. And that's good news!

Thanks be to God.

Comments

RussP

Posted on: 05/11/2009 12:00

rishi

I particularly enjoyed "And so they become 'little Christs'." So different from the concept of follow Jesus.

Russ

Posted on: 05/11/2009 16:43

Hi Russ,

I borrowed that "little Christs" line from Martin Luther.

WaterBuoy

Posted on: 05/12/2009 08:04

Makes me think of Genesis 49 and Dan clinging to the heel of the donkey ... now if Dan is a devilish prophet in the old way ... conjure up an image of the stubborn donkey that hangs on to all the old poisons without testing them for utility!

Posted on: 05/12/2009 09:19

One should always return unused old poisons to your local wizard for proper disposal.

Arminius

Posted on: 05/12/2009 12:31

Hi everyone:

The fruit from the Tree of Life contains the antidote to the poisonous fruit of expulsion from the Tree of Knowledge.

Quick, said the bird, find it, find it...

Humankind does not have very much time for reality.

T.S. Eliot

Posted on: 05/14/2009 10:39

Now is the light poison to the dark mystery, or is the shadow poison to thought, awareness? What do passion and intelligence do to one another?

It is said that salvation is found in knowledge; is that a light loupe of logic where a thinker needs to be loved too ... logic of de void ... reume fer de leap ... man you have no choice ... the aboriginal desire calls for an echo on what you learned while "out there." The infinite veil is always there calling!

Pater nos qui ... infinite curiosity always gives a break in the work and you will never remember the pain of the load! It is in the story ... with a giggle.